What makes you stay?

[elentari 2,660]

Think it's just two things that keep me coming back to wurm.

 

A) People

B ) Things will change for the better. (hopefully)

 

As for people, met a lot of beautiful folks over the years from all over the world, from the US, Asia, Europe , etc. I like seeing them around. Always will.

 

As for b ) i have this ( probably damaging ) hope that something will change for the better. Wurm will become popular, we'll go back to having a few thousand players, the community will grow again and it will become this insane lovely fest as it used to be in 2013. I know the feeling will probably not be the same because I have so many memories in Wurm that it feels like I've lived a second life. Adventures, misadventures, exploring new realms, finding amazing abandoned deeds on top of mountains, pvping, dying like a noob, helping out people and being helped.

 

Part of Wurm's appeal for me in the past was its challenge. Surviving was a challenge, things had a sense of worth and I don't necesarily mean silvers. Even now I recall the feeling of owning my first 80 ql set and 80 ql longsword. "Power.....limitless power!" .

 

Now items have zero value to me and I am sad I find so many people in local these days.  I took a ride last night through deliverance and met no one in local. Good news is that there's plenty of stuff to kill due to lack of players now but...

 

I just hope one day the devs will figure out something to make wurm again like a challenge. As a vet I feel that due to my skills perhaps, I have no challenges left in game. I've explored. I've pvp'd. I've built. I've crafted, farmed, fought, tailored, mine, hit 100 in one skill, felt what's it was like to play both a priest and standard, built 2 deeds, etc.

 

Maybe it's just the natural course of things. I hope something changes to make me feel like the old 2013 days where Wurm was this wild west , where many struggled to learn, test and just have fun doing things.

 

Till then, see you guys in wurm.!

 

If I didn't have lovely people that keep me in Wurm : Sadsack, Tenko, Rage, Kingdd, Beardyman and many others,  I probably would have disbanded my deed by now and lived as a hermit somewhere near a lake , with a small cabin, just waiting for wurm to die.

 

 

[Wilczan 2,048]

2 hours ago, elentari said:

I took a ride last night through deliverance and met no one in local.

 

Back in the days, on technical university, we put our Counter Strike 1.6 server.

Common thing that happened, that when you entered it, it was empty. Every day people came in, saw that it is empty and they disconnected.

It would take me or other stubborn person, to sit there, for like an hour or two alone, and slowly more people came in. Afternoon it was full of players and others were waiting in a queue to get in.

 

The same analogy is for Epic, or even other more populated servers. Players log in, see that none is there and log out. If some people are stubborn enough to still play, then in future more people will stay.

 

It's just need people to get people : )

 

If we all gonna say that some server or game at all is dead, and stop playing, then more people will leave. If we gonna try, then more people will stay. Typical avalanche effect.

[Flubb 773]

27 minutes ago, Wilczan said:

If we all gonna say that some server or game at all is dead, and stop playing, then more people will leave. If we gonna try, then more people will stay.

 

True to some extent/in the current situation, but if only it were that easy and people didn't also leave for other reasons aswell, then Jackal and Elevation III wouldn't have lost their momentum after a massive population spike upon opening.

[elentari 2,660]

That is indeed an effect I've also seen on Desertion.

 

From time to time I've seen a newbie or a new name asking in kingdom chat " is anyone here?" . I replied. But when he saw that there was only 1 reply, that person usually logged off and quit.

 

Reality is and I've stated this before. Empty servers DO NOT get repopulated. Freedom has a global channel. Epic does not. No one joins an empty kingdom, at least not in big numbers with high retention rates.

 

Hell, I've tried other mmos in the past and when I saw that the server I was on was dead, no one was talking , I left too. I saw no point in playing an MMO without the "Massive multiplayer" part. And wurm does market itself as an "mmorpg" , main page says that. Big issue. We need players. Biggest in game issue at the moment. Players. Lack of them.

 

I see nothing more urgent than that.

[Wilczan 2,048]

38 minutes ago, Flubb said:

 

True to some extent/in the current situation, but if only it were that easy and people didn't also leave for other reasons aswell, then Jackal and Elevation III wouldn't have lost their momentum after a massive population spike upon opening.

If people leave couse of other reasons then empty servers then we cannot do anything.

 

Bare minimum we can do as a players is just staying and playing.

Edited January 17, 2020 by Wilczan

[Ecrir 887]

It's pretty much the only game that I've found where I can just relax and do whatever, especially great when I'm  tired at the end of the day. I also love the terraforming capabilities

[Beewolf 254]

Someone has to feed my animals...

