Well, There are some drawbacks to both, and Ill give my version of how things should go.
1. Is how the mod is mostly run. in a pure 1 envirmoent, you get taletale signs of Intraspecific Agrresion. A code of chivalry as it were, that like ends up matched with like, ganks are avoided, Items are balanced so that on a 1:1 fight, each side has an equal chance of victory (which is not currently the case), and there is a large variety of weapon types and powers, since that if it dosent matter which you use, you use the one you like best ( Aesthetically or RP wise), and variety flourishes.
2. On the otherhand, simulates the natural world, I.E Extraspecific Aggresion. Ganks are encouraged, there is no standard of fairplay, since anything goes to get what you want, items are throughly unbalanced, or never reblanaced, and variety dies in hole, as all armaments used have to be the very best, or,you die off. This kills off variety, resulting in a very conservative deployment of only the best items. Ever look at the animal kingdom? You have penetration based natural weaponry, possibly with poison, but always penetration based if it is intended to kill. Flashier items are restricted solely to Contesting dominance within a herd. When applied to FL, you have a very unfriendly world.
1.5 would be an enviroment that is molded by the official factions, decisions made therein guide the devs in their pursuit of the mod, like now, but now more broadly applied. Ganks are generally avoided, although they still occur, and items are made throughly balanced, so that no side has a -true- advantage over another.Stations and the like change hands not based on the whim of the serverload, but on mutually negotiated agreements. Devs/Igiss/Admins and the like dictate the greater pace of things, but everything smaller is left up to the Representatives of their factions to decide.
Dynamic universe means a more active and more vibrant community. For sure.
But it's also really hard to implement. Both technically and in terms of admin workload.
So, uh... here's a framework of ye olde style to make it happen. IMO, of course.
Whereas:
- Admins have enough to do now, and further work should be mitigated, and
- Players should have enough freedom to do nearly whatever they want short of breaking the universe and ruining others' days, and
- The game-at-large (meaning in-game and community RP) is getting very stale in the long delay for the new release, and
- Further stagnation will cause more players to leave the game than new players joining,
The following should be recommended, upon the approval of myself and those esteemed friends here:
- The game shall be as dynamicas possible, wherever possible, and
- Constraints shall be in place via technical balance (meaning, for example, nerfing rogues ships so they can't feasibly "take over" Liberty as Cannon put forth), and
- RP conquests, failures, and tactical movements shall be formally reported here and in-game consequences (small-to-medium changes like: station ownership change, special event advertising, news network updates, etc.) shall be updated once per month via the updater by a dedicated team of "update administrators," and
- Any "extreme" changes (massive losses, non-core system ownership changes, etc. major things) shall only be reflected in-game with community approval, and
- The most important canon changes (shaping Gallia's incursion, the fate of Bretonia, etc.) shall only be handled by Igiss, and
- The "heart and soul" of Discovery -- roleplay -- shall be paramount to our cause, as the creative players who choose to be here.
I realize some of this is vague, but I'd be happy to elaborate on the specifics, if asked.
It could work, please do have faith in that. Especially with regards to the once-a-month changes. It will provide enough time to have it out in-game, and then select the best results to move forward with on a regular-but-not-too-quickly basis.
It can be more dynamic but in order to work properly within the limitations, the approach should be much more as of a turn based strategy game style rather than a RTS. A very slow turn based style.
There can be other tools that although wont make the server more dynamic but rather give the impression of a more cohesive environment and flow.
- Governments: A Libertonian President, Kusari emperor, Bretonian Prime Minister, etc. Although they can't make life changing decisions ingame, they can twitch some minor laws or concede territories to certain factions. This could help give an impression of a cohesive environment and add some minimal direction.
-A News Transmission, similar to a Newspaper in real life where developers admins, factions and players can post, the latest news and happenings in Sirius: Perfect for those who love writing stories in journalistic style..All in one place, and can be released once a moth divided in several parts:
-Top Stories: Latest News in Sirius, Crime reporting, changes in laws etc.
-In depth investigation: Journalists can create cases for investigation to unmask and reveal secrets or corruption inside the gov or faction, and reveal them to the public in several investigative reports.
-Gossip Tabloid
-Classifieds
-Advertisements.
