' Wrote:and here we go, back to the "1 mil or die" argument. First off, some pirates do this, I do sometimes, but it's just to get the demand part of the rules out of the way. It's damn hard to type in satifying RP diologue and try and stop someone at the same time. I DO HOWEVER begin to rp once I have forced the trader to stop( or killed him:)). I have FA and Corsair pirate characters, and when I pirate someone, and talk about my causes, and ideology of my group. Not everyone does it, but on the same level, I see very few traders who conform to what you think is RP. Usualy it goes, pirate fires and gives "1 mil or die" the trader runs untill he knows he's caught, then "ok. stop" "I said stop" , pay the tax, and move along with some generic disparaging remarks on both sides. So neither the pirates or the traders are blamless, which makes the "1 mil or Die" argument mute.
now can we get back to Zoners?
It's fine to be a pirate, and it's definitely fine to tax traders when it makes sense to do so.
I've never encountered you in-game I don't think, so none of the above was directed at you as a player or a pirate. Only pointing things out as I see them most often, perception is everything they say, afterall.
I do demand credits from traders, but I always try to offer them an exciting encounter where they have the opportunity to determine their own fate. The reality of things is that we play with alot of different types of people, and not all of them will want to be pirated, and that's understandable (even if abit lame on a fundamental level). To make the game enjoyable for everyone else sometimes compromises must be made, and that's fine too. I never went into the piracy business expecting to make profit from it, afterall it's a large playing field and there's alot of competition out there; it isn't uncommon to encounter a Trader who has already been taxed by the pirate before you, and taxing him again or killing him is usually pretty harsh. I've been taxed three times on the same trade route before, and still I was killed by the fourth pirate 'cause I refused to pay again (I had already lost all of the profit to be made for that run, a 20 minute run or so, mind you).
Personally, I get really annoyed when a pirate only has "1 million or die" to offer in roleplay. Even though you're a pirate, you should still have to work for your loot in some aspect, and that's where good roleplay comes in. In a perfect gameworld, players want to play with Evil, unlawful characters like pirates because they're so fun to be around (even if the interaction does come at their own expense). That obviously isn't the case in this community, where many players avoid the pirate playerbase like the plague.
I always get people telling me to go to the forums to see their roleplay, and I can't help but ask myself, ".. Why..?" Why doesn't the roleplay happen in-game like it should..? I mean there's obviously alot of talented storytellers here, the only problem being is that it just doesn't always follow these players in-game. I (personally) think the server will be hundreds of times better when this changes. And yes, it is true that most people don't take their trader roleplay seriously. Not even I really do, honestly. Sure, I pay taxes and submit myself to pirates when it's proper, but I don't play that character seriously. I play that character to rake in credits for the other characters I play, and I imagine that's the case for most people.
Is it wrong? Maybe.
Should people be punished for it..? I don't think so, 'cause trading is one really boring thing to roleplay if you don't have pirates to chase you, or if you aren't a smuggler. There's no "grand adventure" in hauling VIPs from Manhattan to Honshu, you know? Not without pirates anyway, for many players I've seen the only reason they even play traders is to be chased by pirates, and not because they want to make a quick buck. People like different things, and in my case.. Flying a Train around playing the generic trader role just isn't one of those things that I like, ahah. I personally chose specifically to play a RepEx shipper, because it meant I would be pirated more often and thus my trading was more exciting. I could've easily went Zoner and just ignored all of you, but that would've just made my role all-the-more dull and boring.
Anyway, back to Zoners..
The Zoners have their own Guard system, don't you think this alone states boldly as to how influential they must be..?
