Playing more.. worldchanging characters?

[CantrFreak]

I've recently noticed there aren't really any get-go characters anymore. I've always found that some of the most interesting things about Cantr were all the region wide conflicts and I really think people should play them more?

Like, I've promised myself that I'm going to make my characters try and change things at least for a town and make things more interesting. Cause potatofarming paradise is boring. Maybe more players should have more political characters and try and shake things up for hell of it? Maybe a crazy nationalist? Make a businessman take charge of a town and sell of resource spots or something. Make a really stuck up person in charge or get a religious leader into power somewhere. I say people need to just do wierd things with characters, whether or not it's really reasonable. It's fun, and does have potential for good RP. And for those that don't play leader characters, follow along with some things next time you see something weird? Don't just reject it outright even though it's common sense not too.

Meh, random thoughts.

[raspberrytea]

Augh, I agree, there's too much logic! Yeah, some ideas might not exactly be the brightest or most-likely-to-succeed business ventures, but you should try them anyway! Or at least let the characters fail the venture on their own. A failure-less society is just plain boring.

A lot of my characters are the "go along with it" type, but I have to admit that my only leader is pretty dull. At this point it would be ridiculously OOC for him to be anything but cut-and-dry, but I still wish for someone come in and stir things up.

[HTX]

I hear ya. It puzzles me why so few players (at least English ones - can't speak for other zones) seem to have no motivation to do anything other than play happy-go-lucky characters, and farm potatoes, and complain about newspawn thieves.

Awhile back I tried to stir things up by playing a businessman, a mercenary and a thief who tried to make a thieves guild of sorts. All three failed quite miserably at their goals; the businessman couldn't get enough people motivated to build a business empire, the mercenary ended up turning into a bandit (and the only reason he was somewhat successful was because the bandit group he joined was already well established - maybe you'll remember Tony McRuthain, CantrFreak?), and the thief... well... his only potential recruit turned out to be one of those happy-go-lucky characters who don't want to do anything but farm potatoes, but hey, at least he didn't rat my character out to the authorities. Later on, my thief was executed during a botched attempt to kidnap someone and rob them of all their possessions.

Oh yeah, and I had another bandit wannabe who ended up getting executed (despite begging for his life) when he seriously botched a robbery attempt on a town. Not that I expected to survive, I just wanted to stir things up.

[Arenti]

Do some people not understand that stirring things up doesn't have to be in the way of doing criminal activities? Or am I the only one who knows that you can also stir things up with a good person?

Just try for ones to have a trust able char who can help people and also keep people active in doing so. As in talking, joking taking care of what they want in life by helping them with advice or work. Or think if games. Or even a festival. Or just start business that actually provides things people might need. As with an active group who do things together and talk a lot and joke. That will also keep things active.

And also for other towns. I know that when some of my chars who are very active go to towns they quickly liven things up for the entire town. What I can do other players can also do if they wanted to.

I have heard from multiple players that thanks to me they kept playing or otherwise they would have quit soon after they started.

So give it a try. And you will see it really works. Though don't go after a few days it doesn't work. As it takes time. Just be active towards others.

[HTX]

Do some people not understand that stirring things up doesn't have to be in the way of doing criminal activities? Or am I the only one who knows that you can also stir things up with a good person?

Hey, I mentioned I tried to stir things up with a businessman, who played perfectly by the law. Or were you addressing someone else, or Cantr players in general?

[Arenti]

Do some people not understand that stirring things up doesn't have to be in the way of doing criminal activities? Or am I the only one who knows that you can also stir things up with a good person?

Hey, I mentioned I tried to stir things up with a businessman, who played perfectly by the law. Or were you addressing someone else, or Cantr players in general?

Yes I was more talking in general. I always see people complain about that Cantr is not active for them. But I never have that problem. And that is because I make things not go inactive. If more people just made friends with their chars it would be much better.

And also I have heard people complain about so much less female chars in Cantr. But I see a lot of single female chars in game who want a relationship. But no males are interested it seems. Because if I have a char single he sometimes has a relationship in a few days. And that all happened quickly when I first started with relationships in cantr. All of my chars are in relationships.

