Crimson's Rant

[Crimson Shadow]

Alright, here is kind of a long rant (which could be covered in another thread, I'm not really sure because I'm only semi-active right now and haven't looked through other recent threads). Not really sure where this thread should fall into since it falls into suggestions, game, and community haha.

IF YOU DON'T READ ANYTHING ELSE, AT LEAST READ THE LAST PARAGRAPH!!!

Anyways, how many of you are starting to feel like playing this game is becoming a chore more than a game? I know that for me I'm basically logging on at the same time every day, playing turns, logging off. The game and community (which was the biggest thing the game has/had going for it) are both dead.

The game is predictable...Moradon wins the set with a bunch of sky states up there, same states play top 10-20 all set long, same states stock, same military unit horded. Can't really war to add excitement because there either aren't enough states to war and the FS wins or you run the risk of pushing others away by randomly warring them and "ruining their set." The community is dead too. I know its the summer months so things are almost always more quiet than they usually are, but we are averaging like 3 posts a day from a community that used to put out 20-30 a day even with dwindling numbers.

There is NO interaction with new members either. Every set there are new members in USA that play like half a set running mixed strats/armies then they just leave. No attempt was made to contact and/or help out the player (blame falls on me here too). Now maybe there has been with private messages, but back in the day (old WoW) there would have been FWed messages welcoming/encouraging and helping out the new player.

We have become too content with doing our own routines and the game has become stagnant, which is the biggest hindrance to our game. No gameplay update is going to bring in substantial members, it relies on US to make things exciting again. Try to think about this from a new player's mentality. You join the game, the market is bone dry, only the top 10 states numbers (NW) change, everyone else's numbers stays the exact same because they are stocking or not playing. There are no dead states to show that something is happening, just a bunch of boring, inactive ones.


This is what got me hooked to the game...I went over to my cousins house who logged into the game to check and make sure his state was still alive because his nation was at war. He also checked to see when the next strike was and who their target was. Then he logged off. That was all it took to let me see how awesome of a game this was. What do new members have to look forward to now? Watching someone play 100 turns and then bank their money? Or be impressed that they are in 17th place....until they find out that its out of 40 active states? Let's face it, there is no excitement in the game any more and there won't be as long as we keep our routines and don't have any wars. And that won't change until we get more members.

Pres, I love the new additions that you keep making to the game, but look at it rationally, these aren't going to bring in hundreds, or even tens of members. With the low player base noone is going change their routine. Everyone will keep doing the same predictable thing and the game will eventually die.

So what can we do about this?

First of all, what happened to all of the old players that just randomly left? When we first opened this (NW) up to estonians there were about 50 that played (only 10 remain). What happened to them? Where did the other common people go? The MAGGIOs, dbozmens, ooga boogs, Kenshins, Alis, Devils, etc. Or the people that used to show up every couple of sets and play then leave randomly for a few more: Legends, jameswheels, Vialis. Or what happened to the really old vets who haven't played since NW opened: The CurLys, gnorfs, Multi-182s, zionzeypher, etc. Has anyone tried contacting these people since NW opened?

Secondly, the only thing that can probably save this game is ADVERTISING. Let's face it, we have probably gone as far as we can with word of mouth. So why can't we try other ways of drawing people to us. Joining other forums just to make a post about Nation-Wars or making an account to send Private messages to other members about the game. Worst-case scenario is that you waste 5 minutes of your time and get banned from a game/forum that you never would have done anything with anyways.



I'm not trying to be over-critical, but its something that we are ALL doing and until it changes, the game never will no matter what changes Pres brings to the game.

So here is my challenge to EACH and EVERYONE of you, make an account in a random game and either make a post in their forums or PM a few of their members advertising the game to them. Say that big changes are coming and that the game is about to be relaunched (because it is when the new attacks come out). If you get banned, big deal...not like you were ever would have visited that website if it weren't for recruiting anyways.


Thanks for listening guys,
-Crimson Shadow



PS - I have sent a message to all nation leaders regarding this thread to have them forward it throughout their respective nations. If you haven't gotten one in your nation then please spread the word to the other players in your nation so we can try to get as much awareness about this issue as possible.

[Mr President]

*tear falls from eyes with pride*

You know things are bad when quiet crimson speaks out .. nice post and I 100% agree..

