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Just a question for all the other faction leaders, but is it common that your faction will be running along on 60% inactivity of members? That only 4 or 5 members will constantly be active and stick with the faction? Or am I the only lucky bugger that gets this wonderful scenerio most of the time?

I just notice I have a large list of characters who are actually in the faction, but most of them are inactive.

This is fairly common.

Selvec Darkon wrote:

Just a question for all the other faction leaders, but is it common that your faction will be running along on 60% inactivity of members? That only 4 or 5 members will constantly be active and stick with the faction? Or am I the only lucky bugger that gets this wonderful scenerio most of the time?

I just notice I have a large list of characters who are actually in the faction, but most of them are inactive.

shadowflames were running at 90% inactivity so your not alone, just need to lash them so they log on.

Currently, my faction is in the same sort of situation. We have about five active members out of a bunch of ten. Most of it is because the players aren't playing on Amia, currently, though, and are enjoying RL. Is yours with alt-itis, or similar? You have me curious.

In my experience, I've seen a rather solid core of four to six that tends to stick around come hell or high water. The rest tends to fluctuate.

So, no, you are not alone.

4 or 5 sounds good to me actually..heh. so nope, not alone.

Alt-itis probably. There is no cure yet.

There is a cure. Have your faction do things.

762 wrote:

There is a cure. Have your faction do things.

Interesting things at that.

Many reasons for this. I've been faction leader, too and have several characters in other factions.
I'll list some of the main problems i've observed here.
1. General activity of players. Real life etc.
2. Alts are one of the main reasons. Many people grow bored with playing the same char all the time.
3. The entertainment factor over a long time period is also very important.
4. Players and/or their characters have or get indifferences with the faction and its goals and other members.

To keep a faction running you need an active leader and preferable some subleaders who represent him and keep the mob entertained. Frequently recruit to nullify the loss of members who go inactive. The more presence a faction shows the more other players get attracted by it.

Burningoutbright wrote:

Currently, my faction is in the same sort of situation. We have about five active members out of a bunch of ten. Most of it is because the players aren't playing on Amia, currently, though, and are enjoying RL. Is yours with alt-itis, or similar? You have me curious.

I'm not sure. I lost contact with half of them. I know a few have RL stuff. But a good number just disappered for no reason, maybe left Amia.

It's really weird.

@762: Not a cure at all. Even at our most active, which was during the conflict with the Banites, only two or three of us where actually active. A few turned up for events, but not many more.

I'm trying a newish approach, so far it's sorta going well, sorta not. Basically I want my faction members to take the intiative and do things, or get the faction involved in things. I mean, faction members are characters, but they are also players. Players with creativity you know. As much creativity thats put into making a character should be put into playing them and interacting with the faction they are apart of.

I mean, being a faction leader shouldn't really mean you have to mother your members after all, provide them with entertainment as if they are children. Members should be willing to help create entertainment as much as us provide it.

Admittingly I haven't done much in the way of providing any entertainment of late for my faction, IC stuff such as assignments and upcoming exams are kicking my ass. But I kinda still wonder at the sudden drop soon as the activities slow down. It can feel a bit like a betrayal, you put all that effort into these players and their characters, and they just dump it at the first sign that you may not be around to cater for them 24/7.

But I look at the War Knights member list for example, see around 18 players or so, and notice that most of them joined the faction, then only popped up once or twice, or didn't pop up at all. I'm just kinda happy that though my factions current active members are small in number, they are really loyal and willing to help develop the faction as much as I am.

Something just seems kinda wrong about having a faction with 20+ members, but only ever seeing four or five on.

Selvec, hows the spread of active/inactive members that you asked on an OOC level to join? Another crux beside the Alt-itis is asking buddies to join your faction.

hendrack wrote:

Selvec, hows the spread of active/inactive members that you asked on an OOC level to join? Another crux beside the Alt-itis is asking buddies to join your faction.

