Should official factions have more power?

[Athenian]

I can't really see what power amounts to in Discovery.

Real power would be the power to change the relationships between npc factions in-game, which is unfair on new players or on players who don't visit of can't make sense of the endless web of diplomatic ties in place. Even then, a power like that can upset the whole background to the game.

Real power would be the power to limit access to ships and equipment, but there is no real justification for doing this as a matter of policy without causing unnecessary rifts in the community. In any case, if someone is abusing a ship, there is the route of sanctions or a group of players can RP a justification for destroying the person's ship until they get the point.

There is a perception that official factions boss people around. Which is only partly true. Being here longer means people feel they have invested more in Discovery. Running a faction takes a lot of time. You have to try to be everyone to everybody.

One thing we need to clear up this: Are we talking about power in-game or power in the forums?

I have a few more thoughts about this which I'll post later. Work calls.

On the faction creation process, and these are just from brainstorming:

250 mil up front to post a description of your faction which is open to feedback. This allows you to advertise in the employment office and create a msg dump in the factions section.

250 mil more when you want it to be considered for official status, after three months being unoffical, with the same requirements regarding members, time on server, etc. Once you are approved, you get the regular official threads (i.e. the faction recruitment forum, the message dump, a feedback thread)

500 mil more when you want to buy the guard system of the npc faction you represent. This gives you full rights to the system, up to and including the right to control accesss to anything sold there.

The only official faction proposals should be for the npc factions that exist already in game. Official factions should represent the npc faction. There should be only one official faction for a npc faction.

edit: Don't know if I'm sure about any of these.

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Former member of "the most paranoid group of people in the community"
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