[Discuss] Is Fun Dead? End of RP

[Lyman Stone]

A number of points:
1. I believe the hatred feature is underused, and thus some of the  
problem. Sirion OUGHT to have the hatred setting with AS, due to the  
Avamar connection, and surely Sirion hated Avamar. PLAYERS don't use  
the hatred setting due to the fact of stigmatization IC and OOC (9/11  
anyone?), and because it can make diplomacy hard. Yet, I feel that it  
needs to get more use. Hatred isn't REALLY a diplomatic stance.  
Peace, alliance, neutral, federation, war, those are. Hatred is not.

Solution: Perhaps there ought to be an auto-hatred. If you trigger  
certain things, your diplomatic stance will shift to hatred for a  
given realm. Perhaps if you specifically target peasants in looting?  
Or... if you loot the capitol? Or... I duno, I'm sure this group  
could find some creative trigger Tom could use as an idea to start from.

2. People do change! People, eventually, would forgive AS and KI.  
But, Timothy, speaking to you specifically, please practice what you  
preach. Irombrozia's secession was, IC, 2-3 years back, the seceding  
King is gone, the government reformed, and recognized as a soverign  
state by every nation in Beluaterra besides Rio. So, if you're going  
to say, "people do change" and think you can apply that to EC, where  
the hatred is at LEAST as deep, then perhaps that should be applied  
unilarerally. Honestly, I've found small realms to be more fun  
throughout my entire BM experience.

Realistically of course, people for the most part do not change. In a  
modern world, maybe. But in previous eras (up until around the 1900's  
really) blood feuds could last generations. People honestly didn't  
change that much. You were in your hatreds. We are raised, for the  
most part, believing Nazism is evil. Similarly, Christians in Europe  
were raised believing Muslims were evil, or Spanish for Moors, or  
French for English, or what have you. Blood feuds are a dominating  
feature of society up to modern times. The Enlightenment is when they  
start to disappear in Europe, and they STILL haven't disappeared in  
the Middle East and Africa.

Yes, I'm arguing both sides. Both sides are arguable.

Solution: Figure out which side you find more believable, and stick  
to it.

3. As I said, I've always found small realms more fun. Yes, I would  
enjoy seeing small realms recieve protection in the game mechanics,  
but I think they already get plenty. I would love to see some more  
secessions, but I don't think it's all to likely. Most dukes, in  
Beluaterra at least, who have the guts to secede already have.

4. Losing is fun. End of discussion. I'm very experienced at losing.  
It really is very fun.

5. Someone mentioned a giant gang bang on Atamara. Out of curiosity,  
who is getting ganged? It seems relatively well balanced thus far...  
maybe I'm missing something.

6. RP is not required on any continent other than FEI, as far as I'm  
aware. Is it nice to have? Yes. Is it required? No. I RP my  
characters fairly heavily, but I really don't expect others to. Why  
should I expect a reason for why someone declares war? Not everyone  
plays BM as an RPG.

7. If things are RPed well, gangbanging will happen. Let's say realm  
X is... hmm... lets say they practice human sacrifice. Okay, makes  
perfect sense for every realm to attack them then. They're barbarians  
and savages! Not deserving of nobility! If you have an ethics- 
centered religion, then the human sacrificers are evil. You can shout  
inhumanity, what have you. Pretty soon, the whole continent goes  
after you. RP has consequences. If your goal in the game is to  
preserve your nation, then don't RP. Just play for victories, play to  
gain advantages. Of course, that classifies as powergaming, doesn't it?


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