I don't ask anyone to join OOC. Most OOC thing that happens with our recruitment is people get in contact with me via PM and I may state a time.

I don't believe in OOC recruiting, such as asking buddies to join. Most of the people in the faction I barely talked to before they joined. Some I didn't even get along with, even once they did join. I try to keep the faction as RP as possible in that sense.

It might be that I'm a big fan of using the forums to communicate and deliver some IC stuff, and maybe people don't check the forums very often, expecting to catch me IC. Being a student, there are times when I've not been on for a few weeks. I generally appoint someone else as temporarly in charge, or in one case when I was going to be away for a month, my character stepped down as leader.

It probably doesn't help either that the War Knights aren't exactly well known for what it is they do. Heck I'd be surprised is anyone knew what it was they do, other then get into fights.

You're definitely not alone. I've never lead any factions on Amia, but I've been in a few of them/been close to a number of them and have seen it first hand.

As a faction leader, I think there is a certain level of having to provide entertainment and create a reason for your faction members to be enthusiastic, which is ironically draining sometimes. I know what you mean about having players take initiative even when the faction leader isn't around. It's difficult sometimes, but sometimes it helps if you start them off with things that are actively going on, to create a sense of accomplishment if they do something, and then eventually have that effort amount to something. Sort of an, "If I do X, then Y and Z happens, and I want Y and Z to happen because of something I did."

I think that is why it's popular for formerly inactive members to show up for events when things are going on. They feel like contributors towards something that is happening with the faction. Sometimes, though, it is just to be involved with something action-y without much initial effort. After all, who wants to put effort into a game when it may not pan out?

What I've had some luck doing (I hope) is making a vague kind of outline. Guard forum has a sticky where we post criminal reports, and the rest of the forum is littered with "files" on some groups-- Banites, Red Wizards, etc., and "Look what I found!" or arrest warrants/assignments. It's easier to contribute to something that is already established by the faction leader.

Burningoutbright wrote:

As a faction leader, I think there is a certain level of having to provide entertainment and create a reason for your faction members to be enthusiastic, which is ironically draining sometimes. I know what you mean about having players take initiative even when the faction leader isn't around. It's difficult sometimes, but sometimes it helps if you start them off with things that are actively going on, to create a sense of accomplishment if they do something, and then eventually have that effort amount to something. Sort of an, "If I do X, then Y and Z happens, and I want Y and Z to happen because of something I did."

I think that is why it's popular for formerly inactive members to show up for events when things are going on. They feel like contributors towards something that is happening with the faction. Sometimes, though, it is just to be involved with something action-y without much initial effort. After all, who wants to put effort into a game when it may not pan out?

What I've had some luck doing (I hope) is making a vague kind of outline. Guard forum has a sticky where we post criminal reports, and the rest of the forum is littered with "files" on some groups-- Banites, Red Wizards, etc., and "Look what I found!" or arrest warrants/assignments. It's easier to contribute to something that is already established by the faction leader.

We have all that. The Order of the Flaming Blade forum has a wealth of information and posty things. Recently added a "Kill on Sight" list as well as a few other things. But the sticky bit is looking a little crowded, don't want to add to much more.

As for providing entertainment, well I don't think I can be accused of having not done that in the past. One of the biggest issues for the War Knights is that we are based on the dogma of a god that literally has bugger all direction or goals. Tempus has no overarching goal above all else that drives people to join the War Knights. Cordorian Adventuring Guards has keeping the law and peace. Triad has beating down the bad guys. Evil groups like the Banites had the basic goal of beating down the good guys. Even with any complicated things, there is a basic attractive goal to join the faction. But with the War Knights, it's something I've struggeled to find. To fight isn't a goal. You can fight doing anything. War Knights don't protect. Attacking everyone would certaintly be a short life time.

