Mob Mentality

[One_With_Nature]

I've only been playing briefly over the last week or so but I've noticed theres still a lot of mob mentality going on. You should really stop and think if it is IC for your character to pursue every single lead or report that comes in. While sometimes this is perfectly acceptable it can be somewhat off putting when you're trying to portrait/play a criminal.

A good example here from Mort. Here.

[Random_White_Guy]

I only want a mob mentality if I get a track suit.

[Rouser]

Squirrely

[The Beggar]

I'll get you a track suit -and- purple cool aid.


One with Nature - I also agree.

[The Crimson Magician]

Yes, I've seen this a lot.

One thing I've noticed a lot is how, right after say, being attacked or PvP'd, a character goes straight out to Muskroot's and makes a sending about it. Like OWN said, being attacked around the area isn't a super surprising occurrence, but when a sending is made that alerts to PC CRIMINAL EVERYBODY GO ATTACK/BE CAREFUL, it seems kind of immersion breaking to me.

It's fun to have bad guys, remember! No need for those mob appearances imo.

[Big Orc Man]

Mob mentality is great if it's classy and in keeping with your character's personality.

However, if your character is supposed to be an individualist, it's a little awkward when he suddenly becomes just another face in the crowd.

It's good to recognize that, often, the player whose character is being set upon was trying to do something entertaining for other players, like yourself, so if they have an ingenious but failed banditry attempt that is entertaining, you may want to reward them by kicking the crap out of them and leaving them (mostly) intact.

Nothing makes me wince more than when players take the first available opportunity to loot another player's pack for "supplies".  Players who don't do that often find themselves, in the long run, in possession of many more "supplies".

[Valo56]

It's a good idea to try and find some way of taking part in every single lead or report without necessarily charging out the gates after whatever it is, be it PC Nightrisers back in the day, bandits or werewolves now, or whatever else happens to come up.

-A priest of Selune or Malar prepares sermons explaining the nature of lycanthropy and how it reflects a man's soul, and they should either embrace it or control it.
-Tyrrans preach crontrol and proper order, asking everyone to proceed calmly with their daily lives and allow Aberdenn or the Muster to deal with the bandits, as such things normally are, rather than a horde of vigilantes.
-Alchemists, brewers and crafters wait outside Muskroot's, offering "bandit-stoppers" to passers.
-Other evil-doers use the opportunity of many of Mistlocke's defenders running after other threats to get in a few evil deeds themselves.

Personally, I remember the people who spend their time preaching or selling stuff, and capitalizing on the dangers out in the wood, more than I remember any single person who charges out the gates, be I the criminal or just another guy. Even when I'm the criminal being chased, if I hear someone's sending stating they're going to be saying a few words on the recent necromancer/bandit problem, I'm going to remember them and think about them more later than the guys chasing me.

Plus, all (or most.. or me) villains like people talking about them or going after them in different ways. Infamy is worth more than gold or potions. Though admittedly I've probably been guilty of the mob mentality thing a few times myself.

[Egon the Monkey]

I'm going to sit back and appreciate the irony if this thread turns into a mob of players queueing up to agree with OWN. :D

I'd say that the biggest problem with mobs is that whatever consequences get dished out tend to default to the most extreme idea a PC is willing to act on. It's easy to FD or loot a downed PC, but hard to interrupt that without some good stun effects and a fast trigger-finger, or respected IC authority. This is true whether it's a PC or an NPC that's a target. I'd actually say that Blackout mode is helpful in this situation as a mechanically enforceable means to drag the downed PC out of someone else's reach. The trouble there though is I've seen players do silly things like ninja-loot the Body Item of characters that my PC Blacked Out.

The point of sendings and mobs though is they offer a chance to actually catch crooks and other antagonists who are hard or impossible to catch unawares because they don't sit around town to be ambushed or followed, they don't make quest sendings, and so on. It only gets silly if your PC has normally got no interest in such threats and then pile on Because PvP.

Finally, it's not just PCs. I've heard plenty of sendings made about DM-posessed mobs that were rampaging about. If it's anything unusually tough and well equipped, it's something an IC warning makes sense for.

[hybridmetis]

Get your pitchforks and torches, let us unite against the mob mentality! oh wait... There's something wrong here!

Well, if a character gets his butt kicked by a, let's say, starved kobold in the crossroads, barely survives, calls out for help in the sending system, he will likely get a few adventurers to help him defeat a kobold. Now, should it be different if it's a PC or NPC we're talking about? PC monsters tend to be different, unique, and more powerful than NPC mobs, or at least they should be. Just as adventurers are different than commoners or NPC guards. Mobs are as necessary for the game world as the bandit/monsters are. I understand it may be annoying sometimes to see the group of Care Bears from Mistlocke, who hang out together in the square, gossip together, quest together, fight invasions together, hoard supplies and levels together to win most of the times. But they are legitimate, and as I said, necessary and part of the game world, and will always be there... It is the existence of them that makes cool villain and anti-heroes unique and to stand out, so, let's be a bit more comprehensive about the mobs.

