RP PvP/Duel Etiquette Draft

[Zyre Mercutio]

I think you have a lot of good points Toront but as someone that stinks at pvp there is the potential of an RP PVP bully challenging you simply because they can no longer deal with you without resorting to violence.
I guess that does mimic real life in that bullies are generally bad people
but some policies would need to be in place to avoid exploitation. You could have a legitimate roleplayer that is still a PVP thug, constantly on the prowl for a fight even if the situations do not always dictate it. If someone didn't want to fight, there might actually be a reason and if
the aggressor starts spamming "punch in the face" emotes it doesn't mean you should always be accepting the challenge, just because its and RP event and they were the aggressor. All in all a great start Toront.

*hugs & kisses*
Zzzzzz
www.kreetles.com

A valid point. These are just sort of suggestions, hence me calling it etiquette rather than even guidelines. It's late now, but tomorrow, I will rewrite the part aout all duels. The random duel thing is too much of a tangent, especially to begin the post on.

I want to cut some of the bad rp but not outright bully people. Perhaps a line about confirming intentions in tells so as not to get frustrated.

As for the punch macro last night, The rebel was being obnoxious, quite obviously rebel and slapping, spitting and insulting our officers. We had duelled very early in the converstation. As she continued going on without willing to fight us, Alonzo and I felt that perhaps the punch macro might get the point across It did and everything worked out fine.

I can understand that, I have never read any SW fiction so my only experience to it has been the movies but it seems like to me wouldn't almost any encounter between Imperial forces and known rebel forces result in combat? Seems like as the "authorities" wouldn't imperial troops
always be obligated to arrest/detain/eliminate and known rebels they come across? Of course if the rebels true allegience were unknown then you might not have combat as rebels would generally try to avoid standup fights or attracting needless attention. Anyone that would rp a rebel as
"talking smack" to Imp authority falls into the same category for me as the idiot that on a routine traffic stop ends up taking a swing at the cops, you reap what you sow. So if that was the case the rebel yer talking about has a seemingly indefensable roleplay position and I apologeize.

Seems to me the rp events that would seem most manageable would be the ones where its neutrals and Imps or Rebs and neutrals as then you have less clearcut battlelines that would almost seem to force a confrontation. TTF would seem to be the only real RP Imperial guild, and in fact the majority of roleplay guilds seem to fall into that "neutral/nonaligned" category, smugglers, criminals, opportunists, etc.
I was thinking a while back that due to their beliefs the Temple might be the only RP rebel guild. It would be nice to see a legitimate rp rebel guild
emerge, as even if you take a beating short term you know in the end good usually triumphs over evil, least in Lucas's vision. I personally as a rebel would not stand and insult some Imperial officer, unless of course I had an advantage. The rebels have to pick their spots, I could easily get beaten about by a stormtrooper not fond of my music, but that very same
trooper better have a buddy start up his speeder bike for the forseeable future. Work smarter is always better then work harder in my book.
Thanks again for the good ideas Toront.


*hugs & kisses*
Zzzzzz

www.kreetles.com

[Sai'nu]

I think you have a lot of good points Toront but as someone that stinks at pvp there is the potential of an RP PVP bully challenging you simply because they can no longer deal with you without resorting to violence.
I guess that does mimic real life in that bullies are generally bad people
but some policies would need to be in place to avoid exploitation. You could have a legitimate roleplayer that is still a PVP thug, constantly on the prowl for a fight even if the situations do not always dictate it. If someone didn't want to fight, there might actually be a reason and if
the aggressor starts spamming "punch in the face" emotes it doesn't mean you should always be accepting the challenge, just because its and RP event and they were the aggressor. All in all a great start Toront.

*hugs & kisses*
Zzzzzz
www.kreetles.com

A valid point. These are just sort of suggestions, hence me calling it etiquette rather than even guidelines. It's late now, but tomorrow, I will rewrite the part aout all duels. The random duel thing is too much of a tangent, especially to begin the post on.

I want to cut some of the bad rp but not outright bully people. Perhaps a line about confirming intentions in tells so as not to get frustrated.

