A request of every member of Disco

[Zelot]

Hey guys and gals(pics or it didn't happen)

Some of you might know me, some of you might not. I am a player who played here for a long time and returned from a long hiatus a couple of months ago. I have been playing these couple of months and watching things and figuring out what was up with the community again. I wanted to say a few things and then make a request of everyone.

We have a great game and a great mod to play here. It is a testament that over a decade later, there is still a community here and a developing mod. I was fascinated by some of the cool bells and whistles I discovered when I got back. Since my return, I have gotten some awesome rp from people, and for the most part, haven't had to deal with too much lolwuttery (Probably due to the fact that I stay away from Liberty and the Omicrons.) It's been alot of fun. Spazzy and the admin staff are doing an amazing job with the events and trying to bring life to the game, and how the devs have continued to make this mod better and better is really beyond me. Kudos.

That said, I have also seen some negative things. Often, I am sure I was guilty of this in the past, we take the game too seriously. We play too tough. When you have the other guy on the ropes you go for the throat. I was very good at that in my time.

But it makes us forget that there is another player on the other side of that character. A person who has put time and work into their rp, or base or character or faction. @Dieter Schprokets , a long forgotten, but amazing community member, player, faction leader and admin, used to tell people that they should join the faction that opposes their main faction. Not to get info or anything like that, but to be able to make the game more fun for both sides. Because at the end of the day, that's what the game should be about, trying to let everyone have as much fun as possible playing their roles.

There is too much griefing nowadays, and that isn't to say it didn't happen in my time as well, but we were clocking more than 150 players on the server at down time, the community was much larger then, I don't think I have seen it break 75 since I have been back. In my time the number of players needed for a faction to keep official status was 5. Can you imagine? The community doesn't have the playerbase anymore for us not to be worried about how griefing effects the community.

Good factions want to support and empower thier enemies oorp. Yes, as our characters we want to beat the enemy, but the players on the other side aren't our enemy, they are just other players and oorp, we should want them to have as much fun as possible, because we want to have as much fun as possible. I had a great talk with the ~LH the other day, and came out of it so happy. Why? Because they understand that in order for them to have fun as players, the players on the other side also need to have fun and be happy. That's not to say they aren't cutthroat in rp, and they are, but they know where the balance is. Unfortunately, lots of other factions and groups and individuals I have observed are not. I am not talking about any personal negative interactions I have had, because they have been few and far between, but I also haven't put myself in the situation to have problems, but I watch and I read. People need to start working with the other players, even if they are against each other in rp. Both sides should be getting something from interactions. If one side walks out feeling like crap and the other side walks away high as a kite, it wasn't a good encounter. I know it sucks to die, but when I feel like it was done communally with the other side, it's different. I was talking to another veteran player the other night and off-handedly we were talking about how much time we thought the mod might have left. I said I thought it probably had at least a couple of years and his response was, ok that's how much time we have to win. I didn't understand. How do you win at disco? It's really baffling to me, it's a sandbox rp game. How does one win? What is the measure? But I thnk one of the problems is people are trying to somehow win the game. That is a problem.

I haven't been around in a while, but I put quite a bit of time and energy and work into this community, and I still even after all this time, feel some responsibility toward it and I want it to be the best it can be. I want it to be a place where lovers of Freelancer come together to enjoy the game, where everyone feels that they get something out of it.

So now to the request.

I would like every member of Disco to commit to trying to be a bit better to the other players, to be a bit kinder and a bit more understanding. I would like every member of disco to try to work out problems oorp, to try to understand that everyone wants to enjoy their time here and it is all of our responsibility to try to make that happen for everyone. I would like every member of disco to try to reach out to someone you haven't agreed with in the past, or someone you have some kind of conflict going with, and try to work it out, human being to human being (I know it's a stretch.) I would like every member of disco to just try to be human to one another.

Go join an opposing faction, or one you dislike. You know that guy who pisses you off? Go and organize and event with him. See that new faction getting started? Help them out. See that old faction, just clinging on by the skin of thier teeth? Give them a hand up off the ledge. There is so much we can do for each other here to make this community a warmer place.

I know the computer tends to get in the way of real human interaction here, but, please.... Try.

If you have gotten down to this point, thanks.

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[nOmnomnOm]

go race in my event tomorrow and try it out :3

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[Zelot]

go race in my event tomorrow and try it out :3

If I can I will, I love a good race.

[Durandal]

Things have become so convoluted that the people who have the biggest problems with each other are in factions that don't even fight each other or are on the opposite sides of Sirius. I'm all for what you're proposing here and in some cases it does help, but things have gone so far OORP that people are judged by actions that transpire well past classical faction lines at this point.

[Corile]

^

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Reflections on the Revolution in Gallia
Custodi // High City of Heraklion // The Cult of Archangels
Log Filter // Post Creator // Manhattan

[Zelot]

Things have become so convoluted that the people who have the biggest problems with each other are in factions that don't even fight each other or are on the opposite sides of Sirius. I'm all for what you're proposing here and in some cases it does help, but things have gone so far OORP that people are judged by actions that transpire well past classical faction lines at this point.

It's not necessarily about factions, but I get your point. So what are some ideas for people who aren't in factions that connect to help others? What could someone in like, lets say AFA do with someone who plays a Hessian? Where can we get these players working together? I don't know, I remember sometimes making groups that we knew we didn't want to be official or long term, it was just a little short term rp that we might do just because we wanted to fly together. You should want to work with new and different people here, that's part of the excitement and fun. But I am sure open to as many other ideas as people can come up with.

[Divine]

Disco has very much developed an "it's us or them" attitude, which ofc quite a few people will disagree with being true. Then again, "quite a few people" are usually the ones that either sit together already or usually have connections to others via members in their groups. And whilst some, usually vocal ones, gather to overcome the status found, others try to either adapt or integrate, at least just play in their own niche usually leaving those close around them without much left. Usually this stems from one or two interactions one side deemed unworthy, from which point onwards one side decided it's either "us or them".
Should one try to actually create a bit of fun to explore and expand on besides the usual paths, then one'll likely be met by denial to the point of people actively trying to remove people and groups from the game (and yes, this happened).

Ticked the Yes-box obviously, as hard as that may be to imagine for some.

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[Backo]

Clicked no simply because I lack the time to commit to anything. My interest in Disco has gotten to the point where I own exactly 2 ships and one is a bank.

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Republic of the Sword and Sun

[Croft]

As someone who spent years making suggestions for improvements I can tell you, you may as well be screaming at a wall. There is so little cohesive community left in Disco that anything requiring input or support is often pushed into obscurity unless there is a vested interest in it (such as ships).

The best you can do is embody the changes you'd like to see and hope that others notice.

I can't really commit to making Disco better either, I've become far too cynical to believe that anything I can do would improve this place.

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Jimmy The Rat | Croft's Feedback | The Rat Pack

[Jack_Henderson]

Too long initial post, but after seeing mess happening, on purpose and in one instance maliciously, twice in less than 3 hours, I think your question has some relevance. It's also interesting who openly answers "no". No surprise at some names there.

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