RoB Community Service

[Jackard]

there are about a dozen stones at the ring now

ill make a few "welcome" signs

[Jackard]

you dorks cant even spell hearth

[Peter]

It's really something wonderful to see really constructive attitudes around here. I'll drop some more trees off this evening.

[kobnach]

I have seen RoB get trashed three times so far. After the second time I went out and planted apple trees and tidied up baskets and planted gardenlets for people to use as starter seed. The next wave of newcomers cleaned it out so that you can't see the work I did. But only the very last wave was the goons. The first two waves of destruction predated them. Seems to me all types of newcomers tend to be really hard on RoB. And while there are some griefers in and amid the goons they sure didn't introduce it!

I think the big difference this time is the size of the blighted area. When I started play, there was still a tree right beside the ring, among houses - that I didn't realize were abandoned. Stones were fairly close by - not easy for a newb to find, particularly in the dark, but trivial for an experienced person. Beyond that, there was a ring of abandoned settlements still in decent condition. and beyond that, there were inhabited settlements with active players, and lots of public and semi-public resources. Claims were not huge, and few people minded if you harvested and replanted some of their plants, taking seed to start your own garden. Ponds were places to meet one's neighbours, and get farther help - often in the form of more seed, or offers to trade some other resource for fish.

Now there's a huge blighted area, and the folks on the boundaries tend to have large claims - or walled towns. If my town is any sample, there are no fields outside the walls, and few trees. (We didn't destroy our local forest, but we have done most of our local planting within the walls, on terrain which was previously grassland - because it's hard to keep a tree alive outside of walls or claims.)

I believe there are three causes for this - civilization, technological change, and griefers. Civilization is the simple one - when level III fox territory was close, new players pretty much always settled close to the RoB - not right on top of it, but within a convenient walk. This kept well maintained farmland fairly near the RoB, along with people who could conveniently extend the non-blighted area back towards the RoB. Now it's hard to find aggressive animals - as every hunter realizes.

Technological change has several aspects. Object destruction got rid of the mess around the RoB - and also of most of the abandoned settlements, producing something that looked like a wasteland. The availability of walls - and destruction of most other vault options - encouraged established folks to fortify, and keep their resources inside their forts. And the crime mechanics encourage large claims.

Then we get griefers. Without regular pointless harassment, the people in the old ring I would mostly not have abandoned their farms - and when some did move for larger spaces or new neighbours, their old neighbours would have either absorbed their old homesteads, or settled newbies in them. When waves of newbies came by and some of them saw clear cutting or crop destruction as attractive LP sources, the locals would have discouraged them - and rebuilt behind them. It takes a while to totally clear cut - and meanwhile there'd be new saplings planted, with cones and apples taken from what few trees were still there. (And once again, the smaller level I radius would have helped, as live trees would have been findable in level III territory...)

[theTrav]

WALL OF TEXT

Yes, some people would be more likely to stay close to RoB if civilization tapered off quicker, that would result in more construction and less destruction.

[Inasmork]

say, me for example, I already have a heart[/b] fire somewhere up afar from RoB, if i will log on next time in RoB, will the next next time when I log on the game, I have to walk all the way to my area because last time I didn't log onto my own RoB? Simply put, will I lost my heart[/b] fire by choosing RoB as my next log in location? I would also like to help this project I've just learn how to farm and harvest

(Thank you for pointing it out. I've now edited the heart into hearth now)

[theTrav]

Simply put, will I lost my heart fire by choosing RoB as my next log in location?

No.

Also, I'm fairly sure there's an H on the end of that, it's a hearth fire, not a heart fire...

[Peter]

Here we go! I'm sure they won't last long, but there are now a nice crop of more trees.

It's amazing how much better it is down there already.

[JTG]

I just helped fix the ring up.

[Vattic]

I just dropped by the RoB to see how things were going and its trashed again. No trees, a swastika, roads damaged, all the boulders carved into "JTG is great" messages. Some nude guy said three people did it and then ran southward.

With ranging on it's certainly colourful in the ring.