Grouping and Clans

[Molly]

I have asked for this before, and I guess I have to keep asking until something happens.

Our playerbase is really small right now, and two of the important factors to make it grow are Grouping and Clans.

1. Group exp and Group heal
Grouping urgently needs to be fixed to what it was before, so that low level players can group with high level ones, without the ones with higher level hogging all the exp.
Hunting in groups is more fun, so it should be promoted in every possible way. If the price we have to pay for it is some powerlevelling, so be it. We need to get some sense of community back into the game.
And if Group Heal hasn't been fixed already, that has equally high priority.

2. Clans
We seem to have too many Clans for our current player base.
We also have to do something about inactive Clan leaders. People who only log on once a month should not lead Clans.

We also have a lot of totally inactive Clan Leaders, who have kept their position simply for nostalgic reasons, although they haven't been in the game for years. Sicilians is probably the worst example of this - 5 leaders, and only Toch is even remotely active, even if one really cannot call him active either.
Another bad example is Table Round. Garion was last on line March 24, Ilana hasn't logged in since November 2007. However good leaders they may have been in the past, they obviously should leave room for someone more interested now.
I could go on like this with several other Clans, but I think you are all aware of the situation.

One could have hoped that the inactive Clan Leaders would have resigned on their own, after having appointed a successor, but we've already waited too long for this to happen.

I could remove all inactive Clan Leaders manually, but I'd prefer it if we could make their retirement a bit graceful.
What I propose is a special Clan Rank for all retired Clan Leaders, let's call it Ancient.
On this Rank the player has no Clan power at all, just the prestige and history remains.

To make it relatively easy to code, since all Clans have different numbers of ranks, I suggest that the Ancient Rank is placed on top of all other existing ranks.

Ideally this should be code run:
- If a CL doesn't log on to the Mud for a month, they should be automatically moved to the Ancient Rank.
- If there isn't already another CL remaining after this, the next-in-command should be automatically promoted to CL.
- If there aren't any Clan members left to promote, let the Clan rest in Peace. It's dead anyway.

However, if this is too complicated to code, just give us the bloody Ancient Rank, and we'll do the rest manually.

Something has to happen, and I for one am getting really tired of not getting any response to my repeated proposals.

Where are the Coders when you need them?

[Leonardo]

I really hope any of the coders will answer your call this time. The issues you've brought are very important and should be given top priority. Especially the Grouping feature which slowly terminated our pbase.

[Grish]

- If a CL doesn't log on to the Mud for a month, they should be automatically moved to the Ancient Rank.

Agreed with everything except that, I for one would think 2 months, or even 3 would be more fair in guilds with multiple leaders. Sure, it could take a little bit of time to cycle out and get new leaders into position, but 1 RL month is not a long time at all and in the end its going to cause more demotions/promotions and jockeying the ranks. Take Xeriuth for example (yes I know he isnt a leader), quite active and has RL issues which are causing him to be away for 2 months. If he had been leader, when he returned he would be promoted again, and whoever took his place prolly re-demoted. This system should be used to eliminate the ones who are truly inactive, not the ones who just havent been able to log on for a month.

Also, wondering if the next player in line for a leadership spot will have his time since he last logged in taken into consideration? I mean, lets say someone is moved to ancient rank, and the next person in line hasnt been on for 28 days, will those 28 days go against the time remaining until that person is also demoted, or does the time start when the promotion to leader occurs? I personally think it should be counted against them, it would really speed the process up.

[Molly]

There are exceptions to all rules, and I'd still want this to be code run as much as possible, since imms shouldn't really have to interfere in Clan business, unless absolutely necessary.

In the few cases where we have a legitimate and TEMPORARY absence due to real life issues, it shouldn't be too hard to talk to the Staff in advance and ask for the code rule to be overrun manually. Rather like that players, who know they are going to be absent for more than a month due to RL issues, can ask the Staff to put a !delete flag on their char.

But the main thing is that we get a RETIRED or ANCIENT Clan Rank to all the Clans. This rank is supposed to be a badge of merit, so that a CL who plans to go inactive can retire in grace, and so that the old legends don't go into oblivion.

Take Sicilians for example, they have 4 very old CLs; Pharggo, Soulstar, Zenathos and Singer.
None of them has been active in years, even though Soulstar and Singer occasionally visit. But they were all outstanding players, and for purely nostalgic reasons I've never been able to bring myself to demote them. With an 'Ancient' Clan Rank, they would still be honoured.
It would just make it easier to part with power.
Totally psychological, I know, but still...

[Virisin]

Good to see grouping and clans on the list for some work.

[Turin Orsini]

Grouping is what holds a mud together in essance, clans are only viable if you have groups, other wise you just have individals sharing the same dwelling place.
While there is no grouping going on new players are left on there own to find their own way - 4d is not a small or standard mud it gets quite complex with its questing and the like.
The fact that it is not standard is a great thing it shows we have builders and coders that are thinking outside of the box so to speak, but no matter how many quests you have or how many solo quests you make people still want to go and hunt and play in groups, it has always been the way of muds and if muds are to survive in these times of mmorpgs like WoW and the like then we need to get the fun back and while 4d might attract players who like to quest, but players still like to group and be able to run all over the realms killing with glee.
Clans like the clan idea and yes at the moment there are many many clans and very few active members, maybe a clan culling might be worth while will boost numbers in existing clans.

[Prometheus]

Mord is working on changing how grouping works. See http://4dimensions.org/forum/index/topic,161.30.html
Clans still need some re-working as well.

Prometheus.

[Xeriuth]

Definitely need to hop on the  clan wagon now that grouping has been taken care of. The Retired/Ancient rank is a fantastic idea and would solve a lot of problems. That way there wouldn't have to any need to remove them from the title they earned, rather simply let their title live on, they just don't have the responsibility of being a leader which in many cases it's apparent when people do not wish to lead clans anymore.
The automatic clan system of promoting clan leaders would be a great idea but would not have to be added at the same time if it would end up being more difficult, simply the establishment of the new rank would be enough.
Clans in themselves could be upgraded to be more worth joining in themselves. Perhaps have a use for the clan treasury to buy things for the clans. Because currently there is a set number of clan equipment with stats allowed, etc. Making all clans in that regard the same. This would for one, help bring down the inflation by spending gold and maybe even tokens. At the same time make some clans have more to offer. If leaders want to make their clans more desirable, invest more. 

[Mordecai]

This is much work.
I am still working on grouping.