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The Decline of Gilgamesh


Lizzo

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Gilgamesh isn't dead, or anything so dramatic. The shape of the land has just changed  a bit. There are people that want to get into RP - but don't see it quite often. I've been working my tail off running my tavern events and such to get people out there doing stuff again. And will continue to do so with more events in the future.

 

My guild Gold is pretty much a lot smaller than it used to be, but we're still here and recently got a nice infusion of some fresh blood. There are still new RPers showing up all the time, we've just lost our ability to coordinate them properly with the advent of the housing district. Most of our RP on our server has taken place inside of it - people just aren't making an effort to get themselves out there anymore sadly. Zach and I have hosted events trying to get more RPers back out into the open. And I've seen more new blood because of it.

 

If the community has been shrinking it's primarily our fault for not trying. And that shouldn't be the case. People are afraid to take initiative because they don't think it's rewarded. My first tavern event had a very paltry show out, and only got busy when I started poking people to show up. My last event had a bunch of people show up and the event ran for 9 hours. Rumors of our death have been greatly exaggerated.

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There was a Meet and Greet event that went on this evening, it started at 9pm EST, and the last remaining people only just left the event spot at about 2:30am EST. I laid down for a nap because I wasn't feeling well, and came into it about an hour late, and while a few people had left, it felt like the RP was still going strong. Met some new people there, had a real blast! I hope to see more of these casual events going on, since I know that "tavern RP" isn't always everyone's cup of tea. 

 

I really don't feel like the RP is dead here. It's just quiet, and we need to make efforts as a community to make it more noticeable. Whether that's RPing at NPCs while you're solo, or simply getting together out in the world, anything that allows a random player to see that "Yes! We have RP right here!" is good.

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... sure Shade & Drift no longer exist...

 

I'd like to make a point that Shade is now being led by Russet Rose, and while it did take a hit to their membership, it is still in fact there and they intend to start hosting events at their house.

 

Yeah I just saw their post in the linkshell hall, nice to know they're getting back into it.

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I've been (and still am) out of country for two weeks so maybe I'm a bit out of the loop, but I'd like to point out that summer time typically shows a drastic drop in online-time because people are out and about doing other things.

 

I'm not going to speak towards the dissolving of Drift, since I think it'd be a disservice to all the other beautiful FCs on Gilgamesh that have made it the RP community that it was, but I think it's inaccurate to say that RP on Gilgamesh is dying by any means. Every RP medium I have participated in the 15+ years of RPing have shown a downward participation during the summer months...be it LARP, IRC, forum-based RP, MMO, Dreamwidth.org games, what have you. 

 

Things will very likely pick up once school is back in session--for a good chunk of players are college students, teachers, parents, and so on--at least with school out in the States, there's a lot less reliability as far as "online time" is concerned.

 

There are still players (and companies!) that are working very hard on nurturing an RP community on Gilgamesh. Whether or not you're a part of one of these FCs isn't really the point, but we're not giving up on making this community great for those who choose to stick around. The truth of the matter is, though--no one FC should be left responsible for keeping it alive.

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9 hours of RP. @.@ I love you guys.

 

I would also like to point out that there are events on Gilgamesh on RPC for the next 3 weeks. I'm sure people will be adding more as well. I'm also certain that there will be events on Gilgamesh that are not on the RPC calendar.

 

I'm actually considering running a "There's no RP on Gilgamesh Roleplay Event" every couple of weeks as both satire and just as another excuse to get people together and to have a little chuckle.

 

Just because we don't spam endlessly on this site doesn't mean Gilgamesh is in trouble.

 

An issue I'm willing to admit with Gilgamesh at the moment is poorly maintained OOC linkshells that are essentially graveyards. If you're calling out in the Coalition OOC A or whathaveyou you are pretty much guaranteed no response. I left those ages ago because they were less than promising but I feel poorly for people still in there. If those hubs are all you see as an RPer that is a bleak outlook indeed.

 

Gosh I hope this doesn't come off as rude but in the case of Gilgamesh a select few individuals elevated themselves to leadership status in the community and then simply left or stopped caring.

 

It isn't any one person's responsibility as it was pointed out, but taking charge and then dropping the ball is detrimental.

