Smuggler Closure Thread.

[Pheats]

Ok with the smuggler storyline finished and lots of people have requested information im setting up this thread for stuff relating to it.

Here you are free to discuss what happened and such and ask questions, the events team will try to answer what we can about the story and such.

If you have any information you want to put forth about the storyline here would be the place.

[Agentcora]

Just a quick note: People who already are or who end up being involved in my current story should note that the smugglers in this ARK story are different people and a different story altogether to the ones in mine.

My story will move right away from smuggling soon.I just didn't want people think i/those involved are harping on about something thats finished.

[Ninanna]

Thanks for the clarification AgentCora. I knew they were different lines of story, but others may not have realized that.

The Events team driven storyline, involved various activities, involving (but not exclusive to), the crew of the Why Not, and activities that lead up to what was a raid by OTAF personnel on the smuggler base of Kabrink, and subsequent actions that occurred following that.

For those that are still a bit confused, here are the links to the 'official' editor articles relating to the recent activities.

Atlantean

OTPC: Omni-Tek Strikes a Blow to Smugglers.

OTPC: Smugglers to be Publicly Sentenced and their Seized Property Auctioned

Rimor

OTPC: Omni-Tek Strikes a Blow to Smugglers.

FJRK: Omni-Teks smuggling failure!



And the reason for the different directions in the closure on the two dimensions? Simple, the players.

The event dealing with the crash of the Why Not due to their run in with the alien raiders while trying to escape from the attack on Kabrink by OTAF, had a rough outline from our side. And a time limit.

If the aliens and everything was dealt with within that time frame and those present to arrest the crew, survived to reach them before they repaired their ship, then they were arrested. If they managed to repair the ship, and the OT personnel delayed enough to enable them to escape, then they escaped.

Most of the in game details are being handled by the players that were involved. Some are going to tell you everything that happened, some arent.

[playboyfixer]

would have been fun to see Red Freedom "abduct" Wingger for their own purposes or so and just have him go silent for a longer period (could become a pilot for some of their more daring missions, as smugglers should have good skills flying through tricky situations )

[Redesine]

My question: What happened?

I'm not sure really where to start, really. There was some info in the storyline information thread, but that's gone now and I can't reference it. I can read news articles, but they don't give me a sense of what is background flavour text and what was actually played out in-game.

I'm surprised to see that the people that were involved don't seem very keen to even talk about it.

From what I can piece together "some of Rubi-Ka's non corporate citizens getting in the way of the corporate protectors" is the only part omni-side that references an event? I can only guess that it is referenced in the clan article as: "The Why Not was defended by a small group of neutrals"

This is probably silly and a waste of time but...

I'm kind of disappointed with the community at the moment.

I'm very interested in these stories, but generally can't be around to follow them in-game. I'm sure lots of people are like me (or at least would be if they knew the stories existed). And it does sound like people are interested if Pheats has gotten info requests.

Yet when I try to find out what happened, people are making it very difficult.

There are those who have offered to share some information with me privately because I was deemed trustworthy, but I'll be honest here - this makes me extremely uncomfortable. What makes me any different from the next person? In fact, I'm not trustworthy. I will share this information if I can since it's public information in the first place. That's the kind of person I like to think I am.

I could go in game, in character and roleplay to get this information. But honestly, who would actually tell me? How would my character know who to ask, and what to ask... and why would they ask?

All this secrecy and fear of metagaming is at best damaging to the community, making us seem unwelcoming, unfriendly and untrusting. And at worst it seems sinister that public info would be intentionally restricted.

I would ask the RP community as a whole to be more open, less scared. The mystery is gone, the story is over and it no longer becomes a spoiler to talk about it. We need to separate IC from OOC and not require that people be in a certain group to be privy to certain information - that's only what you would do IC. The rest of the time we're a community playing together, not against each other.

[Xeenah]

All this secrecy and fear of metagaming is at best damaging to the community, making us seem unwelcoming, unfriendly and untrusting. And at worst it seems sinister that public info would be intentionally restricted.

[...]

We need to separate IC from OOC and not require that people be in a certain group to be privy to certain information - that's only what you would do IC. The rest of the time we're a community playing together, not against each other.

Some people have a hard time making the separation between IC and OOC - by their own admission. That is worth taking in account.

I work with people of all factions to thread stories that are involving other players. Unfortunately, there are also people for who roleplay is not a cooperative, creative process, but a stepping stone for some kind of popularity contest... thus, sometimes harming the roleplay community in the process.

Sadly, this happened and maybe, just maybe, that's one reason why people are still a little weary about it.

[Pheats]

From our end its not possible to write up a full essay on what happened due to a number of things.

First were rather limited in time and resources to do such a thing,

The original arks in control have gone and taken some of the knowledge with them,

Our logs are heavy things that need close scrutiny to find anything of worth.

