Suppose you have a game in which the players are landed nobles - Barons. They have land, serfs, soldiers, etc. When the game begins, the players are all on relatively equal footing.
Suppose there is a mechanic that allows players to swear fealty to one another, and if two players swear fealty to a third, then the third is no longer a mere Baron, but a Count. And if a Count swears fealty to a second Count, then the second becomes a Duke, and so on.
So in the scenario that I've outlined, I'm curious how it would work out "in the wild". If my goal was to see a hierarchy form, I suspect that I would instead find that players would go to war seeking vassals, and that the loser would either stubbornly refuse to click the "swear fealty" button, or would simply ragequit.
What's funny is how it relates to the Perception of Power. No one wants to submit to someone who's presumably of equal power, but if a "King" comes along, its an easier pill to swallow, swearing fealty.
(Battlemaster is of course full of awesome players who are humble and clever, and often willing to be vassal to another. Just to go ahead and address that before someone cleverly points it out)
So - organic creation of hierarchy in a game environment. What do you think? In the world of gamers today, is this a recipe for failure?
