A non-binding Freedom server non-premiums poll

[Rolf 3,563]

I want to know your opinion on whether we should allow non-premiums to play on the Freedom server.

Golden valley players would still have to complete a tutorial in order to be allowed to go through the portal (so they can't just spam create accounts).

A lot of the players that played on the previous Jenn Kellon home server can testify that having non-premiums on the same server had a lot of positive effects and it will also help keep new players in the game.

The reason that they were removed from the old JK Home server was that

a) It was a pvp area (or as some of you remember I finally turned it into one because I always thought that all servers were part of the pvp cluster).

The possibilites to grief were larger than they are now on Golden Valley and Freedom. You can't steal, attack etc now like you could on JK Home.

I think that any remaining griefing will be properly handled by the GM's in case we allow non-premiums on Freedom.

What do you think?

[Alyeska 2,621]

Definitaly a good idea - it will help you get a lot more paying customers

[Wollschaf 17]

Just a thought: make the portals premium only and allow one-way boat travel for anybody.

[Ryuu 0]

i said no, mainly because it will be a huge influx of players and just bring mess to the server, and more people = more item spam = lag (bring back item poof !)

a solution however, is to reset GV maybe every 1 or 2 months, or quarterly, (just the map)

[sinner 0]

i vote no, i live on freedom, and i hear that gv looks a mess etc due to the newcomers who dont pay prem who are learning the game, now i understand its pretty hard to start out on wurm but i dont want freedom to become non prem for the new guys to come and make a mess of it.. pretty hard to explain so i hope u understand where im coming from, lol

[MetalDragon 1,630]

You left out 'Other' option, so i'm not gonna vote

With the "just need to complete the tutorial" vote i'm definately saying no. Personally i think they need to have X amount of days played, or have X skills at X level, I've grown to try and protect as much land around me as possible, completing the tutorial is fairly easy to do so i'd worry about folk damaging the area near me when i've asked not to, since i can not prevent digging actions, mining actions and woodcutting actions in AoC.

Atleast if they have a few days playing time they *may* have a bit more respect for the community, since they would have spent quite a bit growing up in one.

If there were more requirements for it, i will happilly say yes.

Edit: On another note, wouldn't it be possible that you would lose income due to folks not premming up, and older players deciding they don't need to prem up their own accounts anymore?

[sinner 0]

Definitaly a good idea - it will help you get a lot more paying customers

not really if will make most  if not all (including me!!)of freedom moan because they will just mess the server up... so its kinda saying live in a pap hole or move to wild.. wow much choice.. bad idea very bad!!!!

[spellcast 983]

i am, have allways been, and allways will be for non-prem players on freedom. Having them go through a tutorial such as the one i described in this post

http://wurmonline.com/forum/index.php?topic=27739.msg272901#msg272901

The only real consideration is what to do with free players who journey to freedom and then decide they want to go to wild. And the only thing that should be done is to make it as clear as possible, with several warnings built in to the transit, that it will cost them 10 silver to change servers later, and what all the penalties involved are.

If GV will still be a longer term location then i'd flip wollschafs idea around and have the portals take everyone, but allow prem players to sail over so they can bring boats if they have made one on GV.

on a related note i cant see the poll?

[ago 470]

voted yes. more new players will spark the economy with their demand and bring fresh blood into the population.

The tutorial however should include information about stuff like the AoC and keep new players busy for maybe a week so they actually decide if wurm is "their" game before they have built 50% of their first shack just outside samling.

[Guest ironizedphoenix]

I live on freedom, but like most of the people here i spent some time on GV.

It is a mess, and it isn't a good advertisement for the game.  It's like going up to a games dev for a level design job with a portfolio drawn in crayon.  It does not make people want to continue with the game.  GV is full of thieves...people that don't care about anyone else.

Freedom on the other hand has premium members.  People will stregth of 21+to remove any offending items.  But we should not be looking at non-prems as idiots who just want to ruin the landscape.  They should be looked on as potential workers...people who we can add to villages so they can learn about the game.  I suspect freedom would grow with the addition of non-prems.

Of course there will be people who look at gv and thing "if it's a mess, freedom will become a mess".  Personally i think that the ones who want to mess things up won't last very long and we do have skills to repair any damage.  Mostly though, people who join freedom will have three options.

a) buy a boat- costs them silver, so they would have to beg, borrow, spend money in the shop or be a mine slave until the debt has been paid.

Join a village.  In which case they can learn new skills whilst under supervision of paying wurmians

c) attempt to walk.  I tried to walk across the map recently.  Got attacked by a bear, gobbo and terminally...a troll.  

I would like to think that most people will opt for b, some will go for a, and the people looking to mess around will choose c.

[Wollschaf 17]

If non-prems needed to build a boat it would reduce the maximum rate of influx dramatically. Anybody who can build a boat probably won't leave a mess behind - and more so, not arrive at the same destination as everybody else, distributing newly arriving players across the shoreline. Building a boat is a good tutorial, too.

[Rhazul 0]

I live on freedom and I voted no.