Hence why this thread is aimed at more players sharing information and asking questions if we get someone saying "this and this happened but im not sure why" that gives us a point to search for and come up with the answer.

Also this is basically an OOC thread just for information sharing to allow people to discuss what happened and hopefully glean some feedback, information would be ideally avoided IC however it would at least give you a starting point of who/where to chat around in the hope of slying fishing things up IC.

As for the brief blurb from the "current storyline" thread, I did have the foresight to save it so here it is:

The Smugglers:

Basic info:
Despite the dangers and blockades in Rubi-Ka space, an industry of illegal transports to and from the planet still thrives. The continued smuggling of Notum in particular has sparked political tensions across all the factions.

The story so far:
Officially, Omni-Tek hold an absolute monopoly on Notum exports, making illegal exports a profitable business. The Omni Armed-Forces on RK determined to crack down on smuggling and turned to the Board of Directors and affiliates for assistance. At the same time, enterprising smuggler crews approached Clan and Neutral organisations, offering to broker their Notum offworld for higher profit. Targetting suppliers, Omni players discovered Council of Truth Clans and even Newland Council ministers dealing with smugglers. Tensions rose as a Council of Truth session was interrupted with an ultimatum, demanding they cease illegal trading and an NLCC session received a visit from an "off-duty" OTAF officer. Omni-Tek plans to strike even harder at Notum deals while players in the OT underground unearthed evidence that corrupt OT officials may be involved. And the questions remain - Is OT's monopoly fair? Will Clan/neutral players give in to political pressure and is OT corruption really involved? How are the blockade runners slipping through aliens and orbital checkpoints?

[trousers]

Basic info:
Despite the dangers and blockades in Rubi-Ka space, an industry of illegal transports to and from the planet still thrives. The continued smuggling of Notum in particular has sparked political tensions across all the factions.

Pants dies and Omni-Trans goes down the crapper. Someone should hold AJ personally accountable.

I recommend a sentence of life imprisonment on the asteroid camp where her predecessor currently is.

[Falikos]

My question: What happened?

What happened will largely depend on who you ask. From the parts that I participated in the post from Pheats and the articles really do cover the essentials of what happened. Just like when you read or watch the news it is largely the reporter providing their take on the situation and if you're lucky a little live footage or an eye witness account. For a basic "what happened" from what I saw of the events that transpired the Events Team posts cover it really well.

Even shorter version:
Smugglers smuggling get OmniTek all bent out of shape so they decide to do something about it. This something takes time, so the smugglers continue to smuggle. Eventually they're ready to strike and Tek takes their base out and many smugglers go from smuggling to running like hell. People die, cats and dogs live together, and some smugglers get away... some don't. (RK1 vs RK2 differences)

I'm not sure really where to start, really. There was some info in the storyline information thread, but that's gone now and I can't reference it. I can read news articles, but they don't give me a sense of what is background flavour text and what was actually played out in-game.

I'm surprised to see that the people that were involved don't seem very keen to even talk about it.

From what I can piece together "some of Rubi-Ka's non corporate citizens getting in the way of the corporate protectors" is the only part omni-side that references an event? I can only guess that it is referenced in the clan article as: "The Why Not was defended by a small group of neutrals"

With the exception of the explosion in the asteroid belt and the ships blowing up everything that was covered in the articles played out in the game so far as I'm aware. I wasn't there for parts of it, some of it I was. I don't mind discussing it, but giving a play by play I do mind. Half the fun for me of participating in an event no matter who presents it is the mystery of it. I like puzzling and trying to figure it out... I even like being wrong!

This is probably silly and a waste of time but...

I'm kind of disappointed with the community at the moment.

I'm very interested in these stories, but generally can't be around to follow them in-game. I'm sure lots of people are like me (or at least would be if they knew the stories existed). And it does sound like people are interested if Pheats has gotten info requests.

Yet when I try to find out what happened, people are making it very difficult.

What about the event is it you want to know and who do you want to know it from? I'd considered writing out a story from the perspective of my characters, but honestly I haven't had time and it has been fairly low on the priory list. I have another project I'm working on and spend a lot of my free time RPing in the game. What bits of this storyline my characters found out about took a lot of time (goodness, at least two months nearly?) of conversations and poking around... and heck just winging it a bit. People aren't making it difficult here, its that it was a complex story that involved people on two dimensions. There are no easy answers beyond the overview given.

There are those who have offered to share some information with me privately because I was deemed trustworthy, but I'll be honest here - this makes me extremely uncomfortable. What makes me any different from the next person? In fact, I'm not trustworthy. I will share this information if I can since it's public information in the first place. That's the kind of person I like to think I am.

