Forums » Role Playing

A Study in Role-Playing

Feb 26, 2004 electric27 link
I didn't attack to help redavni miz, I attacked 'cause you wanted to scan my cargo, you Confederate scum! FREE TRADE FOR ALL! DOWN WITH THE OPPRESSIVE CONFEDERATION!!!

(OOC note, while I enjoyed and appreciated that little bit of RPing, I've always felt uncomfortable with Vendetta/EV comparison.)

- The Major out.
Feb 26, 2004 SirCamps link
A Study in Role-playing in Vendetta
By John Crutcher and Ben Gurney

Having been a fan of the Escape Velocity Series (all three incarnations, and the many, many mods out there), I instantly took a liking to the Vendetta Test Project roughly a year and three quarters ago when I read about it on www.MacGamer.com. I downloaded it, and while it was primitive (you picked up powerups for better weapons, and the server reset itself every 15 minutes), it showed a lot of promise as a massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG). Fast-forward until now. Players now have a persistent inventory, there are several gradations of ships, and there are missions that promote teamwork and working together (attacking the NPC frigate and capturing another team’s flag). We have scalable, modular space stations, and unique back-stories for each team.
There have been many debates about the extent to which role-playing should be taken. The current debate in the forum about internal and external regulations is testament to the fact that the community is divided over this. I, combining my love for EV and urge to role-play, created two characters, “Itani Valkyrie,” briefly, and then “Confederate Valkyrie.” Ben used the character “Confederate Gunboat.” Remniscient of the radio messages from EV, I made many binds that were trading tips. “Last I checked, the price of Advanced Life Support Recharge Cells was high in Sector 17” is a good example. Staying true to EV, if someone hailed me, I replied with “Greetings on behalf of the Itani Nation [or] Confederation.” I had an “options menu” where a person could ask for cargo, escort, or a trading tip. Randomly, I’d ask someone to stop for a cargo inspection. If they complied, I’d let them go. If they attempted to run, I’d say that they were either violating “Confederate Law” or had banned substances on board (a la Han Solo) and destroy them. Here I would like to note that their actions influenced what I did. In no way was I griefing. If player killers were my goal, I would have role-played a national fighter bent on attacking and destroying all enemies. It was not my intent to repeatedly attack, “grief,” or “PK” anyone.
The responses Ben and I received were varied. Many at first thought us as bots. Itani pilots marveled, especially newer ones. If we were asked for assistance, we’d travel a couple of sectors with the guy who asked for help. If he was attacked, we defended him. The pilots we protected and offered assistance to appreciated our role-playing. Those that knew of Escape Velocity had a hoot with my trading tips—I’d check on prices before I set off a bind to make sure it was accurate. Those that I cargo-scanned thought it was funny/crazy once they knew I wasn’t going to kill them. Those that ran were destroyed and told to not attempt to evade Confederation cargo scans.
My goal was to add a little spice to the otherwise bland atmosphere in Vendetta. The average confrontation involves a Red Valkyrie attacking a Gold or Blue trader, where the combat lasts the time it takes 15 flares to hit the trader. Ben and I wanted to change this by creating interesting characters, true role-players, and situations enjoyable to all.
Unfortunately, we hit a powder keg—those who refuse to role-play, and apparently they see things in a black and white world. Long story short, our Confederation Valkyrie and Gunboat killed a pilot (“redavni miz”) who refused to stay still for a cargo inspection. [SDF] Spellcast, Major Rager, and other Serco soon attacked us before we could explain our actions. Throw in some Serco bent on PKing (Agy, Wildsnake, Sephrine), and we had an all-out war in sectors seven and nine. Toshiro and Phoenix showed up, and the battle ballooned to about twenty people. What is important is not the battle, but rather, the attitudes involved.
What disappointed me was the inability of some players to adjust to new internal regulations. Granted, players like [SDF] Spellcast replied in a positive verbal way. “You cannot enforce your jurisdiction on Serco traders” was the most intelligent counter I heard. The others, unfortunately, had the attitude of “if it moves, I kill it.” These players totally lacked tact and diplomacy. When [SDF] Spellcast called a ceacefire to discuss our attitudes verbally (as opposed to physically), Toshiro Kanchou, AgY, Wildsnake, and Sephrine continued to attack Ben and I after we stood down. This led to resumption in the hostilities, which ended when Ben and I logged off.
I think, and I hope, this was a misunderstanding. Some players, such as Toshiro, thought we were out there to grief and use role-playing as an excuse ([Thu Feb 26 16:35:14 2004] 00ff00<toshiro kanchou> if you'd roleplay peacefully for once, ok, but you don't. you just want to pk...). Granted, you can roleplay a PKer (as I did originally as Serco Fighter 1 in v3.2), but that was not our intent as Confederation ships. Some players also just joined in on the gang-bang because they saw an opportunity for a kill. Some players totally disconnected with the original incident (Phoenix, AgY, Sephrine, Union Soldier) joined in for no reason.
Perhaps we could have a list of players who declare loyalty to either teams or beliefs. If you declared loyalty to your team, then you stick by (blue, red, gold) regardless of whom your teammates are and their actions. If you declare loyalty to a belief or concept, then you switch teams based on that concept. For instance, if you don’t believe newbies should be killed, you might switch teams to target the offender. This might clarify a lot of confusion.
In closing, Ben and I were testing the waters with the Confederation RPing, but unfortunately, there are not sufficient external regulations for it. I am saddened that pilots I thought better of lowered themselves to a gang-banging session on those that did. What we would ask from the community is a little more tolerance on its part for those that prefer games such as EV, D&D, and BG. I know that Vendetta resembles Unreal Tournament more than it does Escape Velocity or a MMORPG, but perhaps this could be a plea – lighten up! It’s not about who has the most PKs, who has the highest score, or who can take the most enemies on and win. It’s about having fun. It really is too bad to see that so many are against having fun.

