Owned half of red in X days...
I don't get it

Suggestions without being too IC for what you believe are your shortcomings.

- Lose your stuff! Unless you truly die, you can always get stuff back. Save money to be able to get backup supply sets of your choosing, etc. Losing stuff can lead to RP to get it back or get new things, especially when its one of kind.

-While hanging around in bars etc is a good idea for getting contacts, its not the only way. Get friends on SIC, the grid, etc. You can contact them at any time and that makes networks to work through.

-Get on other peoples goals. Either ride them out, help them get the goal, maybe they'll help you or sabotage and take the goal for yourself. Just because its not your goal doesn't mean it -can't- be yours.

-If you have trouble coming up with your own goals, start small. 'Today, I'm going to meet one new character.' ' Today I'm going to try to start a crew' 'Today I'm going to get in the good graces of X faction'. From there, expand. You're friends with a faction? See if they will support a goal of yours or will offer help. Got a crew and you want to start a business? Toss ideas with them. Pool resources. Cover each others backs. But start small. Wanting your end goal to be a colony spaceship with an army on it is -not- obtainable to an immy for a long time if they don't take small steps along the way to make contacts, get resources, helpers, a crew.

Hope this helps and game on!

In my opinion, saying that an immy owned half of Red X days after immigration, X being anything less than a few months, is an hyperbole. Progress (in the form of wealth, power, and fame) in Sindome takes time, effort and roleplay. Unless you're willing to invest those three things your character isn't going anywhere. So in terms of "owning stuff" I think they probably mean "owning the game", as in, the character, being an immigrant, is already involved in intense plots, heavy roleplay, complex arches, they're actively participating in alliances, betrayals, and are deeply immersed in the dramatic series that we all seek to make this game an enjoyable experience.

Those players are usually very experienced with the game and know how to involve other players in plots. They have the ability to get other people to do their bidding (creates RP), even if they don't have money (creates more RP), and create player industries of people who work for other people (creates RP). They are not necesarily the most powerful character in the game, because obviously, the moment they step on the wrong toes they can be killed/robbed/permed, but they are indeed influential and create a LOT of Roleplay. And that is much more valuable than being a max-UE thug.

You can involve yourself in the game too. But it'll take effort and guts. Some of the things you're doing are excellent, namely not sitting in your apartment waiting on your ass until something comes to your way. I think it's really good that you've acknowledged what's holding your Sindome experience back. You should find concrete goals that will lead you to dramatic situations even when you know you could die. Yes, you have to pick your fights. But that doesn't mean you'll always pick fights with the weakest ones because you, the player, know you will always win. Sometimes just finding a reason to hate someone who is equally if not stronger than you, and do stuff against them can be the best of the plots, and from which derive a bunch of subplots.

It also helps tremendously to stick to the theme. I've received the impression many different players don't respect the theme as in their character will not do things that they would do, simply because the player feels uneasy about it, or otherwise feels OOC guilt. This includes murdering, killing, cheating, lying to save your own ass, extorting, coercing, etc. etc. All in the name of solving YOUR problems, at the expense of other people. This leads to so much RP. I briefly ran into the same problem playing my first character, but I realized that if you try a more bold approach, you could see different results. It's much more heart pumping than sitting in a bar and talking about how went your boring day at work.

I ran into this a lot when I was getting started. Looking back, there was probably some help offered IC that I didn't recognizeat the time. For me, being patient and persistent led to progress.

I decided what line of work my character was looking for, and put myself out on SIC and the grid for it. Then I pursued every rumor about it that I could find. Along the way, I ran crates and tried to talk to every NPC I could find. I joined conversations on the SIC network, according to how my character viewed the city

As previously mentioned, create some challenges for yourself to overcome. Take some time to look at your history and how your character would react to Withmore. Decide you don't like something, or that you love something and have to have it. RP opportunities will generally present themselves from that. Get a solid idea of how you feel about those and @note it. It might fit into a plot that is being developed.

This has now led to a point where I can start to pass some of that back to newer characters, both to repay what was done for me, and to see if they would be useful to me ICly. For me, it's not been a fast game to start, as the curve is a bit steep, but I think I have an idea now of where I'm aiming for now.

I didn't really mean "own' in the literal sense. More in the sense that one has gained a level of dominance.

I am also trying to view money as something to be spent in the pursuit of a fun story. I am not as hesitant about losing money as I tend to be about losing other things. I get more hesitant when I think about losing days of character development when getting aced. Not paralyzed by it but I find myself hedging a little. Thoughts like "should I really risk getting into crazy when I haven't updated in X days?" Working on this mindset too. Trying to move getting aced into the character development category too.

I think that what Vera, Villa and others have said has helped a bit. Knowing that it can take weeks or even months to get pulled into the fun plots that are all around is good to know. I kept thinking that I was doing something wrong considering how much time I spend out and about and still not really being in on anything much yet. I'll keep it up and work on improving.

I also get what Cerberus is saying. There has to be ups and downs, successes and failures. I am all for that. I have suffered a few minor hardships and look forward to facing more. I am not looking for non-stop success. Not at all.

I guess I was just having a hard time seeing how one could take a fresh character to prominence so quickly and it sounds like it has a lot to do with the player. It sounds like the people who do this are often veteran players wielding fresh characters and that makes a big difference. I am also guessing that their fresh characters have backgrounds that allow them to apply this knowledge of theirs more rapidly than would be possible for the typical new immigrant to Withmore?

Thanks again for the input!

Said character used guile and bluffed their way for a long time until they could back it up. You don't need amazing stats if you can convince those with the amazing stats to be on your side.

It certainly sounds awesome. The more I hear about it the more impressed I get. Awesome stuff though far beyond me!

New characters, old characters, what does it matter? UE is a useful tool, much less so than Roleplay.

The story I believe they're referring to is, honestly, less unique then they're making it sound. There are a lot of newbie success stories out there, a lot of approaches to success, and a lot of metrics of success. All you really need to do is take chances. Even if your goals are less tangible than warlording, or money or turf, taking chances is crucial.

Remember in the end, it's not what you have - it's how you earned what you have. Ask yourself if you want a lot of steady, safe money or a much smaller amount of things that you have a -story- for where you took on greater opposition.