THE EMPIRE ALWAYS PLAYS TO CRUSH! [Author: Lum the Mad]
He goes on to say, in so many words, “I was wrong. D’oh!”. Oh, OK, we’ll actually add some context:
The primary lessons I learned in all this were these: There are many people out there who really don’t care how their victims feel. There are many perfectly nice people out there who turn insensitive when they are online. They may make great companions, they might serve as stellar leaders for online communities–but they have this desire to exercise power over others, and for them that is what the game is about. And people given power and no accountability have a way of turning griefer on you. Lastly–no matter how good a game, how good a WORLD you put together, people will leave if they feel they cannot exist in it, if they feel that they just aren’t welcome. And I learned the lesson that if I had to choose between two players, I’d choose the one who was going about their own business and enjoying the game, rather than the one who forced others to play THEIR game.
So what has he learned? Well, let’s look at the SWG PvP system under discussion, as revealed so far (the infodump continues all this week):
- Zone-based, faction-based pvp, with “safe” and “wild” zones
- In wild zones, players can attack anyone at will, but not without penalty. Persons who can be attacked without penalty are clearly marked.
The penalty for attacking out-of-bounds people? You become Outcast Monkey. And you only do it once – after being reported for griefery, you lose your peeveepee privileges. Said “Outcast” status can be removed if your victim forgives you, or if your government forgives you (player government, mind you), or Other Things To Be Named Later.
It’s an interesting concept, but one-strike-and-you’re-out? Why not just implement a… you know… wait for it… PK switch?
Oh, I forgot, religious reasons. Sorry. So instead we get to watch as every griefer who ever watched Episode 1 gets to “playtest” the anti-griefer PvP system. Joy.
Tasty quotes ripped out of context for your enjoyment:
A complete PvP free-for-all was never in the cards; it’s just too harsh an environment, and my experience has been that the “bad guys,” the harassers and griefers, are the winners in suich an environment.
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My least favorite string in EQ was “It begins to rain.” No duh. 🙂
Promised details to come – faction system details, “battlefields” (I guess PvP for the casual stormtrooper) and automated defense turrets. And lest we forget, THE ISD WRATH OF LUM. (Cue Imperial march.)
Finally, as we wait for more details, let’s close with this fairly obvious statement from Raph that no one seems to get around these parts:
So with all of that said, can we drop the term “carebear” from our collective vocabularies? I find it an inadequate label–it demeans a perfectly valid set of concerns and attitudes. And can we stop accusing PvP fans of being griefers? Not all of them are. I THINK we’re all working towards the same goals here–the best Star Wars online world we can make. It’s a big enough task that I think it’s gonna take all sorts of people.