A plan for longevity

[Hokan]

GOALS

-Boost player interaction by incentivizing gameplay in specific areas of the map. (Shrinkage, I know some people don't like this but hear me out)
-Create a focused experience for new players because the amount of changes, features, rules and programs one needs to play this game is really not user friendly.
-Boost the RP gameplay further instead of making it feel "game-y".
-Attract new players.

Incentivizing gameplay in specific areas can be done in multiple way. Story development is typically one of the best ways to do this but are infrequent. Another is combat/trading events that you're probably already aware of.

The creation of a new player experience has been something constantly talked about but few things have been done to push the idea into a more complete experience. The Penny rework afaik has attempted to offer more guidance to players with what they can do. But this was just specific effort on the part of a Sys developer. Imo you need a specific person with the vision for change who will put devs to task and light a fire under their arse to constantly keep working towards it otherwise it will end up never happening.

Funny you should mention RP, check this thread.

Strangely, like you I haven't been around long. Only joining early last year. I know another guy who joined in August who's a pretty well known guy in the community now as well. Disco seems more to have the problem with retention, over new people joining. Although more new people is likely to keep more people around anyway.

SUGGESTIONS

-Create a pool of "soft events" which boost certain areas of the game, incentivizing gameplay in those areas.

As @Haste will know, we've came up with MANY ideas for events. Some of them require specific things added to the game, others are comical events like "You need to collect ingredients and give them to a potion seller" or other none specific story/lore related events.

The main issues with it are just variety and mechanics.

So yeah, for example, people like Mandalore and Sseth have a soft spot for RP and love to get lost in it, they also frequently revisit old, forgotten and extensively modded games, so if we just showed them the colossal effort that went into this, all the dedication and love, I am sure that they would not be indifferent to checking it out, especially if devs reached out to them and coordinated a big update like this with them.

Also, any suggestions, ideas, discussion and constructive criticism is more than welcome.

Mandalore and Sseth could be well received, although I think the Sseth crowd leans more on the piss take kind. I do like his videos, but I'm not sure about it.