Discussion about the hardships that characters go through

[Uberskaapie]

Arm only seems like it's not harsh enough once you're over the learning curve. If you want to push yourself, go on ahead and play a role in a -seriously- remote place. There are plenty of areas in game where you'll come across tons of aggro npcs.

[Kryos]

A recent discussion on game difficulty yielded a consensus that many of our players would prefer the game world to be harsher than it is.  Several side discussions address related topics.

Definitely not a consensus.  I think you're just attempting to inflate your position with this, I saw a lot of discussion about the pros and cons of it and know some players saw no need for it.  Further, the GBD threads typically represent ~20-30 players, some times as few as 5-10 when we know at least 100 or so are out there.  There is a certain sect of players that want to see the game made harder, yes, and unsurprisingly these are long term players.  I say its unsurprising because I would like to point out a very simple, understood part of gaming as a hobby.  

Pick any game, mud, mmorpg, table top, board, whatever.  Now, the first time you play it, its typically engulfing, so many rules, things to do, and strategies and tactics to learn.  Now play that game your 100th time.  It feels natural, easy, and you know almost everything there is to know, having either applied overt analysis or simply incorporated observed information and behavior into what you do.  

ex:  World of Warcraft.  When I started playing just after beta, I was totally engrossed and a newb, I didn't even know my own class.  By the end of the Burning Crusade expansion I had lead a guild to the game's end before the changes, and could tell any player in the guild how to make a race/spec/gearing choices for their particular role.  It was at this point I quit the game, because in my mind, I had truly beaten it.  

Veterans of any game are inclined to be pro-hardening(as I was), because they have usually mastered the game in its current incarnation.  Problem is, not too long after the 'difficulty' is cranked up it will become the norm and you will not long remain content.  There are other problems with increasing the inherent difficulty of things, including fun and retaining players.

There's a point where difficulty arbitrarily becomes a labor.  There are several features of the game that already walk that fine line of difficulty versus cumbersome.  I think making the game 'harder' in many suggested ways would just make it instead 'tiresome' for most the population.  

You want to have a harder Armageddon?  Chose roles that are not easy.  Stop taking your acquired knowledge and feeding it to your characters.  Do things you as a player know are absolutely not a good idea, but your character has no clue on.   I've found a variation of character knowledge yields the best results.  One guy might be a crusty salt dog, knowing the lay of the lands like his own heartbeat, and yet another might be a city-boy, who could point you to a bump on a long on the back of a ant in undertuluk, while having no idea what lies beyond the walls.  

[Gunnerblaster]

I play to roleplay and interact with PC's for intense storyplots - Not get wtfpwn'd by NPC's.

[musashi]

I play to roleplay and interact with PC's for intense storyplots - Not get wtfpwn'd by NPC's.

The irony is how getting involved in intense storyplots is usually what leads to the most glorious of all wtfpwn'ing by NPCs! 

[ibusoe]

Arm only seems like it's not harsh enough once you're over the learning curve. If you want to push yourself, go on ahead and play a role in a -seriously- remote place. There are plenty of areas in game where you'll come across tons of aggro npcs.

I'm not sure that I agree.

I think that if you dumped a bunch of aggro NPC near the areas where my PC hung out, my response would be to type faster and emote less.  Basically, you'd raise the bar of the video-game aspect and I'd respond by learning to deal with the situation.

Rather, I assert the opposite -- that by encouraging PCs to abuse each other more, people would abuse each other more.  A heavy dose of non-lethal conflict would make things tougher.

[ibusoe]

I'm not sure I should repeat myself, but I feel like a couple of posters forgot to get on the train before it left the station.

Boiled down, I was saying:

"Challenge yourself"

anyways, thanks!