A couple of worlds ago, we had an awesome alcove system that gave new players an easy way to learn about towns that wished to represent themselves. Towns had the chance to teach the new players a little bit about themselves, show off their building skills, and to help decorate their own piece of spawn. I can't be the only one who misses them. To me it seems like a no-brainer to bring them back, as it would be beneficial for all players.
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Bringing back town Alcoves
- Thread starter Psychedelic98
- Start date
I second this. Dunno what to do with outlaw towns though?
I wouldn't worry about the Outlaws at this stage, but I'm sure it will all work out.
We going to help. 
The argument against alcoves is:
1. Town owner wants us to add more people to the perms list.
2. Its a coding hassle and a lot of extra work.
3. We don't really have space for a towns room and it doesn't fix into our current theme.
4. Some people leave alcoves ugly and half built.
5. People aren't even using the towns page.
1. Town owner wants us to add more people to the perms list.
2. Its a coding hassle and a lot of extra work.
3. We don't really have space for a towns room and it doesn't fix into our current theme.
4. Some people leave alcoves ugly and half built.
5. People aren't even using the towns page.
I can certainly see the argument for the towns room. It was a neat idea in the old world, but back then our population was fairly steady. We are getting quite a few new members a day (whether they stay or leave) these days and the biggest issue with the town alcoves was maintenance. If our server population grows at a quickening pace, the maintenance of the alcoves will be a hassle as well as the need to expand the alcoves when they get full.
Like Joc said, the intention is really for Town Pages to fill the role of the alcoves. They're very immature at their current stage still, but in the future when town pages can have both descriptions and galleries. Additionally the system is more easily scalable.
That said I'm not killing the alcoves idea entirely; especially if there's overwhelming support for it. But perhaps we can find a way to make it less high-maintenance.
Like Joc said, the intention is really for Town Pages to fill the role of the alcoves. They're very immature at their current stage still, but in the future when town pages can have both descriptions and galleries. Additionally the system is more easily scalable.
That said I'm not killing the alcoves idea entirely; especially if there's overwhelming support for it. But perhaps we can find a way to make it less high-maintenance.
And that's pretty much the strongest argument right there, Jedi.
There are some things I could do with code to make the process work without the intervention of admins, but the design of the town alcoves is one thing I'd definitely like to do better than last time.
There are some things I could do with code to make the process work without the intervention of admins, but the design of the town alcoves is one thing I'd definitely like to do better than last time.
I apologise for our lack of effort. Would be cool to see these back again though
Nothing wrong with the original alcove, it's just that that spawn at the time had little cohesive design like our current spawn town does now. With the theme we have going, making a beautiful town alcove for people to use will be much easier.
The key to the new town alcoves should be ensuring they're more easily found. This way new members can find the area and take a look at towns very easily. Hard to say where to put it without putting it underground, though, but it probably does make the most sense being underground and attached to the towns building that already exists. One thought is that town alcoves exist on a completely different world or something... I dunno..
So I guess I've changed my mind about having them, let's do it. The website town pages will probably be looked at first by people checking out the server (finding us on PMC, for example). So it behooves towns to put some work into their town pages as it may be the thing that brings a new person to the server. The alcoves can serve for the people that either find Loka through word-of-mouth or some other means than via our website.
The key to the new town alcoves should be ensuring they're more easily found. This way new members can find the area and take a look at towns very easily. Hard to say where to put it without putting it underground, though, but it probably does make the most sense being underground and attached to the towns building that already exists. One thought is that town alcoves exist on a completely different world or something... I dunno..
So I guess I've changed my mind about having them, let's do it. The website town pages will probably be looked at first by people checking out the server (finding us on PMC, for example). So it behooves towns to put some work into their town pages as it may be the thing that brings a new person to the server. The alcoves can serve for the people that either find Loka through word-of-mouth or some other means than via our website.
My recommendation is a generator like structure below the alcove. Only full owners can pearl it, and they can add members of their choosing. Each owner could only claim one at a time, and it is automatically destroyed when the town dies.
I like the idea of a automatically destroying alcoves when a gen dies, but for the idea of the current flow of newcomers and the growing rate of Loka's towns it would be wise to only display the only strong towns who have been around for several weeks, at least one month. And when you enter a alcove links pop up in your chat to the town pages.
And for the unfishished alcoves or ugly ones, they must be either be remodelled or finished or the alcove is redesigned without town owner input.
And for the unfishished alcoves or ugly ones, they must be either be remodelled or finished or the alcove is redesigned without town owner input.