


12:33 am

Knight
January 13, 2014

I would like to suggest some type of Community Center/Bulletin Board area at spawn.
This could be used to:
(1) advertise a shop not located in the Market building
(2) Announce random things (such as the new Rosebush generator at spawn)
(3) advertise that you want help or residents in your city
(4) Tell people (especially newbies) WHY they should visit a city.
This last one would, I think, be especially helpful. When looking around, we see many sea ships and airships. The names, for the most part, don't tell us much.
Why should someone get on a ship to Highmoor? Why should they go to Terrorisly's city? Why should they pick the ship to SmallVilla?
If, however, there was a bulletin board, people could put up a sign saying "Visit the Castle of Highmoor via the "x" colored ship" or "Stained glass artistry can be found via the Pink Balloon" or "Amazing, large-scale, realistic architecture is in Vetra!"
I would suggest a limit of 2 signs per residence. 1 sign per out-of-Vetropolis shop.
And, if the BB got crowded, perhaps on the first of every month it is cleaned off.
People could either post the sign themselves, or request it to be posted (with preferred text) in the forums.
Also, a Community area could be maintained by someone (a mod or volunteer) that says WHERE some ships take you.
Example: "Farthest North Portal Ship is ....."
or "Closest Portal ship to desert is...."
and "Portal ships closest to large amounts of unclaimed land are.... "
These questions are frequently asked by new people...and I know I spent way too much time trying to figure it out. I still have no idea.
I make this suggestion because, although I know much of this info can be found on the Forums, it seems that 2/3rds of the people never go there. Including people who are on a lot.
Thanks for considering.
8:11 am

Staff Alumni
February 1, 2012

8:32 am
April 27, 2013

9:27 am

Viceroy

Senior Mod
June 1, 2012

I LIKE the idea, but I must be getting jaded....my mind is instantly going to the issues that could arise with this:
- "Free signs!"
- "Someone took my sign down and put their own up!"
- "I'm going to plaster the entire board with my signs."
- "Don't visit X, it sucks!"
The big one being "free signs," of course. Whatever dispensary we provide will be emptied out, and folks will clear the signs off and keep them just cuz they can. I'm not talking about veterans, but n00bs, of course.
Personally, rather than a completely unlimited board which is uncontrolled, what about a board where cities/builds are granted the right to a sign subzone? They can put information there and it can't be removed by folks wanting a "free sign" or who want the center/eye-level spot for themselves.
After that, if there is an area for "free-for-all" "post at your own risk" signs, that would be alright, but I wouldn't suggest dispensing signs.
I share Light's concerns and also the concern of how ugly this whole thing could be and where exactly it would go, but it might be worth it to just do a test run with Tony's method and if it works it works if it doesn't it doesn't.
Slocum, the embassies were actually the original idea to solve 'where do i go', but they're since defunct. Just sayin it's something we've thought about before.
Maybe we could just approve trusted people to have permission in the community forum area.
10:33 am
August 18, 2011

While the concept makes sense, the reality of it is otherwise. LWK nailed most of the cons. Adding to that:
- Low-bandwidth. Not much information can be transferred with a single sign unless messages are severely abbreviated. I'd guess that it would take anywhere from 2-4 signs on average for someone to post whatever point they have.
- Large area. It would take several large walls to hold all signs.
- It is unmanageable. We could get clever with Residence, requiring repeated permission changes and setups whenever someone wants to post. Ignoring the fact that it would be an entirely manual process; that is not the purpose of Residence.
- People don't read signs either. We have numerous signs already in the starter zone and at our arrival point. Yet, how many times do we see questions asked that were already answered thereby?
- Yet another reason not to read the forums. This one should be obvious.
Frankly, getting members to read the forums is a community task, especially when it comes to orienting new additions. While some new members may require extensive hand-holding, it is everyone's responsibility to get them to become self-reliant. Eventually, they should know better and rather than delivering answers on a silver platter they should be reminded to RTFF (Read The Fun|Fantastic|Free Forums)... you get the point, right?
10:35 am

Viceroy

Senior Mod
June 1, 2012

meatbawllz said Maybe we could just approve trusted people to have permission in the community forum area.
I like that. It wouldn't be hard to get perms for it, just being a member of the server for a bit so we know they wouldn't rape the sign storage or remove other folks' signs.
I do like the idea of build-specific spots on the board, though. If my sign could have an Emerald Block behind it, I'd be happy. Vetra with Quartz, Rhodes with Gold, etc.
12:41 pm

