Sleuth Home - Message Boards - Sleuth Talk

Jun-20-2007 12:56

***This is my opinion. Strictly my opinion.***


I've looked at the community, and anyone who's been here longer than 100 days is able to see that Sleuth activity has gone down the tubes. Dead. And what is to blame? The agencies.

Now, agencies aren't the root cause. Let's get that straight. But the way they have been operating is. The problems with agencies are (1) the quantity, (2) the purpose, (3) and the role they play.

Okay, first, the quantity of agencies. Not too long ago, there were about 20-30 agencies. All full at 12 persons each, coming to a total of roughly 240-360 people. That was a good amount. But now, we have almost 120 agencies. That's right. 600% of the amount we had about a year ago. Sure, some may argue that the community has grown, and it certainly has. But 600% growth? I don't think so.

Mar-10-2009 16:04

I'll be your friend :-)

Mar-10-2009 16:14

You're right there, there hasn't been much talking at all.
It makes it more complicated to jump into conversations if there aren't any happening. :)

Mar-10-2009 16:57

Alright...now here's a glimpse of my noobish wisdom: anything gets boring at some point in time. Also, people don't leave a game only out of boredom. Sometimes they get busy, sometimes they just naturally find themselves focusing in another direction and...I think I can come up with a few more similar reasons that have no connection with the game itself, but I also think I've already made my point: a game is basically some spare time fun and can be replaced with another activity without necessarilly becoming boring.

So, I think the main problem the game is facing at this point is simply a natural fact of life: people move on.

Now, this is a problem that any game has. Basically, such a game is meant to be developed up to a certain point/shape and then just refresh its customers at certain periods of times. This is how these games function and live over the years. Indeed, from time to time new content has to be added, but usually the purpose is not to keep players in untill they reach old age, but just to bring it up to date with the current trend. In this regard Sleuth Noir does not have a problem, as basically it has a certain kind of shape that can be on fashion forever.

The conclusion of the paragraph above is that the real reason for this game looking deserted is that it does not refresh the ranks of its players. The reason for that is simply the one nicnic has pointed out in her thread: poor adveritsing...or...almost no advertising I would say. Except for the moment when I first found out about it...almost a year ago, I have never encountered another mention of it unless I specifically searched for it. That's not how it's supposed to be. If you want players in a game it has to basically jump out in the eye from everywhere.

Ok...I think I'm close to the post limit, so I'll continue in another one below.

Mar-10-2009 17:22

Now, I am not saying that old players have to be overlooked and especially since we are facing the advertising problem mentioned above. Ctown made some very good points in his post, out of which one stands out very clear: players need to feel they are taken care of, be that by new content added or simply by maintaining contact. I have to say that things around here are much different from the time when I first joined, in the sense that now the game looks like a ship that has been abandoned by its crue and captain and it is just run by its passengers. That's not an attractive look, especially when you pay for a ticket. The human nature is basically shaped towards interaction. When one feels no one's listening to him, he will move to wherever finds some open ears.

I think in this regard the creation of Shades has had a major influence. I am not talking about players moving to a more spectacular game, as basically to play this one implies the existence of a certain taste that practically cancelles the need for 'spectacular'. I understand from nicnic's post that not even Shades has a lot of action in a profitable sense, so practically that denied the possibility of accusing it of stealing players. But Shades did indeed generate a status of neglection in Noir, which led to what I have described in the above paragraph.

At last, regarding the idea of a game's community sustaining its own existence, it can be a step ahead towards sustaining the existence of the game itself, but it will never be enough.

The conclusion of all I've written is this: Noir needs advertising and also it needs the presence of an active management team, even if just for drying their mouth around the message board.

As far as Jojo's initial post is concerned, I fail to see the connection between what he described as being happening in the game at the time and the phenomenon he pointed as a result, but I don't think that's important to discuss. Maybe I'm just not that smart...hehehe

Mar-10-2009 17:25

Darn!...I wish I could limit myself to one post. I nearly put myself to sleep while reading again what I wrote...hehe

Mar-10-2009 18:23

I know this is going to sound really, really horrible. But, I don't really want to do anything for the game. I'm more than happy helping edit some mystery intros or being a chat mod (something within the game). But when it comes to me having to go out and advertise or do extra things, I'm just not that excited to do it. (Saying that, I do mention the game to other people on other boards.) I greatly appreciate the contributions that Ctown and other members have made to the sleuth community. However, I don't have the time/energy to make this game better. If I get bored, I rather just unsub -which I did for a number of months. I'm sorry if that sounds selfish.

Mar-10-2009 20:07

No that just makes you sound human hap :)

Mar-10-2009 22:45

Thanks SS. :)

Sorry, I think i was supposed to post this in "what we can do to help sleuth" thread.

Mar-14-2009 23:04

To walk through an agency list in noir is to walk through ghost towns...places where interest bloomed and dropped like interest at a physics convention. I feel like that Indian that rode up on his horse and looked over at all the litter *tear dripping down my eye* ;) Variety is the spice of life...bring us your drunk and stoned and lookie loos ...rebuild join agencies stay solo who cares...we need players!

Mar-17-2009 23:39

Go on with your bad self Bill...He has it right