How is the Zone?

[Outnumberd]

How is the zone doing currently?

Are more people coming or is it still very slow?

Do you think making a smaller public arena would bring more users?

[The Cubbies]

Delic asked me to post for him. He says the zone is doing great. We could use more players in the off hours, but things look promising.

[»Maverick]

Decide for yourself (not meant negatively)

[Emblazon]

Considering how the zone had been for the months prior to my rejoining staff and accepting the HSysOp position, the zone had 0-3 players max. At least now, we have our spike of population each day, getting about 15-30 in the zone during those times. The zone isn't in great shape, by any means. But, in my opinion, it is doing better than it was under the guidance of previous HSysOp.

[Delic]

Thank you Cubs.

 

Yes, the zone is indeed doing better than before, for whatever reason.

 

I've already expressed my view and opinion as to why, so therefor I won't here and this post can be classified as useless.

[Trip']

I think it's time that 17th attempt to jump to the next level. Its been like this for a few mths now with 15-30 coming in each night. If the zone is going to make a come back it needs to continually move forward, the way its lookin right now, the zone isnt goin any further. It just seems to be stuck at this point in its revival.

 

I suggest, something be hosted 3-4 times a week. From noticing that DT brings in a higher and longer lasting pop spike than the usual night, I really think an event hosted every other night or something like that will do the same. I'm not sayin only one event should be hosted, but somethin different each night.

[Vile Requiem]

Snoo's been around long enough where he's heard everything that could possibly be suggested.

 

He'll figure it out I reckon.

[Emblazon]

If it was that simple, even pernille would have gotten it <_< . In all seriousness though, if it was that simple, it would have been done already. Anyone that knows me and what I've done for this zone knows how long I've been here, and Vile couldn't have said it any better than he did. I've seen all the things staff has tried in the past. I've heard all the things people suggest. I've heard all the miraculous plans to save 17th. I do admit though that I agree with Trip', however, this was not a new concept. We have been wanting to get more weekly events going, it is just a matter of what events and when to do them. Perhaps we can give this topic meaning, and have people post what they would like to see be a weekly event in 17th. I know there aren't many players using this forum these days, but every little bit counts.

[The Cubbies]

Weekly sblball a while back seemed to work. Also we had 20+ people show up to rumble that one time Vegita organized it and the bot went down.

[NBVegita]

Actually we had over 30 and the best part is it was with only 5 or 6 hours notice

[Jayfortyfive]

The sblball was good cubs, and now with the addition of several new events that are ready to play (with others in devving stages) from Chambahs, Snoo, Manus and whoever else, we should be able to provide fresh events along with a few classics throughout the week, and what most people don't realize, is that it's not only about us sysops or staff bringing in all the pop with nightly events, but it's about you all spreading the word on the events in other zones to your friends etc, I don't want you to advertise, just be friendly and offer them the zone with our new events, bots, and gfx.

 

Try it.

[PaRa$iTe]

Usually if there are already people playing 17th when I start SS, I hop in to check and play for a while. I'm pretty sure many others do so too. If you only got 4-5 playing constantly..

No, I'm not arrogant enough to think I'm the only one who's come up with this, but it could really help. Nobody wants to play in an empty zone, and if everybody leaves after events, they don't really help.

[Trip']

Ya know what would be cool. In terms of keeping events "fresh". I've seen a lot of orginal events being developed by a lot of people, this already being mentioned on this thread. Maybe we should host 1 new event each week. Like a promotion type deal for that particular event. And then the next week, we host another new event that was developed. And at the end of each month we hold a vote for which event should be a new regular event. And the others that lost that vote will go at it again the next month with new events continually being developed.

 

Now thats only 4 new events in the first mth, and maybe 1-2 new events being developed in the mths afterward. There are a lot of ideas for events out there that can be put into action. And hay, maybe old events that havent played for years can be put into this category as well!

[Jayfortyfive]

Yeah i'm down for that. Sounds like a pretty good idea to me. Just need to figure out a good time when people would be interested in coming and trying out a new event, and the new event would give credits on the credit bot for public to the winner(s).

 

I like it trip.

