First off, thanks for starting the thread. It's nice to hear from a true new(er) dueler. I'm sorry you didn't feel you could post it a year ago.
Luna Eva wrote:But like I said in my first post, if we are in fact looking at a declining interest in dueling, and people are expressly stating that some of these things are the reasons why they stopped participating (which they are, to me) then at least we can keep thinking about and talking about ways to try to boost their positive experiences and minimize their negative ones.
I think...we've actually been pretty stable for many years. We're not growing. That's for certain. And we definitely had a fall off from our heyday way, way, way back at the height of AOL days.
We could point to this rule or that rule, or this or that attitude being the reason, but really changes have happened over time. And *most* of the community is reasonably open to change. (It does require some arguing. I do remember having to help convince Matt, and then Kheldar, of the benefits of zeroing losses on a weekly basis. But that change did then get made in both DoS and DoM after a suitable trial period in DoF.)
I think more, from the perspective of someone who's been around for a while, really what we see is a fairly normal "aging out" of folks. Some people stick around for a year or two. Some for five of six. The odd few stick around for a decade or more. Ultimately though, life takes us in new directions. Maybe it's a new job that changes your hours. Maybe it's a baby. Maybe it's move across country. Maybe it's a new hobby that steals all your time (like EQ).
There are lots of reasons that people move on. In this community, or in any other. This isn't a situation that's unique to us here at RoH. I could make the same comments using EQ as an example. I stopped playing after a few months. My wife *still* plays.
It's *always* a good idea to revisit the rules. Review how they are working. Refine as necessary. Get the perspective of both new and old. But, the reasons people move on are usually outside influences, and it's a pretty normal phenomenon for any healthy community. People move on. That's just how it goes.
The place we *really* have a problem (and have pretty much since AOL days) is in attracting new player to visit the site in the first place and giving it a try. We get a trickle feed from RDI. But they have the same problem. Where are the new players coming from?
Mostly it's word of mouth. Player A finds their way here from RDI (or Greater Realms or something else), gives it a try, and maybe sticks around. Maybe they bring along a few friends. Maybe a few of those lose interest right away, but a few stick around.
Beyond word of mouth, we're very hard to find. And no one has ever really solved that problem. A few people have talked about setting up demos or booths at events, but I am not sure if any of those ever actually drew over any people.
Anyway...to get back on point. Yes, over time we've probably lost more than we've gained, but for the
most part the reason we've lost is just the normal rotational cycle that any healthy community goes through. We definitely need to find ways to bring in younger players. Younger players are more likely to have friends they can bring along to play. (At 50+, I don't think I'm going to encounter many people my age that I can convince to try RoH.) We just haven't found effective ways to do that, despite years of discussion. So...for now it's still largely word of mouth.
No real comments to the rest of your original post. It all seemed like stuff worth discussion. Carry on!
