Yep. That's been a big contributor to the burnout problem, no question. I guess I wasn't thinking along those lines because I was trying to look at actual feature changes that we stuck with, stuff that we could still remove now and (hypothetically) improve things by their absence. But yeah, that really caused some problems.
We can't just consider code, though. We also have to consider the effects of policies, whether official or unofficial. Let's face it, Tom coming on to the forums and saying something off-hand can have far-reaching effects when it is quoted IG by someone trying to shore up their arguments. Things like that spread quickly, and often out of context. When things like that happen, perhaps we need to take a look at making some kind of official position statement, or something to set the record straight.
I'm not exactly sure how to fix it, but one idea that's come to me is a feature we've talked about a number of times, and Tom has even approved in principle: game-recognized Councils, such as a Military Council.
And what if we were to give the Military Council—and anyone on it—the ability to send orders to any army in the realm?
It seems to me that would help to give a strong signal to the players that not only is it OK for someone other than the Marshal to be giving orders, it is actively encouraged. Particularly with some of the changes we're already considering that would the Marshal's ability to order specialized formations more important, I think declaring that the Marshal's focus should be tactics, rather than always giving out the daily orders, might be the way to go forward with this.
I have liked the idea of game-created councils ever since they were first discussed. Most realms manually make them anyway. Why not have some automated support for it?
Some form of game-supported military council, with orders capabilities as you have mentioned, may help bring back the cooperative environment.
I agree that it's best for Vice-Marshals to be able to set formations. (Though I don't recall offhand if they can at this point or not...)
I believe that the Marshal and Vice Marshal both have access to the same formation setting. I.e. it's a common setting that both can set, and controls the formation of both.
Given the structure of the current system, I honestly can't see what taxes the Banker should be able to set. Unless you want to argue that, though the Ruler is the titular head of the feudal hierarchy, the Banker is his "hands" in matters of money, and thus should be able to set the crown's tax rate on Duchies.
Yes, there is not much to set for taxes anymore. But having the banker control some tax-related things sounds good. Right now the banker isn't really a "banker". He's a glorified food wholesaler/distributor. (And while he always has been that to a greater or lesser degree depending on the realm, he used to at least have some control of financial aspects of the realm.)
Judges being afraid to ban people for fear of bolts or violating IR is, frankly, largely an issue among player culture, not something that the devs or our policies are directly responsible for.
That's partially correct. Yes, it is a player culture thing. We may not be directly responsible for it, but various actions and statements over the past have caused quite a bit of fear on the part of the players. Yes, some of it is no doubt sensationalized and some intentional (or even unintentional) fear mongering.
There is a subset of our players who actively scaremonger about the big bad Titans/GMs, using them as a boogeyman to show how oppressed and persecuted they or their group is. I don't think there's been an actual lightning bolting—let alone a storm, which is when it actually kills the character—for at least five years now.
I think the last lightning storm I remember was on EC back during the Orders experiments. One of the dukes of Caligus was fried when he sent a Request and said "This is an Order" in it. So, maybe 2007?
As for regular bolts, a couple people on Dwilight got a bit crisped due to sending too many OOC messages in their realm. Chenier may have been one of them? I can't remember, but that would have been 2008 or so.
I can't remember anything more recent.
Honestly, I don't think there's a way to completely fix this particular problem, as long as there are people in the game who believe it is to their advantage to continue to use the idea of lightning bolts as a boogeyman, and people who have bought into the idea and continue to perpetuate it simply because they don't know any better. After all, this is the kind of thing that if we say we're not going to bolt you for any arbitrary issue, that clearly means we're just waiting, hoping for some infraction that crosses our invisible line just a hair so we can bolt them. (To the people who believe the "GMs" are all out to get them, that is.)
The Magistrates system was an attempt at transparency to help resolve this kind of thing. Tom has always been against the publishing of the Titans verdicts, so I really can't think of anything off-hand. The people who know the real story need to make sure that whenever they see this fear-mongering happening IG, that they set the record straight.
Certainly. But if we're thoughtful and careful, I believe we can use this effect to our—and the game's—advantage, rather than its detriment.
We certainly can.
