(05-28-2023, 01:09 PM)Kauket Wrote: ...especially when they've already falsely accused characters of being infested in the past to gain a free pvp ticket. Arguably, the Order also made their efforts nullified by doing these things in the past...
For as long as there is no mechanical 100% sure in-gameplay way to distinguish clean from infected, we have to rely on role play and sometimes instinct. Me as a character can certainly make mistakes, as evidenced as every now and then falsely accuse someone of being a Nomad sympathizer and actually engaging in diplomacy with Auxesia at one point. Some of those mistakes my character will actually regret heavily. Who would had thought suspicious people would be offed by an intelligence officer?
(05-28-2023, 01:09 PM)Kauket Wrote: Have you tried playing a casual infectee yourself? Not all characters have to aim for the stars, I personally feel like the best kind of subterfuge characters are just normal characters who work their way up.
Such characters should be random civilians, freelancers and members of factions that surely would never give a rats ass about installing necessary countermeasures to ward of such parasites. In fact, the most succesful infecte I had ever got to know was a guildmaster of GMG (well before Meph) who reinforced one's cover by never dealing with Order in person, acting like a Guildmaster on day to day basis and to further reduce any suspicions: actively supported Order within realms of possibility of GMG as a faction. This 'bastard' had free reign of terror amongst Sigmas back in 4.84/4.85 times and got away with it.
Ah, actually to provide a counterpoint. Freelancer/Zoner/Pirate/infaction molerat X, whatever name as it does not matter here. If he ever is being discovered by *insert Navy here* that he is giving out current fleet movements and what their admiral has had for breakfast to a rival faction: be it another house, faction at war etc. this character from this point onward should not be realistically allowed to continue operating in same position. X would no longer be entrusted with intelligence from *insert navy here*. X would in fact likely be openly antagonized, court martialled, exiled, flee and/or automatically sentenced to death by a kangaroo court for crime committed. X can no longer fulfil his role of being a spy and realistically and narratively would have two options: captured and possibly killed or imprisoned. Second, would be to get the hell out of here.
Discovery is a place where loss of a ship ultimately does not matter, as it will be repaired sooner or later and escape pods have pretty high chances of success to be deployed and found by a friendly entity. Therefore option number 1 would require full consent of the party being 'powergamed' to handle their character in any way the *insert Navy here* see it fit. It is rare, but it does happen. However many others are heavily attached to their characters, me included. I would choose an option to face the consequences and know that next time I show up around *Insert Navy here* territory, I will be shot as part of this Discovery social contract.
A Wild does not have such constrains. Nobody gives a crap about Order calling someone infected (accurately or not) which does frustrate Order players. Neither me, nor creator of this thread never vocally called out for legalized powergaming in shape of murdering other people's characters without their explicit consent - this thread is not about that, and I will be amongst the first to (or at least, as soon as I see the suggestion) protect sanctity of deciding when, if and how to 'retire' own characters, including yours. That makes my threats towards those Order seeks death of kind of impotent, but I would believe social contract of roleplay would be satisfied if character gets blue'd off screen and likely wont harass, bother or exist in our sight ideally for at least couple of hours/days maybe. What we call for, is that ousting infected for what they are makes the universe quite warmer for them due to everyone with more than 2 braincells discharging their plasma weaponry in their general direction. An ousted infectee should be banished to border/edge worlds, and live out rest of its days as combat thrall of the Nomads due to their failure in role of an infiltrator. They can no longer be a spy just like Mr. X, when their identity as a meat puppet controlled by horrifying alien parasite equal to horror from John Carpenter's 'The Thing' becomes their actual Spacebook status.
This is what we would understand as realistic roleplay consequences for a Wild.
This is true... E.g. the Gallic Navy Combined Fleet's premise is that it combines Gendarmerie and Navy....
Gendarmerie was deleted and non-existent before the faction comes...we asked for /net for snubs....what does staff do? Make a new Gendarmerie ID and ban Gallic Navy Combined Fleet who were the only one to roleplay the faction from using it, basically creating bloat in the game not a single person has ever used since.
From that standpoint - yes, it is very unfair, you ban a faction with that premise and very straightforward ID that wouldn't do any harm yet allow wild blank cheque on any ID?
From Dr. Bronner's RP perspective this happens b/c the Order and the Wild are one and the same. Basically they are the military and espionage arms of the same entity-- designed to keep the fear of "infection" burning.
(Again, from an RP perspective) the false privilege is a feature, not a bug (from the point of view of an evil Elite who are pulling our puppet strings).
OORP:
This quest for "fairness" that I see on this forum is actually a big problem. I am an elementary school teacher and I know that my most combative and territorial students are obsessed with "fairness."
Different players actually need different treatment. First they must be understood by admin, but then they need to be corrected. That is my teacher perspective.
There is an overall goal that must be more important than all these individual opinions-- the goal is the STORY of Discovery Freelancer (and enacting that story through RP, PVP and events).
We seem to have a lot of divas and stars who are quick to snipe about unfairness, but the real question is, "Does the concept promote good RP? Does it build the story? Does it draw the best out of players and lead to greater interest from those who have been inactive?"
The real concern is not "fairness" but motivation-- what makes people (and there are not many of us) get truly absorbed in our online roleplaying experiences again? What creates that sense of focus and flow that makes us get lost in these worlds and not wake up for hours? That's what most players are chasing.
Any players who come to disrupt that focus and absorption in the story are honestly working against our greater aims (and I don't mean piracy and pew-pew, that's part of what we need-- I mean OORP nonsense).
I think anyone who has truly enjoyed the Edison Trent story wants to see further meaningful chapters of that story. I think that anyone who enjoys the flight mechanics of Freelancer wants to keep enjoying battles and skirmishes without learning a whole new set of keybindings for a newer game that lacks the depth of the Freelancer faction system.