Quarterlogging and shophogging!

[Dreams]

Quarterlogging: Someone logs in once or twice per timeout period to touch the door of their quarter and maintain their hold on a property.
Shophogging: Someone owns a shop. Nothing sells, nothing changes, it's just theirs.

Both of these things happen a lot. It isn't a big problem if a person is going away for a few weeks and need to do something like this for when they come back and are an active player again. It IS a big problem if this is just how the person plays. Arelith isn't an AFK tick program. Arelith isn't minecraft.

It happens in settlements, it happens in areas unclaimed by them. In settlements, you have the issue of the people simply being unable to be contacted. They could very well read the letters you leave them and choose not to reply IC. But how can a settlement leader really interact with people who aren't there? How can anyone?

Is absentee ownership a good thing for the server? We have so many more players due to EE and now we have Haks coming in which might bring back older players who had moved on, too. There's no new space yet. These things have been problems for years.

Real-life years. There are numerous locations on the server that have been known to be held for real-life years on end.

For real-life years I have been frustrated by this problem. It is a mixture of there isn't enough for everyone + it is being abused by some people + it doesn't seem to change when reported.

I don't want to bring up actual examples in this thread, but I'm certain that you could ask any Arelith player if they can think of where this is happening and find them well aware.

Anyway, that's the feedback.

[Xerah]

Yep, do I know the feeling. I’ve been watching one place for two months and I’ve never seen the PC online and have even left a message on the door.

I wish people would be more honest with their activity level if they really need that place or shop.

[Irongron]

I've tried to avoid adding new quarters/houses for the last year as we build up to the addition of an entire city, as if it I did not then the city itself would be surplus to rquirements.

It is however important that there is more demand than supply for these things, as anyone that can recall the dark days of the Underdark immediately before Andunor will be recall. Dozens of empty houses around the module can lead to it feeling extremely dead.

With shops, well I've been a lot more generous, the amount added over the last few years has been huge. I'm surprised to hear anyone that really wants one struggles to find one, even before the addition I never did.

Shop/quarter hogging does happen, and is frustrating, but in a significant amount of those cases it is not actually the case. People play at different times, and what constitutes 'active' differs greatly from person to person; for some being online 6 hours a week is a lot of time, especially if they're working long hours, but for others it is practically nothing.

There are things one can do though, chiefly getting involved in a faction/guild. It is often the case that these locations have interior quarters to spare, and leader/owners all too keen to get others involved. One can even just find someone willing to share their house; many are more than large enough.

Another thing is to petition settlement leaders. The majority of quarters are within their jurisdiction, and they have the power to evict (and should use it) if the location is not being adequately used. I find many leaders shy to do this, and I don't think they should be. If you own a sought after location in a town/city, one should be sure to butter up the local mayor.

[RedGiant]

I think the 1 player to 1 quarter/1shop rule here is sufficient.

There is no hogging if you can only have 1. This argument resurfaces every so often, but it always ends up, to me at least, smacking of "I want that." The justifications always sound fine, "I would turn it into a hub of RP" or "my faction would make better use of that place." Yet, at base, the argument is the same; "I want that."


My remedy has been, report people who abuse the actual rule and forget about people who use their property in a way I might not like. With patience, I've owned all sorts of interesting properties around the server, and I would encourage you, I've seen several open in the past week.

[Xerah]

I do think you're right that more quarters are not needed. The Arcane Tower is a prime example of so much being open and it does seem dead. I'm sure that it won't be like that forever, but it currently is.

Another thing is to petition settlement leaders. The majority of quarters are within their jurisdiction, and they have the power to evict (and should use it) if the location is not being adequately used. I find many leaders shy to do this, and I don't think they should be. If you own a sought after location in a town/city, one should be sure to butter up the local mayor.

As the leader of Cordor, I haven't been able to find any of the non-active people to evict. My character still only has a vault because I've been waiting to get a proper place for a Chancellor... which I haven't been able to find. I do have prime shop position (which was by luck) so I can't complain too much.

