Graal Forums - The GSI-GS

Googi’s Speculation on the Interest in a Graal Server (GSI-GS)

The purpose of this thread is to identify and explain all of the qualities that make a server attractive to players, that is, the reason that players log into a server, not only the first time but all subsequent times. I believe that four broad categories encapsulate most if not all of these qualities. Those categories are novelty, gameplay, addictiveness and community.

1. Novelty - The ability of a server to attract players through the perceived newness of a server, either because the server is, itself, new to a player or because there is something new to a player on it. It derives it's power from the tendency among players to be attracted to something new simply because it is new.

2. Gameplay - The ability of a server to attract players by providing them with "instant" fun. Zone is a good example of a server based mostly on gameplay.

3. Addictivity - The ability of a server to attract players with the intent to do tasks they perceive as menial or boring because they believe there will be some form of future benefit. This is an important quality of servers that are based around economies and/or leveling systems. As such the old Graal 2001 and now Graal2002/Kingdoms are good examples of servers that made/make use of this quality.

4. Community - The ability of a server to attract players with the intent of communicating with other players in some way. The fact that people pay money to upgrade their accounts simply to post on the Graal Communication Center is an example of the power of community. RP servers also rely heavily on community.

With brief definitions of the four qualities provided, what follows is more in-depth explanations on how they are created, how they are maintained and how popular features on Graal servers are grounded in them.

The Novelty of a Server

Of the four forces, novelty is usually the one that requires the most work on the part of the development staff of a server to generate and maintain. How novel a player perceives a server to be is based on how much the player believes that a server contains new experiences for them. This is why Stefan puts announcements of new features on Zone and Graal Kingdoms in the server names.

Of course, all servers are novel to a player who has never played Graal before, so I will focus mostly on how novelty can attract players who have been playing for some time.

The perceived novelty of a server is at it's highest soon after it is released or re-released, and also spikes after a large update which is widely known about among the Graalian playerbase (i.e. because it is announced in the server name).

Novelty is decreased by players gaining information. This information can come from playing the server or from other players (thus novelty can be decreased without a player ever playing a server). Information can, however, increase the attractiveness a server derives from the other three qualities, particularly gameplay. The detrimental effect that information has on novelty begins as soon as a new player opens the client and sees the serverlist. The information of the playercounts on each server decreases the novelty each of them has and causes the player to attribute the highest perceived gameplay quality to the one with the most players.

The Gameplay Value a Server

The gameplay value of a server is based on features of a server that players find fun even after they have made use of them several times (thus their value comes from qualities inherent in the feature itself rather than the players unfamiliarity with it). The type of server that relies the most on attracting players through gameplay is a PK server. The single server that relies the most on gameplay is likely Zone, with Unholy Nation and Era relying more on community than Zone does. Gameplay is probably the easiest of the four categories to understand.

The Addictivity of a Server

Possibly the most complex of the four categories, addictivity is generally something players have great disrespect for (though even if they have heard about a server being "addictive," it is unlikely that it will keep them from ever playing on the server as most players believe themselves to be individually immune to a server's addictivity.) Addictivity (unlike novelty and gameplay) is not very effective at getting a player to play on a server for the first time, and a player generally has to play a server for a considerable period of time before it becomes effective. The server type most reliant on addictivity is an economic-based server. Graal2002/Kingdoms is the server currently most reliant on addictivity, although recently Maloria has been trying to make use of addictivity, and Era appears to be beginning to do so as well.

Because addictivity is based on a player's belief that what they are doing will bring them future benefit, two factors become important. One is confidence, that is, a player must have confidence that they will receive a benefit in the future as a result of the menial tasks they are currently doing. On economic servers, where addictivity is the most important, this confidence generally means that a player believes it is within their capability to achieve this benefit. On economic servers this can be ruined by major inflation (and sometimes staff corruption) or if the player believes that it is simply impossible for them to obtain the items or wealth that they want. The second factor is that the player must believe this benefit actually exists. On economic servers this benefit is usually status (notwithstanding the prospect of a player selling items for real world currency), and in this way addictivity and community becomes intermingled. On servers such as the old Graal2001 status came from the possession of rare items. On Graal2002/Kingdoms it is based on the strength of a player, and thus comes from their statistics (including levels) as well as their items. An item on Graal2002/Kingdoms of which only two or three copies exist probably will not be as valuable as an item of which, say, 10 copies exist if the item with 10 copies grants the player an impressive statistical bonus and the two or three copy item is merely symbolic. So long as an item is rare enough that its use cannot become widespread, statistical benefit is the determining factor in price.

Addictivity can also be significant in influencing players who are after staff positions. In particular, a player might be willing to work as part of an Events Team or as a FAQ in order to eventually become a GP. This occurs in all other hierarchies as well (including those within guilds).

A Server's Community

A player, particularly one that has been playing for a long time, is often willing to sign onto a server simply because of the other players playing it ("I play because my friends play.") This force is well known and requires little explanation. It is notable, however, that it tends to propagate simply from a sizable playerbase without involvement from staff. Staff can, however, establish systems (such as RP) that aid community growth. Staff corruption and/or overestrictiveness can be detrimental to the establishment and survival of a community.

Server Development

These categories have implications for server development. It is notable for example that since addictivity cannot be used immediately, novelty and gameplay (Or, if a development team is up to the task, novelty alone) must be used for an extended period of time before addictivity can be relied upon to maintain a playerbase (I believe this to be the reason that the Graal2001 re-release failed.) I have identified a few patterns the development of a playerbase is generally done.

One is to rely on novelty alone for an extended period of times through constant updates until addictivity is established (Graal2001 and Graal2002/Kingdoms did this).

Another is to rely on novelty to get players to play the first time and then rely solely on gameplay (Zone) or to rely on novelty the first several times by building a vast server and then rely on gameplay (Graal Classic originally operated this way).

Also possible is to rely simply on novelty followed by community (Valikorlia)

Lastly, it is theoretically possible (though I don't believe it has yet been done) to rely first on novelty, then on gameplay and then addictivity (Era seems to currently be attempting to do this).

Of course, if anybody believes something I have said to be untrue or that I have missed something important, I want to hear about it.