As for the punch macro last night, The rebel was being obnoxious, quite obviously rebel and slapping, spitting and insulting our officers. We had duelled very early in the converstation. As she continued going on without willing to fight us, Alonzo and I felt that perhaps the punch macro might get the point across It did and everything worked out fine.

I can understand that, I have never read any SW fiction so my only experience to it has been the movies but it seems like to me wouldn't almost any encounter between Imperial forces and known rebel forces result in combat? Seems like as the "authorities" wouldn't imperial troops
always be obligated to arrest/detain/eliminate and known rebels they come across? Of course if the rebels true allegience were unknown then you might not have combat as rebels would generally try to avoid standup fights or attracting needless attention. Anyone that would rp a rebel as
"talking smack" to Imp authority falls into the same category for me as the idiot that on a routine traffic stop ends up taking a swing at the cops, you reap what you sow. So if that was the case the rebel yer talking about has a seemingly indefensable roleplay position and I apologeize.

Seems to me the rp events that would seem most manageable would be the ones where its neutrals and Imps or Rebs and neutrals as then you have less clearcut battlelines that would almost seem to force a confrontation. TTF would seem to be the only real RP Imperial guild, and in fact the majority of roleplay guilds seem to fall into that "neutral/nonaligned" category, smugglers, criminals, opportunists, etc.
I was thinking a while back that due to their beliefs the Temple might be the only RP rebel guild. It would be nice to see a legitimate rp rebel guild
emerge, as even if you take a beating short term you know in the end good usually triumphs over evil, least in Lucas's vision. I personally as a rebel would not stand and insult some Imperial officer, unless of course I had an advantage. The rebels have to pick their spots, I could easily get beaten about by a stormtrooper not fond of my music, but that very same
trooper better have a buddy start up his speeder bike for the forseeable future. Work smarter is always better then work harder in my book.
Thanks again for the good ideas Toront.


*hugs & kisses*
Zzzzzz

www.kreetles.com

Aye', Zyre, we are 'very' Rebel sympathetic in RP. However, usually you won't see us doing anything overly dumb unless it fits an RP situation that our characters would do.

Now, like Jaminos, I tend to back off of the actual PvP because a Mudder type of 'Chat Combat' just appeals more to my table-top RPG experience where there are times I 'need' to know what is going to happen with the particular RP scene. But, then, this is typically why I'll send a tell first to any dueler going... "I don't PvP, so how do you want to work this?"

However, as I build my characters up (I'm in transition back up the lvl 80 ladder) I am becomming more and more open to PvP as I've had a few brawls with my Sisters now.

Now... an argument may be... what exactly is and isn't fair in a PvP system? Well, that's what we're trying to do with this tread.

So, let's get the obvious out of the way... How do we deal with situations where we have low-level characters in a sudden PvP situation; but they should... or need... to win a confrontation that, by game mechanics alone, they are 'not' going to do.

I guess what I'm getting at, and plz don't think I'm defending the people that hide behind the duel button, is where do we approach the RP part of this game where it concerns combat? Stories in which, as a Table top GM, we've fudged the dice rolls behind the GM screen to make sure our heroes (players) made it past a certain point?

Honestly, if we can figure this part out... I think we might cut back a lot of argumentation within this community at least with how to handle duels.

For example... we should agree on...

-Rebels are in hiding and thus should 'not' loud mouth Imperials unless, of course, it 'is' a combat or covert situation and your ready for your attack.

-Imperials are suppose to be the authority. As depicted in the movie... they typically 'do' stop people and check on things... but are 'not' supreme beings that 'know' your a Rebel unless, of course. something in a plot line has already pointed you out to them in RP.

Those are two very big humps to get over. And if you show up to a Rebel oriented event wearing full stormtrooper armor or vice versa... your either very dead... or your just out to mess with the RP immersion that night/day most likely. It can happen by accident though.

Thanks for the mention, Zyre. Love where this is going too... I'll just end with the recap of... What as a community can we do for RP situations where we need our low-lvls to win a given fight when it happes for the sake of RP? Thoughts on this as it applies to the PvP system?

[Novall]

I'm sorry folks, I need to chime in on this one and bring you'll down to reality.

Roleplaying is suppose to be fun.

