Map change is the same kind of wishful thinking people who cry for switching to outlands RP engage in. The blind assumption that the grass is simply greener on the other side. A map change will do very, very little to alleviate most problems Willard has and that's just reality. We weren't at I17 for more than a week by the time people started calling it 'just like City 24.'
That should tell you all you need to know. If problems were so easily solved by just flipping the board to a different map, it would have already been done. Willard has swapped maps some three times now and look where we are. Still having the same issues that we would have on any of the others.
It sounds like a really good idea until you do it and suddenly all the same issues are still there...except now everything just looks older and less red. Not exactly a massive improvement. Maps matter, but to wager that swapping them can just 'fix' things is downright imaginative. At best, you pretty much stay the exact same. At worst, you end up killing your entire server in your haste. That's not grass people are seeing on the other side, those are weeds.
This is incredibly true.
Something I've noticed over the years is how people always attribute the issues to everything but themselves. "RP is stale because of the map", "RP is stale because of current/lack of storyline", "RP is stale because X is inactive", "RP is stale because noone Y", "RP is stale because Z, A, B, C..."
Obviously, these can all be contributing factors but they're not to be used lightly as excuses. Despite a lot of "the above" being true I've found myself being able to start and maintain roleplay with a lot of people, consistently, and even contribute to create IC threads and mini-narratives to follow, even if mundane in nature.
The map and storyline one are specially prevalent. A map switch is a somewhat effortless (for the players) placebo to make it look like your RP isn't uninspired or boring for like a week or so while you are OOCly re-learning the map layout and put their 3 props down in it (also known as turbo coping). The whole storyline thing, I can somewhat get behind, but otherwise, in a sandbox, the GMs are as at fault as the players for nothing happening in it. I always saw GMs / in this case the creative team like just a silent pointer that every now and then nudges you in the right direction, and makes your objectives come full with life. If you don't got any, that's on you.
A map as "bad"/uninspired/overseen as C18 would work so long everyone put in a little effort in those aspects. IMHO, this map is super detailed, but it is not very good for roleplay. A lot of spaces that aren't used, and lack of areas that can act as hub save Victory Square and the Nexus. Many isolative areas like HPR. Not enough breathing room for ACs as they require filters to even exist, etc. etc.
But even then I don't think it's a bad map. It has a lot of ambience, it is very horizontally connected to ease scenes such as chases and so on. It evidently has a lot of tools in play for it to work, even if it's been being used for like 17 years or whatever people say.
"Atmosphere" isn't necessarily bad atm. Even when I get it's not as loyal-y as it is likely meant to be in many's minds it is still an incredibly permissive and rights-ful city in comparison to other settings I've seen played out.
I wouldn't be necessarily against a map change if it helps aid narrative direction and change it up a bit, but I don't like it when people point out a single issue as the root of all evil. I mean, we're the ones operating the map... If something as barebones and simple as TextRP can work with just imagination, maybe we're relying too much on our "virtual needs" here to justify doing things.
