I'm going to paraphrase some of the complaints I've heard, and respond to them.
1. Why get a membership if you are a service level character who is forced to live on Red?
Because your membership dues helps us keep the lights on. The IC perk is just that, a perk. The game you are playing for free is the result of over 20 years of continual development by a staff that up until recently paid the thousands of dollars a year the game takes to continue themselves. We do this because we love it. You play it because you love it.
2. There are now three classes.
No, there are two classes. There is just shades of gray in each class.
This policy is not really new. Mixers were never supposed to get pads on Green. Most corporate characters are not supposed to get pads on Blue. The policy is not just about Mixers living on Green. It's about corpies living on Blue. Only the highest level corpies (NLM Media Stars, for example) are allowed to get pads on Blue. That has been easier to police because so few people even attempt to live on Blue.
However, if a corporate character wanted to hustle and spend ALL their money to live on Blue, we wouldn't stop them! Living beyond your means is a character choice we can respect. Others might ICly respect it too. Others might try to put a boot on your throat and remind you that you don't mean fuck all to them.
3. Krakeon should be allowed because it sucks.
It does suck. But that's because it's the oldest apartment building on Green. OOCly old. Probably due for a revamp. I'm sure it's on the list. However, it's a lot easier for us to build new places than it is for us to revamp places where people are already living and used to. Mixers do not get to live in Krakeon via perma-pads.
4. This is ICly unfair.
That's the point. This game is not about everyone being happy and living in harmony. It's about pain, and struggle, and the haves versus the have-nots. That is literally the definition of cyberpunk.
5. This is OOCly unfair.
I disagree. As has been pointed out numerous times in this thread, this is the theme of the game you are playing. It's not supposed to be simple or easy or safe. It's supposed to make your heart race and sweat break out on your forehead.
We do not want service class people to have easy access to Green apartments, the same way we don't want lower level corpies to have easy access to Blue apartments. It should be a challenge and a struggle for these characters to live on Green or Blue. Everyone needs things to strive for and motivations for their character. This is a pretty straightforward one that can motivate just about anyone. You always want more, nothing is ever enough.
We do not want to make hard work and hustle pointless by offering a shortcut for characters who wants to live above their stations. It takes the fun out of it. It makes people lazy. It's frustrating to those that do it the hard way. And worst of all...
It is extremely easy for something that happens commonly, to be viewed as normal.
My character once convinced everyone that Fuller Street (on Red) was a SAFE PLACE. Just by saying it often enough and once in a while killing a pickpocket. If you look at the Fuller Street as a place with probably a million people traveling through it a day, it seems silly that one person could do that, but when you look at Fuller Street as a place where 20-50 people are traveling through it a day, it makes sense that one person could do that.
Eventually I realized that I was -breaking the game- because while oldbies and even middlebies knew that what my character was saying was bullshit because he couldn't always be watching... new players knew nothing else. They start the game, they hear fuller is safe, they believe it because the immy that showed them the ropes heard the same thing, and then all the sudden IT IS FACT.
It's too easy for every single one of us to get lulled into a false belief that mixers living topside is not only acceptable but it should be encouraged via membership pads for those who want them. This is not only incorrect but dangerous to the enforcement of theme in the game because it erodes the line between what being a corpie means and what being a mixer means.
6. Okay I read all that and you make some good points but it's still unfair that you are punishing mixers!
No one is punishing anyone. We choose the characters we play.
Do you think that the folks working as strippers at the Orifice or bouncers at the Drome are some how... less skilled roleplayers than you? Do you think that the PLAYER playing the doctor at Fuller Med who lives on Red is some how -actually- of a lower class than corporate characters?
We choose the characters we play. We play them the way we choose to play them. The theme dictates where that puts us on the class spectrum.
If you don't want to live in the Mix, get a job working for one of the big corporations in a non-service level capacity. That might mean devoting some of your UE to relevant skills, spending some time figuring out what jobs you would be good at, ICly learning some of those skills, making IC connections, getting someone fired so there is a job opening...