It makes it very hard to attract players, since what the War Knights stand for isn't an immidiatly obvious thing to potential members. Hell I lead the faction and it's not an immediatly obvious thing to me most of the time. It's also hard to keep the new idea's flowing. I originally stepped down as leader partly because I was having trouble thinking up new things for us to do. But it almost ended the faction, and resulted in me having to take back over. Tempus and the Red Knight have no high goal to achieve honestly. Kinda like Mask and a few other less popular gods.

I will continue to lead the War Knights as long as it's members want me as the leader, but I simply find it harder and harder each month to come up with things to make people active, and in the past I've felt like I've carried the faction on my shoulders alone. You shouldn't feel like that, thats what members are for. I don't feel like that now thanks to a small group of fantastic players that joined the faction, but you should still never feel like your carrying the entire faction on your back right? I mean, surely the player has a responsability to be active as much as the leader has to provide some goal and sense of direction.

Mmhm. I agree. It should be a shared effort, just with the faction leader providing guidance and supervision when necessary. Pulling strings and what not, for organization. One idea I've toyed around with was one day having a PC write an "Art of War" book with battle strategies for various areas, if you get into PvP there, or a collect of maps with strategies mapped out onto them. I'm not sure how effective that would be, since PvP doesn't come down to grand-scale strategy most of the time, and we have so few wars, that the effort may not be appreciated... but it certainly sounds interesting and attractive.

I suppose it's just my ideal view. Tempusians and Red Knights should be the ultimate war machines and be the go-to people for when you need a war adviser or tactician to ensure victory. That'd be nice to see, if that was a feasible role for someone to fill. Renown and reputation is awesome.

Burningoutbright wrote:

Mmhm. I agree. It should be a shared effort, just with the faction leader providing guidance and supervision when necessary. Pulling strings and what not, for organization. One idea I've toyed around with was one day having a PC write an "Art of War" book with battle strategies for various areas, if you get into PvP there, or a collect of maps with strategies mapped out onto them. I'm not sure how effective that would be, since PvP doesn't come down to grand-scale strategy most of the time, and we have so few wars, that the effort may not be appreciated... but it certainly sounds interesting and attractive.

I suppose it's just my ideal view. Tempusians and Red Knights should be the ultimate war machines and be the go-to people for when you need a war adviser or tactician to ensure victory. That'd be nice to see, if that was a feasible role for someone to fill. Renown and reputation is awesome.

I think Calin's already got a rep now as the go to guy as a general when it comes to war. But the issue with the War Knights being ultimate war-machines is that it's so easy to beat the war classes with a simple mage or cleric build. You play a WM if I remember correctly, all the appropriate classes for War or classes that suit a Tempurian/Red Knight based faction can easily be trumped and smashed by most other classes of the same level, Amia is just not built for a basic fighter or WM in PVP. They end up relying heavily on magic item and potions, basically faking mage abilities to have a chance.

To be a unbeatable warrior, you need to have the cheesiest cheese build that ever did cheese, or a wizard, and I just don't see a Tempurian/Red Knight faction full of wizards. Two or three wizards I can deal with, but I don't think I'd accept any more then that, otherwise it's not a Tempurian/Red Knight faction anymore. Thats another point of pain that causes inactivity for my faction at least, we are meant to be a war faction, but we are severly stunted by having mostly fighters. Nobody likes to join a faction that's devoted to the god of war, only to lose most battles because your faction appropriate build simply sucks against most other classes.

But anyway, I think this is going a bit off topic. Well I have the answer at least. It's nice to know that I'm not the only faction leader who is struggling with keeping members active. Maybe this thread will give people a bit more of an insight into how much of an uphill battle it can be, being a faction leader.

I can empathize with both of you, as it was a constant drain for me. It literally felt like a full time job.

The one thing I can tell you is when you get subordinates who are good at taking initiative and getting others involved in stuff, they are worth their weight in gold. Hold onto them, even if you have to bribe them. :p

I'm not sure what else to tell you regarding the War Knights. I've never really understood the purpose/goal of the faction myself, and I think that is a big part of your problem, as you seem to realize.