[Valdor 1,426]

On 1/15/2020 at 8:28 PM, Sidereal said:

Reasons why I continue to play Wurm Online:

• Looking forward to chatting with folks that have become familiar friends over the years
• Being able to set my own goals without feeling obligated to participate in 'end game content'
• Having 3+ years worth of projects to work on, even after playing for 7 years
• Trying to figure out how to pay it forward for every player that has ever shown me a kindness
• A relaxing game experience that neither depends on my slowly deteriorating reflexes nor requires my absolute, constant attention
• Impalongs, and all of the additional player-created events that never cease to surprise me
• Recent additions like Jackal that result in cooperating with players that I've only ever known as names from the forums
• Every server that I haven't found the time to visit and explore even after all these years
• Feeling very connected to the patch of land that has been my deed for this long: the random visitors, the years long shaping of the land, and (surprisingly) the sunsets
• Loss aversion to WU servers that claim "We'll be here forever!" but vanish once the owners discover how much work goes into curating a well-run server
• Cheaper than an actual vacation home by several orders of magnitude
• The bittersweet experience of discovering and exploring a deed that has disbanded - a reminder of our own mortality in all things
• The fact that multiple players have left this mortal realm in the last 13 years that have been remembered within the game itself (Tich, Oracle, et al.)
• That WO is an extremely niche game, and frankly there simply isn't anything else like it - even after all this time

 

Beautifully said! I couldn't agree more with every single point.

[Mitzie 152]

On 1/14/2020 at 3:38 PM, Valdor said:

<snip>

 

In Wurm, I feel the freedom. I can do what I want, go where I want, experience what I want, and none of that is dictated by a raiding schedule or in-game obligations. In fact, I can leave for a month or not log in on those busy days, and things will still be OK! When I come back, my Wurm is waiting. Just like the theme song promised.

 

<snip>

 

This is it for me.

[Ayes 3,715]

*the mouse peeks out of it's hole*

 

As the clock winds down, over the years my little Village within Wurm has been a place of security for me from the tumultuous outside world. I never saw it this way at the start. Back then it was just a fascinating new world to enter where I could learn of new opportunities to enjoy the time passing. Having come from another building type of game with expansive free land for the taking the cost of "owning" such a small piece in comparison that had to be paid for monthly was rather off putting; but, as the years passed and I slowly shaped my little place of security I could feel the stability of it all that I got from strolling through it and the surrounding area that I shaped to compliment it all.

 

These lands have weathered the storms of doom and remain secure, as firmly planted as the trees within it that grow from young to old and back to young once again, symbolically defeating what the outside world takes from us as the years pass. Tomorrow is the unknown but to live today in trepidation of what may or may not come to pass defeats the enjoyment that this day presents. I can no more predict the future than anyone but I can enjoy my little place of security that I have built for myself within these fair lands of Wurm. The Sanctuary is what it has been aptly named for me, long before the current political environment corrupted the meaning of the word.

 

Days pass. People wander through my Village perhaps wondering what it is all about or where the mayor of it could be. Hiding perhaps, from their inquiring minds and eyes? It is of no matter because Ayes watches them all come and go and yet he remains. Is it significant to them? The Village stands on its own heritage drawing strength from the moments, days, months and years passing. It does not depend upon any vagaries of the unknown future. Come there or don't, it will go on as long as the life of its owner and these lands remain undefiled by tomorrow. A small triumph perhaps but when there is little else it is more then enough to sustain peace of mind within the shaded groves.

 

Will your presence be noted and appreciated then? Well it all depends upon you, not me.....

 

=Ayes=

[griper 535]

Few games speak to my introverted nature as well as Wurm does.

And intense projects with intervalls of low or no time in the game suits me fine.

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by griper

[Turnips 37]

Not to drop a sob story, but it's one of the few spaces which holds some sort of "permanence" in my life. I can't... tell you how many different places I've lived in over the past 8 years of being part of this community, and at that point in my life my mom and I finally stopped moving around as frequently as we once had due to circumstances. Growing up I never got to experience the privilege of being part of a community, of growing together with my classmates over the course of years. Moving around so much hurt me deeply in such a way I can't begin to describe, so being able to have my own little town to live in was a blessing. Being able to run into familiar faces and catching up with old friends and acquaintances is beyond comforting. I've had real life friends ask me "Why do you play that game? It's just a bunch of chores!" or "You're really spending money on virtual rent on top of your real life rent? What a waste!" or whatever, but it's okay. No matter where I am, I'll always have my little space in Celebration.

