It's been several years since I've played live, however, I have logged in about a year ago and saw 3 old friends still playing. I miss the eq live friends i had made, as well as the emulator friends/guildies I've made throughout the years that have fled...
Seeing as how Pantheon is trying to get back to a highly social game, depending on the necessity of groups, making friends, and simply enjoying the atmosphere- I strongly believe it'd be in VR's best interest to have a field that each memeber woud fill out- a demographic sheet if you will. This would allow each player to check mark each game they played, emulator they played, and all of the character names that they played- and maybe a list of friends they'd wish to get back in contact with.
This will get long-time friends back together and IMMEDIATELY be off with a fairly large friends list. This will not only promote the goal VR has been working for, but it will also allow the staff to record player history to help narrow down your key demographic profile. Running a business, I know how important it is to know who your marketing out to. Track track track!!
Sounds like quite an undertaking Shayken. Wouldn't using the game forums and the current social media applications be just as effective?
Facebook didn't exist 15-20 years ago. I haven't started opening up my personal life/facebook with fellow gamers till this last year or two- I usually kept it down to people I knew in person. So yes, social media would be great- if people felt comfortable to use it and had access to it years ago.
A highly-promoted thread ought to be pretty useful for a 'check-in' for other players but I'd imagine it'd be kind of hard to search for players- for those that have played multiple games, but maybe not- just a lot of folders/subfolders.
And I don't deny it being an undertaking. But if you want to be a unique game and get people back to being highly social again.... We got time ;)
As far as it being in VR's best interest for them to create something like what you suggest for them to implement seems like it would be a waste of resources for them to commit to on a limited budget. VR has already said that a good amount of things that people have relied upon recently in mmo's (that usually are provided in game) will be not implemented in their game creation for the overall social mmo convergence experience and also the budgetary constraints. This is due to the fact that there will always be a third party that puts out something like a quest directory or an add-on overlay to supplement the game HUD. Your idea of a demographic sheet fits into the realm what a third party website can create and also what Oldtimer suggested.