Community Input: Starting Location

[Croft]

New York isn't the best place to start, it has no greater position, layout or features that aren't present within any other capital system. People go to New York simply because they know someone is going to be there which forms a vicious cycle and not but a few years ago you could head into almost any House to find activity. The difference now is that people don't seem to want to be part of a living server ecosystem, they want quick fights, quick money and instant gratification.
No amount of system design, economy changes or storyline movement will change that. It is entirely down to the community.

The goal behind moving new players out of Penn is to remove them from that self-sustaining cycle and show them the greater variety that Disco has to offer, exposing them to life on the server whilst providing enough information for them to actively participate and thrive. Having new players all experience the same "play pen" as it were, doesn't foster that kind of environment as it is far removed from server life. Without any of the existing community to answer the questions of a new player it becomes a case of the blind leading the blind.

Personally I'm in favour of a hub system for new players, much like Piombo's, that contains a single dockable station with one way jumpholes to the various capital worlds and battleship solars (non-dockable) that provide a background story for each House when their info is viewed. Though I think putting new players at Crete, Malta and Omicrons may not be the best idea, gotta ease folks in and allow them to discover on their own rather than putting them into hostile turf within the first 5 minutes.
This would be almost like a lobby of sorts, a place where new players could gain an overview of the mods story by reading the various station cards before deciding where they'd like to go next. For example Bretonia's could read:

"Bretonia is a House populated by decendents of those from the United Kingdom. The people there value their traditions, their Queen and quiet determination.

All is not well within the stoic House as the Gallic invasion has taken the Leeds system and now stands ready to attack New London. The people of Bretonia are working tirelessly to protect their homes while the Mollys of Dublin fight for their independence and to protect their mining fields filled with gold from Bretonian Mining and Machinery exploitation and Corsair assaults. The Gaians, aided by their Corsair allies, struggle to maintain the precious natural ecology of worlds who are being manipulated by Planetform Inc and Orbital Spa & Cruise.

Hope is not lost however, vital aid from the Liberty Navy helps keep the Bretonian Armed Forces in the fight while their allies the Council, Free Brigands, Unione Corse and Crayer Republic engage the Gallic Royal Navy in fierce guerilla warfare. Aided by the covert actions of Queen Catarina's Privateers, pirates with letters of marque who steal and distrupt supplies needed by the Gallic advance."

Or something to that effect.

However, this would lack the recognizable landmarks newcomers may remember from the story campaign. Cortez would offer something widely known whilst providing a reasonably stable starting point at Curacao (due to OS&C's general neutrality) that isn't removed from the storyline. Things don't need to be sign posted if the information needed is available either by the starter items or by passing players, the sooner they see how the server works the sooner they can begin to explore it.

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Jimmy The Rat | Croft's Feedback | The Rat Pack