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Jun-28-2008 08:39

There have been some recent events on this game that warrant some concern. It’s no secret that there has been a lack of interest. Much of this may be attributed to the release of Shades of Mystery. If that is what people want to play, far be it from me to tell them not to play it.

That being said. I am still a paying customer of Sleuth Noir. As a paying customer there are some things that I expect. Ben has done a decent job at keeping the server up and running. We had a slight issue earlier in the week with not being able to travel and Ben did a great job of addressing the issue and getting it corrected. He always has done a great job of taking care of things. He has not however kept the game fresh and interesting. We recently had the expansion of the USS Sleuthetania. There was a buzz before the initial launch of it and we couldn’t wait to see what was in store for us.

Well what did we get? The opportunity to pay $20,000 to get on board of a ship and do nothing more than play cases. Sure there are some new characters and new items along with 2 new “coming soon” links. That’s it! I can’t help but to feel disappointed in the way this has played out. Two weeks later, the links are still coming soon and the interest of the boat has already gone away. I know I have no plans or reason to get on the boat and be cut off from my agency completely. I don’t know this for a fact, but I think a lot of people are disappointed with the boat as well and some may even be irritated and feel cheated by the whole development.

Maybe I’m being a bit harsh and we are missing some secret that still needs to be unlocked on the boat, but if people aren’t playing, the secret will not be unlocked. I know that Ben is just one person and can only do so much. He has a lot on his plate right now with running both SOM and Noir. I’m sorry, but SOM means absolutely nothing to me as I don’t play over there.

Jul-15-2008 21:14

What if........for a moment we stop thinking about ourselves.

What if....admin. made New York more interesting for unsubbed newbies.

What if....there were some type of contest where if they(unsubbed newbies) gained certain items or skills or points they would win a subscription.

What if.... after they won that subscription they had a choice of agencys to join.

I enjoy helping newbies and I'm sure most of you do also so instead of trying to apease ourselves why don't we try to increase our community. Perhaps the enthusiam we currently lack can be found in the sleuths we have yet to recruit.

Jul-15-2008 23:49

I remember when I first started playing Sleuth. How addicted I was to it....so bad that gee, I thought I was actually Makensie Brewer (my other detective, and my very first one at that ,who i love dearly still lol).....the community was hustling and bustling with activity...agencies were extremely active. It is sad whats happening now. I mean, the close community is still here....but you know what i mean.

Even the new Sleuth is a fun game, I dont think it can ever compare to Sleuth Noir. Even though I am not as active on here, well...not active at all actually in the actual solving cases, etc....it still is dear to my heart. It helped me get through some pretty stressful times in my life, I must say...the game itself, the agency I was in, and the whole community.

I still log on here though...keep coming back to read the boards to catch up on whats happening, even if I dont post.

It is great to see new faces, and its wonderful to see the "old timers"....the ones who were around when I was very active.

Even though it still is the best game online, in my humble opinion, I hope something can be done to revive it. I would hate to see it crumble away. I think I would cry lol ;)

I agree with Sophie....start with the newbies, to increase the community. If that would happen, it might bring the older ones back, and get that fire lit again. I know I miss roaming around the halls of my lil home..(the agency I used to be in)

However way its done, or whatever changes or not, I hope to see the fire back here again. :)

I hope to subscribe one day again, and be apart of the community!!!

By the way, my reasoning for not resubbing so long ago isnt cuz of lack of interest. It was lack of internet connection LOL ....and now, I just dont have the time I once did to put into it. I might get hated at home *eye roll* BUT, I hope to be back one day! Until then, I will keep logging on, and being a silent observer of everything :)

Rock on Sleuth!

Jul-15-2008 23:52

Hello again :)

I'm going to try (probably fail) to be brief, 'cause I'm tired and my gigantic Stewie Griffin football head (delivered to your door in 6-8 weeks complete with optional add-on glamour fuzz as our free gift with your subscription to Tiger Beat magazine) is so close to the keyboard I can practically smell my fingerprints. This means that there is probably a great deal that I should say that I am going to forget to say, and for this omission, I pre-emptively apologize. If you are an American o voting age, and you find my pre-emptive doctrine unacceptable, I pre-emptively commend you on your decision to vote for Obama.

Here I go with the brevity. Brevity set to commence. Brevity countdown starting momentarily. Brevity brought to you after these impotent messages from Viagra. Ready? OK!

First: I feel bad. Not "badly" - I'm good at feeling- bad. If I had actually read more carefully before my last post, I probably would have been less wet-blanketish about it. Reading it again, I see a lot of people interested in trying to find ways to increase enjoyment of the game for many more people. Which is a very nice thing to try to do :)

Second: what sophie has written above is a far more elegant expression of part of what I was trying to say earlier. Insomuch as there is a problem to be editorialized upon here, I would ask people to frame it in terms of whether the problem is more one of RECRUITMENT or of RETENTION. I think that the current focus upon ways to keep more established players interested actually misses the point, precisely because a) any innovations, no matter how new and exciting they initially appear, will eventually become boring to anyone who plays for any substantial length of time and b) the thing I have most enjoyed about the game is the one thing that does NOT become predictable over time - the interaction with others.

Jul-15-2008 23:53

So, while I do agree that there is a "problem" in terms of lack of interest my own feeling is that the best way to address is NOT through finding ways to keep existing players interested, but rather is through finding ways to attract new players to become addicted and spend a few years trying to figure out the secrets I had the privilege of taking for granted because some other member of the community decided to give me the scoop.

Well said, Sopie :)

Jul-15-2008 23:57

By which I mean "Sophie" :P

Told you I was tired.

(p.s. - see that Brewster chick up there? That's what I mean -- she's been more helpful to more newbies that I know how to say. So she's not subbed -- big deal, from a business plan point of view, if the fact that she makes it a nice place to play encourages subs from 20 new people).

Jul-16-2008 00:02

I feel ya Reese -but I hope people will still read my thoughts on this ^^^

Please take no offence but the "I remember when " should be in a different thread. I'm afraid my suggestions for the future are lost now :(

Jul-16-2008 00:21

No not lost..saved by timing. who would have thought.. crunch saved me. Postwise I mean. I'm tired too.

But I gotta ask, Crunchie you don't eat poutine do you??

See,? now I went off topic.

LOOK UPWARDS FOR MY SUGGESTIONS ^^^^^ :)

Jul-16-2008 00:26

I wasnt taking anything away from u what you said, i was agreeing with you. I also think it was in the right place because this is what its about ...about bringing back the fire that once was, along with new things.

Your suggestions arent lost.....but im sorry that YOU feel that way. Im also not offended.

*shrugs* Glad to see I havent lost my touch...of being taken wrong. lol(humor is a wonderful thing)

Goes back to being the silent reader...its better that way :)

Jul-16-2008 00:58

Reese, please don't be silent, interaction is what we need.

Crunch, you hit the nail on the head, it's not the cases or the TH's taht keep me coming here, yes thats something I do while here, it's the community, interaction with others. Thats what makes it great.

That being said, I would love to be able to expand the community, not sure I agree with giving out a free sub though, thats been done by Jojo and a few contests in game board, let people at lest pay their dues before coming in. then it's up to us to show them how great it can be.

Basically what I've been trying to get across is, yes while the community is whats keeping me here, if the members of the community lose interest and die off, the community goes with the members.

Hopefully my big, mysterious, pending announcemnt will regenerate some interest. Only time will tell.

Jul-16-2008 01:47

I'm definitely looking forward to what you have in mind ctwon : )