A Conversation On Conflict
I agree with Mr. Lewis, I think.
I think that what's happening currently in the chronical is about to end. I think that there will be a few more casualties, and then a bunch of folks will wuss out and pack it up.
The curve for chronicle PCs is so steep that they're likely hosed if they lose their chosen PC. The clamping down on XP is likely to drive this point home for folks, right before ICC.
This brings up a few questions, and I'd love to see a fun discourse on these.
1) Politics have failed, violence is too violent. How will conflicts be resolved in the coming year?
I suspect that it'll become a weird mess with people losing interest in the game. That's unfortunate, but that's how I think it'll play out.
I'd like to see it play out in a fashion that accidentally enforces canon. Namely, that the 'elders' realize that it sucks to die, and that killing people is increasing the likelihood that it'll happen. Further, that keeping around brute squads of low humanity psychos is dangerous for everyone. That the murderer is threatening everyone's eternity. That politics must have teeth, and diplomacy must sting, or else society will devolve and you'll lose your shot at Forever.
The problem? That we have an unlimited supply of elders coming out of the woodwork. Every day, in our chronicle, 10 elders wake back up. There are so many sleeping Kindred with centuries under their belt, that violence is necessary to ensure a food supply. And no amount of killing will correct that.
I'm rapid becoming disappointed with the chronicle, and these things are the principle cause.
2) What will society do with all the violent psychos it has accrued?
I recommend nursing homes and hospice care. :)
3) How do we transition into a game that doesn't require murder? How do we keep it fair and fun for as many people as possible? How do we make it give everyone a warm fuzzy?
I don't know. This whole chronicle is wacky. Everyone is on a computer, swapping e-mails and whatnot, nobody has a computer skill. Everyone tries to talk about all this history "Cuz they were there", but nobody feels that they should still have to buy the Academics Skill. People blow so much XP on BP and cheesy devotions/custom crap so that they can get a base pull of 45 to stake, and do 18 health levels in a single hit, but haven't started with a PC that they can justify living the 1000 years they claim.
We have massive combat proxies, and in them, I've seen 4 casualties, and 2 of them were punked by local players and STs after the fact. The only thing with any challenge or chance of failure is PvP, and that's going to become more and more cookie cutter, as a clear winner in the cheese contest emerges and every character that wants to be worth anything just buys X, Y, Z. Then, not wanting it to come down to chops, battles will be won OOCly by ST shenanigans and other nonsense.
At least, that's what it seems like is going down.
Harley
hasn't killed a pc all chronicle, but thinks it's time to start