One thing I would like to point out, I don't make changes based on gaining new members. Most of the changes are for the current ones, but also hoping it makes the game a little more enticing for new members.

[Crimson Shadow]

I know the updates are mainly focused on current players, but if the focus isn't on bringing new new players the game will NEVER move forward. No matter how many updates you give the vets.

We ALL know that this game has potential to getting back to a solid member base, but we are ALL TOO **** LAZY TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT! I don't know the financial situation, but my guess just on the game trends, is that if we don't do something now the game won't be around in 2012.

Please guys, lets get out of this funk/routine and do something to fix this game before its too late! It is fixable, but only with ALL of our help.

[Calvin74]

there was just a reunion set in MD in earth empires so that is a group getting back together and i think there are people there that will come over.
I know ComCap is recruiting a few people from MD and he is in his 1st set there. The more people we can get into that game and into the other tags there the more people we can get over here. when this game was huge there were tons of people from that game that made a huge impact on this game

after another set or two over there i will be pushing to try and get enough of them here to play in a real MD tag (of course I will tell MD that it is to recruit for them so this can be a win win for both)


also i don't think it is really the game that has changed. it has gotten stale because the community has allowed it to get stale. there are not enough people posting on the forums, there are too many forums for people to have to wade through (i honestly think we should go down to 5 forums) and there is no communication OUTSIDE of the game. i never see anyone on msn anymore. i know i don't get on there as much but THAT is what made the game fun.
i can give mr p suggestions to help the game till the end of time but until people start to make it their own, take pride in your clan, your state, and yourself it won't change either.
people here need to start pushing, learning everything they can learn about the game, move around more and most of all just start having fun again!

[ranger2112]

I am with ya. I quit for a while myself and really came back for the people. Problem is, there is no community any more. No true interaction. I too have wondered where is 101st, Dave anton et al. Heck I don't even know if itty is playing. Random wars is not the answer. The main reason there are no wars is because there isn't any fire in anyone's belly. No one cares.

Look at the market. no food no armament to really speak of. I find myself logging in, seeing no food, buy from the black market and running a mixed state with farms.

I am not a true gamer, in the truest sense of the word. I don't play any other games as I only play this one because of my cyber-friends HERE.

[Calvin74]

I am with ya. I quit for a while myself and really came back for the people. Problem is, there is no community any more. No true interaction. I too have wondered where is 101st, Dave anton et al. Heck I don't even know if itty is playing. Random wars is not the answer. The main reason there are no wars is because there isn't any fire in anyone's belly. No one cares.

Look at the market. no food no armament to really speak of. I find myself logging in, seeing no food, buy from the black market and running a mixed state with farms.

I am not a true gamer, in the truest sense of the word. I don't play any other games as I only play this one because of my cyber-friends HERE.

you fix the market and the losses in attacks and i will provide the food

[BeeNo]

hey i'm having fun. And for the first time in a long time sky lost a straight networth battle without them being warred. it took work from the whole nation to accomplish but we did it just last month.

anyways, i'm almost always working with at least 1 new player, but taking on too much burns me out.

Gnorf still says he will someday play again, when that will be i have no idea.

we have had a few quiet months in a row here, but hell warring too many months in a row burns me out too. i really believe recruitment threads, or old histories of your nation are needed to give some players the great history of the game, and your nation itself. i remember that was one of the things i love about DAK, gnorfs history of it from its beginning was GREAT!

i know ali's recruitment messages were always extremely well done.

anyways, we have a few vets who still stop in now again. that old SOUL player was here just a few months ago, can't remember her name though. played a set in USA, then made a war nation FEDx i think it was. so they still stop in now again, just maybe not the ones you remember

i'm excited about comp's nation, and i hope it does well.

now i like the idea of throwing a few posts around at random games and i gotta make a plug about blade being a champ. yea blade rock on bro!

and concerning the new attack and missile's in the game, i'm really not liking it. if we were concerned about the top 1 state getting untouchable, that really only happens in the last week of the month. and even then its very doable. just look at the top 10 states of all time.

1 $901.447.779 State: Moradon, Kris(#11)
Spies (8) 12.868.504
Infantry (8) 145.663.507
Tanks (8) 0
Jets(1) 50.013
Bombers(1) 0
SAM(8) 38.012.492
Ships(8) 381.759.496

full stocker can AR break, not easily, but very doable.

