Does Cantr II count?

[Dudel]

I have gone to several sites who claim to have lists of every or most free browser based games and yet I almost never see Cantr II. If I don't see Cantr on their list I'll send a msg or leave a comment explaining that Cantr II is an awsome role playing game that is indeed free to play and browser based. I've gotten email or a comment back from a couple and both said that Cantr did not count as an rpg.

This confused me, so then I said okay simulation. They also said no it does not count as a simulation eithor. I asked them what they thought it was and they said 'nothing'. So then I wondered if Cantr II counted at all.

Not only does it not appear on many sites listing broswer games or rpgs or simulations or whatever they say Cantr is. It gets a bad rap for being hard on new players, having a poor community, or even worse horrible interface.

The 'hard on new player' issue is because no one reads the Wiki. Poor community took me by surprise but then I relized why. No one joins the forum! Sadly I agree with the interface comment but its allways worded so that it seems like half your game time is spent just figuring out how to play. Which we all know isn't true.

Then I thought maybe people aren't having the most fun with Cantr is because they simply cant read the main page to the game.

I know we are having a problem with English players or something but it seems to me that too many people just don't include Cantr in their list of options because of a couple bad reviews or comments. It's like the goast game that no one pays unless their Europen.

This bothers me! I don't want Cantr to die. But how do you stop a death that everyone else seems to want to happen?

So I ask the question: Does Cantr II count?

[SekoETC]

Cantr is more of an rpg than many other so called rpgs. And people who don't read the forums are really missing a lot. Maybe some texts in the game could be revised, in fact I have revised a couple. We don't have anyone who'd be officially LangD (English) as far as I know, so a lot of ingame texts may have been written by someone... incompetent.

[Dudel]

Cantr is more of an rpg than many other so called rpgs. And people who don't read the forums are really missing a lot. Maybe some texts in the game could be revised, in fact I have revised a couple. We don't have anyone who'd be officially LangD (English) as far as I know, so a lot of ingame texts may have been written by someone... incompetent.

My comment about them not being able to read the front page was mostly sarcasm. But yeah some things come accross, especially for English American speakers, as weird or odd. I simply ignore them.

Something I found out from some of my 'friends' in other games I play. Cantr II lacks sex and violance? WTF!? That is so not true! Cantr is so depraved sometimes it almost makes me ill. Depends on the char, but seriously! I think they wan't to agro people like they're NPC's is the problem.

[SekoETC]

Other games have sex in them? O_o I don't think I've ever seen sex in other games, in fact it tends to be forbidden at least in chat rooms. Cantr has a lot of good role players, you ( = newbies) just gotta find them. If you rp good then people are likely to rp back, but if you act like a n00b then you either get addressed OOC or ignored. It would be kinda good if newbies were flagged so that you could know which ones really don't know the rules and which ones are just trolling.

[Razorlance]

These days the term RPG can mean many things, e.g. the Diablo games are considered RPG because you level up, can choose skills and attributes and generally personalise your character with what they wear and carry, so your deemed to be 'playing a role'.

But I think many people forget that RPG means Role Playing Game, or has that changed over the years? Certainly the pen and paper RPG's consisted of mainly playing a role verbally as that was the main point of the game. The skillls and stuff were just a means to and end, i.e. how to kill that orc, although as some games' rules expanded they took over as the main reason to play.

[Doug R.]

Dudel,

It would help if you could PM me the places you've contacted and their responses to your inquiries. I'm trying to get Cantr onto as many sites as possible, so this will help immensely.

[chase02]

Have you requested clarification as to why they assume Cantr is not "RPG" or "simulation"?

If it is their assumption that you need to have a race or leveling-up or D&D style combat/items.... then I would feel quite sorry for them and not be interested in listing it there anyway. I'm guessing it is that closed mindset.

I would place Cantr in the category of "virtual world" instead of game, although the distinction is obviously NOT a clear line. It has aspects of both. However, it is heavily roleplay focussed.

