That is a good point. But GG isn't struggling, the problem is key members of ppl's plotlines are MIA.
The other night I went to GG and saw NONE of the old faces. But I stayed anyway and had a blast pof a session with players I didn't even know. But I can do that because my character isn't well known and knows very few in the city.
Exactly. If your only reason for going to GG is for your own Storylines, or the Stories you are directly involved with, but none of the people in your Story are around then you've no reason to stay.
Let's try and give the place a purpose and a reason for being visited, rather than just the people there.
Formerly @Crimson Archer, now @CA
The Militia - Protecting Paragon City through roleplaying since June 2006!
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One question I have is what reason do characters have to go to GG? I can understand going to Pocket D; It's a night club and because of that it has an in-built reason to go, but what reason would a character have to stand under a statue at 9pm every night?
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To meet their friends. 
Taking this backward...
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I can understand going to Pocket D; It's a night club and because of that it has an in-built reason to go
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Quite a few characters I know of will not go to Pocket-D because it is a night club, or because it allows villains in as well as heroes. I strongly suspect that a lot of people quietly ignore the fact that their character wouldn't be seen dead with a villain in order to go to PD.
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but what reason would a character have to stand under a statue at 9pm every night?
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History.
About a year ago, The Prize, a relatively well known heroine, called together the heroes of Paragon City to make a stand against the Council on Striga Isle. She chose the statue of Galaxy Girl as a place to meet and discuss what was to happen. The heroes, even those without the security clearence to get to Striga, agreed that meeting under the statue was valuable for forging social links and exchanging information.
Since then, it has become well known that heroes come together under the statue, and new heroes know that others of their kind can be found there. It's a place you can go where people don't treat you different just because you have green skin... where everyone knows your... nevermind. 
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Perhaps it's worth creating a new rationale to differentiate it from Pocket D and make it more popular/useful again... maybe by making it more like Speaker's Corner for Superheroes?
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That's exactly how it started.
Look, Pocket D is very nice, but after a hard day pounding DE into the soil, bad ambient music isn't necessarily what my character's are going to want for relaxation (and how Doc Temporis manages to stand the place... I can only assume he filters out practically all the sounds). A boy from mid-Wales, for example, might well prefer to sit in a square with friends, listening to the general chatter and the birdsong.
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Let's try and give the place a purpose and a reason for being visited, rather than just the people there.
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You realise that's a silly comment, right. If there was no one in Pocket D, would you go there? Or, to be more exact, unless you find a happy time in roleplaying a solitary drinker, would you find Pocket D worth visiting without people in it?
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
Finding a valid IC reason to go to GG can be tricky, and having a reason to stay even harder, especily for new characters.
So far I am relying on the entertainment factor, and slight IC interest in some strange messed up amnesiacs who apparently are something to do with a company named after a type of large shrimp :P
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One question I have is what reason do characters have to go to GG? I can understand going to Pocket D; It's a night club and because of that it has an in-built reason to go, but what reason would a character have to stand under a statue at 9pm every night?
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To meet their friends.
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Brief History: Galaxy Girl started after Prize invited a number of heroes on a RP raid on Striga Isle back in the early days, and chose GG as the meeting point before heading out.
After this, it was generally consented that GG would become a meeting place for heroes to do similar things, and evolved from there
On the topic at hand: Yes, GG has changed, I was guilty of doing the rush to 50 in August-October (even if I never made it) and some people are going to want to do that final push at one point or another.
Over the past month or so, I've had some of my most 'entertaining' RP talks with the newcomers, but of course I still enjoy the odd chat I get in with the 'older crowd'
As for Pocket D etc. I generally avoid it, I did give in at the last night-out-thing, but I'm not going to make it a regular occurance, it's Max's job to be at the statue, not trying to get laid.
And yes, some characters are aloof and dismissive, I know, I play one of the biggest aloof-ers. And that's Max's character, he is a jerk, which unfortunately means if he's the first person someone talks to, then the wrong impression may be made of everyone else.
But without trying to sound like a jerk myself, I'm not going to change who he is just so people have a friendly introduction, it's just contradictory to him.
In summary, as far as I can see, this is just another phase in GG's history. It's happened before, and will undoubtedly happen again.
I have a horrible feeling none of that made sense.
