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An Editorial
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ctown28
ctown28
Huntsman

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.

Replies

Brasco De Gama
Brasco De Gama
Old Shoe

Jul-17-2008 14:23

I started playing Noir because I wanted to find a game where you solve crimes and it was the first one I found. There were enough things of interest to make me want to subscribe and explore the game a bit more. I think that if it had happened now I might have looked at both games and decided to play SoM because it was the newer game, but I have to say that there isn’t much outside of the agencies in SoM to make me want to subscribe because the cases take quite a long time, so 4 would do for me. I doubt I would have been hooked in as much as I was by Noir with its cities, treasure hunts, AVH equipment.

As far as improving the game, I would like to offer 2 ideas. Again, I’m sorry if they have been mentioned in other posts that I haven’t read properly. Firstly, I don’t think having the two games together on a single the home page helps. They have a common theme and I think any new players passing through make an either/or decision early on. If you want 2 games running then treat them separately, otherwise, just stop supporting Noir altogether and avoid its slow death, because it’s obvious that the home page has been designed to treat Noir as the poor relation of SoM now… I don’t think it helps Noir and because therefore doesn’t help Hypothetical.



Brasco De Gama
Brasco De Gama
Old Shoe

Jul-17-2008 14:24

My Second idea is linked to what nicnic said about respect for high scorers. I suggest that after scoring a set amount of exp points in Noir, you should be given a new Super-User status, with free subscription rights and maybe some kind of new way of being treated in terms of FA’s... maybe something like a name and shame in a special Super-user bulletin rather than retirement... I don’t know, it’s my new idea today and I haven’t had chance to think it through fully so I’d appreciate some feedback. Perhaps this could be linked in with the idea of the development team, where SU’s have some say in steering development. This SU status could be allowed to elapse if you didn’t stay active which might keep people showing their face in the game. I also think it recognises that you’ve probably paid a fair share in subscription fees to get there.

What do you reckon?

Huglover
Huglover
Old Shoe

Jul-17-2008 15:01

Thank you soo much Brasco De Gama for your first idea. I am so thankful someone finally put words on one of my itching feelings about how Noir is treated. It is so true, that from the moment the two Sleuth games had a single start-page, that you even have to switch through when you log out from one of your doubles, and are to log on to the next, Noir started to get drained. It was like you were to be reminded every time you logged on that you belong to the older ones, who play the old game, not the new fancy one which you should be playing....

I liked the Super-User status idea, but I think that of economical reasons there is a need that even super-users pay subscription fees. But, may be you could be given on free 1-month gift-subscription to give away to a newbie (with less than a certain amount of xp) that you want to recruit into the game, say you get one every 3rd month?
Also I think that SU's are the obvious participaters in a development team. And a special SU-bulletin, wich gives fame and recognition to SU's would be great.
What do you think about this way of being treated in terms of FA's that SU's make: you loose the contacts in one randomly chosen city for EACH FA... - and still have to pay Shady some money, may be $ 200 k ?

Hairlock Bones
Hairlock Bones
Well-Connected

Jul-17-2008 15:13

I'd totally agree with Brasco's first point. I found Sleuth in March. I had a look at both sites, Shades and Noir, and created a detective in both, before deciding that Shades looked like it was the new and improved version so I concentrated my efforts there. I'm thinking now that that was an incorrect first impression! They are very different games.

The home page really does Noir no favours because it fails to point out that Noir has an awful lot more to explore and is a much more established game.

Another point to consider is that recruitment is a problem over at Shades too. Even though there are often over 100 people logged on, there are relatively few regulars. The the big agencies (and there are not that many) are seemingly struggling to recruit at the moment. So maybe the situation isn't that different over there.


