Geas

As PO Delia wrote in the other thread:

"What is Geas" or something, about how people see the game world down to the finest minute detail

What would interest me here is especially the playability aspect of those players who like to see more unequality within the game. And especially, details about this unequality - and how it will affect the overall playability.

Let's also not forget NPCs. Playercharacters may change their opinions, NPCs on the other hand always behave the same.

Well, good luck trying to tell Desdeamona that she cannot be Avatar because she is worth less than a man. Guess what? She would surely burn your ass.

Personally, I think having old uber-characters surrounded by hordes of newbies is both a requirement and awesome for a multiplayer game. These strongest characters have stuck with Geas long enough to become monsters, and gather resources to "power play" (IC power, more so) and assist whomever they want. This also creates a great staging ground for more reasonably experienced, up-and-coming characters like most of us. We get from them aspirations and a constant threat or two that must be addressed...

Anyhow, if the trends in modern gaming will tell us anything, we love variety and openness, and in terms of text-based games, Geas all but sets the bar for this. However, the failing of many such games is stagnation and skewed leveling, where eventually, everyone is level X and stuffed full of powerful gear after so many hours playing... Geas skillfully avoids this and creates a system where even completely outclassed in all areas, a player can probably figure out a way to emerge victorious with a bit of luck.

Guess that sums up into saying I love the inequalities here, however, they're not as great as people would have you believe.