why do the phantoms not have a feedback thread?

[reisiger_duke]

Okay... I stopped reading through all this on page 7...

I'm personally of the feeling that faction feedback threads should be an obligation upon being granted official status, both past and present.

Sorry Rob <.<

/signed
Any official faction should have one.
Not having one because of fear of it turning into a flame-feast is just... cowardly?
Phantoms are invite only ... on what basis? ... enrich the servers gameplay how? ... have to adhere to what standards?

Try making feed-back threads... and you might be surprised on some comments that will come... I bet OPG was when they finally made their feed-back thread.
Anyone turning it to a flame-feast... have a mod clean it.

I just log these days when one shows up in one of the systems on my trade route (singular intentional).

And frankly, Bacon, here's what I see in that video:

• Miner performing his namesake.
  
• Phantom approaching the miner.
  
• Phantom orders miner to run for his life.
  
• Miner refuses.
  
• Phantom fires on miner, inflicting continual severe damage.
  
• Miner runs on request.
  
• Phantom SNACs miner and miner dies.
  

So, we can see in this video that the miner was doomed - he was going to be destroyed regardless of whether or not he complied with the Phantom or not. If the Miner knows he was going to die, IRP he should just point a gun at his head and pull the trigger. The player, in turn, has no reason not to simply go AFK and let the Phantom blow up a totally immobile, unresponsive player ship and make the kill as unsatisfying as possible. That's what the style of play encouraged by many Phantoms produces, and the one of the reasons they need a feedback thread.

I agree.

Given similar circumstances I just would have done... nothing in my miner... not even bothered replying... prolly gone for a cup of fresh coffee.

A miner inside an asteroid field is dead the moment someone shows up with a SNAC... you don't even need a CD as that ship is too tooting big to propperly cruise out of the field without bumping all over the place.

So the miner did not have the option to run away in the first place... he was completely at the mercy of the Phantom.

Given continuing to mine is... odd in this circumstance... but the "Phantoms are all pew pew whores" replies most folk get when asking others tend to lead to this.

Imo, if someone in RP doesnt know who you are or why you are shooting at them, you explain, he is in a mining ship, and is not going anywhere and is no threat to you.

Personally, i have been asked many times 'why r u shootin me?', every time, you should explain who you are, as the large percentage of people you meet are nubs, and have no clue who you are. Also, one on one RP can be great fun, especially when you are teaching the other person (probably a nub) what RP is, and introducing them to RP situations.

To be honest, it is things like these that cause the phantoms to be flamed so much, to people who dont understand who they are, they just get told when asking 'they are an invite only, mostly admin faction with special guns and ships'. Now, if i were a nub, i'd think that that sounds like a poorly disguised excuse to PvPwhore with the baisically any ships and guns you want. The only way to prevent this, and the enevitable bias that comes from it, is to actively RP with people (especially in one to one situations), not just shoot them and say 'im a phantom, im here to kill you'.

As much as i respect what the phantoms are, no matter who you meet, you should RP with them to the full extent of your capabilities, not just shoot them 'because you can', otherwise you invite flames and imo have no defense. If you dont RP with someone on one ocasion, no matter how much you might on others, you will be branded PvPwhores by them.

So, in relation to this video, no matter who asks 'why are you shooting me' saying 'because i am a phantom' gives you no leg to stand on when accused of not RPing.

It does not matter who you are RPing with, what matters is that you RP.
So, yes, i think a phantom feedback thread would be nice, if at least to let people let some of their grievences out.
Edit: One more thing, do the phantoms have free lisence to shoot traders without asking for cargo/credits?

Agreed.
If someone doesn't know who you are... tell him!
Don't give a one-liner and continue shooting!

First time I heard of Phantoms was when a fellow in OSI told me about an encounter that ended up non-violently... so I was curious after getting the usual "they're pew pew whores" answer uppon asking other folk.

I went to the forum and the wiki and started reading up on them... and my conclusions were:

"What the [CENSORED] is such a mess-up of a faction doing in the Freelancer universe?"
"This seems to be a nice way for folks to steam off, or to attack other players without any repercussion on their usual chars."
"MOX bombing? Err... okay... the whole population of Manhattan must be Cardi addicts by now considering how often a smuggler got blown up in orbit."
"They want to bring down the houses by... blowing up single ships... wouldn't they need to do RP-events with other players and factions to become known?"

Nomads and Wilde are part of the FL vanillas lore and canon... expecting new players to recognize Phantoms the moment they first show up is like doing a trivia on a new player on all the server rules.

As a player - and former online D&D DM on a NWN server - I would expect said members of the phantoms to RP their butts off... and to friggin tell someone who they are when asked.

as soon as i began to move, (when he had shot my hull down to about a quarter health.) he SN'd me. and if i had run sooner, i am sure he would've done the same thing.

Which is exactly the same thought that would cross my mind aswell... I'm going to get blown up anyway... why bother?


All in all... Phantoms are a faction that by their lore and ID can and will attack anyone... insisting on good RP by others to not shoot them up is... questionable, as - just as someone mentioned before - the proper IRP reaction would be to put a gun to your head and pull the trigger.

If Phantom players want this to change, they require feed-back in the first place to learn about what simply pisses players off, what causes them to enjoy the encounter, how can you increase the knowledge of the Phantoms and their lore on the server in a way that makes others curious to find out more? etc.

[Virus]

Already done, Reisiger. Against much of the advise I was given. See my post above.

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