Realism or Routine?

[DylPickle]

Anyone notice that alot of us get so used to chasing thieves that we just hunt them down and smoke em' without even looking into things? I know that first timers usualy just pick everything up off the ground and go, because that's exactly what you're suposed to do in almost every other game besides cantr. But a little while ago I've found myself in the position of a victim, even though I've been playing the game for almost a year now.

I'm playing a character that was "partialy possesed". She dropped all her things (like the little voices told her to), and smacked herself with her fist. Now we all know that to somebody who hadn't named my character it would look like:
"you see a women in her twenties hurt a women in her twenties with a bare fist."
Even though I hit myself, mister Sherrif is gonna' see it like she hit someone else, click on the first name of the event, point at the first name, smack her with a sabre, and drag her into prison. This is routine.

But Cantr is supposed to be the ONE game out there that is supposed to be as realistic as possible. And if Mr. Policeman in real life saw someone smack themselves in the face would he throw them in jail?
That's all I really have to say... sorry for the rant

[BlindArbalest]

Maybe you could ask under suggestions if it could be changed to "You see a woman in her twenties hurt herself". It seems that if this game is constantly under development it wouldn't be that hard. But I don't know, maybe the way it's set up it would be too much trouble.

[Black Canyon]

I would think that a good sheriff would investigate thoroughly by at least naming the woman before reacting.

[Agar]

You know how it gets sometimes. It seems like all we're doing is chasing thieves. We get stuck in a rut, a "hit first, name them when they start knocking" kinda of mentality.

I know I've done it. I try to be good and name everyone, but, whatever. Sometimes I just feel like killing everyone out of line.

I should move to Lad...

[The Industriallist]

Chopping people without waiting for explanations is a character-by-character thing with me...one or 2 do, one does with glee, 2-3 don't attack the thief at all for assorted reasons, and at least one will ask questions.

I'm specifically paranoid about the 'hit self' confusion, so I always name people in that type of situation, even when I might not otherwise.

[Pirog]

One way to get rid of the thieves is to start reporting them to the PD, since those obvious hit and runners who haven't got a chance of getting away is breaking the CR.

Regarding realism I think many kill thieves for too small reasons.
If someone steals some raw meat and feathers and makes a run for it...why not just let them go? There reason it was on the ground in the first place is because people usually just discard them.

I have characters that has let thieves who stole valuable things frum the get away simply because they don't want someones life on the conscience...

[Pirog]

Oh, and I do agree with BlindArbalest's idea about changing the structure so that it says "...him/herself" in the activity page.

[Lumera]

It's not the actual stealing that gets to my characters (At least the couple in a position to give chase right now), it's more the complete disrespect for the law, and the fact that they refuse to be reasoned with or turn around. To her that means they're nothing but unrepentant little punks that need to be put out of their misery anyway because it's obvious they're not fit for decent society and will cause the same trouble wherever they go

[Pirog]

Still it is a life to take...
Deaths come way too easy in Cantr. I will support anything that makes life more precious, and the best way to get there would be implenting children or setting a rather large time fram between when a character dies and when you can create a new one.

[The Industriallist]

That would deter thieves by making their lives more precious. It wouldn't deter characters from butchering them. The fact is that some of my characters think less of killing a mindless thief than of killing an animal. Animals are worth something. These thieves are worth less than nothing.

The viewpoint that has grown onto at least one of my characters is that there are people, and there are things that look like people but aren't really. thieves who snatch and run but don't talk are the charter members of the non-people category. So it's not really a (cantrian) life to take at all, no matter how it was created.

And that would be my nicest character, I think.

[nitefyre]

Well, I do blame the sheriff in that case for not investigating further, and at least naming the 'suspicious' person, as I do.

As for my thief chasing/killing- one of my character feels it is sort of below/past/another life (that he wanted to leave) for him to be chasing thieves, and the oppurtunity never really arises on the sea; another feels it is in his code, that he is not to chase the minor thieves, for it is a waste of life, as Pirog was saying, but it the person steals something valuable or such, of course he'll pursue; my third is a pacifist, doesn't hurt people nor carry a weapon; my fourth prefers peaceful means and rehabilitation, and it has worked enormously, as some people who they taught, who were once thieves, became loyal friends; my fifth isn't concerned with thieves; and nor is my sixth (though is a brutally cold person who would not think twice about killing someone); my seventh is a Guard, and he will ask questions before injuring people, and is influenced by the thinking of Pirog's:P; and my eighth is just a laborer.

[Pirog]

Industrialist>

It wouldn't deter characters from butchering them.

It wouldn't deter from killing thieves...but as mentioned there would be less thieves. But I believe it would deter people from murdering people, or staging massacres etc.
First of all you would be more afraid of losing your bad guys life, and second of all people would have families that might come looking for you.

[kroner]

if death was less common, people would think more before killing, so i would agree it would probably reduce the butchering.
we need that time delay after a character dies before you can spawn another.

[Lumera]

I bet a delay would definitely deter spawn and run thieves because it would ruin the player's whole strategy (Assuming they're trying to wind up in a certain place) but I don't know about the mass killings. Most people in the position to do something like that have probably been around awhile, already weighed the risks and decided it was worth it. My view is that the time people have to invest and the connections they have to make in order to get a band of followers and powerful weapons and armor is probably much more of a deterrant than waiting a little while to create a newspawn who isn't going to have anything.

But if there is a delay maybe it should only apply to people with more than two other characters, to avoid discouraging newbies who might die pretty quickly.

[NetherSpawn]

A delay is good, yes. I would make it 5 days between creations when you have at least 5 characters.

Pirog, if you impose a vast quantity of real world society onto Cantr, I'm sure murderers would worry about families chasing them down. But... that's... OOC! If you design an institution (such as a clan) around the concept of forming a superorganism, that's one thing. But is there any particular reason for grandparent to care about their grandchildren, or for that matter why parents would particularly care about their children?
Actually, I can only see two reasons for a Cantr character to want children:
1) As an indentured servant to be released at maturity. This is actually perfect because the child would be unsuccessful if it struck out on its own, and the player will probably not terminate it.
2) Because the PLAYER wants children and they aren't smart enough to RP. If you want someone to nurture, there are plenty of newspawns who could use your help in a variety of ways. Why do you want a (temporary) cripple instead of a fully functional person? Only a few, very eccentric, characters should prefer this.
Why impose OOC biological drives on Cantr?

Anyway, people do hit more quickly than they ought to, usually, but that's because characters with enough power to really do so tend to not care at all for reason. In general they really only care that the goods are returned and have no interest in logical arguments (such as that the food on the ground was rotting). Characters in their fourties+ tend to have no respect for characters in their twenties, probably because the characters in their twenties will have to be about their age before they can have what the characters in their fourties had in 5 years. (Refernce to the "iron takes more than 5 times as long to make" shift).