Zoner Classification

[Jinx]

It depends on the players mindset and how conservative or open to change this mindset is.

Imagine a freelancer taking BHG missions in Omicron Delta. He is then being caught / spotted by Corsairs who witness him shooting down NPC patrols. They contact him expressing their feelings about this. He does not respond - or worse ... yearns for some pvp and attacks those Corsairs.

Now - the reaction on the forum (if there is any at all) would most probably concern this ONE freelancer. Given that this freelancer is not flying a tag or is known for being affiliated to a player group - the most the official factions might have done is to bounty him or write some manly messages on the forum.

Imagine the same with a similarly untagged, unaffiliated Zoner. A Zoner caught red handed shooting down Corsairs and then attacking the players themselves.

The reaction would likely be quite different. In fact the discussion might quickly become "political" questioning the ideals of Zoners, their strength - and their behaviourism. But most of all - it would drag players into the discussion that had nothing to do with the incident at all.

One has rarely/never(?) seen Corsairs threaten to destroy a freelancer spacestation (not pob) based on the actions of a single player - but there have been multiple threats towards Freeports based on the actions of single - most often unaffiliated players.


So in conclusion - if your mind jumps from "him/her" (individual player) to "them" (faction) as in ... has to take responsibility ... then the faction does not seem to be generic. I do not believe that it is sanctionable to accuse and attempt to drag "all" freelancers into a mess for the actions of one or a few (liberty did it with blanket bounties on mercs and freelancers) - but this blanket bounty was subject of quite a lot of critizism at the time. Meanwhile it is much more common to demand a shutdown of freeport activities based on the actions of one or a few players, often unaffiliated to the station.

But rule-wise .. i think Zoners are NOT generic. There have been multiple suggestions/attempts to split them into regions - or even political factions with their own regional friends and foes. - But none of those suggestions were ever taken even into a trial.

To be snide to the community: Zoners are considered to be generic when it comes to their collective ambition and organization - but non generic when it comes to responsibilities.

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