And then you can live on Green. And be happy, because you just roleplayed your butt off and struggled and plotted and planned and it all MEANT something.
6. This is a big change for my character.
That may be true. You may have to adjust your characters world view. The plain and simple truth is that the game is big. Really big. So big that our small and overworked staff miss things and sometimes, the theme slips and then someone notices and we correct it. We correct it in a way that makes it harder for it to slip again. We add new code and new policies and we make sure everyone knows about them and we enforce the hell out of them until they become second nature so we never make the same mistake again.
For anyone effected by this theme enforcement in an OOCly negative way, I understand your feelings and can see why you feel that way. Try to remember that this is a game that is always and continually under development. Things that are one way today will not always be that way tomorrow. Theme evolves, code changes, characters grow and die, new characters arrive, admin leave, new admin come on, new ideas are implemented and old ideas are left to die on the vine.
You adjust, you grow, you take things in stride, and you evolve with the times.
7. My boss previously told my character I couldn't go to the Mix or I would be fired.
This has been touched on numerous times but just to reiterate... that no longer applies. If you need IC clarity, speak with your boss.
8. Some service level employees can afford rent on Green without much trouble.
The game is always evolving. Five years ago there were 10 people living topside. Now there are hundreds. Yet there are the same amount of builders, coders and GMs. Auditing the rents topside is a time consuming process and something that will be done when we have time. At which point, service level workers probably won't be able to afford it.
Hell, our goal is for corpies not to be able to afford it without the subsidized housing perks their corporations offer. Especially for the upscale places. We do however, try to leave enough IC wiggle room for self made corpies that don't work for big corporations, to be able to afford to live there. That doesn't mean that EVERYONE who can afford it, SHOULD afford it.
It's a game people. Don't scratch the walls too much. Also, please remember that we can't always make the kind of sweeping changes we would like to make to the actual game world. We have to roll them out incrementally because of the sheer amount of time and effort involved, on top of the other projects we've got going.
9. Should the animosity in this thread be directed ICly?
Probably. I think a lot of folks posting here are experiencing what we in the biz call 'bleed'. Character emotions and outrage and opinions bubbling up to the player and informing opinions and emotions. It's a side effect of immersive games. Channel it. If this gives you a reason for your mixer character to hate corpies-- good.
10. Do mixers who work in the mix hate mixers who work topside?
It's not a death sentence people. Mixers go topside to get clones. Very few people are like 'oh shit you sold out to Sense/Net baka!'. It's completely situational. If you are a mixer going to your job as a bartender on Gold and you act all prim and proper but come back to the mix and bitch about the shitty corpies-- who's going to give you shit?
if you work as a medic up at a clinic and come back to the mix and patch up gangers or others in your free time-- while telling your mixer friends how you 'accidently' let a Judge die the other day... who's going to give you shit?
If you are a dancer at Korova and you come back to the Mix and tell your mixer friends how you're working on conning some fat cat corpie who loves to pay you for private dances into being your sugar daddy by getting them to fall in love with you so you can rob them blind-- who's going to give you shit!?
Your character doesn't have to actually be doing any of that. Your character doesn't have to believe what they are saying. They just have to get others to believe it. You don't have to be honest with people. You can lie to them. They will probably believe you. Convince them you hate corpies jut as much as they do-- right up until the moment that you get that sweet corporate gig you've been plotting after and you leave the scum behind in the mix forever.
If you work topside and you come down to the Mix and act like you're above it all and the Mix is gross and the people are gross, then you're going to get into some shit.
Should that stop you if that's how your character acts? NO! That's the point of the game. Play to lose is a fun way to play if you are into that like many of our players. Putting your character in difficult situations and seeing where the roleplay takes you is why Sindome is fun. Keep that in mind as you play. If you haven't tried it, you should. You'll be surprised how fun it is. It might change how you play forever.
-- Slither
