Discovery is too convoluted

[Ash]

Yeah well, some times I feel that everything is far too restricted and new players have no idea what are they walking into when they first log in the server.

The problem however is not in the restriction of features that encourage RP indirectly, the problem is that there are not enough features that encourage RP directly. The player infocards are one clear example of the later, and that was a fantastic addon, but sadly I can't see many people using it.

Its understandable thought, the game is old, its engine is old and has its limits.

The game is old, which makes it unpopular to pick up again to begin with. But it's a kick in the teeth to see a cake dangled in front of you the shape of an awesome add-on to freelancer to find you've got to jump through hundreds of hoops and run hundreds of miles to get a taste of it.

People come here to RP, so RP shouldn't need to be encouraged so much. What I dislike is this massive filter of Disco lore and RP conduct that siphons off all but a handful of new players willing to do their homework and suck it up.

I'd more argue the fact that the rules and IDs and all that are complex without achieving anything. The reason for additional complexity is to close loopholes; any system of modern law is hugely complex because it needs to be in order to rule out loopholes. However, our rules and IDs still have plenty of room for error - I've been told that you can engage anything as Nomads without roleplay, and I've been told you need roleplay prior to engaging as a Nomad. Just one of the many weird, unclarified, and confusing parts of the rules. If they were reworked a bit, it wouldn't be a huge issue, although that's an undertaking I wouldn't want anyone to take on alone. *shudders*

My answer to this is that if you try to wipe out all the rule breakers by squeezing the parameters of gameplay ever tighter. You're simply going to force them to create more innovative ways to break rules.

There will always be loop holes. Some of the tightest firewalls in the world have loop holes. And to deal with the resulting collateral is the job of the admins unless it affects more than half of the community.

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