BattleMaster Front page.

[PolarRaven]

BattleMaster is a game played from your browser where grand stories unfold created by the interactions and imaginations of players. It focuses on battle, teamwork, and roleplay where the power is in your hands to create your own destiny and alter the course of history, forever. It takes place in a medieval setting where you create a character and join other players in a realm of your choosing. Your character will be of noble blood, start off as a Knight, and as your ambition demands, perhaps one day reach the ranks of Duke, General, Ruler, or more. Your character will fight alongside their realm's fellow nobles against nobles from enemy realms in order to win wars. Cities will be conquered, regions will be defended, and blood will be spilled in the name of honor, glory, culture, and power. Take part in forging alliances, destroying empires, fighting holy wars, and more in an ever changing landscape created by players, for players, where the victors are envied and enter the pages of history.

Battlemaster is a lightweight slow paced game designed to be played alongside your other activities with turns every 12 hours at 6AM and 6PM UTC . Depending on your desires and your characters' tasks, you can spend as little as 10 minutes per day on your characters, or over an hour based on what you want to do, roleplay, and achieve each day. A typical response time to letters and messages is measured in hours, not minutes, and many play Battlemaster from their smartphone while on the go.

Casually fight wars by wielding sword or bow, devise military strategy and lead fellow nobles by commanding the armies of your realm, vie for power among ambitious nobles and realms by engaging in political intrigue, spread your religion's faith and embark on a crusade for purposes only known to you: these are some of the many choices you will make. In Battlemaster, you create your own destiny, and all that stand in your path make victory that much sweeter when you overcome all that oppose you. Join Battlemaster now, every day is another chance for you to attain fame and honor!

[Anaris]

I...yes? This appears to be a copy & paste of the front page text...

Is there some purpose to this post...?

[PolarRaven]

YUP. 
It's coming.
I am just taking the time to try to WORD my ideas/concepts properly to avoid any confusion or upset as some of my recent posts have done.
Sorry the I am a little slow.

[PolarRaven]

Sorry for the delay.

Maybe it is time to consider changing the front page announcement for the game?
When I first started playing the game (over 10 years now) this was a very accurate description of the game and how it worked.
It seems, in recent years, that the "vision" of the developers has changed from a ten minute a day "war game" with some RP to a very involved (more than 10 minutes a day) roleplay type game with less opportunity (more restrictions) for warfare. 

I understand the need for player interaction to help "move" the game along and create a fun environment for fellow players.
With increased restrictions in recent years, it seems like the "vision" is now more geared towards roleplay features of the game rather than the actual war features.  I understand that we have lost MANY more players than we have gained in recent years, so certain changes need to be made.  The front page should also be updated to take this new "vision" into account.

So, lets look at two equal, though different, types of realms consisting of two different types of playstyles.
Each realm consists of (say) 15 players.

Realm "A":
These people are in it for the "10 minute" a day war game as described on the front page of the game.
They log in and do their few clicks and send out any letters that must be sent.
A very boring realm in the eyes of many players, but obviously still a VIABLE realm because people are still actively playing in this realm.

Realm "B":
Now, these people are in the game to share their "stories" through their roleplays, which generally involve much more than 10 minutes a day. 
This drives roleplay activity/interaction, but does not always contribute to the war/battle aspect of the game.

Which of these two "realms" best fit the "vision" of the developers?
From the code changes and what I have read in the forums and seen on Discord, it would seem to me that the current "vision" of the game is headed to a much more RP heavy atmosphere (realm "B") with much less consideration given to those players who are less interested in telling their story (realm "A") and want to fight in wars without having to spend hours every week trying to keep up with the stories that others want to share.

Nivemus is a prime example of realm "A" players.  Constantly "picked on" and described as a DEAD realm that should not exist...
Perdan, on the other hand, is an "exciting" realm where roleplay abounds and actual war is often frowned upon because it "interferes" with the fun of their players wanting to spend more time interacting through their RP stories (realm "B" players).

Though the front page of BattleMaster clearly states that both types of "realms" would be acceptable to play, much of what I have seen in recent times would imply that this is NOT the case anymore. 
And this is fine, but the front page of the game should be changed to reflect the current VISION of what the developers are trying to accomplish. 


[on a side note, my comments here are based on my skills of the english language as well.  My english skills are pretty good and I could/can participate in RP's if and when I choose to.  As is pointed out in many places, we also have younger players and many players to whom english is a second language.  This COULD certainly affect their enjoyment of the game if they would be expected to join in on "english based" roleplays.]

[Vita`]

Maybe it is time to consider changing the front page announcement for the game?

Its been on the list for awhile.

It seems, in recent years, that the "vision" of the developers has changed from a ten minute a day "war game" with some RP to a very involved (more than 10 minutes a day) roleplay type game with less opportunity (more restrictions) for warfare. 

I would say BattleMaster has gone through an evolution of identifying just what it truly was from a hodgepodge of different ideas in the early years. Bartle's Taxonomy is also a helpful conceptualization to keep in mind here too.

Which of these two "realms" best fit the "vision" of the developers?

Neither. A healthy realm has a mixture of both styles.

Though the front page of BattleMaster clearly states that both types of "realms" would be acceptable to play, much of what I have seen in recent times would imply that this is NOT the case anymore. 

No, it states that both player styles are available, not that realms should exclusively focus on one style or another.

[Gildre]

PolarRaven,

This is a very good point that I haven't honestly thought of much. I think it is fairly evident that there are generally two types of players: the RPer and the strategist. For the most part, players are some sort of mixture of the two. However, there are plenty of players who are heavily RP or heavily strategy.

I do agree there has been a lot of push lately towards the RP side of the house. I think this is most likely because the people who enjoy the RP side are generally more vocal than the "10 minute" strategy player. As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

You have put the bug in my brain, and I will mention it to the Titan team as well. I will definitely try to be actively open-minded and not classify realms as "inactive" just because of a lack of RP.

Back in the day, I think players were much more of a middle type of player. An odd RP here and there to describe what a character was doing, and most "RPing" was done by how characters interacted.

These days I have noticed that the groups have diverged a fair bit. We have wonderful storytellers who collaborate to build these massive stories. We also have brilliant tacticians who have a scientific understanding of the battle system and BM warfare strategy. I absolutely agree, BOTH are valued players.

My idea realm is built up of both players. However, that isn't always the case. RPers are often drawn to each other, the same with strategists.

This has made me curious about the War Improvement Package. The last post on that thread was 2018, so I am wondering if it was wrapped up or if there are still things coming for the strategist players. I am going to take a look through the other posts on the Development board too.

Personally, I would rather not change the Front Page, and instead work to realign ourselves to that idea.