Now, this topic is hairy considering everyone has different levels of involvment and get tickled by different things. I wouldn't proclaim so easily "end of something" before that something has been beaten into the ground and is actively refused by players.
My personal two cents are that politics is not an interesting endeavour if something useful or at least entertaining doesn't come out of it.
Sure, Icus interpreting a rabid fyros was nice to see when it happened, and maybe for 2-3 days after. Seeing him booted from the Noble assembly when he finally refused to apologise was equally interesting (would've been more interesting to see him duel guards and get his ass kicked, but oh well, we take what we can get). Following the tryker constitution debates? Maybe, to a less degree, depends on person. Two zorais nitpicking over a title? Oh please.
Long story short, the assemblies and national gatherings fail to deliver in return for the time lost attending as an outsider.
--
But leaving politics aside, a problem is the lack of roleplay in general. And as a side-note, the lack of communication and helping others in-game. Salyn has gone 3 days asking to BUY a sword and shield, low quality, after she hadn't found anything in the markets. Other players have equally troubling experiences with silent Uni chat and lack of response in capital Regions.
My Silan experience was ultra-nice in the beginning, the chatter and information intake were huge (this was back before the merger.. o tempora). The players could've taught me a little roleplay back then, a little lore, and I would've listened because that's what a newbie does. I would've learned from Uni, if there were chats with that theme. Sadly, Uni gets used mostly for "game Q&A", meaning game mechanics in practice. Little else. What I learned from Uni, in the week Silan took me, was how to say "hello" in the dialects of fyros and matis. Nothing else.
I'm not going to point fingers at a group or another, but before you request people get interested in politics, you must get people interested in RP. For that, you need to teach, both with words and behaviour. While not blaming you personally Daomei, I haven't seen you talking about neutrality and the Rangers much, eh? The most RP I've seen so far has been local, on the beaches of Fairhaven. And in French.
Why would this tryker toon love the lakes, or why would it love hominkind? Or why would it hate it like a marauder, either? Save for the old players without much new content to discover, most people must be talked into the fun that roleplaying is. Sadly, "talked into" doesn't mean writing in a forum until much later. It means being out there actively practicing what you preach. Living the kami love if you're religious, living the "sharing" principle if you're a citizen of a certain nation, etc etc.
I saw a post by Gilgamesh, in another thread, claiming we're all RPing by default because we're a toon in a fictional universe. Hogwash. We're humans behind toons, humans with different interests. I'm interested in leveling up, whatever the allegiance of my partners is. I'm interested in hunting around Atys, religion be damned. High stakes sometimes drive people into inactivity, making them scared to act.
tl;dr Step up the casual roleplay. Relax the requirements while at it.
(PS: You're talking IC in an OOC area. Step out of your roles for a moment, and speak about your toon in the third person. It helps.)
edit: With the exception of Feylin hosting the Seasonal Endowment of Jen-Lai, none of the previous posters has roleplayed in Uni in a long time. That speaks volumes.
My personal two cents are that politics is not an interesting endeavour if something useful or at least entertaining doesn't come out of it.
Sure, Icus interpreting a rabid fyros was nice to see when it happened, and maybe for 2-3 days after. Seeing him booted from the Noble assembly when he finally refused to apologise was equally interesting (would've been more interesting to see him duel guards and get his ass kicked, but oh well, we take what we can get). Following the tryker constitution debates? Maybe, to a less degree, depends on person. Two zorais nitpicking over a title? Oh please.
Long story short, the assemblies and national gatherings fail to deliver in return for the time lost attending as an outsider.
--
But leaving politics aside, a problem is the lack of roleplay in general. And as a side-note, the lack of communication and helping others in-game. Salyn has gone 3 days asking to BUY a sword and shield, low quality, after she hadn't found anything in the markets. Other players have equally troubling experiences with silent Uni chat and lack of response in capital Regions.
My Silan experience was ultra-nice in the beginning, the chatter and information intake were huge (this was back before the merger.. o tempora). The players could've taught me a little roleplay back then, a little lore, and I would've listened because that's what a newbie does. I would've learned from Uni, if there were chats with that theme. Sadly, Uni gets used mostly for "game Q&A", meaning game mechanics in practice. Little else. What I learned from Uni, in the week Silan took me, was how to say "hello" in the dialects of fyros and matis. Nothing else.
I'm not going to point fingers at a group or another, but before you request people get interested in politics, you must get people interested in RP. For that, you need to teach, both with words and behaviour. While not blaming you personally Daomei, I haven't seen you talking about neutrality and the Rangers much, eh? The most RP I've seen so far has been local, on the beaches of Fairhaven. And in French.
Why would this tryker toon love the lakes, or why would it love hominkind? Or why would it hate it like a marauder, either? Save for the old players without much new content to discover, most people must be talked into the fun that roleplaying is. Sadly, "talked into" doesn't mean writing in a forum until much later. It means being out there actively practicing what you preach. Living the kami love if you're religious, living the "sharing" principle if you're a citizen of a certain nation, etc etc.
I saw a post by Gilgamesh, in another thread, claiming we're all RPing by default because we're a toon in a fictional universe. Hogwash. We're humans behind toons, humans with different interests. I'm interested in leveling up, whatever the allegiance of my partners is. I'm interested in hunting around Atys, religion be damned. High stakes sometimes drive people into inactivity, making them scared to act.
tl;dr Step up the casual roleplay. Relax the requirements while at it.
(PS: You're talking IC in an OOC area. Step out of your roles for a moment, and speak about your toon in the third person. It helps.)
edit: With the exception of Feylin hosting the Seasonal Endowment of Jen-Lai, none of the previous posters has roleplayed in Uni in a long time. That speaks volumes.