Shattered Kingdoms

Can we find a way to incentivize playing your characters with positions/leadership?

There already is.

It's not working.

Maybe there needs to be another overview of the benefits of leadership (and potential pitfalls of failing)? But I admit to hearing more often about people complaining that the benefits are already too attractive, leading to positions being "hoarded" by less than capable leaders.

I really don't think that has to do with the benefits being "too good." I think it has to do with the same mentality that would lead people to collect all the limited items in the game and sit ethereal in guardian rooms in quiet mode. I've always been of the opinion that poor or inactive leaders need intervention.

If incentivizing *active* leadership is your goal, then provide *active* benefits, rather than the passive ones based on how long you hold your flags. Although I think the passive benefits of leadership are nice and promote longer-term leader characters. I still think LTs earned should be spendable on current character, and possibly in more ways than they are now (maybe make this one of the active leadership benefits). Active benefits could include giving leaders the ability to order some caster NPCs to actually cast again, or NPCs that only leaderflagged character can access, or some other fourth thing I'm too distracted to think of right now.

I dunno. I don't really think the system needs to be messed with so much as people need to be messed with if they aren't living up to what they agreed to when accepting leader flags, but this is a drum I've beat for a long while.

Make LT's on a sliding scale based on hours served.

That's not a bad idea, but then in fairness it should also go the other way: if you lose your flag due to inactivity, the penalty is reduced by the numbers you actually were online even if the total didn't hit your quota.

The system should be geared in a way that rewards people to play the most valuable character they posses. Not the people who snag open leadership roles and just put in the minimum hours to hold the position.

LT's are nice and all, but since they can only be used on characters that -didn't- earn them, it kind of incentivizes people to use them on alts, who may or may not become mains.

What about a system for some cabals where some members want leadership to change hands. Cabal members can "bid" on leadership. If you want to be leader you bid a certain number of hours. If you bid the highest, you become leader of that faction but not until you reach the number of hours that you bid. If you never reach the number of hours you bid, you don't get leadership. Also, this system allows other people to get the leadership flag at least for a bit, sorta like a trial run that can allow newbies to try it out. It can create some interesting RP where maybe some members don't share the political ideas of the eventual leader. what will happen then?