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07-21-2005, 01:12 PM

If you're playing on a non-Roleplaying MU*, then permadeath makes advancement to the higher levels all the much harder and a more important achievement, and the player knows they can't be #1 forever unless they're smart.

In the roleplaying environment: Is it really such a bad thing if more dedicated, time spending players are given the positions of authority? Or more accurately, is it wrong if they happen to be the ones to have earned the authority since they put the most effort in?

Also keep in mind there are different kinds of authority, namely IC and OOC authority.

IC authority is just that: The ability of a /character/ to project power in the IC world. Most likely this is the noble lord with a ton of land or the faction leader at the highest levels. At lower levels of IC authority you have your small organization leaders, minor noble lords, commoners and eventually your slave class, if you have one. - Some of this class can be 'earned' just on the kind of application/chargen that is done. It can also be earned IC as someone earns promotions or acquires more land and whatnot.

OOC authority, on the other hand, is the ability of the player of a character to be respected in the MU* community. This can also be defined as the trust the player has from other players. One reason this can be a dicey area is that OOC and IC authority does overlap in a lot of places: You'll see players with OOC authority having at least one character with a good deal of IC authority. - OOC and IC authority are bound with each other, it's hard to be able to use IC authority with your character if OOCly you have no respect from the other players.

While IC authority is that earned through RP or how the character is designed (ie, a character meant to fill an application position for a political character would have at least some IC authority immediately after approval), OOC authority is earned through time investment, community involvement and quality roleplaying.

The fact somewhere has the 'high powered' characters with IC authority isn't neccessarily bad. - It can be bad if new characters never have a chance, but unless there are only a finite number of positions and you're near the limit for what players can fill there won't be a problem.

07-21-2005, 01:12 PM	#6
Yev Posts: n/a	If you're playing on a non-Roleplaying MU, then permadeath makes advancement to the higher levels all the much harder and a more important achievement, and the player knows they can't be #1 forever unless they're smart. In the roleplaying environment: Is it really such a bad thing if more dedicated, time spending players are given the positions of authority? Or more accurately, is it wrong if they happen to be the ones to have earned the authority since they put the most effort in? Also keep in mind there are different kinds of authority, namely IC and OOC authority. IC authority is just that: The ability of a /character/ to project power in the IC world. Most likely this is the noble lord with a ton of land or the faction leader at the highest levels. At lower levels of IC authority you have your small organization leaders, minor noble lords, commoners and eventually your slave class, if you have one. - Some of this class can be 'earned' just on the kind of application/chargen that is done. It can also be earned IC as someone earns promotions or acquires more land and whatnot. OOC authority, on the other hand, is the ability of the player of a character to be respected in the MU community. This can also be defined as the trust the player has from other players. One reason this can be a dicey area is that OOC and IC authority does overlap in a lot of places: You'll see players with OOC authority having at least one character with a good deal of IC authority. - OOC and IC authority are bound with each other, it's hard to be able to use IC authority with your character if OOCly you have no respect from the other players. While IC authority is that earned through RP or how the character is designed (ie, a character meant to fill an application position for a political character would have at least some IC authority immediately after approval), OOC authority is earned through time investment, community involvement and quality roleplaying. The fact somewhere has the 'high powered' characters with IC authority isn't neccessarily bad. - It can be bad if new characters never have a chance, but unless there are only a finite number of positions and you're near the limit for what players can fill there won't be a problem.