When we create stringent rules of how we expect others to roleplay. it's an infringement on others rights as to how they play the game. Do you go to the gas station and the attendent "forces" you to pump Premium because it's his gas station? No, you have a choice in the matter as a paying customer. Jaminos has a right, as do you to roleplay how you wish. You are both paying customers. If you would like to create your own rules for roleplay engagements, I say that's wonderful. However, please realize that not everyone will agree or go along with your style of roleplay. Not everyone will want to roleplay as Jaminos sees fit either. The great thing about roleplay is that stimulates creativity, not supresses it.

ILL

How is it fun to have to be insulted IC and not be able to do anything about it. Do you think a mandalorian is going to sit and let himself be smacked and insulted without doing something about it?

I had to experience this lastnight from a random RP happening in ME cantina. Yeah, we roleplayed it out, but when Novall became insulted...the challanged the smuggler who threw it out there. Ofcourse, I had to here a bunch of junk about empire this and stormtroopers that...but in the end they never excepted and I just had to stand there.

If your going to RP smack, then you better be ready for RP retaliation. Novall has a very short temper, and my ignore list has lots of room.

[Zannon]

See? That's just the crux of the problem. We're NOT playing a pencil and dice RPG, we're playing in a medium that actually lets us fight against eachother based on the skills we have. I'm not a PvPer, so I avoid PvP in my RP...Do I have a good ability to fight in PvP? Probably. But I'm not going to PvP with people just because I can kick their asses. The fact of the matter is, I think it's a very valid point that people shouldn't stir the combat pot in RP and then not put their money where their mouth is. Should they get DBed if they loose? I say no, but they should get a good incapping and then given the chance to RP slinking away when soneone's not looking.

Everyone wants to be the uber guy that never loses a fight..it's just human nature to want to be the best, but if you're going to try and give off that aura of invincibility, I think you should be able to back it up. If you can't or you don't like to, then conduct your buisness in game in a manner that doesn't invite people to want to fight with you. No, you should be forced to PvP, but if you don't want to fight people, then don't invite PvP upon yourself by your actions.

This thread was started so we can discuss these things...let's continue to do it in the semi-constructive manner we've been doing it. I think we have a lot of good points of view coming out of this. Let's keep it going...and not take anything personally.

[warsloth]

I have tried to accept all duel challenges.
there are some cases a while back, that I recall I didn't. I probably should have.

I am CL18, my ass is custom detachable so it can be handed to me. This happened even before the CU. I get knocked down, and I have even recieved a couple DB's...

I think the most important thing is to send someone a PM saying "I am going to duel you." or something like that.

If someone doesnt want to duel, and hide behind Emotes (and its not part of a story) then you dont have to play or RP with them... simple as that.

[xyryn]

Ok, here's some more to add to the discussion:

I watched the Imperials "shake down" the cantina at Ruby Lake on Friday...and they roused the quite natural response among the "oppressed" of the desire to strike back.

I don't know how that played out after the Imperials left the cantina, but it raised the question in my mind about "How do we get across the idea of dueling etiquette to the new and/or young RPer during the situation?" It occurred to me that it is likely that we would have an uninitiated player at every event until the "rules" have been around for so long that every new player is told them as a matter of course before they show up at their first event.

By the way, it was interesting to see the differences within the Imp group of the "fanatic", the guy just doing his job, and the others who fell in between. That was the first time I had seen that kind of differentiation and it was fine. Keep it up guys!

[toront]

Ok, here's some more to add to the discussion:

I watched the Imperials "shake down" the cantina at Ruby Lake on Friday...and they roused the quite natural response among the "oppressed" of the desire to strike back.

I don't know how that played out after the Imperials left the cantina, but it raised the question in my mind about "How do we get across the idea of dueling etiquette to the new and/or young RPer during the situation?" It occurred to me that it is likely that we would have an uninitiated player at every event until the "rules" have been around for so long that every new player is told them as a matter of course before they show up at their first event.

By the way, it was interesting to see the differences within the Imp group of the "fanatic", the guy just doing his job, and the others who fell in between. That was the first time I had seen that kind of differentiation and it was fine. Keep it up guys!

