A question for the game developers

[Over10n]

Hello, while learning the game mechanics, I encountered a situation where I lost my character in a mine after encountering a troll. I have a question about the overly cynical concept of game design. I find it uninteresting to continue playing this game after these events, and here's why (I should clarify that I will continue playing and level up my character again, and I will return to the previous level of play after some time) I am not writing about myself, but rather about the overall gaming experience of others, as it is understood in the context of a new player encountering such a situation.

The people who play your game have different ages and social statuses, and some can afford to live in the game while others cannot. Both categories of people are different and have different goals in the game. Losing a character in the game is an act of cynicism and disregard for the lives of others (this is a semantic message, not a literal action), and I will explain why this logic is true by using my own example: I do not have the opportunity to live in the game, as I am married and have a young child. It is difficult for me to play your wonderful game. Today I faced a glaring injustice of game mechanics, so as feedback I want to convey to the developers a reasonable perception of the game experience.

Today quite usually I went with my character to the mines and went down for reconnaissance to level 5, while reconnoitering the areas I encountered a troll and being on a horse I received instant aggro on the character, after a couple of blows the troll kills the character and I disconnect from the game, log back into my account and rush to retrieve the dead body from the mine with my alternate character, only to find that the character's body is missing and the items on the character are scattered chaotically outside the tunnel in the textures (I don't have the power level to destroy the walls in the mine, so the items will simply disappear after a while). It's obvious to me that the character was eaten by a troll, but I have a question for the game's creators: do you believe it's fair to create a game design like this, where a person playing your amazing game and honestly trying to learn the mechanics can lose their character due to chance without any way to escape it? The character was eaten by a troll, which means there's no way to bury the remains and regain at least some of the accumulated experience. Do you (as the developers) truly believe it's appropriate to have such a cynical attitude towards a person's time? I want to explain the logic behind my actions There is a very harsh contradiction in the game concept and practice of the game. You have created a wonderful game, but the cynicism of some moments is striking, if you were to do something like this to you, you would change your attitude somewhat to such in the game you create. You have created huge spaces in the game for exploration and development but do not allow players to develop them without fear of possible accidental death. How do you imagine it is possible to develop thousands of cells of underground spaces in search of rare deposits of ore without a horse and convenient saddle bags? Why didn't you give the player a chance to escape this random event, when it's not their fault that you made the game uncomfortable to play? I'm familiar with the mechanics of trolls, but this is the first time I've encountered the concept of a character being devoured and instantly dropped from a mount upon spawning.

I find this experience humiliating for the player's dignity, not because it happened (many things can happen in games), but because the developers punished the player for wanting to play the game they created and focus on the primary objective of exploring the world. The player has no way to escape the punishment or comfortably explore the underground.

[Regulus2424]

Sounds like you were well aware of the dangers of using a horse while mining and still chose to do this? I personally find my character being alive slightly more convenient than the saddle bags or the horse speed.

[DoctorCookie]

Are people still mining on horses? Yea, don't do that. A slime wall scares me more than a troll tbh.

[azrid]

You have the privilege of being able to experience these things for the first time.
There are many things you haven't learned about the game yet so your encounter looks more devastating than it actually is.
The problem you propose has already been fixed by worshipping ancestors. You are able to gain back most of your stats, lp, discoveries, kin list.

Much like our children experience things for the first time you as well are experiencing a big learning moment.
As an expert(your parental figure in this situation) I'm here to say its okay to be upset at what happened to you.
But its important you learn, what happened to you can be avoided and if you don't manage to avoid it the consequences can be remedied.

You got this buddy! Don't give up! No need to be upset.

[vatas]

Jorb trying to nerf horses without making them a massive noob trap -challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)

A more serious explanation: Jorb was unhappy with how you could kite a Troll on horseback. He made them really, really hate horses, and if you mine while on horseback (or encounter an unexpected troll that has already spawned) you get treated as a filthy combat cheese exploiter and promptly killed. A different principle, but similar end result for the noob, applies to the 'Raw Hide!" -spell. It can be used to instantly stun anyone who dares to ride a horse while near another player.

[Over10n]

Jorb trying to nerf horses without making them a massive noob trap -challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)

A more serious explanation: Jorb was unhappy with how you could kite a Troll on horseback. He made them really, really hate horses, and if you mine while on horseback (or encounter an unexpected troll that has already spawned) you get treated as a filthy combat cheese exploiter and promptly killed. A different principle, but similar end result for the noob, applies to the 'Raw Hide!" -spell. It can be used to instantly stun anyone who dares to ride a horse while near another player.

Thank you for your response. I want to say that a game designer should take care of the people who spend their time playing the games they create, and should punish those who exploit various in-game bugs and mechanics for self-promotion or to gain any advantage. What the game punished an honest player for is unacceptable, a troll may hate horses and even riders on them, but the game mechanics are created to create difficulties in obtaining high-quality equipment, then why punish a miner player who is just looking for ore in the vastness of the underground world? Mechanics should allow a random event not to humiliate the player's dignity by simply erasing his time spent in the game for leveling up the character, but to allow him to calmly avoid an unfair death as a result of the fact that this possibility was not provided by the game designer. Those who want to defeat the troll and take his treasures must follow the rules set by the game designer in order to defeat it.

[Regulus2424]

I want to say that a game designer should take care of the people who spend their time playing the games they create, and should punish those who exploit various in-game bugs and mechanics for self-promotion or to gain any advantage.

I take it you have never interacted with Jorbtar before?
I very much doubt that the horse-troll interaction is gonna change, as that implies that Jorb has to admit to maybe overreacting in his crusade against equines a bit. With that being said, I really don't think that horses are that big of a difference maker when it comes down to QoL in the caves.
I suggest that you maintain a positive perspective on this situation, as some people are dealing with much worse hardships, such as being banned from realm chat..

[GreenScape]

As usual, instead of improving a broken mechanic, devs have decided to put a "band aid" on a "broken spine".

If you're going to return back to this game: read through the wiki first, as this is far from the only such hidden "Fun!".

[strpk0]

its a pretty well-established pattern that the devs do not, infact, care about the impact that their changes have on the playerbase, their items, characters, villages, or general time investment into the game
changes happen on a whim, are poorly documented (if at all, they do love ghost-patching things), and when a newb nukes their character after eating 8 peppered foods the treatment they get is either silence or "lmao"

sorry to hear you got wrecked. if you're hoping to find any type of reimbursement or earnest, non-lip-service commitment to improve this from the devs, unfortunately you are wasting your time

[dUmbins]

Stripko is correct. This is what the game is; not a “faithful simulation of reality” as the development Team always declares, but a social experiment to the tune of “haha, up yours!”

On an unrelated note, is this original Post too long to ‘copy-pasta’? Asking for a friend