How to make Discovery better?

[barrenwzste]

Nooblet,

There are only two IDs in the game that are not faction IDs, and both of them are prepatory IDs. First, the civilian. This ID is basically a flashing light that says, "I'm a noob, don't shoot!" It's only purpose is to allow the player to prepare for joining one of the factions. Second, the recruit. This ID tells the other players, "Yes, I know my equipment and diplomatics don't mach my tag, I'm fixing that as fast as I can." It's only purpose is to allow established players to change thier faction.

The "generic" IDs are still faction IDs. First, lets look at the definition of faction. A faction is a group of people who express a shared belief or opinion different from people who are not part of that group. When you fly with the Mercenary ID, you are associating yourself with all other mercenaries. You are a group of pilots who:

Can trade and escort Traders
Can fulfill lawful and unlawful bounty contracts
Cannot pirate, but can provide security services for pirates who are pirating if paid to do so. Mercenaries can only fire on traders or smugglers in self-defense or if the trader or smuggler fires on or is bountied by the mercenary's employer
Cannot demand contraband unless specified in employer's bounty
Cannot use any transports with more than 3,800 cargo
Can only fly Fighters, Freighters, Transports, and Gunboats.

These limitations, though looser than many, tell you about the beliefs of the faction. Mercenaries, as a whole, don't care who paid for the hit. Mercenaries disdain pirating, but they have no compunction about protecting pirates. Mercenaries aren't lawmen, so they don't care if somebody else is carrying contraband. I could go on, but I'm sure everybody gets the picture. A generic faction is still a faction, with it's own specific characteristics.

Now lets talk about the rules. If you find a player violating role play, you can snap a screen shot and send it to the Administration. First, the administrators are busy people. They have plenty to do, and that means that there is going to be, either a considerable time lag, or they will have to take time off from other important tasks. Second, there are hundreds of us, and only a handful of them. Keeping track of repeat offenders is going to be difficult enough because of sheer numbers, let alone name changes. In the mean time the violator is still busy violating and disrupting the play of the players who are following the rules. In the offical factions, this kind of problem is often resolved in a day, sometimes even a matter of hours. With Independants I have seen the process drawn out to a week and the average is a few days. A lot of damage is done in that time that could be prevented.

As for the power official factions have over independants, the leaders can give independants minor orders. If the independant declines the order, the faction leaders may role play thier unhappiness, and a court-martial. If the independant still declines the order the leaders of the official faction can order the independants death. If the Independant continues to decline the order then they can request that the Independant be changed to hostile with thier faction. The only one of these that puts any real pressure on the Independant is changing it to hostile, and once again we have the process to go through while he/she continues violating.

You ask what kind of situations the official factions can't handle with thier current power. They cannot deal with players who don't care if they anger the factions. The punishments, excepting the last, are so light as to be rediculous. So, those who are breaking cannon, and know it, do so with the full knowledge and acceptance of what the consequences are. If this happens, then the consequences are not astringent enough.

The traders who dock nine or ten times on restricted bases because they can make three times as much as at the accepted bases. The pirates who pirate a dozen traders in restricted areas because there is more traffic there. The player that spends most of thier time in restricted space. These players are violating thier roles and know that, generally speaking, they are only going to get told to stop. A few hours, a day maybe, and they are back at it again. This is the kind of thing the factions can't handle, because they don't have the power to put a real stop to it. This is the kind of widespread ooc violations that official factions can efficiently police amongst thier own players, because of thier power to levy stricter rules and punishments, but cannot among independant players.

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"Two things I know; Gravity sucks and Ion Storms blow. And that proves the universe is trying to kill us all" - Barren Waste, Captain of the Wasteland Wanderer

An approximation of my reaction when I see my next victim...er, these forums.