I will say though you are mistaken about WM's not being the leet shiz in PvP. With the new nerfs that's more true now than it ever was.

Selvec Darkon wrote:

@762: Not a cure at all. Even at our most active, which was during the conflict with the Banites, only two or three of us where actually active. A few turned up for events, but not many more.

Actually that was only because they didn't want to have to fight Vick when he was a banite, it was common for people to fear him

Heh, I've only been on amia about a year now but even in that time span it looks like the server runs in trends. IE, one day everyone will be generic ,evil, dress in black, example A, then a month later everyone is good, winged, and speaking celestial (obviously that's a bit of an exaggeration). Not that following trends is enherrantly bad, it just sucks for people who don't follow them ; ). Stick with one faction long enough and perspire to see it come back into popularity and I bet it will happen.

Last edited by IronAngel on Wed, Nov 03 2010, 22:46 PM, edited 1 time in total.

I've yet to see a server that doesn't have trends. In fact, I've yet to see any trend-free community in life.

I don't have much practical advice. I had the benefit of running an official faction every drow warrior was part of, so I didn't lack members. Thanks to the holistic and hierarchic nature of drow society, everyone had interests invested in their Melee-Magthere career, which was a good motivator. But consider this: a faction of 5 active and 15 semi-active members is still more active than one with 5 active and 1 semi-active member. Yes, it can be a drag and I'm sure you'd rather have more members. But just reward those who are active, give the core group authority and responsibility. It's lame with some old inactive PC logs on every now and then and throws his weight around (something I've been iffy doing with Kir'nack), but that can be prevented by giving weight only to those who're actually around. So what if you're a three-years-old PC with 30 levels? If that new level 10 has spent the last month working for the faction, he's got more say than you.

I do think it's good to have a core group of OOC buddies. That is, become buddies with your faction core, talk to them about where you want to go with the faction and what they want to do. Make them invested OOC. If you have 4 active people in roughly the same timezone, you hardly need any more. You've probably done all this and I'm just running my mouth, of course.

Hrothmus wrote:

Heh, I've only been on amia about a year now but even in that time span it looks like the server runs in trends. IE, one day everyone will be generic ,evil, dress in black, example A, then a month later everyone is good, winged, and speaking celestial (obviously that's a bit of an exaggeration). Not that following trends is enherrantly bad, it just sucks for people who don't follow them ; ). Stick with one faction long enough and perspire to see it come back into popularity and I bet it will happen.

Sounds like high school! It doesn't change out of their either. hehe The last server I played had so few factions so it there was a lot more people in the Factions who where active

Last edited by RaveN on Wed, Nov 03 2010, 22:25 PM, edited 2 times in total.

It's all up to the player really. If they enjoy their character while they're not being told what to do by a faction leader, they will play. If not, then no, they won't. IronAngel is right yet again, but I'm sure someone is going to be like ZOMG NO OOC FRIENDS K THX BAI, as it seems people get so extremely offended when any mention of the word 'recruit' and 'OOC' get put together. Heaven forbid two people meet up to create roleplay and it doesn't just happen by random coincidence. Maybe when all of the stars align, you'll have a perfect faction then. Until then, having fun is much better. Besides, it's only OOC recruitment if you don't roleplay it out and have a backstory for every character that is dynamic, creative, and interesting to engage in. In a sense, unless you're truly apathetic, or you designed a bot to take you through character creation, at least 1% of your character reflects a personal OOC decision you made anyways. Maybe a preferred deity, race, class, description; whatever it is, I challenge someone to tell me that 0% of their character wasn't contrived OOCly in their head.

TL;DR - People who enjoy playing their characters on their own play without you. People who don't, won't.

IronAngel wrote:

I do think it's good to have a core group of OOC buddies. That is, become buddies with your faction core, talk to them about where you want to go with the faction and what they want to do. Make them invested OOC. If you have 4 active people in roughtly the same timezone, you hardly need any more. You've probably done all this and I'm just running my mouth, of course.

