[Official Event] Weekend Getaway

[Barrier]

Yeah, this event was solid. It was nice to fly in Gallia. The only downside is that it was almost entirely trade activity. There weren't really many unlawfuls logging, and when they did, traders would log off immediately in most cases. I think in future events like this need higher profit for traders to balance out the risk, more incentives for unlawfuls (ie unlawful sell point bonus) and then PvP bonuses for lawfuls against unlawful IDs (and vice versa). Otherwise yeah it was cool and hope to see more things like this. Take us back to Gallia as soon as possible please (refined ores to there?).

So this event, as most are, was another test to see how much activity is produced by specific incentives. The idea was that we wanna focus on the transports, trading, and rp, and less on combat, hence no combat config. The problem was like you say, transports just log off, and pirates in general don't seem to be interested in pirating without additional incentives. Sure, some people were active, but not enough to make much of a dent to involve lawfuls. So because there weren't that many pirates, there wasn't much lawful or escort activity to deal with them either.

Unfortunately, this sort of underscores for me that the trade windows need to be limited, in order to force traders to actually finish their run instead of logging off to trade at a different time when they see a pirate. That way, the trader can instead prepare for the encounter. Next time around, I'll be trying multiple shorter windows.

More generally though, Gallia-focused events are just not very popular. I was a bit surprised to see no one on the Rheinland side either, but I suppose the incentives weren't good enough to dust off rarely played factions. We'll increment things based on this data in the future.

Could we see the results posted as a leaderboard?

You can see this in the first post, under the Event Transportation button.

[Lythrilux]

More generally though, Gallia-focused events are just not very popular. I was a bit surprised to see no one on the Rheinland side either, but I suppose the incentives weren't good enough to dust off rarely played factions. We'll increment things based on this data in the future.

Disagree there tbt. As long as the incentives are good, people will log in and get involved regardless of the setting because at the end of the day people just want something to do.

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[Levenna]

More generally though, Gallia-focused events are just not very popular.

I think the problem on this end was more to do with the fact that you could easily make more money running gold and platinum or other hrcs compared to this event. The rewards for milestones and RP were great but the actual profit wasn't that competitive.

On the subject of RP rewards, I personally don't think that mandatory RP for hitting the passenger cabin milestones is a good idea, I'd prefer to see RP rewards separated from participation rewards, it's great that RP rewards exist but I already did my RP through my participation and shouldn't be forced to go to the forums to put together a mediocre post that nobody will actually read or care about from a character that has no history and will never be seen again, just to claim event rewards. It completely misses the point of RP in the first place imo, in that it's supposed to have meaning.

Again, this shouldn't be a critique for the rewards in terms of things like the tour RP posts. Those were a top notch idea. This is solely a critique of the fact I ran several hundred cabins and will be forced to write completely vapid, forced, and meaningless forum RP with no natural reason for it to occur if I want to actually have anything to show for it.

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[03.07.2024] LNS-Beast***: we can do this every day but you have to buy bigger stronger ships...and i'll help you

[Barrier]

On the subject of RP rewards, I personally don't think that mandatory RP for hitting the passenger cabin milestones is a good idea, I'd prefer to see RP rewards separated from participation rewards, it's great that RP rewards exist but I already did my RP through my participation and shouldn't be forced to go to the forums to put together a mediocre post that nobody will actually read or care about from a character that has no history and will never be seen again, just to claim event rewards. It completely misses the point of RP in the first place imo, in that it's supposed to have meaning.

I want to clarify the point of these requirements. The idea is not to just have people make low-effort posts, though many of them will be that. The idea is to have people use this requirement as an opportunity to develop existing RP, or create new RP arcs. The way I see it, if I see 1 solid long-term RP post and 9 "lower-effort" message dump posts, I achieved what I was going for. Remember, before this, there would be no RP AT ALL, with some rare exceptions. It's like the event happened, no one wrote anything about it, and people only have very vague memories about any in-game RP they did. That's cool at the moment, but doesn't exactly invite any longer-term activity afterwards.

The whole point of this incentive is to basically force people to dip their toes in RP. Thus far, I have received pretty infrequent negative feedback about this, even from people who do not enjoy RP at all. Your feedback seems to be saying that you forced yourself to make a one-off character to only claim event rewards. But how is this different from all prior events, where exactly these things occurred en masse, that we wanted to avoid with this incentive? In this case, instead of making a random forum report, consider writing in the event threads, which do not necessarily need to be tied into a specific char. I have also accepted news reports, and watering hole posts, so your options are basically unlimited.