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I'm actually considering running a "There's no RP on Gilgamesh Roleplay Event" every couple of weeks as both satire and just as another excuse to get people together and to have a little chuckle.

 

 Oh my stars I love this idea! Especially if we can get some of the more trouble-making sorts to "start up something" simply because there hasn't been anything happening! <3

 

I think you've been very good at vocalizing your concerns, Zoe--without pointing fingers and naming names. As someone who's had her fair share of "why do we even bother?" moments over the past several months, I don't think we can't fault anyone -too- much for feeling that way. We just need to be in constant communication with those who -have- taken up the helm in the place of those who have left...if for any reason other than to continue to motivate each other when we're not feeling all that motivated. ;)

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But in terms of recruitment? I don't wish to be ignorant, but I am not familiar with your FC. I don't know if it helps, but we've kept links through the Coalition/Adventurers Guild LS groups and through different RP events, showcased our RP, invited people into our OOC LS group, been inclusive and invited people to RP on a fairly regular basis, building arcs with people, not just in the FC and it's by these links that we've attracted people into wanting to join, so when a person does move on, it's not a big hit and we can keep a comfortable flow of members. Because FC members comes first and get more of a say in how we do things, so they do gain something by being a part of the FC and get to feel a part of the crew.

 

 

To be honest, I've got not one single clue what your FC is either.  Funny how that works!  It tends to be hard to keep track of the small, minor upstart Companies when as a whole, the community is more interested in the fast reward and fix of jumping ship, then putting work into the issues and problems that need work.

 

Fact of the matter is, Gilgamesh has been all but abandoned by the bulk of the RP community and left to sink or swim for the popularity and ease of the big, new and shiny community of Balmung. 

 

You want to call Balmung the New York and Gilgamesh a small country town.. you go ahead and do that if it makes you feel better.  I'll look at it for what it is.

 

Gilgamesh is a ship in distress and Balmung is the closest land.  Now what do rats do in situations like that I wonder?  Doesn't matter what the distress is... could be caught on a sand bar in low tide.. could be a pin hole in the hull leaking water..  The rats will abandon ship and swim for shore because that is the easier thing to do, that's the only way they know of to ensure their survival.  Meanwhile, the true sea dogs are left behind, short handed now, to try and not only discover the problem, but try and fix it.

 

Take from that what you will.. but that is my opinion and my view on current matters.

From the way a lot of people here have been talking.. I'm surprised that the suggestion to petition Square to shut down Gilgamesh hasn't popped up yet.  I mean why not?... according to everyone who jumped ship, the community is dead over here and not worth the effort or work to try and salvage or fix!

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Nothing new or shiny about Balmung, as a legacy server with an RP community that had been thriving since the server was called Besaid. Gilgamesh was the "shiny new" launch server, where a small number of roleplayers joining at ARR's release decided to go for multiple reasons that honestly turned out to have little bearing. Economy being the one most commonly cited, as I recall - some friends I have on Cactuar and Ultros, both non-Legacy servers, suffer high prices on most items compared to Balmung and say they wish their servers had Balmung's economy.

 

When the community is smaller, "dead periods" of RP (which happen in all games to some degree, in my experience) are going to be more noticeable. We've had player activity begin to taper off, too, but it has less of an impact due to our larger population - there's quite honestly always someone new to roleplay with.

 

I am deeply sympathetic, because I've been in similar straits when my Neverwinter Nights server began "losing" people to one with a similar setting and a higher overall population. I have an alt on Gilgamesh, and I've observed this for myself to some extent. But it's unfair and, to be blunt, dishonest to blame Balmung's community for people "jumping ship."

 

And that's why I'm still sitting here and scratching my head at Zoetrooper's previous post. There is no unfavorable view of Gilgamesh that's been expressed here on the RPC, save perhaps by a select few when the "split" first occurred, but that was almost a year ago now, shortly before ARR's launch. The Discussion and OOC threads are open to everyone, with nothing specific to either server. Both servers have places to post events that are taking place in either realm. I'm simply not seeing the "unfriendly environment" at all, and I'm a little disappointed that some people apparently find it to be so.

