What amazes me is that the viewpoints of the players who are forced to deal with the Zuma regularly by dint of proximity are so consistently ignored, dismissed, poo pooed, or outright attacked on these forums. The point of the Zuma, presumably, is to add something to the player experience and hopefully not solely to provide some GM with a toy to play with for his own amusement. Given that fact, I would think that player feedback would be taken seriously.
I recognize that the natural reaction to criticism, especially when said criticism is not always delivered in a constructive manner, is to become defensive. However, this tendency also leads those who are being criticized to dismiss *all* criticism as invalid, when that's not the case. Clearly the manner in which the Zuma are run is a source of increasing frustration to the players who are having to deal with them. I would think that a review of why this is the case might be in order, along with some honest consideration of how the experience could be improved for everyone involved. After all, what's more important, the plot or the players? It sounds to me like the Zuma are losing the players. When players start throwing up their hands and talk about deleting their characters out of frustration, something isn't working. This is the point where I, as a GM running an RPG for some friends expressing this level of frustration, would be engaging in some serious introspection and reconsidering my entire campaign.
This is exactly what I'm talking about. I could not have better described my problem with the situation better than this.
As Glaumring has said, every realm around the Zuma are walking on eggshells. This is not only a not fun way to play, but it prevents further player interaction. Terran, for example, can't get involved in either the Lurian or Madinan conflict, even if it wanted to (which it may or may not). Wouldn't that be a funner interaction for the whole island rather than an incredibly powerful force exerting itself whenever it pleases. Here are some of the Zuma's demands of humans around it so far:
-do not insult us (this includes perceived insults and insults from secondhand sources)
-do not take a region surrounding our realm without our permission
-do not, under any circumstance, enter our lands without our permission.
All these infractions have been met with violent force from the Zuma. Huge, indefensible invasions of 10s of thousands of CS.
This paralyzes the game for all the players around the Zuma, and this is coming from a player who has no problem with BM's sometimes slow place. I have a friend I recently introduced to the game and this whole Zuma thing is not leaving him impressed.
Here's an interesting thing to consider as well, who are the chief people complaining about the tactics of the GM controlled Zuma? Players within geographic proximity of the Zuma who have been feeling frustrated for weeks. Who has been defending them? Players who have never had to deal with the Zuma and, of course, the Zuma's human ambassador.
De Legro, you want a suggestion?
How about the Daimons stop acting with hairpin trigger against any perceived slight against them. As has been said before, they act psychotically, and are more like sensitive children with powerful weapons rather than "higher beings" or whatever they're supposed to be....
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