Shattered Kingdoms

Thank you for that stunningly witty observation and/or insult, rated 5, please keep up the good work, go hog wild.

I'm confused. Are you saying that the detect aura spell is OOC? Because it isn't.

I think that the problem you're having, Parnys, lies within the fact that while someone might choose an alignment, there's absolutely nothing -really- making them stick to that alignment past the creation halls, and makes the alignment process -seem- OOC. But it isn't.

The fact is that most light-aura'd characters will take a step back if they are insulted, provoked, or angered by another light aura. That is a GOOD thing. Is lightie fighting lightie wrong? No, definitely not, (and I've never seen anyone get cursed for it either, I'm unsure where you're drawing that idea from) but the fact remains that it should be much less common than, for example, dark vs. dark.

The real problem is not people who make IC decisions based on someone's alignment: It lies within people who select an aura in the creation halls and then don't stick to it because it's hard, whether it's light, grey, or evil.

Neither is finding out someone's name through their severed limbs.



... And this I totally agree with it. It's so much easier for people to just play the game like a glorified Leveling/PK Paradise or sit in a Bat Cave with all of their lovely little items completely terrified of the people in the first category. Meanwhile, the people in the third "everyone else" category are dealing with trying to play the game while trying to stay out of the way of the first and wondering why the second bothers playing in the first place. It also bothers me that some people make characters tailor-made to join one group as soon as possible, but that's another matter.

Actually, there's another game I've played before that some of you might like as a sort of, "When bored of SK" experiment, especially if you feel similarly to what Ninefingers or Archernar said. Feel free to PM me if you're curious.

You're overgeneralizing. I've played lighties that refused to help other lighties. I've even played in a lightie organization that came close to civil war. It's just that when good characters have conflicts, their interest in the common good means less likelihood of violence.

What makes a character gray is his willingness to be good only under conditions. An unprincipled character must be unthreatened. A dogmatic character must be so ordered. An anarchist character must be appeased. There's a lot of fun playing morally ambiguous characters, and maybe that's something you'd be more interested in.

Evil characters aren't morally ambiguous. Their way of life makes all but the weakest an active threat. Most good characters will see their removal as part of the common good. Differences will be over means rather than the end. Don't play evil characters if you don't want this level of excitement.

Why do people end up doing this? Are you just trying to get me to say how I don't actually think everyone that plays SK is a PK-happy person that tailors their character to give an excuse to kill someone because it's "their rp" or is there something about it that I'm not getting? Is it really necessary to sort every single person that plays the game into the two different piles, or can we just keep to being irritated that some of them do it in the first place?

Of course 'you' wouldn't do it because you actually enjoy role playing, and I haven't accused you or anyone else in this thread of it either. Basically, it's not overgeneralizing, it's not attacking specific people.

Not because I took it as an accusation, but because I think you're seeing more lightie-groupthink than actually exists. I believe everyone would agree that lighties shouldn't always get along swimmingly. I just don't see this as a major problem for SK. Granted, I'm just playing a few hours a week right now, so I could be out of date.

While there are things we players should fix, getting the problem right is essential to getting the solution right.

The problem is that the playerbase is dwindling and you only ever see the "same old faces" now. This spawns a lot of other problems, but it seems to be the main one and the only thing bonanzas and updates seem to do now is get some of them to try it again for a month or two rather than getting new players. Text muds are a dying breed so the playerbase will generally be comprised of people that have bad computers or like role playing, and SK promotes role playing less and less lately. Half your playerbase, right there.

How do you fix it completely? I have no idea, I just know what is being done isn't it.

I've heard this song for years. I think that is the song that jaded players sing because they are angry at the game.

A free bird leaps on the back of the wind
and floats downstream till the current ends
and dips his wing in the orange suns rays and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage
can seldom see through his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.

Okay, I started my character a week or two before this last update got put in(and massively lucked out with the changes, yay me). She was like Mentor 5 when the update hit, I had no problem leveling the low levels prior to the update, and had no problems hitting GM after the update, and I suck at leveling(prior to 2008, I had 1 GM ever, across the span of like 2002-2007).