Shattered Kingdoms

I'm writing this thread for player and staff feedback, though I debated whether I should even spend the time on it.

I haven't played SK for a while, and I had some ideas about coming back with a fresh start. I've played a few characters to around Mentor or so but never made it much further, so I'm still a newbie. Check my forum posts or look up my IP if you have to. Sadly, though, when I tried to come back and get caught up on the MUD news, I decided that it's not worth starting anew. You've lost a player today.

I've played MUDs for over 15 years, with a few favorites and long-standing MUD commitments. I've tried dozens and there are only a few that have stuck with me. Shattered Kingdoms is one of those. From the moment I first tried it, I found the world to be immersive and vibrant. I experimented with a few characters (as I usually do) and played through all of the newbie zones. They all had so much character that drew me in and made me want to play more. I'd never played a MUD before with the sort of starting variety that SK had to encourage roleplay. Things like different languages and kingdoms was a brand-new concept to me.

Now I'm finding that when I wanted to start a new character, everything has changed. Why can't my sprite start in Ayamao? OK, I selected a different home kingdom, but I'm outside of ... some other kingdom? Confusing as could be, I took to the forums. And what I found disgusts me.

How can there be threads that are pages and pages long where the staff is simply spiting the playerbase's feedback? OK, I get that people are resistant to change (in general), whether it's good or bad. But at some point, you've got to admit that you've made a mistake. Take a look at Microsoft's misteps with Windows 8, for example: Everyone universally hated the new interface, enough that it started to damage the PC sales market. Microsoft tried for a loooooong time to say, "You'll get used to it" but eventually they had to backpedal and "fix" it in Windows 10. If you make a change and 95% of the playerbase (your users) hates it, it may be safe to say that it was not a good change.

I realized that if that's the way the staff treats the playerbase, I don't think this is the MUD for me. When a player asks, "Why can't I start in Ayamao" and Dulrik responds, "Ask IC you idiot"... what can you say to that? Am I supposed to roll a new Elf/Sprite and then wander around asking random people, "Uh, how come I wasn't born in... you know, the Elf/Sprite homeland?" That doesn't make any sense at all.

I'm not trolling, and I don't mean to rant, but MUDs are a dying breed and you (SK staff) should listen to your playerbase. Find out what would make the game better for them and they will be more likely to continue with it and perhaps even recommend it to friends. If there's a mistake or some crucial communication that is missing, work with them to rectify the mistake. Don't blast someone for being confused that whole sections of the game disappeared without any RP reason!

It's a new year, and I was going to start a new character on SK, a MUD with a vibrant and engaging world, but I'll have to pass. It's not worth my time versus other MUDs and hobbies if this is how the staff treats (read: ignores) the players.

As one last remark, I think the way that SK handles "OOC information" as hush-hush etc. is very bad for retaining new players. I wouldn't have even got going with SK in the first place if a forum user hadn't "illegally" sent me some information, like race stats and weaknesses. Nobody wants to roll a character that will be gimped because they didn't have access to the "secrets" of simple game mechanics.

Thank you for taking the time to provide your perspective. I feel that you offer some valid points, and I would like to address them.

Unlike Windows, we do not have a paying customer base. We do not even have a customer base that is particularly invested in the product, if I'm to be very frank. Staff requests for help are taken up by players and quickly forgotten about. Weeks turn to days turn to months, and things that admins wanted to share with players are put entirely on their volunteer shoulders. Meanwhile, should we leave things that the players wished to see implemented for an equal amount of time, we are slandered, accused and lambasted for playing favorites.

The entire game operates under the over-arching vision of our implementer, Dulrik, who was not nearly so rude to you as you made it out. He simply, briefly, informed you that you could not create a character in Ayamao. The truth of the matter is that Ayamao is not the only location that will be shut down. In an effort to consolidate the players into more population-appropriate distributions as far as factions (which was also requested by the players), we have begun trimming down options. Along with this, we made the mentor system work in such a way that all mentor characters could interact with any newbie that rolled, which made it so that I have seen precisely zero notifications of “Soandsuch could not find a mentor” since we began.

Nope; players didn't (and most still don't) like the Newbie Academy. That's fine. But the reason for its implementation goes along with what they wanted from us. Simply because something doesn't go exactly as someone had envisioned does not mean that the staff is ignoring him, spitting on him or doesn't value him.

On the other hand, the tone of the general discussion thread was set by the players. The posts were downright nasty. Even as the staff -did- address valid player concerns (making us much more receptive to feedback than Windows – we dropped EVERYTHING to take feedback into account and make changes), the distaste for the new area was repeatedly thrown in our faces. There is -continuing- dialogue in that thread that is designed to help keep working toward a middle ground … and nobody is engaging it. The newbie academy is not going away … because everyone wanted what it represents, so the best bet is to try to be invested and to see it turn out as the best compromise available.

