Cosrin: A New Dawn

This is very a lot sad.

Hi everyone,

I don't have too much to add to this conversation just now, but I wanted to write a little bit anyway, mostly simply to echo Herman's concerns. So first of all, thanks a lot Herman for starting this conversation and also thanks a lot Cole for letting us know about your situation. From my perspective even just hearing you say "I'm busy these days but I'll try to log in when I can" is great, much better than silence, which makes me a little nervous.

So... it's been quite awhile now that we have had very few active players, with even fewer (visible?) staff members. From what I have seen in my couple years or so here, things do seem to move in cycles, and sometimes not many people are active and other times many more are, but we've been on the quiet side of that cycle for a rather long time now.

I am sad that I don't have any very good ideas for how to fix this right now. I don't think there are enough of us with time to invest in the game to start a voting campaign on the MUD sites like we did a year or something ago. I know several people (especially Tias) have done some good work promoting Cosrin on Reddit, and that worked ok for a little way maybe. But the problem is still here that even when some new people join, few or none of them really stick around.

So what should we do? I don't really know. I guess Herman's ideas are pretty good. The website could probably be a lot simpler/smaller and yet be visually nicer and that would be ok for anyone who makes it as far as the website (probably not so many new people anyway).

Then those of us who aren't too busy to log in should just try to be around when we can, to interact and try to make things fun. I miss having heroes around, either hidden or visible, to help make the lands more interesting. Either through games or roleplaying or anything. Of course as players we can/should do our part too.

Maybe we can have an event or something that is interesting enough to draw the attention of several of the inactive players? I'm not sure exactly what that would be right now, but something that's planned in advance and marketed well (can we email inactive players?) and is really something that you "can't miss" would be great! I know there was the sparring contest recently and I heard that was pretty fun, but I don't think that would quite draw too many inactive players... we need something bigger!

Like there's an enormous army headed towards Moorgate from somewhere across the oceans, and somehow we find out about it in advance, and the guildmasters send out summons to all of their guilds that we have to prepare for war...

Or something with Zoran appearing (wasn't there some never-finished roleplay about searching for his island?) and things will never be the same...

I don't know, but *something* that's really big and really epic and might make some people think, "that could be a fun evening", and then if we're lucky maybe 7 or 8 or even 10 or 12 people log in at the same time and we all get talking and chatting and remember how fun it is to be around when the lands are active and maybe people start logging in more?

Well those are my thoughts of the moment. I didn't really have any thoughts before I started writing this so I'm sorry if this all just seems like a stream of consciousness, but I just wanted to add to the discussion a little.

Thank you Admin.

Hi all,

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will not be around for the next 4-5 days (maybe a little more) because I will be out of town and will not have my computer with me. So when you don't see me for a little while, don't worry, I will be back to ask you silly questions and volunteer my strange ideas soon.

Have a nice weekend + a couple days,

Ava

I'm sorry to hear that, Halren, but of course after two and a half years of being GM I understand! Hopefully some other Fighter will step up.

I would like to second Herman's "if-I-could" re-nomination of Khaji. Especially if there is no other monk who wants to do the job, then I don't see why Khaji shouldn't be allowed a second term.

I would add also that although I don't know if Halren would want to continue as Fighters GM, and he hasn't really been active the past couple months, I would be glad if he, too, could be considered for the position.

Over the course of the 2.5 years of their GM terms, both of them have been more-or-less active and contributing to their guilds and the state of the game. And even contributing to helping the other two guilds, whose GMs disappeared, to finally get their guild titles. I would be content if either or both of them remained GMs.

And Herman I will not be the Guildmistress of the Creatures Guild! That's Binxy's job!

Ava

Hello everyone,

Most of you probably know me at least somewhat already, so I think you would be a better judge than me of if I would be a good GM or not. I want to just tell the truth here: I am a little bit nervous and a little bit afraid of posting this, because I am not completely confident that I should be (or want to be) GM.

Sometimes I have a busy schedule and there would quite possibly be times that I could not be around Cosrin as much as I believe a good GM should be. And right now, when there are so few players in the lands, well, it makes me not want to log in very much, because there is nothing, really, to do. I suppose as GM I would feel a little bit more motivated to try to bring more players (back) to the game… but if there is really no one at all around, like there is now, then I don’t know what can help. I could promise to “do my best” but since we often don’t know what our “best” is until the situation is clear, I can’t tell you exactly what that even means.

Also please remember that I am not the smartest person, and even though I somehow have made it pretty far in the game I am not very good at hunting and I know almost nothing about scripting (though I do know a little bit about macros, but still probably not much compared to everyone else). Other people know a lot more and would be better choices to make decisions about what things mages need or what balance problems there are or anything like that. I have only gotten as far as I have because lots of other people have been nice enough to help me out, again and again.

I have played a few characters, but only one of them as even gotten as far as subguild, so I am pretty ignorant about a lot of things in the Mages Guild (not to even begin mentioning the other guilds!). That means both the Covenhouse and Labyrinth as well as the Sorcerer, Shaman and Wizard classes. Of course I know the basics about all of them by now, but I don’t have any real experience playing them.

I guess the only thing that I am good at (except for dying — I have the record for number of deaths in Cosrin, 373 at the time of writing!) is being enthusiastic. I really love Cosrin, and I really love the Mages Guild. I have plenty of flaws, but I can promise you that I love the game enough to really want to help improve it. I don’t know if that is something I would be good at, but if you people decide that you want me to try, then I am willing to see what I can do.

Anyway, even though I was excited to hear that there were going to be guild elections, I now sort of think that it isn’t the best time for them after all — since it looks like it is quite unlikely that most guilds even get a GM. But I suppose having new GMs for some of the guilds is better than having completely inactive players.

