The History of Illyriad (incomplete)

Message Rating: Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

   What a defamatory peace of crap about me!
Nonikon, you can't imagine how wrong you are about my personality and my goals as a player. I've always said it's all been a set up. And a set up using metagame (meaning not controlled by game rules and incoherent with the game fantasy) is nothing less than cheating.
I'm still wondering, was Berberos a real player or just another metagame cheat to push me (and later Valar) out of the way? But the mob has been deaf to any argument. As long as you had a black duck to lynch, culpability doesn't matter. 
Moreover, I wasn't kicked out of Valar subsequently to the Berberos-gate but because I was tickling Anjire, weeks later. And Lorre was just another bored player hoping to have, at last, a fight. He's lost several thousands troops to wrong timing and bad usage of terrain against me alone, before having to face Valar reinf. But I wont brag, because I know for a fact that Lorre is a good World of Tanks player, so it may well have been bad luck.

my History

When I joined, in april 2010, some already big players had already an edge over the others due to their seniority. They have been playing since before-the-game-existed. And I would become one of them if I had played regularly. As a game designer IRL, I know how detrimental to the fun of new players such unfair advantages can be.

In 2010, first game rule change. I was upset because I had planned my development with the first set of rules. If you change the rules, you change the game. And here no new server! An incoherent and unbalancing city teleporting system and naturally the old players increasing their unfair advantage. I did quit some months. Checking now and then for professional reasons, but not planning playing again.
One day, I got an igm from Azreil who planned quiting Illyriad Empire to found Valar with some IE brass. Fellowship is the most driving source of fun for me, so I decided to give it another try.

After several weeks, I was bored again. I appointed darkone as a sitter and let him do the daily clicking. I became active again at the very beginning of the second tournament. Although, the tourney itself was the worst case of farming sh*t (farming animals 4 time a day), my motivation came again from the fellowship. And to give you a better idea of who I am, I didn't care about winning the tournament, my goal was simply doing the best for my team.

After the tournament, I had 2 choices, either use a sitter or try to play the wargame by attacking the biggest fish in the pond. When I presented my choice to Azreil, he agreed with attacking H as the good move.
Problem was H was far too big to be attacked by numbers. So I began analysing the map, especially the traveling times between cities. And I began elaborating a global strategy. An open world, not enough travelling constraints, it wasn't an easy task. All those years spent playing tabletop wargames and my period as superior officer cadet (and all the warfare theories and books) sure came handy.

Suddendly, when I was almost ready to submit my plan, the worst part, the Berberos-gate. As the mob never allowed to explain what happened, I won't even bother to get into the details. Was it a premeditated cheat, an opportunistic one or just bad luck? I don't know and I don't care. Because I didn't pray on a newbie and I put up with all the subsequent attacks from the mob without retaliating although I had the mean to (well not, I guess, against Createure and Fluffy). 
What I know is that Azreil assured me that Valar had my back. After several weeks, things calmed down and I was back at planning a big scale attack against the bullys of this server.
At that point I needed infos about H coordination and mobility. So I tickled Anjire by settling next to a 20food square that he hadn't been claiming for months. The answer was quick and very H-ish, no attack, no war, yet some petty vans skirmishes, but the main action was some political pression over Valar.
Then, Azreil, darkone and some other, instead of being politically smart, did coward in front of the big H. We know how they were rewarded some months later.
I don't know if my plan would have worked because it was only a plan and it's how you operate it that counts in a military campaign. But at least Valar would have had some chances and a better political odd to negociate with third parties. When you say every one you're stronger, every one tends thinking you're stronger.
What Valar? Still alive? No! they just happen having bought the brand to H.

What is wrong in Illyriad?

I might mistaken, but it seems to me that Illyriad has quite a turnover of paying players.

The main problem of Illyriad is not the game in itself, it's this server. More exactly, it's
the way events in addition to unfair advantages have reinforced one unique dominant alliance
a conglomerate of rules and changes
and self-righteous players setting how any should think and play.

This server adopted a peacefull and farming approach. Which is fine with me as long as, I don't HAVE to play that way.
My problem with that and the general tendancy of electronic entertainment coming from (wrongly called) social games is that farming is addictive but not ludic at all (ludic, from latin ludere: intrinsically playful). It's a kind of false fun where the "fun" comes from the reward, the aftermath and not the playing experience (like in gambling).

The obvious richness of Illyriad comes from its diversity. So the first fun source should be discovery. But, as for any MMO, it's quickly spoiled by the sharing community.
Naturally, there is some fun due to expression (you can build how you want, where you want). But, again, eventually you will reach the 10 cities cap and fullfill your objectives one after another. But the main opportunity for fun is the mind challenge of the wargame. This server forbade it, not the game rules, the player's dynamics.
It's true that fighting is still possible, but you have to fight 1 vs 10 or 1 vs 100. Neither side can be challenging. Either, you're crushed or crush. You win by numbers not strategy.
The tournaments have been a way to let go some steam. But is it challenging? A bit, sometimes, but in actuality, it's a form of farming based on numbers, meaning the time spent playing the game.
Lastly, I reckon that the story, the narrative is an important source of real true fun. It's teh only part that pledge for long term servers.

I spent some time testing Illy's new features because it's part of my job to be up to date with game and playing genres. I'm afraid this server will only see the farming opportunities and not the challenging one. Guys there are some challenge with the trading. Think of monopoly, think of killing the competition over certain goods, etc. But remember that usually leads to military wars.

Lots of people oppose Illyriad with Evony, Travian and their clones. But illyriad has much more in common with those games than you know.

I've studied about 50 servers of that kind of game some time ago and it appears that server duration is what kills the real fun.
Because the map becomes crowded,
Because the pseudo-politics comes to a statu quo. (pseudo because it's way too simple to be called politics. It's like diplomacy the board game)
That's basically a description of Elgea.
Then, I have seen 2 big dynamics occuring, either, 1984-servers, some huge meta-alliance enforces an utopic (boring) peace or scavanging-servers, every one prays on newbies and loners. To be clear, both sucks.
Well, simply Elgea is in the first case. But if we had 20 Illyriad servers, I bet some would be scavaging-servers. So, in my professional opinion, Illyriad isn't that much different from Evony and Travian in term of player's behaviors. Diversity is the actual difference.

So what?

First of all, I been waiting for a new server since Q4 2010.

Then how to avoid the statu quo effect?
It's important to solve that problem in order to get the most of the narrative source of fun.
The statu quo is the plague of MMO RT builders (sorry I reserve the word strategy for games like Total War series).
Without having spend much time on it, I think one answer can lie with the AI (Artifical Intelligence meaning the NPCs).
Something like players having to swear allegiance to their local factions. Then factions being at war with each other. And if you create a player alliance, the alliance also pledges to a faction. It give to the devs the means to create challenges without preventing farmers to farm, to have a narration tool that has an impact on gameplay and on game dynamics.
I know that a group of creative game designers can come up with many workable solutions.