[ This is a continuation of some slightly off-topic thoughts from the thread [url=http://app.ryzom.com/app_forum/?page=topic/view/8812/31]Comp etition types in Ryzom[/url], and explains why apathy is not necessarily a possible option if we want to keep this game and this community that we do have. ]
There is another game, more of a true sandbox than Ryzom. It is a space-themed game, and one that I really wanted to like. However, for various reasons, I have since stopped playing.
In that game, you learn very quickly not to trust your neighbor, or anyone else you talk to, including those in your own guild (called a corporation, in that game). It is very much an attitude of paranoia, and it is not unfounded. In that game, there is a very real sense of loss: when you die, you lose your ship, its equipment, and anything you were carrying.
There is a very large segment of the community in that game who will celebrate you for unethical behaviour, such as stealing everything from the corporate storage. Sometimes, if your heist wasn't particularly noteworthy or took too long to accomplish, that same community will ridicule you for not doing better.
Another popular concept is "suicide ganking", in which you travel into the "protected" areas of the game to destroy an under-defended opponent. You will lose your ship and equipment, but so will the victim. Often, this is used to grief industrial players who are flying glass coffins worth significantly more than the cost of the ship it takes to destroy them. There was a community-sponsored event, with prizes, centered around the suicide ganking of industrial ships.
Someone who enjoys this style of game-play will not be happy in Ryzom. We could let them find out for themselves, I cede that point. We can sit and do nothing, and this will work itself out.
Someone who enjoys this style of game-play may try to bring those types of actions to Ryzom. If they do it without warning, I also cede the point that the CSRs can handle it. We may lose some potential players, as new players are likely the ones to suffer more than the older players, but we can still sit and do nothing and this will mostly work itself out.
Someone who enjoys this style of game-play may also come to this game and try to promote that style of game-play publicly and privately to other players. That is where our community must step in and ensure this person understands that that kind of behaviour is not acceptable here, and optionally point them toward games that support their play-style.
In this last case, if we sit and do nothing, you might find that the community around you will change and it will change in a way that the existing players do not like. As an example, several years ago it was considered griefing to gas packers; now it seems a common and accepted practice, and one player is even renowned for it by having her name associated with the practice.
If the choice is to have Ryzom expand and become like this other game, or wither away and die, then there is no choice. For me and maybe for many others, those two options equate to the same thing: Ryzom would become a game that is not worth playing anymore.
There is another game, more of a true sandbox than Ryzom. It is a space-themed game, and one that I really wanted to like. However, for various reasons, I have since stopped playing.
In that game, you learn very quickly not to trust your neighbor, or anyone else you talk to, including those in your own guild (called a corporation, in that game). It is very much an attitude of paranoia, and it is not unfounded. In that game, there is a very real sense of loss: when you die, you lose your ship, its equipment, and anything you were carrying.
There is a very large segment of the community in that game who will celebrate you for unethical behaviour, such as stealing everything from the corporate storage. Sometimes, if your heist wasn't particularly noteworthy or took too long to accomplish, that same community will ridicule you for not doing better.
Another popular concept is "suicide ganking", in which you travel into the "protected" areas of the game to destroy an under-defended opponent. You will lose your ship and equipment, but so will the victim. Often, this is used to grief industrial players who are flying glass coffins worth significantly more than the cost of the ship it takes to destroy them. There was a community-sponsored event, with prizes, centered around the suicide ganking of industrial ships.
Someone who enjoys this style of game-play will not be happy in Ryzom. We could let them find out for themselves, I cede that point. We can sit and do nothing, and this will work itself out.
Someone who enjoys this style of game-play may try to bring those types of actions to Ryzom. If they do it without warning, I also cede the point that the CSRs can handle it. We may lose some potential players, as new players are likely the ones to suffer more than the older players, but we can still sit and do nothing and this will mostly work itself out.
Someone who enjoys this style of game-play may also come to this game and try to promote that style of game-play publicly and privately to other players. That is where our community must step in and ensure this person understands that that kind of behaviour is not acceptable here, and optionally point them toward games that support their play-style.
In this last case, if we sit and do nothing, you might find that the community around you will change and it will change in a way that the existing players do not like. As an example, several years ago it was considered griefing to gas packers; now it seems a common and accepted practice, and one player is even renowned for it by having her name associated with the practice.
If the choice is to have Ryzom expand and become like this other game, or wither away and die, then there is no choice. For me and maybe for many others, those two options equate to the same thing: Ryzom would become a game that is not worth playing anymore.