Note on The Order policies

[Xoria]

What nearly all of you are missing is the truly critical issue : Who decides?

Are player factions as represented by their faction leaders (many of which are apparently run rather autocratically) in possession of the necessary judgment, maturity, and humility to actively restrict the activities of players who have not voluntarily subjected themselves to that player faction's authority and restrictions? The past few months have demonstrated conclusively to me that the number of player factions with such responsible leadership abilities is somewhere between none and next-to-none. As a faction leader, I certainly don't want the responsibility. I want to play the game, not spend my time policing other players from my character or occupying my faction members' time with it either. That's a sure-fire route to frustration and boredom...and abuse of power.

The results of allowing such power to such factions is ultimately the ill health of the server due to those irresponsible powerplays driving off players, or dissuading them from coming here to begin with. And it is not simply a matter of giving power to responsible leaders, and stripping it from irresponsible ones. One irresponsible use of power does far more damage than numerous responsible uses of power does good. Also, such decisions are inevitably the source of charges of favoritism, bias, etc, all of which does further damage all on its own.

So, in my opinion, power which is abused (and unquestionably that has been the case over the past few months) should be lost. I am totally unmoved by the hyperbolic predictions of capship doom that those seeking power continually cite. The offense is much greater to certain perceived sensibilities than it is to actual server activities. And I say this as the leader of a faction that has been constantly attacked with battlecruisers while flying Daggers and Dromedaries. You who protest so much do not limit yourselves so much by comparison, and have far less to be concerned with.

The undeniable, and not-yet-refuted fact remains that it is the responsibility and appointed power of the Administration to deal with those who refuse to roleplay. It doesn't matter if it occurs in fighters or capships, we can deal with it far more effectively and responsibly than random players on the server can. This is simply a fact, and it is witnessed every time someone goes against these player faction dictates : the player faction members and even its non-members go ape in system chat without any regard for roleplay. I witnessed it last night in fact, when non-members of a restrictive player faction couldn't even properly interpret in-character roleplaying because they were so overly concerned with "stolen ships" according to the player faction's irresponsible power grabbing dictates.

So it really comes down to this : who is more responsible to regulate the behavior of players? Admins or other players?

Players may persuade, convince, cajole, entice, and invite, but when they attempt to force, the inevitably ensuing abuse far outweighs any potential gain. Factions do far better to involve the newly arrived players in cooperative multiplay (else why be on a multiplayer server) than to attempt to bully them into following rules and regulations which only invite rebellion.

The false choice that is constantly being presented of factions doing everything or Admins doing everything does nothing but demonstrate the bankruptcy of the argument.

The two irrefutable truths are :

Factions may do a lot to entice players to cooperatively roleplay without resorting to force.

Admins may take up the issue when a refusal to roleplay is the persistent response. Admin enforcement tools are far more persuasive.

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