This is pretty much BLACK's situation, small core of players I know OOC that work to keep the faction going plus numerous others that come and go to varying degrees. I too have experienced a lull recently, but I chalk it up to the time of year, people get burnt out over the summer and usually take a break until the winter holidays, at least that's the trend I've noticed thus far.

I've found that factions fluctuate in activity. You'll usually have a few dedicated, on-every-day, players. You'll have a few on-once-or-twice-a-week players and then you'll have a butt-load of come-on-when-something-good-is-happening players. The first two are what you want. The last section should, in my opinion, be pruned. There really is nothing more dissatisfying for me than having a ten characters I haven't seen in months magically pop up when something is going down, not having had any involvement in the faction whatsoever in a long time and just hoping to jump in and get a DC from a DM.

I also run the faction in a "you take initiative" way. If I have to set everything up and gift-wrap RP for people, then I'm working way too hard. Provide incentives for people to take charge and a few should step up. Like 762 said, those that do step up and take initiative are worth their weight in gold (and then some, if I may say) and should be kept around at all costs.

I immediately want to accuse inactivity in factions as a result of too many factions to begin with, and too many alts for players. It is a bit like the glut of media information we suffer with all of the mediums we have access to, in particular, the internet, a massive bulwark that is daunting enough to paralyze the casual researcher. But this is not a fair accusation, because it is in actuality both the treatment and the symptom.

762's simple answer is really the best, but "something to do" also tends to have to be "something interesting" to the people in the faction and, even more than that, "something worthwhile" that gives them a sense of accomplishment.

I am gratified to not have seen a single post in the thread saying that faction inactivity is the fault of the DMs. Therefore, I will say that DMs can play a role in factions having something to do. I will admit that I have at times custom-tailored something that will appear to a particular faction or to a couple of factions that need some motivation, but I struggle with doing this because there's always the horrible accusation of DM favoritism towards certain factions lurking out there, and my compassionate offer of "giving a faction something to do" will inevitably be construed as "giving a faction an opportunity to win or be better than other factions."

I've often considered merging with other groups to form a super group, but I honestly don't find any of the pre-existing groups fitting enough to meld with the War Knights. There are a few warrior groups out there, but they are generally the kind of "out for themselves" group, which is not what the War Knights are about. Then you have the other religious groups. Other then Hoar, none of them meld to well either. Most are either to good or to evil and wouldn't agree with some of the Dogma that the War Knights go by.

The big clincher is that Tempus himself is a big time god everywhere else in the realms, except Amia. He has masses of followers, and any group devoted to him is usually made up of Tempurians, Red Knights, Valkurians and Uthgardt. That in itself is a merged group. Those gods are infact the gods the War Knights accept members from. Which makes merging extremely hard.

I noticed the thread a while back where merging was spoken about, and the War Knights where tossed in with Cordor or the Horsemen or the Shadowflames. Knowing both those factions passingly well, I was shocked at the lack of understanding on part of the person who compiled that list. Those four groups have little in common in how they go about doing things. War Knights are religious, Cordor is...well...Cordor. The Horsemen are much more liberal in their choice of path, and the Shadowflames are nothing like any of the other three.

Then there is the biggest concern of all. The Order of the Flaming Blade (War Knights) is a really old faction, we've been around for a fair while long then most other factions present now and I have this ever present pressure on my back to NOT be the guy leading who lets the name die or get swallowed up. I got thrown into the position of Warlord before I was near ready to take it, and I have worked my ass off to get the War Knights back to some semblance of reknown and structure. I'd be devastated at this juncture to lose that name I've worked hard to bring back from near death, to be swallowed up and completely forgotten. I don't want to be that guy who got the faction dumped on him and then sold the name out. May be overreacting but it's not a legacy I want on my head.

I think the War Knights are fine as they are. Now, if a "church of Tempus" tried to establish itself as separate from the War Knights, I would just say, "Come on, be real, they're almost the same thing or can at least chill under the same blood-soaked umbrella."