1 $770.000.000 cosmic girl, Muinasjutumaa(#4) February, 2009
Spies (8) 17.637.086
Infantry (8) 220.429.152
Tanks (1) 0
Jets(1) 0
Bombers(1) 0
SAM(8) 63.577.989
Ships(8) 307.610.530

an easy GA break.

1 $762.974.395 cosmic girl, Muinasjutumaa(#4)
Spies (8) 14.444.437
Infantry (8) 136.062.753
Tanks (1) 0
Jets(1) 0
Bombers(1) 0
SAM(8) 50.572.256
Ships(8) 315.328.093

another easy GA break.

1 $716.481.929 vussuland, vussu(#41)
Spies (8) 17.637.086
Infantry (8) 220.429.152
Tanks (1) 0
Jets(1) 0
Bombers(1) 0
SAM(8) 63.577.989
Ships(8) 307.610.530

GA break again.

and i can continue on down the line. they all have a weakness somewhere. now can you do it alone with no nation army expanding all month? no. But if you were serious about it absolutely.

point is, do we really want to strip the top state, who invests the time in, of any chance of defending themselves for some random guy?

now i know we haven't had a top state knocked out of the running awhile, but i'm just saying i enjoy making it a challenge to kill the top state in the game. really you only reach close to untouchable with about a week left in the month.

i'm rambling now, but there i said it!

[Mr President]

Also Crimson a lot of the training of new members happens inside the nations forums. The message system isn't used as much as it use to be back in the day. Now granted I don't train like I use to, mainly cause I just don't have the free time, but I still shoot a message as often as I can, and a lot of others help out as well.

USA is about the only one who really uses their in game forums much. As for getting new members, I would love to advertise but we really don't have it in the budget. Yes we could take a risk and spend the money I have saved to pay for the server, but if it fails we are screwed. We have had a few people purchase a premium account the past couple of months and that has been really nice, but that money needs to go to server costs. I will try to budget some money out of my own pocket to cover a small advertising budget and we'll see how that works out. It's worth a shot I guess..

But unless the members we have really step up and do all they can, I don't see it changing much. Heck I even offered a 100 dollar reward to the member who got the most active referrals and that didn't work.. I'm kinda out of ideas so anything anyone has to offer would be great.

Other than Oil (and that will be a while) I don't have any other main changes to the game in the near future. Of course if someone has a good idea then I will work on getting it implemented. I'll hold off on the loans if that's what you all want. (perhaps we need a vote on this). I just thought it would be something new and interesting to be able to do in the game and maybe spark some wars or stir the pot a little.

[Mr President]

One other thing I would like to mention.... About a year ago Vbulletin forced existing owners to purchase there new Vb4 version forums. I was still able to own these existing forums, but there is no longer updates or help for them. I did go ahead and buy the new version and installed it on the test server. It has a lot of neat things that help increase usage all tied in one package.. BUT, if we changed over we would have lost a lot of what we have now. Arcade, casino, vbookie, credit system and a few other things we have on here. Now that the new version has been out for a while some of these might be able to reinstalled and the hooks work properly.. But I can't say for sure..

Maybe a new style of forums completely redone would help increase interaction on the forums as well. I have no problem keeping the current ones but I was just putting it out there that I do own the newest version, just don't use it. Maybe we say goodbye to credits and all that.. Doesn't seem like anyone really uses it anymore anyway.

[Crimson Shadow]

I'm not saying that constant wars are the answer. But we go like 5-6 sets with no wars, then 2 sets with them. I know its a lot harder now, because we have gotten so comfortable with each other that its difficult to come up with a legitimate reason for a war. But they do definitely spark some interest in both the game and forums.

I just want to see people start to care about the game again and taking pride in recruiting. Pres, I wasn't talking about you personally making ads for games. We as the community need to take the initiative and do the advertising themselves.


And yes, I know that the ingame forums have replaced the traditional message system. But there is something about a personal welcoming message that makes you feel more invited than a forum post. Like I said though, the blame also falls on me there because I haven't taken the responsibility to talk to new members either.


I just felt that something needed to be said to stir the pot before things kept going downhill. Because we have been on a long downhill slide and if we don't stop it then who knows where we will end up.