WELCOME

Hello everyone, I am a new player to your world. Today I received an email from the Ryzom team asking me why I picked to play this game.
I was bemused by the fact I was just told to "reply" rather than given an automated survey. So I thought I'd share my reply here, in hopes that maybe some of you might share your "why" as well.

[From my reply to Ryzom]
Wow... First time anyone's asked me "why" about a game. So here goes...

I am sick of the modern MMORPG where the REAL game doesn't even start till you reach the level cap. Where people are anti-social solo players and the world is rushed through until you hit endgame. I miss the days of working hard for my levels, teaming up with people along the way and generally enjoying the journey.

Your game hits all the right buttons. I have died a number of times in the starting area, on normal enemies.
Ryzom is DANGEROUS, it's a tough world where you need to be careful to survive, where you can live at your own pace without being rushed to endgame; A world of exploration and journeying...

The biggest drawbacks to me at the moment?
1.) Jumping... I miss it... if it was real-life, I would jump that fence and go straight... Not spend 5 minutes jogging around it. That knee-high ledge? I would clamber up, not be forever blocked by a sub waist-height barrier. You get the idea.

2.) Nothing can be done about this: People. Ryzom is awesome, needs more people playing it to bring the fun. I will spread what word I can, I'm sure you are all doing the same. ^_^

Sorry for the wall of text, hope it tells about me.

Best Regards,
-Multaan

It is good to see a new player re-iterating the reasons that have caused me to continue to see Atys as a wonderful place to live. I found Ryzom in 2007, and everything you have just said is why I stayed here, through thick and thin.

I hope that the upcoming release on Steam will bring many more people to this wonderful world. I am already planning to have an alt on Silan ready to welcome them, not with super-powered assistance, but with a person who has just a little more knowledge to help a new person along and give them advice.

Welcome :)

Nice post Multaan =)

Your reasons for choosing Ryzom and sticking to it are similar to my own as well.

It's interesting that new indie/kickstarter MMOs in development now are announcing gameplay features that are supposed to be so innovative and revolutionize the MMO industry, but that have been in Ryzom for 10+ years already, like fully customizable actions ^^

I feel like despite all this time, Ryzom still offers two features which no other MMO can offer quite on the same level:

1) The depth of the crafting system, and how it ties everything together. Some games have nice and complex crafting systems, but I haven't found one that feels as deep and organic as Ryzom's.

2) The RP potential. Between an Event Team of volunteers full of creative people and a player government system, RP in Ryzom feels a lot more meaningful and dynamic. You can actually affect the story. RP in most other MMO's usually boils down to hanging out in taverns and having little trade markets where not much happens.

Agreed. I think this is the major drawback. With more players, the RP community would be a lot more robust and active on a daily basis, the supply and demand of materials would make the entire system a lot more meaningful, etc.

For example, you mentioned one of the things you enjoy about Ryzom is how solo play is not encouraged, unlike most mainstream/theme park MMOs. And I agree. Could never understand the appeal of soloing 90% of your time on an MMO. If I wanted that, I'd play single player games. But with the low population and the difficulty of soloing the game content, you'll find a lot of people end up using alts to level their skills because of how difficult it can be to find grinding partners of the right level at the right time.