I would like to take this opportunity to present to you the latest and greatest of a long list of "interesting" novice areas.

I can only wish the best of luck to whomever may decide to settle there.

I can also not refrain myself from asking (yet again) what the intended experience of the players in such an area may be.

Do you think we enjoy having to evict the inhabitants of such areas?

Kind regards,
Your local evil warlord,
Atavus

PS: Please reconsider this behavior.

Why is the cooldown for this area 19 days?

So far it was always 14 days, or did I miss something?

I mean, let's calculate the chances that Atlan (or Helam over at https://screeps.com/a/#!/map?pos=-36.813,-25.527 !) will leave these players be at peace once the green drops. Ready? Here we go: *beep boop beep bzzzzt*: 0.00%

Finding the motivation and dedication to keep playing this game is hard enough as it is, and throwing new(er) players straight into the jaws of the sharks doesn't help a bit to keep them interested to keep paying for a subscription. 

TLDR; I think these blocks hurt the experience for all players involved and should be avoided. 

I think more consideration should be done on how to make new players have a good first experience of the game and to nurture the growth of the player base.

Are new players warned that certain novice zones are in pools of sharks? Maybe they should be warned that certain novice zones are dangerous. Maybe new sectors could be green novice zones, but re-purposed areas could be yellow novice zones? That way they know that it will take work to survive, living among warlords.

Because truthfully, it's breaking my heart having to destroy so many novice rooms!

Kind regards,
Your local aspiring empathetic warlord,
Tanjera

The point of this topic is exactly about players experience. What we observe is slowed expansion for high lev players (as if we needed it) and inappropriate starting point for novices. I agree with Tanjera idea of making a distinction between border novice areas and those within shark's basin. Another color and maybe a limited access to GCL5+ players could improve the experience of both newcomers and installed players. 

I myself grew up in such a novice area and had a great experience from that place, so let me be clear I don't want to see all the mechanism disappear but instead add some improvements to players XP. I think my good experience is linked to a good neighborhood and a decent amount of implication from myself. The second point is obvious, If you want to grow in sush place you have to make it fast. The first point is more important in the mechanism I have in mind. You could for example define Rookie areas only accessible to GCL5+ if neighborhood is mainly composed of GCL10+. 

At the time when I grew up my neighborhood was composed with ~1-2 months players so I had a chance to make a place for myself. Now, the novice areas spawning around don't let any chance to survive for novice players surrounded by GCL10+ players, they don't have neither time nor space to grow.

The idea to add a second level of such areas is to allow access to players who respawn after a war and to improve their ability to find a decent place to do so. For those experienced players, spawning in a border area is a slow grow option and spawning in an inner area is more a challenge about expansion and diplomacy.

We also noticed the decrease in time for the appearance of these areas, could you at least increase this time to allow us to expand. I recently expanded to a new sector, took one room and as soon as this room reached RCL7 (which was fast thanks to the war treasure) I got a novice area spawned just next of this room forcing me to wait 14 days before remote harvesting...as mentioned above, my POV is we don't need more time frustration in this game where warfare expansion is already so slow. (Also, I know I better had to reserve those surrounding rooms but with <RCL7 room spawning time is quite limited)

Therefore, in summary :

- Border novice areas as usual

- Inner novice areas as usual but only in acceptable neighborhoods (1-2 months players sectors)

- Deep inner rookie areas only accessible to GCL5+ players (within sectors controlled by GCL10+ players) + reduced spawning time

The point here is to decrease frustration of both old and new players facing these areas.

Thanks for your reactivity, It's really appreciated to be able to discuss such topic with you!

I apologize, but I am indeed having difficulties understanding the purpose of these zones. From your feedback in the recent discussions on this topic, I was under the impression that these areas were to stimulate a higher density of players in the map. Your reply now, suggests otherwise. I would like to address both possible intentions just in case.

First, these areas do not increase player density in the map because they get fully cleared in 95% of the cases once they open.

Second, are these "experimentation" zones really fruitful? These areas generate frustration for the players affected by them. The majority of players joining the game which may make use of these areas are not aware of these limits. They settle there hoping to carve out an empire of their own. It is unfair for both sides.

