While there are so many things about GS I would change if I could....
WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU WOULD CHANGE IF YOU WERE IN CHARGE? And what would you change it to?
Aerienne reg
The One Thing I Could Change...
Hire more GMs dedicated to JUST roleplay.
One for each of the towns and no where else, so that they don't have to go far to watch. Award people who are roleplaying well, penalize those who are being painfully OOC, and have them do one tiny player-run event that is stirred by an NPC. reg
Make policy crystal clear.
.
.
.
Oh, are these supposed to be realistic requests? 
reg
Actually, I'm going to cheat and have 2.
(1) De-link trainings and character age.
(2) Instead of level caps, I'd cap the number of times a character could train a week/month/year/whatever. 3 times a month would still get someone to the rift in three years - and would enable someone who doesn't hunt 24/7 to keep up with their contemporaries and not lose the relationships they form.
Ylena
(has more, but will refrain) reg
Personally some of the PvP conflicts be more allowable. I think if 5 train "Snert" messes with 60 train Older character, the older charater should beable to take some sort of recourse, and not have his hands tied to do nothing. I think their is way to much, messing with someone to the point that they get angry, and kill the character, and the dead character call for a ASSIST. I do believe that their are wrongful deaths that need a ASSIST too, and I by no mean support them, but I think there needs to be a little more common sense on some of these characters parts. reg
1. I'd make the game free and only allow people to play that have come up with long narratives on plans for their characters...
reg
I couldn't decide between getting rid of BLATANT MA'ers or Having someone police the GM favoritsm and or abuse of mechanics towards their PCs.
Anticor Rifling, Giantman Wizard reg
I'd take all of Tedra's items and give'm to a newbie...
I'd suit up Kodos in newbie clothing...
I'd make Kranar a cleric...
Bring back Jesh...
Bring back Meta...
Make myself a mean snot. reg
I have a list of changes too, but one of the first things I would do is lower the price of that darn Vaalin Lockpick in the Rogue's Guild. It makes me completely whacko when I snap a brand new 125k lockpick on an easy lock because of a fumble. Grrr....
Summer reg
i have 2...
1) dump Melissa.. the game has lost 1/2 it's player base under her stewardship
2) dump the text and make it graphical.
Text based games are dinosaurs now...
you ought to see the people in the game zone chat room... "Is it just text?" "Where's the pictures?"
i have DAoC on my xmas list...... but then again, i also have a new motor for my race car on it, too...LOL
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Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie"....
until you can find a rock! reg
Changing only one thing wouldn't solve what I consider to be the problem. But changing a couple of things would. Here they are:
Recode the entire game to make it work fluidly and efficiently from a mechanics standpoint.
Have 1 GM who interacts with the players for every 50 players, and cap the population when you run out of staff for it until you can hire enough to accommodate the extra.
Create an OOC area where *characters* don't exist. Use that for GM interaction for everything except roleplay between the GM's NPCs and the characters. Do not allow the staff to show up in the game *as staff* at all, for any reason.
Ban and enforce any instance of being unresponsive in the game longer than a few minutes at a time. Use the three strikes method - third strike gets a 30 day lockout.
Ban ebonics and real-world gang-related anything.
R
reg
The "one" thing I would change would be the policy. They should rip the whole thing up and start from scratch. I know there are actually some good parts of the policy, but it's so vague and can be (and usually is) interpreted so many different ways by different people--I feel a re-write would be necessary..of course with some changes. reg
If theres one thing i could change, id give me a constant 4x rpa. 
-John
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-bReAkZ nATiOnZ-
- breakznation@aol.com
- AIM: highlord42o reg
quote:
Originally posted by GOD:
If theres one thing i could change, id give me a constant 4x rpa.-John
That would make you a great GM under the present circumstances. <ducks> reg
I would say policy is the biggest issue. Then actually enforce it. They redid some of it. But only bandaids.
edge reg
Free quests. Some spanning days...some only hours. Digging and prodding with a group of talented players is a joy.
I would focus less on the monster slaying for experience. Have other ways of gaining...for instance building ( say the kobolds leveled the Landing...those who stayed could have a hand in rebuilding the town)
reg
I couldn't just change one thing, but here's what I would do off the top of my head:
1. Make the game 18+
2. Rewrite policy so that everyone (including GMs) know exactly what the rules are, and enforce it.
3. Eliminate pay-per-events.
4. Have REAL quests (and not charge people extra for them. See #3.)
5. Eliminate basic/premium and just have one pricing plan. Maybe meet halfway and make it $20 for everyone. No basic, no premium.
6. Enforce roleplaying. Ban the usage of TTM and ::bounces and hugs and giggles:: and all that other crap.
7. Ban all zombies.
8. Beg Aephir to come back.
9. Pay the GMs so things actually get done.
10. Redo the constable system.
11. Put GMs behind the NPCs in town or wherever. Much better than hearing Sleepy talk about blue roltons when there's an invasion going on around him and bodies piling up.
