Thread Closed
If you have any more worst-case scenarios that you think the role-players should be prepared for, please post them in Crystal’s other server selection thread. I’m going to (eventually) organize everything into an official guide that we can look to in case SE surprises us with any of the aforementioned issues. For now though, lets’ move on to part three of the discussion: Community (which some people are already getting to anyway >.>
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III. Community
We may not really have a choice when it comes to what kind of community we integrate ourselves into. It’ll ultimately depend on how much time we have to evaluate everything before official launch. However, if the choice does present itself, we should at least hash out the details now.
1. Population size: This has come up a couple times already. Everyone seems to be afraid of getting on an under-populated server. I think we should also be concerned with an over-populated server as well. For those not familiar, there was at least one server in FFXI that was so over-populated that it got locked down. And when I say locked down, I don't mean for a few hours or days. It was much more long term (over a year). That is to say, nobody was allowed in. I think nobody was even able to make new alts. If I remember correctly, it was Bahamut server (someone correct me if I got it wrong). This is an issue Rpers can’t afford to deal with. Role-players rely on a continuous flow of new Rpers and without that, many linkshells will fade more quickly than usual. And I don’t think anyone would be happy not being able to ever create another RP character either if they get bored with their main.
You’re probably thinking, “how can we tell which server will be low/high populated to begin with?†Two ways. Everquest, as an example, put it right up on the server list. So you’d have the server name and then in parenthesis next to it, it would say low, medium, or high for population. Granted, if they did do this we likely wouldn’t have enough time to actually evaluate it since choosing a server would have to come quickly.
Another way is just looking at other fansites. If Core, for instance, tries to organize a ton of their users onto the same server, it’s possible that said server will be extremely high in population…perhaps -too- high. Thus, that would be a server to potentially avoid.
Ultimately what I’m getting at is that I think it would be in our best interest to choose a medium-sized server in terms of population if we have the luxury of such an option.
2. Non-English Community: This has also come up. It would be very interesting to know what’s going on, if anything, with the Japanese RP community (if there is one). In addition, we should consider other languages (Spanish, German, etc). If anyone here is fluent in any such languages, we’d love if you could do some research and find out if RP communities exist for the non-English speaking community. Even if most of us have no way of understanding them and vice-versa, I’d personally still love seeing someone speaking in another language and thinking that there was a large possibility that they were Rping.
3. Griefers: We’ll have to deal with them no matter what from time to time. But even moreso since the entire RP community will be on the same server. There will be people who join the server for the sole purpose of causing grief for the RP community. I think we should come up with a guide of sorts on how to handle them as a community to help alleviate the issue as much as humanly possible.
.III. Community
We may not really have a choice when it comes to what kind of community we integrate ourselves into. It’ll ultimately depend on how much time we have to evaluate everything before official launch. However, if the choice does present itself, we should at least hash out the details now.
1. Population size: This has come up a couple times already. Everyone seems to be afraid of getting on an under-populated server. I think we should also be concerned with an over-populated server as well. For those not familiar, there was at least one server in FFXI that was so over-populated that it got locked down. And when I say locked down, I don't mean for a few hours or days. It was much more long term (over a year). That is to say, nobody was allowed in. I think nobody was even able to make new alts. If I remember correctly, it was Bahamut server (someone correct me if I got it wrong). This is an issue Rpers can’t afford to deal with. Role-players rely on a continuous flow of new Rpers and without that, many linkshells will fade more quickly than usual. And I don’t think anyone would be happy not being able to ever create another RP character either if they get bored with their main.
You’re probably thinking, “how can we tell which server will be low/high populated to begin with?†Two ways. Everquest, as an example, put it right up on the server list. So you’d have the server name and then in parenthesis next to it, it would say low, medium, or high for population. Granted, if they did do this we likely wouldn’t have enough time to actually evaluate it since choosing a server would have to come quickly.
Another way is just looking at other fansites. If Core, for instance, tries to organize a ton of their users onto the same server, it’s possible that said server will be extremely high in population…perhaps -too- high. Thus, that would be a server to potentially avoid.
Ultimately what I’m getting at is that I think it would be in our best interest to choose a medium-sized server in terms of population if we have the luxury of such an option.
2. Non-English Community: This has also come up. It would be very interesting to know what’s going on, if anything, with the Japanese RP community (if there is one). In addition, we should consider other languages (Spanish, German, etc). If anyone here is fluent in any such languages, we’d love if you could do some research and find out if RP communities exist for the non-English speaking community. Even if most of us have no way of understanding them and vice-versa, I’d personally still love seeing someone speaking in another language and thinking that there was a large possibility that they were Rping.
3. Griefers: We’ll have to deal with them no matter what from time to time. But even moreso since the entire RP community will be on the same server. There will be people who join the server for the sole purpose of causing grief for the RP community. I think we should come up with a guide of sorts on how to handle them as a community to help alleviate the issue as much as humanly possible.