Where do playerworlds fall?
 

Where do you think playerworlds usually lack in or lose the efficency in to prosper?

I say it's definitely the lack of worthy management and lack of effective workers.

PS: Don't flame a playerworld saying something like ex. "Oh well Dev unixmad failed because the staff suck", just state what you think.

Its the players and stefan and unixmad.
The players say they want change, but they dont play it because they rather play on current servers.
Im not talking about the stefan and unixmad problem.

Lack of Staff that know how to create a game. I use the term game rather than playerworld because that is how it should be treated.

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/7...imelineyx2.png
(^ timeline assumes playerworld actually succeeds, majority of the time they don't)

But in all seriousness, servers fail because they're too hyped to get working on stuff without actually putting all the time that's needed into planning. Really, really good planning can shave a few years off dev time, and possibly save a good server. And I don't mean just a small .txt with little details, I mean fleshed out stuff. Sketched maps of the overworld(and perhaps even settings, along with REASONS for a town, personalities and histories of the NPCs), lots and lots of ideas, concrete plans that bring everything together, and a firm, firm idea of what you want.

If you're talking about classic servers... oh, I dunno honestly. Just something doesn't tick for me to bring me in. If I wanted to play an RPG, I'd go play one of the many better ones out there. Era is too laggy for me(I've played 3D games where lag wasn't that big of an issue for me, being on 56k). Hmm, and others just don't seem to offer much. Maybe some would be nice but they insist on ass-ugly tilesets that burn my retina's and push me away from the server. As for the 'classic-type' servers, they offer no direction. I like exploring, but I hate randomly running around doing mindless things hoping I find a quest, and then finding one only to see it's kill a bunch of baddies or push a million blocks. Then find there's nothing to do with the fullheart I gained because the server is dead.

lol @ Jigga

There's just not enough Graal developers out there. Especially when some playerworlds restrict working on multiple playerworlds.

Wow that image made me laugh so hard!

That was golden, Dusty.
But yeah, it depends, it's not always the same reasons and at the same time that a server fails.

Aye, it's the funniest form of truth I've encountered xD

A picture is worth a thousand words, excellent use of graphics Dusty.

Way and way.. too funny! Hahahahaha

Niromia is gone now, one amazing server. It failed in the Development area because we bit off more than we can chew and we all just got bored of the same project.

Even though we finished the project we always seemed to find something else that needed to happened to go hosted.

If anyone questions are work ethics,Niromia probably has the most hours in only 5 constant players.

There were 2 niromian servers, one had a flaw so we got a new one.

Hours on first one:

TalonShriner:800
TheFox:500
Darkenedheart:500
Omega:300

2nd Niromia:
TalonShriner:1300
TheFox:800
Darkenedheart:400
Omega:100
Hikaru:100

Hmm, old symphonia had:

black_prince: 1300-1400
admin-playerworld acct: 1300
FlyVIP: 1200-1300
Mursle: 600-700(?)
Chompy: 300-400

that's top 5, but that was 2-3 months ago though

I should know this exactly seeing has ive had so many failed projects lol But i dont >.>

I vote for the "People get bored with it before its done" option that isn't there. Think about how many unfinished projects people have in their offline lives that are still laying around waiting to be finished.

How can you get bored of a project near completion? I'd think they'd get more excited then bored...o_O

This is so true, the old playerworld I worked for, we had great ideas, but the staff team got impatient and said we would never finish etc.. and quit.. :(

most servers fail at the hiring point because they can't get enough skilled people to do what they want to do so they get the dregs who can't do squat. no offense to anyone..

Because often, towards completion, work rate slows down and people get bored.

Yes, for example on my server I always updated my mudlib to be more efficient and it opened for alot of new stuff, but that required more work etc..

In the end the staff got bored of waiting, because they just wanted to get hosted as fast as possible.

It's better to release a more thought-out server that has been taking into consideration of ideas from players/beta testers/staff members and has for example beta tested the server, instead of just having a big hurry when applying for hosted, in the end you turn out with players finding bugs, glitches and will then abuse it. And then you gotta close the server just to fix stuff and alot of stuff..

I think 1 graphics designer and 1 scripter, who's MAIN goal was to complete the server with mini goals set. Like, for example, first goal would be to get down Battle System or whatever.

Yeah, name how many work like that.

There's so many ways to do things, but people always pick the sloppy "do half here, half there and hope you remember when you come back to the one you did two days ago"

Most servers have this undying urge to get to hosted. Set-up for failure. They begin to rush things and want to hurry up and get there. I don't see the reason. What's so good about getting on hosted? Publicity? Publicity isn't going to get your server finished, only plague you with more responsibility as people now expect more of the server.
Servers should just stay under wraps and enjoy developing for the sole reason of enjoying it. You're doing it for free, the only thing you get out of it is enjoyment, so remember that. Once you've got a huge chunk of it done, THEN worry about going hosted. This removes a lot of the pressure of a huge workload to be done with a lot of expectations.
Systems should be done first, then a small area, a few quests. That should be released, then slowly release new areas and items. So many servers want to get "everything" done and release it. BZZ. Wrong. Sure, it'll work, but it makes things harder on you, especially when it comes to updates. If you have the basic game down and people enjoy it, they'll enjoy it even more by receiving constant updates and releases, giving them always new things. Just make sure there is enough in the beginning release to keep players interested enough to stick around and even see the later updates.
Anyways, that's more of my opinion. And thanks for the comments on my timeline :)

EDIT: Also, I know it may seem all talk and no game coming from a person who has never successfully released a server, I fall victim to my own advice. I often rush things and get bored and such, or go off my own 'track'. But my biggest fall comes from my work ethics. I work on mood. Sometimes I'll have a huge pixeling mood type of thing where I spit out all kinds of graphics(see my free tiles thread), and then suddenly I don't feel like pixeling anymore. Then my ideas fall because I don't feel like working on it anymore. Same with scripting, sometimes I'm oozing with ideas and I script and script to get them all done, then I'm just dried up and don't feel like scripting anymore. If you have members of the team like this, I personally say leave them be(unless they hold back dev for reasons such as abusing power and such), you'll get some work out of them when their mood comes back. But if you fire them, you won't see anything from them at all. Flexibility is a great attitude to take, and makes the people working for you for free feel a lot more comfortable, thus, more inclined to help you.

I believe that my server will probably be the hardest out of any to accomplish...people are not going to want to be a part of it until the middle or near end of its completion, i respect this thought because it indeed does have alot of work ahead of it. We have alot of variety, we have been in the crucial planning stage since the beginning of the summer but even before than, we've been planning just not as much, just a couple of ideas here and there. A servers true downfall is honestly, the lack of the owner's participation. Noone knows the server better than them, noone knows exactly what he or she may want, its up to the owner to not hire anyone until your able to show your staff your capable of working with or without them. Thats how Contiga and Krattos did it on Endora and it worked for me, the shown they didnt need my help, they could do it on their own, but could use it if im willing. Its all physcological. ;D