Shattered Kingdoms

We all know about the vicious cycle of unending PK that occurs in SK. It has swept all of us up at some point or another, sometimes with good RP, however, at its very core exists a simple need; the urge to "win" SK.

The problem with this is that you cannot lose SK. No matter how many times you die, or how many battles you flee from, you do not actually lose. You come back just as strong, just as ready as you were before. Your enemies never gain anything no matter how many times they might win.

Eventually, the better side begins to wane, players delete, and they switch sides. Most of this done OOC. Some of it isn't. A lot of players on SK are followers, and there are very few leaders. People go where there is success and where there is an abundance of gear. Caught in the middle of this are the players who are independent (ICly and OOCly), apathetic, or those who just haven't caught on to the pendulum effect of SK.

This problem runs on and causes those characters who are so short lived. You know the kind. The ones who reach GM in two days and have all the best gear and everything's going great.. but they get bored and delete. The pendulum creates a path of least resistance which is entirely too easy to cling on to. It is addictive and alluring. This eternal power-swap is like the seedy underground of SK, where most of the OOC connections are made, traded, and abused.

Unfortunately, there is little one can do to amend OOC connections. Players as a whole are addicted to them, and without such I imagine most would not play SK. I do not roll characters alongside others to "set up" meetings and the like. I just can't do it. It would make me sick. I have run far too many D&D campaigns as a DM/GM to even think of such a thing. Does it cost me the illusion of eliteness the other players might have? Yes. Does it make the game any less fun for me? Not at all. I enjoy the air of mystery and intrigue. The sense of adventure. The feeling that you're taking your first steps towards a brand new story. That is what makes SK fun for me. Not the phat gear, or the awesome cabal spells. Does this make me a "leader"? No. Nor am I a follower.

I digress. The pendulum effect in SK is a product of OOC connections. Players who are generally seen as "leaders" attract "followers" when no one should really know who you play at all. That is the first issue that needs to be resolved, but it really can't be: Character/player anonymity.

The second issue is leveling. Characters appear, reach GM a few days later, and then disappear. I can see why Dulrik strives to make leveling slower on SK. It helps to curb this pendulum effect. When I first began SK, being mentor made you king [REDACTED]. No one messed with you. Now it seems that unless you're mentor, no one even pays you any mind. Players as a whole need to tone down their incessant *need* to level - but this can't, and won't happen. So, steps are taken to slow leveling as a whole and to inspire RP - hence the familiarity system. I hate it, but I adore it too, because it requires me and the less "elite" players to take our characters out and RP to learn about new areas to explore and train. Again, this feature does not effect the "elite" players though, as often - too often - their characters never even bother to learn where, what, how, or why, because they just simply "know". This bring us to two more issues: Leveling, and IC/OOC Knowledge.

How does one police this kind of abuse? It is almost impossible to do. So much of SK is so stagnant and well-worn that it has become autonomous. It is like reading a book; the first time is great. The second time is okay. After the 20th or 30th time, though.. can you really glean any more from the book? Is there anything more to be had? It is the same game, just a different shell. The same players, the same connections, the same effect, and this "sameness" adds to the path of least resistance - I know this, no one can dispute me/my character, so why not do it? This is almost impossible to police. The only solution that I can consider is randomization. Some kind of flexibility to the MUD, so that everything isn't the same-old soup, just reheated, especially concerning quests or gear. That's right. I want to see gear with enchantments that are randomly generated upon loading. This is another issue: Stagnation.

Finally, death. There is no punishment for it. You die, you get a rez, and you are on your way. Spirit disorientation does little to resolve this. Honestly, I can think of little that would resolve this, except for maybe "spirit depression". When you are slain in PK, your morale is crushed, disallowing you from starting any PK for a certain amount of time (probably about a day or so). Death from a NPC/npc would not induce this effect. Our last issue: Death.

In summary, we have these major issues which must be resolved:

Character/Player anonymity. Can we, as players, take steps to be less revealing about who we play?
Leveling. It has slowed for a reason, but it is still much faster than it was before. Do we place too much emphasis on level and rank instead of RP ability?
IC/OOC Knowledge. What does your character know vs. What do you know?
Stagnation. What can we do to improve the flexibility of the game so that it isn't the same old soup reheated? Can we as players avoid repeating the same concept in just a different shell, and strive to find new avenues to enjoy the game with each new character we play?
Death. We all experience it, but few will admit defeat. Is a code change required to enforce the idea of a "loss"?

I agree with your explanation about the pendulum effect in SK being brought on by the short life spans of characters in SK.

