Big Weekend Update
EDIT:
Okay, this is already stirring up strong feelings so I need to address this now. First off I am not trying to be inflammatory. It is an editorial piece, but I am not trying to cause hard feelings. The changes being made with the game are all GOOD. I’m fully in favor of them. I will not say anything on Mike and Megan’s passing, justifications for such, or any of that rot. It’s a horse that was beaten to death, animated, and ridden till its legs were worn down to nubs. What I will state as my opinion is that Mike and I spoke many times of things he’d like to see happen at game. The sad irony in my opinion is that many of the things he cited that he wished to see happen someday are happening now on a wide scale and he’ll never see them.
Now the game took a major shake up with such a big chunk of the player base retiring/leaving/etc. There are hard feelings with that, it’s impossible to avoid. We as players lost a lot of opportunities to see friends at game, and that can be hard to replace. We had roleplay and stories that can’t be resolved as people and characters are absent. The blame game starts up for such losses and scapegoats found. Sadly with the Tribes being the last ones standing they’re getting a lot of the focus of such.
One simple truth though is that the faction politics, both in and out of game, sapped a lot of energy from everyone involved. It caused a lot of disruption and stole the spotlight away from enjoying the game. It still is to be blunt, just in different ways. I am hoping that it will die out eventually. There still are a lot of politics and motives being played out sadly, and that will continue to detract from the game.
I have been trying to stay neutral in this. I was on the Dev team for months in PPC. I know how hard they work first hand to make this game work. They give of their souls to make it happen. Not just blood, sweat and tears people, as it cuts far deeper than that. I’ve heard the talk from fellow players and friends, with their concerns, hurts, and opinions on how things will shake out. They too invest just as deep. Triumph is family for them, and like many it is very dysfunctional.
Some people see the balance of power having shifted, and they are fearful. Some have lost friends and are resentful. Some are fence sitters waiting to see where the fall out of all this lands. A lot of assumptions are just gone from comfort zones, and speculation abounds as to what will fill the power vacuums with so many people leaving and roles shifted. I have had people on all sides of the issue, players and Devs, commenting on how things are changing, and no one has a clear vision of where we’re going, but it’s enough that we’re moving forward. Will we have a two tier model for the game? I don’t know. There are some fairly significant balance concerns between players with strong sheets and resources and others who are new, newer, or just haven’t had the same opportunities. It’s hard to maintain a consistent and fair challenge with such diversity.
Myself, I am going to have tea and enjoy the new opportunities. I may be apprehensive with all this change, but I’ll still be in my corner doing my part to help.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So I am starting to get apprehensive about the new Larp season at Triumph. On one hand I like all the promised changes and upgrades. On the other hand though, I will miss Mike, Megan, and the other Free Companions. Personally I think its tragic how all this is shaking out. We still have a split game, but instead of two super powers in a cold war with all the independents like myself caught in the middle, we have one super power and everyone else. And we all know what happens when you have one central strong power without opposition. With the power gulf in points, resources, etc, it devolves to two very different games. Honestly though, I can live with that. It’s not a perfect solution but at least we matter enough to be included in the game now, or at least have our own game. The departure of the Free Companions though is going to leave a huge hole in the economy, so we ‘support’ characters will have to do a lot of scrambling for coin, and pooling of resources for our style of play but it’s better than before.
So far the attitude I’m hearing from a lot of my fellow players is that it remains very much an “us versus them” mentality. People who were more neutral in stance became more polarized. So I suspect it will play out at game that it will be the Tribes and everyone else. When the Night Watch return from PPC, I suspect they’ll simply lump in with the Tribes as before due to like play styles and interest. Though the rest of us are working together a lot more closely than before out of necessity. We don’t have Mirth and company to keep the Tribes from bullying and abusing us anymore. While I haven’t had that directly on Rom, I’ve heard enough incidents both in and out of game to concern me. I hope the Tribes just in general leave the lot of us alone, and enjoy their separate status. They play in a different league than the rest of us and the two really can’t blend.
I think the most tragic aspect of this situation is that Mike and Megan really wanted to get the scope of the game broadened from a series of trail fights with a plot arc to something more robust and accommodating. They wanted game support to affect things without always resorting to trail fights to resolve or advance a plot. Some individuals apparently still are shocked and awed that people come to game for something other than combat. While it’s a play style they just don’t get, at least they’re willing to send it some support now without the distraction of the cold war. Mike and Megan did lay the groundwork for that non-com play style though when they set up camp at the Tavern and have song circles, board game play, and general role play. It did show such activities were just as viable a way to enjoy the game as a trail fight. From what I have heard it was seen more as throwing up an F-U to the staff. Maybe it was a bit of both, but that isn’t my call. On the principle of it, their expressed motives and intents were for the kind of game I enjoy more. The irony is that only with their leaving did their agenda bear fruit. Now that they’re banned, the game they lobbied and wanted is what’s being served up. I just hope that when several of us continue in the non-com activities and traditions we don’t get similarly viewed as bucking the system and trying to disrupt things.
