SotPotUASFoR in action.
I would say that portions of dev 22 were 'a few of the worst mistakes overall you could make.' In Valinor's defense, they have since fixed many of these issues, but not to everyone's liking.
Players don't do it anymore because they are told the game is a system they must learn and master. And probably the fact that ainur haven't put anything in the game that really changes it for a couple of years that would make the game fun again. Notice, I said add anything, not 'change' stuff for the better. Norin, its very hard to see the game go from leading edge/constantly growing to decrepid(sp?) in a matter of 2 years. The game was on the fore front of many of the modern game play ideas at the time, sadly there were not any real system advances (not balancing but advances), done after a while. Like I have said, the game could have easily remained competitive with WoW, if the game play had advanced along with supporting RP events and other things of such. Maybe they didn't have the coders to do it, but they definitely had coders around to make a few of the worst mistakes overall you could make. Now, I may be bitching about the ainur at this point, and I do try to respect the fact they have put a TON ASS of work into the game. But, that should not give them the right to ruin ancient systems that have always worked because players have also spent a lot of time trying to improve the game as well (or support it).
I'm in the middle! Somewhat.
What is forcing you to limit your RP today Pounder?
And to add onto what Jaron said, the structure of the towers at the moment contains really only two types of people. Those who are RP ecentric and those who are way into power playing. Without a good middle support it is like putting a gigantic piece of metal in the middle of a wooden table with no middle support. Eventually the metal will cause the table to break.
We need people like the Sotpotuasfor group who combine both at least some level of skill, along with imagination and RP. The reason why the towers thrived was because you could RP whatever the fuck you wanted to. You weren't forced into playing the game under a very limited vision like it is now.
I'm aware that Sotpotuasfor disbanded because of bank balance rather than theme. That's not really relevant (except to show that the system was indeed quite lax, and to an extent still is). The difference between a bad theme (for example, PoT--sorry guys, but damn) and an intentionally bad theme is that the latter shows disrespect to the game. If it's 'fun', it's at the expense of others. People who intentionally wreck immersion for other people cannot be called RPers. They're griefers. Guilds should be prestigious--not be a means of lashing out at the administration or other players.
That said... despite the efforts of Sotpot and others, we now have guidelines to (theoretically) ensure that new guilds will have a reasonable place in the game, and we're told to expect a review that will hold existing guilds to these standards. Assuming this means that guilds will be given a chance to modify themselves, I would hope that every guild will strongly consider ways to improve themselves both in theme and in playability.
Garanol: aside from general grumbling, the only actual anti-Sotpot 'measure' I can remember arising from the players was a petition to allow the guild a voluntary namechange, the same as Cymbrogi got. You have to admit, the name was the most jarring, annoying thing about the guild, at least as far as the majority of people saw.
That log's just pure fucken gold.
Man Jaron, you're awesome.
Word.
Shore up the thematic requirements? How was their theme any worse than that of the dev22 guilds that are still around, or even old guilds like SoU, Meglivornth, FRA and Durmanhoth? Their theme was not perfect, but quite plausible.
Yes, it was a mockery rather than serious RP. Yet they played that role better and much more strictly than 90% of the current guilds do with their own rules. And they did so because they enjoyed it rather than to fit in or because of an unexplainable impulse to RP.
Yes, they were mocking the system. But while doing that they unintentionally managed to put together fun and roleplay. That's why they bitched about being destroyed - because they had a hell of a good time. A guild made of powerplayer alts RP'ed better than most you and enjoyed doing it despite themselves. Because they chose to do it rather than being forced.
And we killed that.
That's the problem with the mentality of our so-called RPers. Stop enforcing your own strict views of RP on others. Some people will RP strictly on strict themes. Kudos to them. Others will have crappy themes like these guys yet cling to them well and enjoy it. Some will not RP at all, and as long as they don't disturb the balance - let them. After all it is better than having 20 guilds who only roleplay to keep up appeareances because they simply can't have fun with the themes they have.
You know what really drags down the atmosphere? A few people trying to enforce their strict views of RP on others. Sure, you keep the RP high quality among the likeminded, nevermind alienating the rest. I think it is about time we stopped lobbying against people for being different.
For those who can't believe that I'm writing this: I can't either, but that's how I felt after reading Tevildo's comment and the hypocrisy in our judgments of their playing style or theme.
The Guild didn't disband on the grounds of theme, Tevildo, it disbanded because of flagging activity. I wouldn't have minded a general theme shakeup of all Guilds, but many of the 'measures' people proposed were aimed solely and squarely at SotPotUASFoR and nobody else. You're damn right I'll bitch at anybody who proposes to remove my Guild on the grounds of theme but is willing to turn a conveniently blind eye to other equally effete organisations.
If the whole thing was a joke intended to point out flaws in the system, why on earth did they bitch so hard about people wanting to shore up the thematic requirements and remove them? Just dragged down the whole atmosphere. They should have said 'Damn straight you ought to remove us, and PoT too!'
But I guess some people just get addicted to being griefers.
Some people have sex with many other mudders. Some people then put a leash on an admin, then marry them. Some people then use said power to encourage the removal of certain guilds.
Of course.. silly me. Sorry not been here in ages. And my acromyns are not what it used to be. I am actually surprised my account was not closed. I will have to pay more attention
eh.. the Sons of the Pirates of the Upper Anduin Scourge Fleet of Rhovanion of course!
what the hell is SotPotUASFoR
That has to be the ugliest name I have seen in a long time
I've been in the situation, and so have you :P
Wow man who gives a shit if you used the wrong word :P
I wasn't saying mockery wasn't correct in the context, just that it wasn't what I was looking for.
I think I had it the first time. blah
Parody works too.
No, mockery is right.
Actually no that's not quite it either...satire maybe? meh.
Mockery. Mockery is the word you're looking for.
The whole guild was meant to be a parody (not the right word but it's 2am and I cbf, you know what I mean) of dev 22, so people who got shitty about them existing because they had a bad theme or were a joke or something were just killing their own best argument.
That guild was kinda funny, i admit that. At least i had some fun there. But then again i can really appreciate and understand peoples bad opinions on the guild too. *shrug* And yes it was the sweetetst RP in that ol' Ship... yarr?
fdl, yarr back to the ship!
That's why it was funny :P the RP was hilarious. Looks like everyone had fun...well, except Chanty.
who gives a shit?
to be frank, even though they didn't do it seriously, they were RPing better than 90% of the current guilds.
It was pretty funny, and a somewhat refreshing read.
yarr
Most eloquently defended, Sir Garanol!
This log is brilliant because it's a SotPotUASFoR log. That was a wonderful and hilarious time on this MUD for me, and indeed for several others. I don't expect it to make the top ten, no, but given how downright vitriolic and unpleasant the logpage has become recently I thought an absurd log of idiots pretending to be pirates would be a refreshing change. The fact that the person dying was a friend and future guildmate of yours doesn't automatically make it a waste of everybody's time.
Weak! And a random bang from like two plus years ago too. Surely there was something better to post than that?
No wonder the guild got disbanded :P I'd get tired of seeing that yarr bullshit all the time as a high level immortal too :P
Woo, nice.
Cursed Beornie!