22 Mar 14, 05:23AM
(20 Mar 14, 08:47AM)jamz Wrote: 3) Whilst a ranking system advertised on this site, or integrated into the game, would certainly be attractive to a specific set of people, I don't think it's conducive to AC's original goals. Ranking individuals is not compatible with the team dynamics required for a fun game of AC.
What are AC's original goals? Achievement of clearly stated goals obviously don't directly correlate to health of the game if we assume that every release of AC has been getting us closer towards its original goals, as player numbers have been plummeting since the end of 1.0.4. Would you rather have a dead game which remains faithful to its original goals? IMO the goals of the game should be:
a. to develop a simple, fun, easily-run game across multiple operating systems. This has been fairly well met, though IMO the quality of gameplay has degraded since 1.0.4. The less-fun, less balanced (again, IMO) gameplay has resulted in less player numbers.
b. to foster a healthy, stable community around the game, in terms of forums, modding resources, IRC, etc. This has become the main problem of the game. The community is no longer centred around the game, but around itself. People log on to IRC, forums, etc. not to discuss the game, but to be part of the community. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this, but it has resulted in the game taking a backseat.
If there are other goals for the project, I'd really love to hear them.