1) The recent lag problems showed that the server can't handle many items. 200+ new players will create massive number of new items and the only way the server can handle that is for you to turn up decay which is already annoying and bad enough as it is.

I don't want more decay on my items in return for a flooding of new players and new alts that people will use to dig, mine, etc. for free.

2) I have heard that some people know how to use lockpicks on boats, gates etc. that are outside deeds (on freedom server). Not that I think lots of newbies will come here to grief (they are not all bad :-) but there are plenty of ways to grief still. If you put the ability to control settings for forestry, mining and digging in perimeter settings for AoC it will help though on most cases. If not, everyone need to put up a stone wall around AoC.

3) I think you should put up a Freedom 2 server, which connects to Freedom server, and allow newbies on Freedom 2. Then the players who wish to interact and see the land spoiled by new players etc. can live there or have a second home there. Then you can see the effect on the game, without destroying Freedom 1.  

4) I am aware that Golden Valley is not a very good idea as it is now, but thats mainly because it needs a reset. Make a choice between making Golden Valley a better place to attract new premium players, and reset it periodically, or keep the mess now for the sake of the few players who play the game free indefinitely.

[Sagoth 0]

As much i like the idea of having new players and even more customer, i don't think the servers are able to handle it as we just witnessed. Parhaps after upgrading some hardware and all that stuff i have no idea bout, should be the server open. Thus i vote for no.

[ShroudOfTheFallen 0]

Definitaly a good idea - it will help you get a lot more paying customers

[EliasTheCrimson 348]

Voted yes, because I want to see all the positive effects non-prems had on the game back on JKH in Gold 1 and 2.

However, I expect some more limitations, such as boat travel, skill requirements or non-prem specific AoC restrictions.

[Littlebear 3]

voted yes. it will also bring some new players to Wild in future.

[Becket 843]

I voted yes...what the hell we can always sell them some noob equipment.

[PoolsClosed 37]

Voted yes. Allow them on Freedom and get rid of all player assistants, as all premium players could fill that role.

[Ecrir 887]

Voted yes. Freedom could use more players and the ability for non-prems to go there should hopefully result in both  more activity on freedom and more people staying on wurm.

Now some things might need to be changed a bit for it to work well:

- fix lag issues, the graphs clearly show it's not over yet. Preferably not with more decay but instead with better storage ways (like combine 1000 seeds of the same type into 1 seed item that weights as much as 1000 and has the average ql of em, same for pretty much every other item (possibly not for enchanted stuff)).

- give deed owners a new AoC ability that makes it so that non-prems can't do anything in AoC, not even dig or cut down a tree.

- non prem priests cannot link with any other priests (to prevent people from making 30 faith priests (for which they buy prem only once with 10s at a token) that they can then use as favor boosts for their main priest, all completely free)

[Wossoo 1,915]

I think this is a positive idea.

[ago 470]

The rotting houses on GV might look bad but we have those on freedom already as well. Having a way for their owners to login and do some repairs although they dont have the money to pay or the spare time to justify paying would be very nice.

[Gurubear 18]

Voted yes. Allow them on Freedom and get rid of all player assistants, as all premium players could fill that role.

Player Assistants were developed long before GV started.

The reason was that new players were often arriving on JKH and being left to just fall apart by many of the experienced players. We had several players turn up at Small Bears that had just been laughed at and messed with by some premium players. They mostly logged off and went and played a different game instead.

However, other players were brilliant at helping out, but they were not always online or even at NT so they were limited in how they could help at times.

Also, many new players were unsure whether to trust what they were told or not - quite understandably since they were led astray as often as they were helped. PAs meant that they would know that this was a person they definitely could trust, and what is more would have knowledge of who was recruiting and so on and could point them in the right direction.

The one thing that has really been good on GV is the help side - since most of the players on their have started recently, they have not forgotten what it is to be new and generally are very helpful. That does not mean that it does not have its share of fools, but the help culture that is on there would be good to preserve.

As it was, GV was opened first, so we put PAs on there instead.

[Guest Nitwon]

I live on freedom and vote no. The reason I left GV was because of the griefing, people who don't care about the game and just want to ruin it for others. While people argue that it will be better policed by GMs, I still can't stand the trouble and grief that is caused nonetheless. If I want a few trees around my house because they look nice, I don't want the risk of someone coming by and cutting all of them down for lulz, arguing that I should have fenced them in.

If they are ever let on freedom, let GMs come down hard on them for any griefing. Like 1st offense is a 2-day ban minimum. Also, let them be restricted heavily, at least as much as they already are on GV.

I don't want to have to put up with the complete mess that I left GV to get away from.

[Lancelot 765]

I voted yes specifically because any venture needs new blood, new ideas. However, I feel as one who only came to freedom at the tail end of December 09 that the new players should be joining a village, there they will get a far better feel of the game and increase their skills. After, say, 6 months as a villager, then they may leave and do as they wi8sh, because by then the character would have diecided if wurm is really for them.

[Mauz 0]

Freedom map is a bit hostile, but welcome ;D However, should their ability to remove pavement be taken away again?