What do you think of alts? Are they good or bad? Do they help or hinder the players? Is it better to have one mega-character, or a handful of littler characters?

Personally, I think that alts are a good thing...if they aren't abused. For example, I have Shurimaru in Magnagora and in ...and it's done me a world of good. Different archetype, different RP...it kind of helps me "triangulate" the world a little...

On the other hand, I've heard numerous arguments of wasted effort and metagaming...hence, this topic. You may begin posting...
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It's a matter of opinion, I can't play alts very often, even established ones, but I know people who can.

They're good for learning about other skills though, and creating some understanding if you're considering a switch or something.

They're neither good or bad in the abstract.

They're bad if people use them to "spy" for their main/main's org.
They're also bad for you if you find you don't like keeping alts in a bunch of places.
They're good for you if you like the diversity and the opportunity to meet more people easier, or simply getting to play another class for variety.

I am happy to say I have an alt, it's not something that has ever caused me any problems, and I enjoy it. Especially given that my main has so many leadership positions it's -really- nice to be able to enjoy the game but not have the issues that come with my main (like constantly worrying about getting ganked, etc).

However for every person like me, there's someone who abuses alts like mentioned above, which makes it horrible for the rest of us.

I have quite a few alts. It goes parallel to my somewhat ADD nature. I play whoever I'm in the mood for, usually. Unless, as recently, I've had RL things to do that keep me from committing. I find it's nice to ba able to hop into someone else's shoes for a while, sometimes just to get away from the pressures associated with the characters. (For instance on my aquamacer, when I was writing that scroll on leeches, I did most of my writing while logged in on Aerotan, simply because we were getting raided so often that I couldn;t concentrate with Syrii.)

Hate alts, and when I get tempted to make one I usually start, go through the long intro story and before the Fates finish talking I am like... forget this. Or I might even make it to college and go... forget this. I really can't stand to see a raid happen and half of an orgs lowbies log on and OMG THERE IS THE DEMISQUAD OF THEOTHERORG. I wish the game locked itself when a raid was going on for 5 minutes or so to stop aiming and alts from changing over but we all know that would never happen, but it would be lolworthy to see the sudden lack of ripplers/shrine effects from people who suddenly can't change over or log in due to ooc contacts.

But otherwise, I try an alt for a few, go 'omg I could be bashing on my main this is wasting time.' and then pretty much quit. The only part I like about alts is that I like my main to have a certain reputation, one which I can ignore with an alt and do whatever I like.

On the old pk mud I used to play it had dark/light side, separated by area and speech. No physical game mechanic enforced it, but if you switched sides without letting 30 minutes pass you got tempban, then permaban. Just based on IP. Goes without saying even if you could prove two people in the same place you couldn't play both sides at once.

Implement pls.

I'm a fan of alts myself. I generally have one character I play a lot and a few alts I pop in on now and then when the mood strikes me.

Now, people who log off their alt and onto the main as soon as the org of their main is raided or there's a revolt or whatever deserve a thousand paper-cuts between each toe.

This is my only problem with alts.

I agree with Noola. It never fails that in Glomdoring whenever a revolt happens you see bunch of the little Glommies go poof. I personally don't play with alts because one, the joy of mud bashing while a necessary evil is lost on me and two, I have better things to do with Urazial.

Despite that, I have no problem with alts. Heck, most Inseiras are alts. The thing besides the disappearing alts during revolts and other important times that irritates me is when some random person decides to tell you they are an alt for seemingly no other reason than to let you know they are one.

EDIT:And of course you have novices popping out of nowhere piping up with that GBTG nonsense, which is just... ew.

I love alts. Love 'em.

The only problem with my alts, is most of them end up being promoted quite quickly, which means that my main, Shaddus of course, gets less time as I feel I have to devote more time to the alts.

What does GBTG or whatever mean?

"Glory be to Glomdoring."
One person says it, everyone else has to.
At least, that's my understanding from my alt's brief time in Glom. I've seen it...twice.

Actually, it's the response to "Nothing matters but Glomdoring." One person says that, everyone must respond with GBTG. Of course, its overuse the a subject of too many debates.

Anyway, my opinion on alts: Typically, I make 'em to try out new guilds/orgs. They hardly ever get past level 20 because bashing is far too tedious even on my main (my proudest alt was a Ninjakari that got to level 50 over the course of a weekend) and I usually lose interest due to being unestablished characters and me not having time to devote to making them established. But I'm fascinated with the different culture and RP potential so I make alts anyway.

:beam:

Do I know you?

And you aren't the person who dropped all your stuff in the guildhall and suicided, are you?

If you want to explore the "other side" as far as orgs go, take your main there! Boo alts.

It has never been this way.

Ever.

It's always been voluntary.

Which, to me, makes each and every one of those debates completely meaningless. If people want to do it, let 'em.

Coming to Serenwilde, be there in a few.

Huh. I've never heard anything about NMBG or GBTG being required or even encouraged, really.