[Levenna]

The idea is to have people use this requirement as an opportunity to develop existing RP, or create new RP arcs.

I appreciate that, but what you may not realise is that the *vast* majority of people who participate in these events do not use established characters to do it, and often create brand new ones to do so. The people who do have established characters, such as OS&C, absolutely should be rewarded for it and it's great that they got their own tailored reward but I don't think it's fair on everyone else to impose mandatory, slightly janky low quality RP posts just for this purpose. People who want to RP around an event will do so, with or without it being mandatory.

If a person has an established character to run an event with, they already have that character that they are invested in and they'll do it. Everyone else playing in the event and earning gameplay rewards provide a vector for those people to get that interaction.

Your point about writing in event threads is exactly what *should* be rewarded, and was rewarded with contrails. That's fantastic. This is not what should be a mandatory blockade for rewards people have supposedly already earned through gameplay though.

The mandatory RP doesn't make these long term memories that you're talking about. If you actually talk to people about memorable events, more often than not it's in-game interactions that are memorable, not forum RP. It's a frustrating barrier that makes people less likely to involve themselves because of the forced extra step. I won't claim my engine reward because I just don't have any ideas for anything quality to write and so I don't want to do it. I don't think I'm an outlier.

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[03.07.2024] LNS-Beast***: we can do this every day but you have to buy bigger stronger ships...and i'll help you

[St.Denis]

More generally though, Gallia-focused events are just not very popular. I was a bit surprised to see no one on the Rheinland side either, but I suppose the incentives weren't good enough to dust off rarely played factions. We'll increment things based on this data in the future.

You did pick inactive Gallic Factions for the Event.

I wasn't going to make an IDF Ship just to do this Event.

Those few people who did (except, basically OS&C|) run the Event worked out that having a UC ID gave them a free run from being pirated. Most of the people were using the UC ID. Even saw that some would log Brigands against the rest and then log UC IDed Liners to do the runs when no others were on.

As for incentives, is there a need for 'rewards' for every Event? The extra credits made and capability for those that want to do the RP to be able to do it, should be incentive enough.

If you keep throwing a huge amount of rewards out, especially for the PvP Events, you will eventually run in to the 'I don't need anymore of those as I have loads from the previous Events, so I am not going to bother logging'.

*climbs in to a fearnought suit*

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'I would like to be half as clever as some people like to believe they are'
Life is full of disappointments, it is how we handle them that helps to define us, as a person

[Lythrilux]

The idea is not to just have people make low-effort posts, though many of them will be that. The idea is to have people use this requirement as an opportunity to develop existing RP, or create new RP arcs.

Have to be honest, this is wishful thinking and in my opinion not worth having a mandatory roleplay requirement for. Splitting participation and RP rewards would be a much better way of encouraging good roleplay out of this event, whilst also allowing people to participate casually, even when the profit rewards aren't stellar. Good roleplay will surface regardless of requirements at the end of the day. I also think there is a misunderstanding of players' mindsets; players focused on roleplay will care little for cosmetic and pvp rewards, and the reverse is true. Why not appeal to that for stronger event participation?

This for example is excellent roleplay that surfaced out of interactions that happened because of the event, one of the IDs involved isn't even eligable for event rewards. It simply happened based off an encounter, and progressed from that point onwards. Stuff like this is good, and it is 100% natural and organic. At the end of the day it's a roleplay server, and people will pursue opportunities for roleplay if they arise in game. We don't need to tell people "YOU MUST ROLEPLAY ON THE ROLEPLAY SERVER", it's already obvious surely? Highlighting Ramke again, they actually make a reference to this event in an ongoing story for an established character, without the incentive of rewards for that character, which helps make the setting and universe feel more connected and alive even if that character isn't directly involved in the event. Trust me people will react to what is going on in the universe, without being forced.

Ultimately imho we should prioritise participation above all else - as that is the basis for which roleplay will form off of and contribute to server longevity, not people being forced to make roleplay for throwaway characters that they feel no attachment to. If there is a lack of participation, because mandatory roleplay deters people, it means everyone loses. Roleplay on the roleplay server will not end if people are allowed to claim rewards without a roleplay requirement (as evident from events in the past).

If the justification for forced roleplay is to encourage long term activity, have to be honest I think that is also silly. Gallia will not spring into activity overnight after a flurry of roleplay posts. It critically needs gameplay and economy changes to make it more interesting for players to fly there. That is (vastly) out of players' hands. My parody of Dr. Harlow from OSRS isn't going to revive the Brigands. But something that encourages my UC character to continue their story (cough cough Gallic POB wine/nox refineries) could. This is another subject though, and I'm not expecting you to be able to make those changes as you are working with what you have.