 

Speaking of community, that's a huge part of what brings me back. Everyone I have encountered has been an absolute sweetheart 🥰 It's hard finding that anywhere, especially in MMOs! On top of that, it's one of the few online communities which is occupied by older individuals. I've met people who play and they're married, or its a father and son combo playing together, stuff like that. Works out great since I really don't like being entirely surrounded by a bunch of 14 year olds online lmao....!

 

Like others have said, this model of gameplay where you aren't rushed and you can do what you like when you like is hard to come by. I really love that about Wurm.

[zeeph 37]

There is no game like wurm and it gets better and better.

I like a lot that people soon cant buy chars anymore and that player gods got removed.

With the upcomming steam release more ppl will come too.

 

[Arimus 81]

I tried Wurm for the first time in early 2018 and enjoyed my time. However, I made a mistake in finding an abandoned deed that was already terraformed and loaded with high ql materials (it even had a large magic chest). I didn't have to strive for anything. It felt unearned and within a couple months after I could take down trolls there wasn't a lot of challenge for me. In hindsight, I should have walked away from that deed. So I gave everything away and left Wurm looking for greener pastures. 

 

Over the next 18 months I played a ton of different "sandbox" and survival games. The problem was Wurm totally ruined me. After Wurm, traditional questing just felt silly. And while some games had more exciting combat, overall they just felt empty. After running out of games to try I decided to give Wurm another go. I started out in a new place with only my empty cart and the few mundane items I had in my inventory. And I loved it.

 

I went back to my old deed and saw the guard tower I had built. It was still there with my name on it even though I had left for a year and a half. (Funny story, that was actually the second guard tower I built in that spot. I wanted to use a rare shard to imp the tower to try to make it rare. Problem was the tower was slightly too high ql, so I decided to bash it just once to reduce its ql a bit. Well, since it was on my deed when I bashed it the mayor bonus kicked in and I completely destroyed it in one hit. I was like the little kid that dropped their ice cream cone!  All that work down the drain. Looking back it is really funny, but not so much at that time! So I built another one and didn't bash it.)

 

Most of all, Teeebomb taught me something important about Wurm. He talked about how he created adventures for himself. I embrace that perspective. I still pay attention to skilling, but make sure to carve out time to explore, help others, and try new things (like my 8 story underground building). And every time I leave my deed I look forward to what new adventure awaits. I've never played another game that gave me this ability.

 

Right now I'm struggling a bit because I am more excited about the new steam servers than you could probably believe. I'm really looking forward to a clean start with all players starting fresh on a brand new continent. There's a decade of history waiting to be made and you can be sure that I plan to be part of it.  

[wipeout 1,355]

My mountain project which is gonna still be a multi year project is 1 of the big reasons i am staying the other is my decade+ love for wurm as a game type as there is nothing quite like it either a game is missing the skilling or the terraforming or some other major aspect that makes wurm wurm

[ChampagneDragon 971]

OK, after calming down a bit, and taking time to sort my feelings (hey, sometimes I'm slow... I know it!) here is what I realized is bugging me so much:

 

Every update they do something that really ticks off veteran players. The players that have been loyal to Wurm for over a decade in many cases, years in others. Players who have supported the game. Players who built the worlds we virtually occupy. Like clockwork you can see the update notes, check the forums and another veteran is selling off everything, even characters. Selling to get the last bit of RMT is one thing, but selling off characters says something else: they're chasing away vets, in hopes that the Steam crowd will increase profits.

 

Now, I understand the new vulture capitalists are business people. They want to see a profit. But over and over I have seen the Silicon Valley Greed Syndrome at work. Vultures swoop in, buy a company, make drastic changes for a short term profit, then when they've milked it, they shelf it.  When it's run it's course they're on to the next game, business, idea....

 

What it comes down to is this: Do I want to support a company that could clearly care less if they chase away long established customers for a quick, short term gain? That's not how I run my business, and not sure i can support one that does. I have just over two months premium on all my characters, and will ride that out, but I am not sure if there will be another premium..

[Retrograde 12,013]

I'd like to take the time to refute some of the claims in this because I believe that while you have the best intentions, you've perceived the wrong idea. 

 

First of all, these changes are changes made with the long term in mind. Some have been upsetting to more established veterans due to their playstyles being built around something, but many of these changes are related to issues that have long been known and in many times requested to be changed. With the move to Steam we have taken the opportunity to step back, look at the game as a whole and address these issues.

