Archived Return Rp To Public Spaces

[Conflee]

Returning to Massivecraft after my break, the largest thing I've noticed that is still consistently a problem is finding roleplay. A prime example to illustrate this point was several days ago. /list RP showed 130 players in Regalia, yet walking the streets, sewers, slums, and checking every business I could poke into I ran into a total of 12. I counted. And several of those were running down the street aimlessly like me looking for roleplay.

This is a huge issue in my opinion that hasn't been solved in a year now. Especially for new players, they are going to get lost and bored and leave long before they happen to stumble upon the once a day spontaneous gatherings of more than 6 people in a public location, and for returning players it just feels dead as hell out here despite the decent numbers in game.


TL;DR Solutions
I rambled for a bit and my solutions are hidden in the mess so to make it more clear I'm abridging myself in an edit. Consider these my suggestions for Layout fixes for Regalia V6 to hopefully alleviate the issue.

• Estates and Crime Bases need to be in the city, clustered around RP Hubs like businesses. Minimizing how spread out these locations are will mean anyone RPing in or around these private locations, or going to them, all pass through the same shared space which should cause RP to collect there.
• These shared locations, or 'Cells', should have businesses and some kind of neutral event venue to be used to host events. Think the Market Street at RP Spawn but with Estates/Bases sprinkled in. This is the one area in Regalia that works because it was recently (ish) redesigned for this purpose. Do it everywhere and integrate Estates and Bases into this Cell design.
• Estate and Base design should feature some public space and some secure private space. What I mean by this is, estates may have a garden with a fence so people can see in and out, with seating arrangements etc. Or Bases would have some kind of miniature courtyard space that paths cut through and people will naturally travel down where they can put small shops/stalls, notice boards, or social spaces in (without obstructing the path!). This is taking notes from the old V5 Sewer Bases which were intentionally put in the way of the travel routes in the sewers to force traffic through them. This led to people stumbling across events or gatherings in these spaces more often, and engage in more roleplay.
• Spaces that are more complex and unique can be situation on the edges of Regalia, to allow for more space/freedom of design outside the constraints of city blocks. This will also, naturally, limit how many estates and bases there are which means we shouldn't have a situation where there are 30 Estates/Bases with 3 people in each and the entire server population is hidden away like it is now. Limits are good!
• If countryside estates have to exist, I suggest making them in a similar Cell style as suggested above. Imagine the big Imperial place but its several smaller estates together with a huge shared garden courtyard. I'd strongly prefer they be MUCH closer to the city regardless even if they have to be outside it's bounds technically. If teleporting is essential to get somewhere, move it because it's in a shitty location.

Full Ramble

I'm not completely sure what is causing this issue but the obvious suspect is private estates and bases in the middle of nowhere on the map. I assume people are gathered in 5-ish player clustered out there roleplaying, which is great because it means the locations are being used which used to be an issue. But this also means everyone else can't find shit to do.

I believe the original pitch for Regalia V5 had the right idea, so I'm going to restate it: Put everything in or around the city.

When everyone is spread across a huge map isolated in forests and caves and mountains and shit, finding roleplay is borderline impossible and most people get bored of walking around the city after 20 minutes and just log out.


The next issue is, people are will still be inside private locations. The positive is people can at least SEE that other roleplayers exist now because their nameplates, but actually finding RP is still going to be slow. My suggestion here would be a return to more open layout style bases, with a secure interior and an open exterior segment.

Cluster bases and estates around central public RP spaces like cafe's and bars as well, that way people running around only have to check a handful of locations rather than literally 50 across the entire world, people may group up in those locations more often and actually roleplay.



There is a chance this will still leave roleplay private and in bases/estates, but without wiping private spaces like this totally (which I think is a bad idea) I'm not sure how else to alleviate the issue.


please im so god damn bored theres literally no rp

 

[Conflee]

I amended my post with a more constructive/clear direction in a tl'dr bullet list. Previously it was muddled due to the nature of the post mostly being me getting the ideas and thoughts out of my head. Hopefully the issues can be addressed in Regalia V6, and maybe my ideas will be helpful in that regard. It's an issue that is fundamental to the city's design just like it was back when we had similar but different issues in Regalia V5.

 

[Ovoran]

I strongly agree with most of the bullets you've made here. After taking a small break myself and just getting ready to come back I was informed that "This was the worst time for me to come back". Not because of the political events going on, or the state the city was in, but because there was no RP to be found. That everybody was locked away in their own secret locations doing their own thing. Which I felt like was a major issue introduced in the Freya Lo stuff and has kind of been an issue since. I do hope to see some of these issues addressed with future events and the release of v6.

