Some student suggestions

ThatBurningFox

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IGN: ThatBurningFox

TItle of your suggestion: Some student suggestions

Describe your suggestion: This suggestion exists as a general way for me to throw my opinions out there and ideas on how to rectify the 'issue', with the main one that stands out to me currently being the way the student faction seems to be getting geared. It seems to be mimicking a certain other server in how it will have a school that contains Y7-12 as well as a college, which... All I can say here is... Why?

From my own experience, the college faction is genuinely just the most dead thing ever and one of the biggest mistakes I made choice wise - all it does is serve to dilute the player base as well as cause a requirement for professors to exist just because, when you could just have an extremely solid school faction as a whole that is focused around a single student body. No need for this weird divide. All having a college does, genuinely, is further split the server for no reason, in such an artificial way.

This would be felt all the more extremely with a lower average player count, which has to be accepted as a possibility in the early stages too. That and a lot of people will very likely just choose to play an adult character when given the chance, which will further shrink the people that will actually focus on the student side of things. It's not really feasible IMO - and that's okay. It shouldn't be the focus of the server in the first place, but it should still be built in a way that accommodates for a smaller playerbase first instead of being too overambitious.

Again, this is YRP - the focus should in my eyes be on the city side of stuff, the supernatural, all of those things. The school should be a supplement, not the main bulk.

Additionally, having grade 7-9 is questionable to me as a whole. They're finnicky ages that a lot of people can't really play any properly in the first place - and most people just want to get to playing a character that can get involved with all of the other stuff the server has to offer instead of being stuck as a grade 7 solely because of lacking time on the server (or in this case, credits) which causes problems of their own right. I know that I felt kind of weird being stuck as a grade 7 when my character Miyako was meant to be 16 at the very start and I was being treated as a 13 year old by everyone else IC because of the tag. Only for it to suddenly change in the course of a day or two.

It's just really odd since the progression tends to be more of a barrier than it is actually something most people want to play out. This could just be me and what I've seen though, I have no idea if it's a norm.

Still - my suggestion is what I had pitched from the very beginning; have it so the school follows the proper Japanese Highschool system. As in, 15-18 year olds, with it being split into 1st Year, 2nd Year and 3rd Year students. No need for college, since it splits the player base. No need for younger grades, because it either splits the player base or ends up making no sense having a class with Y7 and Y12 students in it and all the other problems I mentioned above. This would mean the progression will be from 1st year to 3rd year (with ages 15-16, 16-17 and 17-18 for Y1, Y2 and Y3 respectively), then finally graduation if people want to pursue that, which will lead to them becoming an adult character. If someone wants to go to college ICly, then by all means it can be written like that, but having a full section of the server dedicated to it is unnecessary in my eyes with how much resource it demands for so little gain.

I believe this would be more than feasible of a thing to implement and would help the server out a lot when it comes to having people actually play characters properly. I believe applications were already a thing in mind for younger ages in the first place, so this would not really hurt anyone that would still want to play those, while also making it a more believable school setting.

That and it will not split the school faction into even further of a divide by consequence of having so many areas trying to be tackled at once. Just focus on a single, streamlined experience and make it as solid as possible - then if it turns out that you have a huge amount of people engaged in that side of the server, go off with adding onto it!

But for the start, I would really recommend keeping the vision a bit smaller, with the capacity to grow later. I really do believe this would help a lot and strengthen the school side of the server way more as its own identity, instead of just being a mimicry of what other places do.

Additional Notes: This suggestion in particular is pretty opinionated and I would be happy to have people's inputs and thoughts given on it! I just really wanted to make the suggestion in the first place to get people talking about it and see what is in the works and MAYBE influence it before it's too late to do so. All the work on the server so far has been extremely cool though.

Keep cooking!
 
+1, and to add...

I don't even think there needs to be grade progression necessarily, just let people choose their character's actual age to begin with. This server is not focused on the school, so I don't think there needs to be any sort of 'grind' to being able to play your student character(s) in the way you'd like.

I do also agree that there probably shouldn't be any sort of junior high or collegiate education on the island, and if there is, it should be small in scale.
 
+1 I completely agree with this.

It makes more sense for characters to be aged a little higher in the beginning, especially having 3 years in highschool rather than an all ages sort of thing. I believe this would add more opportunities for newer players who get to then add a little more backstory to their characters. I think it'd make future applications for those characters a lot more fulfilling or packed considering, from the get-go, they have around 16 years of backstory.

I believe it'll give new players more opportunity and sense of belonging, but also will be a lot more fun. College can 100% be roleplayed icly rather than being a whole thing. Though I do understand the essence or cool factor of it and being a college tag on other servers, this server is not like those and shouldn't be treated like that. The server focuses on an entire island over just school, this could help those players get a better chance at exploring said island.

