Wow. Interesting post. Where to start?
First off, what you're pushing for seems to be an epic battle between good and evil. I think that's great! The problem is that it isn't really relevant to Planeshift. There are no good characters and bad characters. Everything here is more complex than that. There are characters who believe in good and evil and good versus evil, but at the same time the people behind those characters understand there is more than one definition of the good and of the bad. So the kind of conflict you're looking for can't really involve the whole community by its very nature. Newer players might buy into it, but they'll have trouble involving more experienced players.
Another point to make is that duels aren't a good way to make the game interesting. In fact, you'll know they have quite an adverse effect on enjoyment of the game if you've spent time near Harnquist. They're disruptive, and more often than not very juvenile and even hurtful. They tend to bring a street-thug-like culture to the roleplaying, and I think we can do better.
I think you're asking the right questions, and I don't have great answers to give you. I hope you continue to think about the problems you're seeing because they're real problems and we need thoughtful people like you to be looking for solutions.
Hey all.
I started to play this game several years ago. And they is one think I noticed : everybody tries to do to their best to create an utopia of peace and justice. But that's the point of my critic to this game. In fact, I repproach this game to be boring after a few months of playing.
My vision of a living game is to have a concret goal, and in this kind of game, to fight against a common enemy. In Planeshift, they is no common enemy programmed, so it's our job to create one, and the simpliest solution is to cause guild wars. Sometimes, I log in to see if the situation has evolved. But everytime I ask to the players if they are some guild conflicts, the answer is always negative. So I'm asking : what is the point of the game? Of course, they are other goals, like increase your skills, or resolving quests. But for what? Why do I increase my skills, if I can't use my strenght in some real conflict? Yes, I know, some of you are organizing rp events like challenges or so stuff. But this challenges occurs only one or two times in the month. The waiting between this events is interminable, and due to the time shift, some events are simply too late.
I knew some people who had the same opinion, and together we decided to create an evil organization to cause the other guilds. But everybody said that war is bad, and that they has to be a peacefull solution. The organization vanished after a few months. I took part in a guild war, but the common opinion was "What a bunch of fools! We have to stop this war!!". The guild war lasted 2 hours. So I was again part of the goods, and everything was like always.
To resume my opinion : There is a critical absence of action in Planeshift.
What do you think?
