I have started this thread because: (1) I'm disturbed about the latest poll to increase the cost of faction tags to way beyond ridiculous levels; (2) I'm worried about faction tags in general.
I believe the poll came about partly because of the latest "Outcast Clique" thread. In that, some players, me one of them, were denied participation because we had not bought have faction tags. Even though we (I at least) had the correct faction ID and rep to go with it, and generally make an effort to engage in RP for all our chars. I think the words were "Either pay your $15m or do not post here..."
One problem is that the concept of faction tags is misunderstood by most people, me included. They are confused with faction ID's, and they're not explained very well anywhere. I always thought faction tags were a throw-back to pre-4.80 days and were made redundant by ID's, but I was wrong.
Now I have been enlightened.... the purpose of tags is to show the world that you're serious about RP'ing. The tags are completely optional, but if you want to be taken seriously you must have one. The price is made so high so that only people who are "really serious" will buy one, and keep out those who aren't.
Personally I resent being told I'm not serious about RP because I haven't "paid up". You might ask, "why not just pay the money and get a tag?". My anwser is, "Why should I?" I've been with Discovery for a few months now, and I've spent countless hours both in the forums and in-game developing RP chars. I would hope I've proven to you all I'm about RP and earned some kind of respect. So why should I have to spend a weekend inside a boring bloody train, just to be considered a member of the "club"?
You want RP? Ok then. How did you raise the money for that faction tag? You ran a trader. Now how many of your traders do anything but the NY/FP11 or Cambridge/Kurile money runs? I've only seen one person (Dab I think) say he does a different trade run than these, "purely for RP". So every other trader is non-RP, whether you carry a faction tag or not.
On the flip side, my pirate char is not associated with a trader. (I scummed money from my neutral trader initially, for the necessary funds to buy a gunboat, of which I'm ashamed.) After killing countless nomads and running anti-BHG missions, last count I've only got $3m in the bank. How am I supposed to raise the cash for a $50m faction tag? You guessed it.... invent a completely superfluous trader and spend days doing the money runs.
You know what, this latest round with the "Outcast clique" really bothers me. It's not just the necessity of raising money for a tag... It's that this will be the first of many "membership only" activities which will happen on this server. (Oh by the way, does this mean the "Outcast clique" only engages in PvP with chars with faction tags as well? Or will they go after anybody.)
Anyway I'm sorry for the rant but I'm just bloody annoyed at the whole notion. I think your RP standing should be judged on your merits, in the forums and in game, not on how long your arse has sat in a large train. Maybe I should give Disco a rest for a while until its all worked out... oh well on the brighter side, I haven't been this p***d about anything for a long time. Must mean I care about Disco.
