Topic

Chakra Phool thoughts

After decamping like many others from Groddle Meadow to Alakol, I spent a bit of time on the latest test wandering around Chakra Phool ("last visited: 27 days ago"), which, judging from comments in Global Chat, has become a kind of in-game punchline. And it's a bit sad: lots of unopened, empty or barely-occupied residential blocks, and not that much foot traffic.

Some of that's clearly related to the map focus and demands of projects in recent tests: less peat and jellisacs, more earth and loam and talc and fireflies. But it raises the question of what happens at the reset, and after beta if (or when) regions get collectively bypassed by players. Gentrification? Adjustment of in-game tasks to make those area's resources more sought-after? Restrictions on housing supply in new areas to encourage living there? Remove the housing all together?

Posted 18 months ago by Holgate Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • It would be fun if houses deteriorated after a certain amount of time left unoccupied, perhaps eventually falling off the market altogether and allowing for squatters to take over. 
    Posted 18 months ago by Sheepy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm personally trying out all of the housing offered before the reset. I loved my apt in Shimla Mirch and will probably settle back there again but I just had to try out one of Alakol mansions while I had the currants. I dearly love the egg plants and the decoration of the underground sections. I think the game will find a natural balance when live.
    Posted 18 months ago by Mistress*of*Fishies Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "If X happens sometime in the future, what will the devs do?"

    Some version of this question gets asked every few days.  And the answer is always the same:  if it actually does happen, solutions will be generated at that time.

    There is no way for someone to create a solution to a problem that does not yet exist.  Until it exists, you won't have any information about what caused it.  You can't create a solution if you don't know what the cause of the problem is. 

    Devs are busy trying to solve the problems that, right now, are keeping the game from going live.  There certainly isn't any reason to drop that work to contemplate solutions to problems that don't actually exist.
    Posted 18 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • oddly, i think this just goes to show how rewards can introduce uneven play.  chakra phool and jethimadh were bustling hives of activity as long as projects were happening there (and then the tower opened). once people were not rewarded for being there, people stopped going, except to teleport in and collect flies or barnies or peat or whatever or a project.


    also, i don't think there are any start streets there, which i think does contribute to the bustling activity of the forest and the meadows.

    alakol stayed popular because of the shiny expensive housing and i think bortola benefited from being close-by.  with nothing new happening in bortola and no start street, it wouldn't surprise me if - even with nice housing - it isn't as well traveled as the meadows and the forest.

    the deeps surprised me in the sense that fewer to no people seemed to be working on those projects in comparison to bortola.  the new locked street was a total disappointment in that it contained bucketloads of sparkly and only sparkly, rewarding those who venture there with boatloads of sparkly, making people 30,000-150,000 in currants at the turn of an hour or two.

    even the seam streets are largely empty, and i hear newcomers in chat who unlock then ask what is so special about them, there's nothing there.  so, it seems that the reward system is backfiring a little, encouraging going after rewards than just being somewhere and doing something there for the sake of being and doing (see my long gamification post). then again, there really isn't anything to do on the seam streets (although they are shortcuts to other locations) and they seem to have been recycled for various backgrounds in the tower quest).

    i wouldn't want to see any tweaks to improve the popularity of a place, since my belief is that glitch should just provide the building blocks for how we want to exist here.  i think that some things will likely be added on, such as something to do with crystals that stoot mentioned, which would make more players go out to harvest barnacles and flies and such.  

    i would like to see more self-direction and less reward/trophy/achievement spin, which seems to only be encouraging mass production of things toward getting the goal, then abandonment of the thing itself.  then again, there really aren't achievements for the stuff out in the bogs, are there?  so maybe we do need more of those, which would encourage people to go there to get stuff (but this just means that rewards drive play, all the same).

    does it matter if some areas see less action than others?  i often go out to chakra phool just to get a little space from being hugged, sparkle powdered or sneezed upon.  it's like my meditative spot.  i even found auction frog hanging out there once, just meditating.
    Posted 18 months ago by zeeberk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I wasn't surprised at all that less people were working on the projects in the deeps. I personally find them tremendously annoying to navigate, and avoid going down there pretty much ever.

    I realize that other people don't feel the same, and wouldn't expect it to get changed, but there's nothing there (that I've needed so far, at least) that I can't get elsewhere.

