A couple questions and also a little feedback. I apologize if this has come up, I tried a few searches but couldn't find a meaningful discourse on it to answer my questions."Hello. The DM would like to remind people that they should please avoid having two characters in the same faction, especially at the same time. This is to prevent meta gaming, and muling of gold, information and favours, as well as other 'Big Brothering' Activities.
'What? Is this a new rule?'
Not particularly, but it's one we're going to be more vigourous about policing going forward.
'So if I have one character in a faction, I can't ever have another?'
'No, you can have another character involved later on. Just not two characters at the same time. And ideally I'd suggest also waiting a while before slipping right back into the same faction too. Try something else out first! It's healthy for your server experience if nothing else.'"
Firstly, do we need a catch all rule to prevent the breaking the actual rules of import? Muling is against the rules as is metagaming, (I'm not sure what the big brother thing means). I can see the potential issues this is trying to prevent, however his seems to restrict our freedom as players unnecessarily. If I find people I like to play with or a niche in the server that keeps me COMING BACK to make new characters and play more, isn't that a good thing? I have a gnome PC who leads a faction. I have another gnome PC who I rarely play, but is "in the faction." He's not tapping into the bank account, I'm just enjoying a totally dif build, class, character concept etc, with the community I enjoy. Do I have to roll this char or just never play him unless I roll the other?
Secondly, "Faction" probably needs more clarification (at least to me but also I've had others ask). Reason being, if it's just the "Mechanical" definition then it's not meaningful in solving this problem. One could stay out of the "faction" and rp with the same people. You may have mechanical limitations like no bank or store access etc, but for all intents and purposes, you're involved via that RP. Or is this against the rules too? If it is, then it gets REALLY problematic. Can I not RP with the same PCs on dif chars or is there just a "type" of RP that I am limited to with those PCs? Do I turn around and run when I see them? What kind of RP can I engage in or not engage in? Are we allowed to be friends with the same PCs on another PC? If this is an issue I'd guess 75% of the server wouldn't be in compliance with this right now. It sounds like a seriously slippery slope and impossible to enforce if it were the case.
What about a faction that isn't really a faction? Take the Grotto for example. We have a "faction" set up for some minor convenience things as a small racial settlement but we're not ideologically aligned, involved in all the same RP, or the same alignment. It's just a mechanical tool for some simple QoL as a racial group. There are people in there that don't even like my PC, but they should have access to shared "psuedo settlement" functionality as gnomes. Can we only play one gnome then? Or is a second gnome ok as long as it's not "in the faction" technically? Then can that second gnome just not use the same facilities the other gnomes can?
What about playing in an opposing faction? And if so, what does"opposing" mean? At war, alignment opposed? Two dif districts in Andunor? Another political settlement that could be at odds if the leadership changes (Cordor & Brog)? This could be very problematic potentially (metagaming spying etc). But if we say you can't play in opposing factions (however we define that) and we can't play in the same faction, then we're limited to 1 character in 1 faction (by pretty simple logic).
If people want to metagame and cheat there will always be ways. This server is delicately preserved by a mix of (mostly very reasonable and sound) rules and a player base that seeks to maintain the integrity of the experience by acting in a commensurate manner. Not allowing someone to spin up another character in the same faction isn't going to prevent this, it's just going to frustrate people.
Thanks for your time and any clarification you can offer. I myself am not exactly sure how to tell people to proceed when asked as a faction leader, or myself in several circumstances. Looking forward to any further context here.