Moving Forward with Gangs

[Venom_Fish]

I like the idea, but do not think it is going to have much of an impact with respect to the gang problem right now. The motivation behind it seems to be from a very narrow analysis of the era, or even graal playerbase problem.

In concurrence with Demisis, Era would only move beyond barely surviving by more or less turning into a pick-up shooter. If one recalls the server Sands of Glory, I think something of that nature is in want.

The old playerbase simply does not have the time, or interest to hang around era all day, and the new playerbase simply do not care for what the old playerbase cares for. However, this approach seems to be trying to service both groups by granting incentives for performances that neither appease the new playerbase sufficiently, nor the old playerbase, who for all intentions purposes, cannot be appeased with anything requiring them to over invest in Era.

To appease both parties sufficiently, new playerbase [gaining items and being in the thick of things], and old playerbase [keeping items, being in thick of things, without overcommitting] I think a pick-up shooter is best. In such a setting, you can sort of set the basis for guns to be used, without necessarily requiring labor, and also allow players to venture beyond on a basis of enjoyable activity, rather than tedious labor.

Remember: Era is sufficiently safe from the issue that SoG or Zone faced because, honestly, Era's most attractive feature is built-in to it. The characters, their speeds, the combination of weapons, the competitiveness in pk, etc. In totality, these are not things you necessarily need to change when designing a pick-up shooter scenario. Indeed, gang and other events prove this. The thing to be concerned about though is the gang aspect, since that has traditionally played a large role.

And so, the task here is really to figure out how to design a pick-up shooter while maintaining the gang-like elements that contributed to Era's proliferation for so long.
The solution? Who knows.

Perhaps having a pick-up shooter where people can make gangs/clans and while you can join in on non-gang/clans portions, there can also be gangs/clan portions which are separate, and these gangs/clans are ranked? But also, individuals are ranked separately. The ranking can specifically deal with wins v. losses, win to loss ratio, kills, deaths, etc.?

I don't know, just a shot in the dark. That's my two cents. Forgive the quick brushing over of points, if anyone asks about a specific point, I can elaborate. I did not feel the need just in case there is a wholesale resistance to it.