Faction Control of Capital Ships... or...

[Xoria]

We don't assume anything of the sort. We politely ask people to register when we first notice a cap that's not on the list. After all, these people are generally new, half of them haven't even registered on the forums. We don't 'bully' people anymore. We politely ask. Then we politely ask again. Then we politely ask again. Then we ask not so politely. Then we ask pretty nastily. THEN we order and get the Doomfleet on. Then, after all the asking politely and not-so-politely they STILL refuse to cooperate, we start shooting. We WILL stop shooting if they agree. The objective is to help teach these players how to RP here to maintain a healthy server community, not give Mallorca rings (as pretty as that would be).
For the love of god, we DO give them the benefit of the doubt. We assume they haven't seen the forums and hence the cap register, hence the whole 'Politely Asking' phases of cap registration.

You are simply illustrating my point for me here. Declining to register does not make someone a non-roleplaying cap abuser, but they are treated that way if they decline to register : "Then we ask pretty nastily. THEN we order and get the Doomfleet on. Then, after all the asking politely and not-so-politely they STILL refuse to cooperate, we start shooting. "

Registering does not magically transform a non-roleplaying cap abuser into the opposite. Registration accomplishes nothing other than creating the basis for an us vs them mentality and the automatic assumption that someone who hasn't registered is guilty of something. That IS the practical effect of it, as demonstrated by the way both factionalized players and even non-factionalized players behave when a new capship shows up. The facts of on-server behavior on the part of factionalized and non-factionalized members contradict the intent that you claim.

So cap registration is inherently cynical? I don't get it.:mellow:

Yes it is, and you're right : you don't.

Flip the purpose of your capship list the other way as Snapp suggested and you remove the negative practical consequences of labeling everyone who isn't registered as guilty of something, while still preserving the practical usefulness of the list : identifying people who need to improve. You also get a MUCH shorter list that way, which is far easier to use and manage effectively. It's counterintuitive, but the exercise of less overt control actually leads to better results.

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