OK Time to put my money where my mouth is. I have no idea if this is what you wanted. Please feel free to rip it apart, I'm tough, I can take it.
Too long? Too short? Completely missed the point? Help me out here
• Mutual Respect
An ode to fairplay and some thoughts against cheating.
Hmm..A long poem about fair play and not cheating. OK but it won't rhyme.
It's a bit difficult this one as most of what you need to know about this subject probably has been supplied by the previous chapters.
Part of the problem is that Illarion is a game without end (Hopefully). With a normal game you "Win" when you have achieved what you were supposed to and got your reward. There is no winning in Illarion, there is no goal, no final reward, so people often substitute this end goal with trying to be the best at everything. This is the wrong way to look at it. You should think of Illarion as almost being like the Sims (no, come back and sit down again, it's not that bad). Your object in Illarion is to have your character live a life. The good thing is it can be any life, and you're not ruled by a clock. For once you don't have to be a warrior or a powerful mage, though you can be if you want to. You can be almost anything your imagination can create.
Mutual Respect.
This does not mean everyone being nice to everyone else.
On the boards it means realising that we are all different people, of different ages, from different parts of the world and with different beliefs. The other person thinks they are as right as you do. You might, through reasoned argument, persuade them to change their minds, or you might not. Getting personal will not make things better. Consider the other persons point and accept or reject it. Sometimes you will have to agree to disagree it doesn't mean you've lost. The boards are not a competition. Read what you write in a posting and think about if it adds anything to the discussion. If it doesn't then don't post it. Many's the time I've written a post only to Back page out of it.
In the game it means giving other people a chance to shine. Not taking centre stage away from someone just because you can. Understanding that someone's idea of Roleplay might differ from yours. By all means discuss the differences but be prepared to learn as well as teach.
How do you play fair? I'm trying hard not to write a list of DON'TS.
Firstly you need to understand your character and be true to it. It's natural to want to push your character and see what can be done. It's human nature to explore and try new things. This is not a bad thing, but always remember "who" your character is and play that life. Even if your character has the ability to do something for someone, don't do it unless it fits in with your character's story, no matter how much gold or glory is involved.
Your character interacts with other characters in the game. It is unaware of the player behind the character. This means your character would never bury an axe in another characters head because of what the player said on one of the boards.
Misuse of in game items is to be avoided. This is not playing fair and is bordering on cheating.
Examples of misusing things :
Drinking potions while fighting or performing an action that would make it difficult or unwise to do so.
Using the cross to make you fit and ready for action again. The Gods grant you the spark of life but your body is still injured.
Using objects for a use it could not be used for. Such as trapping creatures with breakable objects. Or using unsuitable objects for weapons.
Why not cheat?
We've all got games and I'm sure at some time we've had "help" to get past a certain level, boss or whatever. This is to get to the end and finally claim your prize. As mentioned before there are no prizes in Illarion. If you cheat you may well get to be a grandmaster in all things quickly, or own all the rare items but why bother. The game of Illation is to grow a character and interact with others. There is no cheat that will help you do this. Cheating in Illarion is like getting a new game, putting in a cheat code at the start which takes you straight to the end and gives you all the rewards. Yes you got to the end but you missed the game.
One of the things I like about Illarion is you don't have to be a great and powerful anything. You can be a normal run of the mill person and still have plenty of fun and adventures.
I don't consider working hard at your chosen profession to be cheating, boring perhaps but not cheating. Taking advantage of bugs or technical hiccoughs is cheating.