Indies; why do we need them/what is good about them?

[Jihadjoe]

The following is my personal opinion and nothing more.

I'm going to make a distinction between factions which uphold the canon roleplay of their NPC affiliation, and those who either do not have an NPC affiliation, or do something which does not fit within canon, by description.

There's a hell of a difference between them, and they both have their place. I'll use the examples of two different factions which I have been involved in, to some extent.

- The Mandalorians - Non canon based official faction.

The roleplay for this has no basis in freelancer canon. It's been invented entirely by those who have played the characters. This creative thought needs a lot of very careful work to invent in a way which is unobtrusive on that which already exists. Official factions which are born from this often have worked rather hard at creating it. See the VE as an example.

A responsible faction which does this will use a generic ID, and therefore will not fill the official faction slot (one official faction per ID rule) for an NPC faction.

If a faction does this, it has no responsibility to work with indies, or to set guidelines for their roleplay.

- The Liberty Navy - Canon based official faction.

The [LN] official faction is designed to hold itself to canon RP for the NPC faction. The characters will be indviduals with their own personalities and method, ways of doing things, etc. However they do so within a canon framework. The structure of the faction, and it's general methods of operating have to be within a realistic framework for the way the Liberty navy NPC faction has been represented.

This involves reading a lot into someone else's work (Digital Anvil's) and interpreting it into a workable format. The creativity in this case comes from analysis and interpretation (on a large scale), and the actions of individuals (on a small scale).

Factions such as this have a degree of responsibility to provide guidelines for an independant to roleplay within.



- Independants

Indies are important to discovery. Very important. They fulfil several roles...

- Filling the space. Official factions can't do this. They simply don't have the numbers.
- Providing a method for those not in the official faction to fly X ship without ranking requirements.
- Not having the responsibility to canon roleplay that official factions that directly represent their NPC faction have. (described above.)

The last of these provides a degree of freedom for the individual to roleplay their character as they like. A responsible indy who is not following discovery canon for their character's roleplay within their chosen NPC faction, will not attempt to dictate what others roleplay should be. They will limit that to their own character.

For example a Liberty navy indy saying "We (liberty) are not hostile to the order" would not be acceptable. However an indy saying "I, Dude McGuy am unusual within the navy, in that I never shoot at the order." is acceptable as it does not attempt to dictate the roleplay other people follow, although it may potentially have roleplay consequences.



All three types of player, Canon based official, non-canon based official and independant, are extremely worthwhile in discovery, and each presents a valuable resource to the roleplay environment.

However, I strongly disagree with official factions which use up an NPC faction ID for their officiality, without following canon roleplay. If you wish not to follow canon roleplay with an official faction, then attempt to find a way of doing so with a generic ID. I find it extremely selfish to use up an NPC slot, while not making any effort to provide a guideline for how that NPC faction should be roleplayed, and thus preventing other people from being able to represent a straightforward interpretation of the NPC group.

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[Hone]

Wow, thankyou all for the lots of responses, (the ones not saying "Lock please" anyway!)

The reason I made this thread was because I was trying to figure out a way to get rid of the bad things about indies, whilst keeping the good things, but I realised that to do that I needed to know what the community thinks the good things about indies ARE.

So the good points that have come up seem to be:

1: Get big ships when you want.

2: Different RP if you disagree with official faction RP

3: Indies reduced responsibility encourages more spontaneous advances in RP, and creates less "stale" factions that stick around after their ideas have run out.

4: Try the faction out before you join

5: Don't always have someone bossing you about - its a game -

6: Easier, no skype chat, no responsibility to come on a certain amount, no specific setup you have to get.

7: No official tag so that lawfuls/traders can find/avoid you


Does that sound about right?


P.S. I am not "Anti Indie" I posses 18 ships and several shared ships, and I have only 1 char in an official faction

P.P.S. THIS is not the "What are the bad things about indies?" thread.

P.P.P.S. I am not talking about generic IDs, this is about people using faction IDs but not being in the OFFICIAL faction.

P.P.P.P.S. If I had the power I would ban the term and all variations of "Lolwut" from my threads, I hate that term, please dont use it, thnx.

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User was banned for: Griefing others
Time left: (Permanent)

[DarthBindo]

However, I strongly disagree with official factions which use up an NPC faction ID for their officiality, without following canon roleplay. If you wish not to follow canon roleplay with an official faction, then attempt to find a way of doing so with a generic ID. I find it extremely selfish to use up an NPC slot, while not making any effort to provide a guideline for how that NPC faction should be roleplayed, and thus preventing other people from being able to represent a straightforward interpretation of the NPC group.

I have a feeling you have certain factions in mind when you say this.
But i do wholeheartedly agree with your analysis and interpretation of the indie faction relationship and their responsibilities.

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gone four years, first day back: Zoners still getting shot in Theta :|

[... kur nubėgo?]

The never ending drama. It's seems like yet another day in CryLancer

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Omega Pirates Guild

History of OPG | Antonio "Vilkas" Devivar

[DarthBindo]

Not really drama. Really just a well-spirited discussion of the benefits and downsides of official vs indie, and the various relationships between the two.

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gone four years, first day back: Zoners still getting shot in Theta :|

[Veygaar]

If there were no Indies.... Where would I be? Who would I pirate???

I like em all!

Cheers

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Veygaar for Admin Moderator 2013!!!

[Mao]

Indies are good because:
1. They don't have to follow the role play of the official factions;
2. They don't have to wait 54212 months to get an useless flying brick called capital ship;
<strike>3. They can mess up things and get away with it.</strike>

Also, it's good to see that official factions add flavor to the NPC factions by coming up with new elements of RP and new ideas. Indies also have many ideas and unofficial groups will influence the official factions with their points.

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[jimmy Patterson]

Now I wonder...

How many violation reports are filed against indie characters compared to faction characters.

Simple statistic.

invalid as you dont know how many of those indies are lolfails and whatnot

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kudos tommeh for sig

[DarthBindo]

invalid as you dont know how many of those indies are lolfails and whatnot

That's parto f the point he's trying to make.

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gone four years, first day back: Zoners still getting shot in Theta :|

[Jihadjoe]

But i do wholeheartedly agree with your analysis and interpretation of the indie faction relationship and their responsibilities.

I'm glad I didn't get so hopelessly tangled up in words as to make it totally unintelligable... I run the risk of doing that fairly frequently.

As to the other bit of your post. It's a position which I have formed through observation... If that tells you anything.

(Also... the link in your sig made me spend an hour listening to Tom Waits, which is always a good thing for a thurday night.)

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