Yossarin wrote:

I think the War Knights are fine as they are. Now, if a "church of Tempus" tried to establish itself as separate from the War Knights, I would just say, "Come on, be real, they're almost the same thing or can at least chill under the same blood-soaked umbrella."

As far as I know, we have always stated ourselves as the Official Branch of the Church of Tempus. War Knights is just a nickname, the official faction name is "The Order of the Flaming Blade", being the Order of the Tempurian Church which is present on Amia.

Not sure if it's ever been confirmed IC or anything, but it's certainty never been shot down. Though it's one of the reasons I wanted to send a message to the church and asked about it. Which reminds me I still need to get myself into a reasonable state of thought and send you that PM.

Yossarin wrote:

I immediately want to accuse inactivity in factions as a result of too many factions to begin with, and too many alts for players.

...nailed it!! I know there are two many factions and two many fly by night alts joning the latest 'oh that would be a good idea' faction then those players that are on another faction make alts to form it, this ooc'ly hurts that current faction if all the players are from the same one that want to form this new one. I'm also completely against OCC recruiting which to me leads to this. I've mentioned this before, I move, to set faction memberships to one or two max. per player. I only play two other alts besides my main and they're in a position where they can just come and go not having as much of a demand as say a faction commander that kind of indepth and intense rp I keep for my main and more than likely my alts won't be attending events. Since obviously during an event I should be logged on with my main. Make joining a faction a somewhat important decision since you only have two you can join...of course leaving and joining another one is the toons choice but still I'd say two max.

yeah alot of people have alts and they join groups and it messes with the numbers, I knew I never wanted alts because how can you reach Elminster,Larloch,Halaster levels of epic power IC if your playing the lives of 3 people for only afew hours a week each.

ALL HAIL SKELETOR!

Yup i decided I would play 3 Characters Max.. although I have made more than that I only play 2 at a time mostly. If one crosses the other plot wise.. I just retire one for a bit.

DM's -can- help. They can help a lot, if they are willing and interested. But ultimately the onus is on the faction to keep its members engaged.

It's a bitch of a task.

Thats why we never actually factionalised Djedet. It was more a loose affiliation with hendrack and myself on Mains and anyone wanting to play something different alt-itis style to come along for a month or so and then leave.

I do not think that it is a huge problem Selvec. The War Knights are indeed good as they are.
You have an advantage as well because there are a lot of random fighter/mercenary out there, who can be converted to follow tempus and become a war knight.
Inactivity is mostly periodical. In the TKs, it is mainly depending on the faction leader's activity.
I think that you just need an event which can give a focus point to the faction members or to the potential future faction members about the war knights.

my drow quellar was running at about 2 active members for a while, with one of them not really active on their quellar member as another PC of theirs was far more important.

However, it tends to by cyclic. our leader came back from hardware issues and I did some recruiting before he was back on, and now we are going strong. Had a day where there were 8 of us on at once I think. (which i consider very good for underdark)

I've been in 2 factions.
The first died off as we had no interaction with other members and no real leader to keep the group together.
The second has recently come under new leadership. Hoping for more organisation in the future.

What I'd like to see is any activity as a faction, like lets meet up at location W on day X at Y hrs to do Z.
If you're a faction leader, lead your members. Find things to do that your faction members will find interesting.

I'm going to turn that last post around a bit.

Faction leaders: Yes, lead your members, but also ask for feedback from members to see what type of things they -do- enjoy. Try to incorporate a bit of something for everyone into your activities.

Faction members: It's your responsibility to let your faction leaders know when things are no longer "fun" for you. Faction leaders aren't mind readers. If your faction leaders are stumped for ideas, help them out! Don't just go "it's your job to keep us busy" and expect them to do it all on their own.

And no, I'm not saying this to anyone in particular. It's a generalization meant for all of you out there.....and for myself, as well.