The journalistic reports can be submitted by players using a character as the reporter.. This Idea can also be implemented as a faction. Reporters, Camera man, Paparazzis. lol :P
' Wrote:I've been wondering for a long time what the community vision for Discovery is. One source of tension is related to conflicting ideas of role play:
Idea 1: Discovery is built around a mod defining the role play environment. Players play within this somewhat static environment and cannot change it quickly or easily - devs do this. This is a dungeon master style of game where the master sets the rules and boundaries and everybody plays within it.
Idea 2: Discovery is built by the players. Their actions change the role play environment. This means that the actions of some players will definitely hurt other players. For an extreme example, should the outcasts overrun Liberty the LN and Liberty factions will cease to exist. This idea is a kind of mini-EVE.
...
1: Theres no dungeon mastery here. Wrong game. the platform is incapable. At best youve wrote and developed a setting that is dm less in nature and is regimented by constant eyes and ears to make sure the spirit of the setting is followed.
There are no quests and no events outside of the events servers which are HILARIOUS FUN but basic pewfests with a calculated end, story participation not story telling.
No.. your not a dm. Your a policy maker and enforcer. A group of creative individuals and wacky personalities that make one of the more interesting settings out there. For better or worse that remains number one in the freelancer community at this time.
Also the dynamic personalities at play with the devs and admins are too numerous (this is experience talking so write it off as necessary) to even entertain a smooth environment for you to hold events on the server with real RP rewards or progress via a dm or gm. IE. you call into direct question favoritism and fairness even more so in that concept then what you may encounter now.
It is a playground with a lot of monitors guarding it. And its worked.
My only recommendations for 1 is in regards to your sanity and those who volunteer their time here is to make and develop more automatic script based deterrents for violations of game play ethics and rules to save YOU THE WORKLOAD and not pushing it to faction members/leadership. You serve them. they should not serve you. Your serving the players they should not serve you under any circumstances.
2: This is the election again to indulge is some semblance of squad war or conquest. Bad idea. What your enlisting again is the possibility to be at the mercy of favoritism in light of who the mods thought won and since many of the admin teams are involved in the official factions your building a time bomb.
My recommendations here. Unless there is a script based system of tallying results kills and who wins I can see the venom and hatred coming from this idea to be community killing. (maybe even with such measures)
A community should never ever be wholly at war with itself. You will number its days thusly. (at least not without a significant financial stake money makes even the most dysfunctional and rabid concepts fly)
I have seen a lot of interesting ideas on how to alter the rules and allow more freedoms to players and how they'd like to enjoy themselves and play. Quite frankly there has always been fun to be had here as long as the players play and had fun with what they made it.
Even when my first experience here was being pirated by a Rhineland battleship with a pirate ID there were ways around the situation. Ive had to adapt to each new version of this mod and it was always fun.
As long as you give us more to play with more possibilities to express characters that (in my case) are now several years old an in one case nearly a decade old I believe it will be the best recipe for success.
ps. It works. Id doesn't have to work better all the time.
Again for sanity. Automation. It wins. it saved my own sanity and continues to.
I said favoritism a lot in my post. and theres a reason. People love to devalue themselves and it manifests in places like this with Oh that guy has the cooler ship, guns, interactions blah blah blah.
You cant stop them from doing that but you can keep your collective arses out of the fire.
This is also one of the few communits that are still around where the game interactions are firmly cemented to the forum activity. I remember Descent and Free space was similar so long ago. But it shows how healthy and able you are to take the pulse of the people playing.
Finally my point. In regaurds to the DMness..
I love the SRP system you guys had. I flinched a little when you made it faction leador only but that WAS the correct move. People getting to know other people? Big step. important proof of time spent and character of the individual no it isnt a full picture. And I honestly wish I had a revolutionary book of ideas that made it completely painless. but its the fairest recognition of RP efforts and the closest to RP based rewards this place has. I would Keep it at all costs. And get it up and running again ASAP.
Players can make offers and devs can say "yes" or "no" to it, also devs then developing story further should pay attention to what is happening in player base. Players can change the storyline. Not much, but enought to feel important. Major changes requires a lot of time and efforts. It changes slowly so people get used to it anyway.
Also. Ability to take over bases and such will drive disco in more pvp oranties clan fighting game. I suggest to think before you offer such nonsense. It just proves that community approval in some cases in very incompetent on deciding storyline turns and such.
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