The Truth about Zoners

[Redon]

Once upon a time, Zoners attempted to have a fruitful discussion.

Let us follow their journey and see where it leads us.

---

Original Thread
(Yes, this was once a Flood thread.)

[tothebonezone]

especially since I see it reflected in both the dev team and the admin team. It is unacceptable and shameful.

To who, you or them?

Considering the joke that Zoners have been for the past, I dunno, 4 years, I hardly think it's shameful to joke about a joke.

[snip]

---

User was banned for: https://discoverygc.com/forums/showthrea...tid=202684
Time left: (Permanent)

[Trogdor]

especially since I see it reflected in both the dev team and the admin team. It is unacceptable and shameful.

To who, you or them?

Considering the joke that Zoners have been for the past, I dunno, 4 years, I hardly think it's shameful to joke about a joke.

[snip]

Yeah, because the Zoners are totes the only faction whose lore doesn't match their power. Hurrhurr.

I keep trying to encourage the dev team to fix the lore, but people like you just hate Zoners and will take any and every opportunity to make them, and everyone who wants them to be taken seriously, the butt of a joke. You are trolls. [snip]

Until this toxic anti-Zoner sentiment is purged from the community, admins, and dev team, the Zoners will never progress as a faction, the way other factions do.

---

[tothebonezone]

You, Sabre, and Omicron should be removed from this community, with absolutely no chance of returning in the future. Period.

Sabre is in the TAZ so I'm not sure how he's hating the Zoners.

I have had Zoners, currently have a Zoner, and will probably continue having a Zoner. I'm not even trolling. There's nothing subtle about this, nor am I actually aiming to get a rise out of you, you're doing that on your own.

I don't hate Zoners.

[snip]

---

User was banned for: https://discoverygc.com/forums/showthrea...tid=202684
Time left: (Permanent)

[Garrett Jax]

especially since I see it reflected in both the dev team and the admin team. It is unacceptable and shameful.

To who, you or them?

Considering the joke that Zoners have been for the past, I dunno, 4 years, I hardly think it's shameful to joke about a joke.

But considering you're part of the joke, I can understand why you're so upset about it.

Yeah, because the Zoners are totes the only faction whose lore doesn't match their power. Hurrhurr.

I keep trying to encourage the dev team to fix the lore, but people like you just hate Zoners and will take any and every opportunity to make them, and everyone who wants them to be taken seriously, the butt of a joke. You are trolls. You, Sabre, and Omicron should be removed from this community, with absolutely no chance of returning in the future. Period.

Until this toxic anti-Zoner sentiment is purged from the community, admins, and dev team, the Zoners will never progress as a faction, the way other factions do.

Exactly what progress were you expecting? You have a ship line to die for, just about all of Sirius to trade and the freedom of neutrality in which to do so. Zoners have the least reason to cry and yet you scream the loudest. We are stifling your progress? I think not. In general, it is your poor attitudes that have been your undoing. Despite the fact that we have tried to work with you, protect you from aggressive factions that attack you oorp and voted to protect your OP shipline that houses would die for, you still piss on us.

You want to fix this anti Zoner sentiment? Fix yourself.

---

[Trogdor]

Exactly what progress were you expecting? You have a ship line to die for, just about all of Sirius to trade and the freedom of neutrality in which to do so. Zoners have the least reason to cry and yet you scream the loudest. We are stifling your progress? I think not. In general, it is your poor attitudes that have been your undoing. Despite the fact that we have tried to work with you, protect you from aggressive factions that attack you oorp and voted to protect your OP shipline that houses would die for, you still piss on us.

You want to fix this anti Zoner sentiment? Fix yourself.

Some story progress would be nice. The downside to all of that neutrality is that nothing happens. It may be the Zoner ideal to have no enemies, but actually having no enemies is boring. Great for traders, not so great for protectors.

Furthermore, the Zoner npc faction needs some love. In order for our shipline and other technology to make sense, the Zoners need to be percieved as a unified faction, and not as a loosely affiliated group of communities. And we need an official faction that represents the npc faction, in the same way most other official factions do. We used to have this, but it fell apart after we lost Mal, and ever since that time we've been fighting a near constant war to justify the existence of our tech. Since then, our official factions have mostly tended to their own well-being, and involved themselves very little in the affairs of the whole. This is a problem because it is the whole that justifies what the faction has accomplished.

