The Ideal Playerworld
 

In my opinion these are the qualities that make an ideal playerworld:

Levels showing style, new things, not just random garbage from the tileset thrown everywhere. Try to evenly spread what is in the level, do not fill it up with things, leave some normal grass tiles but not too many, fill up as much as you can with other tiles so it looks presentable. Do NOT make it look like someone went a bit over the top with the Miracle-Gro.

NPCs and NPCWs showing originality, we've all seen the new creatures (i.e. Bomies) and they are nice to have but try to be original in making them, make them do new things. Systems work well with PW (e.g. Chat System) but make sure they are actually needed before you implement them. Other NPCs, make sure they are scripted properly and fully tested for bugs before releasing them to the public, no one wants to see something that is supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread then to find out that it doesn't work

Quests! Originality is important here. Don't make the overdone slash the baddies in three rooms to get a useless prize (Think Maloria's Element Demons). Instead make interesting (e.g You must go through several areas, collecting things, doing other things before you actually get your prize, that may also lead onto another quest). There must be good levels in the quests too, otherwise people will think they are too ugly to see and not do them. Make sure the rewards at the end are worth what they went through. No one in their right mind would go through a long and gruelling quest, just so that they could get a bow and vice-versa. Also if you wish make them challenging with lots of puzzles.

Graphics must be above par if you are to suceed with your playerworld. Make new tiles, if you are feeling rather adventurous, make a whole new tileset, however, if you do this. Make it so that it doesn't look like someone butchered the normal tileset then dragged it through a bush backwards. Hire good and well known graphic artists in Graal. Graphics for NPCs must be exceptional, especially if you are making them for new races and baddies.

Storyline, this is optional but it is preferrable. If you want a storyline make it original, don't try to copy off classic or anything else for that matter, plaguerism is looked down upon by most. Plan out the storyline, build it up over time, there are several ways you can go about this but one thing is. Make it interesing.

Staff. Absolutly no backdoor hiring. Hire proven people if they will join your crusade. Make sure the person that you are giving an NPC Admin tag to can work with NPCs. This goes for everything Levels, GFX, ET, Police, etc. Make sure they can and will do their jobs, no use hiring a lazy person.

There always must be something to do. Be it Events, quests, jobs etc. If there is nothing to do a player will leave, if there is something new and exciting to do, they will stay, simple logic isn't it?

Roleplaying, this bit depends if you want it to be an RP playerworld, but a good server would mix RPing and Non-RPing together so it lived in Harmony (2k1 is a good example but it has gone slightly downhill as of late). Make sure there are places for the RPing guilds/Kingdoms that are properly built, preferribly overground, on many playerworlds there are underground castles, one or two is okay but not too many.

Rules, be strict but fair, if you catch a rule-breaker, get both sides of the story, examine the evidence at hand, if they are found guilty, throw them in the slammer or ban them.
If they are innocent, let them go.

Overall the playerworld must have a catch to it! That makes it so that people want to play it. The hook could be anything from brilliant levels to good NPCs or exceptional graphics. It could even be the friendly staff. There must always be something new and exciting waiting round the next corner.

-Kiirar (has a cramp in wrist)

yea ok.....thats very detailed and long...but accually that is ur opinion and its a very good opinion a agree to what ur saying...think anyone can make ur "ideal playerworld"

Possibly, if they put more effort into it, Graal seems to be lacking that nowadays.

what they are lacking over all? or just some parts?

People are lacking motivation and inspiration in Graal simply because it's become bland and boring.

He seems to pretty much point out what should make a good playerworld. I think wht Graal lacks is partially motivation, but mainly organization. Too many power hungry people and it's causing the game to be more disorganized.

Nice summary. NOW MAKE IT :D

Basically if Graal was more orginized, the pws would be a lot better and more successful, not like X

No, Graal will never become a "perfect" place because it's a Game and many rational staff are aware of that, thus not being very responsible and always having something more important to do (like life).

It's easier said, than done.

Make it?! Have you gone insane :P

Yeah too bad the ideal playerworld can't exist, but I'm sure this can do as a template :P

people are not power hungry.

But for most servers, Lat's, gat's, and nat's do not get rc
If you were making levels, or scripts, or graphics for a server would you not want a little more of a reward then a staff tag and a "thanx"

Did anyone say anything about Power Hungry staff?

Oh, my mistake


I am the cause of mental ailments, I am the cure too

Tell people that you're making a playerworld project and say that you're hiring at all positions. The first position to get filled up will be Admins, then GP's, then FAQ's, then ET's, then LAT's, NAT's, and GAT's.

