Potential Solutions to the Problems faced by Disco

[BaconSoda]

Actually it was called Pay It Forward & as a philosophy, utterly rockin'

I remember this movie from Health class. Strangely, it makes a lot more sense when you're a part of a community you remember differently...

Anyway, commentary!

• Making a PVP server
  
  
• Help populate the PvP Sever
  
• Help populate other PvP Servers such as Discovery of Discovery
  

Really, I think this is the best thing we can do to build more RP and the "old-timey" feel in our community. Remembering what Del told me on a call once upon a yestereve, most people who break rules and cause problems are only doing so because we're so radically different from other Freelancer servers. People such as me, who have never played online, wouldn't know about that, but most other old-time Freelancer players probably have never seen such draconian rules such as ours. If we build a PvP server to appease the PvPers, we'd have the RP server all for the people who want to RP.

Of course, the cons to this is that we'd have less people taking a foray into RP and realizing they love it. I might not be one of those people, but I know there are many of them...

Onto questions!

• What do you expect as a player?
  

I want to feel like a part of a community. When I see one of my allies or someone neutral, I want to say hello and be returned a hello. I want to talk to someone before we fight. I want to have a fun fight where I either know the outcome (obvious win or loss) or grit my teeth at the prospect that I might just win. Those are the things I want to expect as I player.

What I have come to expect, well, I'll break it down....

• [AFA] -
  
  I can expect to meet any number of people who have no appreciation for the RP I have worked to create and have no interest in attempting to learn that RP. I expect someone trying to push my RP aside for what they THINK the Farmer's Alliance should be doing, despite our obscure, but vanilla goals. I can expect to invite them to pm me so I can explain, in detail, what we do and why we do it. I can also expect one of these people to return to fight me again with another ship with greater combat capabilities.
  
  That is, if I don't get my primary expectation, which is someone attempting to "Liven up" Kusari with PvP action with, again, little respect for the RP in place, or an RP I cannot agree with. I can expect to engage them in a fight with little interaction beforehand. I can expect to be outgunned and probably die.
  
  Best of all, I can expect to feel so inherently wronged and robbed of my RP experience that I am compelled to file a sanction report against one of the many infractions I will witness because the other person deems my RP or my demands inferior to their expectations of what we should be doing.
  
  
• BPA) -
  
  I can expect a fine RP experience on my BPA. Between NLH, the MR, TBH, and the other multitude of enemies I have on my expected dinner plate. Honestly, I can expect an fun fight which might just result in kudos on both sides. Best of all, I can expect my wingmates, if present, to be of such a great stature that I often wish I could be as cool as them.
  
  I can also expect to deal with a faction nextdoor that seems to contradict most of the institution we have set in place. I can expect myself to feel inclined to log on in times when they are absent and avoid contact with the majority of them despite the fact that a Hussar is hardly ever a match for my enemies' ships.
  
  
• Gateway) -
  
  I can really expect a wonderful RP experience in my Gateway). I can expect a friendly greeting from traders who may or may not understand RP. I can expect at least one person to ask me for money, who I can, hopefully, help understand RP and the rules in the process of helping him get a ship. I can expect a great interaction with pirates, most of whom I can at least attempt to get away from without physically moving. I can expect a wonderful conversation with my escorts when I hire them, or any traders I come into a convoy with.
  
  Best of all, I think I can expect a few eyebrows to be raised at the commodities I'm carrying. :P
  
  
• LWB| -
  
  I can expect a wonderful RP opportunity on my LWB. I can expect many law enforcers to raise an eyebrow at the Feuriger Kohlrabi (Ach nein, Torpedoes los! :lol:). I can expect Udo Ackermann to give us a fine many chuckles while we RP. I can expect a fine debate with the RM or RFP. I can expect any traders we come across to find our RP refreshing, or odd, at least. I can expect a fight to ensue at one point or another, and I can expect it to be fun, caps or not.
  