Just a note: I'd appreciate it if this thread was not flamed to death. Thanks.
Feb 26, 2004 Forum Moderator link
[moved to role playing]

That will at least spare us those remarks.
Feb 26, 2004 AgY link
I fight for my nation. I will protect anyone who wants help.

Your intention was to inspect the cargo of our traders. You earned some flares (as well as i did). Later in s9 during a fight i called for assistance. It resulted in a punch-up which moved over to s7. I dont listen to the radio signals during battles so i missed the order to hold on. But i took those messages out of my flight recorder.

[Thu Feb 26 22:12:47 2004] ^?00ff00<AgY> ok then here .... serco traders trade everything as long as they want to every station they want
[Thu Feb 26 22:13:01 2004] ^?00ff00<AgY> stop it and the serco dominion will be not hostile
[Thu Feb 26 22:17:18 2004] ^?00ff00<AgY> and again ... the serco dominon does not accept such scans

As stated above .. we dont accept such scans.

btw: yes i corrected some evil typos in the messages :)
Feb 26, 2004 Magus link
I don't really think of telling people to sit still for scans as RPing, per se.
It would actually be quite annoying to be trading along and then finding a valk effectively telling me "hold still for a minute." And, if I was naive enough to actually hold still, I would lose a fair amount of time in waiting for you to spout off some bind. It doesn't really enhance my vendetta playing experience in any way, especially due to the fact that nobody agreed to being "scanned" wherever they went. Whatever happenned to RPing that doesn't disrupt other people's game?

And don't try to blame the Serco for all attacking you. Just yesterday I saw one Confederate craft attack a NT for not "holding still." And when the NT fought back, at least 7 Itani joined in to greif him. So who is facilitating this "if it moves kill it" attitude now?
Feb 26, 2004 Spellcast link
Camps, I would like to reply to your comments out of character first, I'll reply in SDF mode at the end.

You state in your post that you hit a roadblock to roleplay, that you were not intent on griefing, and that the actions of the ships you ordered to stop DETERMINED your response. (also you need to put a blank line between thoughts occasionally, your post is a little hard to read)

Now, I responded in the manner determined by the character I play. You fired on a trader who had taken no HOSTILE actions towards you. (for determining hostile action/intent the SDF IS SUPPOSED to find out if the trader in question fired or acted in a provacative manner) As i was in sector at the time, i saw that redavni miz refused to stop and you destroyed him, and acted accordingly, by coming to his aid. So the roadblock was one of your creation. I do not see things as black and white, or i would have attacked you when we were trying to assist "deranged god" or whatever his name was in sector 13 and you were attacking people for defending themselves.

I have no problem with RP, and I consider it to be in very poor taste for you to attempt to claim that your getting attacked by players from the serco team was ANTI-RP. If your definition of RP is "i blow up the ship that chooses not to do what i want it to do" then you are infringing on the rights of others to play the game in the manner of their choosing.

