Dunno I have read this thread and others like it with interest. I guess what you have is a merger/takeover kind of language from those in the community but the typical bureaucractic language of those managing the games. The term clustering is a bit too innocuous and smells of bureaucracy and people should be right to be suspicious since the impact it has is not in what is described.
Give me a sec (I have time here with my coffee). Clustering means that you put together two communities with vastly different ways of communicating with each other in certain aspects of the game. I am concerned from what Quinlan has said here because it might also mean that an RvR clustering would result in people getting access to the very divisive area of ToA which we all know is the most difficult and problematic part of the game.
What is more clustering means labelling - you get a label that tells people which server you originate from. A bit like having black skin or a tradition of wearing clothes that mark you as different. That is potentially divisive and I am not sure I want to see that.
Perhaps it can happen in RvR where the rules of communication are not that set but in exp hunting and other aspects the smaller community will feel the impact the most and also most negatively because the gaming space will shrink. We are being warned that having RvR clustered might lead to people moving accross to the Prdywen side of things to compete for scarce time and resources and that is potentially very damaging because we do have a community that works fairly well to try and help each other out. Even the exceptions have proven that the groups functions pretty well. Chuck someone into that group or environment with a label telling everyone they are different and you are likely to get polarisation of behaviour.
Not only this but the more aggressive will become the norm. It is simply a fact that the greater the population the less trust you get. People have to find ways to manage a lack of trust. I for one do not relish watching the trust we have being undermined because of an increase in population. I am worried about this more than anything else.
The term 'clustering' masks more than it reveals try to think carefully beyond one particular aspect (RvR etc.) and think more about what makes the game meaningful for us. I am with Kallima's sensitivity on this and I think that is where the real problems will emerge.
Does anyone have empricial examples of clashes of culture and problems? Why was there a 'de-clustering' in some cases? What motivated that to happen? I would like to know more about the experience across the pond.
As for the removal of choice - well I can see Briannon's point - why can't we tolerate that this is important to him and others who like to enjoy the fullest range of the game as possible? He pays his dues and I am sorry that he will be dictated to by the rather innocuously sounding phrase 'server clustering'....
please just be careful - anything that has to label people is usually not a good thing - differences that promote differences can be divisive and unsavoury.
Sharkith
p.s. sorry for the essay but it was mug of coffee after all...
sure, you wont get 10 billions of Rp in 20 mins from solo fighting..but the soloing is still there, just takes abit more timing..
