(01-05-2015, 05:20 PM)Snak3 Wrote: Indies have one huge perk that official factions don't. It's freedom. Freedom to play within ID rules and role the way you want without any responsibility or accountability.
freedom that makes new people leave as they will reach a point the game becomes boring. Its the factions and playing in a group that is making the people connected to the game...
All players should be able to freely purchase any non-restricted ID without approval. Everyone respecting their own ID card should be able to enjoy the same privileges as recruits in the official faction. In other words, a player's independent commitment to a faction should be rewarded in some way. Some factions keenly encourage independents to engage with the official boards, but others might prefer to keep their recruitment processes under wraps. Some factions are integral to the game and everybody should be able to interact with one another without prejudice so long as they're not overstepping their ID restrictions.
Actually, maybe we need a separate ID for indies and officials? Bring back the Guard IDs. So...you can't get the Guard ID unless you have the express permission of the boss-head. And...recruits of official factions ought not be allowed the Guard ID until promoted - I think this is a good compromise.
I'd also like to add that a player really should not be forced to read and/or write extensive RP on the forums. Granted, forum interaction skills are important for people wanting promotions, but this is for another topic entirely.
Tal basically sums it up. Indies have too many advantages over officials who have too many responsiblities. It's time for a change.
Of course Mimir, official factions won't get these perks like free candy. They're only going to be given to factions and kept by them if said factions performs well in the eyes of the admins (and to an extent the community I would assume).
(01-05-2015, 05:07 PM)Mímir Wrote: Is it because Official Faction players are to be trusted with more powers and rights than regular Joes, and if that is the case, howcome there are no objective criteria to join an official faction, to somehow prove that you are a "better" player?
This point did make me think however - perhaps official factions may need to step up their recruitment processes and standards if they're given these new perks? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
(01-05-2015, 05:54 PM)Punisher5431 Wrote: Was that sarcasm cause gank squads can't handle our GB power XD.
Because responsibility.
Because lack of freedom.
Because lore.
Because if there weren't official factions, everyone would stick to maybe three or four indys.
I could go on for a few hours like that.
Quote:Actually, maybe we need a separate ID for indies and officials? Bring back the Guard IDs. So...you can't get the Guard ID unless you have the express permission of the boss-head. And...recruits of official factions ought not be allowed the Guard ID until promoted - I think this is a good compromise.
Isn't that what this thread is about? Making separate IDs for official factions?
And no...I don't think an indie deserves to have the exact same perks/privileges as an official player. They're not held to the same standard. I agree with both Snak3 and Tal.
Ask an unofficial faction leader I see more disadvantages going official. In the end we are still zoners and I don't see any point in changing the way our ID works or functions.
Now being able to dock our 5ks anywhere would be nice (like OSI) but it adds a challenge to things I rather enjoy.
Maybe someday but why have so many official factions for said ID. Ex. zoners, there are three official factions that carry the base zoner ID ( may differ a bit) why have anymore? Would make more sense to just join forces.
(01-05-2015, 05:20 PM)Snak3 Wrote: Indies have one huge perk that official factions don't. It's freedom. Freedom to play within ID rules and role the way you want without any responsibility or accountability.
I don't really have anything to add other than saying that this pretty much sums up my opinion perfectly.
Indies have nothing to care about except their own enjoyment. Accountability, in particular, is a total non-issue.
Right now, the benefits of being an indie group far, far outweigh those of being an official faction. Having some mythical right to shape the direction of my NPC faction's lore/diplomacy/goals/whatever is all well and good in theory, but considering the infrequent updates and general apathy towards change that this community displays as a whole, it actually boils down to a whole lot of nothing. Meanwhile, my faction and I are expected to uphold standards of fair play, roleplay quality, and so forth. Why wouldn't I just lel around as an indie instead, not caring about what anyone tries to tell me I could or should be doing? I don't have to care; I'm an indie. Worst case scenario, I spend 2 million on a /renameme and start with a 'blank slate' again.
(01-05-2015, 06:20 PM)Highland Laddie Wrote: Isn't that what this thread is about? Making separate IDs for official factions?
Is it? I don't bother to read a full thread half of the time, I just randomly interject...
Quote: And no...I don't think an indie deserves to have the exact same perks/privileges as an official player. They're not held to the same standard.
Well, not everybody likes to be part of an official faction. Some players like to remain as neutral as possible while enjoying good role-play. The decisions of official factions can have a huge impact upon a sizeable, loosely-affiliated group of players, and I think the Zoners are a good example here. But if I'm flying a level-90 Whale then somebody WILL find a reason to blow me up. Whatever, I must be rich if I think I can survive in a ridiculously-big ship with NO GUNS. Okay, that's cool...I can handle that. But...if I've got an official faction hunting me down simply because I'm a Zoner and some other Zoner called 'Fred' said 'Boo!' then I guess that's a bit of a problem. I actually don't think that the Zoner faction should even have a head figure; a respected voice but no jurisdiction beyond their NFZ. A bit like the Junkers, that. Unlike Freeports though, scrapyards should be complete and utter anarchy. Seriously though, restricting the privileges for independent players is probably a bad idea. I mean, there are plenty of very good players whom seemingly spend a lot of their time dedicated to one unofficial faction. I see a problem when they might have restricted access to game features while ranked members may do as they please. I'm probably not making a great deal of sense tonight, but I do see a serious imbalance here.
As long as everyone has to fulfill the same objective criteria to become official, with neither shortcuts nor roadblocks due to having friends or enemies in the right or wrong places, I'm all for perks. If the admins and devs are able to bring up the basic minimum of maturity and fairness to guarantee that, perks can have wonderful effects on community and gameplay. If they still aren't able to swallow their egos and do that at least during the time they are doing admin work, things will keep going as horribly wrong as they have before.
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(01-05-2015, 07:05 PM)Parthenogenesis Wrote: As long as everyone has to fulfill the same objective criteria to become official, with neither shortcuts nor roadblocks due to having friends or enemies in the right or wrong places, I'm all for perks. If the admins and devs are able to bring up the basic minimum of maturity and fairness to guarantee that, perks can have wonderful effects on community and gameplay. If they still aren't able to swallow their egos and do that at least during the time they are doing admin work, things will keep going as horribly wrong as they have before.
Out of curiousity, I'd love to see you post any evidence you have of this going on (that doesn't date back before disco was trying to be a more or less strictly RP mod).
Tal, Snak3, et all pretty much summed up my thoughts on the matter too. The advantage of indies and indy factions currently is freedom.
Take the simple example of the group that popped up relatively recently causing trouble. If an official faction were to behave as said group/indy faction did, the officials would have been smacked HARD and IMMEDIATELY. Because they are unofficial though, the issues they've caused have brought about admin action slower and more cautiously (and some community members still maintain that there shouldn't be any sanctions given to them yet)