One clan...many clans...what up wit' dat?

[spawnloser]

Okay...not to mention any names, I know of a couple people that have repeatedly played characters that all get into the same clan (either planned or not).  This got me to thinking.  What are others thoughts on this?  In my nearly year on the mud and ten characters, all but a couple who were clanned, I have yet to play in the same clan twice...now, I realize that eventually, that will become impossible, when I've played in every clan, but I have made a point to avoid a clan that I've been in recently, just to avoid knowing too much that my current character wouldn't know and etc.

[Stroker]

I prefer to play in different clans as much as possible, but usually enjoy revisiting some of the older clans that I previously played in to personally observe how it progressed over time, amongst other things such as spreading communism to all you heretic capitalists.

[tortall]

I have some favorite clans. Most people who which they are. Though I have played in a FEW others. Very few. Like... One..... Two... Does Byn count as a clan? Ok, three others. So five total. I have two favorites, one is currently closed. :-(


-Tortall, who wished her favorite clan would reopen.

[ShaLeah]

I don't think of the Byn as a clan in the aspect that I wouldn't feel twinky joining it with every character.  I've never been high ranked enough to have to deal with Byn politics and think of all the clans, this one is probably the only one that is low-key yet active enough to join on a constant basis.

Other clans aren't the same though and I would feel odd rejoining a clan that a character or two ago I just left behind.  Trust me, better to avoid those clans and people you once knew in a past life than be questioned about your current character motives.

[FiveDisgruntledMonkeysWit]

It depends, but for the most part, I highly encourage people to play in different clans, putting a relatively long-lived character or two in between before rejoining.

There are some exceptions, of course. If your character joins House Salaar, and is killed in some really random and unpredictable fashion, just when things were 'getting good', then it would be, in my opinion, perfectly accept to recreate a new character and join, assuming the deceased character didn't play in the clan for too long. Now, obviously, if your character has been in Salaar for 4 RL years, or if you run through a string of eight newbie guards in a month, then it'd probably be a good idea to pack up and move on to another clan.

Mix it up, people. You never know what you might find.

[Anonymous]

Probably the best clan I've ever played in since I started playing is the one I just joined.  I never would have thought that and never, ever really even tried to get into this clan before.

I personally don't care if all people do is play human rangers that serve Tenneshi as long as they don't do the whole "Hey, you know who this is" email that brings the temptation of basically picking up a relationship where it left off when the previous PC bit it.

[My 2 sids]

I'll agree with the (evidently silent) majority here... It just depends.  Sometimes the role-play (that has taken you oh-so-far-away from the concept you started with  :roll: ) leads your character back to a clan you have recently played before.  You have to choose for –that- character.  Simply because you as a player want or don't want to be in a clan you've been in before doesn't give you the right to use OOC reasons to go against what would make sense Icly.

[X-D]

Same as my 2 sids, Whatever the rp leads to, accept there is one clan I will not play in, ever. And my faverite clan is closed...sigh.

[creeper386]

I personally well let my character act OOCily to stay out of a clan if my plans in character creation fail in keeping me out of a clan.

But then I also had about three characters getting offers to join a clan that I just ended in. It happens and honestly, it WOULD be IC for my characters to take up the offer but it's much better to go slightly OOC and have them decline it for whatever reason.

Have enough problems not closely interacting with a few of the same peopel when you go from north to south or vice versa let along getting dragged into the same clan.


Creeper

[EvilRoeSlade]

I don't think people should continue to play in the same clan time after time.  The reason is because if you're a powergamer or bad RPer, then you're ruining that clan for me and driving me away for it.  So give somebody else a turn.  There is a certain clan that... meh, never mind.

One more thing.  The Byn is no longer a non-clan.  Joining it just to spar a lot and then leave is no longer the thing to do.

While were at it, people should stop playing the same race. There are plenty out there. When I see the same player repeatedly play the same race it makes me vomit seven times in quick succession. People need to force themselves into diversity and not play things they may enjoy repeatedly.

[Stroker]

People need to force themselves into diversity and not play things they may enjoy repeatedly.

You are a joke to your capitalist, piglet comrades. Why the fuck would you play something you don't enjoy? I don't know what you're playing this game for, but I play it because I ENJOY it. If for a moment I don't like a character, I either store them or find a way to end their lives. Is that ooc? Yes, very much so, but there is no way in communist hell am I playing something I don't like.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

One more thing.  The Byn is no longer a non-clan.  Joining it just to spar a lot and then leave is no longer the thing to do.

