important?
 

I am actually curious as to what is really important to people..
Here is what im curious about..

does it really matter that a pw has all custom graphics? or is it okay if they use classic tileset/body and just make their own gameplay. ie: quests, activities etc

see.. for a while now ive thought players want something new.. brand new. all new graphics, new gamplay system, everything.. a whole new game in a sense.

but 2 things are happening.. 1.. im realizing that its impossible with (some) of the idiot developers on graal (there are a lot of great, motivated ones.. but they have their projects already) and 2 .. players arent seeming to want that.

the results of my first survey pretty much said that 75 people that took the survey.. %61.43 of them do not care about custom graphics. this shocked me.. a lot. but then again also good to know. in addition.. almost the exact same ammount (%61.42) said they dont are interested in a server with high socialization and hangouts instead of gameplay.

with the project im working on.. i have ideas but most importantly i want to make sure that im making something people will enjoy. i can go all out and make all kinds of things. finding the staff would be challenging but id do it. BUT so many people do this now on graal.. and look what they accomplish.. sitting on the Hosted tab forever. i want to make something that goes above that.. something that people play.

so.. im curious.. if you were to choose a new pw to play.. how important is it for that pw to have all new graphics? and what type of new things do you expect when you are looking?

also.. are you WILLING to change playerworlds? a lot of people are deadset on what they do now. so.. fill me in because id love to know.

If it is original in content and such, I wouldn't care if you used the crappiest of tiles. I just hate all the crappy playerworlds floating around.

I would be one of those ones that said no to custom graphics. Some are nice, but really, theres alot people can do with the original tileset, some levels made with the original tileset are simply works of art. I used to be able to make things that were atleast visually appealing back in the day. I guess where I'm going with this is...gfx, atleast some, a custom tileset...no. Not necessary. And only preferred if its really really good.

I still stand firmly by my belief that it is a total waste of time to create your own server, however, here is my theory on this.


Tiles/Graphics don't matter if all they do is cover up boring, uncreative gameplay.

However, they are beyond important if your game play is of quality. This is why

There are two main factors that contribute to every and any server:

A) Community.
B) Gameplay.

Without one, the other won't really exist. Your gameplay CAN create your community, but you have to look at what you're working with. Most people are unwilling to try a new server, and when they do, they expect it to be top notch in every way possible, or they will quickly retreat to where they came.

The first impression people get will be your levels and your graphics. If these look unimpressive, people won't even bother to stay long enough to check anything else out.

However, after the inital "Wow, this looks nice" people will want content that will draw them into the server, give them stuff to do, ect.


Every player that you lose within the first 5-10 minutes due to bland looking graphics and levels is one nail in the coffin, and every player you lose in the first few hours due to lack of captivating content is another.


Summary: Impressive graphics and tiling does not make a server great, but the players they initally draw very well might.