When faced with such vitriol, name calling, and pretty much abject hatred for doing something we do out of love for the game during our spare time rather than for a paycheck at a 9-to-5, can you really be surprised that the heat in that thread got turned up? If that's the way the playerbase treats the staff, I can only envision a mass exodus as people get worn down quickly. We've seen it before. Even still, though, the thread represents a very vocal minority of the overall player base.

If the game is to survive, then the communication has to go both ways. The staff has been looking for ways to be more open, but it's not going to work if the expectation can't go both ways. I wish you would reconsider staying, but should you truly decide to leave, I wish you the best of luck.

Thanks for the response, Meissa. You're right that I exaggerated Dulrik's response, though I just wanted to point out that it didn't particularly make sense. It seems to me that there is a severe communication problem here: staff could have communicated their intentions and petitioned for enough player feedback to keep from making the newbie zone changes a mess. There should be relevant posts in Announcements detailing changes instead of only complaint threads in Gameplay Discussion. All leaders and so on should have received plenty of prior notice of what was going to happen and how it would fit in RP-wise. Add so on.

Regardless of whether you have paying customers or not, player retention is very, very important. It's not that the new academy is particularly bad, and the way the staff has responded to feedback there (like fixing balance, adding colors, and other things that I've gathered from the thread) is good. It's just that in the name of drawing in new players, you've cut out some beautiful zones, annoying your current playerbase and creating an RP mess. I don't need to rehash all the arguments but there's a reason people feel strongly about the loss of the Grotto and so on... because those were the very zones that drew them to SK in the first place! I know they were for me. Losing the flavor of the various kingdoms and shoving everyone into a generic one-size-fits-all zone isn't good.

The players did set the angry tone, it's true. But when staff posts back with "this is an improvement" when all players are saying that it's clearly not, it shows that there's some serious dissonance here. Improvement according to what measure? Some theoretical idea that it will create RP opportunities even while squashing others? Any sort of reassurance that, in light of player feedback, staff will re-evaluate yanking the newbie areas would calm the hostility considerably. For example, as many have suggested, you could find a way to transition from the unified Academy to a higher-difficulty version of each kingdom's original academies.

I guess the main thing is... I feel that if the players are discontent, it's a sign that they will be leaving SK. I don't want to invest a lot of time in a MUD if it's already going downhill. I'd be very sad to see SK die.

We have already stated that, for some of these areas, that is precisely will happen. Others, such as Rond Path, which I honestly have zero intention of reviving, will be upcycled.

I read through most of the thread(s) and the closest I saw from imms was a "maybe," which is quite different from something like "this is what we will do... how can we make it good?" But given that you are volunteers, and you have limited time, perhaps at this point you're not sure either. =/

Dulrik rather curtly told the thread in question "Find out ICly", completely missing the point of the concerns of what should be widely available OOC knowledge (An entire kingdom is unavailable because _____) for... What purpose? What does hiding this rather crucial information benefit anyone? No one's asking for a log of what happened, they just want an explanation. It's exactly like telling people to find out ICly why deep elves weren't welcomed in Sith'a'niel. There are help files to explain that so no one does it; There should be help files in this case, too.


Yes, I really can be surprised since I feel there should be at least the smallest attempt to be professional, paid or not. If some staff members want to get nasty with the player base then they shouldn't be part of the staff. This is a good reason why Syn isn't part of the staff despite his superior technical knowledge of the game.


You don't act like it. One of those threads even mentions that the staff doesn't talk to the player base as a whole because they're all "vitriolic, name callers, and hate everything we do".
I just don't understand why some members of the staff are so hostile to the people that play this game out of love. No one pays any of us to play the game either. I hope you don't take this the wrong way. I don't hate you or anything and I respect what you do for this game. I just don't understand where this personal grudge is coming from.

Personal grudge? Me? I'm honestly baffled.

That the staff points out that precisely zero discussions can remain polite, constructive and helpful to both sides without turning completely nasty is not an attack but an attempt to shine a mirror on why we don't consult the entire pbase every time something needs to be done.

If you don't want to take me seriously then I can just go back to trying to avoid the staff again. I don't like being treated like I've offended someone or chosen the opposing side when all I've ever tried to do is be helpful.

You've accused me of holding a personal grudge. Against whom? Your statement was offensive considering that it is completely unfounded.

Regardless, I'm at a complete loss as to how you can conclude that I am not taking you seriously.

Just read a few more threads and I have to say:

I'm sorry that there are players out there that won't treat IMM staff with respect. It's one thing to voice constructive criticism, quite another to make wild accusations and call anyone who agrees with the staff a brown-noser (in less polite terms). I'll think about trying SK again... just want to make sure I know what I'm getting into.