One Hour One Life Forums

The area ban, as it currently stands, has altered gameplay in many ways. I firmly believe that its net impacts have by in large been negative. These are seven reasons that I believe that the Area Ban needs to be fixed. Feel free to add your own, or critique mine.

1.) The Area Ban Punishes Eves: In what is probably the worst outcome of the lineage ban, Eves are punished more than other players. If an Eve happens to spawn within a proximity to a flourishing village then her chances of having a child are greatly reduced, as are her children's chances. If by some miracle her camp is able to survive and grow, then the nearby village might die out because of the Eve camp. I agree with Jason that Eve starts should be hard, and rarely successful; but this should be because of starvation, bad camp placement, poor management etc. and not because of some unseen game mechanic. That some algorithm can punish someone who has nothing to do with a nearby city is not a good thing.

2.) It Isolates Villages: One of the most fun aspects of OHOL is the social game; interacting with others and leading memorable lives is core to the OHOL experience for many. There was once a time in OHOL where it was possible to build interconnected villages, to exchange people and information, and to make meaningful connections. This is no longer possible. Any villages that are proximate will cannibalize one another of babies until one or both are destroyed.  Villages have become like islands. Everyone is of the same family, and that interconnection is gone. Forget adopting a girl baby to save a line, or contacting your outpost town for help, once an isolated village is gone...then it is gone.

3.) Roads are now Worthless: With villages distantly isolated from one another, there is no longer any purpose to build roads. You would have to build a massive road spanning thousands of kilometers to make a meaningful connection. The only time that roads are used now is to connect a village to a farther out biome or resource, which is generally an unnecessary waste of flat stones. Roads within camps are no longer being built due to functionality issues.

4.) Radios are also Worthless: Radios have never been well-liked, and they are arguably one of the least useful techs in the game, but with area bans they are now completely useless. The only useful purpose for radios was to connect nearby villages with one another to share work orders and ideas, but now they can't even do that.

5.) It punishes players who are actually trying: Babies who suicide are banned from respawning within an area for 90 minutes. This means that players who are not suiciding and who are actually keeping true to Jason's vision about leading a different life every game are being punished the most. These people slave away in their camps/villages, yumming and warming themselves to get a girl, only for the village to die of no fault of their own. Many babies suicide to play a life with a friend or because they don't understand the new temp update, and once they live that life then they have no way of getting back to any village or camp within the area ban limits. This punishes all the people who are within the area ban limits.

6.) It prohibits a fatherhood mechanic: One of the biggest reasons, as I understand it, that men cannot be fathers is a fear of incestuous relationships between men and women within the same family tree. With the area ban in place, of course this is going to be a problem. As long as villages are inadvertently destroying one another, how can lineages ever hope to meet and betroth players to one another? Sure, multiple lineage towns were rare even before the area ban, but now it is impossible for them to exist (unless its a twin start). Alot of players have asked for this mechanic over the years, so if it is ever going to come, the area ban will have to be overturned. Same with trading; if there is ever a reason to trade, then area bans will make it very difficult.

7.) Bell towns are pointless: Following bells was supposed to be a one of a kind journey, one that would allow a player to start a new life if they were able to make it to the bell town. Now if they make it, they all but guarantee the end of their lineage if they are a woman. The idea of multiple families living together in bell towns is simply not feasible.

I highly doubt that this is an original idea, but lately I have been abandoning hyper-crowded villages that don't seem sustainable/fun as a man and setting off into the wilderness (normally about 15-25 biomes away).  Once there, I proceed to set up a camp with all the essentials...a berry patch, forge, basic kit of tools, a sheep pen etc. before meeting the reaper.

When I am inevitably reborn into the hyper-crowded village a couple of hours later (sometimes less), I retrace my steps back to my other camp. If I am a man, I continue to improve it, if I am a woman then I start a branch family. Although the idea of starting a branch family/"eveing it" is not a new concept, the big difference here is that I already have set myself up with all the essentials and more. Unlike a female character who is burdened with children, as a man I had free reign to do whatever needed to be done.

Once you return to your camp as a female, babies can easily integrate into the new camp without fear of famine, and a massive village can spawn within a generation. This has major benefits over "eveing it" the traditional way of starting a camp as a runaway girl, and when the "/DIE" folks see a decent camp, many of them will decide to stay.

The only drawback is that you might never be reborn into the original village, which would mean that your work was done for nothing.

The more I play the new update...the more I am getting vibes of this game from before the desert update. With the eves, living on green biomes, mostly spawning in camps rather than cities, and a focus on survival, this really feels like a blast from the past. I'm not sure I like it or dislike it, but it is bringing back a rudimentary playstyle that I haven't experienced in some time. I noticed that carrot farms are even starting to make a comeback.

Does anyone else who played before the desert update feel the same way?