In that situation, I fell to Alonzo. He types like a madman (anyone ever on teamspeak with him at the roba can attest to this ). When we began to get really frustrated after Alonzo and I punched several times over only to have '/emote brushes off the punches'. Alonzo sent a tell, just explaining how we were expecting things to go, the idea of "bad form" to talk the talk but not walk the walk. After that, the duel happened and it ended up being a decent little bit of roleplay. Right as we were set to leave after beating that Rebel down, we had a group of overt Rebels storm the cantina (seems someone was able to call backup )

I will say again, the main goal of having some kind of etiquette is to stop the "talk the talk, but take no action". That is just bad RP. TTF, at least, will not go around bullying a lvl 19, unless he begins speaking too loudly of his hatred for the Emperor or goes around wearing Rebel issue armor.

We are not looking to boost our egos through PvP here. We aren't bullying to make ourselves feel more badass or boost our ego. First off, we roleplay Imperials, which are for the most part bullies. They have the power of a huge army behind them. They have hundreds of Storm Troopers to be called in. They walk with a swagger and elitism because they feel that they always have the power.

I hope it's becoming clear that I do not want to force anyone into anything except an immersive environement. I just want the community to recognize "bad form" and take a stand on it. If you talk trash, you need to be ready for the consequences, even if they may not always result in your character overcoming.

In regards to lower combat levels, I consider that to mean that the character is not as skilled in combat as the other character. He has not spent as much time in the gym, or the blaster range to hone his skills. If you roleplay a tough, mandolorian warrior that is only level 12, perhaps it is time to rethink the template. I think a good general rule to add would be to not go looking for a fight with a low level player, keep it so someone your own size. However, if the low level player goes on the offensive or has a big mouth, they should not have any type of immunity just because it was a fight they couldn't win.

[toront]

UPDATE:

Reworded some of the first paragraph, as well as adding "Zerging" and "General tips" sections.

[Sai'nu]

Aye', agreed then to our reflective combat levels... I guess I was leaning more towards this point:

If we have a story arc (not our cantina scenes) where pvp pops up... our main villan say is finally fighting the hero... Do we always assume that say... Burbo the Dancer (Hero) falls to the might of Joxxer the Bounty Hunter (Villan) because of the structured in game Combat mechanics? Or are their times where the community accepts that it's 'ok' to RP emote out the quarrel.

I guess an example scenario:

Burbo launches himself at Joxxer landing short. Joxxer picks up Burbo with a wince and Burbo grins a little helplessly at Joxxer.

"Big mistake, Burbo. Now you can beg for your life instead of credits," Joxxer says with an evil tone.

Burbo taking advantage of the situation uses his nimble dancing skills to pull Joxxers pistol from it's holster and changes his helpless grin into a confident one.

"Care to give a guy down on his luck some credits, Joxxer?" Burbo grins.


In the above situation Burbo could be a lvl 1 and Joxxer a lvl 80. I just want to present to the community that we 'can' do RP fights without the PvP as well. An offshoot worth mentioning in this thread. Just to offer another venue. As long as it isn't abused and makes for good RP.

I'm not a fan of the 'I win' scenario I've seen a few people try to use with this. Just a few more cents on my part. Hopefully everyone sees where I'm comming from with this.

[Viceroy Odantis]

I'm sorry folks, I need to chime in on this one and bring you'll down to reality.

Roleplaying is suppose to be fun.

When we create stringent rules of how we expect others to roleplay. it's an infringement on others rights as to how they play the game. Do you go to the gas station and the attendent "forces" you to pump Premium because it's his gas station? No, you have a choice in the matter as a paying customer. Jaminos has a right, as do you to roleplay how you wish. You are both paying customers. If you would like to create your own rules for roleplay engagements, I say that's wonderful. However, please realize that not everyone will agree or go along with your style of roleplay. Not everyone will want to roleplay as Jaminos sees fit either. The great thing about roleplay is that stimulates creativity, not supresses it.

ILL

But do i march up and tell him i'm not paying for gas when he asks because i don't believe in capitalism?



Anyway....on a side note...

TTF Will be opening its academy doors to the public once more. Give me a day or two to redecorate the place and get it ready. This academy is an OOC experience. Its a teaching tool. We go over RPing, proper etiquette, ways to avoid cheesy boring plots, etc etc.

