Well this right here is why I think the entire idea of NPC realms is really just bad right from the get go. On BT, where they are specifically designed as overwhelming but ultimately surmountable challenges that can be expected to destroy entire realms from time to time, and are advertised as such, they are fine. Trying to integrate one into a non-Invasion island as 'just another realm' (sort of) is not the same. I could have guessed that exactly this would happen. Any permanent NPC realm is going to eventually cause friction and resentment no matter what it does. When SA decides to screw you over it sucks but there's no excuse. SA is just a bunch of players like everyone else, subject to the same rules, and deep down we all know that if they beat you, they did it fair and square. When an NPC realm that operates under different and (actually making it worse) unknown rules screws you, it's a lot easier to feel like you've been unfairly attacked. Remember how people used to accuse Tom of giving his realms unfair advantages? It's exactly the same principle. No matter how fair the GM, no matter how even handed he is, someone somewhere is going to get upset over what he does and blame it on the 'unfair' advantages the NPC's get. IMO the resentment such a realm inevitably creates is not worth what it contributes, especially when BM players are more than capable of creating their own conflicts and plotlines without any outside help.
Rubbish. You only have to look at the amount of claims that SA is a Dev favoured group to know that losing parties always have the option to cry and claim the other side cheats. In fact every war I've been involved in that has either seen a realm destroyed or almost destroyed has resulted in claims and bitterness the same as what is currently targeted at the Zuma GM. Hell sometime just winning a battle results in OOC message storm about how the realm is full of cheats, or how they exploited this bug, or my favourite, you big realm bullies ruin the game. When people see an army with near 100% movement, the first thing most people seem to think it multi cheats.
I saw no end of bitter OOC hatred towards the main group of SA when I was in D'Hara. Really really petty stuff. No SA realm had invaded, we had not been forced to accept SA as a religion, but there was some serious hatred going on there.
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