Knight
January 13, 2014

I am glad my comment is being considered. Of course I had no idea the "Idiot Problems" or bandwidth issues that could occur, since I have never run a site like this.
I may be delusional, but I think people should be able to sum up why to visit their city on 2 signs. I mean... people can communicate a stupid amount in 140 Twitter characters.
As an example, I have a million things I would want to tell people to entice them to come to my city. The Spider Trap, a big tower they can jump off of, free things, a new Hide & Seek arena (with both PvP and non-PvP), smelting ovens, villagers to trade with, archery set-up, a little PvP arena and Parkour training thing, etc etc blah blah.
BUT...I can boil it down to "SmallVilla free stuff, info for newbies, PvP & more"
That could fit on two signs, I am sure. And, I could routinely change them.
As for other concerns: Bad mouthing someone's city ("such and such sucks") could be a reason for a temp or perm ban, as could any destruction or anti-social behavior. I mean, you wouldn't allow that behavior in other parts of the game, right?
If you have the patience, I do have comments regarding a couple other things Frelling mentioned:
(Please understand, all the following is from the viewpoint of a User/Player. Not a web-designer/admin. I am just saying how I have responded to things, which, based on what I see with other new players, is sorta kinda normal.)
* People don't read signs. Oh my yes. So true. But... I think the biggest problem is that the signs with the most valuable information are the ones right after getting off the Spawn Ship. I hope we could agree I am a reasonably intelligent person who tries to help herself during the game. And ya know what? I didn't read any of those Port-located signs.
Why? Because I had just spent 20 minutes reading signs for the Trials. Then finally (finally!) I was through and ready to play...and I am hit with... a bazillion more signs. It is just too much. Especially since at first glance (if you don't read them) it appears to be the same info again. There is major sign-overload after departing the ship, and I fully understand the mindset of the people that don't read them.
I do have some suggestions, that may or may not be feasible, as to how to help the sign-overload problem. And I can present those to you later if you are interested.
* People need to go to the forums. Yes they do. And I have made a habit out of checking them. But... only because I got nosy one day. Initially, I entirely dismissed them. The reason is: I am used to forums looking active. This one doesn't. At first glance, I look at post time stamps and see "2 weeks ago" "4 weeks ago" "6 days ago" etc.
Yes, if I look harder I will find "1 day ago" and "2 hours ago" etc. But they don't appear frequently. In my mind (and I guess of others) there is no point perusing a forum that has outdated discussions and info.
I would suggest taking time-stamps off "sticky" type posts (if possible), and moving your "most recent discussions" section up higher, so new folks can see at an instant it is active.
Also...and this is the harder part...some of us would have to make a true effort to start and reply to threads to keep things active. Almost anytime I mention the "IRL" thread in chat, people don't know about it and run to check. Ditto with ban things (gossip rules).
So we also need to mention -- in chat -- the COOL things that are in the forums, and not just an announcement or such.
Finally a comment you might think is really silly/dumb regarding the forums:
I admit to being ditzy at times. But my husband did the same thing, so maybe it isn't just me/us.
There is something counter-intuitive about the fact that the Top Menu Bar of the main page *IS* a link itself. And, if I remember correctly, that fact isn't consistent either.
Initially, both my husband and I hovered over the "Forums" menu and saw the drop down of "members." We never saw a "forums" link. And, when a drop down appears, there is something in our web-user brain that doesn't tell us the top word might also be a link. It took me a week or so to have the light-bulb appear over my head. Especially since not all the Menu words are also links.
If you think, how often do people say, in chat, "But how do I get to the forums?" (and then they are told "go to the website"). This, I think, is what they mean.
A simple change of, under the forums Menu link, making another "Forums" link above the "Members" link could solve some problems with people finding the forums.
Did that make any sense?
I know it is weird.
1:14 pm

Staff Alumni
February 1, 2012

Oh dear, I really didn't think this thread would get any attention until I had time to get home and explain my plan a little more. I'm on my phone so excuse any autocorrect errors.
Since this is just a proof of concept test, I was going to put it where that little rosebush thing I made is (made that for fun one day to show someone hopper carts).
It would be a donor only board, with Residence it's a simple few commands and you don't have to worry about change permissions anymore. This nips issues of n00b abuse and sign theft, while keeping it administratively lightweight.
The sign dispenser would be flush with the ground, unibtrusive, and simple.
My goal with this test would be to see how the community handles it, and if there is a measurable benefit outside of the placebo effect of folks feeling like their signs are being seen.
If in a month or so it sits abandoned, it will be removed. All in all, I'm looking to keep this simple and hands off - my expectations aren't high, but five minutes of set up is well worth the chance to test something new for our community.
Anthony Hughes
2:58 pm

Staff Alumni
February 1, 2012

12:30 am

Staff Alumni
February 1, 2012

Just a heads up I've added a drop down item for the forum as well as for the VC wiki (perhaps you had this issue with it as well).
I will look into seeing how to distinguish sticky posts more.
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