Losing crops

[Cwalen]

If I lost ten, I would loose at least one that I value.

Some of my characters are becoming wealthy enough to start me wondering if a little CR break might be ok. Can I get away with being overly generous to others, knowing that the Character is flushed with wealth but apart from any IG motivation I am offering someone a reason to live, to travel to interact with others and to log in this week?.

[RedQueen.exe]

One of mine has become wealthy, to the point they no longer really know what to do with it all. They would like to be able to use it to help others, but aren't just going to give it away, or going to tell people that if you help me out, you'll be well rewarded in turn. They're trying to find companions, and get the right sort by NOT mentioning the fact that they're filthy stinking rich, but so far nobody is taking them up on it.

[Cwalen]

<It's a long post, If you are already convinced that I have nothing good to say, skip it>











None of my characters, who want wealth, have gone ten years without acquiring it.

The question of what to do with that wealth? All of my wealthy characters are struggling with that. (even talking pissant 10 year wealth) Enough to live until "very old" and not want for anything.

I could make the assumption that this thread "loosing crops" poped up when someone noticed that "I Cant get as many new spawns to commit to a project of long length and acquire the 20 DOW of wealth they produce, in a few days of being active and their eventual demise."

Trade in Cantr seems very fixated on DOW. You can do the D yourself, you can get a newspawn into a project and get 20+ DOW out of them. The last few IRL years? you can use a crowbar and find someone else's days.

Obviously for an ambitious character, harvesting the crop or looting is the only way ahead.

As a player, torn between "how do I line my characters egos with material wealth" and How without avoiding a CRB can I leverage that wealth into encouraging others to play?

One of my chars is into the "cleaning up the world is my duty." two are just grave robbers. Most are team players, interested in loyalty, RP and with a CRB worthy knowledge that 600 tonnes of steel is worth the fun it can bring.

Your crops are failing? There is no I in team, no U either. No H. So no us, no them.

Advertising revenue, spent on advertising, produces new players.

For Cantr, that's the crop. Some make it to seed.

It's a lovely thing for an exploiter to get a newspawn into a maximum amount and maximum repeat project. Even better if the newspawn stops responding and keeps being fed. For the exploiting character the crop is good.
For Cantr? we advertise to our players, and most of the ads are ignored. We advertise, with the income that we get from the adds, and most of them are good crop for exploiters. Some are good crop for Cantr too.

Those that play for long enough to have their views of the the login page pay for the advertising that brought them here? WIN! Those that keep logging in further? PROFIT!

Some poor dumb bugger spent a lot of time a decade ago converting this world from leggo into code. @ 1 k per year it still hasn't paid for itself.

Raise up your self by your Self.
And don't let the self droop down.
For the Self is the self's only friend
And the self the Self's only foe.

Lets get this game on! The visionary who brought it into being is worth more than this game pays in ten years, in terms of weekly wages.

One week! Get everything you get in a week and put it in a grass basket. Cantr cant fit in there.

Then lets talk about crops. The crop failure worries me too.

[RedQueen.exe]

I find it very strange that you and a couple of others complain that it is too easy to get everything you want within just a few years, yet also complain about people that don't just hand things over to newspawns, and that you try to be very generous and giving to newspawns yourself. If you find it boring to fall into wealth and easily get the things you want, what makes you think someone else wouldn't too?

Now I can't speak for all of the quitters, but I can tell you why my brother quit. He had a town leader character that was wiped out in a surprise ambush by pirates. All the work, at least an RL year of his time, wiped out in a short span between logins. If someone did that to my main town leader and completely erased the 8-9 IRL years I've sunk into them, I would almost certainly quit too.

[madfish]

Now I can't speak for all of the quitters, but I can tell you why my brother quit. He had a town leader character that was wiped out in a surprise ambush by pirates. All the work, at least an RL year of his time, wiped out in a short span between logins. If someone did that to my main town leader and completely erased the 8-9 IRL years I've sunk into them, I would almost certainly quit too.

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

[RedQueen.exe]

Now I can't speak for all of the quitters, but I can tell you why my brother quit. He had a town leader character that was wiped out in a surprise ambush by pirates. All the work, at least an RL year of his time, wiped out in a short span between logins. If someone did that to my main town leader and completely erased the 8-9 IRL years I've sunk into them, I would almost certainly quit too.

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Yeah, except there is no willing gamble taken here Plus, I would say anybody that would willingly gamble away all their hard work like that deserves to lose it.

[madfish]

You shouldn't read it literally. Persistence throughout bad fortune is what is meant and the character not to complain or dwell on it.

[RedQueen.exe]

You shouldn't read it literally. Persistence throughout bad fortune is what is meant and the character not to complain or dwell on it.

Well, the character being killed kind of makes it hard for them to persist. It's not just that they lost stuff, but their story, any relationship(s) they might have had at the time, hopes, aspirations, etc.

I've got a character much richer than the one I'd quit over. Wealth and fortune isn't the only thing I'm factoring into it.

[Cwalen]

I don't find it disturbing at all to come into wealth, More wealth than I can ever use would blunt the ambition of some characters.

I support giving reasonable encouragement to newspawns, Some are existing players who will do well anyway, some are new players who with a little encouragement might be more likely to continue to play.

As mad fish put poetically, sometimes it's the struggle that makes the reward have meaning.

Pirate raids that wipe out hundreds of hours of player interaction in moments? I could write a long boring essay about why I don't like that, some of the factors that might lead to it, coding and game changes that would make it less likely. I recently faced the horror of my best developed character loosing his leading lady, more painful than just being killed. The fact that I have a cigarette in my hand is testament to the fact that I am not a quitter.

And as you say "Wealth and fortune isn't the only thing I'm factoring into it." Jessy is shit poor and more fun to play and more involved as a character as some I have who own more than his whole town does.

None the less, many people find some motivation in their online play in the increasing wealth and reach of their characters. There are successful games out there that offer little else.

I think there is a reasonable line between giving a newspawn material encouragement and giving them so much wealth that there is nothing else left to strive for. Ten kilograms of iron is a reasonable libenstratum (sp?) in this world. Enough that you can do anything that you want for the rest of your life.

If everyone spawned with 15 KG on iron aboard, apart from the collapse in the value of iron, there would be little economic drive to motivate people to do anything.
Handing a newspawn a moderately cheap weapon and shield, some food and _a job that is worth doing_? All of my characters who have the resources to do so would do that. (the few who aren't like that haven't come to wealth yet)
And enough resources that they don't fit into a single room? Perhaps that is too much to be generally available and have a world that maintains an economic drive?

Does that clarify my position?

[RedQueen.exe]

Yes, I think so.

[Chris]

Updated with numbers for Day 3300:

[Doug R.]

I'm nearly certain while the # of characters and players may be lower now, the number of players online is much higher now than it used to be.

[Chris]

I'm nearly certain while the # of characters and players may be lower now, the number of players online is much higher now than it used to be.

Could that be due to CantrSpy continually refreshing?

[Doug R.]

Possibly, but, if there's an active cantrspy connection, then it's highly likely that there's someone on the other end viewing their Cantrspy, and coming online when the get a hit.

[Wolf]

Possibly, but, if there's an active cantrspy connection, then it's highly likely that there's someone on the other end viewing their Cantrspy, and coming online when the get a hit.

That's how I use CantrSpy...
Unfortunately, a hit on CantrSpy doesn't always mean that something went on that involves the char(s) for which CantrSpy lit up - in those cases I just log off again, possibly more people do something similar.