A long time ago I played a game called Shadowbane, and one event that stays with me is that my best friend in the Guild Kingdom I was in was actually a spy from a neighboring guild full of fliers.
He blew his cover one day trying to recruit me, I didn't even think much of it at the time, but when I mentioned it to my guild mates it led to him being KoS and our kingdom going to war. We probably could have won, but he wasn't the only spy, and before the siege our best tank, a buffer/healer, and one of our Templars betrayed us. Either they had been recruited or were working with the enemy all along, either way out little castle fell and our tree was destroyed.
That may sound like the sort of thing that really sucks, and it did at the time, we invested a lot into building up the castle and getting all the trainers and crafting/merchants ect, but I loved the game for allowing that to happen. For two months I had been grinding with this guy and ganking one of our more PvP oriented nieghbors, and he'd been plotting against us the whole time, and afterwards his guild had a reputation that made the kingdoms north of us less than friendly to them.
One thing's for sure, I played Shadowbane a lot longer than I ever would have because of that experience, I hope Pathfinder offers similar intrigue.
That sounds like a lot of fun. In an "aw, crap" kind of way. :P
I certainly hope there will be infiltrations like that. I expect there will.
Goblin Squad Member
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That's one of the big ways in which "the players become the content" in a sandbox game.
EVE Online is legendary for that kind of double-crossing and spycraft. Considering the EVE influences that we've seen so far in PFO, I suspect that similar hijinks will be possible.
I hope, though, that most PFO chartered companies/settlements won't be quite as paranoid as EVE corporations tend to be. Once, when I returned to EVE after a short hiatus, one of my corp-mates remarked over voice chat that I must have gotten bored with spying for a rival corporation, and spent some time playing a character on the enemy side. The truth is, I wasn't spying for anyone. My hiatus from that corporation was a hiatus from the whole game. My out-of-game life had just gotten busy for a while.
I look forward to it :)
I'm going to be a double agent, no no, a TRIPLE AGENT!
I hope, though, that most PFO chartered companies/settlements won't be quite as paranoid as EVE corporations tend to be.
I'm sure they will be.
EVE corporations aren't paranoid because of anything intrinsic to Eve. They're paranoid because humans are paranoid! :P
I fully expect infiltration to be as rife in PfO as it is in Eve, this is why I pointed out in another thread that it was highly unlikely that there would be more than 2 or 3 at most members of a chartered company able to sign the company up to a settlement. That sort of power is only for the hands of the trusted.
I do not expect the same level of paranoia initially though, that will come after the first huge shock ripples through the community after a successful infiltration brings a well known settlement to it's knees
I hope that there will be more organic guilds personally, less ranked hierarchical ladder systems and more branches methods of advancing and such.
Like in a democratic guild, where leaders are elected, well you could get politicians just like in real life, they promise you hope and change then sell your entire kingdom to corporations and guilds or something :)
And if there are direct democracies, if someone wants to infiltrate and stir up the masses that would be interesting, a tragedy of the commons would simply make the game more enjoyable and engaging.
I really like the idea of hostile takeovers and stuff, the closer the game can come to real world politics to be living systems and the further it gets from the boring old system the better IMO, it'd be best if there were options to suit different kinds of players and different kinds of guilds though.
I've never understood why this doesn't get more attention in other MMO's, it sounds like all this time I should have been playing Eve.
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Goblin Squad Member
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How else am I supposed to get close to the leader of a larger settlement to put a dagger in his back? In my opinion most of the larger kingdoms / alliances will have quite a few guards and other precautions to assassinations. It may take a bit longer but it will probably work much better, and cripple the nation not just physically but also mentally. :D
