The World of Avlis

There's a big distinction between these terms. PvP = player vs. player CvC = character vs. character

PvP is a very well known term. There have been numerous exhaustive essays on the "how to"'s depdening on what MMORPG you are playing. But the basic premise of it is "beat that other guy with your i33t skilz". Stress on "that other guy".

CvC is different. In CvC, there is no "other guy". That little sprite on the screen plus your imagination is IT. As far as you are concerned, the person behind the computer on the other end is nonexistent. Your character is interacting with their character. The two of you as individuals are not interacting.

Thus, it becomes clear that one major difference with CvC is that you are not trying to beat the other guy, but rather, your character is trying to beat the other character. How is this different? Players beat each other because they want to get recognition and ego trips. Characters have other reasons... maybe survival, maybe an *in-game* grudge, maybe some other complex situation.

If characters wind up fighting, they are fighting over some imagined conflict that takes place only within the confines of the server world. Not for any other reason.

Once the reason becomes something real, that exists outside the computer, it ceases to be CvC and becomes PvP.

In PvP you must do whatever you can to win. But in CvC, you must do whatever your character can think of. In some cases, your character may not have certain knowedge that you have as a player, and a good CvC'er will not use knowledge which his character does not know, even though he himself may know.

On Avlis, it will be no different. PvP is a no no. Come in and start ganking people for no reason, and you are banned. But by the same token, there will be a lot of character roleplaying going on, and lord knows we will pit you against each other as characters. I can think of one good example off the top of my head: the humans of M'Chek and the Elves of T'Nanshi.... all fighting. Humans need more land to live on, and the elves don't want to give it to them because they have a tendancy to mistreat land. Hence, a war is going on between them. If you play an elf, your character may have trouble in M'Chek, and a human may have trouble in T'Nanshi. CvC. Two characters, one of each race, may decide to move beyond the war and be friends, or they may decide to duke it out. That's all fine, because it's within the confines of the game.

Feel free to enter the debate.

NWN PWs will only be successful under the idea that characters will be role-played. And under the watchful eye of a good DM (or several), CvC combat interaction could evolve into an excellent history of the world and a fun way to spend time while in game. A territory war is an excellent idea. As is guild wars as long as they add to the story line and aren't started for stupid reasons.

NWN won't allow for "roxxorz". It's no fun. It should be about the story of the world and how your character fits into it. How he uses what he knows to make a name for himself and become a great adventurer, or whatever elese he wants to be. If you want to kill innocents, I would hope there was a stiff price to pay.

Well said, Dupree.

We plan on having plenty of conflicts that characters can enter into. I gave one example, and the other example is in the post on the Kurathene (pronounced CURE-a-theen) Empire, which accomodates guild wars and makes them add to the story.

If a character chooses to have nothing to do with these two coflicts, he can. There are others to choose from, or he can choose none. Yet, if good roleplaying is taking place, there will be a lot of CvC..... not interms of actual fighting, but CvC in terms of characters interacting to further their goals.

Picture a thief. Now, you can play an assassin character who kills for money. That's legitamate CvC. Take your kill. Get your money. An assassin killing without being paid is like working for free. He would not want to do that, because it serves no purpose. A good roleplaying assassin would get this.

It's also possible to play a thief without EVER having to fight. In fact, a lot of thieves DON'T WANT to fight. They suck at it. In a pinch, they can escape, but toe to toe combat is out of the question. We plan on scripting the world so that way you can play thief quests without ever absolutely needing to make things messy. This will be Silk's area cuz he likes that sort of thing.

But picture the huge contrast between this and a UO thief. See what I mean?

I like assassins but i guess you could figure that out from my name