Those few people who did (except, basically OS&C|) run the Event worked out that having a UC ID gave them a free run from being pirated. Most of the people were using the UC ID. Even saw that some would log Brigands against the rest and then log UC IDed Liners to do the runs when no others were on.

Not entirely true. I encountered an LWB on my Liner. I also heard he tried pirating other Liners, but was not very succesful and died. I'd say there was about an even balance between IDF and UC IDs outside of OSC running this event. It did seem like Rheinland IDs eventually dried up though. Passengers are a tricky commodity to work into worthwhile cargo piracy.

As for incentives, is there a need for 'rewards' for every Event? The extra credits made and capability for those that want to do the RP to be able to do it, should be incentive enough.

If you keep throwing a huge amount of rewards out, especially for the PvP Events, you will eventually run in to the 'I don't need anymore of those as I have loads from the previous Events, so I am not going to bother logging'.

This is a good point, therefore rewarding people with roleplay rewards (in game mentions etc) is a good solution.

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[Levenna]

Ultimately imho we should prioritise participation above all else - as that is the basis for which roleplay will form off of and contribute to server longevity

A short anecdote to support this.

The single most memorable event that I, personally, have played in was the synth foods event that shipped synth paste from Rheinland to Kusari. I have very fond memories of playing cat and mouse between my Kishiro gunboat and @Antonio's FA cruiser. The participation in this event was significant; the profits were high and the event rewards were not tied to any form of forum RP. I think they were actually just forum titles for shipping milestones. If I recall correctly for the first three days or so there were convoys formed of some 20+ traders.

Piracy was pretty common, Hogosha stalked around Kusari and you could never be sure if they were going to pirate you or play nice because of lawfuls nearby, and a hell of a lot of pvp brawls broke out. DTR also raided a couple times despite not even being involved in the event.

I don't remember a single part of the RP of this event, to be honest, and I don't care because the event itself and the ingame interactions are stuck fondly in my memory. I honestly think it's the kind of thing I think a lot of people actually want to see. Quality over large amounts of "okay".

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[03.07.2024] LNS-Beast***: we can do this every day but you have to buy bigger stronger ships...and i'll help you

[L1ght]

On the subject of RP rewards, I personally don't think that mandatory RP for hitting the passenger cabin milestones is a good idea, I'd prefer to see RP rewards separated from participation rewards, it's great that RP rewards exist but I already did my RP through my participation and shouldn't be forced to go to the forums to put together a mediocre post that nobody will actually read or care about from a character that has no history and will never be seen again, just to claim event rewards. It completely misses the point of RP in the first place imo, in that it's supposed to have meaning.

I want to clarify the point of these requirements. The idea is not to just have people make low-effort posts, though many of them will be that. The idea is to have people use this requirement as an opportunity to develop existing RP, or create new RP arcs. The way I see it, if I see 1 solid long-term RP post and 9 "lower-effort" message dump posts, I achieved what I was going for. Remember, before this, there would be no RP AT ALL, with some rare exceptions. It's like the event happened, no one wrote anything about it, and people only have very vague memories about any in-game RP they did. That's cool at the moment, but doesn't exactly invite any longer-term activity afterwards.

The whole point of this incentive is to basically force people to dip their toes in RP. Thus far, I have received pretty infrequent negative feedback about this, even from people who do not enjoy RP at all. Your feedback seems to be saying that you forced yourself to make a one-off character to only claim event rewards. But how is this different from all prior events, where exactly these things occurred en masse, that we wanted to avoid with this incentive? In this case, instead of making a random forum report, consider writing in the event threads, which do not necessarily need to be tied into a specific char. I have also accepted news reports, and watering hole posts, so your options are basically unlimited.

You're very optimistic, not a single person cares about these throwaway RP posts people made just to claim some lackluster rewards. I've been eligble on majority of the recent events to claim rewards, but I'd rather pluck my eyes out than write some meaningless forum post that serves no purpose apart from just clogging the forums. "Rp" requirement for rewards is a very bad idea of forcing people to do what they don't want to do in events. Which you know are mostly gameplay related where people log to have their fun, be it trading to make big bucks, be it pirating, be it pvping. Forcing people to "dip their toes" in RP will and kind of is having the opposite effect, people don't like being "forced" anything.

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[Vlad]

Would be more fun if we get rewarded on the actual results we obtain by PLAYING THE GAME more than spending time on forums (My humble opinion)