I'm out

[*Nerull]

Wait, Fated dont actually take gold for taxes? Lol.  :blink:

You have merchants who are millionaires, take gold from them.  :lol:

They made a thread about Takers being evil for taxing 100 gold. Take a guess how well it will go :P

Carebears :P

[*Brindas]

And the factions that can't actively recruit? The Dustmen, Bleakers, (Maybe) Indeps of the world? They're to wallow until enough people simultaneously decide to be a part of that faction so as to demand attention?

Maybe I'm approaching this the wrong way and the Factional setup and philosophies of about two thirds of them are entirely unsuitable/unsustainable in a persistent world RP environment whose primary means of world interaction is 'kill things for profit' and maybe I'm venting on whatever else I can find tangentially related to that. I don't know. That doesn't discount the rest of my grievances at any rate.

As for THAT aspect what can you do? You're right. A dustman isn't fun to most people. So they don't play them.

A Xaositect is fun for a week then you want to play something more serious. So most Xaos are alts that get played for a bit then shelved for a while.

There's nothing you can do about that, people play what they find fun.

I found the other side of the argument (Harmonium being toothless, people doing what they want with no consequence) much more valid.

[*Mick64]

Funny enough, I actually tried very aggressively (For an Indep) recruit into the Indeps with Deidra back when I first made her, and never got a hook, even with characters who already exemplary Indeps in everything but name.

And I'm not sure what people mean about Sensate being the most popular faction is a new thing, because I've been on and off the server for over two years now and every time there where Sensates. Sure, not always as outwardly showing as Trissa and co, but if you asked around what faction people where in? I always found a reasonable number of Sensates. Not that this is a surprise, since it's an easy faction for light, happy-fun-times characters. Nyriane is right in a way, you see a lot of Sensates, but despite this I haven't ever had any of the dozens I've crossed actually explain their philosophy to any of my PCs. Their philosophical baggage is easy to ignore, not so much so for many other factions.

I think that's just something we have to work with though. It's unfortunate, by I for one prefer it to the alternative, which is Sigil becoming just like any other RP server. I actually like the "unfocused identity" of being somewhere between a social/action/RP server. For me it's what makes Sigil so unique, just as much as it's setting. It's the reason I keep coming back here. When I'm tired of drama, tired of the RP police, tired of having to grind for days just to get to level 10 and knowing I'll never, ever be as strong as the old guard, I come back here, knowing I can make a cool new exciting PC in the morning, run around the planes smacking monsters in the face for cool loot and reaching level 10 before lunch time, hang in the bazaar and have some enjoyable RP in the evening and retire to the inn for either some more light-hearted RP or sexy fun times after dinner.



On a more light-hearted note :

High rank Signers? They sit in think tanks and think. All day. Think events into creation. Exciting stuff for PW RP, that. Gather enough and they could god mod all day! The end goal of a good Signer is to.. Not have to.. Do anything. Ever.

So you're saying that we actually have tons of Signers, only thing is they log in using the DM client? :P

[*Krayt]

Wasn't it your character I RPed with yesterday? Lira La Croy?

Mauric had a request coming for her as a factioneer. Don't think you should quit. Not for those reasons that were stated. Just saying. Everyone get frustrated at times.

Ain't the best EM but I am trying to do some faction focused event series for the lesser popular factions. The Athar is next. Could do a longer Signers series after that if you'd like.

[*Hydra]

Wait, Fated dont actually take gold for taxes? Lol.  :blink:

You have merchants who are millionaires, take gold from them.  :lol:

They made a thread about Takers being evil for taxing 100 gold. Take a guess how well it will go :P

Carebears :P

Carebears yes. Sigil is supposed to be a very dangerous city for the clueless, but honestly the cage looks more like a nice donut, you can play whatever you want without having even a faint chance to be disturbed or bullied by anything or face any consequences and that's quite immersion breaking at times.

[*Niryain]

It's an easy faction. It demands little. 'Do things' and 'write creatively on the forums every now and then'. It's not a faction you need to build or define your character over. A Dustman is defined by being a Dustman. You are going to not like Life. You are going to not like passion. There are more ways to make a Sensate work I'll admit, and the faction can demand VERY little of your character's attention or personality and you can still be an exemplary member of it. That likely accounts for a lot of it. It's a faction that doesn't take a lot of philosophy. Doesn't take a lot of thought. Doesn't take a tailored character concept.