As it is, the only way to get a place from an absentee landlord is to hope to catch them in the few times they log in to evict them. And what is your real IC reason for it? It's hard to justify kicking someone out if you're a good character though. I think that's where a lot of the shyness about evicting comes from.

An evil leader has a lot more options though.

[thief of light]

I'll agree there's more shops on the server lately, but they're in terrible locations that are unideal for your aspiring merchant.


As a merchant, you want your shop to be in a high trafficked area (see the Tower, Cordor Mercentile Building, Nomad, Guldorand/Brog, shops in the Hub) and are also in immediate access (as in same transition area) of a banker.

If you have a shop in say, the Radiant Heart, no one really comes by that area except people on their way to to the battlegrounds, and no one really thinks of the RH as a trading outpost to shop for PC goods.

If I was an aspiring merchant, I would rather use a temp stall then have a shop to peddle things out of the Radiant or the Heartwood Grove, places that are pretty dangerous to walk to with a fat purse of money to buy fancy stuff with.

more on point,
Arelith has been doing nothing but growing the last few years. We haven't really seen a decline in the player base as much as we've seen growth. Housing placed in non-thematic areas, like more quarters in non-racial settlements or uncoupling castles from the settlement system and making them guild houses for bid, will result in seeing more use from them.

There are plenty of open quarters in places like Sencliff and sometimes swings of vacancies in race-themed quarters (like the half-breed camp) because I think most people here are pretty considerate about not buying a quarter in a settlement/place that their character wouldn't be welcome to live in. No one wants to be That Guy, the fighter/wm owning a Tower Quarter or an elf owning a home in Bendir Village even if halfling community RP isn't really in their RP.

TL;DR
->while there are more shops, they're all in bad locations for any merchant who seriously wants to make money and not just side-gig make stuff
->Arelith's playerbase has had a steady trend of growth for the last 3 years
->There are more thematic/racial locked quarters than there are general use quarters which kind of limits accessibility to the 70% human normie characters that dominate the server.
->Make More Quarters, but put them in more generalized areas like Cordor, Guldorand, Crows Nest, Sibayad, and so on that are not thematic or racial locked while having vague alignment implications that are largely dynamic

thanks for coming to my ted talk

[Party in the forest at midnight]

I think the location of quarters is important to note too. The Tower has a lot of turnover, but, aren't Tower quarters also locked to arcane caster classes? Sencliff and the Halfbreed camp which Thief of Light just suggested are other good examples of locked areas.

In contrast, there's a shortage of wilderness quarters, which have a very large amount of interest compared to available quarters (at least in my observations).

[Griefmaker]

I do think you're right that more quarters are not needed. The Arcane Tower is a prime example of so much being open and it does seem dead. I'm sure that it won't be like that forever, but it currently is.

Another thing is to petition settlement leaders. The majority of quarters are within their jurisdiction, and they have the power to evict (and should use it) if the location is not being adequately used. I find many leaders shy to do this, and I don't think they should be. If you own a sought after location in a town/city, one should be sure to butter up the local mayor.

As the leader of Cordor, I haven't been able to find any of the non-active people to evict. My character still only has a vault because I've been waiting to get a proper place for a Chancellor... which I haven't been able to find. I do have prime shop position (which was by luck) so I can't complain too much.

As it is, the only way to get a place from an absentee landlord is to hope to catch them in the few times they log in to evict them. And what is your real IC reason for it? It's hard to justify kicking someone out if you're a good character though. I think that's where a lot of the shyness about evicting comes from.

An evil leader has a lot more options though.

The issue here is that the rules require interactive RP to evict someone. That is why leaders will never evict those who are not present and how many get away with it.

This rule really needs to change. A leader/settlement representative should be able to place a notice that the owner of a shop/house contact them as soon as possible. If that is not done after 7 RL days (the time each place needs to be refreshed in general), BAM, evict ahoy. A simple message/PM to the DM team when the notice is first delivered and a second when someone who has not made contact is evicted should be all that is necessary.

[Ork]

Rough day to be a casual.

