PC trends

[My 2 sids]

This is going to break off the thread on bowing to lesser nobility and templarate.  However, I question how many commoners would understand the different "levels" of nobility, and to what extent.  I just question how a regular joe would know (or even care) about the different "levels".  Just as the nobility would see most commoners as the same; the reverse would be true, commoners seeing the nobility as one big group and not really caring unless it affects them directly.

This brings me to my main concern... that it's very hard to try and pretend to be a part of a huge WORLD when it seems PCs are all connected in a very close group.  It just seems that the trend continues that every PC (no matter their place or job) continues to know everyone else's business as well as become involved in everyone else's plots.  Everyone has "connections", everyone has "money and favors", everyone has "spies"... is it just me or is this getting us all into a very repetitive trend?  It's no wonder clan life is on the decline, our whole game world is shrinking!  There isn't a need to interact with clans because everyone is already connected to every other PC out there!  

My questions about this trend then include:  How are people viewing this trend?  Good?  Bad? Just a part of life?  Is there anyway to reverse the trend?  Should the staff, who are in control of the NPCs and VNPCs which remind us that the game world is larger than just our PCs, forgo realistic social responses in order to allow PCs to push their own interactions and quasi-realistic consequences?

[Teleri]

I noticed this trend about 4 months ago, but not anymore....mostly because I was gone for the last 4 months.  But, yes, that trend really sucks, in my opinion, as it's all played out.  To escape it, I would suggest abandoning the cities in favor of tribal life.  Tribal life is where it's at.  No other RPI I've come across really does a good job getting that close-knit tribe experience like Arm.  Harshlands' tribal people don't count, because nobody seems to play that MUD anyways.

Come out into the desert!  It's not all played out...yet.

[moab]

I wish there was a middling option.   I think (almost) everyone is involved with someone else, with a few (maybe ten or so?) key players at the top.

But that's the way it is.  You're some type of whore on Zalanthas or you're a pimp.

You can't get anything done without being in someone's pocket or bed, unless you are complete loner, so you whore.

I like this because it represents the reality of the corrupted system.  

On the other hand, not everyone should be in everyone's business and unless you are this "busybody" type character, one should pick and choose one's interests.

In the same degree there are hunters that hunt EVERYTHING (when was the last time you met someone who hunted just small game or justblack-shelled beetles for a living....) you get players who are not content with knowning all about Lord X, but know all the dish about Lords A-Z.

I think the reasons for this are many and while on the surface it can be irritating,  just like those who hunt EVERYTHING, knowing TOO MUCH will have its costs in the end as well.

edit: fixin' typos because i can't seem to submit a post without them..ever.

[LBO]

This brings me to my main concern... that it's very hard to try and pretend to be a part of a huge WORLD when it seems PCs are all connected in a very close group.  It just seems that the trend continues that every PC (no matter their place or job) continues to know everyone else's business as well as become involved in everyone else's plots.  Everyone has "connections", everyone has "money and favors", everyone has "spies"... is it just me or is this getting us all into a very repetitive trend?  It's no wonder clan life is on the decline, our whole game world is shrinking!  There isn't a need to interact with clans because everyone is already connected to every other PC out there!  

Personally, I think that this is the result of the playerbase being too spread out. This leaves a limited number of players in a particular area and there is only so much going on then as a result. This makes people butt into other people's business all the time just because they can. When I first began on Arm about three years ago Allanak was full of people in all the various clans. I wasn't in a leadership position obviously then but I would guess that at that time nobles and the like would've had to pick and choose their targets as there was so much going on that virtually nobody would be able to find out everything that was going on. Back then the problem to me seemed to be that people in power were acting above their station. The Imms have done a good job in reinforcing that fact that even noble players are part of a wider world and I think that players understand and respect this now. I would love to see today's attitudes married with the numbers of people in an area of before. Lots of people = lots of plots = fun.

[moab]

I submit that Tuluk should be razed to the ground and the North turned into wildlands with one or two tiny villages.

Let's get the people hanging out in one damn city.  Two is one too many and we all know there is only one that expresses the Armageddon ideal....and its walls are not white.  Gag.

[SwanSwanHummingbird]

Of course Armageddon is a great game even with this trend!

But, yes.  What we really need is 2x-5x more players.  I'd love to see 250+ players online during peak hours!  All the clans would be fleshed out, we wouldn't have the problem of independents making far more sid than they should (because the shops only give out so much), there would be actual -competition- for survival and jobs and for the supposedly scarce resources, etc..  Basically I think it would fix all the problems the mud has that I can think of.  Now, it might create more problems, but I'm sure the imms can deal with them when they arise.

[JollyGreenGiant]

99% of the playerbase will never even scratch the surface of the available useful and accurate information out there.  Most will dig for a bit, find a few things out (whether true or not), and be content with the belief that they now know everything there is to know.

Your three points, however.
1.  "Connections."  Playing a hermit is boring.  Therefore, everyone has connections.  Not seeing a problem.

2. "Money and favors."  Balance in all things.  Those who have money throw it at people who do not so that the people who do not will do favors for the ones that do.  Still not seeing a problem.

3. "Spies."  Not everyone has them.  Many think they do, but don't.  Some do, but get nothing useful out of them.  A handful manage to find out enough of what's going on to give the world an occasional nipple twist.  Still don't have a problem.

So I guess I don't see your trend.  I would like to think that I have the appropriate perspective to see such a trend, if it existed.

[Xamminy]

I'd just like to say that my character is awesome and has no ties to the rich and powerful, nor is my character involved in their plots or them in mine.  It's quite refreshing, avoiding those people you should avoid...and letting them get you involved in their plots ONLY if they put forth the effort they really should have to to get in touch with you.  This works for the upper crust looking scum-side or the other way around.

I think the trend for everyone to be involved in everything stems from a desire to be involved as soon as they enter the game.  Those feeling like this scamper around meeting everyone and getting their foot in the door, so to speak, in so many things right out the gate, that eventually, they're wading thigh deep in too much to do in any one lifetime.  If people were to go about doing what their characters would do, sure, they won't get involved in things quite as quickly, but those things they do get involved in will often, in my experience, be much more personal.

[Delirium]

Xamminy said it.

[sjanimal]

My 2 sids (original poster)

Amen!!  I agree 110%.  I wish other players were as concious of the major and minor cheezy things that they do to get involved in the game plots.