Roleplaying Nomads

[Treewyrm]

Ok, why wouldn't an independent Nomad be answerable in part to the Keepers? Seems workable enough and good rp besides. As regarding each player's "worthiness", what kind of standards and norms are we talking about here?

Aside of roleplay there are other qualities requires, such as but not limited to: responsibility, knowing border, limits, understanding the delicate balance of forces and opinions around.

I cannot be responsible for the actions of independent character and certainly will not take that weight, there is more than enough work as it is that I do, being involved in development and much more.

As much as I understand your concerns expressed here but you have to see the other side too. Because right now you are merely assuming of what might have been, and from my experience I would say that these assumptions are far-fetching, perhaps even naive, I'll explain why below.

There is always control that has to be maintained, so I control Keepers faction, Kane controls Phantoms, and admins control terrorists. I'm fairly positive that you'll have just as same chances in asking those parties of making say Terrorist ID public. Go ahead and ask them, I'm absolutely sure that they will reply saying "No such thing will ever happen" or something similar. So why here?

Finally, throughout the period of version 4.83 I think we have witnessed what public access have made: mercenaries on Nomad cruisers, Nomad battleships without any roleplay at all camping New London, et cetera. All that massive ooRPness and blatant abuse have only made work of many good people here much much harder in making Nomads to become a playable side on Discovery, come to think of that too. We had to actually turn the whole community 180 degrees around on the topic of Nomads being playable, a community that has been closely watching those sanctions and shaking their heads saying "no". Check what was back then for yourself, may be a bit of history will shed a light on how it all changed and what work has been done. I'm sorry, but there is simply no way back.

Now, back to the topic. Let's see this example, a very common one that I have witnessed myself numerous times year ago when playing verion 4.83. Assume we have a player called John (no offense to Johns here). One day John decided that Nomads is what he wants, we don't know the reasons why, but he buys the Nomad ship and buys the Nomad ID. Now that ID would give him rights to kill anything what he desires. Assume that John did something completelty out of the line and terribly wrong that has nothing to do with roleplay or so, for example he came to New York on his shiny Nomad battleship and started camping Manhattan. Now, what powers would I have over him? None at all. I could, of course, say that he is very wrong in doing so, but he can simply show me the middle finger (or tentacle?) and be on with it, because there is nothing I can actually do about him. In the faction I can explain what went wrong and how to solve the problem, a faction member will listen to that. But we don't even need that - those that get in have already went through substantial course through which we can understand if the person is responsible enough for the freedoms he or she will be granted with. Now, you would say: let admins deal with this then. Fine, but let us remember how much work they have already, ask how many sanction reports they get daily. Re-engagements, pirating in capital ships, harassment, swearing, cheaters just to name the few most common, the list can go on forever. I've been often talking to admins and know how much work they have to do on a daily basis. Adding more pressure and putting work on their shoulders - we, players, don't need that. So there is me, acting as a filter, a proxy. It is my task, my responsibility here. But we don't need to imagine and assume here things: there are many sanctions dating back to 4.83 where Nomads ships were simply taken off from players and they were put into starfliers to the Temple of Revenant. They had no roleplay, they were abusing gameplay, no sense of reason and balance at all. But only those very very few that did (I can count them by one hand) have formed what today you know as The Keepers. Back then we lair foundation to what we have today and a lot more to come with upcoming 4.85.

Understand also that I'm not discussing any possibilities here, I'm merely stating facts here. Facts upon which the current model exists. Surely, it's not ideal, but nothing is ideal in this world either, there is always human factor and we are all individual beings each having their own mind and view on the things around. But these are the common grounds where we play at, just as there are new possibilities to open don't forget that there are borders of sandbox to remain within.

Also here is another thing: player base is not monolithic. There are long-timers here, there are players who left and then came back, but there are also players that come looking only for PvP. And I will not be dealing with such people where my responsibility lies at.

Theory is all good, but there are practical concerns to take into account as well. And they, from my experience, outweigh theoretical component by far here on the topic.