[Subutai]

I'll agree there's more shops on the server lately, but they're in terrible locations that are unideal for your aspiring merchant.

I think the location argument is really key when it comes to shops. I come across plenty of open shops, but even before owning a shop in a good spot, I couldn't really justify taking over some shop in the middle of nowhere, or hidden behind some random buildings, or down some path no one ever takes. Likewise, I passed up several opportunities to get shops like the ones in the Trade Guild outside Cordor, because it would mean having an out of the way shop (and entire transition just to get to my shop) that also comes with a tiny bedroom that counts as a quarter.

I think when it comes to shops (and quarters, to some extent), the problem isn't that there's a lack of shops, but that the shops that go vacant tend to be very poorly situated.

I feel like a lot of the shop locations don't really seem well-planned, and feel much more like they're just there so that there can be a shop somewhere, as opposed to being placed in a central location where people are actually going to come across them. As fun as the idea of shops being highly valued destinations is, it isn't really the reality. No one really journeys to a shop specifically. People don't visit the interior shop/quarters, people don't travel all the way down the road to visit the shop at the end of the street. The shops that people want, and the shops that people go to, are the ones that are conveniently located along a prime causeway, and especially when there are several shops all together.

What I'd really like to see is fewer randomly scattered shops, and more bazaar-type areas with lots of shops. The Cordor Mercantile is an absolutely perfect trade building, and I really, really think it should be emulated more.

[Twily]

Shop location does definitely play a large part in a shop's success, although many bad locations can be worked with through smart advertising; Opening temp stalls as a branch store with discounts referring people to your main store, etc. It does take a lot of work that simply isn't needed if you have a store in a good location though.
That's a bit off topic though, and only really works for stores near places people already go such as the farmlands, Furth's or the Trade guild.


More on topic though, I know I've seen DMs say before that if someone really is quarter hogging, you can report them and it'll be looked into. It is quite possible the player has a legitimate reason they aren't on super often(or maybe they're just on a different time zone), but if someone truly is hogging a quarter for an extended period without playing I'm pretty sure they can end up having a DM ask them to release it.

[The Kriv]

I would like to chime in briefly to add that there are many players across many timezones, and no one person can be on every hour of every day, so to judge another player's absence or presence is unfair unless you are camping out 24/7 in exactly one area, watching and logging every character you see pass.

For my own play, I don't do much adventuring anymore. I 'only' log in to RP. and the character I do it mostly on I hardly ever set foot in a settlement. Sometimes I am on for 2 or more hours before my character even comes across another character... and when I say sometimes, I actually mean 'usually.'

But, I also have a very busy RL schedule. I am a fulltime Grad Student, and I also work, so does that mean as a Player, because my schedule is busy, that I should have my quarter taken away from me?

Is this thread suggesting that some quarters/properties require a certain quantitative amount of RP to happen inside the Quarter for the owner to keep the property?

-sorry to sound snooty, just playing devil's advocate here...

[TimeAdept]

I do think you're right that more quarters are not needed. The Arcane Tower is a prime example of so much being open and it does seem dead. I'm sure that it won't be like that forever, but it currently is.

Another thing is to petition settlement leaders. The majority of quarters are within their jurisdiction, and they have the power to evict (and should use it) if the location is not being adequately used. I find many leaders shy to do this, and I don't think they should be. If you own a sought after location in a town/city, one should be sure to butter up the local mayor.

As the leader of Cordor, I haven't been able to find any of the non-active people to evict. My character still only has a vault because I've been waiting to get a proper place for a Chancellor... which I haven't been able to find. I do have prime shop position (which was by luck) so I can't complain too much.

As it is, the only way to get a place from an absentee landlord is to hope to catch them in the few times they log in to evict them. And what is your real IC reason for it? It's hard to justify kicking someone out if you're a good character though. I think that's where a lot of the shyness about evicting comes from.

An evil leader has a lot more options though.

