Introducing General Lutz,
Hail! Members of the Xsyon community.
I have recently become a member of this community and before I joined I spent some time feeling out the community through these forums and external media. One of the things I’ve noticed is an ongoing discussion on Unrestricted PVP. I would like to share my opinion on the subject.
I would first like to say i have had the great pleasure of running very successful RP guilds in: UO, SWG, and WOW.
UO by far my favorite experience (probably because it was my first) is where I will begin.
The Player town of Whispering Winds A short ride down the main road from the Skara Brea Docks was a vibrant little town full of expert craftsman and home to the Ankh of Unity (Guild). The local Militia defending the town was A branch of the Ankh known as the Ankh Legion. Whispering Winds was a member of the High Council and the Ankh Legion being a part of Whispering Winds was able to be used as a pawn of the High council as was the case with other City Militias. As a good aligned organization the High Council would have delegates from each client town as well as a military Liaison who would be elected to serve as Commander of the allied forces should there be need for military action. High council positions such as Moderator and Minutes keepers were needed to keep the meetings running. All positions would be elected after a set term.
This setup worked very well for a number of reasons.
First I’d like to address those who may say “who wants to sit in a virtual meeting after sitting through meetings at work all day” This is a common sentiment from many players. The answer truly will be those who are deeply invested into their organization will usually be in positions of power anyway. These are normally hardcore gamers who have spent a large amount of time fleshing out their guild and their town. The time these players put in to organize is reaped 100 fold when it comes to their casual gamer compatriots.
How does this relate to Xsyon Open PVP? Player organizations are the content that will drive this game. It’s what drove UO for the RP community and it was a success. There is lots of talk about safety and Worry about being hunted by Greifers and PK’s and such. I can tell you that these were always present issues with UO and we dealt with them through our governing body.
Let’s say that PKer “Pappy” has been harassing the player town of Lonestar. Pappy has been known to be a brigand and has been labeled as such by the mayor of Lonestar. The inhabitants of Lonestar are urged to kill or capture Pappy on site. Lonestar belongs to a Council of city’s each with their own militia perhaps. Lonestar’s mayor moves to name Pappy a brigand and asks that he henceforth be KOS’ed by any of the allied towns. Any town found to be harboring or aiding this man shall be dealt with.
If Pappy is not a lone actor in this behavior his guild could be contacted and warned of his indiscretions and depending on the response from the given guild a proposition could be drawn up to consider his entire guild an enemy.
This would often result in situations where organized military actions could be taken by the council. Lonestar would no longer be a single town against this hostile threat but now an organization with plenty of backup.
In practice this sort of thing happened when an evil aligned guild took the city of Trinsic. The High council was notified and called up the army of the realm. Each city showed up with their respective leaders all dressed in their regional uniforms meeting the standards and colors of their city’s. The Grand Marshall of the high council would give the overall direction of the battle with each city moving as an independent unit with an assigned goal.
Each city boasted a barracks where shared items could be distributed. Because of durability system and non binding weapons and armor a man could enter the barracks nude and exit fully supplied and primed for battle.
This was one of the most important factors in the game. I had so many casual members who told me flat out “I don’t want to engage in all the behind the scenes talk. Let me know a brief backstory of the conflict and point me in the right direction”. This player could then login at the appointed time an event was scheduled meet up to be briefed and then march off to battle with minimal time commitment.
As we all know the position of guild leader is often thankless but the content the guild leader can create what makes these sandbox games.
Some of the most hardcore PK’ers could be dealt with in this fashion. I was often called out and asked to face them in 1-1 combat. Knowing they had superior skills and sometimes items I would often decline saying simply. “You may have the advantage 1-1, But I have an army!” Remember the Greifers are often reprobates anyway who don’t have the ability to organized based on their chaotic play style.
This is great fun for all and I hope this community embraces organizations and organized PVP even against unorganized unorthodox opponents. As soon as I get my feet wet a bit I’ll be looking to get into the swing of things in this realm.