There are many factors which play a role in the activity of a faction, though from my experience there will always be a sinus curve of activity. There are some which are hard to explain and could become a discussion on its on, but I think the most straightforward and dominant ones are the following:

- New Idea
(New things always attract players, something they have not been a part of before and allows them to explore new things.)

- Faction Popularity
(If the faction is present and has quite a few members, more players will flock to it as it means a dependable source of roleplay.)

- Theme Popularity
(A banite faction will always find players more easily than say, a faction devoted to Grumbar. You can see that by how such factions repeat themself even if they die for some time, another younger sibling of it will pop right up. For instance the followers of Cyric and Bane, necromancers, mage guilds or druid circles.)

- Buddy Factor
(Having a core of dependable people that enjoy roleplay together gives a faction a stabilizing core, which means activity will seldom drop to zero and hence players can return after a short break and not find their faction completely inactive, which most often leads them to go to alt characters again until someone else gets it running.)

- Own initiative
(The more dependable players you have in a faction that provide roleplay to others from their own iniative and do not just wait for others to provide for them, the better it will run.)

- Location/Proximity to other factions
(If you are present in a town or city that by default has a lot of people arriving or passing it, like Bendir Dale, it is easier to keep a faction alive as roleplay is often provided. Different are places seldom visited, for instance Uhm. Also, a Shadowflame faction will have it easier to gain members in close proximity to the Hidden Glade, in comparison if they were stuck on Caraigh alone.)

- Talking
(As soon as a faction begins infighting because of lack of communication it quickly becomes stressful and people burn out.)

- Conflict oriented faction
(Conflict can provide a great source of activity and fun, but when it becomes repetitive and laced with ooc bickering people also quickly burn out.)

- DM Events
(As soon as dm events take place where your faction is involved, others will want to become a part of it, which raises the number of players around and often draws players from alt-characters back to the faction. Though if a faction needs to depend on such and it is not just a treat every now and then, there is a big problem on how it is working.)

MoshingChris wrote:

Thats why we never actually factionalised Djedet. It was more a loose affiliation with hendrack and myself on Mains and anyone wanting to play something different alt-itis style to come along for a month or so and then leave.

I miss old Khem. :oops:

@ The Topic.

Yes, After some brainstorming i must concur with Yossarin. There's to many factions and to few players. :cry:

I haven't got a single one pc who belongs to a faction. I think it brings too much enemies. I guess I should join somewhere at some point.

The Defenders of Kohlingen slowly faded because ClockworkRed had a far better idea and created the Triadic Knights which were a more evolved and enjoyable faction which replaced their use which was more time appropriate, putting the faction out of it's misery. House Arabett seized to exist when it was destroyed by another house back in Ultrinnan, as it came to be inactive and no one really could take over the faction, which was a great and fun event in which my matron mother character was betrayed and brutally murdered. House Vandree was destroyed as well when it had served it's purpose. There are smaller groups which start and dissapear like the followers of Bahamut, but they are not really worth mentioning. For me inactive factions leave a faction base on life support which should just be turned off to free up some space.

I think factions (outside groups like the Cordor Guard or Bendir Militia) which show a lack of activity for a very long time and seem to only be more or less vegetative in state should be forced to kick the bucket in a fun way for those who are still around. If the Eternal Order will fall down upon only one active member and two very inactive ones for a long time then why not allow amia to become less stagnant and make room for something new with a fun event? If five months later they would start up anew or a group which replaces them, like the TKs did the Defenders, then they can get their 10+ members over 2months and become a new faction with new ideas and new roleplay.

Good idea, Man.
I mean, it all boils down to the sad fact that we need to have 'Balls!' to Perma ourselves a little

While I sort of agree with Yossarin on there being too many factions and, especially, too many alts, I think people are looking at it the wrong way around. It's not that too many factions are being created. On the contrary, it's wonderful that there are lively trends. The problem is that they outstay their welcome. A successful faction doesn't have to gather 20 players and survive for a year or two. It's enough to get a small group and a distinct goal. You achieve your goal or you fail, and then you dissolve. Maybe even all your PCs die in a spectacular failure, going at your goal with reckless daring.

