Crimso
...aaaaaagh!
Hello all!
Well, now that it is over, I can honestly say that DGV, my first, was a pleasurable experience. Joining right after the Roman conquest, I quickly found myself interested in the game, and wanted to participate. Not knowing a single citizen prior, I did the only thing I could and posted many many times. I was trying to get noticed, and eventually, I did get noticed. To those who acknowledged me, I thank you.
For the first few weeks I was completley lost in the DG. Maps were hard to come by; TCs were at bad times for me and the logs were no help; the CoL and the Constitution were overly long and totally uninteresting to someone who had just joined and didn't take the game that seriously; history texts were brief and unspecific. Even more baffling were the relationships between the citizens: enemies openly attacked one-another over issues I didn't understand, citing past conflicts frequently and never settling their conflicts each other. Eventually I got over these problems, but those first few weeks were like riding a bumper car without any pedals or a steering wheel. I got tossed back and forth a few times before I was able to bump back and have fun. Believe it or not, it took me 2 weeks to recognize the discuss, poll, instruct DP style of decision making. Interest only grew after I got to know the game, and the citizens, a bit better.
The same cannot be said for the overwhelming majority of newbies. Take a look at this thread, the citizen registry for DGV. Approx. 85% of the people who posted in that thread did not make another post in the DG forum ever again: I've been in many internet communities since 1999, and the reason that they die is because people leave, and new people don't join. The most terrible part about the DG community is that people are joining every single day, but not sticking around. To have 170 potential citizens lost in one DG is a tragedy. Every once and a while the forum will get someone like myself or Gres, who will take an interest and frankly won't shut up until they get noticed (keep it up dude!) but so many are overwhelmed on there first visit, or just don't find a reason to come back.
To me, this is the biggest problem with the DG, and 4 weeks into DGV I decided that if I stayed until the end, I would try to do something about it in DGVI. I would like establish, with your help, a new initiative for getting more people in the DG. I recognize efforts like the newbies society/adoptation and the advertising thing, but those threads were already dead in my second week in game. I want there to be a permanent, frequently updated, informational, and PERSONAL place where newbies can get a great start in the game. I have a ton of ideas, and I want to get started as soon as possible.
I would also be very interested in working in tandem with an adverstising committee. I want DGVI to start off with twice as many people as we have now, a goal I think is quite surpassable. There are many people here who have great passion for the DG, and it would go to great use in recruting new citizens. You grab 'em, we stick 'em!
Right now, there are 215 lurkers on the board. At least 25% want to join the DG, I know it. If we make them aware, and lend them a helping hand, in 2 years they could be, heck, will be running DGIII for Civ4: that's how fast the Internet moves.
Now, just a few ideas I was thinking of, I'll elaborate on some later. Some of it has been discussed in the past few weeks...
- not mandatory, but definitly recommended that a new player be 'enrolled'
- newbies will not be given any identifiable marks
- a sort of 'tour' of the forums through chat
- adoption, 'newbie buddies'
- more information on the status of the game
- condensed and/or explained in simplest terms CoL and Constitution
- same explanations for anything else not plainly spelled out
- interviews with veterens who will hold high positions in the first few terms
- a history of the DG's, how they got to where they are now
- chat 'parties'
So, who thinks that more citizens will make the DG more fun?
Who thinks that a more direct approach to recruitment and will make it happen?
Who wants to make more buddies on the 'net?
Who wants to help make it happen?
Well, now that it is over, I can honestly say that DGV, my first, was a pleasurable experience. Joining right after the Roman conquest, I quickly found myself interested in the game, and wanted to participate. Not knowing a single citizen prior, I did the only thing I could and posted many many times. I was trying to get noticed, and eventually, I did get noticed. To those who acknowledged me, I thank you.
For the first few weeks I was completley lost in the DG. Maps were hard to come by; TCs were at bad times for me and the logs were no help; the CoL and the Constitution were overly long and totally uninteresting to someone who had just joined and didn't take the game that seriously; history texts were brief and unspecific. Even more baffling were the relationships between the citizens: enemies openly attacked one-another over issues I didn't understand, citing past conflicts frequently and never settling their conflicts each other. Eventually I got over these problems, but those first few weeks were like riding a bumper car without any pedals or a steering wheel. I got tossed back and forth a few times before I was able to bump back and have fun. Believe it or not, it took me 2 weeks to recognize the discuss, poll, instruct DP style of decision making. Interest only grew after I got to know the game, and the citizens, a bit better.
The same cannot be said for the overwhelming majority of newbies. Take a look at this thread, the citizen registry for DGV. Approx. 85% of the people who posted in that thread did not make another post in the DG forum ever again: I've been in many internet communities since 1999, and the reason that they die is because people leave, and new people don't join. The most terrible part about the DG community is that people are joining every single day, but not sticking around. To have 170 potential citizens lost in one DG is a tragedy. Every once and a while the forum will get someone like myself or Gres, who will take an interest and frankly won't shut up until they get noticed (keep it up dude!) but so many are overwhelmed on there first visit, or just don't find a reason to come back.
To me, this is the biggest problem with the DG, and 4 weeks into DGV I decided that if I stayed until the end, I would try to do something about it in DGVI. I would like establish, with your help, a new initiative for getting more people in the DG. I recognize efforts like the newbies society/adoptation and the advertising thing, but those threads were already dead in my second week in game. I want there to be a permanent, frequently updated, informational, and PERSONAL place where newbies can get a great start in the game. I have a ton of ideas, and I want to get started as soon as possible.
I would also be very interested in working in tandem with an adverstising committee. I want DGVI to start off with twice as many people as we have now, a goal I think is quite surpassable. There are many people here who have great passion for the DG, and it would go to great use in recruting new citizens. You grab 'em, we stick 'em!
Right now, there are 215 lurkers on the board. At least 25% want to join the DG, I know it. If we make them aware, and lend them a helping hand, in 2 years they could be, heck, will be running DGIII for Civ4: that's how fast the Internet moves.
Now, just a few ideas I was thinking of, I'll elaborate on some later. Some of it has been discussed in the past few weeks...
- not mandatory, but definitly recommended that a new player be 'enrolled'
- newbies will not be given any identifiable marks
- a sort of 'tour' of the forums through chat
- adoption, 'newbie buddies'
- more information on the status of the game
- condensed and/or explained in simplest terms CoL and Constitution
- same explanations for anything else not plainly spelled out
- interviews with veterens who will hold high positions in the first few terms
- a history of the DG's, how they got to where they are now
- chat 'parties'
So, who thinks that more citizens will make the DG more fun?
Who thinks that a more direct approach to recruitment and will make it happen?
Who wants to make more buddies on the 'net?
Who wants to help make it happen?
. I'm on the forums almost every day, so I can help out the new players. I might try to get into the cfc chatroom more often so any new player can ask for help there.
forgot to post anything