I see it as lots of power hungry people out there. If you leave it as just hiring LAT's, NAT's, and GAT's you won't get as many people asking for those positions like they do for the others.

erm....no one's perfect..so...graal isnt perfect..if it was..it would be scary

Now THAT was scary

I think the number one thing Graal/Graal PW's need is INNOVATION. There is nothing innovative about any of the current pw's. There might be a few things on 2k2 but it's still not that innovative that makes you stop and say "WOW".

Every pw I go on or hear about is all about the same thing. Same fighting, same way of doing everything, same time settings, everything. Nearly every pw has to copy 2k1 for some reason. I don't know why, but it's like a ritual it seems.

The pw's that are trying to make a difference by throwing in a stat system aren't putting much effort towards innovation. They basically take a stat system that is commonly used in rpgs, and place it into Graal.

I want to see crazy pw's where the players are all lizard people, or you fight battles by picking people up and throwing them into things, or you could make a pw where the players play as baddies, and you go around killing townspeople and stealing stuff from houses in order to be the most evil baddie in the land.

Do you share a brain with me? ;)

If you want to see some innovation then why are you making a stat system that's a blatant Secret of Mana copy, and why aren't you doing any of these things you mention in your post?

I agree ;)

But again, it's not easy to really be innovative...all things that we come up with have already been done in some fashion, just not that we may be aware of. :(

As long as it's something that's new to Graal, it doesn't really matter, does it? ;)

Grim Squeaker:

In that case Konidias' SoM system is innova... Or wait, the Hat System also uses such a wheel thing, bleh it still looks nice, which is what I care about, at least in this case. :P

I agree with that too :D

Asthetics are good :)

As long as there is something to do on the server that's enjoyable and can entertain me for a while I'll be happy.

I think there should be a completly 2d playerworld. Like Zal labs, only the entire PW. That would be new.

It would be too much like a platform game.

Personally, I'd love to see Graal 3D completed or at least a completely 3D graal server :)

I'd love to see Graal take a rag-nar-ok approach, 3d levels, everything else 2d.

I'd love to play Graal in a style that of Zelda64 :)

If Stefan reads all these demands he's gonna faint ;)

The inventory system I am making is innovative. It isn't a "blatant SoM copy" The system is different, and I wish you wouldn't comment on things when all you have seen is screenshots. Same with saying I have nothing innovative on Oasis. You know this.. how?

Plus, I will have ideas like that in Oasis. I have it all planned. So don't go jumping on my back like I'm contradicting myself. (it seems you love trying to find an open wound you can attack)

By the way, if I could, I would have made something different than Oasis, like not medieval at all and not a classic like rpg. But I'm kind of too far into development and stuff to turn around and change the entire concept. However, I have ways of working around that. ;)

An open wound..right. Anyways, that system may be different but you got the basic premise from Secret of Mana, did you not? The menus are all aligned in the shape of a pentagon and it spins around. How much more innovative can you get? I'd really like to see how, just curious. I'm not trying to "attack" you Konidias, it's a simple question, I can tell a lot from screenshots.

Grim Squeaker:

Graal 2002? (Kidding :P)

-Addition

Building playerworlds. Using level generator to make a giant map may seem like a good idea but it is really difficult to make the actual world from it, generate a small-medium size part detail that part as much as you can. When that is done add some levels bit by bit until it builds up creating the playerworld that you want. If you create one gigantic playerworld/project, yet have nothing on it, where does that leave you? It may take months to fill it up. Start out small, then expand.

I guess you're a LAT/NAT/GAT on a server, right?
I will explain why they don't get RC...

If we (Managers) start to give out RCs to every staff, we are lost... Too many power distributed at too many hands... It would become a mess... For example, if you're a LAT, and build a level and upload, then another LAT comes and update "your" (since it's uploaded, it's not yours anymore) level, what happens? You get mad and start fighting and discussing with him/her...
Maybe you or he/she is crazy and deletes what she/he has access to at the RC...

Unless you want RC only to chat, that's stupid....
Think, before you say...

The Power Structure is set for a reason and is no big secret when you join Staff. All the Staff should work as a team and not independently of each other with the Manager organizing the work.IF a person is just after RC or power and not after the best interest of the server then you don't want them anyway.Everyone has their own talents and what they are best at and should stick to doing that, its the Managers use and being able to recongnize those talents that makes things go smoother.Each part of Staff is important to the server no matter what postion they hold and all staff need to take pride in what they do and know whatever job they hold is appreciated if they do it well. This is the way it is on Npulse and I can only speak for Npulse on the way it is done.

Unfortunatly, most people are just looking to get an RC and are not interested in the server's well being.