As a returning player, I will chip in about the previously mentioned ailments of this server (gate-keeping, information overload, left alone trying to comprehend lore/rules/you name it):
(Not native speaker. Whoever finds grammatical errors is free to keep them.)
I have played FL Disco a few years ago. And I really tried to accommodate to the rules of "entering". Made a forum account, read about the server rules I could find (scratched my head),
applied for a player faction via RP-post in the forums, etc.
Thing is, you sat there and there is no one to turn to really... Without the numerous Discord groups nowadays, I would not have spared one thought about coming back.
Why? Because this game not only has a steep learning curve, a load of complexity not visible at first sight, counter-intuitive RP-styles (to me as a Pen&Paper GM), but also
a cabal of salty people who held and hold my nostalgia hostage in a way: "Do it the way we concluded fits us best!" / "Be happy to get restricted!" No?
Sure, I could just step away and then it would be no issue for me - another player lost (for a second time).
But is it too much, to ask for some change? If so, how about stepstones? Make an official tag "Learner" for new people.
I heard about the presumably now dead faction "Angels" who seemed to tried to do something similar. Well, I get why they would seem to be discouraged.
As I concur to almost all of the points brought up by Ravenna Nagash farther up, I have a few additional/differing ideas:
1.) Give Vets an incentive to help people ease into the game.
Many people like being publicly praised (heck, I do too) and there are three platforms to do so: The forums (Kudos!), the Discord and the game itself.
For example: Create an official faction similar like the "Angels". Even make them left-handed to give them a great storyline as to why they prey in Penn to
fish for new pilots. Give them two special ships for free, a versatile Cruiser and a REAL Carrier. Have them load up "Newbies" in their frail new ships, jump with them
through Sirius, all the while being in Discord voice chat explaining basic lore and mechanics. And while doing that pointing out the ingame-written or forum-written RP
that is in the making while the new players are in the most inclusive way present to be part of it and learn conduct / RP / rules / lore / mechanics / tactics and whatnot.
2.) Completely dump the dogmatic and convoluted rule-set(s).
Start anew. Get people together by randomly selecting half of them from the Discord/Forum and let other games and RP-styles actively influence you.
There need to be rules, sure. Although you (the people in "power") could delegate much work to the playerbase (inclusivity, remember?).
I suspect cutting down the mess of the rule-set(s) down to a third of it in size would still be more than enough.
I cannot count anymore how much I heard/read people exclaim "I really want to do X, but the rules forbid it or make it very difficult..."
3.) Embrace non-destructive alternate ideas and approaches.
Don't grief people for doing it differently. This is a game on a somewhat public server. Not your life or the base of your emotional wellbeing.
I joined a faction that does things differently and boy oh boy, the grief, the drama... It's like kindergarden all over (and I know what I talk about regarding that!).
4.) Change the lore-storage. Change how lore is fabricated - at least how it is distributed (from "not at all" forum-wise).
I am an educator and a GM, coincidentally both for about ten years now. And I can safely tell you all that there is something not working here: Lore-distribution.
When I get home from work to hop on the game and go inRP, I should not be bothered to first sift through the forum for lore-stuff to get up to date. That does not work for me
and I'm fairly positive I'm not the only one. Implement it in the Discord. Have sections/threads for all relecant and alive factions,
with short paragraphs (he said while typing down half a TED-talk) about the current state of events in the server-lore-narrative. Ain't hard, ain't much work.
Always link the Discord-paragraphs to the inevitable forum page and there you have a smart, fast, congruent way of distributing lore among the playerbase.
Freelancer is too often played in silence. Sometimes I'm in a voice chat with my friends who play different games while I'm trading/mining/doing missions alone, just to get some form of vocal interaction.
There is too much silence between the stars...
I have a great example at hand from yesterday: Participated in an RP-activity and we were in-voice the whole time. Seeing events and negotiations unfold inRP while being silly and laughing at times,
had me interested in FL Disco RP for the first time EVER. Because for the first time there was the human element in all of what happened, not the cold-deadpan style present in too many player interactions.
Yes, I know some of that is owed to the technical restrictions inherent in the game itself. Still my point stands and (I would argue) can hardly be refuted if viewed from perspective of communication theory (Schulz von Thun).
I have learned more about the recent lore of a certain official faction in two hours, than I could have looking stuff up in the forum in ten hours.
Have inRP-encounters relevant to the overall/faction lore be held in-voice, record it, make it available, note in the forums and the Discord and you can HEAR Sirius and its inhabitants.
6.) Fight griefing and ganking with fun and unity.
This goes out more generally to everyone who like me had the dubious "luck" of getting-encountered by the hilarious boyband of Sirius ("Sirosis and the Bomads"):
I'm not perfect so stuff like that makes me itch for handing it back to people who target you in a unproductive way for their childish amusement while unconsciously (I hope for them)
do a terrific job at iron gate-keeping towards new players.
Case in point: Three-ish years ago. The encounters I had with players were mostly terse and kinda grumpy from their side, if I wasn't perfectly doing it by THEIR standards.
Decided to play a bounty hunter then, to avoid some of this stuff. Getting ganked 3:1 and hunted (yes, I get the stupid irony) by Liberty Rogues players deep down into Rheinland and not
really seeing (then more like "knowing") a meaningful way to do something about it - it was at that time the last drop that made me quit the game for years.
Find people who want to play constructively with you. Who want to have fun, be silly, be curious and aim for the goal of being a Crew, a team.
And the factions and crews who actively search for and embrace new people in their group need to be lauded - not put down for it...
