I can see that my initial suggestion about implementing the Factions plugin was not received well. As I am about to implement the
new Bedlam map I thought i would take another crack at it and try and make my point more clearly.
I suggested implementing the Factions mod for 2 reasons. Firstly, a GREAT many guests ask for it as it is a very popular mod and secondly as I think it might help with the issues we have with Bedlam.
Bedlam was designed in response to an over whelming amount of requests to have a true, unlimited, do-as-you-please section of SMP that mirrored the way the Temp Maps work. I supplied this but the simple fact it, the place is hated. Having no protections may sound good but for some reason, no one is embracing it. Vast towns and communities have sprung up in each and every test map with people working together really well to produce some great work but no such thing has ever been attempted in Bedlam and I have no idea why that is (well I have ideas, but none of them are polite). So, as it is, Bedlam is a waste land of pillars and lava, filled with solo-builds, half burned and destroyed and with just about every resource torn from the land. It's a mess.
Implementing Factions might help. Here's how it might work:
- Factions would ONLY be implemented in Bedlam. Hub would stay exactly as it is.
- Factions could ONLY be created by R or M+ ranks. No one man factions made by every guest
- Setting up a faction could carry a substantial cost
- Having Factions offers a real way to protect your stuff in Bedlam. For each member you recruit to your faction, you gain more influence, allowing you to build larger and larger protected structures.
- Having Factions would persuade people to work together. Getting killed now becomes a HUGE deal as you will lose the influence you carry for your Faction, essentially shrinking their protected zone.
- Factions could make people actually play the game properly. No more killing yourself at low health, no more ignoring farming, no more ignoring resources.
- Factions would encourage people to play better, act better in chat (who wants to join the faction of a total moron?) and speak to guests more in an attempt to persuade them to join you.
These are all just ideas (ideals really) but I think there is some genuine potential. I too hoped that Bedlam would be a good thing, a Temp Map brought to SMP proper, but no one has embraced that or even tried to do anything organised in there. Right now Bedlam, is just a griefing zone for idiots to spam kill and abuse our good nature and all that does is scare guests off and we are getting very thin on numbers these days (the reason I am coming down so hard on people who act like total idiots in Bedlam).
Something needs to be done and this is my suggestion. Feel free to make your own.