THE SITUATION
it has come to my concern that plenty of servers nowadays lack in what others have done in the past:
keeping the player's interest while still presenting an altogether enjoyable experience. (enjoyable as in playability)
if you were to view the server master list today, there are stacks of overused under-done servers that just filter the entire system itself! (yes family rps, im pointing at you)
i myself have nothing against role playing servers, other than the lack of effort that many of them just seem to adapt to; this seems to go along with all other servers as well.
anyone can slap together a couple of bricks and call it a team death match, but should they, and will it attract players? (sad to say, but it may as long as you include some bizarre title attachment)
POST SERVER EXAMPLES
some servers that really struck out to me in the past versions seem to have vanished from the system without a trace or hint of reopening. (not saying that today's market of servers such as "Swords of the North" does not catch my eye!)
Heedicalking's PRPG "spinoff" was quite the eye opener when it comes to replayability;
sure it was derived from Destiny's DRPG (which i have to give credit to as well), but it had some of its own quirks and perks!
particularly the cooperation between crew members as they hunted down for random treasure spawns, armed with only a compass and spade,
the sense of danger provided by the fear of losing all of your equipment upon death (which was incredibly thrilling and felt like a risk),
and the possible raids between rowboats, metal, and lead.
how often do you capture a server like this on a saturday afternoon; not frequent enough, i'll tell you that (compare this to your standard rpg servers)
Gamefandan's Monster RPG; I've wasted so many hours plunging through hoard after hoard of monsters on this server, and I have to say it has one of the most finest combat systems around the block.
at the very beginning you, the player are presented with a small selection of classes which determine all of your stats and starting weapon.
once your decision is made, it's all hack and slash down the road to glory, riches, and fame
now this may sound exactly like grinding, but the game evens it all out with monsters that produce massive boosts to experience and gold at the cost of totally being able to take you out with one shot.
the system features a shop which you could spend your hard earned cash for stat boosting potions and more, not to mention it was accessible from anywhere!
at certain level progressions your player would receive a skill depending on the class (as stated above) these ranged from rapid fire, to super jump, and rocket blasting.
and the greatest feature of all: savable data was also an addition to the fun
this server displayed superior qualities to gameplay and exploring (in spite of some small zones)
Jorge's Medieval RPG really stole the cake when it came to exploration; trudging through a cut valley between two mountains into an expansive grasslands, and further unto a narrow river bed surrounded by bandits was a nice time waster (especially with companions)
the combat itself was such an agonizing grind (and im sure players who have played this may agree with me), but the spanning of landscape and terrain was absolutely captivating!
the sheer scale of the map combined with sparse towns & the shower of buildings provided much to venture out to!
on top of that the map provided secondary objectives for players, such as acquiring all of the treasure chests, reaching the peak of a waterfall, sneaking past a camp of hooligans, and so on...
this server really had me as a sucker for exploring, and it's a bit saddening that many servers lack that vibe.
Bushido's servers in general try them out for yourself and you will understand by what I mean; gokart races, boss battles, crusading knightmares, glorious team death matches, this man has it all narrowed down
DISCUSSION
what is now left of those servers revolve around unfinished projects, and generally a lack of motivation, while much of those "blow-off" servers live at large, flooded by players.
what can we do as a community to provoke and re-establish the firing flame that many servers seem to lack of in both terms of creativity and quality?
WHAT SHOULD WE DO!?!?!?!
Poll