Faction creation rules ?

[snowm]

This not an attack on anyone, don't take it as one it's more of a grey area demystification.
What I'm looking for is conclusive answers to a set of very important rules that are not completely cleared.

Thanks Jinx and Drake and thank you too UnknownObject.

Your points make a lot of sense, but i would like that in some way there was more of a community control on this issue, be it by voting or some other method of evaluating factions.
Threads regarding factions unfortunately turn into "flames" and all the wise crackers take turns into bashing most faction ideas, so I'd like in some way that this could be avoided but without limiting the freedom of speech.

Ideas anyone?



[ ok i reduced the ?!?!?:)]

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[Xoria]

The Hellfire Legion is not strictly a Lane Hacker faction. They are a paramilitary force that happens to use Lane Hacker tags and IDs.

I'm not dissing them at all, but they are NOT Lane Hacker pirates at all. In fact, piracy is strictly prohibited in the Hellfire Legion (although I don't expect they will mind us real (smile) Lane Hackers committing piracy. So The Lane Hacker clan being started is not redundant at all. You could better argue that there is no reason to have 3 Corsair and 3 Outcast factions, but they have plenty of members, so that justifies it from that standpoint (but I have no dog in that fight one way or the other).

Before posting this faction proposal today, I did my homework by reading through the official faction status posts. I researched The Lane Hackers. I spent 20 hours writing material for our roles and procedures. Then I submitted that to the Admins. When I received their approval, I posted the faction threads this morning.

It really isn't complicated, it just takes some time, patience, and maturity to do it right.

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[Drake]

There aren't any clear-cut rules. Hoodlum and the other admins could just decide that there are enough factions and deny any that come along just because of that, if they really felt that there were too many.

Only thing to do is hone and sharpen your idea as best you can, consider how it would fit into the server and 'feel' of Discovery, and prepare to be shot down if it sucks. And if it gets shot down, it probably does suck as far as the community is concerned. I haven't seen Hoodlum denying any factions who really had the support of the community... It's not just a few people making these decisions... Well, I suppose it is, but the majority of the community tends to agree with them.

Edit: Xoria, I don't know about the Corsair factions, but the three Outcast factions serve primarily different roles. 101st are the defenders of Outcast space (though they're not around very much), RoS are the assault fleet (though they tend to do an awful lot of defending, since the 101st aren't around very much), and the BLS are smugglers. All quite unique.

And snowm, people can post their ideas, but if the admins (and likely most of the community along with them) think it's a really bad idea, the thread will be locked. I don't think I've ever seen a case where the community was really divided on whether they like a faction proposal or not.

[snowm]

Xoria, i have only good things to say about your idea, i only took your example to demonstrate that more than one RP ideas can go into one "Group" be it either Lane Hacker, Corsair, Outcast or whatever.

Drake, i sincerely would like to see a juster method of approval or disapproval here, and how can an idea get a approval or disapproval of the community if they cant post the idea or if they post it, it gets locked. These people have two options, either to surreptitiously insert their faction ideas into threads started by other established factions or live apart from the forums and expose their ideas ingame only.

example: http://discoverygc.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9240 these guys, is their RP horrible/offensive/non FL'ish, they were hasty in this post certainly, but if they weren't would you ever hear from them outside the game or from the Zoner Council? not likely.
Are they going to succeed or fail miserably?, that's entirely up to them and the way they RP / recruit / interact.

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[Jinx]

if you don t like to be too close to the parent npc faction, there is allways the option to evolve/develope your faction ingame.



coming up with more fantastic faction ideas worked back then - but not nowadays anymore, no matter how well they are described. i daresay that factions like phantoms, Asgard warriors or lane hackers would have a much harder start today than they had when they were formed.



when you make a faction - i guess you could first PM it to an admin - before you post it publicly ( but don t quote me on that one - maybe the admins don t WANT to evaluate that ... ) - when you post something publicly - you ll have to be flameproof in most cases.



however well described a faction is though.... only its ingame behaviour and roleplay really determines its approval in the end, i guess.

