I have noticed this as well. I think before it was more the kill team reasons. Since the recent aggressions between some people, I think it's more the second reason now. I have seen people of both sides simply log in look at those in the realms then log out when they see that there is an overwhelming number of enemies out in the realms.Tarax the Terrible wrote:I think the FFA PvP possibility is key to the realms feel/atmosphere.
Its a big bad world and removing that constant possibility for someone to take a dislike to you and settle it with their blade feels artificial and wrong.
But every time we have this discussion now it is going to come back to Rhynox's PacMan point.
At times people need space to play without feeling under constant threat.
That is sort of how it is already, if you have annoyed people recently and log in you can expect to be constantly scried, hunted etc.
When it dies down and blows over you can relax a bit more.
It is very strange how the population playing swings to extremes at times.
Like 3 weeks ago I logged on and saw nearly only goodies.
Last night for a change I saw majority evil.
I guess when people log in and see mainly enemies they are less likely to stay and play?
But is that because they are threatened or because they can't get a kill team going and don't fancy going solo grinding???
It was a little unnerving when I was in the realms yesterday that I saw 10 "enemies" and only had one friend in the realms. Additionally, I was getting scryed every few minutes. I must say it's been a long time since I was SO careful in combat. It really gets the heart pumping at times.
Some people live on that excitement, others are turned off by it.
Many have looked to the Administration to try and handle the PvP issues and such in the realms, and I believe the current administration has made many good choices in this realm, but I don't think it stops there.
I feel it's important for guild leaders to always keep in mind the big picture in Genesis. It's really up to us to also influence PvP in the realms. The leaders must always try and balance the needs of those who want PvP vs the ones that don't. They should balance the need to win at all costs against the desire to make Genesis as a whole a better place to be.
Many have stated that the strategy of targeting smaller players is a good way to hurt a guild, but I personally believe that is a careless strategy. What's the fun in declaring war upon a guild when by doing so most of the players in the guild stop playing? Yes, your guild wins in the short run, but then what? The game quickly gets boring for the PvP players then they leave as well.
Wouldn't you instead want both guilds to grow in membership and have epic battles where both groups meet on the battlefield and the fight can go either way? So much recent PvP has been focused on trying to kill someone. How about PvP for the purpose of just the combat itself? Have minor skirmishes here and there until one party or the other runs away.
As guild leader, I have in the past spoken of the record with enemy guild leaders in order to foster some kind of unsaid rules of engagement. This does not meant that engagement was forbidden, but instead it was encouraged, but within a certain limit. Specific people would be targeted and the smaller characters would be spared from any assasination attempts. This still meant that a squire would get spanked (attacked as a warning) by an opposing guild if he crossed a line, but would be left to live. If there was any conflict that was getting out of hand, we would use back channels to solve the problem.
Of course, I would still have in character RP announcements and board posts and such, but it was nice to have the chance to communicate with other guilds outside of RP when needed to solve a practical problem.
It has been a while since I have seen any strong leadership in the evil guilds willing to work within these bounds, but I have hope that this may change soon.
Many of us real old timers remember the epic war between the Vamps and the Mystics. I remember being a young knight back then watching vamps create more darkness in the room while the mystics would create more light. There would be deaths here and there (@ the loss of 1/3 your combat experience and no death recovery), but they would eventually recover with the help of friends an allies.
Battles were fun, those that wished to participate fought each other, and those that didn't were left alone. Those were days of 100 players in Genesis at once and the virtual queue you had to wait in (sometimes for hours) so that you could even begin to log in. I miss those days and want Genesis to become a newer version of that place.
If any guild leaders want to contact me here, you can always PM me or mail me OOC in the game. I welcome any and all discussions of this type. Of course, I expect that discussions be kept in strictest (for the sake of RP). Perhaps together we can build a better Genesis.
Side idea: How about a OOC: tell line between all guild leaders in the realms? (Just a thought...)
