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Mar-9-2009 21:36

Last night I spoke of some ideas I wanted to discuss with everyone on how to give a little kick-start to Sleuth. I would like to share these now and hear feedback. These things are not required of the Admin, but things we can do as a community to try to get things flowing again.

NOTE: Please do not bring up the development team. That ship has come and gone. This post is aimed purely at community-oriented initiatives, not changing the game itself.

Also, I would like to note that many players have been doing some really good things around here. The contests for free subs, ctown's radio show, AVH matches. I do not mean to discredit any of this. It's all wonderful. I just think we can do a little more :-)

#1 Advertising - Let's get out there and spread the word. This is a great little gem that we have found and there are probably others that would love it as much as we do. Do you belong to another internet site? A Group for Nail-Biters with Herpes? Post on the message board about Sleuth! (well maybe not that, but you get my meaning) Let others know outside of Sleuth what a great place this is. I would especially target (for Noir) adults who enjoy logic-type puzzles. That is what kept me addicted to this game for so long.

Mar-9-2009 23:50

Nic Nac Paddywhack Give the dog a bone-I said this before and I'll say it again-this game needs advertising!! I found this during a bout of boredom and got hooked right away...literally never heard or looked for such an rp game. Some had arguments awhile back that it should be for the few but I held in my camp that it should held for the many to filter few and those interested to stay..."I'm Chevy Chase and that's the news"

Mar-10-2009 06:20

lol we once had an advertising campaign and everyone spat the dummy coz the database exploded with influx of Drewbies.

Mar-10-2009 06:51

Well you know, I first got discovered this game because I saw an ad on the Nancy Drew website, and I've been around for more than two years.
So we aren't all bad. :)

Mar-10-2009 15:53

awww well we all know 'Drewbies' is a term of affection... infection... one or t'other :D

Mar-10-2009 16:16

Haha, I'm either happy about that, or feeding on your insides. One or the other. ;)

Mar-10-2009 17:38

Well...the game does need advertising, even at the risk of an 'infection'. Some useful rezidues may come up upon curing it. I think I covered that issue in Jojo's ressurected post though.

About point #3, I also agree that the lack of challange leads to boredom. I'll reserve though the right of bugging you, nic, with a lot of questions about a lot of secrets, since you came up with this idea in public...hehe

And now...about #3...I fully disagree! An occasional bar brawl sets the blood in motion. Some would even say that strongly sustained differences of opinions lead to progress. I'll just say they're pure fun. Fun to watch and fun to be in the middle of them. As I said to ctown in a private conversation, as far the the participants have a sense of humor and irony, it can be a blast. I made many friends that way.

So, by all means...if you feel like having a fight, do bring it out in the open...hehehehehe

Mar-10-2009 17:39

Hmmm...kinda' late here...messed up the numbers...

Mar-10-2009 17:53

Maybe the key to new members isn't attracting them, but keeping them around.
I haven't seen any writing contests around since last year sometime, and I think that those are very alluring to newbies. Especially the prospect of a free subscription.
I think that a lot of people stumble into this game, so maybe it's a matter of snaring them?

Mar-10-2009 20:18

I think this can be another one of the great posts that we have seen in this community and I'd like to offer my .02 yet again.

Yes, getting out there and spreading the word is great, I have sleuth realted things posted all over on facebook. I let all my friends know about it, several of them have even listened to the radio show. I don't mind doingthings like that, but so far it hasn't seemed to help. Although I wouldn't noticed the facebook stuff, there is a game there called school vandals where I created Sleuth High, we have about 100 people enrolled there and only a handful are from here. It would be great to see some of them over here.

Fighting on the boards. This is such a touchy subject. Like Joey pointed out, him and me talked about this a little privately. There is a very fine line between bantering and bickering. There is nothing wrong with two people disagreeing on a topic, in an internet game where you have people from all walks of life, this is unavoidable. As long as the difference of opinion is handled with respect to one another, I think debate is healthy for the community. Some of you have heard me talk about another online game that I play and there was a ton of debate and even some name calling, but you know what, the biggest participants of those heated debates are now very good friends. Remember, if you disagree with someone, don't be afraid to state your opinion but stay away from phrases like "Thats the most idiotic thing I ever heard", "You're a moron" instead use it as an open forum to try and get your point across and why you feel the way you do. i.e. "Well I have to disagree with you, I think it was the egg that came first because it had to be there for the chicken to come out of." Instead of "Well then where the hell did the chicken come from you imbecile, why don't you go play in traffic"

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Mar-10-2009 20:19

Onto point #3. I couldn't agree more. We are not doing anybody any favors by just handing them things. I have been guilty of giving too much myself because I am anxious for a new member to be able to contribute to helping with AI cases in the agency files ASAP. But looking back, I was not given much when I was a newbie and that has added to my enjoyment of the game. If I had to do it again, I would not had looked for the easy way to get into the princes palace or even to find the ambassador. Instead it is great to give gentle nudges along the path. After finding Secret #1 (I know shameless plug) I have hlped severla others find it as well, but I make them follow the same path I did, give them a gentle push in the right direction, make them see things for themselves and so far they have all been appreciative because they got to have that same experience with it.

Now for some final thoughts, I agree that we shouldn't make this about any type of dev team or what Ben needs to do to bring life back into the game. I think what nic is getting at, hence the title of the post, is what can WE do to make the game better. Yes, this is Bens game and he can do with it what he sees fit. But the community belongs to US. Only WE can make it strong and healthy. We don't need a code of conduct to tell us to respect one another, we don't need to send PM's and emails to Ben that people are being mean to us. The other game that I refered to earlier went 2 years without anything new. Taht means that those of us who were caught up, had nothing to do but troll the message boards, we didn't have things like cases to play. But we had formed a tight community and refused to give up, we went with the attitude that if the community is going down, it's going down fighting.

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