I'm going to do my best to not be offended here about the implication that I'm not playing nice in the sandbox... I have bolded the line above that seems to be where we disagree.. no, it isn't public information. Here is where the difference between reading a movie review (spoilers and all) or going to see the movie for yourself. The movie time was even posted here for all to see and attend if they wanted to... I went to the movie, as it were, and I've given you my review. I'm sorry my trust that you would keep what your character knows and what YOU know separate made you uncomfortable, perhaps that was inaccurate on my part.

I could go in game, in character and roleplay to get this information. But honestly, who would actually tell me? How would my character know who to ask, and what to ask... and why would they ask?

You could go in game! Infact I bet the folks on and RPing would be happy to see another face, I know I would. So far as who to ask I think you have done a good bit of sleuthing and would know where to start... Neutrals seem to of been involved... Red knows some Neutrals and has been known to turn up out of the blue (like any good advy) to the NLC meetings. That would be one place to ask, or to just inquire with those he knows or knows of. Now so far as what someone might tell him, that would depend on how well he knows them, how he asks, etc. As an example Foos asked one of my characters about it pretty point blank and got a reaction from her I imagine he expected. He also missed the event and hasn't been RPing much for months outside of the few NLC meetings so it can be done. What little I know of Red in an IC way... I can see him being sassy enough to just ask, but it can be done in a lot of different styles.

All this secrecy and fear of metagaming is at best damaging to the community, making us seem unwelcoming, unfriendly and untrusting. And at worst it seems sinister that public info would be intentionally restricted.

I would ask the RP community as a whole to be more open, less scared. The mystery is gone, the story is over and it no longer becomes a spoiler to talk about it. We need to separate IC from OOC and not require that people be in a certain group to be privy to certain information - that's only what you would do IC. The rest of the time we're a community playing together, not against each other.

The mystery isn't gone, the events of a character's past impact their future and personal history very much. People are still discussing it in game, so this event is hardly of historical record. It is more a springboard to dig around into new aspects of someone's characters because of how they might be reacting to the latest headlines. It doesn't stop new people from being included or invited to things... heck I poked a ton of people OOC including a bunch I hardly know to come to the event.

My experience is that the community is very welcoming on BOTH servers. I've had the recent pleasure of dinking around on RK1 and found folks to be really fun. (Even the bad guys) I agree with Xeenah though, there are people who have taken things very out of context and gone out of their way in-game to harass or otherwise spoil character stories for little obvious reason other than to be a pain. It is very frustrating, but it doesn't stop it from being very true.

So I'm up for further discussion. If its something I am okay with answering about in an OOC way I will, if not I might just waggle my eyebrows and say come find me in-game. *grins*

Thus concludes the longest post I've ever made on the OOC forum.

[Nuhmudiira]

What Falikos said.

Well said.

Although I didn't have the chance to take part in any of this, I certainly would like my character to find things out for herself, on her own.

I wouldn't walk up to someone outside of a movie theatre and ask for every detail.

[Redesine]

Afternoon's read

There was no offense intended I was just a little uncomfortable accepting that offer, I hope you understand. Not that I wasn't very grateful.

In my own experience, for whatever reason, people don't talk about events IC. So for me, someone who doesn't play very much, isn't in an active org and doesn't see a lot of roleplaying any more, it's very frustrating trying to persue it in game.

I know that there is meant to be an element of interactivity to all of this, but as I see it, the opportunity to be involved has gone and with it went any chance to truely interact with the story. It's not interactive any more, it's linear - something that I would gain as much from by reading a forum post as would by "listening" to that same text in game.

Essentially what I think we disagree on is this movie you mentioned. As I see it, theatre has finished screening so there's no point in being coy about the plot. I won't be able to see it anyway.

I want to find out what the film was like but I get the impression people don't want to tell me because they don't think that's how I should be asking. I should be asking "in character". It seems unneccesary.

Is this how it should happen?

Me: Hi guys, sorry I missed the session last week. What happened?
D&D players: We're not telling you. You have to ask in-character.
Me: Err, okay. *puts on bad Scottish accent* What happened?
D&D players: Ah, well what happened was...

Or perhaps more accurately, when it comes to AO RPers:

Me: Hi guys, sorry I missed the session last week. What happened?
D&D players: We're not telling you. You have to ask in-character.
Me: Err, okay. *puts on bad Scottish accent* What happened?
D&D players: Nothing! Nothing at all. You weren't there. You can't prove anything.

You see how frustrating that can be?

[playboyfixer]

D&D players: Nothing! Nothing at all. You weren't there. You can't prove anything.

That's right! nothing happened, and u can't prove it! if you try, i'll deny anything ;D

But anyway, i can see what u mean, if a closed event would lead to new player-run events, the people not involved in the event closing, would be unvoluntarily left out of new ones too cause they are clueless bout what's going on.