Its a war we are neutral to.
First of all, most of you people take the aspect of the word "NEUTRAL" to encompass every little, tiny, miniscule, insignificant detail as if that should suggest a neutrals true intentions. First of all I believe FC ment neutral was for the war. NOTHING ELSE! So, lets get this right, Neutrals who stay out of the war, ended having to live in Newland and Borealis, most likely forced there...Well that could explain our lack of resources. But certainly that doesn't mean from the ashes of our displacement we cannot become wealthy, powerful people once again.
As for killing clanners or omni, why would that make us more sided? Killing isn't nessacarily motivated by being sided, neutrals can tell you that. We get massacred continously. If clanners and omni really cared if they were out to kill the other side, then they would take the time to make sure it was the enemy. Which brings me to a very important note....Why is the sided map add-on the hardest thing to use! It sould take only 5 points to use so that those haters can distinquish each other and not kill hapless people milling around. By making the sided add-on so hard to use, its almost as if you encourage the Haters to massacre as if that was the only solution.
Sure, now you look at us and say well golly gee maybe they don't want to follow along with the war and want to win. You know what? Maybe they think this war is a stupid idea to make them fight and they might want a better roleplaying system in which to express their time. Thats right, maybe forcing people to choose a side is a completely moronic and close-minded way of running a gaming world. Why offer them beef then give them stale toast with not even butter lathered on it. So now you want to kick us in the head and say it was an asprin covered boot. If your going to change the whompas around, insist on making both sides have whompas to neutral places. Stop treating us as if we are left-overs from one faction or another. And add a freaking grid to Borealis dammit!
[this next paragraph is not condoned by the author, but neither is it not, he will stay neutral to this idea]
"And one more thing. I do want to win...I want to crush Omni-tek for their take everything attitude, and destroy the clanners for thier lack of a good work ethic. I don't believe either side should be in control of anything. So I plan on helping them weaken each other until a more powerful and right minded influence enters which can better govern in Rubi-Ka. If the Clanners and Omni-Tek could have shown better respect for those whose ideals did not differ, but neither agreed, then I wouldn't feel this way. You don't fight a war to kill, you fight a war to stop killing. Freakily that is the truth behind it."
I don't truely believe that last paragraph, but if FC wants to make it seem like neutrals want to win, thats a good example of what the role-playing could be like.
The dream of being neutral again
When i started my character it was neutral and was neutral for a few lvls. I then decided i wanted to see what it was like playing for the clans so i switched to clan only to find that it did not fit with my idea of who this character was:(. Im now stuck as a neutral in a Clanners body and wanting to break free.
I hope that Funcom will allows us who wish to turn neutral again the chance to do so..
I feel that the neutrals should be allowed to form clans. But should not be able to initate clan wars not at all.
One thing i hope happens is that if people are allowed to turn neutral enough will do so forcing the existing OT and Clan.. Clans:p to rethink they way these clans are run i see little or no difference between the two sides.
Except the Omni seem like a rigid bureucratic machine hampered by mindless red tape.
And the Clans seem more or less paralysed by political infighting and weak leadership.
Neither side inspires trust or loyalty.
Neutrals are not a third side!
While I like most of what this article says, I don’t think you have quite understood what we want (perhaps we don’t know, we’re neutral). The problem is with one sound bite from the article:
Quote:
a third party with the intention to "win"
I don’t believe that creating a third faction that could defeat the Omni and/or Clans is the goal of most neutrals. This could be what some want, but it is definitely not my purpose, nor those I have spoken to. I believe this is contrary to the concept of being neutral. As you will see below, there are many other roles that an active neutral element can follow.
In the back story, the clans fight amongst themselves. Some clans align while others don’t get along at all. Creating a neutral faction “with the intention to ‘win’” would really be just another clan that hates all the other clans and the omni as well.
That being said…
OK, lets face it. The base attributes assigned to the characters we build and play in this game are based on stereotypes. Perhaps "distillates" or "common denominators" are more PC terms, but they have to be this way so that we will recognize and accept them quickly and at face value. This effects not only the original qualities of our characters and the price of various IP, but also the nanos that are provided to professions, weapons we can build buy & use, and possibly even token rewards (how would I know…I’m neutral).
To supply feedback to Gaute’s final paragraph, I have tried to focus on what the neutral stereotypes are. I seem to have found three different characterization of neutrals: The Independent, The Helper and The Spy.
The Independent: the blockade running, item smuggling, self interested egomaniac role (Han Solo at the beginning of A New Hope). This type of neutral would put on an Omni ring (already in game) in order to shop in Omni stores then put on a clan ring to look like a clan and sell the stuff at a profit to clan stores. He might team for cash with low levels letting them get XP in mission against the opposing side. This would require someway to designate that the high player not get XP instead of the low character (this might also be too exploitable).
The Helper: on earth this is the Red Cross or Peace Corps worker. These folks are into helping, aiding, teaching and healing. Perhaps just spending contiguous time in places like Tir, Rome or Newland where the higher level player is constantly bombarded by noobie questions (which I don’t mind at all) should entitle the higher level to a reward. Maybe players could signup for duty in towns like the City of Home where they could heal those who have just escaped missions with some special nano that can only be use during healing duty time and then they get a reward every 100 heals. Maybe they could be the bartenders are scheduled events and get rewards for the service.
