I've been an on and off battlemaster player for 3 years now, and have some thoughts I'd like to share about the current state of the game as well as my experiences as a player. As a way of bolstering my credibility about the playing experience I'd like to note that my time has been spent on Dwilight, Atamarra, FEI, and BT, and that at one time, I was the ruler of both Toupellon (aww) and Talerium. I've held every council position and military position, and played every class except for trader, as well as started a new religion. I've been lucky enough to experience a wide array of the politics, battle, frustration, and joy possible in this game.
I love battlemaster as a game and an idea, and have dedicated countless hours to it. One of my breaks from the game came from getting too involved - I bit off more than I could chew when I was ruling two realms at the same time.
I wasn't around for the "good-old-days" that so many posters seem to harken back to, but the times I've played have been plenty good-enough. I suspect that our shrinking player base is actually an opportunity for the game. Wouldn't it make more sense to condense players and characters into fewer environments so that the RPing, battle, and intrigue that we love becomes robust again? Who cares if we lose two continents if the environment drastically improves. I think that would create the kind of robust world that new players would find enjoyable again. Perhaps we need to shrink to start a new cycle of growth. I suspect that like many organizations and institutions BM grew at a slightly unsustainable level; there's no shame in realizing that and taking steps to reframe the game at an appropriate density.
The new player experience, despite years of talking about it, still falls short of being hospitable or engaging. I've encouraged several real life friends to try out BM and none of them has ever stuck around more than a few weeks. What grabbed me about the game immediately when I made my first knight was the sense of being part of something bigger than myself. That gave me both excitement and ambition, because I could see characters that wielded real power in the game and I wanted to prove that I could do that too. In that vein, I loved the old +/- system for knights because I feel it encouraged a Lord to take responsibility as a mentor for knights, and to be able to concretely reward their behavior, service, and loyalty. My mentors set goals for my knights to attain, and then would give me that affirmation when I had completed them. I believe that resizing the game would help to encourage the development of these kinds of personal relationships again, and encourage people into the model of mentor/protege that I think is the best way to build up new players to a level where they can engage the politics and power of Battlemaster. Without people who helped show me the way as a new knight I would never have known that this slow-paced game was worth putting in the time and effort to build lives and legacies for my characters.
Finally, I'd be remiss in writing this without thanking Tom for his long-suffering hard work and effort, and the devs who also put in a huge amount of work to make this game run.
Submitted for the approval of the midnight society...