[SekoETC]

But it's sort of interesting if a group of people who got into power by murdering others will try to establish peaceful relations with others, I've seen it happen, and I suppose if you manage to convince others that the people who got killed were enemies of the state or just unfortunate casualties and you wish to remain peaceful in the future, it might work out. It's rather boring if it's only people wiping out some town, another group of people coming to kill off the people who killed off the first people and then going back home, perhaps after robbing the massacred town since they're all dead, they wouldn't use things anyway. But the best way to deal with shady people is to not be aware of murders they've committed, so it's good for pirates and other sorts of bad people to limit their targets and have a good reputation on some regions, who might not ask where all their resources come from.

And I can't say I would've noticed women looking for relationships and men refusing to have one. In the past my male characters have been pretty desperate looking for a girlfriend but currently two of them are married, one has a girlfriend, one is sailing with a girl although hasn't made any advances on her since she doesn't seem interested and it might ruin it, one has spent most of his life not seeing any women so his urges have died off, and one has been sleeping for years.

[nateflory]

I think one reason there are less "world-changing" characters is they do require a bit more work than the potato farmers.
Even assuming people play up to their 15-char limit, there are fifteen distinct personalities and dreams, and goals, and lists of important contacts to keep up with.

When I was more active in-game, that was a lot of 'work'. It was a labour of love, of course, since we all play this game willingly, but having more than one "active and outgoing" character got difficult if more than one town really started to take off and thrive.

This, by sheer numbers, I think there are less World-changers than potatoe farmers.

Yet then again, I have tried to make a few good and bandit-like leaders, and it's hard to get folks to join up beside you. I think part of it is that changing the world requires help, and the luck to get two willing -Players- having characters in the same location or region to coordinate efforts and make it work. After all, you can't force soemone's character to eat or wake up. IT must be a shared community, and not all characters are intended to be Great.

Also, some people play for the story, and enjoy political stories. Some people prefer romantic stories, and some people prefer simply reactive stories to distract them from mundane life. This further muddies the waters in terms of "what people play". in their characters.

(Secret admission: I never could find myself comfortable in the BlackRocks or Firecam, or other big groups, mainly due to the political and cultural feeling of those regions. Nothing wrong with it, just never got my brain wrapped around that environment, except to know my chars didnt' fit in properly, and those who spawned there, became potato farmers!)

[Arenti]

Its not just about seeing people complain about not being able to get a relationship with a male. But because my chars talk a lot he does find out that in some towns women are interested in relationships but no men are.

[Kelli]

We DEFINITELY need more stirer-uppers.

I've tried with a few of my characters, but I think the problem is even within the "followers". After all, if one of my characters steps up and tries to take charge, and every one just ignores it or turns their head away....what was accomplished?

(Or maybe I just don't know how to lead? )

[Arenti]

Again stirrer uppers can be done in a good way. I would hate people encouraging others here to do crimes in Cantr. In a way already posting this might be going too far as in giving people the idea oocly to become a criminal.

[SekoETC]

Maybe people have trouble joining violent groups because then you're likely to get killed. I'm chicken shit when it comes to fights, I might go after someone if I have more people on my side if they do or I might snipe at people from a ship or a locked building, but I don't think any of my current characters would go to a fight against a formidable opponent, knowing that you might die in process. Or actually Jaina might, but it would have to be for a good cause. The reason might be that my characters are mostly old, even the youngest is 35 already, while young ones might be more ready to die for a cause since the player hasn't had time to make an emotional connection to the character so they have little to lose and lots to gain.

[Arenti]

I have 15 chars and my youngest will be 37 years in 4 days times. I would never play a char who is a criminal. I just can't. Some of my chars would fight against a formidable opponent. And one of my chars would rather die than let bad people live for longer. He will bring it to a fight always. Though these days he doesn't have to worry about a group being stronger than his.

[Doug R.]

My go-getters retired when they couldn't get anyone to get off their ass and do anything. Now they just sit on their asses and do nothing. You can have all the ideas and motivation in the world, but it doesn't mean squat when no one else around you cares.

[Arenti]

My go-getters retired when they couldn't get anyone to get off their ass and do anything. Now they just sit on their asses and do nothing. You can have all the ideas and motivation in the world, but it doesn't mean squat when no one else around you cares.

True. And it also makes my characters lose motivation. But some of mine do succeed.