Ryzom

With billing approaching there is obviously a bit of excitement about the potential for new adventure on Atys. Without knowing the resources available to the event team or its plans, I’d still like to recommend that something be planned to take “ownership” of the server.

I think it is paramount to the overall success of Ryzom that the game have a viable storyline, where players, guilds, nations and factions have a broader purpose. It is my opinion that the game was designed with this in mind, fully aware that many players would completely ignore the written lore but by game design would be ‘role’ players anyway.

It is also my opinion that the history and culture of Atys have been so neglected as to become an unwelcome part of the game to a majority of the playerbase. Which, if you stop and think about it, is very reasonable. Why should a player be concerned about something that occurred 2 years before they ever created their character? Why should race or faction have any meaning at all? Double xp, OP mats, those have value…terms like, Fyros, Matis, Karavan, Kami, Ma-duk, or Jena are nearly obsolete words from a bygone era. Looking at the post from the animation team it appears they very much want to change that, I thought I would start a thread offering some player views on possible ways that could spark a cultural resurgence.

One of the first things I would consider is a wipe of existing OP ownership. I would consider some sort of catalyst that would shut down all OP’s and bring them under the domain of the factions and/or nations, to then be handed out by those higher powers for services rendered. This would require the assistance of developers with an event similar to the temple event and as such may not be doable at all. If this were to be done, I would also use it as an excuse to look over everything about OP’s and do quite a bit of tweaking. I have not really laid out the pros and cons of this idea, it is just that this is a 'bang for your buck' thing. People will notice and get involved if you mess with OP's. It is just an idea.

Creating a world changing scenario without developmental help is quite a bit tougher to envision and would be dependent on event team staff. I think one of the major failures of the past was to create to many events that were inclusive as opposed to targeted. I would suggest npc political agitators who select their audience, allowing the player base to grow the movement, or allow it to die, let us get the houses of Matis playing politics, the senators of Fyros scheming or just a plain old religious service. Just because they start as isolated events does not mean that they cannot feed much larger purposes. I would also consider having these events reported on the forums from the perspective of an involved NPC character. So, if it were a government leader reporting on a possible seditious movement occurring within it’s territory, it would have a very different tone then one from a reporter, there would also be limited knowledge.

I really do think there has to be some sort of marking point, something to allow people to say “Hey, this is my world”. There needs to be a new era, something that makes the future (from a story perspective) living, exciting and unknown.

Quite a bit has been done on Aniro already. The Tryker Federation Council, for example, which is player-led, has made decisions that influence gameplay. They decided to curb the brawling at stables, and to do so, created a patrol (again, player-led) to end the fighting. If a homin is caught engaging in faction fighting three times, his/her Tryker fame is set to -51.

I'd look forward to the involvement of tribes attacking Outposts, as saboteurs ("due to an act of sabotage by Trytonist activists, the drill will be unusable this season") or attackers (who could take control of the Outpost by attacking it almost instantly -- one-hour notice --, and own it without the need for a defense phase).

Providing NPC agitation to incite broader movements is a good idea.

As far as history and culture of Atys becoming, by and large, obsolete and unwelcome, the only way to remedy that is through events having far-reaching implications. Atys-changing events might benefit from being fully contextualized in-game: what led to it and mention of historical precendents if necessary. A bulletin board (like those available for temple writings and outpost history and steles) would be a good way to do that, as a gathering of homins around an area is more likely to trigger chatter than all of us going separately to the forums.

Planting semi-rare Lore books at random on Atys might be a nice idea too, or placing one in each guild hall, as a non-removable item, for all homins to read (with all game lore and features readily available in-game).

elthunim wrote:Quite a bit has been done on Aniro already. The Tryker Federation Council, for example, which is player-led, has made decisions that influence gameplay. They decided to curb the brawling at stables, and to do so, created a patrol (again, player-led) to end the fighting. If a homin is caught engaging in faction fighting three times, his/her Tryker fame is set to -51.

How does something player-led alter other player's fame?

sehracii wrote:How does something player-led alter other player's fame?

It just goes to highlight how much can be done by an event team without involving programming/developer changes. A CSR can alter fame, and therefore, upon request by an established instance (in this case, the Talodi Council), fame penalties can be enforced. It's come under heated debate, as you can imagine; the Stables brawls have been a lasting tradition on Aniro.

Yikes, official player run governments with no purpose, no goals, no direction, sounds like a great way to have the community eat its own. Having a player government that can decide the racial fame for an individual or individual acts is risky, risky, risky. Does it really make sense? How does fighting three times around the stables potentially undo 151 points of fame? It makes sense, only if fame is now under the sole dominion of the player government. I would recommend that if the Trykers want a conflict free stable, they should petition the factions, get a quote, pay it and let the developers put in a combat free zone. I do understand that it would take development time, but the risk of losing all sci-fi credentials (meaning the game becomes more fantasy then a possible reality) with well meaning CSR’s and players is high. For example, would the Karavan or Kami be silent about their follower’s inability to protect themselves and their territory. I think, they would allow it but I think there would be some quid pro quo as this decision weakens a nearly impudent in game factional presence. It certainly appears that the factions have given up entirely on trying to influence Homins. (more importantly there is no downside to enemies of the Trykers, only to those who want + Tryker fame, now -51 tagged homins can talk all the tryker/factional trash they want around the stables)

Getting back on track, what I am trying to say is that voting for stuff is nice but it should have a price that the entire affected community can pay or not pay. Meaning if the player base wants it, they have to earn it. Those that voted for it have to come up with a way to use their political base to provide the needed resources.

