Let us see what the ghost roles will be prior to round-start / Add a way to show that you want to play ghost roles in the lobby

[Captain Gecko]

(Very) Lowpop is bad enough, but it's understandable when there's barely five people online. You can't exactly expect an engineer to come by when next to no one are on Aurorastation at all. However there's few things worse in Aurora than having a crew of ten at the very most, stuck in a powerless ship, and struggling to get anything going while around 40 players are observing. Aurora players not joining rounds is as much of a meme as it is an inevitability, I feel like, and trying to fix this issue in more general term has been done for years and will most likely take more to get fixed, if it ever is, in the end you live with it. However... Some things seem to have made the situation considerably worse, namely, Ghostroles.

Now, the new Ghostroles are absolutely great, they bring spice to rounds, even (especially extended) and gives a an opportunity for something different. However, more people choosing to play ghost roles specifically means less player playing... And if not, more playing wanting to see what the ghost roles are means less people readying up. And then you know the cycle...

 

> 40 players online
> 4 Ready up
> Because of the minuscule number of people readying up, no one else feels the motivation to join
> "I'm waiting for ghostroles" go a few
> Round start, 2 or 3 extras join
> Those that waited for the ghostroles, yet haven't taken one, see the minuscule crew and lose most interest to actually play as proper crew
> Those that come in late see the size of the crew, or the state of the Horizon by now, and don't feel the motivation to join
> 40 players ghost or wait in the lobby for 2h30, 8 or so struggle and get absolutely zero fun at best, spend a bad time at worst.

 

This certainly won't fix the issue as a whole, but I feel like giving us a chance to see who would play as ghost role directly in the lobby could be a way to get more people to ready up. There may not be that many players readying up for the Horizon proper, but perhaps letting others see that a handful are willing to play as ghostroles could motivate a few to join, as Ghostroles or Horizon crew, whatever. This Ghostrole readying button wouldn't do much since you can't really ready up for a ghost role... But it would simply be a button to show that you will be playing, simply not as the standard kind of Horizon crew, showing the player's name in lobby's ready-up list, in a specific category for that.

Alternativaly, letting people see what the round's Ghostroles will be prior to round-start could also help. It's not rare for people to wait ghostroles only to see some that don't pick their interest. Maybe letting us see what these would be could let these players not wait for nothing, and instead get to ready up for the Horizon, getting that ready list in the lobby to grow, and motivating more players to initially join the round.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Captain Gecko

[NerdyVampire]

I am all for trying something new to spark more player interest during low-pop rounds.

[Carver]

I like the idea and support it, but I would argue the reason most people don't join is rather that they're idle in the lobby - not that they're present and uninterested. I have a habit of leaving the game running on the off-chance I want to consider joining later in the day.

[Captain Gecko]

12 hours ago, Carver said:

I like the idea and support it, but I would argue the reason most people don't join is rather that they're idle in the lobby - not that they're present and uninterested. I have a habit of leaving the game running on the off-chance I want to consider joining later in the day.

I know that there are still people who just remain in the lobby for entierly different reason than just a lowpop-induced lack of motivation... This won't cure the lowpop Aurora meme, but, as far as the people concerned by this goes, I'm sure a way to signal that some players WILL play, just not nescessarily on the Horizon could help with this specific case.

Edited January 9, 2023 by Captain Gecko

[Montyfatcat]

Pair this with a reduction in ghost roles, honestly. Some rounds you join and you could set aside half the server population for roles that are locked to a whitelist. For example one round I saw a tajaran mining ship, an Orion Express Vessel and a Kataphract ship all in the same ghost role menu, all of them were with one person for each. This kind of kills the positive effects of these roles if what population that is sectioned off is split apart even further doing wreck diving.

[KingOfThePing]

Third party ships are not whitelisted, besides the leader roles.

[Montyfatcat]

Typically I've seen the ones with whitelisted leader roles totally empty, likely because a third party without a leader can be awkward.

[KingOfThePing]

Your complaint was that "half the roles are locked behind a whitelist". This is simply not true. If there are 3 third party ships, with 5 roles each, then 3 out of 15 roles are whitelisted, IF they are not human ships. I cannot comment if third party without a leader "can be awkward".

[1jovemtr00]

I agree with the points brought up by Captain Gecko and they are  very valid imo. Anything that could help a bit more is very welcome and I see his suggestion as a good way to spark interest from people to play. I really think it's pretty much obvious that is a lack of interest not just because of what was stated, but just the numbers speaks by themselves: check how many people Aurora has at the forums and discord, it's not a small community for SS13 standards at all and still the pop of the server is extremely low.

I also agree with Montyfatcat: Reducing the ghost roles would be a good idea too but then I think the number of roles to pick should be increased. I would elaborate but then it would turn into another suggestion and for that I shall create a thread about it.

 

Edited February 3, 2023 by 1jovemtr00

[Fluffy]

PRed in https://github.com/Aurorastation/Aurora.3/pull/15953

[Gem]

as above.