Should official factions have more power?

[Athenian]

This is not just about players taking on the responsibility of addressing issues that disrupt game-play - which to my mind is the only real justification for disciplining any player.

The debate about faction power should not lose sight of the other power that factions have. A faction in Discovery is not a online clan built on exclusivity or a hierarchy, and if you think it is, you must realise that factions are managed. That is to say, run by people, who devote free time. And not for the purposes of dictating how x or y should be. Think of faction leaders as (groan) Gamesmasters. Their role is to promote and encourage quality player interaction. That is why in Discovery many players are in several factions.

Factions generally have their own skype chat. That, first and foremost, along with a forum presence, is the other side to faction play, the out-of-game side. That structure is the most effective way to promote co-operative play, educate players about various aspects of the game and discuss things. Heck, with enough hard work it might even help creat that which can't be encoded into the game - fairness.

How the intended nature of factions translates into in-game activity is crucial. If the goal of a faction is to ensure that player Y can't do the equivalent of puncturing the Discovery foot-ball with poorly-thought out and inconsiderate behaviour, the how players handle that in-game had better be good. Bossing people around for docking at x or flying y or carrying z should be done as imaginatively as possible.

Which is why it's best if you, aha, spy on your faction members from time to time. By flying as one of the faction's worst enemies. Because that gives a real taste of how your intentions become polluted.

Faction players are players, but they shold be referees also. Or linesmen. Whatever they are called. They keep play flowing, they ensure anyone kicking anyone else in the nuts gets an early shower, and occasionally they get to take the odd free-kick. It's the last part that causes confusion, because it's a role that doesn't really exist in any other game.

I suppose the point I'm getting at is that the administrative work-load of the server is part of faction memebers' responsibility. Just not in the way we might think.

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