Virg --
As Salazar has pointed out, there is no way to become a Ranger the way that one can become a Kami or Karavan follower or become the subject or citizen of any of the Nations or even become a Marauder. Therefore, to become a Ranger (or rather to aspire to be a Ranger), you must roleplay it. Period. There is no other way to do it -- yet. This doesn't mean that you have to write long, formal third-person narratives about what you are doing, but it does mean that you have to use your imagination and pretend things, because the game mechanics don't support Rangers -- yet.
Wilk (specifically the event team person behind Wilk) is working on setting things up to make it possible for there to be a mechanic to become a Ranger. The first thing he had to do (reading between the lines of things he has said) was to convince the rest of the event team that there was actually a demand on the part of people who would undertake work without immediate in-game reward. That has been established. Eventually there will be mechanics that will allow homins (players) to first become Patrollers, and then to undertake a rite to become a Ranger.
The scripts and files that he set up to do the termite mounds first in Almati, and then in the Lakes and the Desert and in Hidden Source were buggy and dependent upon a long cycle time. They were not "mini games" the way that harvesting is, debugged and available in multiple instances that are independent and capable of being played by multiple players all at once. There were only a few instances of the the termite mounds and they were as much a test of the ARCC and WebIG interfaces as they were learning for the Rangers. The destruction of the Mounds in Lakes and Desert involved a grand total of 6 instances that could be affected by players. Anyone who wanted could have come and helped participate in them. You didn't have to be able to use a potion to do so. I did and I was never one of the "favorites" allowed to use potions. Even though that was supposed to be a major event and polished, at least two major bugs were discovered, one of them having the potential to disrupt normal gameplay in a major way. The only thing that I can see is that this is all beta-testing of new scripts and ideas to bring the Rangers to fruition as a new pseudo-Faction (the only true Factions being Kara and Kami).
You also seem to have a very limited idea of what a Ranger is. All homins should (and usually do) fight kitins -- that does not make them Rangers. Digging kitin larvae is lucrative in terms of crafting -- again, that doesn't make the digger a Ranger. The Rangers were established in JY 2483 "to fight the kitin threat." As Wilk pointed out in the first meetings, "fighting the kitin threat" does not mean just killing kitins. Homins have done that on a massive scale and it is not sufficient. The Rangers ' mission has evolved beyond simple killing of kitins to actually studying them and beyond simple considerations of kitins alone as threats to hominity to study of the Goo and encouragement of equality between the Nations and all homins. Hence the requirement to have positive fame with all Nations and both Factions. Hence the Ranger camp set up in Silan to help the continuing flow of Refugees from the Roots to the New Lands and there are representatives of the Nations who are not Rangers.
As for the missions of the Rangers, they do not claim exclusivity. Ser Erminantius, for instance, is studying the kitins, and the Sages have long studied the Goo, sometimes to the detriment of their health. Neither Erminantius nor the Sages are Rangers.
Ranger aspirants identified themselves and proved their commitment by doing things (which included harvest missions and combat missions) and by adjusting their fame and giving up adherence to Nation and Faction. If "mini-games" relevant to the Rangers are limited to people who have done these things ... I don't see the problem. There are many things that I cannot do as a Ranger aspirant. Ryzom is about making choices with consequences. Sometimes that means running into Void or Wastelands rather than using a teleport. Other times it means not playing a "mini-game."
-- Bittty
((By the way, in my opinion harvesting and crafting are both "mini-games" within Ryzom, just the way that missions are. Anything that involves learning a way to do things is a "mini-game". Sneaking through PR naked is a "mini-game", and so is PvP.))
((By the way, Salazar, as far as we have been told by Wilk, PvP is not inherently forbidden. My own commitment and that of Phaedreas Tears to no PvP is personal to us, not part of our Ranger orientation. However, I am not at all sure that tagging up is possible if you are not an adherent of one of the Nations, Factions or Mara. If it is possible, someone will enlighten me, I'm sure. I also don't see how it could be made to fit the roleplay except perhaps in the case of fighting Marauders. Even there...))
