I would agree that many with a year's worth of active gaming experience should be deemed a vet, but not likely all by a long shot. I do not believe either that this is the "top" rank in terms of experience. The longer the game goes, the more worthwhile it will be to add unique distinction for players who've been around during the first 6 months or so of the game's existence. I'll call them "forefathers." It is failure to adequately define these and veterans that leaves such vagueness as to what other categories exist, so here's my perspective.
Currently, forefathers look quite similar to vets. It is we, after all, to whom the title veteran was originally given. But forefathers have a couple noteworthy distinctions from vets:
- Having been around in the early days, they went through entirely different experiences, and in some senses really did have it "9 miles barefoot in the snow uphill both ways." If they're still around now, they're very likely made of solid stock--not likely to quit out of boredom or hardship.
- However this also means many of their experiences are no longer relevant, and may even discolor their perspective on the modern in-game landscape.
They also remember the "good old days" when there were no trolls and posers, only armies and people with the balls to use them...but I guess that's a bit off-topic. Mostly they're known for their historical knowledge,
long term experience, and having been "first" with a lot of things (first great war, first use of various strategies, first to achieve 10th cities, etc.). As a "forefather" myself, I hope they'll always be at least relevant to the server, and not a demographic for which there's nothing really left to do or accomplish. I hope we won't have to wait until the server is half-populated with similarly situated veterans before being treated as "allowed" to exert or extend ourselves. That would leave a couple years boredom between now and then.
Even today I would not consider 75k enough population to designate a veteran. That's just an experienced player. The longer the server runs, the more vets there will be. By this future date where forefathers become something note-worthily distinct, vets would then mostly be players with at least 9 cities, mostly 10 (as they'll be much easier to acquire). They'll be the people for whom building up their cities no longer offers much room for growth or advancement, and who need something more. They'll be the people who, realizing there's little value in just maintaining what they have, become more willing to risk having to rebuild. Eventually, there will be no question whether vets or newbies are more numerous, and the focus will shift from newbie affairs to conflicts which do not need champions for the "oppressed" side. By then, some wars may even be fought without giant sobbing matches before the first shot is fired.
That's what really marks a veteran...a
proven willingness to take real risk and fight in real battles. Veterans have stood for something (even if it merely be their own survival) and have either conquered or died for it. Their risk was real because they had at least a year's active account development riding on the outcome of their conflicts. They measure loss in cities, not troops or resources. They enter wars thinking mere months of rebuilding would be a lucky outcome. They spat in the eyes of their enemies once, and stand ready to do it again any time.
If
that is a veteran, and a forefather is an older version of the same, then it becomes clear that the majority of the server falls under the categories of newbie, developed, and experienced. Other names may be chosen, but the definition should be fairly clear. Low-population thresholds are the border between newbie and developed, high population+age thresholds are the border between developed and experienced. Below newbie you might even add "beginner." That would truly be a small category, with too few members to really warrant distinction from newbie, except these are the players truly deserving of active support through global chat. Even newbies should be learning to fend for themselves and availing themselves of the endless training/educational materials and/or alliances at their disposal.
Edited by HonoredMule - 18 Oct 2011 at 16:35
Tweet
Newbs and Vets and ?
Topic Options
Manannan wrote:
