Is Nanny dead?

[Maggs]

Surely 'relevance', in the context of this thread, refers to the issue raised by Qwer with regards to the current status of the game, and parties in particular. To that end, your contribution (3 notes) is?

I initially tried to contribute by recounting my relevant experiences, to which you chose to diss my guild. I would have enjoyed hearing this debate continue.

M

PS I would have won my money, not even close.

[Carrion]

PS I would have won my money, not even close.

Totally off topic, but when DID you start in Nanny? Check (and contribute to) the 'Your First Day' thread in Nostalgia, I think I've got the 'earliest' start sofar, and I may be oldest player still playing mortals actively... Or?

[Snafu]

Totally off topic, but when DID you start in Nanny? Check (and contribute to) the 'Your First Day' thread in Nostalgia, I think I've got the 'earliest' start sofar, and I may be oldest player still playing mortals actively... Or?

Well...for now...but Peter was actually playing mortal a year ago...though I haven't seen him for some time now. And rumours have it...some of the admin may still play around...but I haven't confirmed it *grin*

/Snafu

[lillstrumpa]

First off, I have not played Nanny for years. I can barely find my way to the RT chambers so I can read my notes...

But here is one way parties could be made more interesting: Each party member adds 1% to the xp gained when the kill is made. I am sure there are suitable ways to prevent some abuse, though certaintainly not all abuse. Maybe the 1% is only counted if the person has participated in the fight and remains in the room when the kill is made (or something). Maybe that will not do much for partying though, it sounds on a lot of people like xp is way too easy to get anyway nowadays.

In the end, I think that muds can not rely on their age and reputation any longer. There are way too many muds out there today for people to choose from.  Admins of any mud need to be much more active in promoting the game on various mudrelated websites in order to keep new players coming. Nanny is supposedly one of the oldest lp muds out there. But there are others... 3 Kingdoms, Batmud, Ancient Anguish. Those are about as old, but with a much larger playerbase. Promoting may not be the ultimate sollution, but I do see those muds more frequently being mentioned at the various mudsites then what Nanny is.

[Kymn]

I think griefless permanent PK would be a nice change, that would increase the level of fun in my game experience anyways.

[Sharky]

Oki... after a lot of pondering I'v decided I simply must write all of this...
hopefully it'll make things a little bit better for all of us.
(this note is meant to be both on Leowon's board for suggestions and on Snaffy's forum, so it'll contain replies to messages from both places:
http://www.spamfunet.com/nanny/forum/viewtopic.php?t=173&start=15
and also 9w,5n,enter hut from green :-P :-P)

No, Nanny is not dead, but it's players seem to get fewer and fewer :(
Here are some suggestions I thought about:
(I'll try to keep it as short as possible)

1.Advertisment. Yes, Nanny is one of the oldest and largest muds around, but that is just not enough... you can't count on that to attract new players! Someone should take the responsibility of advertising the mud in as many places as possible! Ofc, the admins' time is limited so, maybe a new admin could be elected to handle rather time-consuming task.

2.Newbies. As i said before: they should be treated with respect and encouraged to stay and have fun. A newbie line would be great (and, really, it can't be all that hard to implement). To avoid any problem of the sort: newbie asking for dirs to milkbar, getting the dirs to pet, only people who want to help join this line. And if someone wolunteers to help newbies just to do something like this... well, imho banishment would be a rather
soft punishment. Treat them with respect and they'll stay, otherwise they'll find other muds, for sure.
Also, helping newbies doesn't mean dragging them around in parties for them go gather xp they don't know what to do with. That is rather the opposite of help. The way I see things what newbies lack the most is some easy way to heal. The fact that money making isn't a problem for experienced players doesn't apply for a newbie... Thus healing is problematic for players who don't have wealthy chars to pass money to their low level ones. Perhaps this issue could be solved somehow... A way to borrow money from the bank with the obligation to return it later?

3.Parties. I think Lill's idea was just great. For those who didn't read it, check the forum. Other ideas to encourage partying are welcome!

