I will comment on this...Honestly I didn't know how important it was to pm gm's with things your character wanted to do until just recently. With the way it is now.. a character can have a huge part of the world without even having to log into the game for anything other than quest. I hate bugging GM with pm's. I know they are busy with their RL jobs and families on top of planning quest answering forums etc. But from the way it looks that is the only you can grow your character other than quest and grinding xp. If GM's don't mind taking the time answering all the pm's they get from a server of people then I guess there is nothing wrong with that other than it leaves everyone else out on what is happening in the world. You go to try to do something only find out that such and such has already did that. Leaves others frustrated. One thing that does help, is the public threads that people post to IC. That allows others to be pulled in and get involved.
And now you understand one of the big reasons why you see WL's and high level characters less and less IG, or only on quests. World-changing projects take massive amounts of OOC and IC planning, which ultimately boils down to spending lots of time in conversation (either via PM or IRC) with GMs before you can even do anything IG.
So why even log in to play the game? That just says you can't do anything other than search for xp or craft. To me this leaves a lot of people out. I think public forms works much better to pull others in.
Because after all the big planning (which often includes forum posts, since you mentioned bringing others into the picture), then you hop IG to actually make the deed happen.
Heh ... you know when the GM says at the end of the quest, "And remember, my PM box is always open" or something? We do really mean it. Or at least I do. I received around a hundred PMs last week alone, and sent just as many.Forum RP is great, and serves its purpose. As do IG events and quests. But PMed inquiries also have their place. To me, PMs are to forum RP as CDQs are to quests in at least one way: they allow for a greater range of efforts and pursuits than one might otherwise be able to pursue. There is a time and place for things to be public and shared, but we also make opportunities for a wide variety of playstyles and for people to be involved in as many ways as possible, and for players and characters to take initiative in more private, solitary, unique or individual ways too. Or at least I do. My two cents for the morning.
Just in case this does not go to a separate thread (like it should), I just wanted to add. That when I was a GM I would run 80% of a CDQ by PM with IG sessions only to finalize or deal with key events.
I can understand pm's if you are working on a cdq for your character. But when it involves the world and others... how can that help anyone but your own character?
I will never ever write a pm to any DM, or reply to one for that matter
And the calendar is more sparsely populated with quests, which tend recently to be more plotty with some long story to discover and less "let's do something fun for the hell of it." And everyone's epic-level, looking for something more than just the same ol' same ol', I guess.
Furthermore there seems to be even fewer impromtus than there were in the past.
With fewer players online that makes sort of sense
I would much rather have something unexpected happen instead of someone just watching me type a novel in the chat window, but again that is probably just me.
Yes I think that it is the fact that everyone is epic now, and they are actually looking for something epic to do, besides bashing epic monsters.
If you solely play the game and try to stay out of the whole PM game then you will be stuck in same ol' same ol'. Or at least your character will be, because the way I see it, unless you type the first three PM's to the dm asking all sorts of questions leading you further after the actual quest has taken place.
All in all it comes down to that I don't feel that I can develop my character in any other way that sit myself down in front of the computer and type type type until I have gone tired of the whole process and simply stopped caring about it. Which is where I am even before I click on my PM inbox really. So to me the choice seems either to live with it or go into a process I lost interest in before I even found out it was the only way to do anything.
Just thought I would post this so since you mentioned there was no post on sightings of Milara. I realize it was just an example of your main point, but thought it would help:)http://forums.layonara.com/rumour-has/249022-drunken-bar.html(hopefully the link works)
What is the solution for PMing for quests? Well, first, you can attend quests that don't have big spans of time between their various start times....One quest date ended with us jumping into a portal, the next started with us coming out the other side--simple.
Jennara if you want to rescue a cat from a tree, do it. You don't need a GM to RP rescuing a cat.
I was told that some characters know a lot of information because they do a lot of leg work through pm's.
But things like this is what I love seeing...this gives others the opportunity to join in if they choose to and doesn't leave just one or two players with the information. Also doesn't require a GM to receive a dozen pms from several people to get the information out. Which leaves the GMs with more time for other things.
I have other players talk to me about these things.. so I know it isn't just me that is frustrated. But they are like.. what else can you do?
With that it just forces people in to the groups they are comfortable with and not bother trying. I know this is the point I am at. Once that is no longer fun then it will be time to move on.
I'm sorry you're frustrated and I'm sorry I've become confused. I don't understand how being frustrated and lacking information forces any particular grouping. That actually sounds like the worst way to resolve the lack.