If you haven't already, submit it to the PBBG (persistent browser based game) listings, as it is clearly one of those, and there is a lot of interest in those at the moment, especially with casual gamers.

IMHO (don't hate me ) it does count, but the front page does it a huge disservice (wall of text) and the interface is a PITA. The community seems pretty good, the game mechanisms seem pretty good.. TBH it does feel 'shoved in the corner' as without specific mention of it I would never have found it.. and I've searched for and signed up for plenty of RPGs. It does need more consistency.. there are some weird bugs with the interface, and the lack of standard functionality (like a back button) on all pages feels a tad amateurish.. although that isn't immediately obvious, so is probably not a factor for retaining players

I do think the lag and the time limit are hurting it the most in terms of sign ups & retention of new players. 30 second lag during seemingly simple operations is beyond comprehension, even for a free game. I'm terribly curious where the lag is coming from!!! The time limit makes no sense when trying to build a community and role play. It feels too slow to me - like a play by email game.

But I digress......again.

[NaruShadow]

Doug if you have an ad banner or anything, I'll add it to the RP forums I play on. Those are full text-based games so I think they'd welcome Cantr on their sites.

[*Wiro]

I'm trying to get other dutch Cantrians to help me advertise it on other dutch forums. I'm hoping there will be a good growth in the amount of dutch players.

[Gran]

Like I said once, I think newbies are scared sometimes because of the nature of the game itself. Like, regular roleplayers from e-mail and MUDs are alredy said to be elitist and not very cheering with newbies. Cantr players, as they actually have a whole world, and different concepts to be understood can be utterly elitists and harsh with newbies. Especially the n00b race (uber annoying newbies).

Because, I know, answering how all the game damn works with wiki and stuff is a liiiittle annoying.

[Dudel]

Like I said once, I think newbies are scared sometimes because of the nature of the game itself. Like, regular roleplayers from e-mail and MUDs are alredy said to be elitist and not very cheering with newbies. Cantr players, as they actually have a whole world, and different concepts to be understood can be utterly elitists and harsh with newbies. Especially the n00b race (uber annoying newbies).

In game! Those are characters that they interact with not players. (Well kinda it is) We really need to address the 'n00b' players without breaking the RP. Like an annoymous message. (Thats CRB maybe!)

[Doug R.]

Doug if you have an ad banner or anything, I'll add it to the RP forums I play on. Those are full text-based games so I think they'd welcome Cantr on their sites.

Banners are here: http://www.cantr.net/mwiki/index.php/Promote_Cantr

To everyone:

If you add advertisements of any kind to anywhere, please PM me the details. The MD would like to keep tabs on everything. I also discourage "spamming" of any kind. I'm not going to tell you not to help MD out, but I do want to see what and where you're doing it. If you're adding adverts in places where you frequent, you know what's acceptable and what's not, and in that way you're more knowledgeable than us - but we still want to know.

Thanks!

[*Wiro]

http://forums.facepunchstudios.com/show ... p?t=639432

If anyone has a facepunchstudios account, it'd be greatly appreciated if you could post there. This could get us quite some new members.

[SekoETC]

I should make a Flash version of Cantr that has some mock-up events and projects.

[Dudel]

http://forums.facepunchstudios.com/showthread.php?t=639432

If anyone has a facepunchstudios account, it'd be greatly appreciated if you could post there. This could get us quite some new members.

*Wiro if I read that and didn't know anything about Cantr II, I wouldn't try it. You make it sound really boring almost stupid. (Sorry) All you said was lets RP here, oh and don't mind the crapy gameplay. Thats a big turn off. (Again sorry)

You really must clerify whats up some how. Thats alienating players not recruiting more. That one guy who 'wanted to be a thief' wouldn't have liked it anyway but you should be less abrasive about how you interact with potential players. Unfortunatly I don't know how to improve what you said, which is sad.

People like Mr. 'Wan'ts to be a Thief' would make a horrible player, at first, but they wouldn't stick around after their first char died for what they feal was a 'dumb reason'.

Two of Cantr II's core problems. How do we fix it!?