The neutral Spy is not so much the agent, but the double agent. This character would be sought out for teams because a mission requires the team to enter hostile enemy territory. He could be used to retrieve items from where only true neutrals go (or behind a locked door that only an opposite sider or neutral disguised as that side could unlock). He could don his Omni ring and spy on Omni meetings appearing to be Omni then report back to Clanners wearing his clan ring and then take back what he heard at that meeting to the Omni again (if this was something that ever needed to be done).
Gaute is right, negotiation and diplomacy are important here, but so are deception and greed, healing and tutoring, sneaking and lockpicking.
I am NOT saying that every neutral fits into one of these categories. Actually, I’m sure they don’t (I’m neutral in part due to my hippy-dippy-peace-love-dove-dope heritage). They are all different mixes of these things and others. These are just the easiest ones to define game changes for.
Another way to look at this is not what you can give to neutrals, but the Omnis and clans can do to get their allegiance (at least for short periods) as part of the story line. With Omni and Clan both having about 47% on RK1 right now, the 6% of the neutrals can really turn the tide. At 51% Clan to 42% Omni on RK2, the Omnis really need the neutrals help! Perhaps one side or the other could open up shops to neutrals or insurance and mission machines. Maybe some sided special events could be arranged to rush neutral for future assistance.
I know I have not suggested anything that is really helpful here, but, I did want to suggest a direction other than the neutrals-become-third-side thing. That doesn’t sound like much fun at all!
The part that sickens me...
The part that sickens me is all the neutrals on this board screaming, don't let anyone else be neut unless that start that way. No applications, blah blah blah.. You why some folks didn't choose neutral? Because the game mechanics made it a negative. Perhaps many omni and clans are directly sympathetic to the neut cause, but simply chose incorrectly at the outset not knowing what the world held for them.. Perhaps..
I would rather see the elitist attitude dropped and a bit more of a welcoming to those that may see this as their oppertunity to choose the side they may have always wanted, but didn't have the knowledge in their char's infancy..
The oppertunity must be there for the switch. Period. Give the neuts that were neuts so long ago some tag on their name to make them feel better, I don't care, but stop this we can and you can't crud, ok?
The more I think of it ...
The more I think of it, if FunCom could figure out a way for the Neutrals to 'win' the conflict (perhaps 'rehabilitating' Omni-Tek regarding their ruthless corporate practices and thereby appeasing the clanners) the easier they would have it in ending the first 4-yr story arc. They'd piss off 92% of their playerbase equally rather than having 46% happy and 46% stop paying for and playing the game.
They could then set off on a better planned second story arc where we wouldn't have to worry about 'Little Johnny' cancelling his account because his side 'lost'. I can't wait for the mass defections to ensue once FunCom decides to let the shoe drop and let the players know which side is going to 'win'. If it's the Neutrals, hehe, at least they won't be having everyone defecting to their side. You can't. =)
In a perfect world all the players of AO could sit back and enjoy a good plot unfolding around them regardless of the end result. After all it's the journey that matters in a story. Not necessarily what happens on the last page. However, I think FunCom did not take into consideration the average U.S. male 13-21 who will not accept 'losing' at any cost and in fact has been bred so as not to understand the concept of 'losing' or how to handle it.
In short. Sure, if you can let us 'win' without sacrificing our integrity and individuality for the sake of the game and the story, I'll deal with it.
Re: some misguided neutral improvement suggestions
Quote:
Originally posted by burrowowl
Application Forms:
Please don't do this. There are far too many opportunists swapping back and forth between Omni and Clan to get to advantageous hunting grounds as it is, without folks being able to switch to Neutral.
The lack of application forms gives characters such as Fractaloon, Nyadach, Trevelar, and other high level Neuts a form of bragging right that OT and Clan characters can only dream of. Every neut that runs into a mid-high level fellow neut knows they are dealing with a serious player that is willing to make decisions and stick to his guns. I presently run three neut characters, from lvl 21-46, of three varying professions, and I'm proud to have deleted my Low Level Application forms. Someday when my MA is lvl 150, I hope to have the kind of respect afforded to my Neut elders. Please don't water this down.
There are no application solely because neutrality was not an intended role, at the beginning there weren't even superior shop terminals. From a role playing standpoint it made sense, as it was assumed players would pick a side. Now people want to change the definition of neutral to "an alternate side" with a political position rather than "no side at all / undecided". This is fine (though I disagree), but from a role playing standpoint there must be application forms. What kind of faction would not be actively recruiting new members? Can't players change their mind? If someone can reject Omni (by turning Clan) and reject Clan (by turning Omni) then it stands to reason a player can reject both and choose the "third" side.
Someone else suggested the creation of a fourth alignment which essentially equated to "none". This is a good idea - it should represent the state of not being in any alignment (the intended role neutrality). Go Clan, get a token board. Go Omni, get a merit board. Go neutral, get a membership card. Delete your board or card and you get back to none. There should be rather severe penalties for leaving a faction, e.g. if you start neutral, then join clan, you can't go back to neutral for quite a while (months).
--Xente
umm... ithink theres a problem
Once u start implementing territory capture it will be hard for the nuets to survive. Their capital is in the middle of clan territory, and no real movement for low lv nuets to return to nuetral territory. that's my only problem with it. other than that it's a great idea.