HOWEVER, Also we will be training pvp for anyone who is willing. The curb makes combat a lot of fun. Most templates are viable combatants these days. There aren't just 1-2 templates for good pvp anymore. Smugglers? No way to kill one if they know what they are doing....BH? Pistoleer? Rifleman? CM? Doc? Melee? Everything has its place, only a couple of the combat based classes are broken at all these days. So please, we implore people who want to rp combat style toons but are afraid that OOC they just don't know enough about pvp, come out and give it a try. We'll discuss what gear you need, what foods/drinks, what strategies to use versus other templates, etc etc.

Typically we've asked for donations in the past for these services but i don't care about the money or anything just come out and have some fun and learn the pvp system. We will ALL learn something so don't think of it as hurting your pride. I consider myself pretty damn knowledgable on pvp now, but i expect when i get together a ton of people, i'll learn something. No one knows it all, no one is the best.

If you are interested in participating in either the rp "classes" or pvp "classes" just notify me in game with a /tell or a mail.



---PS: It should be noted that contrary to what this post says, i AM the best, I DO know it all. That is all, thank you.

[Viceroy Odantis]

Aye', agreed then to our reflective combat levels... I guess I was leaning more towards this point:

If we have a story arc (not our cantina scenes) where pvp pops up... our main villan say is finally fighting the hero... Do we always assume that say... Burbo the Dancer (Hero) falls to the might of Joxxer the Bounty Hunter (Villan) because of the structured in game Combat mechanics? Or are their times where the community accepts that it's 'ok' to RP emote out the quarrel.

I guess an example scenario:

Burbo launches himself at Joxxer landing short. Joxxer picks up Burbo with a wince and Burbo grins a little helplessly at Joxxer.

"Big mistake, Burbo. Now you can beg for your life instead of credits," Joxxer says with an evil tone.

Burbo taking advantage of the situation uses his nimble dancing skills to pull Joxxers pistol from it's holster and changes his helpless grin into a confident one.

"Care to give a guy down on his luck some credits, Joxxer?" Burbo grins.


In the above situation Burbo could be a lvl 1 and Joxxer a lvl 80. I just want to present to the community that we 'can' do RP fights without the PvP as well. An offshoot worth mentioning in this thread. Just to offer another venue. As long as it isn't abused and makes for good RP.

I'm not a fan of the 'I win' scenario I've seen a few people try to use with this. Just a few more cents on my part. Hopefully everyone sees where I'm comming from with this.

Coming from a big history of MUDs for my RP, i can relate to this. Yes emote fighting can be fine for some things, if both people are ok with it. But i hardly think Joxxer should be forced to lose to Burbo just so "the good guy wins" Hollywood gives us enough of the "little guy overcoming the big guy" if he wants to do it, REALLY outsmart him...

Let me use myself as an example.

Let's say Arlisan (dancer) wanted to bring me down. Multiple ways i would accept NON pvp methods of doing so:

She waits at the roba, and very carefully poisons my drink. One problem with this style is to be legit she should at some point emote poisoning the drink. However, then metagaming kicks in and everyone sees the big chat bubble saying this happened. It becomes real hard to stop ones self from finding an excuse to not drink it, or check it for poison when normally you never would. THe other side of the argument is. How many people regularly check their drinks? You could kill everyone like this and that begins to get lame. I know to protect myself I used to have Trade-Sec check all my drinks.

Style 2:

Jump me with 4-5 friends. I would, as a good rper, accept all duels, and probably get beat down. You may think this cheapens the hero's victory, but come on, how many times do good guys in movies fighting their villain 5v1, it happens all the time.

Style 3: Use clever rp aids in duelling. Have a BH friend drop a bomb droid, i'll accept his duel so that the bomb droid can hit me, run me around a corner chasing you, and BOOM.



