Old Heroes with New Attitudes
by Supirio

Dear fellow Medievians,

I write this article today to reflect on what I have noticed over the last four months since I've returned to Medievia. Also, I want to share my opinion and perspective on how we, the current players of Medievia, can make a positive impact on the game. In the past four months I have seen heroes hero in twelve days, a Trellor catastrophe pay 19 million coins, an unlucky combination of mob factions and Ruby Kah sink our clan ship two nights in a row, seen winning CPK battles, and losing CPK battles, I've seen many new items in the game and have seen many new zones since I last played. I've seen sixteen-man quests not be able to fill during primetime. This game is geared for 500 people and we, the current players, need to help build and grow the playerbase in a positive way to make the game more fun for all of us.

I would like to believe that we all love to play this game for a variety of reasons. It may be because you like the fact that you recognize many players when you log in and can build friendships easily with players in the game. You might play because you love the thrill of learning a new zone or popping a max stat piece of equipment. Perhaps you enjoy many aspects of the game as I do and like the variety of features Medievia has to offer such as many different types of player killing areas, ships, trading, combs, running zones, quests, dragon lairs, bloodlines, or just helping out some clannies complete their objectives. The new players that have been added to my family's bloodline seem to fall into one of these categories, they also seem to appreciate greatly any help that can be given to them whether it be experience points, some new equipment, or help learning how to run a zone.

Even though it would be nice to believe most of the players play for one of the above reasons, it seems to me that many of the older playerbase play for much different reasons. Some players log in just to make another player's gaming experience a miserable one. Killing low level players trying to XP or complete an autoquest, then insulting them afterwards several times over shout, doing things just to be an annoyance to another player. Don't get me wrong, I like my playerkill action just as much as the next player, but I don't feel the need to rub it in their face or mob kill them repeatedly to get some sort of satisfaction out of it. I'd like to see a larger playerbase, more competition, more clans and towns fighting over the same things, but we need to clean up the negative campaigns and start focusing a little bit on the positives that keep us playing. A day doesn't go by without negative, unproductive, repetitive complaints appearing on the immortal channel (hero only) about the same topics. Normally the topics are ships, loot limit, the where command, halfdet, donation items, and what I believe to be the most important, playerbase. Ironically, some of the topics complained about today were the same ones players were begging for in the past. I don't agree with every change made over the last few years but do I understand why some of these changes had to be made, absolutely. Would I still want to be playing Medievia 3 instead of Medievia 5? Absolutely not. Do people really think badmouthing every aspect of the game they have played regularly will somehow increase the playerbase? I would hope they realize there is no point, put the effort into a well-organized package, or run for governor to make a change.

In my opinion, broadcasting negative opinions on the game day in and day out will never have a positive outcome on the playerbase. Old heroes need new attitudes. Realize that the decision to speak negatively on all aspects of the game day in and day out has a negative affect on the game and the playerbase. Over the years this mud has come a long way, but rarely do you see people giving positive feedback about new zones, new equipment, or new features of the game. I have a feeling 90% of the population either like the new features or are not threatened by them, but the 10% of the population who dislike features are louder than the 90%. If you fit into the 10% category, a much better and more productive approach would be to come up with constructive criticism and good ideas/alternatives to improve the game and email these ideas to the gods of Medievia so it can be heard by someone who cares and who can actually do something about it. Next time your about to kill a newbie struggling to get through an autoquest perhaps lend a hand and tell that player to link you when they get to triple class in case there are any open spots in your clan you can get him in. We need to embrace the new players more than we currently do, help them out a little, not push them away with negativity or ignore them completely when they ask for assistance. Old Heroes with new attitudes is the one of the best ways in my opinion to get the playerbase to increase, combine that with getting a friend to try the game for the first time and we will be well on our way.