12. Let people go on with RL cash sales, but after the transaction, just destroy the item and/or yank the coins purchased out of their account. That way people can't threaten to sue Simu over being "locked out unfairly". Everything in the game belongs to Simu so they can do what they want with it whenever they want.
13. Hire a special group of GMs whose only priority is #12.
That's all for now. reg
1. make death mean something.
which includes:
a.no deed system (don't get raised? back to the mangler...)
b.item droppage, looting of corpses (players and monsters)
c.chance of perma death on every raise (which decreases as cleric gets older)
d.in town killings = realtime jailtime (days/weeks)
this, along with the cheater ylena's TWO suggestions would remove 90% of gemstones problems
'lood
coeincidently, 90% of the population... reg
No lockouts, an outcast island for 3 months real time where you just have players pissin the hell outta eachother...grin toss some real old stuff in there to drain down deeds and such... thatd be fun reg
Just curious Methais.. Is your rule about 18+ because of Simutronics liabilities and the "this is a family game" banter, or is it because you think that those whom are under 18 can't roleplay and play this game like it's a first person shooter with text?
Once again, just curious. reg
In defense of Methais' 18+ suggestion. A look from a different angle, everyone always says "Why is it because teenagers can't role play, that is such a blanket statement, etc."
How about this for a change, by making this an all age player based game you are stifling me with the constraints that I must be "barneyized" I am not allowed to show extreme frustration, hatred, emotion, because I might warp the youth present in the game. If you make it a 18+ gaming enviroment you will still have those that act like 6 yearolds, it happens.
How about this for a change, by making this an all age player based game you are stifling me with the constraints that I must be "barneyized" I am not allowed to show extreme frustration, hatred, emotion, because I might warp the youth present in the game. If you make it a 18+ gaming enviroment you will still have those that act like 6 yearolds, it happens.
Think about it if you are forging and you hit your thumb with a hammer you are supposed to say "Ouch oh gee I struck my thumb and flattened it, whatever will I do." I don't care who you are if you are using a forging hammer and you crack that finger you will be using some colorful adj. I am not saying turn the game into a gutter mouth free for all, but at least let us have the ability to express ourselves properly.
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Anticor Rifling, Giantman Wizard reg
Eh, all GM's are volunteers apparently from what I hear on these boards. Simple enough, people with creative writing skills volunteering for small day-long or weekend quests. Maybe if you aren't power hunting or sitting inattentively and notice something a little peculiar, you'll earn a little bit of experience or a few coins. I could spit out like nineteen fun, simple little quests that anybody no-matter age or profession could take part in and enjoy. I've bounced my ideas off a few players and they all crapped themselves over 'em.
P.S. If you argue that coding skills would be necessary, I'd argue that if the engine that runs Gemstone couldn't be easily manipulated by a pimply-faced sixteen year old, the game wouldn't still be around. reg
quote:
Originally posted by I think I'm Dead:
P.S. If you argue that coding skills would be necessary, I'd argue that if the engine that runs Gemstone couldn't be easily manipulated by a pimply-faced sixteen year old, the game wouldn't still be around.
LOL, any teen geek can probably learn how to code. That's not the issue. But are they mature, trustworthy, reliable? Have enough life experience to know what it's like to be in a position of responsibility and handle it?
Or could it be as simple as in most states, you don't reach the age of majority until you are 18 years old, which means you can't sign binding contracts until then, or NDA agreements. In other words, you aren't seen as an adult.
Which is evident by the actions and comments of some who post here, too.
Gervaise the ace reg
quote:
LOL, any teen geek can probably learn how to code. That's not the issue. But are they mature, trustworthy, reliable? Have enough life experience to know what it's like to be in a position of responsibility and handle it?
Maybe not, but ask that same question of the majority of people , regardless of age, and you might get similiar responses.
'lood
reg
Besides, the fact that many of the coders are sitting at home on their own computer is where the problem lies. If and when they should leave, they take all their notes and work with them, so the people left have to sit and wonder "What was Soandso working on?" "Gee I don't know. He hadn't uploaded anything in weeks." ::smirks::
They should have coders (anyone working for Simu for that matter) in ONE LOCATION so that when a coder or GM decides to up and leave, they have all the information in the computer that they own.
Pay all coders, development, and GM people full time as their full time job and eliminate the mentors (no offense really to them, but what the hell do we have CHE houses for new players for?!).
[This message has been edited by CrystalTears (edited 01-29-2002).] reg
You people totally misinterpreted what I said. Good one. reg
You folks just totally missed what he was saying, missed the whole point of his post.
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I got no dukes. reg
That was wierd...
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I got no dukes. reg
Bah, my post really didn't have anything to do with what anyone said. I took the word "coder" and ran with it on my own tangent. reg
We may now infer, based on CrystalTear's recent post, that she is irrelevant.
That is all.
reg
I'll deal with you later, woman. 
reg
regMight wanna read the person's post next time, it helps to formulate a coherent response.
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I got no dukes.
[This message has been edited by Fralcon (edited 01-29-2002).] reg