[Manus Celer Dei]

speaking of events, myself and Emblazon are working on a new event. It doesn't have a map (or a lot of other stuff) yet but feel free to check it out in ?go reef

[Emblazon]

Actually we had over 30 and the best part is it was with only 5 or 6 hours notice

Simple fact.. vegita is good. Vegita, just rejoin staff. You know you want to. Quit your job and leave your life behind to live the awesome, online 17th life. thats living.

 

Ya know what would be cool. In terms of keeping events "fresh". I've seen a lot of orginal events being developed by a lot of people, this already being mentioned on this thread. Maybe we should host 1 new event each week. Like a promotion type deal for that particular event. And then the next week, we host another new event that was developed. And at the end of each month we hold a vote for which event should be a new regular event. And the others that lost that vote will go at it again the next month with new events continually being developed.

 

Now thats only 4 new events in the first mth, and maybe 1-2 new events being developed in the mths afterward. There are a lot of ideas for events out there that can be put into action. And hay, maybe old events that havent played for years can be put into this category as well!

I too like this idea. we may just put something like this into action, we'll keep ya posted.

 

The sblball was good cubs, and now with the addition of several new events that are ready to play (with others in devving stages) from Chambahs, Snoo, Manus and whoever else, we should be able to provide fresh events along with a few classics throughout the week, and what most people don't realize, is that it's not only about us sysops or staff bringing in all the pop with nightly events, but it's about you all spreading the word on the events in other zones to your friends etc, I don't want you to advertise, just be friendly and offer them the zone with our new events, bots, and gfx.

i have been working on many events with various people, including chambahs, manus, driverx, nahtaivel gnik, etc. and the reason for that is that i really think pub is fine the way it is, and history has shown that changing pub, no matter how grand the idea, doesnt really work all that well. so our focus isnt on pub. events keep players interested, fresh events keep players in the zone.

 

speaking of events, myself and Emblazon are working on a new event. It doesn't have a map (or a lot of other stuff) yet but feel free to check it out in ?go reef

of course, its only in the beginning stages, so bear with us. its a whole new concept, and its all based around balance among the ships.

[NBVegita]

The hardest part will be to keep putting up QUALITY events on a timeframe. Remember back when pern instated her "freaky friday" same kinda idea, just a new pub map every week, all of a sudden all they had was !@#$%^&*ty pub maps, and then it stopped all together. Maybe give each event more than one shot to see if people like/dislike it. I mean if they hate it, get rid of it right away, but playing it once in a month and then having to vote on if you like it or not is kinda hard to do.

 

Maybe try to schedule it twice a week, for 2 weeks. Give people a taste of how the event runs. Then move on to the next. I can see introducing 2 new events in a month, but 4 is kinda hard, even for the first month. Remember...baby steps...baby steps...

 

Overall not a bad idea.

[Outnumberd]

I Personally like events more than the public but the public is fun also. I don't

want anyone to think that I'm anti-events <_< . In fact thats mostly what I play.

I think all the input that has been said is good. But if you look at other zones

one of their main attractions is the Public arena. Not events. If new players

join into a game they don't instantly go to sub-arena events. When I first started

playing back in 2001 I didn't even know how to join a different event let alone fly

my ship around.

 

Now I'm not saying that weekly events are bad. In fact I feel the current staff right now is

doing a good job fixing the zone. It's an awesome

idea and when implimented correctly will boost the zone,

but I am saying that the public should be your major attractor. That is where

all the experienced players come from.

 

A good example of this is the most "popular" zone. Trench Wars. Now I'm not to big

of a trench wars fan but a lot of their events involve their public arena. They have

a lot of maxed out public arenas and MOST of their experienced players play public too.

I think its awesome seeing Emblazon playing public. That helps players see that even

the staff likes their own arena.

 

Maybe I'm incorrect.. I've never ran a zone before but from a player's point of view this is

what I see.

 

Input?

[NBVegita]

You are right about public. I've been saying that for years, you need to have a strong pub and strong events/leagues. There must be a balance as the zone cannot rely on just one or the other. But what I think emb is saying is that he feels that our public is strong enough at the moment and that he wants to work more on events, that he feels are weaker atm.

 

I think our pub is attractive enough, if you have enough players playing at once. But thats the key, if you have enough players, and I believe emb is trying to use events to draw and keep players in the zone for longer periods of time so that pub can grow off of it.