Basically what we want to avoid is emote escalation. Since its left solely up to typing it, no pools, no supplies, etc....nothing prevents THIS situation:

Fred: /emote punches bob

Bob: /emote laughs as the punch does nothing, then kicks fred

Fred: /emote dodges the kick, then breaks Bob's leg, laughing evilly

Bob: /emote focuses his ninja concentration to ignore the wound, and uses his telekinetic powers to shatter Fred's skull with his mind

Fred: /emote blocks it





The combat system is in the game for a reason I guess is what we're trying to say. If you want to RP as a badass who can win fights....well...make that your template....If you want to rp as a non combat rebel, do that. Play the aspect of sneaking around, organize those who DO fight, be a non combat rebel. But don't use your CL as an excuse to have the lev 80 imperial lay down for you just so you can RP the winner.

[Illbleed]

I'm sorry folks, I need to chime in on this one and bring you'll down to reality.

Roleplaying is suppose to be fun.

When we create stringent rules of how we expect others to roleplay. it's an infringement on others rights as to how they play the game. Do you go to the gas station and the attendent "forces" you to pump Premium because it's his gas station? No, you have a choice in the matter as a paying customer. Jaminos has a right, as do you to roleplay how you wish. You are both paying customers. If you would like to create your own rules for roleplay engagements, I say that's wonderful. However, please realize that not everyone will agree or go along with your style of roleplay. Not everyone will want to roleplay as Jaminos sees fit either. The great thing about roleplay is that stimulates creativity, not supresses it.

ILL

How is it fun to have to be insulted IC and not be able to do anything about it. Do you think a mandalorian is going to sit and let himself be smacked and insulted without doing something about it?

I had to experience this lastnight from a random RP happening in ME cantina. Yeah, we roleplayed it out, but when Novall became insulted...the challanged the smuggler who threw it out there. Ofcourse, I had to here a bunch of junk about empire this and stormtroopers that...but in the end they never excepted and I just had to stand there.

If your going to RP smack, then you better be ready for RP retaliation. Novall has a very short temper, and my ignore list has lots of room.

Well, I guess just don't understand how to roleplay. Just returning to the game after a long departure, I find this "serious" discussion of roleplay to be counterproductive. Frankly, I don't work 12 hours a day to come home to be "serious" and have rules applied to me. The reasons listed in this thread are primarily while I don't roleplay out of the circle of friends I have in game. The minute you have to apply rules to something that is intangible that is created from the imagination you put artifical limitations on yourself and other. It limits creativity.

You have a choice to respond to the roleplay or to ignore it and go somewhere else. Again, we're back to the stoic rule that I must "respond to everything" that everyone throws at me. You have option to ignore them, use it. Don't complain about the decisions of others because you want them to play the game the way YOU want them to. Now, I will agree that in certain situations, dueling is appropriate, ie if a rebel officer insults and Imperial . However, I will never, never allow anyone to make me adhere to a specific set of rules unless they are outlined by SOE.

I will say this in closing(and I will disucss this matter no further in public threads), if roleplaying has become so serious that one feels that a long list of rules need to be established perhaps you need to evaluate if roleplaying is something you enjoy. Personally, I enjoy playing the game with a group of friends and having some roleplay fun. If someone doesn't respond to my RP, oh well. It's the creating aspect of roleplaying that's fun for me. In recent weeks, I have seen multiple instances of personal attacks and flaming on these boards. People come to Tales to enjoy the great community we've established with bright, creative people. If you're going to flame, take it back to the SOE Gorath board. Don't bring it here.

ILL

[Isleh]

I think there is another problem with the GCW itself.

Currently, in the Gorath universe, the Alliance controls most of the planets in SWG.

I understand that TTF plays more towards the movies and cannon with the Empire controling most of the planets.

:::ANTI-FLAME WARRNING:::
THE ARGUMENT PRESENTED HERE IS PRESENTED IN EXTREME TO ILLUSTRATE SEVERAL KEY POINTS. WE NOW RETURN YOU TO THE REGURLARLY SCHEDULED POST

How do you make the player who is RPing that fact that the Alliance has gained control of Mos Eisley to explain that fact that there are rebel troopers all over the city accept that in some eyes, they are storm troopers?

Why should a rebel player accept a duel from a imperial player who chooses to ignore that there are 30 rebel troopers outside? Emote dueling on a grander scale? The Empire controls this city in my universe? Just like we have the combat system to make players put their money where there mouth is, there is the GCW system.