There is NO SUCH THING as contraband cargo, since all cargo can be sold at all stations. You cannot scan the cargo on a ship in any event, since that is not part of the game at this time, making your posts seem like random rambling of a loony. In addition your "stop and be inspected" posts were non target specific, and looked very much like the "drop your cargo or be destroyed" variety at a quick glance, which might be all that a trader got to see of them if there was a lot of nation chat rolling past in the chatlog. I had to scroll back up to read one of them in order to determine exactly what you were saying. not everyone uses multilog.

You also adopted a HOSTILE attitude towards me when i was trading from sector 7 to 11 and you were escorting some noob (kudos btw, need to do more of that) telling me to keep my distance when i hadn't even been close to you, and could have cared less if you were even in the sector at the time.

Anytime you choose to open fire on a player solely because they do not do what you want them to do will be considered by many people as griefing, or at least hostile behavior. Also, you were claiming that confederated space was all of the vendetta sectors, had you chosen 1, or maybe 2 sectors and posted a warning to the effect of "any vessel passing through sector blah may be searched for contraband cargo by confederated forces. Failure to stop for inspection will be result in the assumption that you have said cargo and you will be destroyed" either in the main chat every few minutes, or as a /sector msg whenever a new craft entered the sector, at least people would have had some idea what was going on. As it was, many people assumed you were just another of the many pirates that infest vendetta these days.

now for the incharacter reply. :)

The SDF does not, and will not at this time recognize the right of confederated craft to stop, scan or in any way interfere with serconian trade ships. We do not acknowledge your confederation nor do we accept your attempt to impose outside regulation on our merchants in the form of your classification of what is and is not legal cargo for trade. We do not acknowledge any space as confederated and if you fire on a serco craft for any reason except that he fired on you first (or otherwise significantly provoked you) you will be considered a pirate and/or an outlaw.

If at some time in the future the Serco Government acknowledges you as a legitamate organization and comes to an agreement with your confederation regarding acceptable procedures and restrictions for scanning serconian ships, agrees to and PUBLISHES a list of contraband cargo, and acknowledges a portion of the universe as Confederated Space, we will at that time alter our policy accordingly.

Thank you
Spellcast
SDF Admiral
Feb 26, 2004 Pyroman_Ace link
As the CO of the SDF. It is outside of YOUR jurisdiction to enforce your policies on Serconian Traders. The SDF will work with you if you maintain this stance of peacefulness.

However, I must say that the SDF cannot and will not tolerate acts of agressiveness on Serco Traders or SDF pilots, period.

The SDF will enforce it's policies and will attempt Diplomacy with Confederate craft but as of now, Confederate craft should not attempt to enforce policies on Serco Trade Craft. If they do and the trader refuses to submit, and the Confederate craft fires, the SDF will be forced to view this as a direct threat to our soverignty and will respond appropriately (may that be diplomatic or militarily).

As Spellcast said, if at some point, the Serco Dominion Government officially recognizes you then we may alter our policies regarding such scans and allow them to take place. But should such a day come, ALL SDF members will be exempted from the scans.

We hope we can work together to bring moer peacefulness to trade but will not laydown our weapons for it.

[SDF] Black 1
CO, SDF
Feb 26, 2004 Pyroman_Ace link
I would also like to commend Spellcast for his diplomatic stance and then militaristic stance. If only the SDF had more people like him....
Feb 27, 2004 UncleDave link
NO! DIPLOMACY IS FOR THE WEAK! KILL THEM ALL!
Feb 27, 2004 toshiro link
ooc: i understand your desire for more rpg-ishness in the Vendetta Test, SirCamps. However, if you RP, expect others to RP as well. At the beginning, i did that (being the highest-ranking officer of the Serco Navy, i have to fight you). I admit, i missed out on the ceasefire agreement. my bad. but you kept on fighting, too. It's not like you didn't respond in quite the same manner as we did, in my opinion. :ooc

ic: as highest-ranking and therefore commanding officer of the Serco Navy, i hereby declare hostility to all Confederation vessels that are reported to me. whenever i see one, i will take action (what action that is will have to be determined on site. this stance had to be taken because i have reason to believe that the Confederation's goals are to wield supreme power in the known universe and to suppress all opposition by all means whilst doing so, which is not tolerable. :ic

ooc: if you play by the standards of the EV series, you have to face the consequence of being judged by the standards of the EV series. there's a reason why i sympathize with the rebels. :ooc
Feb 27, 2004 UncleDave link
Toshiro has finally shown that the weakness of compassion he holds does not hamper his military decision-making, for that he should be applauded.
Feb 27, 2004 Magus link
You Serco should aspire to be like Toshiro.

