17 hours ago, f0xx said:
PK and RP is the same thing.
Respectfully, if they were, we wouldn't call them different things. They're both aspects of the game, they are the two primary ways that your character interacts with the world and other players, and they should inform and feedback into each other... but there's a reason that RP logs and PK logs have their own separate forums: each provides a different experience for the player (or log reader) and follows different mechanical rules regarding how they are handled by the game. Together they form the whole of the game, but they aren't the same thing any more than a combat session in D&D is the same as a session where we just chat in character as we bullshit around town. It's the same game we're playing in each session, but different aspects of it, and each aspect provides its own form of fun.
8 hours ago, Fool_Hardy said:
change has never presented us more new players than it has lost us regularly online players. I do care about the vets.
This, however, is I think the critical problem with introducing an RP-only tier to FL - what attracted many of us in the first place, and keeps many long-time players around, is the sort of grim-dark atmosphere where no-one is safe. That's FL's niche. FL would lose core players if that changes, and I don't see it gaining many in exchange... there are already plenty of other MUDs that have no-PK options, many with much larger current playerbases to interact with, and many of them already have robust RP-only gameplay features (classes, quests, faction roles, etc.) that cater to those options that FL would need a lot of work done simply to catch up to, much less surpass. What made FL unique has always been the combination of everyone being forced to participate in both RP and PK. If all you want is to bullshit around town chatting in character, you can do that in any number of places, and if all you want is to fight the same holds true. But FL is where you have no choice but to do both, at least to some degree. Take away that niche, and it becomes just another RP MUD with optional PK, and there are already plenty of those.
FL has problems when it comes to attracting and keeping new players, but the niche it fills isn't one of them.