I think the opening post has a serious case of rose tinted glasses going on, so that's my opinion in a nutshell.
First, a little preamble:
Opening that nutshell, during the time before the tech chart changed from a manual to an automated system, I was in charge or heavily influencial in managing two faction tech lines, that being Corsairs and Liberty Navy.
When the tech grant system was unilaterally changed by the admins from being a consensus-based deal which could be rescinded by a faction at any time, to a permanent deal which couldn't, that screwed me over big time, as my strategy up to that point was to use tech to ensure the loyalty of some particularly fickle factions and individuals. Corsairs and Reavers were once on good terms on this basis, because they presumably werent prepared to give up the tizzies. However, their options opened up after that admin change, and they promptly started shooting.
This is before the change to an automated system, for those that don't know what I'm talking about.
That really angered me. I hadn't made a mistake until the admins made it one.
Now:
Lets not pretend that the past was all skies full of diamonds and a girl called Lucy. It was possible, and easy in fact, to be an acceptably amiable individual that could be trusted by faction leaders to not be ridiculous with tech they got granted. If you went the direct RP route, you often had to go through a system, but for some requests this wasn't appropriate and you could contact the lead directly. This did create an environment where friends of that lead had an advantage, but then most of the time in order to be friends with them, all you had to do was not be abrasive, uncooperative, openly selfish and rude.
But then, there were examples every now and then of individuals that had good enough relations with powerful individuals that they got stuff on the basis of trust that future RP would be conducted, rather than the knowledge that past RP was conducted. I personally benefited from time to time because, apart from the fact that I could literally grant myself tech, it was known that I was actually somebody capable of RP. More extreme examples of this were Ench, who as a player could get just about anything from anyone, and the Phantoms, which had everything from everywhere.
Now, I know the vast majority of the ex-Phantom roster to be very amiable individuals, and I know Ench to be a caring individual. It is true to a certain extent that the system before created circlejerks of tech among friends, but these people were friends because they got along with each other and were generally nice people. Generally, you share your toys with nice people. It also wasn't particularly hard to break into this group of people when I was a new player in disco - in fact, Fellow Hoodlum, Nightfall, Caylith etc were all quite accepting since I wasn't a douchebag.
It strikes me that the people who complained about the previous tech system for the express reason of inequality and elitism are almost universally individuals with which I would not share equipment that exists only in a game, let alone something physical like a pint of beer. This is because these individuals are, largely, complete pricks. This is an RP server, so those individuals that come here that are proactive about integrating into the community, willing to learn roleplay (and thereby accept a social superior for the duration) and are amicable individuals get into that friend group. An awful lot of people have a problem with one of those three things, for reasons that I fail to see as anything other than irrational.
However:
The current system is an automated one and that's precisely why I like it. This is because I possess an intellectual belief in systems of governance, even if those systems are flawed. Now, there's lots I don't like about the system, but the thing I do like about it is that it is a system of rules that can't be broken. You, as a dev, put in the rules and the advocate is a computer that literally can't disobey itself. This means that it affords the world a consistency based on intuitive rules, rather than everyone racing towards the best pan-Sirius combo they can find.
I also like it because it cut sanction requests on the subject of tech to near zero. This is not because it wasted the admins' time, but because it wasted mine as I had to fill out some of these.
I don't give a damn about favouritism or elitism, partially because some would argue that I was part of it, but mostly because I'm also a staunch advocate of "if you cant beat them, join them". I hold no grudge to the super-rich in this world, because I hope to become one of them some day (yeah, as if that'll happen).
My opinion is that a main reason for complaints is that some people were getting toys which other people couldn't, and those other people were jealous. After the change, the people who were nice and rewarded for that were pissed off because their toys no longer worked, but the people who complained were also pissed off, because they didn't get the toys that other people had before.
But the proof that those who had toys were nice people is that they're still nice to each other now, even though they can't materialise their good feels for each other by granting each other tech. Some of these people left because reasons, but those that didn't are not suddenly start being rude to each other because their social relationship is no longer productive.
