Below I will go into my thoughts on a few of the discussions I have seen in Discord about the state of PvP in the game. All thoughts and opinions are my own personal ones.

“Its usually done against scripters and AFKers.”

Why is that? Is that targeting a character because of OOC information? Would your character target them if they looked at you? Clearly, they are actively walking/fighting, so the IC argument of “they were not paying attention.” Isn’t valid, because In game, they are. You are using an advantage you know about OOC. This is clearly against the rules of the game, is it not?

And also, who granted you GM/SG status to be doling out punishments to characters you feel are abusing the system? Report the behavior and move on. You are not in charge of the game. Let those in charge handle things you feel are wrong.

“The game has always had PvP but now people just want to play the carebear game.”

No, people want a game with role-playing, actions, and consequences. What they don’t want is to have mechanics they are unaware or being jumped out of the blue and never have a second to react more than stand up, to be knocked down and out again.

You want true PvP, they need to reduce PvP damage down to 10% of what it does against NPCs. Then you will actually see PvP and not just taking advantage of a quick to incapacitate someone before they even have a chance to draw their weapon.

“This isn’t the TEC of <insert year here>.”

Nope, it sure isn’t. For whatever reason, the game in that state is no longer the game people are playing now. Better, worse, that’s for individuals to judge. But the current game and community we have now is different from what it once was.

Both sides have had folks leave. Some because the game is too “soft” in their mind, some because they feel it is a grind and money sink, others because they were tired of being abused OOC or IC and didn’t like having their characters attacked/items taken. Whatever reasons they had, they left.

Perhaps we need to start polling on the forums page and seeing what the true numbers are, because both sides think they outnumber the other. But the truth is there is a LARGE majority of mostly silent players who don’t talk in Discord, OOC, or even IC much. And they avoid IC interactions because the more you are known, the more of a target you have on you in this game, it seems.

“TEC should be about <insert thing>”

For you. Cool. Play TEC how you want. But remember to let other folks play TEC how THEY want. The main issue I have with all of it comes down to consent. I still don’t understand why people feel the need to bring actions like that against folks who either don’t want it, are not expecting it, or flat out are unable to defend against it. This is like yelling at the person who has a WoW subscription but just wants to fish and craft. They are having fun and enjoying the game the way they want. Just because it isn’t your style, doesn’t mean you should go “F them up” to show them how wonderful combat is. To each their own. Let people enjoy what they enjoy. Why does it bother this crowd so much if someone enjoys scripting combat? Maybe they find the monotony relaxation and enjoyable because they have a chaotic life. Maybe they like the idea of not having to look over their shoulder all the time or move in groups for constant fear of being jumped because that shit happens in their job or life. Maybe they just want a place to relax and enjoy their time.

Secondly, there are some avenues to at least rectifying this a bit but there is always opposition to it. Why can’t we just ask people to toggle their name on who? Green is newbie, Blue is PvP closed, Red is PvP open. I am not saying anything about mechanics of being unable to hit people or anything, just a SIMPLE color change on who so you can see who invites PvP conflict into their game and who is saying “I would prefer not to.”

There is also clearly a divide in the crowd about those who want PvP more so in their game and those who do not. So, another good solution is….stick to the group who thinks like you? Why does the conflict generally seem to be the “Those who enjoy PvP” being brought against “Those who do not.” Can the group that covets PvP not just engage in those behaviors and storylines with each other? It seems the easiest solution and would cause the least amount of problems. You want more fights, start more gladiator games. You want more cloak and dagger shit, start a new gang in the Republic that wants to muscle in on established territories. There are plenty of ways for you to get the gaming experience you want without bringing it against unsuspecting characters or characters/players who do not want that.

“But in real life….”

Yeah, true, in real life there is always the danger of being mugged, jumped, robbed, etc. In history there has always been that too. But this is a game. Sometimes I think people forget that this is a game and not a life-simulator. Just because real life has it, doesn’t mean it should be in the game. There is a large divide between what is reality and what is fantasy. This game is at its core, fantasy.

I am not going to use the argument “If you want a game like X, leave and play Y” either because for one, the community of TEC is entirely too small for that. Two, its not fair to either party to say “if you don’t like it, leave.” Three, both sides are paying a subscription or have paid one, so there is a sense of small ownership in the game now because we gave our money towards it.

There is a compromise somewhere in the game that would keep folks happy, without resorting to griefing. I will say this much, if you attack another character for OOC reasons (Even if you have IC reasons, but are using that as a cover for what you are doing), or exploting mechanics to gain so much of an advantage that the other person has no chance to realistically respond, and you do not have any element of RP at all involved in any of it, then yes, you are griefing. And if griefing is what really gets you your enjoyment from the game, then I will break my own compromise and say to leave. Because that adds no benefit to the game outside of your personal enjoyment and actively diminishes the enjoyment of other’s.

THAT is the heart of what the problem is. People THINKING what they are doing is helping when it is in fact, hurting. If what your doing has a net negative effect, I would say do not do it. This is why PvP against people who dislike or do not want it is a problem. Because one party is having their gaming experience diminished, reduced, or harmed by it. No matter how realistic you think it is, or how good for the game you think it is, you ARE harming someone else IC and OOC by the actions. There is no way past that. Hence why the best thing to do is for those who want that sort of behavior to do it with and against those who do not.

No one in here would argue that sexual behaviors and RP should be brought to someone who does not want them. We all understand that is a line where consent lies in both parties, and both have to agree to it. Why do we not extend the same courtesy to PvP interactions as well? It can have just as much of a negative effect (if not more because of the mechanics of it all), but we somehow can not agree that on that aspect.

To wrap up a long post, I do think a good move, which I am suggesting to the staff, is to have a simple color change option for the Who list to show who openly invites PvP and who prefers not to so that people entering into conflict at least have that knowledge moving forward. It provides absolutely ZERO in game advantage disadvantage, it is literally just an OOC way of showing who is open to it and who prefers not to. So that aggressors can take that for what it is and have it impact your decisions as little or as much as you like. Would anyone argue that this is not at least a good step to take?

Final note. Try to remember that this is a game people play for many reasons. Just as you do not like your game being ruined, take that into consideration for others and remember at the end of the day, we are all human, we all have pasts and deal with things you don’t see from behind a keyboard, and that yes, we should try to make things better for all parties when it comes to the game. Thank you.