I do think every settlement should have a "district house" equivalent for the settlement leader to use if they choose to, that wouldn't count to their ownership limit. Then the settlement head would always have a place to conduct business, and it'd automatically transfer say 48 RL hours after an election is over to give the previous leader time to clean house. It's always weird to need to "do business" with a settlement leader but end up like.. across town or not even in town, because they didn't have any secure place in their office, lol.

[monkeywithstick]

I'll agree there's more shops on the server lately, but they're in terrible locations that are unideal for your aspiring merchant.


As a merchant, you want your shop to be in a high trafficked area (see the Tower, Cordor Mercentile Building, Nomad, Guldorand/Brog, shops in the Hub) and are also in immediate access (as in same transition area) of a banker.

Not entirely wrong here, but I feel compelled to point out as one of the merchants with a shop in the nomad. The nomad wasn't a high trafficked, great area for a shop. It has become so, partly because of the activities of the nomad owner to make the tavern more active, partly because some of the shops there have become known as good places to source certain goods.
There are areas which could, with some player effort become more popular than they are. It will of course not spawn a bank teller or remove environmental hazards but there are certainly things that can be done to mitigate poor shop locations.

[Ork]

The nomad wasn't a high trafficked, great area for a shop.

The nomad has always been a great place for a shop & has always been highly trafficked. Anyone can access the nomad despite level, is an area away from a banker and a large number of people pass through for writs or roleplay. While creating an attractive inventory is important, you could have the best shop but if only paladins come to see it you'll do worse in profits than any other place

[Irongron]

There is something to be said for poor shop locations.

Many are in areas that experience sporadic bursts of activity, where players make a concerted effort to bring some new narrative alive there, and a shop plays a vital role in that effort- providing infrastructure and a reason for others to visit.

Be it the Radiant Heart, the Silver Mines or even just a farm shop. These placed will never be constantly teeming with roleplay, but the act of resurgence and the surrounding roleplay can be a lot of fun.

Scattered shops and merchants give a reason for characters to travel, and for the owners to promote their locations.

It has been seriously suggested by players in the past that all player shops could be accessed via one, just as all NPC merchants should be accessed by any one (or just directly linked to the pc inventory screen irrespective of location).

None of this is in keeping with the setting, and I usually infer from such suggestions that those making them are far more interested in the grind, levelling, building experience, and that the setting itself is just something to be endured to that end.

That being said, more player trade hubs would be no bad thing.

[MalKalz]

Quarters

Quarters have been a debate for a long period of time. Whether there are too little (in the entire module or particular areas) or too many in specific zones. However, quarter-hogging has been a thing that has gone on since the quarter system was developed. A person becomes attached or minimally uses it to maintain extra storage. However, this does not mean they are using it to its fullest and can be subject to review by the DM team.

This rule really needs to change. A leader/settlement representative should be able to place a notice that the owner of a shop/house contact them as soon as possible. If that is not done after 7 RL days (the time each place needs to be refreshed in general), BAM, evict ahoy. A simple message/PM to the DM team when the notice is first delivered and a second when someone who has not made contact is evicted should be all that is necessary.

This rule will not change. You are playing a roleplaying server and are required to interact with the person face to face to evict them. If you were on the other side of the coin and woke up to find your property evicted without RP (could be that they think you are inactive), how would you feel?

More on topic though, I know I've seen DMs say before that if someone really is quarter hogging, you can report them and it'll be looked into. It is quite possible the player has a legitimate reason they aren't on super often(or maybe they're just on a different time zone), but if someone truly is hogging a quarter for an extended period without playing I'm pretty sure they can end up having a DM ask them to release it.

Yes, this is correct.

Anyone with settlement powers that has the eviction status can interact with someone and evict them through roleplay. Should you fail to find them, file a report to the DM team. They will investigate the activity and make the appropriate call as to how to proceed. They have, and will continue, to release quarters that are hogged after giving their own notice based on their findings in the logs.

As the leader of Cordor, I haven't been able to find any of the non-active people to evict. My character still only has a vault because I've been waiting to get a proper place for a Chancellor... which I haven't been able to find. I do have prime shop position (which was by luck) so I can't complain too much.

