What's Next? - HL2RP: Early Days

[Achilles]

"What was it like when Alplands started hosting sign up events on neb?"




Seriously some of the best times I ever had. I didn't even have to get accepted. I could get denied and have more fun reading the IC reason why my character didn't make it into the event than playing on another 24/7 server.

 

[Northgate]

"What was it like when Alplands started hosting sign up events on neb?"




Seriously some of the best times I ever had. I didn't even have to get accepted. I could get denied and have more fun reading the IC reason why my character didn't make it into the event than playing on another 24/7 server.

man I still remember being somewhat sad for being denied, but then reading the IC reasoning behind it and feeling a lot better. my character was there, but I couldn't stay.

then on the next Alplands I joined as a staff character and that shit was too funny, especially with poor @Dallas having to put up with my tired mumbling at 1 AM

 

[RedMan]

If the passion is there, eventually the result will be good.
if there's no burning passion, it'll be a walk in circles yet again.

The Fisherman has spoken.

 

[cns - he/him/his]

"What was it like when Alplands started hosting sign up events on neb?"




Seriously some of the best times I ever had. I didn't even have to get accepted. I could get denied and have more fun reading the IC reason why my character didn't make it into the event than playing on another 24/7 server.

hmmmmmm i wonder if there is a place still doing sign up events

 

[rob]

hmmmmmm i wonder if there is a place still doing sign up events

is there?

also hello cns

 

[Ond]

is there?

also hello cns

There is

 

[CRISPRCas9Conservatist]

I'm playing video games

 

[Blitz0012]

progenitals

 

[rob]

projanitors

 

[Frosty]

How comes Willard's is still able to remain popular years after neb died?

 

[RedMan]

How comes Willard's is still able to remain popular years after neb died?

The CityRP strat.

 

[constantdisplay]

How comes Willard's is still able to remain popular years after neb died?

appealing to lowest common denominator

 

[Merlinsclaw]

How comes Willard's is still able to remain popular years after neb died?

they actually care about gmod

 

[Subeh]

How comes Willard's is still able to remain popular years after neb died?

saw a niche
claimed a niche
profitted from a niche
kinda big brained

 

[Rabid]

Willard's only been open for three years so fatigue hasn't really set in for them. Plus they've made clear they really aren't SeriousRP; they're more of a semi-serious MMO.

appealing to lowest common denominator

This too, and I'm not even really taking a stab. They switched to absorbing players from places like Impulse when those communities went down rather than trying to stay entirely serious (which is part of why their initial playerbase quit).

 

[Johnny B. Goode]

How comes Willard's is still able to remain popular years after neb died?

As Subeh said, just in a different way, they changed with the times. Neb has eventually, just too little too late it feels

The server was afforded multiple chances to try a different formula, sign-up based events, or just completely scrap HL2 as a setting and really push the boat out with something new, yet each time the server shut down, it kept coming back to the same formula of CityRP based on a game from almost 20 years ago

You can change the name of civil protection, you can say that rations will be more strict, you can say that "we are in the early days of occupation so everything is underprepared" but it still doesn't change the fact that the formula is the same as it was all those years ago

Whatever your views of Atle are, you have to admire how well he played the market to make a gmod rp server of all things as successful as it is, even if his server does "appeal to the lowest common denominator"

 

[Rabid]

Willard's success really isn't hard to figure out tbh - their playerbase is just made up of people who want CityRP. Not to downplay their success but they don't even do anything especially interesting with it, or different. They don't really need to though.

When they launched Neb was five years old and people here were tired of CityRP, wanting to move onto new things. Willard offered fresh-faced enthusiasm for the setting and absorbed two communities worth of players who, as I said, were still interested in it.

 

[rob]

Willard's success really isn't hard to figure out tbh - their playerbase is just made up of people who want CityRP. Not to downplay their success but they don't even do anything especially interesting with it, or different. They don't really need to though.

When they launched Neb was five years old and people here were tired of CityRP, wanting to move onto new things. Willard offered fresh-faced enthusiasm for the setting and absorbed two communities worth of players who, as I said, were still interested in it.

if I had a pound for every community that's branched off from Nebulous I'd have just about enough for a single meal from McDonald's

 

['77 East]

Seriously some of the best times I ever had. I didn't even have to get accepted. I could get denied and have more fun reading the IC reason why my character didn't make it into the event than playing on another 24/7 server.

my denial in el dorado resulted in a civil war happening

it was the most hilarious one to read besides chris hanson nabbing that priest the iteration before

 

[Northgate]

As Subeh said, just in a different way, they changed with the times. Neb has eventually, just too little too late it feels

The server was afforded multiple chances to try a different formula, sign-up based events, or just completely scrap HL2 as a setting and really push the boat out with something new, yet each time the server shut down, it kept coming back to the same formula of CityRP based on a game from almost 20 years ago

You can change the name of civil protection, you can say that rations will be more strict, you can say that "we are in the early days of occupation so everything is underprepared" but it still doesn't change the fact that the formula is the same as it was all those years ago

Whatever your views of Atle are, you have to admire how well he played the market to make a gmod rp server of all things as successful as it is, even if his server does "appeal to the lowest common denominator"

Genuinely curious though, how do you see a concept changing more? It's already quite different from previous iterations, particularly in practice. Of all the changes we made, what else can even be done? I don't think anyone in the team wants to go to a weekend-only concept, nor an event style concept. I think Neb's focus has always centred around player engagement. Most of our best storylines were made by players.

We have also tried all kinds of different concepts, none stuck. WW3RP failed multiple times now, our last HL2RP was amazing but eventually people just stopped hanging around. Maybe we're all just growing out of Gmod & Roleplay, but I don't even know what else can be done to have people give it a shot.