Good afternoon, everyone. I am encouraged to see that so many of us returned, and excited that we all can discuss our favorite game again. Over the years I have thought about issues such as these, concerning CoH, and I feel for everyone. Because this game means so much to us, and we are truly in it together, we should approach issues such as these from a singular perspective: sustainability.
Sustainability, in this sense, means long term continuation of the game, which relies on players. Invariably, we will suffer attrition as people eventually move on, and new players will be necessary. In ssance, we are a community, and we require a birth rate to sustain and grow. We lose people, we gain people. So here we are, and this is the key. We all have our perspectives, wants and views, and to this end we must set aside our preconceptions in order to serve the game we love and assure this sustainability.
Now, the true nature of these issues is revealed and we must make conscious choices to serve the community and the greater good of sustainability. Yes, we all want what we want, and not all of our wants align, yet 80% surely do, and we work from there.
Ultimately, the core of the matter should be seen from the new players perspective, in order to sustain that love we all have, that experience that hooked us. We must keep that experience alive for them, so that we all may continue to be a family, and make no mistake, we are a family. Consider that in any family, any community, there are certain extreme desires that unfortunately are not in service of everyone, and we all realize that and we make small compromises to assure sustainability. For example, some people believe taxes should be abolished, yet we can agree that some personal beliefs such as this can be detrimental to community growth.
In the spirit of this, I merely comment on the best choices to capture and nurture the hearts of new players, which is what we failed to do previously. Should AE not exist? Of course not! Yet, shouldn't we find a way to not let it impact new players negatively? We can all agree that AE spam that crowds out all the reasons we all feel in love with CoH is detrimental, because of the culture and perspective it creates, and the impression a new player has. Let's put ourselves in their shoes, if they see only AE from day one, never learn or experience, never discover what we had the privilege of, we have done them a disservice.
Think of it this way, we all hold this game dear, NOT because of AE, but because of issues 1-12 that got us there. Let's allow new players to enjoy that too, and also have AE! But do it smartly, lock it like Peregrine was, keep it out of spam, level restrict it, anything to assure sustainability.
After all, we don't let 8 year-old children drive automobiles, no matter how badly they want to, because we know that have to learn and grow. AE isn't bad, but our application of it most certainly is.