[el groso]

Get your pitchforks and torches, let us unite against the mob mentality! oh wait... There's something wrong here!

Well, if a character gets his butt kicked by a, let's say, starved kobold on the crossroads, barely survives, calls out for help in the sending system, he will likely get a few adventurers to help him defeat a kobold. Now, should it be different if it's a PC or NPC we're talking about? PC monsters tend to be different, unique, and more powerful than NPC mobs, or at least they should be. Just as adventurers are different than commoners or NPC guards. Mobs are as necessary for the game world as the bandit/monsters are. I understand it may be annoying sometimes to see the group of Care Bears from Mistlocke, who hang out together in the square, gossip together, quest together, fight invasions together, hoard supplies and levels together to win most of the times. But they are legitimate, and as I said, necessary and part of the game world, and will always be there... It is the existence of them that makes cool villain and anti-heroes unique and to stand out, so, let's be a bit more comprehensive about the mobs, as much as some of us can be about the villainous PCs on the rise. Remember the BigWiseMan's words:

Mob mentality is great if it's classy and in keeping with your character's personality.

[Eddie Walker]

It's good to recognize that, often, the player whose character is being set upon was trying to do something entertaining for other players, like yourself, so if they have an ingenious but failed banditry attempt that is entertaining, you may want to reward them by kicking the crap out of them and leaving them (mostly) intact.

Nothing makes me wince more than when players take the first available opportunity to loot another player's pack for "supplies".  Players who don't do that often find themselves, in the long run, in possession of many more "supplies".

Mob mentality is cool, I think, if you're playing a character prone to such.

PvP in general makes me wince, because of how often, it's been horridly handled in the past around me.

That being said there are times that stand out really well, such as I think Valo's recent bandit, ambushing Jora and a squishy mageling that shall remain known as squishy mageling so as to not hurt his feels for being taken down, while working herbalism.  They squished the mageling that was hanging around me at the time, then proceeded to be made squishy themselves.  After such Valo's kinda ran off to set traps while I subdued his parter and proceeded to trade his life for the 110 coins stolen from my own partner.

Out of their oh so filled backpack of supplies I took two bluring to cover what was used and sent them on their away with a headache, a pack to reorganise and the threat of next time they attack one of the wildling's they'd be feed to an assassin vine.... not five hours later they were subdued and turned over the Muster by others, which is great as it gives the Muster something to role-play, but they were executed shortly later down in the cells, their things I think the Muster online at the time ended up taking.

As they weren't the ones accused of Murder it didn't make a great deal of sense to me, killing them off, but it wasn't my judgement call to make.

I also had fun with Kirby subduing Jora on his return to town from an adventure, after using all his blessings (I knew it was coming, and am glad it happened, because he handled it really well), only to have them chase off after one of the other group and be allowed to slowly drag his arse back to the mists.

Ed.

[Teeth in a Bowl]

not five hours later they were subdued and turned over the Muster by  others, which is great as it gives the Muster something to role-play,  but they were executed shortly later down in the cells, their things I  think the Muster online at the time ended up taking.

Oh, wow really? >_> I hope that wasn't the time I found them.

On topic, I usually feel pretty uncomfortable during PvP. I usually can't bring myself to take anything from someone else's pack, or to FD. I can see how bad it'd be to be doing your own thing on a bandit/monster pc when a massive squad of townies comes trampling through your door like it's the Wacky Races.

[Calimport Smoke]

The Muster does not take supplies from people it captures (well, there's regulations around all this...) There is an NPC in the cells and if this happened then the PC's should probably be retired and the player's talked to.

[PureeOfPelican]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3__NN16uoXk

[RIPnogarD]

Ya know what we need. We need a suit of full plate that looks like a clerics or wizards robes (completely covering the serious armor underneath) so that the so called villains start attacking high level tanks and get whupped for their effort. Why is it that the bad guys can pick and chose their marks but the good guys have to play fair and not go for the easy win? If you dont want to be chased by a mob, dont play a bad guy. Simple logic. If you're a group of three badazz risers that think you're tough then be ready to be mobbed. Or wait, my bad, that wouldn't be fair... what's wrong with, "HEY LOOK! THERE THEY ARE! GET EM!" being completely logical RP. As apposed to a poster saying wanted dead or alive. One way will get one type of response, the other way will get you a mob that is willing to help get rid of the bad guys (who are right there!).

Seriously, Why is this mentality wrong?