4.Guilds&downcoding. With all due respect to the admins and guildmasters, the attitude so widely used in nanny (if it's good it must be downcoded, if it was downcoded and now everyone hates it maybe, just maybe, it'll get fixed sometimes in the future). I was away for a long while, but I can see saw some things like this for myself and I have read many complaints coming from other players. As I said before, the time of the admins is limited, but I'm sure that with a bit of patience and effort wizards with more time&eagerness on their hands can be found. Under strict supervision they could do the coding/recoding needed or requested by the players.
Btw, I don't actually know/understand what happened to the monks (I never played them), but I must say that I miss them. A lot!

5.Playerkilling. I for one am an adept of the griefless PK system. I hate dying and the idea of becoming a PK just so the older, experienced PKers can come and kill me over and over again just doesn't seem right. And, please, spare me the 'oh, but you can start over again with a new char anytime' routine... As if I have nothing better to do but to start over and over again hoping that maybe, just maybe I'll survive long enough to learn something new about PK. The removal of the penalty in Gxp when dying is a minimum. I can't understand the pleasure it gives to grieve someone... for me the thrill of the fight and the rush of besting a fellow player is enough. There are many suggestions regarding the penalties of dying in a PK fight... money and, maybe, eq sound rather enough to me.
Also Kadagar's suggestion of a free PK system enforced by players seems interesting.

I bother because Nanny is one of the 2 muds who have a special place in my heart and I really hope I somehow managed to make a difference!

[Sharky]

Here is one of the best reasons for a newbieline: "Volo shouts: CAN ANYONEshout can anyone help me get started?".

And another suggestion I'd like to add is related to killstealing. It's a shame that on a mud so big there are such problems. Why not make a system so that all players can mark their kills and, in the event of killstealing, they can be informed on the spot? (Btw, the signs, are of no use, since people just steal the kill and then move on unhindered)
I'm just SO sick of killstealers!!!  

[Yavathol]

Here is one of the best reasons for a newbieline: "Volo shouts: CAN ANYONEshout can anyone help me get started?".

And another suggestion I'd like to add is related to killstealing. It's a shame that on a mud so big there are such problems. Why not make a system so that all players can mark their kills and, in the event of killstealing, they can be informed on the spot? (Btw, the signs, are of no use, since people just steal the kill and then move on unhindered)
I'm just SO sick of killstealers!!!  

Ok, funny story - I responded to Volo.  He then told me "help get me out of here."  So, I raced of to rescue this poor newbie from whatever terrible predicament he had gotten himself stuck in.  Luckily, I did arrive in time and was able to rescue him from the Adventurer's guild board.

The sad thing is, he had obviously been to Blanka's newbieland already and he told me that someone had helped him by bringing him there and teaching him combat.  So, you may ask, how did he get stuck in the adventurer's guild?  Well, in the course of helping him learn combat, no one bothered to explain about exits or movement commands or even the basics like look, exa, i, eq and the like.

I spent the next 15 or 20 minutes trying to teach him the very basics of getting around and the game when he promptly told me he had to go and quit.  Well, maybe some of it stuck with him.  In any event, I don't think there is any argument against having a line for beginners and those who are willing to help them out, I just think no one has had the time to code it in (I have no idea if it's difficult to set up such a line that new characters would automatically be part of.)

Now as a side note, Sharky, aren't you a druid?  The Druid guild has what is possibly the best deterrent to kill stealing in the game with their owls.  It may not stop the kill stealer, but it sure can get frustrating for them afterwards.  For some reason I simply haven't had much of a problem with kill stealers lately, personally.  I do know of a lot of people who have though and I am left to wonder why as well.  But I guess, as some previously admitted kill-stealers have insinuated, they are just to lazy to do it all themselves.

[ladychris]

2.Newbies...
Also, helping newbies doesn't mean dragging them around in parties for them go gather xp they don't know what to do with. That is rather the opposite of help.