I don't want to piss on anyone, but it's difficult not to get angry when the faction I love is the butt of so much ridicule. We need to resolve the above issues before the trolling and QQ will finally go away.

You say you voted to protect our shipline? As in, that was the conclusion of the vote? I was unaware of this - I have been sitting here for the last few months waiting for the axe to fall. That is a relief, thank you.

---

[Thyrzul]

It may be the Zoner ideal to have no enemies, but actually having no enemies is boring.

If you find Zoners boring, why do you play one?

Zoners need to be percieved as a unified faction, and not as a loosely affiliated group of communities.

That is what would entirely kill the concept of "Zoner", and turn the faction into a regular one, of which we have already a ton of. That is what made Zoners Zoners, that they are not unified. You better get used to the notion that Zoner unification remains a dream. You don't want to kill Zoners, do you?

---

[Trogdor]

It may be the Zoner ideal to have no enemies, but actually having no enemies is boring.

If you find Zoners boring, why do you play one?

Their philosophy is compelling. They occupy a role in Freelancer lore akin to the Hutt Cartel of Star Wars lore. There is potential for interesting plot development here, but it's being stymied by the community.

Many just want the Zoners to be a trade corporation who is neutral to everyone, so they can get their powertrade on.

Others want to use it as a platform to run their own custom stories. That's fine, but there ought to be more than that.

Every time a conflict occurs, it gets swatted down. There are precious few opportunities for one to be a defender of the Zoner way of life, and I think that this is something we can fix without altering the core of what it is to be Zoner.

Zoners need to be percieved as a unified faction, and not as a loosely affiliated group of communities.

That is what would entirely kill the concept of "Zoner", and turn the faction into a regular one, of which we have already a ton of. That is what made Zoners Zoners, that they are not unified. You better get used to the notion that Zoner unification remains a dream. You don't want to kill Zoners, do you?

It would not. The Zoners are defined by their rejection of the rule of existing houses, and their devotion to personal freedom. This does not mean that the Zoners abhor rule of law, or the concept of belonging to a larger whole. If that were the case, the Zoners wouldn't be Zoners, they would be Freelancers, and they wouldn't have their own specialized technology shared amongst themselves.

---

[Jansen]

Some story progress would be nice. The downside to all of that neutrality is that nothing happens. It may be the Zoner ideal to have no enemies, but actually having no enemies is boring. Great for traders, not so great for protectors.

Work on it ingame or on the forums instead of crying here, that kind of thing is best done by doing RP with others, then show that RP to the Admins/Devs so that they actually see which way you would want the faction to go. If you just Q_Q around here on how everyone dislikes you, nothing will change as its not really productive.

Furthermore, the Zoner npc faction needs some love. In order for our shipline and other technology to make sense, the Zoners need to be percieved as a unified faction, and not as a loosely affiliated group of communities. And we need an official faction that represents the npc faction, in the same way most other official factions do. We used to have this, but it fell apart after we lost Mal, and ever since that time we've been fighting a near constant war to justify the existence of our tech. Since then, our official factions have mostly tended to their own well-being, and involved themselves very little in the affairs of the whole. This is a problem because it is the whole that justifies what the faction has accomplished.

You cant imagine how much fun it was to work with the official Zoner factions when it came to the justification of having your ships. The only one that in my eyes really contributed to the whole thing and wrote some lore ideas down was a permabanned member, go figure.

I don't want to piss on anyone, but it's difficult not to get angry when the faction I love is the butt of so much ridicule. We need to resolve the above issues before the trolling and QQ will finally go away.

Exactly, you have to do this. There wont be a white knight coming out of nowhere suddenly making Zoners cool. If you have good ideas with enough justification to back them up, its not unlikely to get them implemented. (This likely wouldnt include turning the Zoners into a Military faction, but I guess you get what I mean)

---

[SnakThree]

Zoners are nothing but freelancers banded together. They do not deserve any different treatment than any freelancing merchant.

---