Let's reduce this problem to its core:

1. Is the experience of a new player better in a proper novice area or in the makeshift zones?
2. Are the random novice areas generating frustration for existing players?

Answering these two questions, makes the discussion much easier.

I would also like to point out, that the fear of empty areas suddenly covering the map is unjustified. Deadlypineapple despawned recently and his area was gobbled up within a few days. Veteran players are constantly being pushed out from the map center and currently have no real choice but to spawn into the novice areas.

I think what bugs me the most about this is that Atlan is clearly active. He has occupied that sector for over a month now. He dropped some of his reservations for 3 days to engage in war against Opptic and Magnus from E5S45. I can only imagine what a complete disaster this novice area would have been if the war would have lasted a bit longer.

Doing this repeatedly is seen as an insult by the veteran players. You are risking the loss of dedicated, active and paying members of the community, for no real reason.

Kind regards,
A concerned citizen

PS: This post is justified because it deals specifically with the creation of a dysfunctional novice area.

The post by Dissi on this topic was a complaint about the frequency with which these areas get regenerated.

My first post about this topic was a complaint about the logic of these areas and the fact that the mechanism was not documented at all.

With all due respect, I don't think that is the common interpretation of novice areas. I think players think of them as a legitimate safe place to begin the game. If you intended these middle-of-the-map novice areas to offer some lesser amount of protection, you shouldn't rely on players to just "get it", it should be clearly stated in the introduction documentation. Keep in mind, these are often brand new players that are unaware of the game mechanics and not exactly in a position to judge the relative safety of different types of novice areas. Fourteen days is a significant amount of time to invest in your empire only to have it crushed because you didn't realize it wasn't a safe place after all (despite the enticing green colored rooms clearly marked "novice area")

I wipe my novice zone out every time. It takes time, it's tedious and not fun at all. I've also NEVER seen a player respawn after I wiped out their base. Meaning I'm essentially wiping out your revenue streams.

Keep in mind, these are often brand new players that are unaware of the game mechanics and not exactly in a position to judge the relative safety of different types of novice areas. Fourteen days is a significant amount of time to invest in your empire only to have it crushed because you didn’t realize it wasn’t a safe place after all (despite the enticing green colored rooms clearly marked “novice area”)

I disagree. If a player is afraid of respawning and losing his 15-days old novice rooms, then probably Screeps is not a good choice for him (at least the official world). His real investment was to produce the code, not the structures.

I’ve also NEVER seen a player respawn after I wiped out their base. Meaning I’m essentially wiping out your revenue streams.

We’ve seen it hundreds of times though.

Is the experience of a new player better in a proper novice area or in the makeshift zones?

Are the random novice areas generating frustration for existing players?

@chaos the issue you bring forth has not happened anywhere so far. I'd suggest we deal with such a problem should it actually occur.

I got an interesting idea of how to prevent such rooms to be noviced, and also warn other players to not spawn in it.

We introduce a new StructureController property, say, sign. It’s a simple text property that can be set by any creep who reached this controller in close range, even if it’s an unowned or hostile controller. An example usage:

creep.signController(creep.room.controller, "I'm going to claim this room very soon");

Is the experience of a new player better in a proper novice area or in the makeshift zones?

Are the random novice areas generating frustration for existing players?

The experience for all players will be worse if we stop making novice areas in inner regions, and desolate empty spaces begin to grow.

> If the controller is “signed” recently

What's defined as recently? Will signed messages expire?

...

I love you!

That suggestion is extraordinary. Perfect for dealing with everyone's concerns.

I disagree. If a player is afraid of respawning and losing his 15-days old novice rooms, then probably Screeps is not a good choice for him (at least the official world). His real investment was to produce the code, not the structures.

I think this is very true, we need to make sure this message is being consistently displayed. Most players really dislike the experience of "losing" but in screeps it can be really instructive and part of the fun. It really comes down to how they interpet the event, and most people are predisposed to interpret it in a negative way. I think there are many people who screeps is "a good choice for" if they can just be reminded of that.

I know there are already some game messages that convey the idea (like the one displayed when you need to respawn), but it might be worth thinking about what other areas to drive this point home.