- Joined
- Jul 30, 2010
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I think, perhaps, a good way to address Boli's (very valid) concerns would be fundamentally change how strategic or story objectives are decided. Plot progression and character action are difficult to make feel meaningful in a freeform system where there are few, if any, outlined win conditions. Traditionally this has been decided through messy PvP rulings or sweeping Admin action, which is perhaps not the best.
My thought is that, in the case of threads/conflict with site wide effects, to change to a participation based approach. Take for example, if someone wanted to invade a hostile planet. Tag the thread [Open/Faction Conflict] or whatever and that becomes the story thread. As it has been, if the thread is left uncontested then the aggressors carry on as they would a normal thread, if it sees action then say a 10 day timer starts for the whole thread from the first post of the opposition. From there post order can be maintained with a 36 hour timer for each side. With PC death no longer being a factor weighing over people's heads, that in turn makes post timer limits much, much less punishing from a personal standpoint and become simply punish the objective.
That in turn changes how conflict is played out, since direct PVP is no longer the most useful way to insure victory leaving the thread Open to explore new ways of contesting, defending or achieving the objective. After the thread timer runs its course, the side with the most posts following the start of the timer would be declared the victor. If a thread is equal and ambiguous at the end of the timer the thread could be extended or go to admin to judge which side put up the better fight.
That means, at least in the case of main story, that character power becomes slightly less critical and influential to the outcome. Instead the focus shifts to activity being the being the most important factor in deciding outcome with creativity and story telling coming in close second. I'm not sure if there is a way to completely curtain power creep over time but I think a loose structure like this could help to make IC choice, action and thought more effective and outright power less important, though obviously it will still give an advantage.
I apologize if I completely missed the core concept of Boli's post or if what I wrote is totally confusing.
My thought is that, in the case of threads/conflict with site wide effects, to change to a participation based approach. Take for example, if someone wanted to invade a hostile planet. Tag the thread [Open/Faction Conflict] or whatever and that becomes the story thread. As it has been, if the thread is left uncontested then the aggressors carry on as they would a normal thread, if it sees action then say a 10 day timer starts for the whole thread from the first post of the opposition. From there post order can be maintained with a 36 hour timer for each side. With PC death no longer being a factor weighing over people's heads, that in turn makes post timer limits much, much less punishing from a personal standpoint and become simply punish the objective.
That in turn changes how conflict is played out, since direct PVP is no longer the most useful way to insure victory leaving the thread Open to explore new ways of contesting, defending or achieving the objective. After the thread timer runs its course, the side with the most posts following the start of the timer would be declared the victor. If a thread is equal and ambiguous at the end of the timer the thread could be extended or go to admin to judge which side put up the better fight.
That means, at least in the case of main story, that character power becomes slightly less critical and influential to the outcome. Instead the focus shifts to activity being the being the most important factor in deciding outcome with creativity and story telling coming in close second. I'm not sure if there is a way to completely curtain power creep over time but I think a loose structure like this could help to make IC choice, action and thought more effective and outright power less important, though obviously it will still give an advantage.
I apologize if I completely missed the core concept of Boli's post or if what I wrote is totally confusing.