As it is, the only way to get a place from an absentee landlord is to hope to catch them in the few times they log in to evict them. And what is your real IC reason for it? It's hard to justify kicking someone out if you're a good character though. I think that's where a lot of the shyness about evicting comes from.

Please see above about reporting.

My opinion on quarters:

Arelith is growing; its numbers are increasing (due to sales and other people advertising NWN to their inner circle of friends). It is welcoming to see; however, it leaves a shortage for players to experience all aspects of the server. They would essentially be on a 'waiting list' or shopping around until they can find one.

The introduction of the property registry buildings was to make finding quarters easier; seeing when they were for sale, and other information. Settlement leaders also have options in there too. But, there will still be a quarter shortage. We cannot make enough quarters to obtain a 1:1 ratio. But, we can expand upon where we put quarters and what type of quarters they are.

We have, in the past and still continue, discuss where upcoming content will go. With the introduction of reworked areas with new tilesets, we are opening up the opportunity to fit more thematic quarters into areas and also expand into the wilderness. However, it has to fit with what we are after, what Irongron pictures, and our time commitment. All I can say is wait to see what comes with the reworked Guldorand, and other areas that have been promised. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Shops

In the perspective of the DM team, they do receive complaints about what is felt to be shop hogging and misuse of shops. And, these are thoroughly investigated. These concerns usually range from:

• Player stock not shifting
• Lack of player activity
• Absurd pricing
• Using shops as personal storage

These are just some of the concerns that the DM team receives. Are they in high volume? No. But, they usually fall into those four areas when we receive a complaint. However, we do note that there is some things that players need to consider as well.

Shop stock not shifting may be accurate; however, some stock might be shifting and restocked with the same items to meet the demand. These are often the cases for scrolls / potions / healing kit stores. But, settlement leaders can check on store history to see how things are shifting in and out.

Some players are casual in their play time; however, they dedicate that play time to running a shop. This may be their interest in Arelith, and so long as they are making use of the shop frequently and generating roleplay with it, the team is less concerned. If there are concerns, they are addressed though. So don't think that just because someone is active means the DM turns a blind eye to other potential issues.

Absurd pricing often is a result of people using shops as personal storage. A stack of 10 coal going for 200,000 gold is a good example of when to report a shop. This means that the player is potentially using the shop as a personal storage instead of acquiring the quarter. We want to ensure that people have the most opportunity to generate roleplay with their shop and will deliver notice for these types of shop hoarding to evict their shop before we do.

As for trade hubs:

I always had an idea of a settlement hiring a traveling troupe of merchants to establish a trade fair area. This would allow settlements to host trade fairs at a cost of either resource or gold (potentially both) where an area of stalls and markets are brought in. These could last a few RL days (3 days perhaps), and no other place can hire them until released. Temporary shops within would also be on the same timer and not a 1 hour timer. This enables players to set up a small shop and keep it going during this time.

We would have to look at creating an area that would be set to migrate to each area. And, have NPC presence and support as well. I know you all love your trade fairs, as much as I do. I just love reading the effort you put into your stock. So its something to consider.

[Rhavin76]

I'm relatively new to the server compared to most people. only 1 character no alts . Been involved in racial thematic settlement since day 1 so my personal experience on this topic only comes from there .

On aquiring Quarters and Shops:
- The best way to get them that i have seen so far is a fairly simple one. Be a walking talking character from the start (lv3)
Stop and say hi to folks you meet on the road, spend 10-15 minutes per session immoble and approachable in a high traffic place.
Generate some lite RP and make a few aquiantances and express your desire IC your character wants to own his/her first quarter or first shop. You'd be surprised how helpfull many folks in the arelith community are if you just interact with others instead of running around all the time doing writs and grinding.

- The best way to get a quarter is don't be a Human just because the minmax cookie cutter build tells you so. That one extra feat is going to give you a headache when it comes to prime real estate later on in your character's life. If you are Human, make friends, there's an abundance of oppertunites for you, and expect to be sharing quarters with one or more players you frequently interact with in your timezone.