In SK, the longest lived character is 3 or 4 years old. In other games, characters are still running since the post-beta pwipe. This promotes picking a side, a race, a class and sticking with it, both in game and philosophically in OOC arguments ( to the point that class v class arguments are banned on some discussion forums because it is clear that most of the participants can't argue objectively, having played or favored a single class since the game started 10+ years ago).

I disagree that encouraging "losing" or more "penalty for death" is a solution for this. If anything, using code to enforce a character's loss would simply shorten the already short average lifespan of a character in SK.

Making death hurt would require more than a code change, but a restriction of immortal power within SK. As it is now, if you are in good standing with a religion and a priest of that religion is online while you are, you have nothing to fear from death except possible dishonor and loss of equipment (and pain if your character likes to avoid that stuff).

In DnD, resurrections are restricted by expensive material components and many deaths end up being permanent.

Any number of death restrictions from skill loss to turning green can be added but what would really be accomplished by this?

Characters are already deleted on whims, frustration, boredom, jloots, etc. The great majority of characters who are negatively affected by age ticks are deleted when these losses kick in. Many people refuse to join a cabal without a relic (example is how long it took before enough people rerolled adepts, and only then after immortal intervention) and delete if their cabal doesn't seem to be getting its relic back.

How can we then expect players to not only keep characters who are on the losing side and have all the down sides of that, but now also have some additional number of penalties?

The only solution that would change things is more players, less reliance on these elite "leader" players, longer lasting characters or an effort from the SK community of keeping the skill level and numbers balanced.

If none of these things happen (which I expect they won't) then we need to accept both IC and OOC that winning and losing doesn't really happen in the SK world because the gods are there instantly bringing back fallen warriors on all sides of every conflict.

From an OOC perspective, if you are on the winning side of a conflict, either your skillset (paladins, necros, cabal skills) is overpowered, or you have an advantage in the number/skill pool.

Accepting that the pool of players for SK is finite, I would argue that "Winning" or "Losing" in SK is like winning or losing in "Hungry Hungry Hippos:" you got the most marbles of the finite set or the least. It's just a game, and when all the marbles are gone, you put them back in the middle and try to eat them all again, you don't gloat about how your hippo ate X number of them.

Do we really want kingdoms to fall every time one faction or another eats more marbles?

You raise a lot of interesting points.

I agree with your statement that a punishment for death isn't the way to go. As it stands, SK is a habit game. It is a game played by cliques that tailors to cliques; a group of players has every advantage available in the game through OOC preparation.

There is no way to win SK, yet the mentality of most players drives them to try and attain this impossible feat time and time again. If no one can win, there *must* be some way for someone to lose. Otherwise, we must all accept that life in SK is a rollercoaster ride with every dip being a trip to the River, and the peaks being your fully-geared moment of glory.

All so true.

The 'elite' leaders bother me the most; it seems like those who strive to be leaders are discriminated against for OOC reasons, rather than IC.

And the equipment know how is a serious disadvantage. I only know where a handful of 'good' items are, and many of those locations I did know have been altered.

I believe the first step to eliminating the "elite" core is engrossing those who aren't part of it. For example, the Temple of Murder trip - I can recite to you every step you need to complete in order to reach the ToM, but there is no in-game writing or quest (that I know of) which includes it. I think it would be great if there were more quests which were longer than "Go there, get this, give it to me. Have some XP." I want to see taskmasters who have all sorts of quests for characters of varying levels. I would like to see quests which run all across the realms. There are a few of these already, but I believe that if there were more quests which inspired more exploration, it would lead players to learn more on their own and there would be less of a gap between the elite and the uninitiated. Once players are led towards these relatively unused places (Khardyl Village? The ruined halfling village in the wastes? Dashre? Skybolt?) they can then become engrossed by the quests there, which then lead them on into bigger and better things. And I don't just mean simple quests. I think they should include some history as well. Some slightly guided research. Go here, you might find a hint as to where to find this item/place/person.

More flexible quests with rewards that are not just XP, I want to see items with randomly generated enchantments/abilities. Hell, I want to see gear in general that has random enchantments. This would help limit the amount of lewt whoring. I want to see quests where instead of getting that damn soup for that guy, maybe he needs more bandages instead? Or blankets? These kinds of things would encourage players to explore and would help prevent the kind of stagnation we have today.

I can hear it already "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH CODE THAT WOULD TAKE?"

More importantly is the

QQ arguement.

If you don't have a constructive post to make then I suggest you take it elsewhere, this is Gameplay, not General Discussion.

You want some advice? Just stop with this vet are sooooo much better then noobs crap and suck in up and play and try to learn all that you can. IF not then get the heck out of here.

Would any available mod please remove the spam from Carsetius' first post and all the unrelated posts thereafter, this one included?

Thanks.