the phantoms rarely "abuse" their freedom excessivly. they act according to the rules and according to the ID limitations.
the bad things:
much of the phantom roleplay is NOT felt or roleplayed inGame. they say "you must be scared for your life" - but that makes you as scared as a really cheap low budget horrorclip. - and there is the main problem with their roleplay ( or if you like - with that "kind" of roleplay in general. - you cannot dictate being godlike and scary... - you must live it, you must roleplay it... and that means that only those that CAN roleplay it should really be phantoms. ( not those that are good at the trigger finger )
over the last years - the phantoms have acted as some sort of "vigilantes" ( or so it seemed ! ) - not vigilantes within the server roleplay .... but vigilantes against ooc matters.
a really DARK day that illustrates that when phantoms focussed on the so called "ooRP" traders in sigma-13. - while the RP explanation was clear and sound... it was rather obvious that it was some sort of server police for a better roleplay ( a better roleplay from the point of view of other players )
[ you may say - that is only "your" perception and was not even thought of - it was never the intention etc. - but the fact is ... if i think it was that way - i am sure others thought so, too. - and even if only few think so.... something is wrong ]
phantoms are NO server police and acting even remotely like it sheds a very suspicious light on them as they are also labelled as a faction "in favour of the admins" ( no need to elaborate that you only have 2 out of 11 members being admins - the label is there )
sensibility is needed - a scalpel... when on some occasions in the past a blunt axe was used.
generally:
phantoms are a relic of discos past. - if THIS faction proposal was made today - i am 100% sure that it wouldn t even be denied but also put into flood and earned a few retarted images and much laughter.
they have freedom that no other faction would get "nowadays" and so they require a lot more responsibility than those that are forced to act "within the official server rules".
fact is - phantoms ARE double standards. - they adhere to different rules than the official ones as a whole faction - and they need to give something in return.
what they need to give in return is elaborated roleplay. - not on every occasion - everyone can have a bad day. but there should NEVER be a formula like "you give me rubbish RP, i give you rubbish RP in return" - when that formula is applied, we end up with rubbish RP all around.
i am not saying that this is actually the case - i just say that it is important to always keep that in mind. - think in character and not as a player, think what the other character ( not the player ) knows about you. - roleplay it seriously.
do NOT focus on pvp or a blue message. - a pvp death is not scary at all. - when someone is pvped, the tension drops. - the act of rising a tension - rising fear has something to do with being a menace - and a menace is not to be mistaken with a dead end road that ends with a kill.
think of it like that. - one single well RPed murder is MUCH more scary than the mass pointless mass murder of many. - you see it in movies. people are more scared by an "elaborated" single victim they can share feelings with - than with hundreds of nameless ones.
edit:
to add to that - PLEASE don t pick random ships / equipment you like. - you got your own ships and weapons now - stick to them or post a "special RP request" like common players.