The in game section of the forums.

I see nothing wrong with the Nobles being able to roleplay being Noble. Yes, this means they can tell others what to do, comes with the job description ya know. What is a real adjustment for most larpers is that in a medieval society you play by medieval rules. There is rarely any democracy in such a society, nor are there considerations for basic human rights. There is no Declaration of Independence nor a Constitution. In this society there is not even an equivalent to the Magna Carta, which gave some medieval classes rights under the law. If being a Noble means anything it means being the representative of the King and his delegate in matters of running a small part of his kingdom. That hierarchy descends in progressively smaller parts until you get to the Knights whose purview is fighting war and administering the King's Justice. Yes, they can tell you to stop posting, yes they can run you through for speaking out of turn. If you have a problem with these things, either don't talk in their range of hearing, or avoid talking about things you know will cause you trouble. If you decide to ignore both pieces of advise, then enjoy your consequences.

I have played a noble in another game, for about a decade. Did I put my foot in my mouth, overstep my authority sometimes? Sure I did. Was I in peril of losing my rank and privilege when I did so, yes I was. Did the people who were irritated with me for being 'an arrogant noble' still come running for help when something happened? You bet your sweet bippy, and that happened constantly, at all times of day or night. So, my perspective is that you might not like a Noble, nor respect him personally, but if you need something done within his sphere of authority, you are going to have to suck it up. Which makes these high minded comments of basic rights and OOG courtesy kind of hypocritical really. You only treat a Noble with respect when you want something? Sure, that works for you I guess. :whistle:

The point is, to roleplay being in a medieval era, you would be trained to at least feign respect of Nobles, at all times, because your character would know with certainty that there are consequences for failing to. If you consciously choose to act with disdain towards Nobles, do not cry to anyone about what happens. What happens should be manifestly clear. At one point my character, being Lord Magistrate, was counted as the number one cause of player deaths, besting several double digit PC or NPC murderers. I am not proud of this, nor I think, are any Nobles in Travance to be put in that position. Being Noble is actually a sucky job, one which I purposely decided to avoid with my current character. But, its got to be done, and not only to suspend disbelief from our modern world to help everyone immerse themselves into a fantasy setting. It has to be done because without Nobles to keep the rest of us anarchist heathens in line, the game descends into tribal Lord of Flies type nonsense which severely detracts from a fantasy Larp setting.

Just my two cents, still love ya'll!

It is obvious some of you do not know me (my own fault, mostly, because I am not the type that toots my own horn), I have been LARPing since the late 80's and have been in every position a LARP has to offer from pee-on to creator and director of my own LARP. I fully understand how a medieval based LARP operates both in-game and out-of-game, and I am well versed in medieval history.

That said, some of you seem to be missing my point, I am not making an in-game argument, I have no issues with the forums from an in-game perspective. I am talking about what is happening from an out-of-game perspective. Please reread my original post with this in mind and let me know if you think I need to clarify it further, I would be happy to explain it more if need be.

My goal in all of this is to make people aware of what effect their actions on the forums are having with many people and to make the forums more enticing and enjoyable to everyone. As I have said previously, I know for certain of a handful of people (myself included) who do not post because of the current culture of behavior on the boards. One of these folks told me recently:

"I am afraid to post IG because everyone seems so uptight, but I think it would be fun to do so, and a cool way to interact with people I usually do not see in game"

That quote seems to be a sentiment I run into often enough to inspire me to speak up here. I speak up for 2 reasons:

1: In my capacity as a new player marshal, it is my duty to champion the voices of new players, so I do so in this case.

and

2: I have had extremely positive experiences with in-game forums in the past and I would like to have that experience here, not only for myself and my friends, but everyone.

Those forums did not have the bashing by nobles and post removals to the extent I see on these boards. Now I agree moderation is needed for things like vulgar profanity and offensive/inappropriate content, etc, but outside of that, let people post and role-play as they want with the understanding that people who post will reap what they sow and suffer (or benefit from) the consequences. Most reasonable people understand this and are OK with this, in my experience. From what I have seen lately on boards, things would settle down really fast on the forums after one or two heads are lawfully lopped off!!! :evil: :whistle:

James said something I want to emphasize: "Generally it is my hope that the players who play nobility will be sensitive to players on an OOG level as well as an in-game level regardless of RPing their character though this might not be the case 100% of the time, and tempers may flair in-game."

What James said means to me, that sometimes people who play nobility MUST act in a way that may not be "historically accurate" for the betterment of the game as a whole. In this case, I am talking about the forums.

Having played more than one "noble" for many years, as well as having or had positions of in-game and out-of-game authority at my own game and other games, including this one, I have learned that this is very true. It is often a difficult line to walk, but one that is required for the better of the game, IMO. I have always believed being a PC Noble in a LARP should carry in-game AS WELL AS out-of-game requirements and responsibilities. I have seen real life friendships and relationships destroyed over stupid things done by irresponsible and self serving PC's playing "nobles" in the past who acted without thinking about the consequences on the game as a whole.

I believe the PRIMARY duty of people who have been given the honour of a noble title at KR is to help those under their charge to have the best possible LARP gaming experience, (especially newer players) both in-game and MORE importantly, out-of-game. And in so doing make the KR game world better overall as a whole! Believe me, embracing this will have an huge positive effect on the entire game.

This is a game, we should all be here in the spirit of fun and fostering lifelong friendships. Some of the very best of my friends I have met along the long and winding roads of one imaginary world or other!


-JR

These are all very good observations, on both side of the argument. I feel like there is more than enough opinion to read here that there really is no need for more. Hopefully this discussion will help people on both sides of the fence become cognizant of the other viewpoint and in this understanding perhaps new or altered viewpoints could be adapted on either side. Thanks for the discussion guys.

Im locking the thread because I said in my last post I didn't want a huge debate and I feel that the viewpoints posted thus far are enough to give everyone plenty to think on. Thanks!