Thanks, Max, for repeating everyhting I said.
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
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Thanks, Max, for repeating everyhting I said.
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I wasn't repeating it, I was adding extra effect, at exactly the same time you were writing it
EDIT: Looking at times, it seems I started writing at the same time you posted 
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About a year ago, The Prize, a relatively well known heroine, called together the heroes of Paragon City to make a stand against the Council on Striga Isle. She chose the statue of Galaxy Girl as a place to meet and discuss what was to happen. The heroes, even those without the security clearence to get to Striga, agreed that meeting under the statue was valuable for forging social links and exchanging information.
Since then, it has become well known that heroes come together under the statue, and new heroes know that others of their kind can be found there. It's a place you can go where people don't treat you different just because you have green skin...
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Okay, I admit my ignorance, but if I didn't know that there was a valid in-game reason for meeting then how are my characters supposed to know?
I had assumed that a group of RP players had chatted and decided that it was as good a place as any to meet for some "proper" roleplaying (after all the Atlas statue is a "very silly place").
Formerly @Crimson Archer, now @CA
The Militia - Protecting Paragon City through roleplaying since June 2006!
In that case... get out of my head!
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
Okay, I'm going to reply to a lot here...
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I've no plans to leave after Ellie gets to 50, she's at 42 now and I'm not really in any rush to get those last 8, but I can understand other people that haven't yet achieved that magic number wanting to make the final push. BTW: on Novastar, running 8 man teams, it took me 4 days to go from 44 to 50, playing 3 hours a night, so it can be done quickly with a big team.
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I'm just basing my estimates on how long I've seen the 40-45 run take. From what I've seen, it was about a month for the 40-45. 45-50 would, I imagine therefore, take longer.
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I've also found all the newcomers a little daunting myself. Well, not the players themselves, but more the fact that local is spinning by so fast that if you look away for a second, you'll miss something someone you're talking too said...
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Yeah, I've noticed that. I've een found myself missing things a lot more. Used to be I could follow everything happening under the statue. Now I only manage brief glimpses at things I'm not part of.
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Sounds like it isn't dying so much as some of the regulars moving on and newcomers taking their places - not much comfort when it is your friends and storylines that suffer.
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That's exactly it. Perhaps I chose the wrong wording for the title. Everyone seems to be hung on on the word "Dying" which is not what I wanted. My characters are all involved in relationships and plots with other characters. Relationships and plots which must now be put on hold while everyone else does different things.
GG is changing. Developing. Growing. Evolving. However, the characters mine have grown with aren't there.
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I am trying really hard to sympathise here, but am finding it difficult. Surely, like life, situations change and evolve...
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This is a game, not life. It's a game I pay to play, because I find it fun. If it stops being fun, I'll stop playing, because I'm not going to spend money on something I don't want, need, or enjoy.
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Perhaps those with higher level heroes should start to act like the icons they are supposed to be; encouraging the newer heroes. Too often GG feels like a private club that you've stumbled into by accident....
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How many times do you just walk up to a stranger and start talking to them? Relationships don't just happen. They develop over time. They take effort. I'm not saying I should be able to expect new players to just walk up to me and start talking. Just as I, when I was a new player, did not expect to be suddenly treated like a trusted friend. My point is, I've invested time in my characters, and now the individuals who make up their circles of friends aren't around. If you've got a favourite bar where you and your friends hang out, and your friends stop going, do you keep going to that bar alone?
Electron_Kid, you seem to think I couldn't be bothered talking to the new players, just because they are new. I want to put you straight. This is NOT about new players. This is about older ones, the very reason my characters go to GG. I do have a new character, which I can use to make new IC friendships. My worry is that, down the road, the same thing will happen again, and my issue is that I have to put most of my other characters on hold for the time being, with no indication of when I can continue their development or plots.
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GG isn't dying, it's changing, it may even be restarting after a year, but it's not dying.
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That's fine, change is inevitable. If things don't change, they stagnate, and become boring. At the moment, however, the change that's happening means I can't draw upon what's happened in the past, what's already been established, nearly as much as I'd like to.
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This week (with Aisla on late shift), I'm not getting a lot of evening time to do anything, so I may choose to mission later, but I'll turn up at GG sooner or later. Or I might not, like last night, because I felt lousy, or I'm not in the mood.
