This is Exactly what I mean.

[sovereign]

Now, I can't speak for any other factions, but I can tell you that the XA has absolutely no problem with independants whatsoever. We don't consider ourselves to be the entire Xeno movement, so there's a lot of room for independants. We often fly alongside them and have a lot of fun in the process, and we treat them as equals.

As for needing to be in good with the leaders, that is definately not true. I didn't know anybody at all when I filled out my XA application. I flew a couple indie characters before that, but nothing major, and I didn't get on anyones radar, since I was still new to the server. When I was flying indie, I didn't feel stepped on by any factions, either.

Now, what the XA does do is try to lead by example. We always try to stay in character, and we always keep our loadouts in RP. Basically, if you want to know how to properly RP a Xeno, take a look at an XA player. Personally, I think this has worked, as I've noticed an improvement in the quality of indie Xenos since we came on the scene.

THAT is the idea. Factions have more responsibilities than indies- we can all agree with that. Those responsibilities include keeping your RP in good condition, or you go poof- we can agree with that. Find one instance of a faction member going ooRP, the faction leader finding out about it, and the faction leader not getting disappointed and pissed off.

Random people on the server don't have anyone holding stuff over their head to keep stuff fun unless they break a server rule. A fair share of people say "Okay, fine by me, let them do whatever the hell they want as long as its within server rules." Its a logical argument on the surface.

Problem- Suppose a criminal faction ship sees a Bounty Hunter ship passing nearby. The criminal ship fires a CD at the BHG without hailing him, and then flings a few missiles/torps/razors/whatevers into his hull. The BHG dies. The criminal carries on his merry way, the Bounty Hunter changes character for four hours and doesn't go for revenge. No server rule has been broken.

Did the BHG player have fun? No, they got ganked. It doesn't matter whether by capship, bomber, cannonball missile, or camera ship shoving them into a planet- they got ganked, and didn't have fun. Maybe even the criminal didn't have fun, it might have felt like a hollow victory.

Now here's the rub- if this is routine behavior for a player, they get disliked and might get a bounty on their heads. If this is routine behavior for a faction, official or not, they get flamed, bountied, KoS'd, and possibly banned off the server, depending on the severity.

Even with the people who do this anyway and never get found out, you can safely assume that some 60-80% of tagged characters will probably not be doing this kind of thing. If it was more, threads would crop up and cull the problem tags.

The random people on the server, however, rarely find out this isn't model behavior. There are no official complaints unless they break a server rule, and unless the person PMs them asking why that was really necessary, then they might not even recognize the other guy didn't enjoy the encounter. There is no pseudo-parental force scolding them- the admins, the closest thing, have better things to do.

This is why people tend to trust factions, official or otherwise. There is a guiding force behind the actions of the group, and if you learn how that force works (by, say, reading the posts of the leader or talking to them on skype or ingame) then you can predict what you trust the group to do. You might not trust them in a positive sense, but they become predictable enough to handle easily- if they are prone to KoS'ing BHG, then if you want to fly your hunter through a system full of them, you might want to fly 14k above the galactic plane. If they are known to not KoS anything, then you fly straight through. Either way, you know what to expect, and can use background information to shape a more interesting RP experience.

Common ground is the source of good chatter- if you and the other guy have nothing in common, then you can only talk at each other, not to each other. If you see some person floating around, you try to develop a sense of what they might be- between their ship, their ID, their tag, and their equipment, what might they be? That's where talk comes from.



I kind of got to rambling there, but I hope I got the idea across. I'm not too happy with Unselie's statement there, but I don't blame her for it. Akumabito is very good at pulling the worst out of people so he can nail them for it. Its a useful skill, if not a nice one. He might make a good minister of propaganda for some dictatorship somewhere. If you're reading this, Akumabito, consider it. Seriously, you're perfect for the job.

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