It's nice that there are some large, persistent factions with history. But there's absolutely nothing wrong with creating smaller groups with a narrow focus, groups that don't necessarily exclude membership in other factions. Don't cling to a faction that's fulfilled its purpose. Don't rely on life-support. Don't outstay your welcome!

Of course, this isn't helpful if you want to keep your faction alive. But you can hope other factions pick up the advice, go out in a bang, and you get more members. :wink:

As any faction leader can say, it can sometimes feel like a chore to just log in at times. In a way, it limits severely what you want to do in the game, because you must be at the disposal of your faction. If you are not in the mood for 'serious RP' or the like, it can make logging into your main a rather undesirable prospect . And, I have to echo what was said about feeling like being responsible for making sure others are having fun. It can be...not fun, at times. However, this is all limited by the initiative faction members take.

As for faction activity, some factions have an easier time recruiting and keeping members, due to the nature of them. Evil factions, for instance, seem to have an easier time in retention because by and large it is the evil factions that do things for the good guys to react to. Causing trouble is fun. And most good/neutral factions do not cause trouble, by their nature. There are some exceptions I can think of, however...

As for there being too many factions, well, I think it is ultimately a necessary evil. You are going to have certain factions because of lore, no matter what. You are gonna have Mystrans, you are gonna have paladins, you are gonna have War Knights, you are gonna have Banites, Sharrans, etc etc). Heck, there are six magic based groups/factions alone (not even touching drowland). Tarkuul, the dirty Reds, the Winyan elves' club, the Mystic Blade, the Honorable Serpent and the Mystrans. And these alone have enough to remain distinct and separate entities - if not at each other's throats - due to race, ideology, history/lore etc. And, we also have the limits based on NWN mechanics to contend with. What gives wizardly communities such importance does not apply in NWN - namely the necessity of learning magic, and magic being a lifelong pursuit to truly learn. In NWN, and on Amia, one can go from being a bumbling apprentice to POWERFULARCHMAGE in less than a week, without ever once even talking to a wizard of higher standing and education. Which limits what influence magic-y factions do have, RPly.

Anyway, /rant off.

KrautBoy wrote:

The Defenders of Kohlingen slowly faded because ClockworkRed had a far better idea and created the Triadic Knights which were a more evolved and enjoyable faction which replaced their use which was more time appropriate, putting the faction out of it's misery. House Arabett seized to exist when it was destroyed by another house back in Ultrinnan, as it came to be inactive and no one really could take over the faction, which was a great and fun event in which my matron mother character was betrayed and brutally murdered. House Vandree was destroyed as well when it had served it's purpose. There are smaller groups which start and dissapear like the followers of Bahamut, but they are not really worth mentioning. For me inactive factions leave a faction base on life support which should just be turned off to free up some space.

I think factions (outside groups like the Cordor Guard or Bendir Militia) which show a lack of activity for a very long time and seem to only be more or less vegetative in state should be forced to kick the bucket in a fun way for those who are still around. If the Eternal Order will fall down upon only one active member and two very inactive ones for a long time then why not allow amia to become less stagnant and make room for something new with a fun event? If five months later they would start up anew or a group which replaces them, like the TKs did the Defenders, then they can get their 10+ members over 2months and become a new faction with new ideas and new roleplay.

Looking to start something like that, not sure where to begin / how to collect people ICly/OOcly though.

I had my eye on a few evil factions when I first started playing but, alas, if it was a secretive organisation such as the Sharrans or Night Masks there's no deterrent to simply having some good guy sneak his way in and rat everyone out. I mean they could do it, and then what is the faction going to do in response? Kill them a few times? Probably a little off topic...

But do "good guy" factions not suffer the same dilemma, if they're at all secretive?

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