Just Some Discussion

[*Hydra]

If your only logging in for events and logging off afterwards, thats not very encouraging for a playerbase nor for those that do the events.

I second that, sometimes as an EM I like to prepare a story with no specific player characters in mind, the rest is supposed to be spontaneous and it doesn't work well when you do not have anyone around. However, I think there's a need for more reasons to log in the game than "maybe" getting events, interesting content keep people engaged, players interacting meaningfully with each other are also part of the process.

[*Rayanne]

As for walking out of events because it dont fit your character idealogy, that is your choice to make, even if its walking out before the actual plot hook is tossed.

As I said, I'm not going to change the entire idea of my character just to chase an event.
My Good-aligned character isn't going to help a criminal with his crimes, same as my Evil-aligned characters aren't necessarily going to help save the orphanage.
"Just bring any character" doesn't work unless it's the most vague of inoffensive plots.
If I know what kind of event it's going to be - and I'm not asking to hear all the details and plot elements of the event, just the basics - then I know to bring a character who's going to be interested, capable and motivated to pursue the event.

[*edmaster44]

I do apologize about that event, this was mostly my fault, i don't usually plan these events and mostly improvised on the spot, in the future i will defiantly announce small details about what character one may want to bring to this event.

[*Lucadia]

The point was walking out before the actual hook was made before making judgement.

[*edmaster44]

Err, yeah there was a Plot Hook that i ...just made up on the fly as well that i will continue Soon as well.

[*witchinghour]

No one is asking or suggesting to change a character for an event. Oh well, an event don't fit the character at the time. Theres.. not much one can do, thats like asking a player beforehand about the rp of their own character, so one can bring an appropriate character before meeting them. Though by all means do what you can to change the outcome. Would a good character help a criminal? Hell naw, but they could try to stop said criminal.

Often enough a little "rumor" post about an event starting can give a clue of what it might be about, and the hook enough. - That post and plot hook might've been made on the fly, but I thought it gave an idea of what may or may not be appropriate and what might happen.

[*Tsidkenu]

I logged on a couple of days ago to poke around and check things out.

100% of the server's 6 people were in some DM event. Good sign!

I, however, stood around idle in the Bazaar for about a half hour before I finally decided to log off and do something else with my time because I'm not the kind of person who will just butt into other people's RP/Events uninvited.

I guess it was just bad timing on my part! Had a much nicer time today cuz there were still a few peeps floating about the Bazaar.

[*edmaster44]

One thing i hope we as a Community can do and strive for, is Player initiative. You guys! Yes you at the Computer Screens are what keeps NWN Community alive and running healthy, Players are the bed rock of the community and I've always say it and have said it in my nearly 11 years of DMing/administrator in nwn1 and EMing here now in nwn2, The greatest plots and events are always sparked by and inspired by the action of the players, if you want to kick start something! Please feel free to shoot me a Message through the Inbox(I just cleaned it) and feel free to PM me on Discord too, if you're on that! Let's revive biographies a bit too! I always enjoyed reading those too!(Pssst, we also get Plot hooks from them too!)

[*ediwvblind]

The problem is that almost everything that made Sigil great is no longer there anymore and the staff took way too long to address the problem. It's just a simple matter of the fact that Sigil lost about 95% of its player population and most of them have gone over to Haven because it's by far the best NWN2 server right now. They have DM run events, players can run factions, quest systems, RP reward systems, and so many features that it makes the other NWN2 servers look like dinosaurs. The RP is good if not better even though it says social. Also, Skullport came out recently as well and thats where people have gone as well.

[*Artifice]

Oh, well this is a good discussion to have. I can only really talk about my experiences but I hope it at least helps.

I've been back two weeks and I've seen two events, both of which were carnival games. One was literally executing people in what can only be described as inhumane, cruel and unusual punishment that stretched the credibility of what could be seen as part of the legal justice system. Neither were something I could get my existing character involved in, but I at least tried to turn up and be present for the starts.

I've been trying to make a new character today, but the experience was infuriating. The areas are buggy and imbalanced. I kept getting stuck in weird loops where my character could neither fight or leave, and on more than one occasions the areas went from 'no threat what so ever' to ridiculous spawn groups that I couldn't fight, with no warning or change of area. This leads to dying and losing XP and GP in a way that isn't fun, isn't predictable and doesn't bring anything to the table in terms of game play. This is a problem the server's had since I first started playing three years ago and it still hasn't been addressed.

The majority of the active server does seem to have left. I brought this up months ago, before I left as well, and was told I was imagining things. Well, it obviously happened, and in a way I'm relieved to log onto the forum and finally see this thread. This has had a very bad effect on the in game environment. For the majority of my preferred playing hours (EU) there are literally no people online anymore. There used to be between ten or twenty, at an estimate.

When there are people online, I've found it's luck whether they will be in a public area where I can talk to them, or inside private areas where I cannot RP with them. This varies day to day. Some nights I have had to AFK for four hours or more and do something else, because there's no one around for RP, despite five to ten people being online.

There's been some deeply unpleasant past behaviour in places related to the server, be it Discord or the forums, that have discouraged people I know from playing, myself included. It's made me have to log off in the past, take down forum posts, leave the discord. It's was why I had to take a few months away and just do something else where I didn't feel uncomfortable. But I don't want to dwell on that. I'm only mentioning it so that it's given as feedback, being on topic.

I'm giving this feedback because I've been on and off SCOD for years and I've always wanted to get more involved. It seems like it has the potential to be a nice server and when it happens the RP is very nice. There are players here who I really like playing with and I wish there was more I could do on the server to get involved and be more active and play with them more.

But holy shit.

There are so many barriers stopping people from doing that.

I know that me typing this is gonna be seen as very negative, or maybe someone wants to point out to me 'you're not levelling up properly you should have a group.'

I've had people tell me that before, but the fact of the matter is I wanted to make a new character so I could get more involved, and there was no one I could level up with. I logged on to 0 other players. The people I've encouraged to play SCOD with me in the past don't want to play here anymore.

I'm offering this right now, because it's something I've told a lot of people privately. If there's anything I can do to help make the RP environment better, please ask me and I will help you do it.

I know there's a lot of conjecture about my main character, Kasha, being inactive and never getting involved in anything. I don't feel that's the case, because she has a lot of motivation that goes unaddressed. She doesn't want people to be involved in her own, personal issues and will outright block them from doing so. However, that's not the same as being inactive and if there's anything for her to go out and do she at least goes out there to see what it is.

I'm just ranting into the keyboard now so I'll just do this:

LITERAL CRY FOR HELP. PLEASE GIVE ME MORE TO DO. I WANT TO PLAY SCOD BUT 90% OF THE TIME THERE IS NOTHING TO TAKE PART IN, NO ONE TO TALK TO AND NO NEW THINGS TO SEE.

... Ahem. Excuse the capslock. I'll be in game.