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To be honest, I haven't seen it either. AND if you look back on my posts during the server split, you'll see I was extremely defensive of people who wanted to go to Gilgamesh (I didn't agree but I believed it was their right to do so).

 

However, if you feel like the RPC is negative at all to Gilgamesh and it's players, please let one of the higher ups know. If you see posts that make it seem like Balmung players don't want you here, let someone know! Go now! Look back for posts that made you think that and show a mod! They can't fix what they don't know is a problem. This website is for both communities and if anyone on the RPC is making you Gilgameshers feel unwelcome, then we should strive to fix it.

 

(Note: Though if it's just people voicing their opinion on the Balmung vs Gilgamesh situation in the appropriate threads then they have every right to do so.)

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And that's why I'm still sitting here and scratching my head at Zoetrooper's previous post. There is no unfavorable view of Gilgamesh that's been expressed here on the RPC, save perhaps by a select few when the "split" first occurred, but that was almost a year ago now, shortly before ARR's launch.

I was wondering about this myself. Every time someone has come onto RPC asking whether or not they should go to Gilgamesh or Balmung most people have said either or, make an alt on both, etc. It had always been a positive light on both in my experience of reading those threads of people looking for RP servers.

 

If I've said anything, it's to reflect on how there -has- been threads from people or posts talking about moving from Gilgamesh to Balmung in the last month or so..

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^ Man there's no need to blame people who jump to Balmung. It's their choice if they want to do so. That was so passive aggressive it must have been hard to pretend you weren't insulting a bunch of people.

 

 

There was nothing passive aggressive about that.  Unless you missed the part at the end where I clearly said:

 

 

"Take from that what you will.. but that is my opinion and my view on current matters."

 

Usually that means there is no attack or anything unless you as a reader try to put one in there.  That is me telling the truth as I see it.

 

Though honestly.. If you really think all I am doing is insulting or attacking people, you are more then welcome to point out how I'm wrong.

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The analogies are pretty derisive about your view on people who have "jumped ship" and left.

 

Your opinions are your opinions but they've definitely got a negative view on people who decided that they felt more positive about their chances on another server.

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*Swoops out of the sky hanging from an eagle's claws* BY THE POWER INVESTED IN ME BY THIS GIANT, BALD BIRD!....

 

Wait. That's Epic Rap Battles.

 

*Drops to the ground, adjusts the ole Black Hat*

 

Hi everyone! Black Hat here!

 

Couple real quick points to make before this thread gets locked down!

 

1> There's no such thing as a "dead server", it's an inanimate object and therefore is neither living nor dead. No matter what quantum state the RP might be in it, it's just a server. The community isn't dead either, cause there's still RP going on! Yay!

 

2> A lot of folks are taking a summer break, because we like the sun and doing things! I personally am doing a lot of PvE between remodeling the bathroom of my house! It's fun! Zodiac books are annoying, but hey. Looking forward to 2.3

 

3> There's two points to a small community, everyone can get to know each other moar easily BUT there's more chance to high drama with a small community. Let it roll off your shoulders, folks. Gilgameshians are not broken into "cliques", they're called FCs. They're built into the game mechanics, silly people.

 

4> Driftwood Coast, rest in peace.

 

5> There's a thread on here in the Gilgamesh section for FCs to post about their housing for RP purposes, but most Gilgameshians don't worry about the forum. Those who do, feel free to make use of that post Freelancer kindly had stickied or add your FC to the Linkshells roster. Advertising helps get you noticed, the same way that walking up to a group and greeting them does. 

 

6> Some folks are leaving for Balmung and that's awesome! Now Balmung has moar cool RPers! Why is that a bad thing? I'm cheering! Gilgameshians don't mind. ^_^

 

7> I'm making shish-kabobs on my grill tomorrow!

 

This happy message has been brought to you by Black Hat.

 

Cheers!

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*Swoops out of the sky hanging from an eagle's claws* BY THE POWER INVESTED IN ME BY THIS GIANT, BALD BIRD!....

 

Wait. That's Epic Rap Battles.

 

*Drops to the ground, adjusts the ole Black Hat*

 

Hi everyone! Black Hat here!

