Shadowlands and Good vs Evil...

[____________Dominata]

Greetings!

This might not be the proper forum for this but I will give it a shot anyway...

I am the leader of a decent sized faction on Rubi-Ka1, The Honored Maidens, that has been around more or less since AO launched.

Currently there is a big concern among our members about the Shadowlands expansion and the possibility of us (Omni-Tek loyals) being visually represented as evil in the Shadowlands realm. FC claims Shadowlands will show each and everyones "true inner self" by making us into good or evil persons depending on which side of the conflict we belong.

If we have no say in how we will look in Shadowlands, if we will indeed be pegged as evil it will be the biggest gamekiller so far in AO's history.
Not one member in our faction RP's as a truly evil person, rather we try to be helpful and nice to anyone approaching us ingame and we strongly resent this incredibly ill thought out design decision. If this is how it will happen there is a strong possibility that it will kill off several factions on Rubi-Ka, I know that I will quit AO if this is indeed the case.
From an RP point of view it is about the worst thing that can happen, since we suddenly have no say in how we are, how we truly are. Even if I do my outmost to be good and kind I will still be evil in Shadowlands, how can anyone be expected to maintain a certain personality on those conditions, be it good or evil???

The conflict between Omni-Tek and the Clans goes beyond good vs evil, it is corporation vs rebels and therefore much more multifaceted. Both sides have done both good and evil deeds during their time on Rubi-Ka, no side is truly good or evil. Making it so is to grossly simplify things, you might as well pull the plug right now if you don't want your playerbase to do it for you, I'm sorry.

I have been in AO since it launched and I really want for it to succed, that is why I make this post in the first place.

If there is any information on this issue I would love to see a response from anyone in FC that can enlighten us as to how this "true inner self" thing will work.

[Ashval]

While I certainly can't say anything definitive on what Shadowlands has in store for us (everything is rather vague), I really didn't get the impression that OT was going to be the expansion's "villian."

Again, just my opinion...but, from everything I've read (the novel, teasers about the expansion, the article from the dev, etc) it seems that this is going to be a "battle for mankind" that might actually draw Clan and OT together against a new foe.

Just thought I'd share my thoughts on the subject.

[Arila]

shadowland is like a mirror world. Everything is turned towards the other. Like, they say that in SLE (Shadowland Expansion) then you are evil if your an OT. which must mean that your are good in the real world then

[____________Dominata]

What they actually say is that Shadowlands will show our "true inner self" somehow. I have no idea how they will be able to do this without examining every single players log going as far back as possible to see how they have behaved ingame...
Matter of fact is that they will never be able to portray my "true inner self" since I am the only one who might be even vaguely familiar with it. It will be a heavy blow to all RP'ers if they will not be able to at least influence this in SL.

Like every "evil" corporation around the world, Omni-Tek has all sorts of people in their employ. I'm know for sure that there are some bad people but I know far more good Omni-Tek people than bad. A guilt by association thing is just stupid...

I'm aware that no one really knows at this point exactly how we will look in the SL expansion so this is very much speculation on my part. However, this is also my single biggest concern since AO launched so it would be nice to get some kind of info on what we can expect regarding this.

Braedon, it wouldn't surprise me either if we have to fight a common foe before long, but up until then I still resent being tagged as evil. Much of what I'm talking about are rumours but it is clearly stated that there is one light and one dark side in this conflict.
FC seems to be making the mistake of basing the conflict on two big entities, Omni-Tek and Clan, instead of basing it around the people actually living on Rubi-Ka. This makes it easier to push the story forward but it will be harder to keep people interest, I'm afraid.

[Ashval]

I understand what you're saying. As a roleplayer myself, I wouldn't want anyone trying to tell me what my character is about. Hopefully that "true inner self" comment was a poor choice of words on the dev's part.

[______________Martov]

While I do share your concern over how we'll look in Shadowlands, (Will I be able to wear my zebra pants in Shadowlands???!?!?!) I think we really shouldn't--and can't--be getting too worked up over an expansion pack that we still don't have a huge ammount of concrete info about.

When the expansion pack comes out, and Funcom screws it up (because we know they will, right?) then start your *****ing motor up.

[____________Dominata]

I'm not too much worked up over it, Martov. This is a concern that I share with many many players, and I see no reason not voicing my concerns before SL is out.
It's not a rant, rather, I see it as a way of getting someone at FC to maybe give a thought about this good vs evil in SL concept is such a good idea before it's too late to do something about it.

If I start my *****ing motor up after SL is already out it won't accomplish anything, will it? I do not assume that FC will screw this up, if I did I wouldn't bother posting here at all. Our only chance to influence anything is to post or e-mail our thoughts and concerns, in this case before it is even out and even if it's only a rumour.

[______________Mysaad]

For SL I see a very simple way to determine the "true inner self". Mission settings. Do you do "good" missions or "bad" missions or inbetween. Most people do full "bad", full "money" missions for the cash. So I suspect come Shadowlands, the whole of Rubi-Ka will be "evil". [smile]

[______________Martov]

Alright, here's my suggestion then:

'Evilness', as in how you get to look 'evil' in shadowlands should not be based on your side, but rather on the actions you take. I think most people agree on that. My idea for determining 'evil' is that each person should have a 'karma' number (can you say "Fallout"?). If you have high karma, you look good, low you look evil. Low karma would be obtained by shooting your own guards or people and doing missions in the 'bad' slider. Good karma would be obtained by, uh... not doing those bad things. Evidently, the idea needs some work. However, evil OT employees should look different than evil Clan members and vice versa.

Naturally, were this system to be implemented, I would go and massacre all guards around Newland for maximum evilness.

Did I mention I love to say *****ing motor?

[_______Nanitehandler]

This expansion is gonna spell the end for AO. Because, eventually most people playing this game(the ones that dont post on or read the forums) are gonna realize once they visit the shadowlands "Hey, if I wanted to bash demons with a big sword, I would be going to PoH or PoF in EQ, wtf am I wasting my time here?!" Im betting the majority of people came here for the mission system and to be able to shoot mutants with big guns instead of bashing demons with big swords like in EQ. And that will leave just us, the people in the forums *****ing at eachother

This GvE **** aint gonna fly, unless ****com actually manages to turn themselves around and get creative, presenting the epic GvE tale in a different way than the traditional Good kills evil, we all live happily ever after thing that everyone has seen/played 1,000,000 times.