Tantus wrote:
I've already explained to you it wasn't how this raid unfolded and there was no claim of victory over Ar. You have a very flexible view of reality, even once corrected you'll continue to promote the false version of events.
If the Ar sim had provided a landscape from which to besiege the city, you would have a point. However, the city's walls reached the sim's borders. Any point you're making on realism is another reason you shouldn't be roleplaying in SL Gor, at all. Ordinarily I wouldn't encourage any discussion where someone has a hard time grasping the facts and moving forwards.
And I have already explained to you that this first raid happened this way. And yes, they claimed having defeated Ar. Which made sense, because technically, they have won the raid, beat Ar. And I'm not putting the blame on Laura. I still consider that Ar totally failed at giving an authentic setting to the sim.
Tantus wrote:If a person of any caste has a reason for being armed, then why not?
Character development is important in roleplay, they will learn new traits as they go along. Maybe you prefer the cookie-cutter MMORPG style classes, where players are limited but I like meeting individuals with some uniqueness to them. My only requirement for men being armed is, they should know how to use those weapons too.
I prefer characters played with good sense and realism. When so many men who play a low caste character, or a physician, a scribe, play it as if they had warrior skills, you are just totally messing with the Gorean lore. SL Gor is full of people who think they're unique. They believe they are creative because they built up a character which is so unique that it became a snowflake. And there, you have mambas in your city who are scribes or slavers...
You speak of character development? There is no development when you make your character totally extra-ordinary since day 1.
It's to ordinary characters that the extraordinary tends to happen.
Not cowering in the face of the enemy, defending your Home Stone from any odds, preferring death over subjugation is a very Gorean scenario. Laura stood up to the larger enemy and eventually achieved a peace, these are the tales book stories are written on. Not the nonsense you're proposing of every city submitting their sovereignty
because 'Oh no, it's Ar!'. Like no one would ever go to war with Ar? you do recall it was the first city conquered in the books by a largely mercenary force.
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In the books, the forces of Cos and Tyros, 2 powerful states, took over Ar. And yes, in book 1, a powerful mercenary army -helped by the treason of the White Caste-.
Oh, and yes, because it's Ar. Most powerful city of Gor.
Tantus wrote:On a previous post you called yourself an owner of Elitist sims, so I'm going by that definition. And I believe your explanation for fallen traffic was, people are fickle, they very quickly leave when admins stop serving their needs. So I like how in one post you can say your sims were filled with advanced roleplayers and in the next post you can dismiss them as freeloaders.
ORS was basically empty for the months I dropped in to see their roleplay. Malignance wasn't a place you could meet people either as everyone was sitting in their homes doing their faction roleplay, it obviously didn't go far.
"Elitist" is your own term, not mine. The sim to which I refer, that I co-owned or administrated, were not elitist sims. They were basic RP sims, with strict OOC / IC separation, everyone OOC equal, respect of the RP etiquette, solid lore, people with RP skills making them able to post more that one line.
ORS, as I told you, hit 20/25 K traffic. And Malignance, where I was a mere player, had a lot of people in the streets, traffic over 40K. This sim lasted 5 or 6 months, I guess.
Both sims had fractions, houses and intrigues based on power fight, conflicts, rivalries.
And yes, these people are fickle, keeping them interested for more 6 months is almost impossible. Once they achevied a storyline, their interest fade, they seek something new. It doesn't deny the fact they are still advanced RPers. Not those who are just happy for years with their dovey lovey family RP and consider their sim as their home, the local ubar as a kind of God and and call family the player base of their sim (which I find just ridiculous).
And actually, I prefer a sim where, for a few months, I will get some intensive RP, than one which will last for months with the same boring Gorean lifestyle, where the most thrilling sim event will be the companionship ceremony of the local blacksmith and the female high scribe and some raids.
Tantus wrote:Here's the trouble with 'Advanced/Elite/Heavy Roleplaying sims', whatever you like to call them. They don't understand that political roleplay is the most, ball-crushingly boring scene out there. In the absence of any danger you roll these dice, play with units on the war table, and the grand consequence is... you made some imaginary gains today. And you'll make imaginary losses tomorrow. Very. Exciting.