 

Couple real quick points to make before this thread gets locked down!

 

1> There's no such thing as a "dead server", it's an inanimate object and therefore is neither living nor dead. No matter what quantum state the RP might be in it, it's just a server. The community isn't dead either, cause there's still RP going on! Yay!

 

2> A lot of folks are taking a summer break, because we like the sun and doing things! I personally am doing a lot of PvE between remodeling the bathroom of my house! It's fun! Zodiac books are annoying, but hey. Looking forward to 2.3

 

3> There's two points to a small community, everyone can get to know each other moar easily BUT there's more chance to high drama with a small community. Let it roll off your shoulders, folks. Gilgameshians are not broken into "cliques", they're called FCs. They're built into the game mechanics, silly people.

 

4> Driftwood Coast, rest in peace.

 

5> There's a thread on here in the Gilgamesh section for FCs to post about their housing for RP purposes, but most Gilgameshians don't worry about the forum. Those who do, feel free to make use of that post Freelancer kindly had stickied or add your FC to the Linkshells roster. Advertising helps get you noticed, the same way that walking up to a group and greeting them does. 

 

6> Some folks are leaving for Balmung and that's awesome! Now Balmung has moar cool RPers! Why is that a bad thing? I'm cheering! Gilgameshians don't mind. ^_^

 

7> I'm making shish-kabobs on my grill tomorrow!

 

This happy message has been brought to you by Black Hat.

 

Cheers!

...Shish-kebabs? You better share.

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There was nothing passive aggressive about that.  Unless you missed the part at the end where I clearly said:

 

 

"Take from that what you will.. but that is my opinion and my view on current matters."

 

Usually that means there is no attack or anything unless you as a reader try to put one in there.  That is me telling the truth as I see it.

 

Though honestly.. If you really think all I am doing is insulting or attacking people, you are more then welcome to point out how I'm wrong.

 

You're basically guilting people for making the decision that they did and not even saying in a nice way.

 

"THey are rats that are looking for the nearest land! They don't want to to try to fix the server!"

 

"according to everyone who jumped ship, the community is dead over here and not worth the effort or work to try and salvage or fix!"

 

You have NO IDEA the reasons they decided to jump servers and you're getting all mad. Sure, part of the reason may be the decline, but no one makes a server transfer decision lightly because it's leaving friends behind and it's expensive.

 

Come on man, there are nicer ways.

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...Shish-kebabs? You better share.

 

 

hehe.. I make kebabs today!  Afters I go to beach.

 

As to the person trying to make me out to be a villain and saying that I'm attacking everyone who has jumped ship.  Again, you are more then welcome to prove me wrong and I will withdrawn my comments.  Though I wish you luck on trying to prove that I'm wrong in saying that people have seen problems and have actually 'jumped ship' and have now been complaining about how the community is dead. 

Yes.. I will admit that such comments get me fired up.  I have no time for people who leave and then say 'oh, X wasn't happening so I left' instead of putting effort down where it was needed to keep things alive.

As I have said.  I have been making an effort to get a RP FC started.  I've been trying for months.  You know how many people have joined?... I could count them on 1 hand.  You know how many have stayed?  Only the original 3 founders.

And yet, with my efforts meeting a whole bulk of 0 interest from the community at large, after months of me yelling and shouting in game in every zone I enter... I find a thread with people claiming that the community is dead.

You might get a little ticked off yourself if you were in my shoes.

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Suppose as the originator of this thread I should say something as well.

 

Firstly, thanks to all those who spoke up about the differences between Balmung and Gilgamesh, this thread got a lot more attention than I figured it would.

 

Second, in no way was I bemoaning Balmung or Gilgamesh (though my choice of words concerning some of the FCs on Gilgamesh may have come off as harsher than I had intended). I've lost a few friends to Balmung, but have met other people on Gilgamesh to pick up the loss. I started this thread to better understand and get caught up on the dynamics of the RP and general community on Gilgamesh after being unsubbed for 3 weeks to a month.

 

If (and more likely when) I choose to resubscribe I will probably stay on Gilgamesh and lend a hand in trying to get the community back together - though it seems to be in greatly capable hands thanks to Lalah, Mikh and Zach (and everyone else), though I may end up creating a character on Balmung just to scout it out.

