Attracting Players

[pxwebdev]

The server has reached an all time low. We need to do something to attract new players to our server. I have been giving it some thought and here is what I can come up with.

The current server does not in any way stand out in the crowd or offer anything really exciting and different from the other standard stock servers. We give no incentive to have players be here instead of else where.

We need to offer something, in the way of a different play than the standard stock. Heres some ideas:

1. Open all jump holes and gates.
2. Offer new clans their own base or system for free or low rental cost.
3. Give new clans special abilities
4. Change the starting cash to 100K
5. Change the starting ship to a drome, rhino, dagger, etc.
6. Have npc looting
7. Make nomads appear randomly everywhere.

Some of these things come from las vegas as some of you know, but Las Vegas is incredibly busy and manages to attract new players constantly, and keep the new players constantly. This leads me to belive that people there like the things that are offered.

The only problem is that their admin adn sp staff are corrupt and hippocritical. ANother story completly.

We also need to advertise more, get LD back in the news. This is not just a one man show, its going to take all of us to get the server busy again and keep it going.

I know some of the things may be easy, some may be hard, but if we all help with what we know, it should be easy.

Comments, thoughts, ideas?

[Frobozz]

Yup, we need to do something...

"1. Open all jump holes and gates."

We already discussed this. My Opt-In Mod was my work-around for that.
All systems in FL are now open, including a new one which I still am looking for ideas for HERE.

"2. Offer new clans their own base or system for free or low rental cost.
3. Give new clans special abilities"

Good ideas for a bit later, lets start out by offering large cash incentives for forming then those ideas can be offered.
Maybe $TBD for a clan with 3 members to get set up then later $TBD for TBD amount of time on the tagged characters.

I've been playing a bit on XEO and they have a RP system that could be adapted I think to our server. Now their system is Star Wars based but no reason it can't work in stock. Instead of clans they have factions. You tag your ship with the faction you want and elect a leader and then claim a home system. When you grow bigger, you try to seize more systems. Unclaimed systems are seized first until they're all taken then battles between factions for claimed ones can happen. Imagine Risk game in FL. This faction system is a bit different than clans. Clans form from invitations, factions you just join a NPC group and others choose too if they wish. You can have a clan which is not in a faction, or you can have a clan which is a sub-group of a faction (an elite squad). Or just plain old Freelancers. I have faction ships on stock right now, I play them a lot on Boston and now LDG. I have a Corsair, LWB, and Farmers Allience. Maybe we would designate a new brakcet for faction tags, let's say (COR) for Corsair for example. AFAIK no clans use ( ) brackets and if any do, well, we can work on another. Faction labels can be on either end of name, but clan tags can only be on front.

"4. Change the starting cash to 100K
5. Change the starting ship to a drome, rhino, dagger, etc."

As I said on AE's Thread:

$100k and Hawk with 2 Adv Stunpulse (class 3), 2 Flashpoint lasers (class 6) and a class 4 grav shield. That's all Civilian.
That's a fighting ship but it's easy as pie to turn that into a Drom. Any more than that & we'll be knee deep in 'cash cow' ships.

"6. Have npc looting"

NPCs already are looting, when players kill them.
If you mean NPC Vs NPC looting that causes lag having all that crap in space.
Player looting like LV is a no-go, it kills dueling, I seen that on LV enough.

"7. Make nomads appear randomly everywhere."

Good god no.

[pxwebdev]

Fro I need you to get on MSN or something so we can toss around the ideas and stuff to do for making the mod better.

[pxwebdev]

I have worked a little with the FLShell program and I think we could probably get that setup on the stock server as well.

[ottobohn]

you attract players by going out and putting our name everywhere..putting our banner on all the freelancer sites that exist..name name name name ;) advertising is what id id and brought us shit loads of traffic..hehe

forums..hit all the freelancer forums and preach the good gospel of lansdale kicking ass

otto

[Artemis Enterri]

i think we should jump the starting cash up to atleast 100k
maybe more

[={MG}=Damocles]

so far i honestly like fro's idea, put em in a hawk with decent guns and X cash, they can sell the hawk and guns if they want a drom or they can do better missions off the bat...

but thats just me.

[Frobozz]

I will do that when I can, but since I'm working on doing something like this for the new Freeworlds server (which is very complex compared to stock) I was wondering if someone else could do this. The tutorial for doing this is on TLR right HERE.

Thanks! (to whomever can help out on this)