I would argue even then that it's more than a 'handful'. I can count five, six, seven active ones. Maybe more. Compare that to other factions. Our active Xao is semi-active and an alt. I was the only Signer in my timezone that I knew of. We have no militantly active Athar mains, or any Athar in general I think. Harmonium burn out now and then because of, again, toothlessness. I actually discount Anarchs from this. I'm fine with not knowing how many of them there are/what they might or might not be up to. That's kind of the whole point of the faction.

I don't think the answer of 'beg for events', which is what's essentially been offered here, is the answer. Other factions have to do no such thing. One or two member factions would essentially be begging for private events. Especially factions like the Signers. Our entire thing is 'self centered, all about us'. I should not have to do something to have fun that members of a select few factions do not have to do. That is unfair and through unfairness one breeds bitterness and, well. This.

[*MimiFearthegn]

Other factions have to do no such thing. One or two member factions would essentially be begging for private events.

This is completely and totally false.

I get that its quite upsetting to be the only person in a faction - my character was too last year. Its not that fun to have the burden of doing faction things almost entirely on your shoulders. But here's the facts about the "popular" factions:

There were 2-3 Sensates until a few months ago (and one of them was my character, and I was gone a lot). What changed? Trissa went on a massive recruiting spree with Trissa, Quinn threw a party, and Taurus Daggerknight made a new Festhall. That's 100% player action there.

Look at the Sensate forums. Best I can tell, there were no DM-started events for Sensates for years. In fairness, there were also no Sensates who would necessarily answer (same as with the Signers right now). Only in the past few weeks have DM's / EM's volunteered to do anything. Before then, if a DM posted, its probably because a player begged for attention - or at least made an IC forum post.

Doomguard only rose to prominence in the last year. Mercykillers have had prominence on and off for about a year. While both factions do get things run for them, they also make the majority of their own fun. How did they rise to prominence? Largely around the personalities of the PCs who currently are most highly ranked.

So yeah, they did all start from player-to-player interaction. Yes, it was tough for someone in every faction at some point. But if you really want to know why X faction isn't super populated - look to the reasons why you don't want to be the lone Signer. Its not fair to blame the community for not doing something you're not willing to do either.

[*Devil's Elysium]

See you around, hopefully. Don't do anything I wouldn't do.

[*Miraie]

What I want to promote here is cooperation. It is quite impossible for us to keep track of everyone, whereas everyone should have a fair chance of keeping track of the public EM listing and the active staff. I am not suggesting that you send every EM PMs saying 'events please'. That would not be terribly productive (and it would, indeed, be begging). Rather, I would like you to have a concrete idea about the kind of event you would like to play and whom it would affect. If an EM is responsible for carrying the event through and working on the fine details, you (as the player) are responsible for initiating the event and participating in it in a way that makes the experience fun for everyone involved.

While both DMs and EMs work on their own event ideas, which can be at times spontaneous, I would not suggest relying on that as a source of fun. In persistent worlds, fun is made in interaction with your fellow players. Event Masters are a good resource for making the world come alive, however. You do not have to imagine or do everything yourself. Similarly, it is fine to have some small scale events (focusing on 2-4 players). Those experiences are usually the most focused, structured and the most resembling of an actual pen and paper session. You do not need to engage an entire server with your event idea, but you need to sell it to the EM (this is fun, this is worth your time) and hopefully yourself (for the same reasons).

[*Niryain]

And the factions that can't actively recruit? The Dustmen, Bleakers, (Maybe) Indeps of the world? They're to wallow until enough people simultaneously decide to be a part of that faction so as to demand attention?

Maybe I'm approaching this the wrong way and the Factional setup and philosophies of about two thirds of them are entirely unsuitable/unsustainable in a persistent world RP environment whose primary means of world interaction is 'kill things for profit' and maybe I'm venting on whatever else I can find tangentially related to that. I don't know. That doesn't discount the rest of my grievances at any rate.