Roe is correct. And Jenred better be joking

[creeper386]

I'll say that I'm going to disagree with Jenred. People should plat what they have fun with. If they can't handle a different mindset in terms of different races, I'd rather them not play that race. I on the other hand think people shouldn't play in the same clan over and over again, because thats REALLY not doing much, and your likely to have similar thoughts and relationships over and over again.

Personally I prefer not to play in a clan again if there is still mostly the same characters in it that were there when I last played, and I'll ussually avoid being under the same command as I was before. Like I MIGHT consider going into Militia again even though there are the same templars in control, but I won't get recruited by the same templar.

If a noble goes of to a different area of the clan and there aren't too many of the same people I might go into a clan again. Not TOO soon but if there are still the same people in a clan I'll shy away untill there are different people even if that means a LONG TIME later.

I'm of the personal opinion that playing in the same clan over and over again, is different from playing the same race because you are comfortable playing that race.

[Medena]

While were at it, people should stop playing the same race. There are plenty out there.

I'm curious about this statement.  It may just be because I am newish but it seems to me that within one race there are an infinite number of highly diverse roles. I'm only on my second character (alright third  :wink: ; I don't count my first one which lasted one evening of play).  I don't really feel ready to play anything but a human or maybe a half-elf.  I -will- probably try them all eventually but in the meantime I could see keeping myself challenged and interested for a very, very long time with only human roles, even.

--Medena

[Delirium]

I -will- probably try them all eventually but in the meantime I could see keeping myself challenged and interested for a very, very long time with only human roles, even.

And that's the great thing about Arm.

I try to mix up my races somewhat, but as of yet I have only tackled human and half-elf. I prefer half-elf by far, but instead of playing them over and over again, I try to experiment and push my borders. Maybe it's just me, but I like a good challenge in my roleplay. I figure I'm going half-giant or dwarf next.

As for clans, mixing it up is definitely good. However, if it's unavoidably an IC thing for your character to do to join up, and you enjoyed the clan when you were in it before.. why the hell not? So long as you can keep your past and present characters separate, I see nothing wrong with it. We play to have fun, after all.

[Bestatte]

Hey Jenred..get ready to puke a few dozen times. I've had 7 characters, had karma for a HG and d-elf after my second, and I have no intention of playing anything other than a human in the near or far future.

I don't think I can contribute to the other races well enough to play one, and besides I -like- playing a human in this game. In other games, being an elf was exotic..a dark elf mysterious..hell I even played a chayani in one game, which was a gender-neutral (not neutered, but instead simply no gender at all) creature made out of stone.

But in Arm, even a human can be exotic and myserious. And profoundly interesting. So go on and grab yourself an empty bucket, because this player isn't gonna stop playing a human any time soon.

[EvilRoeSlade]

I -will- probably try them all eventually but in the meantime I could see keeping myself challenged and interested for a very, very long time with only human roles, even.

--Medena

That's cool with me.  I think the main gripe is with people who say that they can never play a dwarf/half-giant/elf and won't even try to.  You never know until you try.

My statement was sarcasm... sorry it came off so serious....

I was making fun of the people that say you shouldn't play a same clan over and over again by comparing it to the common trend of playing the same race over and over again.

Basically if someone has fun playing in the same clan over and over again then its no one's business but their own. If I like to player dwarvish weapon and armorsmiths that ultimately end up working with Salarr that is again, my business. As long as they are not exactly the same, there is nothing wrong with it.

Whats wrong with this entire situation is its based off the knowledge one player has about the characters of another player. You shouldn't worry who plays what and where. You should worry about your own character and have fun with it.

I could almost guarantee this discussion wouldn't be taking place if you DIDN'T know who was playing what PC and in which clan for the whatevereth time.

So yeah, the above statement was sarcasm... anyone who truely thought that way would be a sad individual

[Bestatte]

WELL! My response to you in that case, Jenred, is a resounding, firm, and emphatic:

Oh.

>Bestatte whistles a tuneless ditty and saunters out.

[spawnloser]

Well...the only reason I know who that player X has played characters A, B and C all in a particular clan is that I have seen some of them come and go...being a member of that clan and seeing the person come and go on the clan's GDB.  That is OOC knowledge...but it doesn't affect my RP...it just got me to thinking.  If my initial question came of as me passing judgement on people...I apologize, because that's not what I intended in any way.