I would actually propose allowing players to opt into being younger rather than just starting as younger.
You start at 16, but after you have playtime if you wanted to make a character who was as young as 13, you could.​
 
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I don't even think there needs to be grade progression necessarily, just let people choose their character's actual age to begin with. This server is not focused on the school, so I don't think there needs to be any sort of 'grind' to being able to play your student character(s) in the way you'd like.
This is absolutely true to be honest, I don't see a need for forced progression in the first place. If people want to play a character getting older and progressing through the school years, they should be able to do that independently of the server deciding they can or can't do it. It's all roleplay in the end. Interactivity is good, but how much of a videogame it feels like should be cut down on where possible for the sake of enabling better storytelling, instead of hindering it.
 
All in all, +1. But I do think there's some things to discuss about tags as a whole. I'll leave this as an open question

One of the server's main theme is undoubtedly the spooky supernaturals surrounding the island, but it's very unlikely this can sustain a player base in any meaningful amount. The education faction would likely be a reasonable part itself to fill the game-play gap, serving as a hot spot for players to gather. The majority of sports-like and club plugin would also likely be bundled together with the education faction as well.

Ideally we wouldn't want to force a player to interact with a system they don't enjoy, in this case the education system to earn their credits. This is one of the biggest concern on the initial design. We ultimately decided that if we give a lot of avenues for players to earn credits than just attending classes, and if credits can be attained easily, classes would only act as an initial incentive to mess around with the education system. You can get it over with quickly if you don't enjoy it.

This is up for a lot of discussion, though. Questions like: "how long would it take to fully earn credits to grade up?". I want this to be open for discussion, what is a reasonable amount of time that it wouldn't be grind-y? Another question is whether there's enjoyment to be derived from engaging with the education system: does it provide you any benefits than just a fancy new tag?

All in all, is it possible to strike a balance on grade progression being an immersive feature that's rewarding to play with, but not so grind-y that it becomes a time gate. Of course, there's also a question of whether resources being allocated into this provide meaningful return on player enjoyment.

I got similar concerns myself when developing the education plugin. I am glad that this sentiment seems to be shared, thank you for making the post! Mentioning @YonioTheNacho to see if making a dedicated discord thread on this would be better, since this might require heavy back-and-forths.
 
IGN: ThatBurningFox

TItle of your suggestion: Some student suggestions

Describe your suggestion: This suggestion exists as a general way for me to throw my opinions out there and ideas on how to rectify the 'issue', with the main one that stands out to me currently being the way the student faction seems to be getting geared. It seems to be mimicking a certain other server in how it will have a school that contains Y7-12 as well as a college, which... All I can say here is... Why?

From my own experience, the college faction is genuinely just the most dead thing ever and one of the biggest mistakes I made choice wise - all it does is serve to dilute the player base as well as cause a requirement for professors to exist just because, when you could just have an extremely solid school faction as a whole that is focused around a single student body. No need for this weird divide. All having a college does, genuinely, is further split the server for no reason, in such an artificial way.

This would be felt all the more extremely with a lower average player count, which has to be accepted as a possibility in the early stages too. That and a lot of people will very likely just choose to play an adult character when given the chance, which will further shrink the people that will actually focus on the student side of things. It's not really feasible IMO - and that's okay. It shouldn't be the focus of the server in the first place, but it should still be built in a way that accommodates for a smaller playerbase first instead of being too overambitious.

Again, this is YRP - the focus should in my eyes be on the city side of stuff, the supernatural, all of those things. The school should be a supplement, not the main bulk.

Additionally, having grade 7-9 is questionable to me as a whole. They're finnicky ages that a lot of people can't really play any properly in the first place - and most people just want to get to playing a character that can get involved with all of the other stuff the server has to offer instead of being stuck as a grade 7 solely because of lacking time on the server (or in this case, credits) which causes problems of their own right. I know that I felt kind of weird being stuck as a grade 7 when my character Miyako was meant to be 16 at the very start and I was being treated as a 13 year old by everyone else IC because of the tag. Only for it to suddenly change in the course of a day or two.

It's just really odd since the progression tends to be more of a barrier than it is actually something most people want to play out. This could just be me and what I've seen though, I have no idea if it's a norm.

