Fearbringer Mines

[anoyingnomad]

PvP here was always RP based. Just not so hardcore with the talks. It was just, pirate clans tax, no tax = kill.  Evil clans = just kill on sight whenever they feel like it. Navy clans = protect all others from evil and pirate clans.

It worked perfectly. They just didnt talked about it. Never made RP stories about how they came to their faith and whatsoever. They used their guns. No need for RP chatter imho. No need for RP storys etc. Just kill according your needs. Thats how it went 2-3 years ago.

[Blazin_uk]

What im about to say is offtopic from the original post, but hey the whole thread is lol.

I noticed alot of you talk about this relaxed RP thing, from what i remember there was a group made up here on the forum and they had their own forum section hidden from the rest, so you could come up with ideas and rules for this relaxed RP. My question is where is the rules and regulations for the public to see? you have asked why players havnt made stories and whatnot for their chars, well why should they? there aint no rules or owt about this relaxed RP, so basically this group was made for no reason whatsoever IMHO.

If there is some rules somewhere that i have missed on the forums, then i apoligise. )

[cmdrsaman]

@ Blazin: you're referring to the CRT ("Core Reforms Team") section. It did what it was formed to do, and work there was completed on Jun. 15: after that, the finished rules proposals and guidelines were up to the staff to review, modify if needed, and implement. From what I've heard, they held weekly meetings about it for a while, but since five months have passed and nothing came of it yet, I'm not sure where it stands at the moment. However, there were more serious problems since that time, so it's no wonder that it got delayed. It would be good to hear word about it, though, whether it still is going to happen, or if it was put on hold. So, any chance someone could tell us about this?

In any case, there are no official rules or guidelines whatsoever about RP now, and anything goes, no matter how bad form it would be. Relaxed RP is called that because roleplaying is not mandatory, but if someone takes it upon them to come up with a role of their own and play it, there should be some standards to ensure a minimum level of quality, so the experience is not ruined for others. (See: meta-gaming, wildly OOC behaviour, mixing in-character and OOC talk, and so on.) On hardcore RP servers, roleplaying is mandatory for everyone, and there are rules regarding it that might even lead to characters getting banned for breaking their RP.
Funny thing is that that leads to people on general taking things less personally, which I believe has always been a problem here: players who have little to no experience with roleplaying would immediately take anything said in an RP context personally. From then on, the other player has two choices: either to cease trying to RP with said player, or to enter "let's all be fluffy friends" mode, which would be really OOC for any character (outside of Zoners high on Cardamine). Since in my experience, the majority of people here are either confused, apathetic or downright hostile to attempts to reach out and RP, it's little wonder that it happens very rarely. (We do get new clans who state they would RP coming from time to time: ever think about why they never stayed?) Still, rules and guidelines about proper RP would be needed, so that if it does happen, it would be a good experience for all parties involved. And if somebody doesn't want to take part, well, that's what the "relaxed" part is for: following it is not mandatory.


@ Endymion: "PvP here was always RP based"? Familiar situation: Bob from clan A and Charlie from clan B which are hostile to each other sit in Sparta right next to each other. Do they shoot at each other? No, but it goes as follows: "go?" "go". Only then do they fight. Unfortunately, this was (and is) a common situation, and not just some rare example I snatched up. Player numbers are lower now, but I remember happening this plenty of times with 15-20 (or even more) people sitting in Sparta. Navy clans never did care about protecting traders either: the only time when evils managed to bring them into action was when we systematically began killing traders in NB, which ultimately led to the biggest recorded gangbang in Void history - not saying it wasn't fun, though. Anyway, back on topic: the problem with people sitting in Sparta is that it brings no action to the server, and is basically always the same. Not to mention that new players usually don't need to go that way, and as such, will see nothing happening. In my opinion, if those in Sparta fought (and really fought with all they have, not just watered down "go" pvp) anywhere else that's more frequented by new players, there'd be more of them staying here.


@ Kosmiker: to be honest, even two people who are both willing to RP with each other can have fun, especially if they both do it well and creatively. Even a fighter and a miner can do it - they don't necessarily have to fight each other, after all. Also, you can't count on activity to suddenly solve all problems: besides, several people have said that groups of veteran players will return when the new mod is out, and they didn't - so, outside of some unforeseen event, there's no chance of any major activity boosts anytime soon. Even a large ad campaign and trailer would mean a steady increase in new players, and not a spike. Of course, the thing is that you have to make them stay, and the mod alone won't do that. So, the question for them is: what's new when playing on the Void, and better than elsewhere?
In my opinion, the answer would ideally be that the Void would be the only relaxed RP server where there'd be a reasonable level of activity, and not a lightly tweaked vanilla (Hamburg) or a Discovery-based mod. Take a look at the top 10, the majority are either hardcore RP (Discovery, Underverse), Discovery-based, or mostly vanilla (Hamburg, Procyon), . Only CF stands out, and imo the problem with that place is that it's simply too big, and players are spread really thinly. 'course, you could also go the other way around and say that pvp here is better than anywhere else, but let's be honest: is it really better by that much? (Especially if it involves sitting in Sparta.)
Also, this is strictly my opinion, but I believe that as Freelancer got older, and the total player count between servers dwindles steadily, multiplayer in it increasingly became more niche-like, and that niche is for roleplaying, because players can't find that anywhere else. (There are other multiplayer flying games that are purely pvp, after all.) And when Black Prophecy comes out, those who aren't playing for that will leave in droves. Thing is, there isn't just one way of approaching RP on a server level.


Oh yeah, and I replied to posts made in the thread, but the whole thing is very OT now. Anyone want to make a new thread?

[anoyingnomad]

I was talkin about a time you were not playing on the void #-o

[Richi]

cmdrsaman If I may just small notice under your pertinent words, the Void was on the top due to brilliant work his admins too, not only RP and a mod etc, and is good to remind how some radical changes plus appalling admins work killed servers like a Colours or Monkey.