Gobbocast Episode 7 - A social Being...

Welcome back, Goblinoids! In this episode, Krow got to sit down with Being and discuss a few of the past blogs. Our entire crew was very blown away with the insight Being brought to the table. Running roughly 38 mins, this interview will have you second guessing what you know about mankind, gaming, and alignment to say the least. A special thanks to Being as there were some hiccups in the post production of this interview. Enjoy!

Click here for the interview

It has been a pleasure working with you folks. Thank you for the opportunity, and for your service to the community.

The pleasure was ours, sir. Thanks again.

Great job, Being, of bringing some of the better philosophies of PFO to clarification as well as some general philosophies of life! You are very well spoken, Sir.

Thank you Areks for another great Gobbocast and facilitating the vehicle for word to spread about PFO.

Being,

Thank you for the wonderful interview. It was a delight and an honor to speak with someone of your caliber, and I look forward to many more interviews as we get closer to launch!

- Krow

My apologies Krow. You are a great interviewer and deserve a shout out for that also! =D

Excellent interview. One point of contention, is that Bandits will most likely not be Neutral Evil as Being suggested, but Chaotic Neutral.

Not only does the definition of Chaotic Neutral fit bandits better, but the game mechanics suggested by GW will steer them that way:

Outlaw Flag (Chaotic) + SAD (Neutral, avoidance of killing).

Other than that, I agreed with much of what Being had said.

No worries Bringslite! It was more fun than work, to be honest, and I hope he'll come back for more as more PfO information comes about.

Excellent counter point, Bluddwolf! But what if you end up killing, more often than you think? Chaotic Evil would be the result... would it not?

Very interesting to have a voice to use when reading his posts. Being, you contribute a great deal and I now can see more clearly where that comes from.

I'm sorry but stealing and extortion is still evil. No matter how much you point out what you don't do. So I agree with Being on the bandit alignment.

I'm sorry but stealing and extortion is still evil. No matter how much you point out what you don't do. So I agree with Being on the bandit alignment.

I feel the exact same way. In game, however, you will be able to see where you are on the different axis and "manipulate" your alignment with other actions. Unfortunate, but I can't see much alternative.

I'm glad this one found its way to us.

I think a good 40 minutes for Being to get it all out there every few months will do us all some good:

"I know I've gotten off-track, but then that's my specialty *hearty chuckle*"
=P

I've been looking forward to this, thanks.

I'm sorry but stealing and extortion is still evil. No matter how much you point out what you don't do. So I agree with Being on the bandit alignment.

*winces*

Please, let's not make this another alignment thread

EDIT: Wow, this was even better than I expected. I do hope Krows and Being get another chance to do this again soon.

laffs: 34:30 + 35:15

As a non-american, I really liked the comments about cultural mixing and evolution.
Being, I like your 'outside perspective' on the game. I sure see games differently now than I did 20 years ago, but you seem to be another 5-10 years ahead of me.

I think that the focus will be more on settlements rather than alignments. I imagine that there will not be any pan alignment organisations and that conflicts will on occasion have far more than three protagonists. Alignment need not be an overriding concern when aligning ones settlement with another but rather how trustworthy the settlements concerned are in the prevailing circumstances.

With regard to TN settlements there will be enough druidy folk about to start their own TN settlement. I would hope that in time there will be structure skins available for natural tree hugger types, people can call their settlements anything they choose, including 'grove'.

With regard to traders and mediators I imagine that the politics will be localised so rather than TN been required to transact with polarised alignment camps different settlements will take on those roles depending on the geography and politics of the circumstance. I don't think alignment need be related to trustworthiness, surely honoring is more relevant but metagame considerations would probably trump that too.

/crawls back into the dark corner from whence he came.

I've been waiting for this one to come out ever since the interview was done...and now I don't have the time to listen. I've just enough time for a shower this morning, and then I'm off to Washington D.C. with students for 5 days...

In the words of another great philosopher and deep thinker (Charlie Brown) - "Arrrrg!"

Well enjoy our Capitol, Hobs, and teach well. Be safe.

Three points to make:

@Kakafika, most of the Podcast was about alignment, so it stands to reason that this would be dicussed here.

Also, most of the aligment debates (recent) came after this Podcast was recorded.

@ Areks, to your questions... "yes, maybe and no" but not in that partricular order.

The suposition was made that Bandits would likely be NE. The game system would counter that with its mechanics, as I pointed out above. So we can rule out NE as a probable aligment for bandits.

As for Chaotic Evil being possible, of course it is. Desirable, in some cases yes. Can it be avoided, yes it can.

Multiflagging is one method I hope to test out. If a Bandit company / raid party is multiflagged (Outlaw, Assassin, and Traveler) and each plays their role, then the overall outcome would be mixed alignment results for all of the raid participants.

@ Being....

I have had the pleasure of being a member of, and even holding a leadership position in, two predominantly European guilds.

In TSW, you would probably know of The 7th Legion. Not only were they a European society, but they also had the largest number of female officers and general members I have played with in any MMO.

I also played with the Minmatar Death Squad, also a European coporation in EVE Online.

The main difference I noticed in serving in both of these guilds, as compared to "North American" guilds, was that they developed an extensive backstory and theme for their groups. This was particularly true for the 7th Legion.

I don't look at the differences between "American" run guilds vs. European run guilds as being anchored in structure or goals, but more so in just "flavor". The difference is much the same as when you have several women in your guild. They bring a different perspective, tone and attitude. That is not necessarily a positive or a negative, just different.

@Bluddwolf - I agree that NE bandits are unlikley. With the CN to CE shift, I was alluding to the possibility that you may encounter more "standing" than "delivering".

As far as this thread goes, as long as what is being discussed is relavant to the episode of Gobbocast and it remains civil, I have no problems with anyone's discussion. That's kind of why it's here.

-Areks

@Bludd But we already have 5 new threads in which to discuss alignment each week... ='(

I was being more specific, though. There was 'that' statement (quoted) about what is considered evil/chaotic. I get the feeling that that discussion has been going on since the alignment system was conceived.

It's a fine discussion to have (again, and again... =P) but we already know the answer in regards to PFO: Stealing is Chaotic, not Evil, in our world.

You have to take some facts about alignment in hand before you can have a discussion about what alignment you believe bandits will be in PFO.

And I don't consider that sort of a discussion to be an 'alignment discussion,' nor off-topic, of course. The podcast did not touch at all on what is (or should be) considered evil or chaotic.

I've added a Gobbocasts lists to Guild Recruitment & Helpful Links.

I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but the reaction definitely makes me anxious to do so.

It is much appreciated Nihimon.

You are in for a real treat when you do listen!

And Kakafika, that is also a very valid point (Chaotic not Evil) which is something that could be more defined by the devs as it relates to the River Freedoms... "You have what you hold". I'm really curious to see how much of a role the Freedoms will play in PfO.

To my point, the instances where bandit victims Stand as opposed to Deliver would in turn lead to the killing of innocent PCs and shift Bandits towards the evil spectrum. Of course, we won't see how much of this actually applies until EE.