http://forums.freddyshouse.com/showthread.php?t=62905&page=1&pp=15
It basically asks this question...... I though it was a good question and unfortunetaly I think I got carried away in my reply (below)
An interesting question - a long reply - so be warned!Bubble wrote:I'd like to know how people react on the battlefield, so please reply with your own point of view.
This problem is peculiar. My views on it have changed from the time when I wondered what all the whine about adding was and could not get it. I don’t think I fully understand it yet because it is more complicated than it seems. I don’t think there is any real answer. So with that in mind try the following as a way to interpret what is going on.
One way to see it is like a play where the actors (can I use protagonists?) play out various 'scripts'. A script is what happens in a gaming session (can last from 1-24 hours by the sounds of things!). During the enacting of the script the level of orientation of the player has major implications for the manner in which the script will appear to them. Players can start a session being orientated to one of four levels of playing:
a) realm versus realm,
b) zerg versus zerg,
c) group versus group,
d) person versus person,
The levels of playing are crucial because it gives the script its symbolism.
What you did at the start of the post was change your orientation from one level to another and you started to see the symbolic differences in your ‘script’ for the night. Essentially in the game whether we like it or not the outcome of the script for the evening is in a large manner determined by the orientation of the player when they start playing .
realm versus realm
Orientation to this level typically involves relic takes and keep takes, defence of the realm and the killing of the enemy at all cost. Anything goes to be frank. Some people only play at this level “For Aurfur Meights!” others like to come here occasionally.
Because of the game mechanics the scripts for this level include for example, the classic love triangle (I kid you not) where one realm is the bitch (Hibernia right now and in Old frontiers) of the other two realms. Other scripts will include the heroic/epic struggle to get a relic and help the whole realm etc. Scripts at this level seem to be played in zergs of many groups of eight trying to organise their actions (the GG’s running on the fringes of the main force are as much part of this script).
zerg versus zerg
This is a messy level here you get various orientations from hanging out with your meights around a bridge or tower. Preferably where you can port back to asap. The taking of a single tower to block porting and piss off the other zerg or the retaking of a keep. So scripts at this level can either be the aimless hanging around like juveniles looking for trouble (piss take) or the achieving of an objective. I prefer the latter to be honest so I tend to avoid hanging out. This level is not about balance or about even being ToA’ed it is about hiding in a crowd that is better described as a mob. It is mob rules and the notion of honour very seldom enters such an evenings gaming. It is also no accident that you find stealther around these mobs btw..
I think this is the most casual orientation you can get in the game.
Side note: It is also interesting to see people on FH treat the zergers around bridges like juveniles – not ‘real’ gamers etc…
group versus group
At this level you get the orientation to a ‘natural’ group and the emergence of the phenomena of the fully opted group and the beginning of notions of honour and challenge. Scripts for this level include ‘seek and destroy’. It seems that teams like to establish reputations and then to defend these reputations. It is also about following the changes in the game closely and figuring out how the 8 v’s 8 situation is best manipulated to a teams advantage. Losing to another group is considered fair enough but when a second group adds then that is considered a breach of the code and so you get a spiral of ‘adding’.
This is an over simplistic view of things. I do not have much experience here. These orientations also seem to be about a close bunch of friends who have played together for long periods of time continuing to do so. There must be lots of group banter and chat along with sharing of outside game issues I imagine – I am sure this has a lot going for it. You also get the orientation of l33t but that gets laughed at by some of the old school etc etc.
one versus one
At this level scripts tend to be formed around the code of honour where individuals like to fight each other with minimal interference. From reading the forms they also like to tease each other and reward each other with respect. There must be more to the scripts here but once again I have never played much with this in mind so I am pretty clueless here.
Ok now given these levels of orientation for a player in an evening what really happens is that you get a mixing of the various orientations. In the end then the script that shapes how your evenings gaming is experienced is dependent on who you meet. It gets very messy.
One rule you can be sure of is that in all probability when a group with an orientation higher up in the list meets a group or individual who have an orientation lower down in the list that the higher up group will more often than not realise their goals and so be quite happy. The crossing of orientations then produces a kind of tragedy for the soloer or the FG people because their goals for the evening have been hampered.
Not only this but the promotion of status quo zerging as you can see is a promotion of mob rule which is what some people have accidentally achieved. In some respects now we have two zergs who never go fight each other and who simply camp their tower/bridge in Hibernia. It is mob rule and mob rule to the max.
So two things might help understand your predicament player orientations are different and often clash and the outcome of the clashes are the scripts for an evenings gaming. If the script does not match expectations then people log. The random zerg with no aim quite often wins because it is a kind of mob rule.
The bottom line however, is that you are all roleplayers because you all have an orientation to the game and you all play out a script no matter who you are…..
is fun tho
.....oh and you agree with me on the game then!