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There's nothing wrong with that. I'm seriously not trying to place blame on anyone, nor am I asking people to change what they're doing. I'd much rather people went and did what they enjoy rather than doing something else just because they feel sorry for someone. If people enjoy missions, or private roleplaying more, then fine. It's their subscription to use as they please.
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When the Vigil was at its height, you lot would decamp to a rooftop and have private RP sessions. The Rooftop Generation sucked practically everyone out of GG after about 10:30 every night to go street hunting and RPing in King's Row.
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Okay, yes, fair points. But, to put things in perspective here, this is back in the days when GG would regularly wrap up for most people at about 11pm. I remember back when GG ended at 10! I remember the first time I heard about GGers managing 3 whole hours of roleplay. These days, GG regularly makes it to midnight and beyond. It didn't always. There was a time when the Rooftop Generation left GG close to when we knew from past experience most people would be leaving anyway.
Also, yeah, we left GG at around 10:30. But we were still there for an hour and a half before that, at the busiest times for GG. Even with the Vigil, we still acually went to GG. Lately, people either don't show up to GG at all, show up for as few as five minutes before leaving again, or arrive so late that most people have already left anyway. It's a lot easier to know that people will be around at 9pm for, say, an hour and a half, than hanging around or going off to do something else for a while, hoping that they'll eventually show up, and hoping that you're not caught up in something and ca't get away from it.
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So, sorry to say this, Wordy, but I think you'll find it's just your vision of GG that's dying. GG has probably never been quite the way you thought it was, and now it's changing again. That's all.
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I can well imagine you're right, Birdy. People come, and people go, as we've both said. Things change. I just think things may change to the point where it's not fun for me anymore. Right now, it's not fun. I'm not making any rash decisions. I'm not quitting yet. I just think that saying "it'll all settle back to normal" is naive, because after a long time away, things will have changed. Ask anyone who has left and come back. Also, I don't feel that I should have to wait until people are ready to roleplay with my characters to develop them. Right now, I do have to wait.
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but it seems that the tone of posting here is that the effort isn't worth making because it's "only" new people, and unless there's prior history then no one is worth talking to
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You got the wrong end of the stick. Big time. I would never hold that view of new players. Ever.
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But GG isn't struggling, the problem is key members of ppl's plotlines are MIA.
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That's pretty much right on the head, Finn.
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Quite a few characters I know of will not go to Pocket-D because it is a night club, or because it allows villains in as well as heroes. I strongly suspect that a lot of people quietly ignore the fact that their character wouldn't be seen dead with a villain in order to go to PD.
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Same here. Of my characters, Memory would go to Pocket D. But he has a very different view of the world than most. Nyteshade is a teenager, so wouldn't get in. Alcatraz workd for Freedom Corps, and due to certain parole restrictions, can't go outside the city without an escort. He'd never go unless someone asked him or brought him. Nevermore...wouldn't go to a nightclub.
GG was established last year when Prize rallied heroes to strike against the Council on Striga. It has remained a meeting place for heroes to socialise and exchange help and information in honour of those heroes uniting. It has all the reason it ever needs to be a regular meeting place for heroes and those who know them.
Ah, Ravenswing got there first 
I can't believe how much time I've spent writing this reply....
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Okay, I admit my ignorance, but if I didn't know that there was a valid in-game reason for meeting then how are my characters supposed to know?
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Read the thread on Union. It's always in the first or second page of the threads, and there's a link to it in the What's On Union sticky. Go there, say hi, and ask questions.
*starts to sing to himself*
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came;
You want to be where you can see,
Our troubles are all the same;
You want to be where everybody knows your name.
I think the Cheers theme sums it up.
Dying? Heavens no, I remember the other night RP lasted up to 2AM, even longer. Ask Jesty about that.
RC himself has seen at least quite a few new faces in the last week. We just need to wait for the oldbies to get some time together and work on a big story for us all.
As for Pocket D, I don't mind the odd visit now and again but I like GG much more.
Cheer up Wordy, when the holidays approach it'll pick up again.
Wordsmith, I apologise to you and everyone if my replies have annoyed or irritated, it wasn't the intention. Mostly my comments have been based on ignorance of the history surrounding the GG meets, but also from my own frustration.