KOPPER
KOPPER
Sleuth About Town

Jul-17-2008 17:32

I have to confess that I have not read the full thread but I'm diving in anyway. Who hasn't noticed the limited amount of players on at any given time?! I see more people in an elevator at 2am than I do on here. As an alternate approach that Admin may take would be increased advertising. If this game had a quarter of the advertising that the saucy book "The Red Death" has, we may see some more players venturing into this lost world that we love. I could not tell you how I ever stumbled into this game but it sure wasn't a result of looking for it. I know with increased advertising comes a bunch of knuckleheads but a good moderator will quickly show them the exit and Ben could make sure they stay the heck out once identified. We're weeks away from players looting the local town shops and setting fire to city hall. I'm tired of beating off the vultures from my detective. I truly believe that with increased advertising would come more players and a renewed interest in the game for at least me...as Ctown said it is the community interaction with others that I like but unless you have split personalities like I do there is usually no one here to chat with while playing. What ever, I'm off the soap box for now as the Simpsons just came on.

Ms Helen
Ms Helen
Con Artist

Jul-17-2008 17:55

Brasco I completely agree with your comments about the home page, I would say that has a huge impact on how few look at Noir now. Maybe separate home pages would be better.

I may be the only one but I really don't like the idea of a development team I'm sorry. I don't really know how to explain why I feel like this maybe if there's someone else who feels the same they can help me out but for the first time in my life I'm lost on words all I know is I think it would be a bad idea :(

Rosamund Clifford
Rosamund Clifford
Tale Spinner

Jul-18-2008 06:14

You're not the only one, Helen, I don't like the idea either. I explained to Ben why I didn't like it, but so far I haven't got any response.

I still think that Noir is a great game just as it is, the best detective game on the Net, and everything in it was created by Ben and Ben alone. I'm afraid that once given to a developing team it would turn into something quite different from what it used to be.

I also agree with Brasco about the home page.

Rosamund Clifford
Rosamund Clifford
Tale Spinner

Jul-18-2008 06:19

Sorry, I meant "the development team".

Brasco De Gama
Brasco De Gama
Old Shoe

Jul-18-2008 07:45

OK, I can understand why people don’t like the idea of the game moving in a direction not driven by Ben. What would end up happening to the game? Well I guess none of us want it spoiling or getting gimmicky, but I am concerned about this post Ben made that all the eggs are now in the SoM basket.

My view is that we do have a good game now. I also think that unless it is overseen then it can go downhill. I also don’t believe there isn’t room for occasional upgrades.

I've developed my Super-User idea a bit today. I might be getting a bit controversial here so I'd just like to point out that these are just ideas to add to the discussion and I'm not in any way trying to undermine the admin team or their income from Sleuth!!! I’ve taken on board what Huglover said about subscriptions. I guess there’s always the cost of keeping an online game online.

Here’s what I’ve come up with today. Imagine Sleuth Admin were to appoint (on a voluntary basis) a Head Super-User, who they felt could be trusted to appoint a team of volunteers to help run the game. This Head SU could then appoint an SU Secretary to keep everything organised between the SU's. Finally, in this initial group there could be a Review Team. Now whether this would be programmers or just people who were chosen to identify improvements and upgrades would dependent on various technical and practical issues, so I assume for the moment, the Review Team would be purely advisory. Maybe they would be on hand for players experiencing bugs or technical problems, possibly they could be trying to progress the game. I’m not talking just new content, but general improvements, whether it be gameplay, presentation, advertising on the web etc. etc. etc. whatever… after discussion within the team they report their findings to the Head SU who then takes this to the Admin. This is an important function I think, because it would mean Ben has a single point of contact, rather than so many that he just has to ignore. Anyway, I think these people mentioned would have demanding roles so they would be "

Brasco De Gama
Brasco De Gama
Old Shoe

Jul-18-2008 07:48

(cont.) "Officers".

In less demanding roles would be “Delegates”. These could then be allocated roles that we have today, like Editors, Chat Moderators and Board Moderators. Again, they would be appointed or approved by the Head SU. Perhaps this could be something for long standing, highly experienced players. It could also help keep newer players motivated to keep playing and gain the experience to be considered, so they can put more into building the community of Sleuthville.

Another idea I like for some reason is an SU donation fund for the game. Perhaps this would generate extra income from people who really want to see the game keep going.


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