>>I've been an on again and off again player of DragonRealms since probably 2002ish? First character was rolled up through Zone baby.
I can tell you that most of the off agains came from frustrations of not competing. Spending most of my waking moments training and still not being able to catch up to other people because of school, then college, then work, then family.

I can certainly understand the need to compete, we all play this game for different reasons ultimately and that's as valid as any other. Having said that, however, this game was not designed like that from the start because, in the days of AOL, they wanted you in the game, playing, as long as possible since that was their business model. That seems to have continued after the web migration and here we are. I would tell you that if you want to compete, at this point in time, you are at a huge disadvantage. I know this is not something new and you already know this. So why don't we focus on fixing PvP if that's the concern?

DR is first and foremost about RP and diversity, focusing on the singular aspect of PvP misses 90% of the game, if not more. I don't PvP and if PvP went away tomorrow, i would never know it (or care). But, understanding that many people do derive enjoyment out of doing it, set up someplace like the Thunderdome where you walk in and you get min skills for whatever circle you want to copy along with the percentage stats you'd have based on those skills so you can keep your stat customization true to your character and go from there. That way, those of us who enjoy playing our own way won't have to suffer for those people who feel the game needs to take a header in the dirt to satisfy one, very minor, aspect of this game.

Also the whole, "i've got 5 friends.. " etc.. is kind of silly to mention right along with telling the rest of us we're going to die and we need new blood to sustain the game. The only people who will still be playing this game in 20 years are still those people who are here today. Few new players show up and it's not because of their capability to compete in PvP, it's just a dying genre.

As a note, REXP has gone a LONG way to cater to the casual player, i actually love REXP and i think it was a long needed shot in the arm. It's here now so enjoy it and let's not tear down the walls because a few players who can't play as long as others feel inadequate.

Damian, a voice from the distant and long-forgotten past.
AIM:DamianDR

There's a few things I'd like to point out, because I keep seeing them brought up. This game has never, ever been difficult. The mechanics are fairly straight forward and have not shifted significantly in many years. You perform an action, if the action is considered to be a learning experience for your character, you gain experience. And then you do that for a long time. I think that's the crux of the issue - it takes time. Despite the game being streamlined and the barrier for entry lowered to beneath the topsoil, it's just never enough.

I cannot stress enough that nobody makes you do anything in this game. It is literally as difficult as you want it to be. You can train 40 skills at once, you can train 0 skills at once. You can RP all day and never perform an action that grants experience and you're still playing the game the way it was intended.
Nobody makes you do anything.

"But, Rubicante" you say, "I have to train all those other skills to-"
No.

"It's not fair if someone else trained-"
Yes, it is.

"I don't have the time to-"
I'm sorry.

"You're just trying to keep others down."
Nope. I don't care what you do, I care about me. Someone else will always have more time or a better script or more trainers or whatever. Play your own game.

"You're just thinking about yourself."
Yep. I'm thinking about myself and the vast number of other players that have contributed to the game, again, over 2 decades. Games been around a while. You can tell by all of the people that preface their opinions with the assumed clout of telling people how long they've played.

"This game will never attract new people if-"
Yeah, that's the issue. You don't need to add anymore to that. This is a niche market. The MUD community isn't growing and it's not ripe for a comeback. GS and DR (and other MUDs) have (again) two groups of potential players: the current player and the past player. Those are the people that need to be plied. Nostalgia is the biggest pull for people to come back to this game and you'll lose that entirely if you change this game to the point that it becomes unrecognizable. You'll also push away current players that still play because they, amazingly enough, still enjoy the game.

"Rubicante, I've played this game for 35 years and I disagree. My character has everything maxed out and that's not fun or interesting."
Play something else. Why would you ever think that you could roll a character and play it til the day you die and it'll always be new, nuanced, and exciting? Why does the game need to ever expand to keep a level 200 character with 90% of its skills capped at 1750 from becoming stagnant? You won, congratulations.

"You're just ignoring my opinions because I'm new t-"
Yup.

Necromancer. Scholar. Gentleman.

It's never nice conversations when you see a hundred new posts on here.

Can we give people the option to be locked PVP off or something and keep their old TDPs? If they only want to watch the numbers go up, let them watch their numbers and not bother anyone.

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"Warrior Mages don't bother covering up their disasters.
They're proud of them." -Raesh, on history