"New faction creation process and representation" discussion thread.

[Athenian]

I think the proposed system sounds over-complicated, may not entirely be suited to every faction's nature, might possibly be inspired by isolated cases which are not representative of faction functioning as whole and could in fact be prompted by a response to perceived problems in this game that may not actually exist except in the minds of a handful of people.

This exists already. Councils do already exist - the Zoners have one, the Corsairs have one. But no matter how many councils you create, allowing players to alter the established relations between the NPC factions will be a unworkable mess and will create a labyrinth for any new player to make sense of.

If a council of BAF factions agrees to go against the established canon and decalre Outcats to be their best new mates, doesn't that require drastically altering the reputation system in game? How can a new player be expected to respond when they are scolded in game for doing something that any person who ever played Freelancer would assume to be normal?

Having one official faction for a NPC faction can work efffectively, provided people understand that the faction is comprised of equals. It can work, it does work, provided people find a role for themselves, trust each other and share the workload. A hierarchical nature based on ship preference is the single biggest bone of contention for most players, and one of the reasons why people dislike factions. No way would I join an official faction again if I got told it was the light fighter for a month. I value my time too much to spend it proving myself to be a considerate player again to people who should trust their fellow players better by now. My advice, based on my own experience: drop the requirement that someone fly a LF for two months before they are allowed into a gunboat. It's a requirement that makes no sense when the mod has no longer a swiss-army knife ship that works in all situations. Of course people will want to fly large ships. With enough players in a faction, that becomes feasible. Not so much when there are only three of you online.

Faction leaders are not, nor should they imagine themselves to be, leaders per se. They are facilitators. They must not present themselves as power-hungry. Because realistically what power is there for you to have that is actually worth a bloody thing? Any faction, even one as small within the game as the Xenos, should be able to accomodate separate units within the group if people have a interesting aspect to that faction's role-play that they want to develop. The only reasonable objection someone might make to not joining a pre-existing faction would be that they want their own tag. Why? Because they think a different set of letters in front of a name establishes a unique identity? That unique identity could be the very reason your faction fails. And a unique presence is achieved by acting a particular way.

All of this however requires trust between players. In short supply, apparently.

Failing this, I like the suggestion of a 250 mil fee for a unofficial description post and some bonuses with that. And a bit more when you want to become official.

How many separate groups, or indeed numbers of players, could be permitted to exist within each faction? How could anything be decided upon? How can you guarantee that a decision won't be one that any reasonable new player to the server might contravene by doing nothing out of the ordinary?

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