I would think creating political groups that want to support either of the factions, (or none at all), closer ties with particular races or break off ties, etc…, would be where to start. They do need to be limited though, 3 to 5 political parties, with the factional parties going beyond racial boundaries, so 1 to 3 race specific parties. The tricky part would be how to make them functional and real.

The best idea I can come up with is good ole fashion bribery, paying for influence amongst the elite and/or the common folk. You want your views to advance in the political arena then it is time to pay up. That could be mats, cats, dappers, kitin bits, whatever.

What I would really like to see is a mechanism that allows for players to contribute to the factions as a national (or guild). In return, after so many gazillion mats are turned in, the factions give a racial/factional gift to that nation. An improved amp recipe that gives a point or two in some category, or access to superior materials for crafting that do the same thing, a bonus to dp draining, something small but meaningful.

This could pave the way for the construction of factional TP’s in existing or new lands, reward races that are united in their support, hamper those who are not. Suddenly, player politics is relevant, dynamic and purposeful.

For now, just using simple campaign finance committees could get the ball rolling. Start organizing and raising funds to influence the governments. These CSR fund raising NPC’s could collect, delete and then create the bought and paid for political operatives to flesh out the next generation of scum that will lead hominity in the next chapter. I think it is very important to always have at least one level of government above any player based one. Very, very important.



I do really like the idea of lore specific items popping up randomly. I have been sadly disappointed about the lack of amber cube discoveries. There were times when I first started playing that I would actually hope to find one in some desolate area of Atys, scanning the ground looking for something ambery.

elthunim wrote:It just goes to highlight how much can be done by an event team without involving programming/developer changes. A CSR can alter fame,

I am all for allowing event guides more power, but I would foresee a "can of worms", maybe more in Aris than Aniro. It is widely known that CSR guides and event guides are mostly volunteers, and this is a prelude for (founded or not) conspiracy theories, as it happened a while ago.

I would guess that this is one of the reasons Nevrax did not allow such things (other than it being feasible). This should be approached with extreme caution. I tend to think that it should be left to GM and SGM.

Without some kind or event manager (a more flexible Ravna, so to speak), who will enforce that events are coherent? Also, now, it is "fame lowering", later, it can be "insta kill"....

Interesting, in line with RP freedom and (durable) noticeable consequences, but risky...

Note: This post isn't targeted at anyone specific, but merely stating my opinion (for once) after reading through a lot of posts over a time.

I really wonder why players speculate everything so much and force negativity in almost everything. The event teams in Arispotle may get organized to facilitate Animation (or so what they call) and allow player governments to enhance the said Animation.

In case anyone missed it the events re-introduction meeting where the Senior Event Manager, Boroshi (now Aapeli, I think) mentioned the plan for the event teams. The meeting already covered possible player governments with official voice; however, mentioned introduction of racial lore will be their first task.

However, such plans went unrealized (from what I've heard form CSRs) for the lack of communication between the French, German, English teams. Arispotle team also lacked sufficient hands and many were obviously scattered across timezones making it impossible for a handful people to be on at a time together without making heavy sacrifices. I would guess the team is struggling and perhaps would improve if more players volunteered to help out.

Also as I understand it CSR and normal events guides would never have that level of access. I'd say Game Masters and Senior Game Masters are the only ones who could possibly adjust values in game mechanics. Regardless, just because the fame manipulation was enforced in Aniro doesn't really mean Arispotle will take after that? I think it really depends on the player governments if we ever have them.

Anyway I'm really looking forward to the wedii's announcement about Animation and eagerly await the changes in Atys.

I only brought up the Aniro situation as an example of what is feasible, not necessarily as something desirable. It's come under a good measure of criticism on Aniro too, although I get the feeling most consider it as a welcome change and a sign that things do and can evolve.

Then again, it's the purpose of the animation team, as described in their general presentation, to have roleplay influence gameplay. We have had no opportunity for such influence on Arispotle yet.

( In passing, the Talodi Council is definitely not without purpose, goal, or direction; it's very pro-Tryker, they raise taxes for battles, etc. Can take a look at the constitution. It's a certain idea of fun, not sure if it's implementable on Arispotle though. Finally, to make things completely clear, the one hominette whose Tryker fame was wiped out actually attacked the Tryker guardians... )

danolt wrote:I think it is very important to always have at least one level of government above any player based one.

Always important to have direction.

*digs in the hope of finding an Amber cube hidden in the sand*

[QUOTE=sesune]Note:

Also as I understand it CSR and normal events guides would never have that level of access. I'd say Game Masters and Senior Game Masters are the only ones who could possibly adjust values in game mechanics. Regardless, just because the fame manipulation was enforced in Aniro doesn't really mean Arispotle will take after that? I think it really depends on the player governments if we ever have them.


I agree that the CSR or normal event guides would not be able to do stuff like that.
I am sure it would have to be up to the GM's or SGM's.

All we can do is wait and see. Keeping fingers cross for much success.

danolt wrote:One of the first things I would consider is a wipe of existing OP ownership. I would consider some sort of catalyst that would shut down all OP’s and bring them under the domain of the factions and/or nations, to then be handed out by those higher powers for services rendered.

Isn't that what's already being done on Aris? I was led to understand the Alliances each own roughly half of the OPs, and guilds hold them solely by the graces of the Alliances. Am I incorrect in my knowledge of this?