Reading the Ninjakari topic, I got to thinking, why don't we have a way of restarting an existing character if you get stuck, considering the RP restrictions that are encouraged in Lusternia? How about this..



So essentially, you buy the artifact and it resets you, but you can first tradein all your artis/gold for credits which are carried through. I added manse and aetherships in there because they are a big investment you can't undo and can easily fit to a new role, but that's optional. Weapon runes really should be trade-in-able, by the way, if they aren't already. After using this artifact, you would be able to choose a new sex, race, name and class. You would have an extra honours line that says "He bears the Karmic Legacy of ." Which would give enough continuity to prevent pests from hiding their griefing history, but not enough justification to penalize the new character for the mistakes of the old.

The artifact is a credit sink, and trading in all your existing artifacts will involve massive loss, so I can't see this being an issue with the IRE business model. Bound credits stay bound, and I can only see it benefitting both the company and players. The new character gets no 'cred' for their past life either, it is a true reincarnation that produces a completely different personality and entity distinct from the old.

Thoughts?

I like the idea! The only part that I can see being a problem is the part where it says who you used to be. I wouldn't mind it saying that you have used the artifact, but I have a feeling that if people knew who you used to be, metagaming prejudices will inevitably creep in.

HONOURS DAGANEV. There is nobody by that name? Hmmm... (or if it says "This person used a torch and no longer exists", same thing). It's going to be found out no matter what.

Sounds really...ooc.

That's what his comment was-- that people would know it had been done OOCly. I was pointing out that it will be found out whether there's a note in the honours or not.

Oh sorry, I was referring to the artie, not to your comment.

Ah, well, it is kind of OOC-- as much as typing SUICIDE and creating a new character. It just lets you move your bound credits from yourself to yourself, at a loss. It's not really a bad thing, I just don't see it being used a ton, except maybe by some characters that feel they really want a fresh start.

You can always trade manses and ships and such to other people, and have them trade back if you'd like. If you're going to go for a character restart, have it go all out.

Also, yes, weapon runes can be traded in.

Anyway, neat idea, kind of odd though. I mean, why would you ever really want to restart? If you lose all of your lessons, you're worse off than if you forgot all of your skills at once. Want to change race? There's a 100cr artifact for that. Trying to suicide and then start fresh with your old toys? People will still treat you just the same as your old character. I see almost no benefit to this.

You should of course also retain your lessons (That way you can forget all your skills and regain some of them after reincarnating.

I really see no threat to the business model in this. Very few people are willing to invest everything they invested into their current character into a new character, so they either stick with a character for a long longer than said character deserves to be stuck with, or they just stop playing.

Ah yes, keeping lessons in your pools is of course a good idea.

I've suggested this, but I think it should be tied into the Portal of Fate--where you invoke the Fates to re-write your life in the weave of Fate. That makes the most sense, sort of like the dagger does.

Not sure if you should keep manses though...maybe just credit trade-ins for any non-gold artifacts bought for the manses.

My only concern with this is people's OOC attitudes. If suddenly a famous (or infamous) character disappeared, people might start working to guess who his new incarnation is. If there's a hint in the honours line, you're going to have a lot of meta-gaming, so it won't work as well for people wanting a new start.

If regular credits are kept, don't even need to keep manses/ships. You can just sell your manses and aetherships, and buy credits with the resulting gold (Or you can just sell them directly for credits.)

People who want to start anew and can afford it, do just that, so I'm not sure if it's not detrimental to the business aspect.
I would like to see something like that, but I don't think it'll ever happen.
Never say never though, I suppose.

The fact of the matter is that RP doesn't play into org admittance as much as some people would like to think. If people actually like you, there will be some means by which you can make a transition or change your character. If people think you're annoying, irritating, or generally undesirable, you're going to have a very hard time getting in even with just minor offenses stacked against you unless you have at least one person in that org ready to stand up and argue your case. It can be just as bad if you're an unknown and no one feels a particularly strong need to get you into the org.

It happens all the time. Making alts hasn't helped these people much in the past, as people eventually figure it out (or they're silly and spout about their "past lives"), and the prejudices get transferred to them.

I see very, very few people actually getting use out of an artifact like this.

But they're still in the org they want, with all the skills they want, even if this does happen. Not in my memory have they ever gotten booted over it. In fact, I can only remember a couple of times this stuff has happened at all. Sano and that N-person (not Narsrim, I forget though) harrassed various people from a variety of alts and got booted on some of them. It's totally different to "prejudices being carried over." After a while it just became obvious that some guy was spam-creating characters to annoy people. The other case I can think of, the alt got along just fine in his new org.

There have also been cases of idiotic players shaping up over time and then being accepted on both main and alts.

See, and if this happens, then there's really no need for the torch. The torch won't actually solve anything - it will still be up to the player to change their behaviour or attitudes in an appropriate manner. If they never shape up and use the torch, it won't actually accomplish anything for them. If they do shape up, then chances are the torch isn't necessary (and in my opinion, lose a little depth in having their character essentially re-written instead of changing and growing).

I can't think of any instances where someone has said "Gosh, we really love you OOCly and would love to have you in the org, but your IC past makes it impossible". If they want you in, you'll get in somehow.

But if people want it, hey, why not?

You're focusing on joining restrictions too much, it's not the only reason people would want to get a fresh start without losing all the investment.

You're probably right - I'm more the sort of person that prefers to work around what has already been set to stone, so to say, then wiping things clean, so the idea instantly doesn't appeal to me as a result of that. Any skepticism I share on this subject should be considered with that in mind.

But like I said earlier, if people really want it, why not?

Sure, go ahead. Of course I can say I don't ever see anyone one using this though.