Shattered Kingdoms

I agree and like I said I wouldn't join a tribunal unless I was GM. Doesn't mean that it jives with Dulrik's stated goal, though. I dislike tribunal affiliation showing up on the who list for an entirely different reason.

GMing is easy enough. Why is it an issue?

The bandwagon effect - gave my theory a few pages back, if you're really interested why I don't like it.

Just a warning: This is not GD. Any more flaming will result in the issuance of temporary bans.

Would it be possible to give lower-level characters--say, expert and below--the option to hide their tribunal flag?

I know that player courtesy is a...lame excuse. But still I don't see a problem with them being flagged and joined at such a low level. If they hear bounty NPCs yelling out they run away and hide...besides they should be training anyway. And if they feel that they can defend then they have that choice.

My 2 cents.

They also can't enter opposing cities they are at war with w/o being attacked by guards.

My thoughts on tribunal flags being publicly displayed.
Its confuses the who list. When flags where installed at only noticeable to people in your faction it was reasonably clear what they meant. You had a flag other people had the same flag clearly similar affiliation be it religion/faction. Having the whole who list cluttered with flags make it well cluttered.

Bandwagon syndrome is an issue. It already is an issue with out the flags. It does remain to be seen what the player base has done but given past efforts I do not have high hopes for those not on the bandwagon.

I am worried it will promote lack of RP. X is of a faction we are at war with lets kill them already happens. With publicly displayed tags random ganking because of tribunal membership is more accessible and justifiable. Now although this is acceptable RP it really seems like the bottom of the barrel. It doesn't feel like something we should be promoting.

For those of you who think you shouldnt join a tribunal before GM, it might be unwise to do so but there are plenty of IC reasons to want to defend your city or help out your friends defending a city. Just the same as there are RPs where someone doesnt feel the need to drop everything and defend the nation from someone walking around getting attacked by bounty NPCs in the wilderness.

I can see reasons behind trying to share this information. Knowing who your allies are to ask for help is a good thing. The problem I see is the ability to get knowledge is limited by the code already in place. There just isnt any spy code where you could find out information about people you are at war with. There isnt any share code where you let your allies know who is and isnt a member of your tribunal. The result is what we have. It just feels like my ruling body sold me out to the world and hung me out to dry. It may or may not still feel as stupid after a generation swap but right now it feels totally out of place. I would rather have the information only internally known and as you find out information on people your it ICly generating RP interactions.

I do agree with you here. Aesthetically, I don't like the changes because I feel like the who list has been overrun by flags. I don't understand the point of the religion flag being visible at all. 'Who religion' is sufficient; you don't really need that information in your face. I have found flag and channel overload off-putting as a newbie on other MUDs, but I may just have flag hypersensitivity.

For tribs maybe a new rank should be added between 0 and 1. Call it Trainee. As a Trainee your flag won't be public until you reach champ(maybe even as low as Master). This will allow people to train while still in one but the flag won't be so public unless they are promoted. Nerfs to the trainee could be something like, unable to recruit and/or order but still would have law immunity. RP reason why would be because the other officers are actually higher status than the trainee.