Yes, there are stormtroopers alway harrasing in the in the Mos Eisley cantina. I chalk that up to bad programming. Especially when a rebel trooper walks in to checks for contraband and happily ignores them.

[Nyvveck]

My two cents on the issue:

Because of my RP, I often find myself at odds with 'rebels'. To me, quite simply, a 'rebel' is anyone who does not pledge undying loyalty to the Emperor (and remember, the Empire claims everyone as its citizens, so whether you like it or not, you are a part of the Empire). Many times, my over-zealous manner will have me 'biting off more than I can chew'. When this happens, I know that I must back down, find a way out of the situation through talking, or suffer the consequences of my actions.

Basicly, what I guess I am trying to say here is this: If I challenge someone to a duel, I expect him to do one of two things, accept the challenge and fight, or back down. What I DO NOT expect him to do is continue talking crap about the Emperor, me, or Imperials in general. However, I would say that MORE OFTEN than not, this is what the people in general do.

I agree that a fight can be solved through emotes. I have no problem with this if both parties agree to do it this way. However, if there is a fight via emotes, I expect some sense of realism. I can safely say that, both in RP and out of it, I have been a Teras Kasi for my character's entire life (starting about three weeks after release or so). As such, no, a dancer will never beat me. From my experiance, emote fighting seems to be a quick way out of a problem. People use it to get out of situations that they got themselves into, and that they can't talk/fight their way out of. As in real life, actions have reactions. Be prepared to face the reactions of your actions.

Frankly, I do not like emote fighting. If someone wants to attack me, be prepared to actually fight me. If someone ever does an "/emote hits you" to me, I will first challenge them to a duel (after shouting at them for treason, of course), and politely send them a tell telling them the error of their ways, say that I am well versed in PvP, and ask them to either step down, or fight me. If they continue to act like an unlawful rebel, I will simply ignore them and move on to something else.

On a side note, I never really considered myself to be evil. I see myself to be reasonable (in SOME respects), and would much rather capture someone alive than have them killed (unless they deeply offend me). Because of this, I see myself as more of a "reaction" force. I need an "action" to be thrown into a frenzy. Of course, every now and then I will probe people for a reaction.

[Viceroy Odantis]

I think there is another problem with the GCW itself.

Currently, in the Gorath universe, the Alliance controls most of the planets in SWG.

I understand that TTF plays more towards the movies and cannon with the Empire controling most of the planets.

:::ANTI-FLAME WARRNING:::
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How do you make the player who is RPing that fact that the Alliance has gained control of Mos Eisley to explain that fact that there are rebel troopers all over the city accept that in some eyes, they are storm troopers?

Why should a rebel player accept a duel from a imperial player who chooses to ignore that there are 30 rebel troopers outside? Emote dueling on a grander scale? The Empire controls this city in my universe? Just like we have the combat system to make players put their money where there mouth is, there is the GCW system.

Yes, there are stormtroopers alway harrasing in the in the Mos Eisley cantina. I chalk that up to bad programming. Especially when a rebel trooper walks in to checks for contraband and happily ignores them.

I can understand this approach. I would embrace it except it changes daily with some planets, and it would be near impossible to keep track of for the casual player. I tend to ignore npcs for this reason. If you want to allow 100% game mechanics to rule us, then no one can die, ever, and we all clone with no harm done, which really kills rp for me, dunno about you. Accepting a duel i believe is a rule of game mechanics harming rp if not utilized. Keeping track of the base scores...well...like you said i like to think of the movies as the way it is...this is harmed by the 8 billion jedi and the rebel troopers in the street. Like i said, i can understand your point but i mean i was rebel since launch until the curb hit...and i always treated it like imperials were in control, scolding other rebels who would come up to me going "but dude, you're a rebel!" So i hope people don't think my view is scewed because i'm currently imp.

I am reminded of the combatant system too as a major flaw for rp...

I have to stand idly by and watch rebels take down npcs, bases, etc, when they are combatant..nothing i can do...i choose to ignore this IC because ther'es no way my character would do that, but there's nothing i can do. I choose to let the npcs have their own world, and players have another, hopefully more inclined to follow the storyline that made us all want to play SW in the first place, the movies.