Blaccy The Farmer (Also Marketplace Project)

[Potjeh]

If we could move it a bit south it'd be splendid. Somewhere at about Brodgar height would be perfect. Preferably east of there, because East seems to be a bit more populated.

[sami1337]

east, or far east? It it's just east it's not worth it. But if there's a town or two in the far east it's something to consider..but then again, can't make everyone happy. Plus the map stretches further west than east.

[Potjeh]

Well, third ring east maybe. And I hadn't noticed that map extends further west, so I'm changing my mind and saying it should be third ring west, same latitude as Brodgar.

*edit* But then again, the existing road network is east, and that would make it easier to connect the marketplace to the villages.

[niltrias]

I actually would prefer it to be at brogdor. It would be nice for new peeps to immediately see other players interacting, so they dont hink they have logged into a wasteland. Also, they could immediately meet people and be recruited into settlements, or at least get some advice about what to do.
Just seems like it would be good for the game in general to have a bit more traffic at the starting point.

[loftar]

I actually would prefer it to be at brogdor. It would be nice for new peeps to immediately see other players interacting, so they dont hink they have logged into a wasteland.

Speaking of which, we're thinking of endowing new players with a number of coins (say, 10 steel coins) to enable them to trade meaningfully with others. Do you think that might be a good idea?

We're a bit afraid that it might lead to abuse by people just creating tons of characters to amass wealth through that, though. One idea would be to do that only for the first 5 characters in an account or so, but even then, it is easy to create new accounts.

[Potjeh]

For the abuse reasons you mentioned, I don't think it's a good idea. I reckon newbies will be able to make some coin doing menial work for other players, such as getting branches, chipping stone (oh god, I'd pay gold for all the rock I need for roadwork) and hauling stuff. Hauling especially should always offer plenty of job opportunities at the market.

[sami1337]

include 10 coins in a beginner quest that's not too easy.

[Dwarfu]

Oh, money, thou art evil!

This game has been great without the concept of the horrors of money. Now that we have coins, and with that the capitalistic mindset of accumulating as much as possible, I think it would be a great disservice to new hearthlings to taint their experience with coins from the start.

Let them go off and carve out a life for themselves - keep the exploration of the game alive.

[jorb]

the capitalistic mindset of accumulating as much as possible

Accumulating stuff was not on your list of priorities before the introduction of money?

[Blaccy]

Interesting... I do not recall completely ignoring your area, sami1337. I had looked at your thread, and you and several others were making a forest settlement to the north, correct? The Village by the Sea was a newbie village that was originally going to be abandoned from what I had gathered, but people kept it populated. Seeing how the Village by the Sea is one of the first villages newbies head to, I had figured to establish the market itself near there. I'm trying to also take into consideration the fact that Bottleneck and the forest village up north are currently the two extreme village distances I see (at least as far as major settlements go).

The map extends further west? I am confused! The map I am looking at shows more area to the east (With the ring starting off-center to the west of the 5000x5000 png map).

I would actually agree with Dwarfu on the account of giving newbies coins -- Giving them a currency right off the bat will give them a mindset of needing to make money -- Leaving them alone to their own devices, they can wander and even establish their own spot, keeping the spirit of exploration alive in a sense. Then later on the can get all money greedy!

If anything, I'd say steel coins is also moderately expensive -- Maybe wrought iron coins? I feel as though the currency will be kind of like cast iron being copper, wrought iron being silver, and steel being like gold. Well... provided you -can- make those other metals into coins (I wouldn't know, I'm just a farmer!).

Lastly, my only reasoning to keeping it away from Brogdor itself is because Brogdor is a newbie area -- Its almost like a special newbie land for people to get used to the controls and learn about the world moreso than being an economic center of players. At least, that is my viewpoint. Anyone is welcome to say otherwise, of course!

Finally (Seriously), the center design is terrible, according to one person. What can I do to expand and improve it? That is what I'm trying to find out. At least... some good merger between the two designs everyone can agree on. Or a vote for one of the designs.