State of Utopia

[Pestilence]

This entire forum is archaic and unproductive for the game, just shut it down and move to the subreddit. This will allow the discussion this game creates to be used as a recruiting tool, give mods/Devs more power to customize the presentation of the game, give the game some semblance of modernity, cost nothing to host and perhaps most importantly, anger the old guard so much that they quit the game entirely instead of squeezing the life out of the game like they are now.

Isn't the old guard the only reason this game still exists? I would assume most people play still due to fond memories of mehul era utopia.

We could all head back over to utopia temple..

[Verminator]

Isn't the old guard the only reason this game still exists? I would assume most people play still due to fond memories of mehul era utopia.

We could all head back over to utopia temple..

And this mentality is what needs to (and hopefully is going to) change. No more keeping Utopia on life support with the same old players who have kept it in the mud all this time. Thanks to renewed support and development, this game is at a legitimate crossroads. It can either keep wandering around the swamp that it's been in for years and continue its decline, or it can leave the cancerous past (and all the cancerous cells with it) behind and try to make something better of itself for the future player base that it can finally potentially attract.

[Pestilence]

And this mentality is what needs to (and hopefully is going to) change. No more keeping Utopia on life support with the same old players who have kept it in the mud all this time. Thanks to renewed support and development, this game is at a legitimate crossroads. It can either keep wandering around the swamp that it's been in for years and continue its decline, or it can leave the cancerous past (and all the cancerous cells with it) behind and try to make something better of itself for the future player base that it can finally potentially attract.

What players is it going to attract?

Serious question. Don't you think they have tried to attract new players before? I can guarantee it's not the forum holding the game back.

[Zombies are people too]

I can guarantee it's not the forum holding the game back.

I'm sure it's a multiple front approach. The balancing in recent ages, moving forward with mechanic changes, a new player's guide, and cleaning the toxicity to make the forums more attractive are all moving parts in a grander design than any individual step alone.

I'm not saying you shouldn't strive to have better communities but thinking it's the cause of the decline since mehul is delusional. Over correction will push away your die hards which will kill competition further and subsequently the game.

It'd be completely hyperbolic to say this is the sole reason, but it couldn't hurt to quit the insults and less positive posts. New owners, new direction. Come along for the ride!:D

-DM <3

[Verminator]

What players is it going to attract?

Serious question. Don't you think they have tried to attract new players before? I can guarantee it's not the forum holding the game back.

I'm going to call you out on that guarantee, it's a reckless claim and I'm sure you're just using the word flippantly.

No, to be honest, I have not seen any effective recruitment efforts in the past. I have seen a few half-hearted attempts and a bunch of "claims" from previous admins, but it was clear that nothing major was being undertaken.

Plus, the game was not structurally sound in the past. It was not a game that could say "my owners are invested in me" to any new player who showed up, which is actually a quality that gamers commonly look for in something that they will invest their own time into.

The game is different now. Argue that point all you like, but between the broadcasts and the meaningful changes, and now this harder stance on community misbehavior, it is not hard to see that there is a level of investment in this game that it hasn't seen in a long time. Not just in the game but in the community, where it's been needed the most for ages. That's something new players notice. You may not look for that, maybe you're just a generally pessimistic person, who knows, but I can tell you that it's something important to new players who want to take a game seriously. Utopia has it now more than it ever has, dating back to Mehul, so comparing any past efforts to recruit new players to what recruitment can produce currently is apples and oranges. Just wait and see.

[octobrev]

And this mentality is what needs to (and hopefully is going to) change. No more keeping Utopia on life support with the same old players who have kept it in the mud all this time. Thanks to renewed support and development, this game is at a legitimate crossroads. It can either keep wandering around the swamp that it's been in for years and continue its decline, or it can leave the cancerous past (and all the cancerous cells with it) behind and try to make something better of itself for the future player base that it can finally potentially attract.

I think we just generally don't like seeing strategy stripped out of the game as a means of pandering to people that log in every other day. There are already plenty of FarmVille type games where people click around and spend time with their friends. Diverse strategies and mathematical rigor are what make uto special.

[Zombies are people too]

Diverse strategies and mathematical rigor are what make uto special.

This is where the older, more experienced veteran players would and should step up and offer their insights and knowledge of the game to new players instead of debating silly things and arguing over events that happened a decade or so ago.

-DM <3

[octobrev]

This is where the older, more experienced veteran players would and should step up and offer their insights and knowledge of the game to new players instead of debating silly things and arguing over events that happened a decade or so ago.

-DM <3

They would have to be able to log in to be able to execute. Office, college, or welfare. Laborers need not apply (though I think it's silly they aren't allowed to sit on their phones all day given how much time office dwellers piss away on Amazon and Facebook)

With that said, I am hypocritically sitting in the ghetto teaching people this age. I believe you already messaged them to compliment their unusual strategy :D

[Zombies are people too]

I believe you already messaged them to compliment their unusual strategy :D

I don't think so hun, unless you were our only war opponent. Beware the imposters! There's only one DM! xD

-DM <3

[Uhm hoi]

This is where the older, more experienced veteran players would and should step up and offer their insights and knowledge of the game to new players instead of debating silly things and arguing over events that happened a decade or so ago.

-DM <3

Sharing knowledge is what the strategy subforum is for. Utotalk is the utopian version of the bold and the beautiful where one comes for ones weekly dose of drama.

[Verminator]

I think we just generally don't like seeing strategy stripped out of the game as a means of pandering to people that log in every other day. There are already plenty of FarmVille type games where people click around and spend time with their friends. Diverse strategies and mathematical rigor are what make uto special.

And many of the players (not all) who thrive on this strategic foundation are the very same players who have been slowly killing this game from the inside. Where do you draw the line? Which do you prefer to keep?

How do you continue to support a player base (the strategy junkies who double as awful human beings) that has shown to be a primary factor in the decay of this game, by virtue of holding it hostage during the times when the games own admins paid less attention than the harmful players did, using their importance to the game's survival as an excuse to treat each other like crap on a daily basis. That's a proven recipe for decline and it has shown in Utopia.

I'm going to go out on a limb and use a rather touchy comparison, apologies to any I might offend with this reference...

Take an abusive relationship. The abused person in this relationship often stays in it because they feel they cannot do any better. They endure the hardships because the alternative --- trying to start over after a long period of security --- is too overwhelming or daunting of a task. They have stability alongside the pain, their will is often too weak to take a chance on finding something better.

Utopia can do better than the negativity that permeates this community. It's been this way for well over a decade and a half, so risking a better life by trying to shed the harmful parts, it's not easy to imagine. But this community has countless GOOD human beings in it. Those who don't care about the past, don't care about the politics, don't care about the grudges or the slights or the bickering... they just want to play a good strategy game with other good people. Heck, they even outnumber the jerkfaces by a healthy margin, but the jerkfaces have the leverage because "you'd be nothing without me!"

Well Utopia has finally started to look like a game that CAN be something without them.