[Lewdcifer]

DISCLAIMER: I AM GENERALIZING AND I AM BY NO MEANS TARGETING ANYONE SPECIFIC.

I think that Sigrogana Legend 2 has been growing very, very stale overtime. Maybe a bit of hyperbole in my statement, but that is how I feel about it.

Sigrogana Legends 2 follows a very repetitive process of coming up with a character concept, making the character, grinding it to level 60 and obtaining gear to finish that character's build, then trying to find role play. For most, it is only a matter of time before they ultimately lose motivation or gain motivation for other projects and move on to them, instead of continuing on with that project -- rinse and repeat.

I am guilty of this, but it is a problem because it makes it feel as if those characters are just ephemeral, someone that will eventually not appear anymore, and this in turn makes role play experiences more shallow in perspective.

The other problem is finding role play. Because of the above, it is harder to find role play because people usually seek someone their character knows, and generate role play from there.
Besides this, there has been a reduced interest in publicly accessible areas, which is blatantly noticeable when you compare the player count to those present in public areas.

Finding roleplay or making things progress on that front, tends to be difficult, because a significant amount of the community tends to be OOC or mainly reactive.

Regarding the OoC part: The OoC corner is and has always been a publicly accessible social hot spot, and somewhat of a necessary evil, where people go and chat with others and just screw around in general, sometimes engaging in OoC spars too. Due to its social nature, it's really nice if you're just looking to hang out.
I do agree that being OoC is fine, and just wanting to chill is fine too, but some people find it discouraging to walk into the arena and see a good portion of currently online players just piled up in the OoC corner, instead of roleplaying.

Regarding the 'reactive' part: It is true. A great portion of the community has no desire to approach people they are not comfortable with or have no prior knowledge of. They would rather be approached, and even then, they are initially defensive about such approaches. This has, in turn, segmented the entire community into what are commonly called "cliques", an undeniable problem of which most of us (myself included) are guilty. I have never been a fan of the concept, but it is sadly what the community's state is like.

Player motivation across the community seems to be fairly low, as of late.
It feels like there's very little interest in making things better, mainly from the community.

Certainly. The SL2 community has displayed those on-and-off periods of activity, but lately, I have felt the problem has accentuated. I have a few ideas as to why this could be happening, but like Fern mentioned, the community as a whole is involved in it. People have found it comfortable to refrain from change, from shaking things up a little and risking it. People feel discouraged from the game due to the lack of public presence, the segmentation of the community into cliques, among other causes.

And yet, there is little interest to bring about change. No one wants to exit their comfort zone, to approach others and be inclusive. You will be hard pressed to find out where half of the online players in game are hanging out, because it is in a player house or some other undisclosed location.

I have been doing my best to cause change from wherever and however I can, and I am sure others are doing the same too, but there is only so much a few people can do.

I have a genuine love for SL2, too. I have met great people, created so many characters, and I have come to enjoy the game play and the role play. I understand where Fern is coming from, because I feel the same way too, and I am glad that he decided to make this thread because I feel it is an opportunity to lay bare the feelings of everyone in regards to this matter, and an opportunity for the community to realize where it is and possibly work on it as a whole to try and get the ball of change rolling.

An idea for slightly alleviating the role play problem

There's not many ideas I have in mind, but off the top of my head:
- Create more public events: Depending on the events, I feel there should be other ways to bring the community together; such as hang-out events, festivals -- the sort of thing where people can just meet up and socialize. The problem is coming up with ways to incentivize it.
- Foment inclusion: Currently, the aforementioned "cliques" are rather closed off and initially defensive about those who approach them. This is not okay, and I feel people should be inclusive and considerate towards others in this regard, especially if it is a new player. Additionally, spread the word and encourage others to go to spots where the role play is happening.
- Public role play: I've no idea where half of the online players hang out, but I feel that there should be more role play in publicly accessible areas, where anyone can walk in and join in on the fun; easily approachable, pretty much.
- Determination: Don't worry about what they might think or what they might say -- just walk in there and get into the role play. It will be fine, and no one will mind.