 

I'm looking forward to 2.3 and 2.4 (THIEF (rogue >.>) and NINJA!!!!!!!! :D) and getting back into the community again.

 

Thanks again for the overview of the server fellow Gilgameshians!

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Roleplaying comes in a wide variety of flavors, though, and not everybody's character is suited to a specific kind of RP. Nor is it a reasonable expectation that people be willing to create a new character that would be suited to your specific FC. Believe me, I understand the frustration; I just believe it's misplaced.

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*keeps the Magic Admin Hat on*

 

However, if you feel like the RPC is negative at all to Gilgamesh and it's players, please let one of the higher ups know. If you see posts that make it seem like Balmung players don't want you here, let someone know! Go now! Look back for posts that made you think that and show a mod! They can't fix what they don't know is a problem. This website is for both communities and if anyone on the RPC is making you Gilgameshers feel unwelcome, then we should strive to fix it.

 

Just a note on this: if someone is feeling that there was bias or an attempt to make people feel unwelcome with my proposal to merge the Events and Directory forums for the two servers, that wasn't at all my intention. I just figured that, with our thread tag system, we could reduce the number of forums while still letting people quickly filter posts by server, and that it'd help remove barriers (since we'd all be One Big Community). However, the poll indicated that the majority of voters would prefer to keep the forums separate, so that's what I did. I certainly hope no one took offense at the proposal or how the poll turned out, and if they did, I apologize. :(

 

That said, if you feel that there are posts that express an anti-Gilgamesh bias (or an anti-Balmung bias), feel free to report them and we'll review. To be honest, I suspect the feeling among some Gilgamesh RPers is historical and rumour based, and perhaps related to the fact that all of the forum staff play on Balmung. There's nothing I can do about either of these other than to say that we support RP on both servers, that Gilgamesh players are welcome here, and that there's no Secret RPC Cabal trying to steal players for Balmung or anything like that. (Well, maybe there is, but I'm Not An RP Event and Not A Big Name, so I don't get invited to those meetings. I'm definitely not one of the Cool Kids in the Balmung RP Scene.)

 

As a final note, please, please cool down on the personal attacks. It's been so long since I had to lock a thread. :cry: Also, TheLastCandle speaks the truth. Mysterium, for instance, grows slowly because our concept is so specific. Many characters don't fit.

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If you're calling out in the Coalition OOC A or whathaveyou you are pretty much guaranteed no response. I left those ages ago because they were less than promising but I feel poorly for people still in there. If those hubs are all you see as an RPer that is a bleak outlook indeed.

 

I pretty much dropped from most of these, they're a bit outdated. If you haven't already, may be worth looking up Adventurer's Guild, granted it's not a hotbed of conversation most of the time, but it has more active players to reach out to. We maintained our RP contacts with our own OOC LS, we invited people as we went along and as it's our FC's primary chat channel it meant a lot more communication for RP. Maybe worth hooking up with other FC's in their OOC LS groups - or at least, linkshell capacity permitting.

 

To be honest, I've got not one single clue what your FC is either. Funny how that works! It tends to be hard to keep track of the small, minor upstart Companies when as a whole, the community is more interested in the fast reward and fix of jumping ship, then putting work into the issues and problems that need work.

 

You are pretty presumptuous, you admit you know nothing about us, yet you're quick to assume. I've not made any assumptions about you or your FC. We have supported the Gilgamesh community since its conception, we were one of the groups who helped get this community get off the ground - though we've always been small and though we've not necessarily had as much gravity as some groups, we've stuck through the good and the bad. We've pushed through issues and tried to resolve them. Heck, there were issues going on for the passed 2 months that have demanded our attention and we have pushed through them trying our best to resolve them and we resolved most of them.

 

But in the end we have decided we'd do what is best for *us*. You may not like it, but we're here to have fun and trying to *fix* things can take a toll after a while, and I'm the sort of FC leader to support my own members and they will always come first. If this points us in the direction of Balmung, so be it. If my members decide Balmung isn't what it's cracked up to be, I will support any move back to Gilgamesh - heck, we've prepared for such a contingency. As they say, "the grass is always greener".

