Report 1575

Report #1575
Skillset: Skill: Fires/Vines
 Org: Hartstone Status: Completed Dec 2016
Furies' Decision:
Solution 1.
Problem: Fire and vine spreading "conflict" mechanics do not increase
participation in active conflict mechanics or create incentives to engage with
other players. As these disruptive mechanics spread automatically from a single
attacker, long after that attacker was present, it takes a small investment of
time with zero risk on the part of a provocateur to tie up resources or large
amounts of time and effort on the part of 'defenders'. Combined with Avenger
mechanics, this encourages 'hit-and-run' terror tactics with no goal besides
disrupting play in affected territories. The only potential deterrant against
rampant fire/vines starting is the promise of mutually assured destruction,
which itself is problematic for at least three reasons. First, as mentioned
these mechanics encourage hit-and-run so it's not necessarily clear who started
the disruption. Second, it potentially implicates an entire half of the game who
had no hand in creating the problem and who don't necessarily have any tools to
prevent their own faction members from doing so because... Third, MAD is at the
organizational level and the people who set off fires/vines tend to do it purely
for the troll factor, just to disrupt and control other people's play. Incident
after incident has proven that these players will continue to be disruptive no
matter what org they are in and no matter what sanctions come down on their
heads from said org, provided they can be identified at all. Throw into that the
disjunction between orgs (like Serenwilde) who would in character love for their
enemies to be overrun by vines and players who recognize that these mechanics
are awful, pointless wastes of fellow player's time and energy and you have an
all around bad time. These mechanics need to become actual points of engagement
for players who want to make attacks on prime territories or go away.
[A:10 R: 4] Solution #1: Remove spreading vines. Remove Meteor Storm's fire
 starting. Remove the spreading of any other
 player-started fires (Gaudi candle, dragon gauntlets).
[A: 1 R:10] Solution #2: Solution 1. In addition: Create a new power for
 Champions and Security called "Incursion". This costs
 the user's nexus 2000 power to start a 'fire' or
 spreading vines on a prime org territory and notes
 the user's names in the logs of the attacked
 territory. Fires and vines may be spread with a 6s
 channel, 10p from the edge of the incursion radius,
 extending the radius by 5 rooms out from the casting
 room. The discretionary powers that counter
 fires/vines slow the advancement to 3 rooms and
 slowly dispel the incursion effect from rooms that do
 not contain a member of the org performing the
 incursion. Incursion effects deal damage and a brief
 off-balance effect when they tic. Inside of an
 Incursion, normal avenger rules do NOT apply. The
 incursion ends if there are no rooms from which it
 can be spread. After the end of an incursion, no
 other incursion may be started in that territory for
 7 IG months.
[A: 1 R:10] Solution #3: Do Solution 1 immediatly. Implement solution 2 as
 time permits.
Player Comments:
---[Wobou on 12/4 @ 05:06 writes]:
I think I'm okay with solution 1. I'm not sure of solution 2 necessarily solves
the full problem, it makes it clear who 'attacked' you but I'm unsure what
benefit it would add. I would propose another solution: allow abilities to start
fires but prevent them from spreading or limit their spread to one adjacent
room. That way if someone wants to light a whole area on fire they have to
invest significantly more time than they currently do.
---[Enyalida on 12/6 @ 03:30 writes]:
The point is that it gives an outlet to people who want to start fights on
Prime, but in a way that holds them accountable to the victimized org in terms
of removing anonymity and forcing them to put themselves at risk AND too their
own org as it costs power to start. It lets someone light an entire area on fire
(and create a lot of mayhem besides) but they have to basically constantly be
involved with it and put forwards not only org power but personal power and
time. I'm not really okay with fires spreading at all with how quick, easy, and
anonymous it currently is to start fires. If ANYTHING, fire starting - if
utterly necessary for some inscrutable reason - should function as described in
report 1044's solution 1 but as an organizational power with the requisite notes
in the perpetrator's org logs AND the victim's logs. Anything else is not okay.
---[Enyalida on 12/6 @ 03:30 writes]:
And that sucks.
---[Aeldra on 12/6 @ 10:10 writes]:
How about giving each org a denizen who is on 'fire/vine watch' and will record
the name of people meteoring / starting fires in the ord in the relevant org.
Make that denizen sit atop some sort of tower/tree. Would keep the mechanic as
such, but would make people accountable. Additionallmy may want the denizen
shout 'fire/vines' to CT.
---[Enyalida on 12/6 @ 13:55 writes]:
That wouldn't solve any of the essential problems regarding time and effort
required to start/end fires or vines. At that point you might as well put a note
in the logs as noted.
---[Tremula on 12/18 @ 16:16 writes]:
I don't particularly care for any of these solutions. Not supported.
---[Enyalida on 12/18 @ 18:46 writes]:
Alternate solutions?