[DISCUSSION] Kins Kins kins and their duty on Laurelin

[Oronir_Laurelin]

Fellow role-players

Yes indeed role-players, for you wouldn't be on the Laurelin server if you weren't. I am a relatively new player, 2 years in, and love the world and its possibilities. In my private life I have been a GM for the past 25 years in games such as (a)d&d.

The community is growing and there are some GREAT projects about tabletsofkhazadgund, brambleburygazette, Laurelin archives amongst them. Great things come from this and they can use all the help they can get to keep it alive and fun for all and for all time.

Kins however, in my opinion, are like weeds. Weeds are usually not weeds and thus in fact not bad as many people think. A lot of weeds are precious herbs that are not given the chance to grow and produce something exquisite. Well, if i look at laurelin I see the same thing concerning Kins. There are soooo many! Most have great ideas but rarely survive. Kins are sometimes also created just to be boss of the gang. I have also come across several kins that have the exact same aim but are struggling because they have too few active members.

In my small opinion Kins should be the shapers of the world. They create lots of great content and work with (or against) other kins in RP events. Kins give the areas real life. They should not be created in vain and unity is in most cases a lot more satisfying than in small groups. Now I am not saying we should have only 5 kins...definitely not. Just venting out my sadness that so much exquisite stuff hits the sand because kins have too few active members.

I would like to hear your ideas on this. If you are perhaps someone who thinks the same and would like to change this current trend I welcome your views even more. No banter please, only solid discussion posts.

Oronir

[elvenes]

It is a consequence of turbine removing the 8 people requirement to form a kin. In the past, you could set up a second account for a kin to stay active and fill with alts, but it was a minor occurrence. Now, microkins pop up every day, with 3 or 4 kinnies, mostly who don't even have a great deal of participation, and they die. They don't even get advertised, to make an effort to grow, as many think it is others who will come to you like a bear with honey. It doesn't work like that. If you want a kin, you have to advertise a lot and keep your kinnies entertained. There is no more feel of community and interest anymore. Even just a year ago there was more effort in rp, now people just storm in the pony with beornings, elves, haradrim and whatnot. Bree is like one large kin-not-kin for shallow rp. And of course, the majority of new kins you see around are likely "kins" with just one player in, because they just want the kinhouse

[Khalis_Laurelin]

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[Oronir_Laurelin]

It is a consequence of turbine removing the 8 people requirement to form a kin. In the past, you could set up a second account for a kin to stay active and fill with alts, but it was a minor occurrence. Now, microkins pop up every day, with 3 or 4 kinnies, mostly who don't even have a great deal of participation, and they die. They don't even get advertised, to make an effort to grow, as many think it is others who will come to you like a bear with honey. It doesn't work like that. If you want a kin, you have to advertise a lot and keep your kinnies entertained. There is no more feel of community and interest anymore. Even just a year ago there was more effort in rp, now people just storm in the pony with beornings, elves, haradrim and whatnot. Bree is like one large kin-not-kin for shallow rp. And of course, the majority of new kins you see around are likely "kins" with just one player in, because they just want the kinhouse

I agree that turbine made an error. Probably out of pressure of gamers being frustrated with kin creation. But on a RP server It should be be possible. The RP seems shallow in general and finding a kin becomes difficult as new player if RP is what you also want.
ME and a few others would like to start an experiment that would include many RP kins. The purpose being that these RP Kins get a boost in RP and general activity.

[Thakalgundian]

I can obviously only speak about my own experience of course and the four/five years I've been active on Laurelin.
First thing I can say is that I don't agree that RP is struggling on the Laurelin server, quite the opposite in fact.

The servers merger are still in full swing, so won't comment much on that, but I'm hopeful that will only create a bigger RP community, perhaps with people that try out RP for the first time.
I for one don't think RP on Laurelin is for an elite bunch of lore-lovers and we should welcome those that take their first steps into RP, invite them to events and guide them when we can. If they fail at their first attempt, no harm done, there will be other chances for RP and the RP-regulars won't die because of it either.
If I look back three, four years at my own personal RP experience here, I find that RP was much more "Play-your-Character-Together", and rarely something more.
The Prancing Pony is often the first step into RP for many, at times unfortunately so, I dare to say. As you'll always get a good mix of RPers, non-RPers and Trolls alike there, which obviously isn't always beneficial for the RP, but that's just the Pony for you I find. Don't put down the Pony just because you'll find a few trolls or non-RPers there... . In fact, I urge RPers to hop into the Pony more regularly and "save" the poor newby RPers in there that wondered in and found them troubled by a troll or being asked about the stats on their gear. The Pony is the Pony, a unique element in this game, something we should cherish.

These days new RP kinships are forming with a fresh perspective on RP at times and yes, plenty don't survive their first year (but that's perfectly natural).
At least players gain experience in those kinships, try things out and often move to other RP kinships in the long run. So in the end, having plenty of little RP kinships is not a bad thing, they have their merit I find.
Also, we now see more GM-lead/guided RP than ever before (I can't remember seeing it four year ago at all by the way).
If you look at such projects like TabletsofKhazadgund, LaurelinArchives or the BrambleburryGazette these are all very much alive and a good indication that Laurelin (or RP on Laurelin for that matter) isn't dead, but thriving.

[miriadel]

Thriving, depends. It is not all rainbows and roses. Dwarf rp, men rp and hobbit rp seems to be going strong if one looks at the archives, or the other names you provided. Elf rp on the other hand, has been dwindling, there are not as many events as there are for the other races. And I daresay most new kins nowadays do not survive their first two weeks. And as for transfers... people from other servers are being forced to come here, or Evernight in the FR and DE servers are not a choice for them. I doubt the majority of them will even going to consider stepping in the pony and give it a try. Let's just say I am not getting my hopes up on purpose with the transfers breathing new life in RP.

[Oronir_Laurelin]

Thank you both for taking the time to reply. Thakalgundian, your kin is doing really well and i am glad RP is booming there. I will be contacting you about that another time. I have only been playing for 2 years and so can't compare much but indeed we many are forced to merge and coming to a RP server might give them a different view on playing or not. We can only hope. Many people playing atm have no idea about the happenings in other kins. It would be good if GMs of solid kins would contact each other more regularly and roll out rp stories together cross-kin.