((OOC))
I think a lot more neutrals fall into the 'going to become Clan' than realise.
Luxxan - you're absolutely right. I too always saw that as the role of the Clans as everything from what the 'political neutrals' are trying to achieve right through to extremist whackos.
In many ways the problem is in how the game NPCs react. And this is one that definitely cuts both ways:
Earlier I mentioned (and I was IC when I did it) that Omni-Tek can't very well inform the CoT when they need to perform police activity in CoT lands because they get shot on their way to Tir. The same thing is what prevents many Clans from pursuing the 'Pilgrims' route of talking rather than fighting.
I get the feeling that this role of 'level headed mediator and champion of peace' has fallen to the Neutrals precisely because they can walk relatively freely in both Clan and Omni-Tek territory, and both Clan and OT can walk freely in their cities.
I'll make mention of the clamouring on the Bureaucrat threads for diplomatic immunity, but I disagree in part with that (I'm a traitor 'crat!) - diplomatic immunity would be a tool of role-playing, and to limit some of the more entertaining aspects of more social role-play to a single profession just smacks of unnecessary segregation to me.
I always had a vision of bureaucrats waiving papers past guards on their ways to meetings, of traders and fixers exchanging fake IDs to allow people to move around, that kind of thing. There's no amnesty, but even now the only way to 'fake' a side is to get a form, sign on the dotted line, give up your token board and temporarily leave your current clan or org.
And you cannot ever go back to being neutral!
So what's a solution?
Firstly, I think that the Clans and OT need some place they can meet politically. A dingy room in Borealis is hardly the place to meet representatives of the CoT! How about extending the ICC HQ in Andromeda to include some council and meeting rooms and a place for political representatives of the CoT, CoA and OT to be able to meet and talk? To date, all 'talks' between CoT and OT have been between Radiman and Ross - and they meet in a secret, undisclosed location that us players can't get to (or Ross' office, which us players can't get to either).
Secondly, I think that there needs to be some effort in establishing what the CLANS actually stand for. Nevermind the CoT or CoA on their own - what does it actually mean to be Clan?
The one thing us RPers always use as a stick to beat around is the fact that we're constantly accusing the other of breach of the Tir Accord- in most cases because of the actions of the non-RP community. OT in MMD or Clan in 2HO aren't going to go away no matter how many promises more level headed faction members make.
In this case - and on a grander scale - I get the feeling that the 'RP' is suffering at the hands of the ultimate non-roleplayer: the NPC guard. These guys make absolutely no distinction between a peaceful clanner/employee and a warlike one, and recognise no official dignitaries. What is worse is they lurk around near grids and whompas in 75% zones. If they were players, they'd have been banned for explotingWhy Radiman doesn't get shot to heck by the elite guards in Omni-HQ when he visits is because he's 'special'
The only diplomats who can get around this are the neutral ones. Thus using the neutral faction as a basis for the 'pacifist clans' makes sense - it's just another case of players working around the mechanics of the game world.
A suggested cheap fix for this would be to have guards hold fire on any 'wrong faction' member who was in a group whose leader was 'right faction'. This would be open to some minor abuse (non-RPers would be able to sneak their Clan/OT friends into the wrong cities for giggles, but I'm not sure how much impact this would have given there seem to be enough Clan/OT people in the wrong cities anyway) and would allow those groups that want to play political games to be able to send dignitaries to each other without fear of being shot to heck. And yes, if you leave or are kicked out of the group then you're suddenly fair game. It's harsh, but if you really want to go wandering into the lions den you have to trust the lion.
If it were done in much the same way as the existing neutral behaviour (guards don't attack, but everyone else does) that'd work for me
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Please note that this is NOT intended as a FC bash! The fact that the guards behave as they do isn't something I'm going to cast stones at FC about. After all, in order to get the guards to make intelligent decisions on who to shoot is certainly not an easy thing! I'd be willing to bet that the servers couldn't afford the extra processor and database space to write a decent, clever AI for each guard when the simplistic model there is now works 90% of the time.
