What is the matter with some of you people? Can't you keep your personal dislikes out of the Forums?
If you have a problem with another player, sort it out in the game or put them on permanent ignore, but don't bring the issues to the Forums. These Forums are for discussions, not for bickering.
I you cannot keep a civil tone in your posts, don't post at all.
I would have removed Robert's post, if he hadn't had some valid points in between the ranting. So I'll try to ignore the rant and just address those points.
First of all, changing your mind seems like a a very sensible thing to do, if someone presents you with argument strong enough to sway your mind. I actually wish more of you would listen to other people's arguments sometimes, instead of just riding your own hobby horse into the Valley of Death.
That said, Robert is right about a couple of things.
1. Many of the existing Roleplay groups are dead, and I don't see much motivation for their existence any more, if there ever was one. If you have a roleplay group and nobody in it bothers to roleplay around the theme for it, or worse still; if all the members but one have left - why keep the group? It seems that all people are interested in nowadays is to get as many flags as possible into their title, and to get access to the 'afar' command. That is their main motivation, not the roleplay itself.
2. Robert is also correct that people used to roleplay more in the old days. Back then we didn't have Roleplay groups and award points, people roleplayed because they liked it and because it was fun. Now we have RP groups and RP leaders and Award points, and nobody seems to roleplay any more, unless we more or less kick them into it with a global event. And even then it was rather discouraging to see how the ones that were most active and produced the best sessions were players who weren't RPL or belonged to any RP group, like Erwin and Kitolani. It also seems that the ones who use to complain the loudest about nobody ever roleplaying in 4D any more were remarkably inactive during the event. The only hero or RPL that did anything positive during the event was Lionheart, who started the CIIA group, which then provided most of the momentum. Where were the rest of the RPLs/Heroes? Where were you yourself, Robert? If you don't take the opportunity when offered, you sort of lose your right to complain.
In the future I think we need to do something about the inactive RP group and RPLs. For starters I have appointed Diandra to be the new Roleplay imm, since there is no sign of Solana returning in forseeable time. She will probably have some ideas about how to handle the inactive RPLs and RP groups. My own suggestions would be these:
- Close down the dead Roleplay groups, unless they show some activity. Perhaps we could offer a refund of half the token fee paid for the Room and Recall item. (That is, if there ever paid anything in the first place and if there even is an active member left to receive the refund).
- Remove the RPL flags from RPLs who are clearly inactive.
And since the only way to really prove activity would be to produce some logs from RP sessions, I propose this rule: Any RP group or RPL that doesn't post at least one RP log a month on the Forum Board made for that purpose will be considered inactive and lose their flag. To regain it, you'd have to reapply, and possibly pay a reduced fee too.
To return to the subject of this thread, I actually like the Family names myself, I even think they make a lot more sense and should be potentially better for RP than many of the existing Groups. In the old days people used to form dynasties. They named their babies and toddlers and then had other players crate chars to roleplay them as they grew up. A great way for a new player to get introduced to the social parts of the game. I'd like to see that happen again.
I also think that you should be able to
both have a family name and a RP group. But the easiest way of doing that is really to just put the family name in your title, like I do myself. If you are the only member in that family, there is no need for a roleplay group. If and when you have actually managed to form a Dynasty, you could turn it into a RP group with a family mansion, perhaps even a crashproof room. But you could also just keep the family name in the title and be free to join another RP group. We don't really want RP groups being created just for the sake of players collecting as many flags as possible.
I even think we should consider removing the existing Family tags and make all of them equal. After all, I don't think the Alderisios have a RP room and Recall item, nor do the Orsinis. But correct me if I am wrong.
And by the way, we should also remove 'personal' flags like 'Asshole', since they are now used as excuses for creating more such flags.
Just use your titles, that's what they are there for.
