We had our chat with the MFOs a while back, in lieu of today's FREEDOM OF NATIONS event announcement, I just want to share what was said with the MFOs - to some degree. Obviously the privacy of most conversations remain intact.
But the most important thing I told them was, "Hexes are a currency meant to be spent."
Now, this seems like an easy thing to say and understand, but boy do we butt heads privately when it comes time to actively engage in it. Nobody wants to lose. Nobody wants to feel like a loser. Hell, we usually all come here to evade situations we've lost in life or in our careers or etc. Why would we actively want to engage in losing in roleplay, too?
That's the difference, though. Please understand: You characters need to experience loss. Now, if you disagree, that's fine. We can wage some debates over it or we can just ruffle feathers and tell ol' Tef to mind his own damn business and get out of ours, we're doing just fine, go back to your digital castle and play with some XML or something. But I guarantee you, I'm right. You need to do it. And hell if you just disagree with me, try it out. Go do it and be like, you know what, I just had my character experience loss, my Major experienced loss, we lost a war, and I hated it, Tef, I never wanna do it again.
I'll still go ten toes deep on saying you're wrong but I'll respect you for at least trying it out. Loss is the primary motivator of changes, it is the first mover. You lose so much if you don't... well, lose. All of the fabricated tragedy woven into your character's lore but you can't subject them to some external, real tragedy? How are they to ever grow, become stronger? How do you even live if you don't lose.
Hexes are a currency meant to be spent.
Spend them. Lose them. Gamble them. Don't become attached to them. Spend them the moment you get them. I understand dragon hoarding and I understand this "currency" can show faction growth, and how far you've come as a microcommunity, and you can become proud of that, and thus attached to the hexes themselves. But trust me, don't let the color blobs on a map define who you are. That's what was always wrong with factions from their very inception. The worst executions of them were mismanaged and turned into Friend Gangs, almost immediately. It was predictable, it was boring, it is not a good environment for roleplay.
Roleplay is improv. Roleplay is conflict. Roleplay is loss. Roleplay is winning. Roleplay is all these things, and if you try to define it only as one subset of labels, you've already lost out on all the other things it can be. Don't rob yourselves of that luxury.
I've seent it.
I've seent it in real life and I've seent it in roleplay.
Loss is the great unifier, it can bring people together under the right leader like you've never seen before. Learn to lose.
But the most important thing I told them was, "Hexes are a currency meant to be spent."
Now, this seems like an easy thing to say and understand, but boy do we butt heads privately when it comes time to actively engage in it. Nobody wants to lose. Nobody wants to feel like a loser. Hell, we usually all come here to evade situations we've lost in life or in our careers or etc. Why would we actively want to engage in losing in roleplay, too?
That's the difference, though. Please understand: You characters need to experience loss. Now, if you disagree, that's fine. We can wage some debates over it or we can just ruffle feathers and tell ol' Tef to mind his own damn business and get out of ours, we're doing just fine, go back to your digital castle and play with some XML or something. But I guarantee you, I'm right. You need to do it. And hell if you just disagree with me, try it out. Go do it and be like, you know what, I just had my character experience loss, my Major experienced loss, we lost a war, and I hated it, Tef, I never wanna do it again.
I'll still go ten toes deep on saying you're wrong but I'll respect you for at least trying it out. Loss is the primary motivator of changes, it is the first mover. You lose so much if you don't... well, lose. All of the fabricated tragedy woven into your character's lore but you can't subject them to some external, real tragedy? How are they to ever grow, become stronger? How do you even live if you don't lose.
Hexes are a currency meant to be spent.
Spend them. Lose them. Gamble them. Don't become attached to them. Spend them the moment you get them. I understand dragon hoarding and I understand this "currency" can show faction growth, and how far you've come as a microcommunity, and you can become proud of that, and thus attached to the hexes themselves. But trust me, don't let the color blobs on a map define who you are. That's what was always wrong with factions from their very inception. The worst executions of them were mismanaged and turned into Friend Gangs, almost immediately. It was predictable, it was boring, it is not a good environment for roleplay.
Roleplay is improv. Roleplay is conflict. Roleplay is loss. Roleplay is winning. Roleplay is all these things, and if you try to define it only as one subset of labels, you've already lost out on all the other things it can be. Don't rob yourselves of that luxury.
I've seent it.
I've seent it in real life and I've seent it in roleplay.
Loss is the great unifier, it can bring people together under the right leader like you've never seen before. Learn to lose.
