To reverse the trend of people not coming into the chat, there has to be more giveaways, but not to any point that it costs the game to do so.
1. I read somewhere that players gain XP if they chat, so much per minute I think. Is there some way you can multiply this by the level the player is in chat?
For example, I'm level 31 in chat. If you're active once per hour, you get 1,000xp, multiplied by your chat level. So I would gain 31,000/hour (extreme case). This would still take me 332 hours of typing in chat to go up one level or 53 days at 6 hours per day, so would not outbalance the game.
It would also encourage new players to come into chat as a genuinely good way of gaining XP/levelling.
2. Rapport - a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other's feelings or ideas and communicate well.
Being in chat should increase your rapport level. How does your chat level x 25/hour sound? I would gain 775 x 6 hours a day = 4,650 rapport/day (extreme case) That would still take me 35 hours of chatting to upgrade my current level (16).
Gaining rapport with fellow members is important
3. Hourly rewards. Once per hour, an award, lets call it the chopsy point, is given to each player who has said something in chat, per hour. Doesn't matter if one person says one thing or 100 things, they're only counted once. The beauty of this is .. it doesn't have to be done there and then, it can be done in retrospect as all the chat logs will be there.
These chopsy points (yes the name will have to be changed lol) can be cashed in at an NPC for goodies, festive packs, U.A. resources, etc. and the list can be added to during events, so if your stuck on needing Haloween Pumpkin 7, then you can buy said pumpkin in the NPC. The rewards of being chopsy .. err talkative
There's a little bit of work for you there in setting up the NPC, but not too much .. and I think the rewards would be a great incentive for people coming into the game and for older players to use the chat more often. And none of these suggestions will overpower the game, just give incentives to come into chat, and hopefully stay there once they've met a few people.
Loopylaura
Head of Chat Loopiness