    Although my home is in Groddle Meadow (I wouldn't want to give up my garden!), I spend a lot of time in Chakra Phool. There's plenty of barnacles and fireflies and peat bogs to collect for projects, and a decent number of patches since the trees planted there often die out from lack of love in a fairly short time.
    Posted 18 months ago by Krikket Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Chakra Phool's not my favourite place but that's because I can't jump and end up stuck and frustrated. I adore my location in Shimla Mirch, there is such a lot of useful stuff on or near my street. Peat bogs, a grocery and produce vendor round the corner, the meadow at the end of my street and a lovely apartment. 
    I think each area will find its fans, once the devs get the balance of resources settled.
    Posted 18 months ago by Momo McGlitch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "There is no way for someone to create a solution to a problem that does not yet exist."

    I was very careful not to call it a problem, because I'm not sure it is one. But it's clearly a phenomenon that's sufficiently noticeable for people to crack jokes about it, and one of the aims of beta testing is to point out structural issues when they emerge.

    Point is, Glitch isn't Minecraft: the game landscape here is crafted by the devs, not algorithmically generated then heavily shaped by players. A region represents an investment on their part, and it's unlikely that existing regions will be altered dramatically. It's the nature of multiplayer online environments to have quieter and busier areas, but I think zeeberk makes a good point about encouraging stickiness as the basis for less directed playfulness.
    Posted 18 months ago by Holgate Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Correct me if I'm wrong, but is Phool the only place with the epic quoins? You know the ones I mean.
    Posted 18 months ago by Saro Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Saro, The Other Drop has a couple of epic quoins too (one of them refills about a fifth of your max energy).

    I don't know if it's just me, but the Deeps have some major performance issues.  I suffer a tremendous drop in framerate there... if it weren't for all the sparkly I wouldn't bother with the place either.  Oh, and, of course, the project that let me dump my Cosma-politan load.
    Posted 18 months ago by Blitz Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I actually think it's nice to have some regions that are less busy but still beautiful and interesting. That way, if you want to get away from it all, you can take a walk there. :)
    Posted 18 months ago by FrankenPaula Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't like the dark, small gardens and lack of fruit trees.  I am also just terrible at jumping and get very tired when I go to Chakra Phool.  Those are why I avoid it most of the time.  I only go there to see new locations or to hunt fireflies and I leave as fast as I can.   I don't know if the swamp homes will ever be as popular as some of the other locations.  I do like the houses though.  It's those other features that keep me from moving there.
    Posted 18 months ago by Brib Annie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I've thought about this for a long time today while playing. When I first started the game, I didn't like Chakra Phool very much because of its coloring and darkness. But it has genuinely grown on me - I love wandering through empty streets, nurturing small and sad trees and growing them up, finding fireflies and barnacles and jellysacs.

    I think there should definitely be places in the world that are less populated. A breath of fresh air from the busyness of everywhere else. 
    Posted 18 months ago by Folderol Subscriber! | Permalink
  • During the previous test, I purchased a home in Shimla Mirch. I loved it. My very own fireflies! An egg tree! Barnacles! And a bowl of some kind of orange fish-like creatures. I even loved my house number (1327). When I moved in, the rest of the street was empty - by the end of the test one other house had an owner - and I never saw them. I hatched a couple chickens, pigs, and butterflies so there would be resources on my street. The only thing I didn't like was the lack of ability to grow crops, and the community gardens always seem to be empty when I visit them. I always plant more crops, but there are none or few growing when I return. 

    But then I got a quest to grow 5 trees in my own yard. Well... there was only one patch, and it had a full-grown egg tree. I'm not really excited about killing my tree, planting a new one, killing it off, rinse and repeat 5 times. And there are NO homes in Shimla Mirch or Chakra Phool with 5 patches. 

    So, sadly, I sold my place, and now live in the Meadow, in a place with 5 patches and a big garden. Once I finish that quest, and build up a good supply of crops, I'll probably move back to Shimla Mirch. I can barely stand to go into my house in the Meadow, as it is bright orange and green. >.<  Sometimes, I just need the dark and quiet. 

    Posted 18 months ago by Zany Serendipity Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Overall, I find the swamps laggy and buggy.  Chakra Phool might actually be on the better side in that respect for me, but of the swamplands, I think it's my least favourite place because it's a pain to navigate.  I'm not fond of all the up and down etc. around Inari Deeps especially.  In terms of looks, I really like the place, but I really don't like going there except for when I'm desperate for lots of jellisacs and eggs.
    Posted 18 months ago by Marebito Subscriber! | Permalink