Here's a specific balance issue I could see for the Brotherhood:
Talya and Leesa are chatting away somewhere very private and on the south side. As a joke, I decide to test out the "Steal" command. Talya stealing from Leesa is not a big deal. I'd never really used it before this. So i see my chance, and I steal a red rose from her successfully.
I get a notice that the Reeves and Order have been notified that something interesting took place in the room. Calindra immediately sends me a tell saying, "Are you tying up Leesa or something?"
How the hell would the Reeves know this? That notification gives them OOC info they'd have NO way of knowing. It's silly...it puts an ACTUAL thief at an artificial disadvantage that they shouldn't have.
I assume there are similar notifications for other illegal actions, even when there is no plausible way that anyone would know about it.
Balance: Knights vs Mages
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Takta
I do find it a little unfair we staffers have to answer for an opinion somebody else put in our mouths.
I know that I, personally, would have no interest in stopping something like that from happening, pending only that it realistically took NPCs into account. (That is, there are tons of NPC Knights, soldiers, etc. to keep in mind, not just the PCs.) If you can pull it off, you can pull it off, though I can't really imagine it'd be possible if one looks at the game world as a whole.
That said, I can see a very good reason why staff -could- choose to object to it: if it made the game unplayable. We typically don't stick our nose in stuff unless it's something that seems likely to cause a shift in the gameworld that'd be a major detriment to play. We all have individual differences as to where we draw that line, admittedly.
Personally I'd quite enjoy a TI where we were under the thumb of terrible mage forces and all!
I know that I, personally, would have no interest in stopping something like that from happening, pending only that it realistically took NPCs into account. (That is, there are tons of NPC Knights, soldiers, etc. to keep in mind, not just the PCs.) If you can pull it off, you can pull it off, though I can't really imagine it'd be possible if one looks at the game world as a whole.
That said, I can see a very good reason why staff -could- choose to object to it: if it made the game unplayable. We typically don't stick our nose in stuff unless it's something that seems likely to cause a shift in the gameworld that'd be a major detriment to play. We all have individual differences as to where we draw that line, admittedly.
Personally I'd quite enjoy a TI where we were under the thumb of terrible mage forces and all!
Hmm.
People are all capable of being "slippery" as one another. The challenge is being slippery without being unstopable. It is an art.
There are a few things to note: 1) if you steal in an area deemed safe or public by the code, yes the Reeves get a non-specific alert. It's note wise to do crime in broad daylight. There are safer places and times to initiate a theft. This was impllemented because of the vast majority of crime with no RP impact b/c no one knew it happened and ppl stealing right under the nose of guards and having no record, etc.
2) Regarding theme change - I'm not sure what degree was discussed, and I agree with Takta that the tone of the statement sounds critical of staff. We can and do allow theme changes, though there are things that we do protect themewise. They're generably core principles such as the mage vs Order conflict. Why? Well, we do have "The Inquisition" blazed on our login screen. That *is* our selling point to new players. Also, I don't relish reviewing and rewriting 900-odd theme files.
Historically, we polled the pbase to see if they -wanted- the mage vs Order theme to change, and the result clearly indicated that theme change desire was for a clear minority.
There have been huge theme changes in the past, from the creation of the Sable Masque to to the rise of a PC monarchy. Not everything is sacred, but some things are. We are fairly clear and honest about what those things are, so I would second Takta in that player's blanket statement characterising the staff as unfair and misguided.
People are all capable of being "slippery" as one another. The challenge is being slippery without being unstopable. It is an art.
There are a few things to note: 1) if you steal in an area deemed safe or public by the code, yes the Reeves get a non-specific alert. It's note wise to do crime in broad daylight. There are safer places and times to initiate a theft. This was impllemented because of the vast majority of crime with no RP impact b/c no one knew it happened and ppl stealing right under the nose of guards and having no record, etc.
2) Regarding theme change - I'm not sure what degree was discussed, and I agree with Takta that the tone of the statement sounds critical of staff. We can and do allow theme changes, though there are things that we do protect themewise. They're generably core principles such as the mage vs Order conflict. Why? Well, we do have "The Inquisition" blazed on our login screen. That *is* our selling point to new players. Also, I don't relish reviewing and rewriting 900-odd theme files.
Historically, we polled the pbase to see if they -wanted- the mage vs Order theme to change, and the result clearly indicated that theme change desire was for a clear minority.
There have been huge theme changes in the past, from the creation of the Sable Masque to to the rise of a PC monarchy. Not everything is sacred, but some things are. We are fairly clear and honest about what those things are, so I would second Takta in that player's blanket statement characterising the staff as unfair and misguided.
I really like that "slippery" description. I know it's been discussed before, but I think that's a good place to look to for expanding magic and covert skills - the ability to evade capture, and the ability to capture others (make others "sticky").
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