 

I know, removing of player gods and RMT has upset you and many others, but with our focus being on the future of the game it's a tough choice we are making to ensure stable and balanced growth and gameplay for a long time ahead. We're quite lucky in that Game Chest Group and Rolf trusts our judgement in making these decisions, because these are made by us, not by GCG. 

 

RMT meant that players are able to "cash out" of the game, and the entire game was viewed in a real life currency mindset. It hindered us from balancing things because the economy meant people viewed it as losing real life money, or direct loss of income. It also meant that a lot of older accounts never leave the game which leads to saturation of high end accounts that are impossible to balance. 

 

A game only catering to the veterans is a losing game, veterans leave for their own reasons and we can never ensure they all stay. Catering to them makes a game more difficult for new players to get into and thus means you have a game that still loses players while not getting new ones.

 

This isn't about short term gain, this is about addressing longstanding issues that need to be addressed in order to ensure that Wurm is viable for a long time to come.

[Retrograde 12,013]

On a personal note, you've always been a positive member of the Indy community, and I'm sad that I haven't spent as much time on Indy working on community projects as I'd like to. If you do choose to go because of the changes I believe Indy and Wurm as a whole will be less without you around. 

 

 

[ChampagneDragon 971]

1 hour ago, Retrograde said:

On a personal note, you've always been a positive member of the Indy community, and I'm sad that I haven't spent as much time on Indy working on community projects as I'd like to. If you do choose to go because of the changes I believe Indy and Wurm as a whole will be less without you around. 

 

 

Thank you. This isn't a "beg me to stay post". It is a venting post. Maybe not appropriate, but I have tried and tried to maintain a positive attitude because you, along with many other staff members, put a lot into it. I do appreciate all you (collectively) do.

 

1 hour ago, Retrograde said:

know, removing of player gods and RMT has upset you and many others, but with our focus being on the future of the game it's a tough choice we are making to ensure stable and balanced growth and gameplay for a long time ahead. We're quite lucky in that Game Chest Group and Rolf trusts our judgement in making these decisions, because these are made by us, not by GCG. 

Actually I am not, nor have I ever been, that upset about RMT going away. Player gods? I really don't care. I was already considering switching my then nacho to mag because I had switched her to path of power for lava when I couldn't find someone to do a lava tile for me (when I did farm deed and there was tons of garbage left behind). Made sense for her to be Mag. Since I had a fo, I wasn't losing anything. 

 

After talking to the prawn I realized what really ticked me off was the favor changes. Not because I primarily dealt in favor, but I was really angry for someone else. Someone who had stocked up on 200k chopped for an event, paid for out of his own pocket, and was left high and dry. Yes, they're usable, but losing almost half a million favor with less than 30 days notice? NOT COOL. And not one person on staff stepped up to say "hey, we know we just screwed you, let's see what we can do". Nope, not one. That is pretty crappy. One thing about me which people seldom see: when I think someone has been treated unfairly I become a dragon. Hubby literally says "ut oh, the dragon is coming out!" (that is where the dragon part of my name came from: him, long before I played anything remotely related to or having a dragon in it)

 

Then I sit and see veteran after veteran leaving. Leaving in droves. People I would have thought would go down with the ship with me. Before I found Wurm I played Planetside. I was sorta big into it. In fact, when I came here I actually had a few people asking if I was THE Champagnedragon. I played Planetside 1, and watched them 'evolved" it into Planetside 2. They changed the dynamics of the game to appeal to the masses. Things moved faster. You skilled up faster. The in depth game was gone, and replaced with something that carried the name and some of the legacy items, but wasn't the same game in any way.  I played a couple months and quit. It wasn't the same game.  During those few months I saw people come, play obsessively, and disappear, over and over, never really investing in the game. Then when they ran out of masses Sony dropped it like a hot potato. What is going on in Wurm feels incredibly like that. 

 

That makes me sad. 

[Ayuna 331]

Edited March 3, 2020 by Ayuna

[Angelklaine 4,266]

On 2/17/2020 at 11:46 PM, ChampagneDragon said:

...

I have to say I dont disagree with you, but I disagree with how you process it. For one, that is a crazy amount of favor to loose. Yes. Its a lot of veggies farmed and favor sitting there. But you can't expect an mmo to never change. When you bank on the idea that a year from now your investment will be worth the same in a videogame, you are rolling the dice. 

 

Your veggies are still there. They are useful, just not as much for your intended purpose. And by the person quitting, they don't only loose half their favor but they loose all of it plus everything else they have ever done. Wurm is more than just 200k veggies or a player god or any of all that.

 

Stick around and do something different. It will become your new passion.