(11-30-2017, 03:47 PM)Unnamed Mercenary Wrote: If we look at Balmung's history too though, there was a LOT more open-world stuff happening in the 2014-2015 mark, it feels like. The server had just launched Summer 2013 and people were still feeling out the server and getting to know each other. Probably it felt like there was a lot more public stuff going on. FCs and Linkshells hadn't quite been made for everything and there was a lot of shuffling around. ...and at least personally for me, I had more time and the general peak hours of gameplay/RP.
But as people kinda found their usual spots and FCs/LSes/groups of people they liked to hang out with, I had noticed a shift where more plots went FC-driven than say, clustered events/plots on the RPC that were open to anyone. And I feel like that's pretty normal. If a FC has similar-minded people, it's much easier to DM an extended story than to try to get a bunch of people who may or may not know each other. But then it starts to crystallize and may not be as flexible as before, which then leads into difficulty in expanding perspectives or meshing with new people or new people getting involved.
It's possible that because Mateus is still actively growing, their server hasn't been affected by that type of RPer grouping trend yet. It took Balmung a few years, and the lock certainly isn't going to help in that regard. Perhaps it won't happen if the server continues to stay open. Or perhaps it will if Mateus grows to Balmung's size and becomes locked one day. ...at which another RP server will likely be designated as the go-to place and so on.
But also, you know, you gotta count that some people like hyper focused rp and some people don't. A lot of the discontent in people who voiced it and left was that they weren't able to integrate into hyper focused rp, and couldn't find enough wider focused rp that suited them.
Don't forget -- entire established groups up and left Balmung for Mateus. But if I can't creep on their chatter on the forums, I have no idea what they're doing and can't comment on that rp. I don't put any effort into searching out the rp/stories posted on tumblr, so I'm not seeing that, either. It is wholly possible that Mateus has that kind of rp, I just am not seeing it.
Also, I still do see a lot of open world rp on Balmung, especially when farming.
But even back in 2014, the open world stuff that I saw and participated in on Balmung was still pretty tightly plotted stuff. Not to say that all of it was, but it had a different feel than what I get out of open world Mateus stuff. It could simply be a function of people who wanted something different than what is up per usual on Balmung moved, and that could shape the overall community.
It's hard to comment on the whole of something though, in any case, when you're not seeing the whole picture. It would be useful if someone who is well integrated into Mateus rp groups could comment, haha.