In between dice rolls you're locked into this Reality TV show of a house filled with women whom all want your attention. Not a single one of them is posting anything of substance, she's a very deep character and wants you to hear her backstory, she's an awkward character and needs you to acknowledge her exquisite list of flaws, she has a new gacha gown that requires the family's admiration, she is throwing a strop since no one is giving her attention. This, basically, is how women roleplay within these important political dynasties, and when men read those paragraphs on Day 1, ...Day 2, he's stretching to Daaaay 3. By Day 4 he's stopped logging into SL, because wouldn't you know, RL just got real busy.
Phase 2, of any Para-Heavy sim is when the men are gone and suddenly these houses are occupied by women alone. I can guarantee you every sim reaches Phase 2, before the end. And this is how your sims with marvellous backstories and engaging political drama, end up so quickly quiet.
Clearly, you have not even a clue about what is political RP. It's a conflicting lore that make people intrigue and plot for gaining power, there is corruption, character (even those in position of authority) who betray, who lack honor... The only moments where you roll the dices is for the purpose of determing the outcome of some basic action, usually something simple as being wounded because your opponent had attempted to stab you. Little things like that.... The only time when I rolled the dices, I remember, was to determine if my character got pregnant, then, the baby gender (in ORS, there was a inheritance conflict after the pasha had been murdered).
The table about which you spoke, in one of the Ar sims, was just a map of the whole war that Ar conducted to gain more territories, more vassals. The OOC rules of this table made the moves hazardous but they gave a background in which we played (the legatus were in charge for their own legions). Some move could lead to a problem of supplying the armies, or the city itself. Other people played these things, merchants could speculate on cereals and other goods. But this table was not a political RP in itself.
And sorry, in the political RP, there is danger. Your character can totally be killed or enslaved. You seriously think that danger only comes from metered combats?
Tantus wrote:So. I keep saying people should stop complaining and start offering solutions.
Tell me, were you not the high scribe, in Tarnwald, who sent this BS notice requiring people get a slave exam for their slaves and register them to the library with the slave papers and exam (notecarded)? This lame idiocy of non BTB RP / Old Gor crap is one of your solutions to give people something exciting to RP, Tantus?
A group of people left the day after they saw this notice.
Tantus wrote:Capua was the sim with a solution, it featured political RP between Roman houses. But importantly, gladiatorial combat to keep men interested. This was a sim which catered to both genders, and it thrived. Stadium events with 100 avatars on sim(Yes, the cap was set to 100), and about 40 of those players fighting in the weekly tournaments isn't something you'll see again. Participating in those tournaments(and winning them.) isn't something I'll do again. I think the sim eventually closed over issues with the political RP, however, the gladiatorial angle was an absolute win for Capua. Catering to the RP needs of men will take your sim further than locking them up in tight rooms with online wives.
So, in order to keep men interested, you have only to set metered combats? I find this statement a little bit demeaning for men...
But I agree with the fact that tournaments are something people enjoy. We had a fighting slave one (100% IC, no OOC reward) almost every Sunday in Kaelus. Some men of the sim even used an alt to play a fighting slave and fight in the arena. Our traffic during the week turned around 35K. The Sundays, with the tournament, it reached 45K.
In Capua, many gladiators were GE fighters who showed up for the combats and never RPed with other people, though. And if my memory is good, the political RP didn't cause the sim to close. After months, people lose interest and moved on. Capua closed when the traffic dropped to 15K after a few months. So, it looks like even these combats are not the magical solution to make a sim last.
Tantus wrote:The other reason Political sims fail to hold their population is, everyone is too isolated. Sitting in their family homes, routinely writing with the same people swiftly loses its appeal. Sims that managed to succeed for longer were those with activity happening on their streets and common areas, where anyone could find RP at any time of day.
It's hard to be in a public area and organize a scheme... I seldom RP in the streets myself. But I get people to come see me in my house or I visit them for my own schemes in their house. And RP in the streets is usually deeply boringly mundane...
A new GoT sim will open soon... Lot of political RP, conflicts. Not a lot of raids and metered combats to come, I fear, for you, Tantus
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/ ... 0d66a_0_71But yes, typically my kind of sim.