Perhaps as someone who has a lot of RPing experience but is new (to this server) I can share some thoughts that may help.

The number one thing that I have experienced that will kill a RPing community is a divided community.

Are all our characters going to get along ICly all the time? Heck no.

But can we get along OOCly in spite of that fact? I hope yes.

I have characters on Arelith as well as Amia now so as non-snarkily as I can I'll share the pros and cons I've seen of both. Pros on Amia are the community seems to care a metric ***load more about the server than what I've seen on Arelith. Here it seems everyone cares so much that some may be losing sight of just what it is they care about.

On Arelith the fact that it is slightly emptier (at the times I've been online) than Amia didn't detract from it because the game engine has been so unbelievably modified that it gets you into the game because it is practically a different game. But the community seems kinda...I don't know...caught up in their own worlds and crafting and stuff.

So far with my little Paladin I love it here, mostly because I seem to be the only little Paladin (yay!) but also because even though she's yet to speak to anyone (by design) I've gotten answers and messages and random fun stuff from lots of members of the community, which makes me stay.

Feelings will always get hurt, people will do things that offend or that hurt, but perhaps we should remember, it is just a game.

And to the topic at hand, Steam i believe can be an answer. I can look on http://www.nwnlist.com/ right now and there are...777 people still playing NWN in the middle of the afternoon on a Friday.

I think the KEY problem is that NWN needs to get something going on like NWN2 has now to replace the now non-existant gamespy servers. What's hurting ALL servers, including Amia, is the fact that someone can't go into the game and browse what's out there without being slightly into IT.

Just my thoughts.

Amia needs to advertise. They have to start investing in Sites like Steam as the "Long Standing RP Server". Start google+ Community, and get everyone in the same social medium so that it looks like a hip place to be. It's that mentaly of - If this server has 40 people logged in. Then- there's stuff happening. If no one knows it exists then it will be hidden because of the master server is gone. We need to be identified as the "only best option for Online NWN play."

GOG sells NWN 9.99. It's cheep. What has me coming back? is it's RP 24/7. Any day of the week, and almost any time of the night. I try to tell ALL my networks about Amia and encourage them to come and play.

The Server is beautiful created, the outfits and mods offer 100 times what NWN2 can offer. The only thing I'd like to see is- more Prestige Classes in the game allowing people more versatility. Of course we can have them requestable and have requirements. This is something we should capitalize on.

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-Ryoko
I’ve been playing at a new fun sever!

https://theaccursedisland.enjin.com/mobile

Now. That you have me thinking about it. I do have some other opinions.

First about the Perma-Death. Amia has changed drastically in terms of this and almost has made a social elite out of players who are more willing too accept this as consequences. I experience this as i've come a more indulged member of Winya Ravana. I've even read posts by GM's that if you play with these stakes you get bigger results. To me from an older school of Amia players that is absurd. Yet- If thats how the community is going I am all for it.

However. Alienating the players that don't want to risk all the hours spent on character as "non-main characters" or allowing them the chance of being the "Stars" of a show. Has hurt the community time and time again. If Amia is interested in Perma-Death then it needs to be made part of the module. The Death System has to be revamped so that boddies are left behind and players are stuck helpless on the fugule with only Resurrection as an option of rescue or prehaps DC Coins as methoid of respawn. (Just throwing out ideas.). That way... the standards is across the board and the GMs don't have to gravitate to more Perma-death sympathetic players as the Stars of there plots.

Also. If that is to drastic. Then they should look into giving the player an option to be flagged for perma-death. Players with Perma-death flagged get double xp. So they max faster, or can reach lvl 35.

Another way to offset the uneasiness of Perma-death is making Epic Items more available in say- a DC Store. That players trade for a Epic Item for Dream Coins.

I'm sure all these ideas have been discuses with the Admin teams more often then not. It's all "easier" said then done. But this was something I noticed on the Perma-Death subject.

Moving forward on other topics like factions. I've seen factions dry up because Game Masters don't follow through with the attention they need. Take the War Knights for example. They've been displaced from there keep because of plot that remains unfinished or unresolved for goodness now a year. Maybe more?

But- faction rp is where the conflict comes from. The actually concept of being able to change the server and the world is what makes Amia stand out above World of War Craft, ElderScroll Online, Repopulation and so on. We need to capitalized on that as our only advantage. That needs to become our priority. As other games become more aware that Sand box is the type of game people want to play. You'll see our numbers get less and less as time goes on as people abandoned this very old game for new more powerful ones. Let's face it everyone... When Star Citizen hits. It will be another blow to our member count.