One thing that I am not totally on board with however is the idea of having large scale things happen on the outer edges of the city. Regalia is massive and often getting to those areas is daunting for even people familiar with the city's layout, so it would be hell for a new player. Other than that however I think these are some fantastic points and I hope they see some traction in later development.

 

[Conflee]

Most of this is still true. None of the general tavern locations are maned still. The Willow is tucked up in a weird spot that no new roleplayer will ever find and people dont use the main street area hardly at all still.

I think the only place ive seen manned in the Sewers tavern. Shits bad

 

[AtticCat]

Most of this is still true. None of the general tavern locations are maned still. The Willow is tucked up in a weird spot that no new roleplayer will ever find and people dont use the main street area hardly at all still.

I think the only place ive seen manned in the Sewers tavern. Shits bad

Click to shrink...

People Roleplay in different areas. Most happens within the Burning Bridges Clinic, the Crookback Emporium, Greygate Prison, in the Noble District, and the Arena. Just because it's not at the Golden Willow doesn't mean it's dead.

 

[Winterless]

I think the days of yore of people's fascination with tavern rp is swiftly moving away, but the RP hubs are still around as atticcat said

Probably because as people get older they experience pubs and realise that they're not as magical as fantasy would have you believe

but that's just speculation on my part

 

[Conflee]

People Roleplay in different areas. Most happens within the Burning Bridges Clinic, the Crookback Emporium, Greygate Prison, in the Noble District, and the Arena. Just because it's not at the Golden Willow doesn't mean it's dead.

Click to shrink...

Its not even so much the Willow, the Willow has been dead since we moved from Regalia V4. Its more that I can walk around for 40 minutes and find 2 people in the Arena, 2 in a corner in the Emporium, and see 12 nameplates in the cell block of the prison where nobody can go but guards, and more or less see not a soul anywhere else. Which is a scenario I've been in repeatedly even around peak hours

If the only major activity is in estates and the prison, where nobody but nobles and guards can go, that's still an issue for the other 70% of players.

I'm not trying to be super negative about it, but if I'm struggling to find RP with like 6-ish years of experience here, god help any new players trying to find where the hell RP is at, they're screwed. They're gonna get bored and dip before they do jack shit on here as it stands.

 

[AtticCat]

Its not even so much the Willow, the Willow has been dead since we moved from Regalia V4. Its more that I can walk around for 40 minutes and find 2 people in the Arena, 2 in a corner in the Emporium, and see 12 nameplates in the cell block of the prison where nobody can go but guards, and more or less see not a soul anywhere else. Which is a scenario I've been in repeatedly even around peak hours

If the only major activity is in estates and the prison, where nobody but nobles and guards can go, that's still an issue for the other 70% of players.

I'm not trying to be super negative about it, but if I'm struggling to find RP with like 6-ish years of experience here, god help any new players trying to find where the hell RP is at, they're screwed. They're gonna get bored and dip before they do jack shit on here as it stands.

Click to shrink...

I don't know what to tell you then. There's often like 15 people in crookback, 15 people in the arena court. People go to the prison and just chat in the courtyard (regardless if it's frowned upon). Shops open and even if there's only a handful of people, it's still roleplay. Some days are slow then others, but most days have plenty of folks gathered up.

I know plenty of new players that have continued to thrive on scene, many of whom have become prolific and "household name" characters.

I do feel as if "peak hours" are no longer the peak hours and they're generally later into the evening. It's probably because most of the playerbase is older now and in college/work, so they're busy until later hours. Might just be me, though.

 

[essentialess]

I don't know what to tell you then. There's often like 15 people in crookback, 15 people in the arena court. People go to the prison and just chat in the courtyard (regardless if it's frowned upon). Shops open and even if there's only a handful of people, it's still roleplay. Some days are slow then others, but most days have plenty of folks gathered up.

I know plenty of new players that have continued to thrive on scene, many of whom have become prolific and "household name" characters.

I do feel as if "peak hours" are no longer the peak hours and they're generally later into the evening. It's probably because most of the playerbase is older now and in college/work, so they're busy until later hours. Might just be me, though.

Click to shrink...

Peak hours have definitely changed, but as an old player that's recently returned: RP is easier to find than it has been in past years, and I've noticed new players are integrating really quickly (plus a surge in returning players.) IMO it's only getting easier because of the city changes. The noble estate thing definitely changed for the better.

Anyway, peak hours are towards the later hours EST. I usually head straight to Crookback to find tons of RP but otherwise, active RP zones are all over the Discord.