The JUNKER CONGRESS

[worldstrider]

When you make a PLAYER faction, you are going PAST the NPC behavior--to do things they don't do.

NPCs are two-dimensional. If I wanted to be the perfect NPC Junker it's easy to set the faction rules:

1) Find an npc CSV, scan them, note their equipment and dock the nearest Junker base.
2) Buy a bribe for them, buy everything they had and undock.
3) Form on one of them and follow them around. Shoot only at what they shoot at.
4) Get the ID when your rep rises enough.

Poof--you are a perfect Junker.

We are forming a player faction--based on the Junkers we see and the scraps of info we have about them and then adding our own personal character's direction to it.

The Junkers, "Tinkerbell" and "Oniros" had an idea and desire to motivate Junkers in a more expanded way. They made a proposal and invested time and money it. They were able to gain allies and supporters.

The NPCs won't change one bit. The faction is for players--Junker and non-Junker. The info cards and NPCs wont tell us what to do--we have to do things ourselves.

To assume all Junkers are paranoid, hostile to others, uneducated, mafia like and completely untrustworthy and to accept that as "all there is to Junkers" defeats the purpose of a faction in the first place.

And how you feel could very well be how some Junkers feel in "real life" (in the game). Some are excited by the prospects, some are suspicious and some don't get it. We aren't redefining Junkers--we are playing a group of them that are exerting their own influence. That's pretty realistic actually.

The issue isn't whether or not the faction is "perfect Junkerism", its simply, "Could there be a group of Junkers that might do this?". The answer is, "Yes--we already are." We are Junkers and the idea of the Congress isn't implausible or extremely ridiculous. The only concerns to review are to make sure it doesn't hijack or unbalance everyone else's game. Those are valid concerns. Other Junkers can play however they like--the Congress can even be completely ignored by them. We haven't changed their game at all.

I chose "congress" because its how most nations start before they are nations. Its democratic and in its inception is like an invitation to form a referendum. I didn't chose "empire" or "government" because that presumes I have a mandated effect on other Junker players. We don't. Its a group of Junkers exercising their prerogative to work together but forcing no one to do it or subscribe to it.

We aren't asking for a change in server rules to accommodate us either. No special weapons or ships. Everything we are doing gear wise can be done by any Junker right now. In fact, they could do even more.

We are networking and in exchange for public recognition are proclaiming limits and restrictions on ourselves to make it friendlier and nonthreatening to others.

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