I WANT to roleplay, and have so far found it a frustrating experience trying to get involved in appropriate RP. I had joined a specific RP SG in order to get some action, but The Kid was completely the wrong character for that group, and I have previously found heading over to GG to be an equally frustrating experience.
I will put my past experiences to one side and try again with GG. I apologies in advance if I annoy anyone as I will try and make The Kid a bit more forward that he has been in the past, at least initially in an effort try and get involved in some conversation!
Formerly @Crimson Archer, now @CA
The Militia - Protecting Paragon City through roleplaying since June 2006!
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Cheer up Wordy, when the holidays approach it'll pick up again.
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The holidays? Why would that make a difference?
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Cheer up Wordy, when the holidays approach it'll pick up again.
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The holidays? Why would that make a difference?
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Taking a guess...
More people with free time, less work stress and such
@ShadowGhost & @Ghostie
The Grav Mistress, Mistress of Gravity
If you have nothing useful to say, you have two choices: Say something useless or stay quiet.
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I will put my past experiences to one side and try again with GG. I apologies in advance if I annoy anyone as I will try and make The Kid a bit more forward that he has been in the past, at least initially in an effort try and get involved in some conversation!
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You may find some of the female toons at GG a little easier to talk to initially. But a warn of warning, if your character is obviously a kid, there's at least one female toon who will try to avoid him. It's nothing personal, I assure you! 
There's an IC reason for it...
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Easter holidays I guess? That helps for those who're in college etc. But the rest of us poor schmoes who have to work for a living...
You could fake your death at work for a week, all you'd really need a bottle of Tomato Sauce..
LOL..thanks for the warning! Well, The Kid is more of a teenager than a child, but I guess that might not make a lot of difference to some people's perceptions of him! 
Formerly @Crimson Archer, now @CA
The Militia - Protecting Paragon City through roleplaying since June 2006!
I do hope GG isn't dying.
I've been playing now for 6 months and keep wanting to come to the meetings - I've read the boards and liked what I saw - it would be a real shame if people disappeared.
But, read a comic book and half the characters in it now were either previous incarnations of a simpler toon or brand new ones with a different outlook. Think of it as being the Golden Age, and let us Silver/Bronze/Tin Age heroes join in with the RP
I think it would also help if it was acknoweldged in some way that RP goes on (esp on Union) by the Devs et al.
I'm sure a few RP-friendly features wouldn't go amiss
That's quite possibly worse!
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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One question I have is what reason do characters have to go to GG? I can understand going to Pocket D; It's a night club and because of that it has an in-built reason to go, but what reason would a character have to stand under a statue at 9pm every night?
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for pink, i was dragged alonjg one night to "oogle the higher up heroes than me" and got sucked in fairly instantly (having met one or two of them in an RP sense previous). It's also a fairly easy going place, sunny, quiet, nice scenary. Like a kinda Zen garden for heroes.
That's my excuse/reason and i'm sticking to it!
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Think of it as being the Golden Age, and let us Silver/Bronze/Tin Age heroes join in with the RP
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It's not a case of having any problems with new players going to GG. It's just an observation of the change that's hapening, and how it's affecting me and my characters.
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I think it would also help if it was acknoweldged in some way that RP goes on (esp on Union) by the Devs et al.
I'm sure a few RP-friendly features wouldn't go amiss
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There is. There's a thread on Union, and a link to it in a sticky at the start of the Union Forum.
But yes, the game lacks any RP content.
One question I have is what reason do characters have to go to GG? I can understand going to Pocket D; It's a night club and because of that it has an in-built reason to go, but what reason would a character have to stand under a statue at 9pm every night?
The Electron Kid used to go and hang about because his parents were heroes, and they told him it was a good place to go and meet other "Supers" like him, but their day was pre-Pocket D, and The Kid soon got bored with all the turned backs. Why would my other alts go to GG? What's the reasoning?
Perhaps it's worth creating a new rationale to differentiate it from Pocket D and make it more popular/useful again... maybe by making it more like Speaker's Corner for Superheroes? (thinking out loud here, not a fully thought through idea!)
Formerly @Crimson Archer, now @CA
The Militia - Protecting Paragon City through roleplaying since June 2006!