Didn't mean to start a war here, but obviously the issue is contentious.
Theres a lot of love here also.. lets be excellent to each other as we express our opinions..
I would like to step back a bit.. view from "above"... I hope admins are up there watching.. this is important stuff.
Let's look at a big issue that dwarfs faction status and population counts, and faction rights right now... Something that you all will agree is the major issue that affects and sometimes destroys satisfying roleplay:
The server has, and always will have a big problem with PvP overload that spills out into oorp behavior.
At the moment (And as always) we simply say "this wont do" - or "use Connecticut".
We sanction. We abuse. We gather and swear in skype. We fume and rage in forum, and official factions invent a million little "lores" to reduce the gank, and sadly thus reduce the experience for most players, as the whole game gets mired in soft politics and bureaucracy.
We micromanage the lolwuts with faction lore, that does nothing but isolate us from them, and reduces them to targets of derision and sanction and eventually exile. Until they rejoin with a new account.
Eventually they will get the message right?
We say "RP comes first" and drill it into the noobs until it becomes a routine for them to mechanically mouth the platitudes before they open fire..
Thus is RP fulfilled. 0.0 is out the window.. but by god I got them to issue 3 lines of dialog before they shot me.
So whats going on?
Sadly: We don't modify the rp to accept that OORP WILL HAPPEN. We just pretend it doesn't exist...
BH/Hess/AII/OC gank in gamma? Screw it.. official factions go elsewhere.. everyone laughs at the noobs.
Major systems are un-rp'able for 4 hours...
multiply that by every oorp event we cant control... theres lots every day.. we ignore them .
Lolberty.. ?!? gammagank?!? lolwhut?!? These terms are more easily recognizable to us than most rp terms and lores.
Someone recite to me rule 1 for Corsairs. Anyone?
But you know what gammagank is?!?
We don't address or in any way attempt to mitigate or accommodate this behavior in a way that might improve the gameplay...
SO .. heres the point of the first post:
The above list of methods for dealing with oorp behavior is, omho a mistake.
The Nomads are a prime resource for allowing non-english language, non-rp behaviour in a way that supports the rp for the rest of us.
Noms dont need talk, or mind meding, or anything.. they can be played as psychopathic alien monsters. and can disrupt and confuse and strike fear like the eye of god into sudden encounters.
Nomads SHOULD BE the enemy that corsair and Outcast alike will team up and fight INRP.
They threaten humanity for gods sake!!!
As an asset it is undeniable that Nomads can stay in rp whist serving OORP needs - if we would only use them, and manipulate them as such.
So thats the high level view... (You understand I'm standing on a pretty tall pulpit right here).
Do we have to destroy whats been accomplished with noms for the sake of using them as a strategic resource to fix this contentious issue?
I argue: No.
Now of course theres a lot of rp lore built for the noms.. no need to remove that, or diminish it...
but NOT USING noms to fix the problem described above, for the sake of a minority view of a few players that barely manage to stay on the server (sorry guys - theres never more than 2 or 3 of you online at peak)... is a bit silly.
So summary:
This thread has helped me become even more determined:
Noms should be the goto pew experience.
All else is ego and whimsy from a few established players, versus frustration and envy from the rest.
Some other points, cos we are at that point in the evening (the pretty girls have left - you're dancing with your cousin).
Right now IMHO there are a few too many contrivances in Nomad rp that reduce it as an satisfactory role.
Flame proof coat on:
1. "Mind control" as a means of communication is counterintuitive is a game that has its root in a twitch space fighter sim. Until we have full mandatory team-speak integration i don't fancy having to imply commands to other players in obscure mind meld texting..(Think about it: theres more functionality on your mobile phone for that kind of rp than there is in the chat window in-game).
It's an artificial invention that looks good on paper, but fails in the limited text-based medium we have to manipulate. Stop it. talk or don't talk. We have enough language challenges on the server without poor guys with English as their second language trying to master the subtle nuances of "mental implication" in the middle of a heated exchange.
2. ZOI is critical for all factions.. and solves any challenge to opening nomads up...
It's yet another form of enforcement, and far far better than "locking the boats up" in my opinion... Don't ignore its uses for controlling the Nomad spread... and in this thread I see too much belittling of it as a useful form of control when frankly it serves pretty well for everyone / everywhere else.
3l Nom weaponry is absolutely irrelevant. Those that think we are asking for noms simply cos we covet your stuff are REALLY working under false assumptions.
Most awesome ship in the history of the game IMO was originally a corsair cruiser... and we lost it to phantoms who disappeared and took it with them. I don't need that ship to play corsair. I don't actually need a nom ship to play nom. See point 4.
4. Lastly (And this is what I think will actually fix the problem).
New Secondary ID tag, or cargo item: "Infected".
Carried as a secondary ID (unmountable) and demonstrates that the character has become infected and should be cleansed..
Allows ANYONE to play nomad (until they die and "infected tag gets dropped) with their current ship, current weapons - and go completely mental - until they are obliterated.
Totally RP if a player then goes nuts and oorp...its just the madness of infection.
Gives Order a new purpose. Gives oorp pvp'er a few chuckles...
ANd next time we see oorp behaviour. we advise the guy to play an infected, or even force the id on him..
Like a duncecap if you like? Not perfect.. but better than ignoring the situation?
![[Image: lavoz.gif]](http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/3871/lavoz.gif)