Still - my suggestion is what I had pitched from the very beginning; have it so the school follows the proper Japanese Highschool system. As in, 15-18 year olds, with it being split into 1st Year, 2nd Year and 3rd Year students. No need for college, since it splits the player base. No need for younger grades, because it either splits the player base or ends up making no sense having a class with Y7 and Y12 students in it and all the other problems I mentioned above. This would mean the progression will be from 1st year to 3rd year (with ages 15-16, 16-17 and 17-18 for Y1, Y2 and Y3 respectively), then finally graduation if people want to pursue that, which will lead to them becoming an adult character. If someone wants to go to college ICly, then by all means it can be written like that, but having a full section of the server dedicated to it is unnecessary in my eyes with how much resource it demands for so little gain.

I believe this would be more than feasible of a thing to implement and would help the server out a lot when it comes to having people actually play characters properly. I believe applications were already a thing in mind for younger ages in the first place, so this would not really hurt anyone that would still want to play those, while also making it a more believable school setting.

That and it will not split the school faction into even further of a divide by consequence of having so many areas trying to be tackled at once. Just focus on a single, streamlined experience and make it as solid as possible - then if it turns out that you have a huge amount of people engaged in that side of the server, go off with adding onto it!

But for the start, I would really recommend keeping the vision a bit smaller, with the capacity to grow later. I really do believe this would help a lot and strengthen the school side of the server way more as its own identity, instead of just being a mimicry of what other places do.

Additional Notes: This suggestion in particular is pretty opinionated and I would be happy to have people's inputs and thoughts given on it! I just really wanted to make the suggestion in the first place to get people talking about it and see what is in the works and MAYBE influence it before it's too late to do so. All the work on the server so far has been extremely cool though.

Keep cooking!
+1 I agree regarding the overall goal of the server: it should primarily focus on providing a true CityRP experience, not a SchoolRP-oriented one.

That said, I do think the school can still have a realistic and meaningful role. For example, certain factions (EMS, Police, etc.) could require a diploma to be accessed. This would give the school/college system an actual purpose as a RP gateway into specialized careers.

In this sense, a "college" doesnโ€™t need to be overcomplicated, but it could serve as a simplified training ground where players choose majors or specialties (medicine, law, security, etc.) that prepare them for faction applications.

TL;DR:
  • The city and its interactions should remain the core of the server.
  • The school should not be the main focus, but it can work as a progression tool that adds depth and coherence to the overall RP.
 
I think itโ€™s important to allow players the freedom to roleplay junior characters. In the long run, characters may have children, and skipping straight to them already being in high school without the chance to explore their earlier years feels like a missed opportunity for meaningful roleplay. Junior High is a significant stage of development in real life, and I believe it can be just as valuable for character growth in RP.

From my own experience playing a 7th grader, it can actually be a lot of fun. It doesnโ€™t mean the character has to act like a toddler, at that age, theyโ€™re already capable of interacting with others in a natural, engaging way. The school setting itself doesnโ€™t need to be the main focus for them, itโ€™s just one part of their overall roleplay journey.

That said, I do agree with your point about the progression system. Forcing players to โ€œearnโ€ the right to play older students or adults feels restrictive and can discourage people from engaging. I think those tags should be available from the start. While this could open the door for trolls, itโ€™s still worth it for the sake of player freedom and smoother roleplay progression.

But as said, YRP is doing great so far!
 
I think itโ€™s important to allow players the freedom to roleplay junior characters. In the long run, characters may have children, and skipping straight to them already being in high school without the chance to explore their earlier years feels like a missed opportunity for meaningful roleplay. Junior High is a significant stage of development in real life, and I believe it can be just as valuable for character growth in RP.

From my own experience playing a 7th grader, it can actually be a lot of fun. It doesnโ€™t mean the character has to act like a toddler, at that age, theyโ€™re already capable of interacting with others in a natural, engaging way. The school setting itself doesnโ€™t need to be the main focus for them, itโ€™s just one part of their overall roleplay journey.

That said, I do agree with your point about the progression system. Forcing players to โ€œearnโ€ the right to play older students or adults feels restrictive and can discourage people from engaging. I think those tags should be available from the start. While this could open the door for trolls, itโ€™s still worth it for the sake of player freedom and smoother roleplay progression.

But as said, YRP is doing great so far!
Which leaves the idea of applying for those ages as a valid option and also reduces the chance of people who are unable to properly play those ages existing. You might understand that a 7th grader is not a toddler, but most people really don't seem to understand that.

Additionally, having Junior High students attending the exact same school as High School age students is something that just makes no sense and just looks weird as hell. Leading to either a separate school entirely (which would be awful for reasons I already mentioned with college students - it would just split the player base unnecessarily) or a lack of cohesion with the setting. Both are bad, I would say.

Student and Adult tags should be available from default though, I agree with that much. I hope that is the case, rather than the 24 hour waiting period that seemed to have been initially pitched, at least!
 

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