He's the most Neutral Serco of them all.
Feb 27, 2004 SirCamps link
OK, the most coherent argument I have heard is this: You want people to cooperate with your role-playing, and you'll kill them if they don't. May I also level this charge at every other person playing this game. If I don't abide by some sort of internal regulation of yours, you'll try to kill me. If I don't play by SDF rules, I'll get the SDF attacking me. If I don't play by INM or SM rules, I'll have the SM after me. I would caution you all to think before charging me with this.

--
i have reason to believe that the Confederation's goals are to wield supreme power in the known universe and to suppress all opposition by all means whilst doing so, which is not tolerable
--

Those reasons would be unfounded.
Feb 27, 2004 toshiro link
then you are out of character. what other goals could the confederacy have?
Feb 27, 2004 zamzx zik link
ooc: tosh, me to. ooc





I will help the feds and froum a allyince as my superers see fit.



[SDF] Dis
Feb 27, 2004 Spellcast link
<<OK, the most coherent argument I have heard is this: You want people to cooperate with your role-playing, and you'll kill them if they don't. May I also level this charge at every other person playing this game. If I don't abide by some sort of internal regulation of yours, you'll try to kill me. If I don't play by SDF rules, I'll get the SDF attacking me. If I don't play by INM or SM rules, I'll have the SM after me. I would caution you all to think before charging me with this.>>

Camps you seem to have totally missed the point, so I'll post a quick summary.

YOU WERE NOT ATTACKED FOR ROLEPLAYING!!!! you were attacked for killing another player who was peacefully trying to trade. then you whined about how no-one wants to roleplay.

As far as your charge of people being killed for not doing what the SDF wants them to, thats great, and more or less true.
HOWEVER, our version of "not doing what we want them to" includes the person we attack INITIATING THE HOSTILITIES, either by firing on us or on a trader under our protection.
Your version involved them ignoring your post, which if they had multilog up they might not even see, and then blowing them up because of it.

/edit Post edited some, I dont particulary think it was overly rude but if you need it edited more please let me know/
Feb 27, 2004 Forum Moderator link
Please cool it down in here. There's no need for rudeness.
Feb 27, 2004 Magus link
"Your version involved them ignoring your post, which if they had multilog up they might not even see, and then blowing them up because of it."
-I would also like some justification for someone coming up to me and demanding to look through my cargo. They have no right.

Celkan role-plays and nobody kills him because of it. It's because he doesn't bring and unneeded and unwanted disruption to the rest of us with pointless "cargo scans." Nobody gets mad at me when I log on as Sir Frog, a character who pretty much just patrols around and protects whoever needs protecting. Even though Sir Frog is a Knight errant and devoted to protecting traders, If Sir Frog sees a piracy in progress and engages, he does not whine if he is killed. Evhun Cerundir RPs a pirate, but if he is attacked he does not complain that it was "anti-RP."


To rephrase what Spellcast said, you were not attacked for roleplaying, you were attacked for extending your authority (namely, demanding us to submit to cargo scans) over people who neither wanted, nor needed it.
If you kill a Serco (or an Neutral for that matter), or if you try to annoy people, expect to be attacked.
It seems to me that you want some sort of special treatment. Do you think you deserve some sort of extra license to fly around inspecting people's cargo without their permission because you call it "role-playing?" By that logic, I could fly around S9 laying mines all over the station and just because I call myself the S9 Security Bot I should get the right to say anyone who attacks me for mining is "anti-role playing" because my role is to mine the station.
Feb 27, 2004 Durgia link
ooc

When you RP anything you will get a RP response. You RP a person that inspects cargo, they RP people who kill anybody that attacks peaceful traders. You are both RPing and are still going to fight.

Just because you are attacked, or people respond to you attacking does not mean its not RP.

/ooc

ic

The INM has no official stance on the Confederation. We have worked together in the past to stop pilots from pirating, however we will not interfer on retaliation attacks by other nations for the destruction of property. If however we feel the attacks are unwarrented we reserve the right to interfer.

/ic
Feb 28, 2004 harvestmouse link
heh, I have held still for a cargo inspection before (and so I wasn't blown away). I think it would be a good idea if the Confeds stated that they were nonhostile to traders before demanding someone to hold still. Itani traders have little to worry about from the Confeds, but other nation's trading ships usually are slow and can't afford to have a fighter ship close within firing range.

*by the way, my loyalty is to the nation. If I see (hypothetical situation) A.K.A. lost in a large swarm of itanis, it'd be against my loyalty to not make a stand for Serco, even if I personally didn't like A.K.A. that much. Just an example