I’m sorry if this is a long and rambling message but I am pretty good at that! I guess what I want to say is that I will take on the position of Mages GM if no one else will, and I hope that if you ask me to do it I will do an ok job but I can’t really promise that, due to both the state of the game and my personal flaws.

Best,
Ava

Admin wrote: I think it makes sense to have an assistant GM and I will clarify this when the nominations open in February.

I am still curiousing a little about this.

Ok, that sounds fair enough, thanks for the quick response.

Hi again Admin, sorry to be a bother but I have another question. But you know me, I am not very good at keeping quiet when I have a question!

I noticed that the last GM election was 2.5 years ago! That is a very long time. I know that almost all of that was under a different administration so I am not criticizing you for it, I just wanted to ask if you have thought about how long it will be until the next election. Since it says "6 months' responsibility" in your post, does that mean that the next election will (in theory) take place in six months?

I'm only asking because I think it would be quite a different thing to run for a GM term of 6 months versus running for a term of an undefined length.

Thanks!

Ava

Thanks for the response Admin.

Also:

Yay!

I have three things to say:

1. Yay!

2. Is there a particular reason that current GMs cannot nominate themselves? And if some guild does not end up with any nominees, but the current GM is still active, will they then, at least, be able to self-nominate (rather than having a hero GM)?

3. Is there any possibility of maybe being able to have one GL per guild as well? This would help distribute the responsibility of the GM a little bit, which would probably be a good thing in a not-terrible-active-at-the-moment world.

Ava

Um, I know maybe this is very a lot late, but I was very a lot sleepy... so... welcome to the Mages Guild, Yahgrk!

Yay! (Um... not about the outages... about the postponement...) There is a better chance I can be there now.

Shush Doc!

How about this: I will sword against you and the loser has to run for GM!

You all better watch out! Because I am very a lot good at swording!

Ava

(Actually, although I will try to make it, most likely I will not be able to at that time. But I will try!)

Um, I'm not really what I wanted to say with this post except I couldn't respond to the official Info From Staff one so I decided to write something here.

Anyway I wanted to say thank you to Old-Admin because I think he did a really good job until he got really busy, and even though he was always faster than me at making comments in chats and had a sort of mean sense of humor I liked knowing that he was around and I will miss him. So, thanks for making Cosrin a really nice place and also congratulations and best wishes for you and your family!

And welcome to New-Admin (I guess I have to figure out what I'm going to call you Vez-Entity-Ghull person, also I had no idea that you were all three of those people, because I don't think I can call you 'Min like I called Old-Admin, oh dear this is really confusing)! I am glad that you will be in charge here and I am sure you will do a good job.

Best,
Ava

P.S. I'm pretty sure that Zemolda is going to miss you a lot too, 'Min.

You are the troublemaker Binxy! And I'm only a magnet of trouble because you like following me around!

Greetings dear mages!

Um, I just wanted to tell you all that I am very excited because finally, many many many years after we first ever started talking about them, I managed to for the very first time get promoted to a new guild title!

Um, also I hope you all are well because I think most of you I haven't seen in a long time except I saw Eloras recently except he was asleep and I also met someone named Emeric.

Anyway, here is how it happened:

Ava gestures at Eight-footed basilisk...
A ball of cold and ice rushes from her hand...
The room crackles with godly energies!
You have done divine damage 2872 times in your life...
Eight-footed basilisk is hit by a large ball of cold for 9999 damage!
You have gained a Guild Rank! You are now Guild Rank 120!
You have gained a Guild Title! Your new title is Renowned Spellbinder!
Eight-footed basilisk is slain!

Ava

Tavern in the Mages Guild
A shady looking con artist sits here with his shell game laid out
on the table before him. He swiftly swaps the left shell with the
right shell, and then the center shell with the shell on the right.
He waits for you to choose a shell.
There is a shimmering portal to the east
There is a guarded door to the east
Obvious Exits: Down
Mopard, Demonic Magi has a shop here which will sell items
Mopard, Demonic Magi is offering a quest (use SHOW QUESTS)

The sun has just risen across the land of Cosrin
It is now Morning of day 30 of Longing of the year 160
Zoran is now recording recent events...
Please be patient with him as he updates your files...
You feel a comforting sensation...
Roaring thunder echoes through the heavens...

You hop about madly.

>stats
You were born on Day 30 of Longing of the year 120
Under the sign of The Thief's Despair
You are 40 years old. Time played: 51 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes, 37 seconds

Ava says 'Happy Birthday to me, Mopard.'

You shrug your shoulders.

Ava exclaims 'Give me some milk!'

Ava buys a glass of milk
Ava drinks a glass of milk
Ava destroys her empty glass

Ava buys a glass of milk
Ava drinks a glass of milk
Ava destroys her empty glass

Ava buys a glass of milk
Ava drinks a glass of milk
Ava destroys her empty glass

Ava says 'Ahh'
Ava says 'That was pretty good milk.'

You flash a bright smile.

Oh dear, where do I even begin?

Yay Dierdre!

I think it's a great idea, because there are still several people who log in from time to time, but often we seem to not log in at the same time as anyone else and then it is boring. So if we set a date and all come online then, we can have a fun time!

For me, I am quite busy these days but I with a bit of advance notice I can probably have a pretty flexible schedule. Probably I won't have too much time until next week though.

And I don't think we necessarily need any staff help to have a fun ball, but I'm sure Binxy will give us a hand if he has some time (and maybe cause a little trouble too), right Binxy?

Ava

*Ava dances around wearing her brand new and very shiny "Mage of Distinction" badge*

Yay! We are going to finally have titles! Congratulations Mages and thanks Castin and everyone else for all the hard work on this.

Ava