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[snowm]

Jinx, the Phantoms and Asgard warriors would have indeed a hard time if they started today, but when they started it was a whole different world, Discovery had very few players then and i suppose with few numbers people can relate better and these factions gained their place without much problems. They exist, they have players, they enjoy their RP, they are having a good time on the server, and thats why people post here, make donations to the server, come up with factions / stories / characters, to have a good time.

My issue is with the prohibition of stating your Faction ideas here, I'm fine with the admins approval, if they lock some idea like "hiz we're the Death Legion, we kill ships and stuff, we are also like the outcasts and, like, we do bad stuff and all", but other more carefully though ideas should be allowed to run.
"only its ingame behavior and roleplay really determines its approval" Thats the kind of subjectiveness I'm against:)ideas must flow, like someone said in another faction related post sometime ago, let Darwin do the math, if the ideas and the people behind them put the effort it will succeed otherwise it will disappear, and to succeed or disappear they need the forum, only the ingame RP is not enough in most cases (like when people play maybe what 1 or 2 hour a day) how do we know them and their ideas?
if i meet a Phantom ingame i know how to act because i saw their stories and posts in the forum, if they didn't have a story on forum i wouldn't know how to react, Friend / Foe / Neutral / Pirate / Law Enforcement Special Forces ?

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[jammi]

personally, i don t care if someone is new or a veteran - a newbie can come up with a great story and description aswell as a veteran can come up with a crappy faction idea - the only difference might be, that the vet will post his idea in flood and the newbie in roleplay 24/7:laugh:

What you mean newbies will put faction proposals in RP 24/7? Surely they should go in the factions section? If they've been thought through that is, or there's demand for such a faction...

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[uspatriotsf]

OK, as I am one of the "New Faction Approvers" I will explain the process as I know it. I am not here to judge a faction idea per se, but more to help players get it right before they post it on the forums for all to see. Its more a way to keep the proposals limited to ones that have a chance at getting through the grueling gauntlet that is this community;).

Here is what I am looking for when a faction is submitted to me (btw I see myself more as a flood gate, for after I get a new faction to a good point I forward it on to Fellow Hoodlum for final approval):

1. A solid, well-thought-out, Freelancer based background RP story.
   
2. I do look at the reputation of the person submitting the faction, if they have a bad reputation they are gonna get flamed to hell once they publicize the proposal which is what we are trying to avoid here.
   
3. Im sorry, but folks that have been here less than a month and have never been part of a faction need to hang around a bit more before trying to lead a faction. It's hard work and you better know how we do things around here.
   
4. Ships, weapons, sectors you will be concentrated in, and RP better fit the NPC faction you have decided to associate your faction with.
   
5. Whether or not you researched that NPC faction and it's diplomacy is important to me. Your diplomacy with player-controlled factions better represent that when you start off.
   
6. A willingness to take constructive criticism with grace is a must.
   

This is not an official list of rules or anything, just some basic guidelines.

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[Unseelie]

To add to what AC said...
Running a faction, and doing it well, is not all fun.
It takes planning, it takes being jealous of other factions, it takes feeling guilty, it takes a sense of fair play, and a sense of restraint.
It takes leadership, and an even hand.
Most of all, it takes patience...
It is not something to attempt on a whim, often, I regret starting the QCO, even though I feel it fills a gap that is sorely needed.

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[Gamazson]

In my time on discovery I have started and lead a YANF faction (The Baskerville hounds), fell into leadership of another YANF faction (Ad Infinitum) tried to start a very narrow faction (That liberty corsair thing.....) and had an RP group turn into a small and decently successful faction. Honestly I have had more faction snafu's then commodore.

In these many success and failures I have learned allot the hard way. Like Unselie is saying, leading a faction is hard. I would almost call it a second job. Honestly I believe that SU would have fallen apart by now if it hadn't been for the help I have received from Daniel feenix.

Thats another thing, factions tend to be best when they are started by a group, rather then an individual. (Ie. a faction started by a single person who does not even have some tentative members before the post or idea is even submitted)

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