So factions need to be intimately involved with game master in my opinion. Of course everyone wants faction with there own keep and of course that should be all role playing awards from long term commitment to the server as it takes a great deal of work to reflect in the mod. But there could be room for improvement here i think.

That is all good and dandy if you don't mind perma-death as requirement to being Star, or not being involved in a faction. But when it comes down to role playing. People just want to well- Role play. So small events are key in this nature to make the world seem alive. Random NPC encounters, Interaction with the worlds characters is key to making it seem like a living breathing place. I think more attention can be spent on this. Dont' get me wrong. This last big war event that was a year long was beatifully done.

As somthing to take away from that. I think the community should think about investing in Event Server so that the DM's don't have to burden themselves on the main server, one that can be easily modified very quickly for areas that do not appear in Amia Proper / but are "assumed" to be there. (Another thought)

Anyways. I'm out of time. Night!

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-Ryoko
I’ve been playing at a new fun sever!

https://theaccursedisland.enjin.com/mobile

I have to completely agree with this. Back when I first started here, there was no second server, the map was smaller, and we had ~70 people at any given time. Now the map has expanded by a factor of 2 (seemingly) and the playerbase has dropped. How does that translate? If you're an elven ranger not interested in going to Cordor (and as a player are not part of a clique), you walk around quite literally for hours never seeing another soul. I know the (pure) elven playerbase (or lack thereof) is just as much to blame with the ebb and flow and sometimes pretentiousness, but the overall theme is not exclusive to elven rangers.

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Direct Connect spamming champion two years running.
"The pointer fingers are insured"

A positive thing about the geography of Amia is that the main roads and that traffic of roads is mainly linear, from south to north, respectfully. Areas populated by the general populous of players is Cordor: East, Cordor: North, Bendir Dale, Amia Forest, Kampo's Storehouse and Kohlingen, in addition to Wharftown along the western coast and the Recovery Room of the Salandran Temple.

Areas of frequency is also trending. For the longest time, it was at the leyline node of the Amia Forest. Now it seems to be back to Cordor: East while Bendir Dale leaks its popularity.

Is a downgrade of the map scale a possibility? Is it even viable? When the server was at its peak, I loved random encounters and it does kinda suck not knowing where everyone is hanging out for whatever reason.

As long as the cultural secrecy of midnight espionage meetings arent occuring and its instead local chit chat why not ust pm the people you want to play with to streamlin your playtime. Best to not waste your limited time running or worse walking unhasted through 15 zones when instead you can conveniently utilize soft metagame to facilitate rp. I am also a proponent of cutting down trafficed zones. Not the wilderness which needs to be expansive but the hubs. Cordor hub for all 2015

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bad man

What matters the most is player concentration. There is a very simple solution. We select a single or a very small group (2-3) and placing much greater DM focus on them. These main hubs should have 3 DMs handling them, with the rest of the team regularly hosting small events in addition. The almost immediate effect you will gain is a stronger player concentration there. My preference remains the single hub style. One city. If kept up long enough, a higher percentage of players and factions will actually fully establish themselves there. The rising concentration alone will by default create a much higher quantity of roleplay.

The rest of the server would serve more as backdrops, instead of equally treated hubs. These would need be carried more by the players. Barak Runedar has done very well without a great deal of DM support. Doing it this way will forgo the need to physically cut down on areas. Cutting Barak Runedar, Winya Ravena and the Underdark for instance may physically force an exodus to other places, but such harsh steps are neither needed nor do they not come with their own counter productive issues.

This is the idea I have been pitching for a very long time now. I only re-hash it, as I do not think the mentioned chopping-block style will get us anywhere or is at all necessary. After all, Cordor was not popular in the 'olden days' because it was the only hub around. We had Brogendenstein Port, Guldorand, Wyrmhold, Kohlingen, Lumorier, Zanshibon, Nes'ek, Wharftown, Winya Ravena, Mystra's Grove, Udos, and many other places already. It was the place to be because that is where the DMs focused their attention, and you know if you hung around the square you would have tons of people to play with. So even as a non-cordorian, if you did not have anyone in your hub to play with, you hopped there.

Cordor, the City of Tolerance, was not only the gateway between the rest of the server, it was also the main hub. That is the role Cordor should be playing. And I honestly do not care much about "but what about story development?" because the role it serves is far too important. All other places are free game, but Cordor needs to serve as the place the server is build around, because it physically is and there is a dire need for it to be handled that way. Leaving the future of Cordor in player hands is where I disagree profoundly with the DM Staff. I think it is an incredible mistake.


The rest. Perma death, pvp rules, etc are all far less important. Those are the fine tuning for the working infrastructure, not a viable replacement.