--B
As Salazar has pointed out, there is no way to become a Ranger the way that one can become a Kami or Karavan follower or become the subject or citizen of any of the Nations or even become a Marauder. Therefore, to become a Ranger (or rather to aspire to be a Ranger), you must roleplay it. Period. There is no other way to do it -- yet. This doesn't mean that you have to write long, formal third-person narratives about what you are doing, but it does mean that you have to use your imagination and pretend things, because the game mechanics don't support Rangers -- yet.
Wilk (specifically the event team person behind Wilk) is working on setting things up to make it possible for there to be a mechanic to become a Ranger. The first thing he had to do (reading between the lines of things he has said) was to convince the rest of the event team that there was actually a demand on the part of people who would undertake work without immediate in-game reward. That has been established. Eventually there will be mechanics that will allow homins (players) to first become Patrollers, and then to undertake a rite to become a Ranger.
The scripts and files that he set up to do the termite mounds first in Almati, and then in the Lakes and the Desert and in Hidden Source were buggy and dependent upon a long cycle time. They were not "mini games" the way that harvesting is, debugged and available in multiple instances that are independent and capable of being played by multiple players all at once. There were only a few instances of the the termite mounds and they were as much a test of the ARCC and WebIG interfaces as they were learning for the Rangers. The destruction of the Mounds in Lakes and Desert involved a grand total of 6 instances that could be affected by players. Anyone who wanted could have come and helped participate in them. You didn't have to be able to use a potion to do so. I did and I was never one of the "favorites" allowed to use potions. Even though that was supposed to be a major event and polished, at least two major bugs were discovered, one of them having the potential to disrupt normal gameplay in a major way. The only thing that I can see is that this is all beta-testing of new scripts and ideas to bring the Rangers to fruition as a new pseudo-Faction (the only true Factions being Kara and Kami).
You also seem to have a very limited idea of what a Ranger is. All homins should (and usually do) fight kitins -- that does not make them Rangers. Digging kitin larvae is lucrative in terms of crafting -- again, that doesn't make the digger a Ranger. The Rangers were established in JY 2483 "to fight the kitin threat." As Wilk pointed out in the first meetings, "fighting the kitin threat" does not mean just killing kitins. Homins have done that on a massive scale and it is not sufficient. The Rangers ' mission has evolved beyond simple killing of kitins to actually studying them and beyond simple considerations of kitins alone as threats to hominity to study of the Goo and encouragement of equality between the Nations and all homins. Hence the requirement to have positive fame with all Nations and both Factions. Hence the Ranger camp set up in Silan to help the continuing flow of Refugees from the Roots to the New Lands and there are representatives of the Nations who are not Rangers.
As for the missions of the Rangers, they do not claim exclusivity. Ser Erminantius, for instance, is studying the kitins, and the Sages have long studied the Goo, sometimes to the detriment of their health. Neither Erminantius nor the Sages are Rangers.
Ranger aspirants identified themselves and proved their commitment by doing things (which included harvest missions and combat missions) and by adjusting their fame and giving up adherence to Nation and Faction. If "mini-games" relevant to the Rangers are limited to people who have done these things ... I don't see the problem. There are many things that I cannot do as a Ranger aspirant. Ryzom is about making choices with consequences. Sometimes that means running into Void or Wastelands rather than using a teleport. Other times it means not playing a "mini-game."
-- Bittty
((By the way, in my opinion harvesting and crafting are both "mini-games" within Ryzom, just the way that missions are. Anything that involves learning a way to do things is a "mini-game". Sneaking through PR naked is a "mini-game", and so is PvP.))
((By the way, Salazar, as far as we have been told by Wilk, PvP is not inherently forbidden. My own commitment and that of Phaedreas Tears to no PvP is personal to us, not part of our Ranger orientation. However, I am not at all sure that tagging up is possible if you are not an adherent of one of the Nations, Factions or Mara. If it is possible, someone will enlighten me, I'm sure. I also don't see how it could be made to fit the roleplay except perhaps in the case of fighting Marauders. Even there...))
--B
---
Remembering Tyneetryk
Phaedreas Tears - 15 years old and first(*) of true neutral guilds in Atys.
(*) This statement is contested, but we are certainly the longest lasting.
<clowns | me & you | jokers>