  I could also expect a certain character to take a vendetta against another faction much farther than it should be. I can expect many raised eyebrows at our actions at that time, and sometimes sour feelings. I can expect that I'll feel sour about not doing anything about it...
  

The problem I really see here is a problem I saw emerge in Guild Wars communities not too long ago, which Nighthawk laid out quite nicely.As the community grows bigger, it attracts others from other communities that do not necessarily play into the structure in place. The proportions of "bad" players doesn't increase immediately, but, rather, the proportion stays the same, but, because there are simply more of them around, they influence more people. More "On-the-fence" players are drawn into being "bad" players, and they get into the same habits of distrust, griefing (purposefully ruining other's gaming experience), and other such rapscallionesque activities. After a while, trust disolves, and the community becomes less and less cohesive until eventually deteriorating into something...Not quite nice. We're a long way away from that, really, due to our nature, but, still, it's a slippery slope.

In Guild Wars, this came when people started becoming elitist. They did not respect the other player's experience in the game, nor their choice of profession. I remember days where my guild found a group, and we would stick together for hours, or often the entire day, chatting, playing, even in losing, we would simply just try again. At the end of the day, we'd add each other to our friends lists and call each other another day to go some more. These days, finding a group is a miracle. Even when one is found, sticking around for the entire day is a laughable prospect. Idle talk, 'eh, good luck with that one as well. It's really a sad state.

In Discovery Freelancer, I believe this happened when the independent - faction disputes began and the adminality became sparser. The inherent trust between all players was broken then. In such a manor as in Guild Wars, I can remember flying around as a Dagger and being greeted by people I passed. I can remember chatting, enjoying myself, generally being respected by everyone around. In such a way as Guild Wars, I can see people greet each other less. They chat less. They don't necessarily respect anyone else. It's not as bad as other places, in fact, what I just said paints a very bad picture of our community, but, it's becoming more and more apparent, I think.

What should be done...Just respect people. Greet people. Talk to people like they're people, not just pixels on the screen. Treat them like they're people, not just pixels. I know the interaction is what makes this game much more fun than much better games I have (Oblivion, Fallout 3, Company of Heroes, Command and Conquer: The First Decade, and World in Conflict come to mind), we should promote more friendly interactions. Afterall, I know I stayed here because "there are all these cool Roleplaying dudes around who are all really nice and cool." and not "Those elitist prick Roleplayers" that I get called somewhat often.

• Should Disco be free for all, with access to everything?
  

This really depends. If people can be responsible and respect each other, then I think we don't need any faction independent restrictions. If we can't respect each other, then, we are only going to become more and more draconian...

• Is there a difference between players who have been here longer than a person who has been here for one day?
  

This is an odd question, really. We can trust people we've known for a long time, yes, but we also have to give trust and respect to newbies as well. This doesn't mean that we should trust a new player to fly a Nomad BS because we give him trust, be we should allow him to be capable in his own RP and develop it in a believable way that he sees fit. The new player should respect the trust we give him and try and develop into an even more trusted member of the community before trying something outstanding. The new player should respect the fact that we've been here for a while and we know what's going down a little better. This doesn't mean we're better than them, we need to respect the fact that they haven't had the opportunity to learn as much as we have yet.

To wrap it up, there is no difference in the person, we should both be treated the same under the rules and in faction eyes, but, in the community's eyes, older players should be trusted more with leniency to abnormal RP that may end up in a PvP or RP advantage.

Ah, well, there is my view of what you asked, Hyung. I believe we'll soon see someone who says we're just crying wolf and this'll eventually get locked, but, hey, what can really be done about that? Hope whoever reads this feels strongly enough about these pixels to actually read it. :D

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[8:32:45 PM] Dusty Lens: Oh no, let me get that. Hello? Oh it's my grandma. She says to be roleplay.
[12:49:19 AM] Elgatodiablo: You know its nice that you have all that proof and all, Bacon... but I just don't believe you.