- The best way to get a shop in a high traffic zone near a banker, travel portal or writ agent is to approach an existing shopowner there who's inventory there matches your crafting skills and offer to help with the crafting/inventory supplying. Those locations have a hard time keeping inventory stocked when just run by 1 person and are ideal for sharing. Out of the way shops become available frequently for random pickup.

In my personal arelith experience i had a quarter since week 1 and even changed quarters 5 times now in the past 6 months, the turnover of available quarters is actually pretty high. I have had a thematic shop in a low traffic zone since week 3 selling some unique goods not available nearby for many area transition zones and advertised on a message board, made a million gold with it still, and changed shops 3 times in the last 3 months in a trade hub, the turnover of available shops is actually pretty high.


On Shops:

I can only speak from a racial settlement point of view.

Shops in arelith seem affected by the same trading principles in the real world. "Location, Location, Location" the three golden rules of a successfull business moving large volumes. No amount of DM rules or area design will ever change that, its just human nature. Less traffic zones are widely available but need unique inventory , supplying a niche market and heavy advertising. Adding more and bigger trade hubs will kill off the less frequented shops even more.

The total number of shops on the server is more then sufficient compared to the current player base.

In my racial settlement i have seen all 9 shops change ownership several times at least 3 times or more in the past 6 months. Shop hogging is a non-existant issue here, the settlement even has an IC merchant town official keeping tabs on activity

On Quarters:

I can only speak from a racial settlement point of view.

Quarters on arelith seem affected by the same real estate principles in the real world. Everyone wants that big luxurious villa or private castle on the hill, but only 1 can own it. No amount of DM rules or area design will ever change that, its just human nature. Lesser and Average quarters are widely available and change ownership frequently. Quarters in a guild/faction area can even be unoccupied for weeks as characters roll and no new members join the faction. Adding more quarters to the server will increase the number and timespan of dead unoccupied zones in the general eb and flow of the island as a whole.

The total number of quarters on the server is more then sufficient for the current player base.

In my racial settlement i have seen 21 out of the 22 available quarters change ownership frequently, at least 3 or more times in the past 6 months, and yes this also includes the prime real estate ones, like a large farm or villa or main temple. 1 quarter hasnt , because the player is daily active on the server for all this time. The lesser quarters often change so fast one can hardly keep up who lives there this week or month. 2 out of the 22 quarters have even been unoccupied for at least 2 RL months without anyone picking them up. Quarter hogging is a non-exsistant issue here, and the single one time it happend a while back the settlement leader evicted the player from his home with DM approval after 6 RL weeks of DM monitoring after a ping to look into the issue. The settlement has an IC real estate town offcial keeping tabs on activity.

Summary: tl;dr
- Number of quarters and shops is sufficient
- Problem lies in demography of a single dominant race, 1 location only where quarters/shops are scarcer then average
- Shop and Quarter hogging is a very very minor issue compared to the total available shops and quarters.
- DM / Server rules are fine as is and dont need adaptation
- Playerbase large regulates itself on the hogging issue and has the tools to do so.
- No amount of change in design will ever fix this completly, its just human nature.

[Irongron]

Above post is excellent.

I'm not sure there's a great deal left to be said on the subject.

[JubJub]

This is where settlements also need to take some action, since they can now see sales activity for shops. There is a shop in cordor which seems like has had the same 3 items for weeks now, the cities can look and see if this person has sold anything at all for weeks. So bring it up to the settlement leaders and see if they start posting warnings and such. I never understood why someone would want a shop if they never want to sell stuff.

[The GrumpyCat]

This is where settlements also need to take some action, since they can now see sales activity for shops. There is a shop in cordor which seems like has had the same 3 items for weeks now, the cities can look and see if this person has sold anything at all for weeks. So bring it up to the settlement leaders and see if they start posting warnings and such. I never understood why someone would want a shop if they never want to sell stuff.

In the interest of being fair, I should point out that the starter poster sort of pointed out one issue with this, which is that the owner of the shop needs to be rped with before said shop can be released. If the government cannot meet with this person to rp with them, then they have issues.