 

All I've seen you do is complain about what other people do. If you feel so strongly about this, rather than complain about what we're doing, perhaps you could make a more constructive turn and talk about what Gilgamesh's existing community can do support itself? What can you do for the community? Perhaps offer the olive branch, I can see a few FC leaders posting in this thread, this would be the perfect opportunity to do that. Perhaps show Parker, who is concerned about the community, that it is not dead and there's still opportunities for him and his FC.

 

Despite me jumping ship, I still have a lot of positive things to say about the Gilgamesh community and I do hope it continues to be great. But, chances are, we'll no longer be a part of it, but what we do is our prerogative.

 

 

From the way a lot of people here have been talking.. I'm surprised that the suggestion to petition Square to shut down Gilgamesh hasn't popped up yet. I mean why not?... according to everyone who jumped ship, the community is dead over here and not worth the effort or work to try and salvage or fix!

 

That is a ridiculous strawman. People seem to take the 'small country town' thing as derogative, though it was coined by somebody still within the community and not at all intended to be derogative. Heck, I explained my interpretation of it.

 

Considering I've not said Gilgamesh is dead and have in fact said on more than one occasion that it is NOT dead, I have said it is not what it once was...and that's an accurate summation, because it has been almost a year since its conception many have come and many have gone. If anything, it is expected of any community, even our own FC, our FC is different to what it was 9 months ago, because our membership 9 months ago was different.

 

*shrugs* Take what you will, but I sincerely think you've got the wrong end of the stick.

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You are pretty presumptuous, you admit you know nothing about us, yet you're quick to assume.

 

 

 

I'll make this my last post, as I grow weary of this net fight... or what every you desire to call it.

 

First off.  I am not making any assumptions.  I was simply restating something that was previously said.. that Wayward and Drift were having Drama issues.  You now claim that this is wrong.  Fine.  Notice I have not named you, your company or anyone else BY NAME beyond that first time.  This is not being presumptuous.. It is the brutal honest truth as I view it.  End of that discussion!

 

As for your nicer ways to say it comment... You want a sugar coated lie, go somewhere more suiting to your needs.  You want the brutal honest truth, then feel free to continue.  What you read and what you saw from me was the brutal honest truth.  What you took from it, was your own point of view, not mine.  You took my honesty as an attack and have since lashed out in return.  That was not my doing.. that was yours.

I will admit that my words were harsh.  I will also admit that it was the BRUTAL HONEST TRUTH.  Not a sugar coated lie.  Not the softened beat around the bush attempt to 'be nice'.  It was the truth.  No hiding it, no shying away from it, just the truth!

 

As for solutions.  I could list hundreds.  Would it make a difference given the scale of the exodus that has happened in recent months?  Not one little bit.  I have personally been attempting what I thought was a solution, by creating and trying to recruit for a RP FC.  And yet, where has that gotten me?  Frustrated and driven to the point of saying to hell with RP, to hell with anything, I'm just going to do what I do, and everyone else can rot so far as I am concerned.

 

You want to talk about solutions... What problem could possibility have the solution of abandoning a server?  I can't think of a single one.  Not one!

 

Grief.  Black list and GM tickets.  Solved!

Drama.  Black list, or grow up and deal with it as an adult.  Solved!

 

 

The other server has a better community.   Not a problem, an excuse for being to lazy to work on the server community where you are.

 

Friends on another server.  Why did you roll on a different server to start with?  It's called alts.  I have had dozens if not hundreds of them over the games I've played.  Again, an excuse, not a reason.

 

Seriously, I can't think of a single REASON to abandon a server for another.  I can think of hundreds of excuses.. but I had figured we were all past such things.

 

Again, you can hate on me all you want for being honest and truthful.  That doesn't change the fact that I was honest, and truthful... oh.. and giving my opinion.

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Okay, so... this is kind of devolving into a "my server, right or wrong" kind of thing, and as I said, I'm not really keen on letting that continue.

 

I think it's safe to say this thread has run its course, so I'm going to close it before it gets any more acrimonious. If anyone wants to discuss ways to improve RP on either server, RP Discussion is over thataway. :arrow:

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