Hello everyone, I thought I would make this guide to help out smaller cities and the server in general when it comes to retaining a player base. I have in my experience had pretty good luck when it comes to getting new players into towns on 2.0 and 3.0 and I think that in order for Civcraft to remain interesting to the fresh blood on the server, established nations and players need to do the following to keep their cities alive.

• Involve new players in interesting projects-not just vault digging and farming

In my experience new players love to hop into a city and get involved in local projects and eventually politics. Not every player is like this and some just want to be left alone-but many do enjoy a working community.

Have new players go on resource trips to other shards with you, assign them interesting projects, consider paying them for their work, and ask them what they like to do. Most players will not stay if you put them in a hole and have minimal contact with them.

• Shill for them to join Mumble

Send them a link to the download, tell them to join the Mumble server and talk to them. Tell the new players that it is how everyone communicates and that they do not even need to have a working mic to gain information from it. I have seen new players pulled from the depths of ignorance just because they got mumble and become something very interesting. Mumble develops community. Use it and use it often.

• Have some room for new players to join and work in the government

This is spooky to many established nations who would shudder at the thought of a new player within a month joining the city or national government in some capacity. I can tell you that it is not as spooky as it seems. Many new players are very competent individuals-for example in my experience I have seem players like BritishWanderer, Cal_Capone, Videohead, DroidJoe, Smal, Nanotech (God bless his soul), and the majority of the /pol/ guys in 2.0 start off as new players and become active and productive members of Civcraft.

Having a government in which people can contribute and have a say in brings together a community. People will catch on quickly to what ideas are dumb and what ideas are good and they will adapt to the culture of the nation.

• Don't set them in apartments and let them build their own homes

I see this constantly, nations with a strict building code pushing for new players to live in apartments and not build their own home. This is fine for planned cities but if you want to have a lot of new players join up with you, your city should have an area that is open to build houses and stores in that new players can build. It turns out nice most of the time and ugly builds can be fixed. Victoria is a very pretty city and this is how it was done. Same with Icenia when it was not lava bombed by Hjatland and Volterra.

• Don't assume new players are dumb

Educate them on the rules of the server, the general ideas and culture of the server and the mods and plugins of the server. Don't just move them in and expect them to learn themselves. Have a conversation with each one that joins and make them feel welcomed.

• Let ideas flourish

Often times a new player will come to a city manager and ask them if they can build something within the city. Many times that is met with a "no". Let new players have a bit of freedom when it comes to building. It will keep them occupied. Set an area aside for them if you have the land to do so and often times something cool will come out of it.

• Link them to your subreddit, encourage participation, involve them

These all work hand in hand and touch on things I have already said. New players will leave if you let them sit and do nothing or put them in a hole to mine and grind. Make it fun for them even if grinding is a huge part of this server. Remember Mumble makes the grind a bit better and the grind is not everything for many.

I have learned a lot of things when it comes to getting new players to join between Icenia and Victoria. I think from my negative experiences in Icenia I have made Victoria a much more better new player city that teaches people to play the game and play the game well.

Of course you do not have to follow these suggestions, I am just putting them out there because they have worked for me and continue to work for me.