[Tlaloc]

As with probably most of the staff, I would have to say that I think that it would be an exceedingly good idea, and highly recomend that when your PC dies, your next PC is not only in a different clan than your last one, but is in an entirelly different geographic location. This cuts down on some of the OOC stuff you might have to deal with, and simply covers all your bases. It also gives you more of a look around the game, exposing you to new things and ideas, and keeps everyone fresh.

I usually try to actually play completely different characters each time, as well. If I played a human mage the last go through, the next PC I play will be a half-giant warrior. After that, I might go for a dwarven pick-pocket, or an elven merchant. I, personally, get mixed results with this, as sometimes a good character concept is just too good to pass up....and I, too, have those certian characters that I like to play more than others, so those rough concepts can get repeated a few times...but I try to make each iteration 180 degrees different from the last one.

[Angela Christine]

I try to make each iteration 180 degrees different from the last one.

Wouldn't it be better to go, like, 167 degrees?  If you go 180 for your second character, and then 180 again, theoretically your third character would be identical to your first character.  

Anyhoo, like others I generally try to mix it up.  I did have one character recruited into the militiary wing of a noble house, die a week or two later and then my next character unexpectedly gets recruited as a personal aide to a noble of the same house (that'll teach me not to make human characters in allanak ).  A bit odd, but since the noble didn't have much to do with the military wing there was less overlap than you might expect.  Just to avoid things looking odd, I dropped a note to the clan imm explaining what happened so he wouldn't think I was trying to reincarnate the dead character or something equally neferious.

To me it also depends how long the character lived.  I don't really consider a character who dies with less than 3 days play time to be "real".  Naturally I don't reuse the concept and stuff exactly, but I don't mind creating 5 Allanaki Rangers in 3 weeks in a vain attempt to see if I could get a hunter to survive in the south, as long as each one is a unique person who just happens to be prone to doing the same foolish things in the same dangerous places as the others.  Characters that die in under 24 hours don't really know anyone, they have met a few people but they aren't important to anyone.  Unless they somehow get wrapped up in an important event, there just isn't much memorable about a character that lives fewer than 24 hours.  It's just a cameo.

But when I get a character to live a few months and have a good web of relationships that dies, then I definately will make my next character very different and usually with a different home city.  

AC

[Anonymous]

I try to make each iteration 180 degrees different from the last one.

 Unless they somehow get wrapped up in an important event, there just isn't much memorable about a character that lives fewer than 24 hours.  It's just a cameo.

AC

You know whats evilly ironic, is when new characters get wrapped up in memorable events, and then die to a gortok/scrab/punkrinther a day later.

Hehe.

[John]

I don't purposefully make a character to join the same clan repeatedly, but if it happens it happens. I actually try to avoid getting hired by the same people, because I find my char's tend to act virtually identical after a little while despite having completely different backgrounds  :roll:

But that isn't because I think there should be some unspoken rule, but because I don't enjoy playing the exact same character repeatedly. I almost always start in Allanak though and don't see anything wrong with that. In fact, if I am hired by Lord FancyPants and Lord Templar Hardknob hates Lord Fancypants, I'm likely to be hired by Lord Templar Hardknob next just to see what it's like on the other side Now THAT is a lot of fun

[zanthalandreams]

I play Kuracageddon for the rich diversity of roles available in the House. . I mean game.   If I play a long-lived, successful northern merchant for one character and die, then I will diversify and play a long-lived successful southern diplomat for the next.  There really is only one reason to play Armageddon, and that reason sells spice to your mother.  


(pause for the Jenred effect of sarcasm-blind people posting responses)




If I knew it wouldn't matter, I would have every single one of my PCs for ever amen in one clan.   Period.   Soon as one died, I'd have another one on the application list ready to slap on the dun and log in.   That isn't good, though, and I have purposefully made characters who couldn't be in my favorite clan just to counteract the temptation.  

I want enough time to pass so that most of the PCs in a former clan have either died or moved on to other characters, nearly all of the specific plots and schemings have been resolved or forgotten, and there isn't anyone left who can connect me the player with that specific character.  

So you like playing the rainbow of affiliations, good for ya.  I'll make my loner buffer characters for transition periods.  I've yet to intentionally kill off a transition character because they inevitably end up leading rather interesting lives of their own, which makes time pass quickly.   Still, my heart is eclipsed.