Okay, this is already stirring up strong feelings so I need to address this now. First off I am not trying to be inflammatory. It is an editorial piece, but I am not trying to cause hard feelings. The changes being made with the game are all GOOD. I’m fully in favor of them. I will not say anything on Mike and Megan’s passing, justifications for such, or any of that rot. It’s a horse that was beaten to death, animated, and ridden till its legs were worn down to nubs. What I will state as my opinion is that Mike and I spoke many times of things he’d like to see happen at game. The sad irony in my opinion is that many of the things he cited that he wished to see happen someday are happening now on a wide scale and he’ll never see them.
Now the game took a major shake up with such a big chunk of the player base retiring/leaving/etc. There are hard feelings with that, it’s impossible to avoid. We as players lost a lot of opportunities to see friends at game, and that can be hard to replace. We had roleplay and stories that can’t be resolved as people and characters are absent. The blame game starts up for such losses and scapegoats found. Sadly with the Tribes being the last ones standing they’re getting a lot of the focus of such.
One simple truth though is that the faction politics, both in and out of game, sapped a lot of energy from everyone involved. It caused a lot of disruption and stole the spotlight away from enjoying the game. It still is to be blunt, just in different ways. I am hoping that it will die out eventually. There still are a lot of politics and motives being played out sadly, and that will continue to detract from the game.
I have been trying to stay neutral in this. I was on the Dev team for months in PPC. I know how hard they work first hand to make this game work. They give of their souls to make it happen. Not just blood, sweat and tears people, as it cuts far deeper than that. I’ve heard the talk from fellow players and friends, with their concerns, hurts, and opinions on how things will shake out. They too invest just as deep. Triumph is family for them, and like many it is very dysfunctional.
Some people see the balance of power having shifted, and they are fearful. Some have lost friends and are resentful. Some are fence sitters waiting to see where the fall out of all this lands. A lot of assumptions are just gone from comfort zones, and speculation abounds as to what will fill the power vacuums with so many people leaving and roles shifted. I have had people on all sides of the issue, players and Devs, commenting on how things are changing, and no one has a clear vision of where we’re going, but it’s enough that we’re moving forward. Will we have a two tier model for the game? I don’t know. There are some fairly significant balance concerns between players with strong sheets and resources and others who are new, newer, or just haven’t had the same opportunities. It’s hard to maintain a consistent and fair challenge with such diversity.
Myself, I am going to have tea and enjoy the new opportunities. I may be apprehensive with all this change, but I’ll still be in my corner doing my part to help.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So I am starting to get apprehensive about the new Larp season at Triumph. On one hand I like all the promised changes and upgrades. On the other hand though, I will miss Mike, Megan, and the other Free Companions. Personally I think its tragic how all this is shaking out. We still have a split game, but instead of two super powers in a cold war with all the independents like myself caught in the middle, we have one super power and everyone else. And we all know what happens when you have one central strong power without opposition. With the power gulf in points, resources, etc, it devolves to two very different games. Honestly though, I can live with that. It’s not a perfect solution but at least we matter enough to be included in the game now, or at least have our own game. The departure of the Free Companions though is going to leave a huge hole in the economy, so we ‘support’ characters will have to do a lot of scrambling for coin, and pooling of resources for our style of play but it’s better than before.
So far the attitude I’m hearing from a lot of my fellow players is that it remains very much an “us versus them” mentality. People who were more neutral in stance became more polarized. So I suspect it will play out at game that it will be the Tribes and everyone else. When the Night Watch return from PPC, I suspect they’ll simply lump in with the Tribes as before due to like play styles and interest. Though the rest of us are working together a lot more closely than before out of necessity. We don’t have Mirth and company to keep the Tribes from bullying and abusing us anymore. While I haven’t had that directly on Rom, I’ve heard enough incidents both in and out of game to concern me. I hope the Tribes just in general leave the lot of us alone, and enjoy their separate status. They play in a different league than the rest of us and the two really can’t blend.
I think the most tragic aspect of this situation is that Mike and Megan really wanted to get the scope of the game broadened from a series of trail fights with a plot arc to something more robust and accommodating. They wanted game support to affect things without always resorting to trail fights to resolve or advance a plot. Some individuals apparently still are shocked and awed that people come to game for something other than combat. While it’s a play style they just don’t get, at least they’re willing to send it some support now without the distraction of the cold war. Mike and Megan did lay the groundwork for that non-com play style though when they set up camp at the Tavern and have song circles, board game play, and general role play. It did show such activities were just as viable a way to enjoy the game as a trail fight. From what I have heard it was seen more as throwing up an F-U to the staff. Maybe it was a bit of both, but that isn’t my call. On the principle of it, their expressed motives and intents were for the kind of game I enjoy more. The irony is that only with their leaving did their agenda bear fruit. Now that they’re banned, the game they lobbied and wanted is what’s being served up. I just hope that when several of us continue in the non-com activities and traditions we don’t get similarly viewed as bucking the system and trying to disrupt things.