Welcome to Gaia! ::

This.

I've had people run a PM by me about robbing/destroying my bar, killing innocents en masse, etc, and it always works out. I just get pissed when people I don't even know come in and are all "RAWR HULK SMASH D<"

Hell, KB even got my support via canon newspaper publishings headlining his murders. rofl That was fun.

So yeah, who knows, open up the lines of communication and I may even actively work WITH plotters. Just extend that courtesy to me first. :3 and I'm sure many other owners feel the same way.

...Screw it. We need a villain. A true, honest to goodness, pillage a plunder-type villain to get things interesting on gaia.

1. Profile
2. Revisions
3. ???
4. Profit off the townfolk.

Genius.

-gets to work-

What!? We're getting an illithid!? How come Martin knew before me!?

I heard of the Yakuza, but it was too late by the time I saw into it. They were mainly ooc and were hardly rping anymore.

Just to add my two bits in.

Guilds are bad. I can say this from my experience with the DeSeers, we withdrew to a guild, and readjusting for Commerce to try and get fresh blood added to the mix has been nothing but hard. It's not just us, but virtually every guild I've been in for any amount of time has led to extreme stagnation, by merit of never getting new people involved to change things up. Even when new people ARE involved, it's still a little daunting. Hell, the big reason I don't post in the OOC often, despite how much I lurk is the general feeling of it being a small, closed group that makes for a very easy means of alienating someone who doesn't get all the inside jokes, references and s**t. I don't know half the s**t you all talk about in gaian history, despite being around and reasonably active since '04.

As for power levels, it won't work. Not without completely reformatting what Commerce is. And if you do that, then you ruin the biggest reason why Commerce has such a good potential, despite being choked by morons. Freeform is a double edged sword, but it's got more good than bad if you know what to do with it.

Really, KB has it in one. Just being able to say what happened to your character stick from thread to thread is all you need. After that, it's really just a matter of providing interesting plots. If you don't want people to be of a certain power level, then tell them on the side. Heck, I can't think of too many people worth RPing with that wouldn't tone things down just a little if their character was being left out alone because they were just too over the top PROVIDED SOMEONE TELLS THEM. Preferably, someone friendly and polite. Like Elliterate said, things run a lot more smoothly if you talk real nice like to people first. For those people who aren't willing to work with you, just move on. Tell them to find another place to play, if they persist, well, that's what the ability to blacklist people is. So long as you're fair, and don't just banhammer people without warning...

I do agree that stupidly powerful characters shouldn't belong to everybody. But enforcing that...that's the hardest thing to do.

.:.Puts on the Vivi hat and the French accent.:.
Who is this 'Elli' you speak of Monsieur Fiend?

Instead of trying to draw up rules and lines and standards, just choose a more umbrella-style affiliation system.

Don't overly impose, just use the umbrella of "Gaia Mainstream" that opaj came up (who, imo, has the best definition, and coined the term) that allows threads to be interconnected and act as being part of the same "world." That way you're not stepping on toes, forcing people to play to a certain ideal, or setting anything in stone.

You're just putting like-minded threads under the same umbrella term that allows for more diffusion between them. It'd be more like a "charter" or "affiliation" of various threads than something more cohesive. Roleplaying in Gaia, when you want to expand outwards to include more people, is like holding water in your hand - make a fist, squeeze tightly, and try to bind it further, and it just slips between your fingers.

Laxity is going to be what allows the concept to cast a wide net and get more people. Each thread can still maintain its own rules, and suggested power limits, and things will more or less even out as time goes on. But the last thing you want to do is impose anything strict.