But that is what we are for.

[Bibliophile]

The shops in Cordor have been in the past monitored very strictly to the point of some people becoming aggravated with said monitoring and posting on the forums over it. What you have to understand though is every time a new election comes through it takes quite a bit of time for all parties to meet and get things squared away, also time to figure out the mechanics behind it all so powers can be assigned.
Give us a few weeks to get situated and it will start falling back on track.

The above post however stating no issue with quarters being available and that they turn over is surprising to me. I haven't had the same experience personally at all. I think that the opinions of people will cover a wide range in thought as to if there really is an issue on the server or not.

[Xerah]

The above post however stating no issue with quarters being available and that they turn over is surprising to me. I haven't had the same experience personally at all. I think that the opinions of people will cover a wide range in thought as to if there really is an issue on the server or not.

Agreed. I was quite surprised too.

It is pretty condescending to tell us that the problem is that humans are the best choice so people make optimal choices over their role-play choices. It is rare that non-mass residences (i.e. not the Nomad, Arena, or Clover areas) go up for rent and if they do, they are gone in a very short amount of time. If me as the Chancellor has trouble finding space, I feel sorry for the others. That said, this post did give me a moment to go around and check in with people, so I hope that those holding space in Cordor either do something or release it.

I could get a lesser place, but I just don't see that as fitting for a Chancellor to say "oh, my room is in the second floor of the Nomad beside the gardener" just seems a bit odd.

[this is not for you]

I apologize if my earlier statement (I lost my login for my other account) came off as 'people play humans because they're optimal'.

People play humans because they are the most lore-friendly for someone unfamiliar with the setting to play. I generally prefer to play humans because my concepts just work better with humans, or I have some weird cultural aesthetic I want to do. Generally I find them an easy template to work off of for the stories I want to tell when I'm feeling uncertain if I can really deliver on the nuances of racial culture so I'm not just "a short human" or "an elf raised by humans".

Regardless of whatever any one person's reason is, humans, as a fact, are the most common variety of race on the server. Telling someone 'oh well if you want a room just play a wizard and get a room in the Tower' or 'make a pirate and live in sencliff' is lame.

I start the game with a character concept in mind and use the tools that makes the most amount of sense for that concept. This ties into the main factor of "not enough quarters" because quarters that are generally accessible or dynamic for Whatever you want to do for it are in short supply in comparison to thematic quarters in race-locked areas. You could say, "well, play more earthkin/elves/gnomes" but I don't want to play a gnome, I want to play a sea elf damnit.

You'll see all kinds of quarters/guildhouses/etc used more often if their theme is ambiguous and or dynamic that players can take a thing and make it their own for whatever Thing they're doing, and then that Thing becomes a new thing when someone else takes over. Also take into account that everything on Arelith comes and goes in cycles. This month we're on monks, a few months back we were all on pale masters, maybe next we're going to see an influx of harpers or druids.


Also RE Shops
Yeah you can with considerable leg work convince people to go to shops in out of the way places but even with a lot of effort what you move vs what someone moves in a trade hub will be different. Also no one goes to RH to go shopping, they go there for (e)RP and get bodied by giants. If I'm in these places i'm probably more focused on what RP is going on than that.

[monkeywithstick]

Seeing as responses indicate people have not understood my earlier post:

mitigate
/ˈmɪtɪɡeɪt/

verb
make (something bad) less severe, serious, or painful.

I was not trying to argue all shops can be (or indeed should be) equal. But there can be some things done to mitigate.

As for the Nomad being a great location, it really was not when I started my shop there. I was watching competing stores sell the same things I was, at a much higher markup, more frequently in a lot of locations in Cordor (and I had access to ledgers and a regular "trade patrol" going on at the time). It was not the worst location in the city, but the sales volume the area has lately has certainly not been a constant. And when the Nomad's RP activity drops, so do my sales.

Location is important but fluctuations in the value of a location depend on your neighbouring stores and the factions and groups basing RP in the given area.