Pacifists

Jules

I really enjoy the way conflict seems to work over here.  It's a lot of fun, even for those of us who really have very little clue what we're doing.  

That said, is there a place for people who are determined not to do PK, or perhaps are even RP-ing pacifists?  I think you'd almost have to RP being a pacifist if you didn't want to fight at all, as we really do often need "all hands on deck", so if you don't have a good reason for not coming to help kill the enemy, your fellow org mates are going to understandably ask "why"?  

If someone were a pacifist what could their role be?  Could they fit somewhere in all of the circles, some, or none?  I do think that someone playing a pacifist in Imperian would need exceptional social skills and a strong IC rationale for their stance - i.e. they would need to have the good grace to deal with a very PK oriented culture, and tactfully legitimize their position.  A successful pacifist char would probably always be an exception, and it's not something I'd want to try, but have people done this and done it well?  Or, since the circles really are quite polarized (by design, even) is it just a bad fit all around?  How has it worked (and has it worked at all) in the various circles?  Did any of the pacifists find creative ways to make themselves useful/relevant/gain acceptance?  

Sarrius

It didn't work when we had a god of it. I have no hope for pacifism because it gets obnoxious on both ends fast. My suggestion would be to claim you do not fight, or make it a moral quandry for your character, but not hinge your character on pacifism as a whole.

Calais

As Sarrius said, pacifism doesn't tend to work well in Imperian, but generally due to a few things (viewed negatively, team-combat-needs-everyone, bad spelling, no strong backing/reason behind it). My advice for someone wanting to do pacifism is to be willing to help in other ways - the annoying thing as a city official was when pacifists won't help stock city guards, or defend against invaders in the city, et cetera. If you're going to do I-won't-even-help-defend-the-place-I-live-in roleplay, probably have some very strong reasons and roleplay backing it.

Or just tell everyone you're afraid to be in a room with Eldreth/Septus/Ahkan.

(As to whether this has been successfully done, I think the answer all around is not-really-no, but I'm really only familiar with AM.)

Ashani

Who would be afraid to be in the room with Ahkan? He's a pushover.

Xiomara

It is quite possible to play a pacifist. I play one in Antioch and have never run into any problems. 

Iniar

Xiomara said:

It is quite possible to play a pacifist. I play one in Antioch and have never run into any problems. 

The definition of pacifist. Right there.

Ashani

The problem with that is that problems will come to Antioch whether you're a pacifist or not.

Ahkan

Pacifism could be a cool role in a certain environment. Imperian is not that environment. Imperian is 90% a pk sandbox that goes out of it's way to cater to pvp, pvp, pvp. Every major system is built with a pvp spin to it, despite the fact that pve out numbers pvp at this point. Most of the interesting things in this game center around taking an aggressive stance against something.  There's not enough support staff rp, political intrigue, or faith roleplay to make up for you being a limp noodle when it comes to hostilities. All things being equal, we're going to glorify the guy who chooses to play a ridiculous game of whack-a-mole now and then. You're imposing an artificial cieling on your character and its development when you choose pacifism in Imperian.

Iniar

Unless you wield a really big stick and know how to use it. Then you could really 'role-play' a pacifist.

Ultrix

Ahkan said:

Pacifism could be a cool role in a certain environment. Imperian is not that environment. Imperian is 90% a pk sandbox that goes out of it's way to cater to pvp, pvp, pvp. Every major system is built with a pvp spin to it, despite the fact that pve out numbers pvp at this point. Most of the interesting things in this game center around taking an aggressive stance against something.  There's not enough support staff rp, political intrigue, or faith roleplay to make up for you being a limp noodle when it comes to hostilities. All things being equal, we're going to glorify the guy who chooses to play a ridiculous game of whack-a-mole now and then. You're imposing an artificial cieling on your character and its development when you choose pacifism in Imperian.

As a follow up to this point - most (if not all) guilds and organizations will try to have some sort of advancement 'path' that is geared towards combatants. The problem, however, is going to be that getting recognition for the work that your character does that is not fighting-related is, quite frankly, really hard to do, because for the most part, many of those activities are things that people would be doing anyway (gaining levels, doing quests, helping novices). So while it is certainly possible to RP a pacifist, the tradeoff is that you'll likely find yourself running against the wall of "why does so and so get city/guild favoured for going out to fight but no one favours me for running 80 billion caravans" or something like that. Unless your character doesn't care about 'advancement' in an org, and then I guess it really doesn't matter so much.

Delrayne

The problem with the pacifist role in my opinion isn't the fact that this game is so pvp oriented per se`. It's the fact that if you are a self proclaimed pacifist, then you can really only do one thing for experience, and really only about half of that one thing. And that's quests.  Only the quests that don't require you to do any harm to anyone or anything, either. So if you are going to be a 'true' pacifist, then you better have some serious dedication to stick to it, otherwise anyone who sees you out bashing or doing a quest that requires you to kill something is just going to immediately lump you in to the "they are lying about being a pacifist" pacifist. Which in turn will get you killed and or  yelled at for not participating during the next city raid.

Xiomara

Being a pacifist does not mean anti conflict. I've played for want to say since 2006? And every character I've played has not participated in pk and it did not ruin my enjoyment of the game in any way. I did not feel cut off. I take that back I did participate in pk once when everyone was made omni trans for a world game.

You can be a pacifist. Don't let anyone turn you away if it's something you want to do.

Menoch

I think the key thing to remember here is what everyone seeks from logging in is going to be inherently different.

Being a pacifist even in the traditional (for Imperian) Shallahite sense is probably okay as long as you're getting online and having your interactions have the meaning you are looking for. It discounts quite a few things for your character though, that the vast majority of players are actively seeking to some degree or another here, which is why you have so few people ITT saying "Pacifists are fun and awesome".

/$.02

Delrayne

Perhaps we should change this from pacifism to anti-pk. Both are completely different and one is inherently easier to swallow IC based on the inherent game play to progress your character.

Iniar

Ultrix said:

As a follow up to this point - most (if not all) guilds and organizations will try to have some sort of advancement 'path' that is geared towards combatants. The problem, however, is going to be that getting recognition for the work that your character does that is not fighting-related is, quite frankly, really hard to do, because for the most part, many of those activities are things that people would be doing anyway (gaining levels, doing quests, helping novices). So while it is certainly possible to RP a pacifist, the tradeoff is that you'll likely find yourself running against the wall of "why does so and so get city/guild favoured for going out to fight but no one favours me for running 80 billion caravans" or something like that. Unless your character doesn't care about 'advancement' in an org, and then I guess it really doesn't matter so much.

Hrm. <- (that is the sound of another hare-brained scheme)

Jules

I almost forgot about this thread, and it grew while I was in school.  Lots of insightful comments here.  Even though Imperian is very PK-oriented, people seem to be very well-behaved, and even as things stand, we do have some people who don't want to be involved in combat at all.  This kind of player can help make our WHO list look healthier, buy credits, and buy all those familiars and vanity pets languishing on promo market!  

Mathiaus

There are moments when some of us tantrum, for sure, but the majority of the time everyone is pretty cool about things. Just a matter of how one pk's too. Some people only do groups, which is fine. The ToA that rolls around yearly is pretty nice for us 1v1 seekers, and I wish smaller portions of it would appear on a regular basis as pushing for arena events feels like squeezing water from a rock.