 

Just my outtake on emb's actions.

[Trip']

vegita, my thought was host 4 new events in the first mth, which there have been more than 4 new ones made already. then at the end of the mth we vote for the best one to become a mainstay (or something to that effect). The 3 events that lost the vote will try again the next mth with a new event coming in. So thats only 1 event having to be made every month, and Ive been hearing there have been around 10-12 already made. I'm sure this can easily be done, in terms of having a consistent run of good events coming in and not running out of ideas fast and having crappy events.

 

This also can be done with old events that havent been played for years. Ya know like billiards or repel, we can put one of those old events in the monthly contest or whatever ya wanna call it. but anyway its work time, gtg.

[Emblazon]

I think its awesome seeing Emblazon playing public. That helps players see that even

the staff likes their own arena.

ive always loved the zone. ive been here for over 5 years, and ive never called any other zone my "home zone". i did run KI for a while.. but theres a reason im back in 17th and its not because KI didnt go anywhere.

 

Just my outtake on emb's actions.

and you'd be absolutely halfway right. lol. i do think that events have become stale and.. pretty much.. all jav. im not saying all events are jav-based, but most of the popular ones are, and this day in age, we dont have the javelin population for those events to support the zone. so, new multiship events need to be made to make up for this loss of javelin population. but also, id rather not make major changes to pub. history has proved that the players are never more than 50% satisfied with pub. it has been tried, and tried, and tried, and tried again. i truly believe what pub needs is to be taken out of the spotlight that it has been under for the past 3 years and divide that light throughout the entire zone. pub needs to have the focus taken off of it. have we forgotten so soon that the constant changes to pub nearly killed the zone off for good? the zone needs stability more than anything, and constant, unchanging pub is, in my view, a good step towards that.

[Telson]

A good example of this is the most "popular" zone. Trench Wars. Now I'm not to big

of a trench wars fan but a lot of their events involve their public arena. They have

a lot of maxed out public arenas and MOST of their experienced players play public too.

I think its awesome seeing Emblazon playing public. That helps players see that even

the staff likes their own arena.

 

Maybe I'm incorrect.. I've never ran a zone before but from a player's point of view this is

what I see.

 

Input?

 

The problem with 17th's pub is that there is no center of interest. Yes there is the powerball but not enough focus is put into the ball game. DSB's and TW's focus is obviously their 1 large base. in MG the focus could be put on attacking or defending. The north base needs to go. It was removed for a very good reason. To put more focus on the ball game. It should have never returned. The focus need to be put on east and west. There should be no reason to go north or south. If you dont get what im saying, look at 17th's sblball event. Its compact and straightforward and fast paced. You know where your team is and where to find the enemy.

 

My suggestions: Increase the pace of soccer. Change the role of the weasel. Make it the only ship allowed to carry ball. You'd have to adjust the ball time of course. Shorten east and west, dont make the journey between the two bases so long. This will bring back the teamplay element 17th desperatly needs.

 

and snoo, pub will always be in the spotlight.

 

My 3 Cents

[Delic]

Well put Telzon.

 

I've been saying for as long as I can remember, you need to put focus on one game.

Even more with this population.

 

Pub is the first thing a nubi sees, before he even looks at chats me thinks (at least that's how it was for me ;P)

So yeah, it should always be top priority. But I think it has more issues than the ones mentioned here.

[The Cubbies]

Telson had some good ideas, but I would suggest phasing them in to prevent the backlash. Like take out the north one day (noone will miss it). Then another day make different change. I guess I would hope for this mostly so I don't have to hear ppl complain 24/7 about pub changing.

[Jayfortyfive]

True, despite whatever good ideas about changing pub you have, it's just very hard to do when the population is so unstable as it is. Vile had some good ideas, but changing the public and not focusing on events caused some players to go to other zones, and then if we change it again, we lose another set. People tend to like tradition, they like the knowledge that their old zone is staying the same and will be there the exact way they left it, even if they don't come but once a month.

 

So therefore, a balance between changes in public and events, should be attained by announcing changes very well and even having public polls before doing so. We (as staff) may know what would be fun and good for the zone, but that doesn't mean !@#$%^&* if the patrons of the zone don't like it.