Coud not agree more.
"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him to fish...
you get rid of him for the weekend "

The way I see things what newbies lack the most is some easy way to heal. The fact that money making isn't a problem for experienced players doesn't apply for a newbie... Thus healing is problematic for players who don't have wealthy chars to pass money to their low level ones. Perhaps this issue could be solved somehow... A way to borrow money from the bank with the obligation to return it later?

No, healing is not that problematic for a low level... efficient and quick healing in order to make 100k xp in 1 hr maybe
Simple natural healing means a lot when you have 70 hp and there are free healings around as well (milk cow, bunch of grapes, potions...) There are also a lot of free stuff around that you can sell. Ofc they amount to some hundred coins but remember that if you are a newbie your needs are not that high. And there are puzzles that dont require any killing and reward you nicely both in xp and in money...
IMO a newbie simply isnt and cant be a killer. He will need to kill from time to time ofc, but he is mainly an explorer.
So encourage a newbie to explore, explain him about nanny different areas, (First time i tried to map nanny i went almost crazy since so many areas tend to exist one over the other), give him hints about most rewarding places, explain him about puzzles, and dont forget to tell him most of it can be found in newbie booklet...
Help him to grow by himself and we shall have a new addict, give him free money and xp and he will get bored and quit in 30 mins

[Sharky]

Now as a side note, Sharky, aren't you a druid? The Druid guild has what is possibly the best deterrent to kill stealing in the game with their owls. It may not stop the kill stealer, but it sure can get frustrating for them afterwards.

This subject actually turned out rather funny... Because I posted the note with Sharky everyone naturally assumed he got kills stolen  
Actually the chars with 'problems' are my leper and my viking. As are all chars in guilds that don't have a guild specific way to claim.

Help him to grow by himself and we shall have a new addict, give him free money and xp and he will get bored and quit in 30 mins

I'm not talking about giving away tons of money to newbies... I only suggested the posibility bo borrow a sum of money from the bank (not too much) and be required to pay it back later (when the char opens an account the money he deposits are first used to pay the debt perhaps?).
And here's another suggestion to help newbies (the idea is from another mud, I'm not sure if it is or not implemented in Nanny, if it is pls let me know). How about making it possible for low level Adventurers to borrow an armour and a weapon from the adventurers guild at each login (these items can't be dropped or sold, they can only be returned to the guild). The eq received when entering the rabbit hole in the graveyard is great, but after logging out it's gone...

[ladychris]

And here's another suggestion to help newbies (the idea is from another mud, I'm not sure if it is or not implemented in Nanny, if it is pls let me know). How about making it possible for low level Adventurers to borrow an armour and a weapon from the adventurers guild at each login (these items can't be dropped or sold, they can only be returned to the guild). The eq received when entering the rabbit hole in the graveyard is great, but after logging out it's gone...

Ever tried the free eq in Carrion's newbie area? Its always there, its free and if you sell it when logging out you get 600 gc which for a newbie is a lot of money;) Drawback... you need some minor exploring
And Carrion, dont even think of lowering its value

[Carrion]

Ever tried the free eq in Carrion's newbie area? Its always there, its free and if you sell it when logging out you get 600 gc which for a newbie is a lot of money;) Drawback... you need some minor exploring
And Carrion, dont even think of lowering its value

After your post, I guess someone else will change it instead

[Snafu]

After your post, I guess someone else will change it instead

I was fearing that.

/Snafu

[Qwer]

You can't advance to high lvls by exploring, you have to kill. And show me a newbie that finds and solves puzzles/quests and knows free loot etc. That's bs.

[Carrion]

And show me a newbie that finds and solves puzzles/quests and knows free loot etc. That's bs.

A (somewhat) experienced (LP)MUDder will probably just do that, search for free loot and try solving puzzles/quests, even though (s)he is a Nanny-noob. Well, someone that actually wants to play and not get dragged around anyway. But, which I suspect you're talking about, a complete MUD-noob would probably not think about those aspects of the game directly (but may hopefully get some pointers in that direction, that it's not ALL about killing rabbits).