April 2003

Let's Get Together.
Posted Tuesday, April 15, 2003 by
PanzerMagi

C'mon people now...

It's been more than a year since my last Words from the Magi. However, something wonderful has happened.

Neverwinter-style treasure has arrived. The days of soloing are over.

Or are they?

That's the funny thing. The major incentive for solo'ing -- the need for gear -- has been removed. You'll now get just as much nifty stuff if you were in a fight with a half-dozen people as you will if you were all alone.

So why does solo'ing continue, largely unabated? Maybe it's out of habit. We've spent so long going the road alone, we just can't shake our tendency to continue that way. Perhaps it's because there aren't enough players in; with so few to choose from, maybe most of us just can't folks to adventure with that meet our tastes.

Or, it could just be that the word hasn't gone out yet. Or it's gone out, but nobody believes it. What people need is some proof. To be shown that you can kill critters with a group of other players and still find your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Maybe Jasyle could do it. She could line up her tavern crowd and pull them, kicking and screaming, out into the wilderness. Make them role-play on the move, perhaps get some Dwarves to load her bar onto the back of a wagon. It'd make falling off the wagon all the more appropriate.

I have no idea. In spite of what I might think, I don't have all the answers. I know that solo'ing is bad, but I don't know how to stop it. A multiplayer game should involve more than /yelling at each other.

I will say this, however. I'm glad the new treasure system has arrived. Grouping *is* now possible. I'm just not sure how I'll go about convincing anyone else of that fact.

Postscript:

When I did a spell check on this, my dictionary suggested "Gaseously" for Jasyle. I promptly slapped my computer for making such an inappropriate comment. Now my hand hurts.