Can anyone here, honestly, say they care at all about their NPCs? And no, by care I don't mean crazy people staying up at night naming everyone on their ships, but rather their goals include helping NPCs in general.
Let me explaine. This is, in a very clear sense, a fictional game. However, as it is a game, we each have our own agenda of goals. How many can say that they factor in NPCs anywhere on that list?
I mean, their objectives might be "Kill player A, take over planet B, and build ship C". What about NPCs? Do they matter? Has anyone ever, honestly, restrained themselves from doing something they wanted to because of the "cost in lives"? I've often heard people say things arn't worth the risk for assets you lose, but by assets they mean ships, things which take time, wheras an entire crew, thousands of people - admittedly, not real people, but people who are very real to our characters, whom we attempt to guide - can be merely conjured out of air.
Sith and Jedi are a very good example of the little care people show for those whom their characters walk amongst. People die, constantly, because the Sith feel like it, and must suffer from a huge inferiority complexe because they feel the compulsive need to prove - constantly - how evil they are to each other by killing ridiculous ammounts of people. Jedi are - in theory - defenders. But when's the last time a Jedi started a thread about fighting crime, or stopping the sith on one of their rampages?
Now, many dismiss like of NPCs as crazy. They're just made up, they're not real people. But this is role playing. When you pretend to be someone else, and to the person you're playing everyone is real, frighteningly alive. And yet our characters can kill just about anyone or do just about any deed without a sliver of moral doubt, no nightmares, no regrets. That is bad role-playing.
Also, people refuse to lose to an NPC. An NPC cannot kill a character. Even though an Emperor of the universe could be killed if he slipped in the shower one morning, the players will not see their work and effort stopped by some stupid guy who didn't exist whatsoever a day ago. NPC troops and resistance cannot damage anything someone had to wait a couple of days to aquire. People don't go around with the words "Player Character", "OOC Asset", and "NPC" stamped on their foreheads.
So anywas, just to wrap up, I wish people actually valued NPCs a little more. I mean sure, they're fictional. But how are you supposed to role-play a good-guy if you can't have the interests of those you're supposed to protect at heart? How can you role-play a bad-who doesn't even realize he's being bad?
Give it a thought, anyways.
Let me explaine. This is, in a very clear sense, a fictional game. However, as it is a game, we each have our own agenda of goals. How many can say that they factor in NPCs anywhere on that list?
I mean, their objectives might be "Kill player A, take over planet B, and build ship C". What about NPCs? Do they matter? Has anyone ever, honestly, restrained themselves from doing something they wanted to because of the "cost in lives"? I've often heard people say things arn't worth the risk for assets you lose, but by assets they mean ships, things which take time, wheras an entire crew, thousands of people - admittedly, not real people, but people who are very real to our characters, whom we attempt to guide - can be merely conjured out of air.
Sith and Jedi are a very good example of the little care people show for those whom their characters walk amongst. People die, constantly, because the Sith feel like it, and must suffer from a huge inferiority complexe because they feel the compulsive need to prove - constantly - how evil they are to each other by killing ridiculous ammounts of people. Jedi are - in theory - defenders. But when's the last time a Jedi started a thread about fighting crime, or stopping the sith on one of their rampages?
Now, many dismiss like of NPCs as crazy. They're just made up, they're not real people. But this is role playing. When you pretend to be someone else, and to the person you're playing everyone is real, frighteningly alive. And yet our characters can kill just about anyone or do just about any deed without a sliver of moral doubt, no nightmares, no regrets. That is bad role-playing.
Also, people refuse to lose to an NPC. An NPC cannot kill a character. Even though an Emperor of the universe could be killed if he slipped in the shower one morning, the players will not see their work and effort stopped by some stupid guy who didn't exist whatsoever a day ago. NPC troops and resistance cannot damage anything someone had to wait a couple of days to aquire. People don't go around with the words "Player Character", "OOC Asset", and "NPC" stamped on their foreheads.
So anywas, just to wrap up, I wish people actually valued NPCs a little more. I mean sure, they're fictional. But how are you supposed to role-play a good-guy if you can't have the interests of those you're supposed to protect at heart? How can you role-play a bad-who doesn't even realize he's being bad?
Give it a thought, anyways.
