the sad truth (ooc)

[_____________Rubikat]

despite the many terrible flaws that AO has it still is probably the best online rpg your gonna find right now.(sad but true) I like a lot about this game, but my biggest complaint(i could write a book about what funcom does wrong) is the fact that there is simply nothing the game offers but leveling and limited social interaction. it allows for no creative possiblities on the players part. sure, alot of users try their best to role play but people are getting so bored that they have started to attack their own npcs. geez, if pvp was more practical between omni and clan that might not happen. despite the name "Anarchy Online" the extremely closed-ended dynamic of the game make "legitimate" criminal activies or even player run events extemely difficult to organize. what little crime element that is created (again, mostly bored players causing civil disturbances) cannot even be punished on a practical level because the game just doesnt allow for those kinds of key factors found in any real society. wether its an event or unlawfull citizens causing trouble, unless gms directly intervene it is rare for anything to happen at all.(and iv found gm support to be either one-sided or unfair in the way it handles many of the issues brought forth.) the big thing for a game like this is to let people immerse themselves in a "virtual world". i find this very hard if not next to impossible with the current set up.sure, the package is real pretty, but players should be able to do more than just level and socialize. this game does almost nothing to recreate a real functioning society where the peoples actions and opinions have an impact on the game. so far the only people doing anything thats effected the gms and higher ups are those same ones causing the civil disobediance. and are the gms and funcom happy that these people are doing SOMETHING to liven up the game? no, they get threatened to be removed. If funcom allowed for things like "real consequences, repercussions and real authority" i doubt these problems would arise.i dont think funcom ever needed to worry about its pointless story arc(which was one of the main selling points over other mmorpgs)the story would have been created by the very players if they just had the freedom to do more. proffesions should be more than just variations of ways to hunt, or limit who has access to buffs. people should be able to improve their character by doing what their profession entails. also and again, if they just made combat between clan and omni more accessable(not the dinky little strips of 0% suppresion field in the middle of nowhere) , it would solve a lot of problems. at least then there would be an apparent "conflict" that people could partake in. as it is AO does not offer enough immersion that unless it makes some major changes in the games design, the next mmorpg that offers these types of role playing aspects in as pretty of a package will definetly steal away most of Rubi-Kas citizens

[Bionitrous]

It's true that you can't even be a miscreant in AO. If you wanted to play a drunk homeless person in the sewers of Omni-E, you can't even do that. If you are Omni, you can't attack a guard or passerby. If you are Neutral (most likely situation for a homeless drunk) you can't do squat. If you are Clan (doesn't make sense in the RP scheme of things), you get auto attacked by the guards.

I think the original designer of UO is working on a pretty major online game due for release within the year.

As I recall, you have a lot of the freedom to Roleplay that the original UO had with a bit more restriction

I think if you kill somebody they can 'blacklist' you which gives some pretty stiff penalties. You can be 'forgiven' by them if make nice (good for RP groups) or you can be forgiven by a particular town which grants you freedom from persecution in that town only.

Think of a 'Den of Thieves'.

If you look out there you may find it. I think it has a kind of space fantasy setting or something.