Shattered Kingdoms

LOL I forgot all about this. Does anyone still talk to Toryn? He pops on YIM every once in a while but disappears just as fast. We need to drag his [REDACTED] back to SK now that all the retired vets are popping back up out the woodwork.

Yes, the mentor system is a pretty good starting point. It's why I have proposed giving a mentor point component to RP rewards. It builds on this very functional existing system to make it more robust. Given your criticisms of the state of the paragon system and the general consensus that RPK on SK could be improved, it's clear that the mentor system alone isn't enough. RP and PK need many things to link them, to better integrate them into an RPK system. The mentor system is but one. My comprehensive, three-point plan would serve to build on this:

• Mentor Points as a component of rewards;
• GM+1 opened as an achievement attainable through RP rewards;
• Fewer factions so as to better accommodate the current size of the player base, thereby fostering more player interaction.

The point is to better integrate RP and PK, because the ideal SK is an RPK MUD. Better integration means building on existing structures to make them more suitable to the task. You rightly point out the mentor system is good for this. But I don't believe it is enough, which is why I'm proposing more ideas; it does not accomplish everything I want.

I am also open to a number of the ideas regarding the PAR system that have been discussed here. I like the 2-for-1 anonymous reward idea. To a certain extent I like jerin's ideas about recursive rewards for RP but, again, I am primarily interested in systematic integration of RP and PK more than I am about recursion within individual subsets of the EAPS arena.

Mentor points.

I think you guys severely overestimating the worth of mentor points.

Do you know how many GMs some players run through in two weeks? Keep in mind that you are not the average. In fact, you are an RPKer and more of the ideal. I would say that a very low percentage of GM characters are able to advance to GM+1 within 2 weeks. More GMs probably get deleted within 2 weeks than become eligible to advance to GM+1. The idea is to get these people to behave more like you. That, in turn, will make your experience more enjoyable. Everyone wins.


I don't see how this example is at all relevant. Maybe that slowed that guy down and that was the goal. I am in no way seriously proposing slowing down leveling. Ideally, I would like it to be harder and take longer to reach GM, but, as I've said multiple times now, I don't think this is a popular view and have proposed alternatives that do not rely on this mechanic. If Dulrik ever decides he seriously wants to slow down the progression to GM, then I will be ready to participate in that discussion, but I'm not interested in talking about it until Dulrik tells us it is definitely happening and that no amount of QQ is going to stop him.



Crosswalks encourage people to slow down for pedestrians. Crosswalks AND blinking lights encourage this even more. Crosswalks AND blinking lights AND harsh penalties for hitting pedestrians do it even more. As I have said: the mentor system is one element that can be built upon to better integrate RP and PK. I also maintain that RP and PK do need to be better integrated on SK. They are not optimally integrated and are not well-balanced right now. If you and opey think the mentor system is sufficient and that RPK is integrated as well as it needs to be on SK, then we disagree on a fundamental level and no amount of logical construction is going to make a difference, as we are operating from entirely different premises. If, however, you share my belief that RPK could be improved and better integrated on a systematic level, then you recognize that the mentor system is not sufficient, and that some fresh ideas are needed to bolster it.

Harsh penalties do not stop anyone from committing crimes. I suppose this is debatable, however, but consider the fact that we have harsh drug laws in the USA and yet people still traffic and possess drugs.

I was going to say the same thing but you beat me to it.

If the point of that analogy doesn't make sense to you because you believe the US has harsh yet ineffective drug laws, you can either leave out the part about penalties for running over pedestrians (blinking lights + crosswalks > crosswalks > no crosswalks) or you can construct a new analogy.

Let us agree to disagree~♫

I don't think drugs or drug trafficking have anything to do with the subject.

I think the mentor proposal was a well corresponding thought. Of course, I think we trailed off a bit when the lot started discussing the simplicity required to reach such-and-such levels/ranks.

Would honestly like to hear what kind of rewards should/would/could be distributed. Rewards that could, in fact, earnestly encourage RP behaviour in the Pbase. Not just the PK side, by the way. We can at least get THAT portion out of the way before falling to mechanics.

So what rewards would we like to see in a point-base RP reward system?


As for myself? One word: Restrings~♫

That is a great if awfully musical idea.

Where, from my words, did you come to interpret that I think the mentor system is sufficient?

My stance is much more along the lines of: 3 mentor systems isn't going to do the job 1 mentor system can't do, and exp diet systems (IE: familiarity, anyone?) have never and will never do the job they were supposed to. The things you are proposing include the addition of the equivalent of another mentor system, and another form of an XP diet. I have been generally right much more often than not over my predictions about how these things turn out over time. I'm willing to give anything a shot - I'll take anything I can get - but I'm not going to settle for parallels of ideas that haven't worked/accomplished what you're saying they will definitely accomplish.

The analogy is more fitting: I don't think 3 street lights or 3 colors of line on the road are going to change how people behave any more than one of each will do.

Mentor points, exp rewards, and exp diets haven't really solved a problem that they've tried to address, as interesting and sometimes beneficial as the systems are. Have you seen mentor RP?

"Yo, I need some sword skills for free kthx"
"here you go"
"good day"

Need more outside the box. Restrings are one, but they're already readily available if you have the obsidian to blow or have good RP already. You'd be surprised how extremely few people ask for restrings under reasonable pretense, and how the vast majority of them get them when they do. I was a pushover for restrings, for the most part. My observations may generally be outdated, but I don't see how things have changed. The people upstairs want to reinforce RP as much as you guys do.