During R6, we saw our very first, fully realized player town, PaxLair. The PaxLair community spent many hours scoping out a place to call home, laying their claims and building homes of all shapes and sizes, and crafting together in order for the whole community to be able to decorate their mantles in New Britannia. And when they were done, Lord British, Lord Darkstarr and I had the happy privilege of receiving a Royal Tour!
Now that R6 has been re-opened for E3, you have another week to visit PaxLair if you haven’t already done so! Just type “/zone Valemark” for a quick way to get to PaxLair. Or, if you would rather travel there by overland map, just head south from Owl’s Head.
I had a chance to chat with Winfield, Old Man and Governor of PaxLair, and he was kind enough to tell me a bit more about PaxLair, and the history and philosophy behind it.
FireLotus: So, tell us a little about PaxLair.
Winfield: PaxLair is a player town which means “Peace Place”. It has existed in Old Britannia for more than 16 years and we are now building PaxLair in New Britannia. PaxLair is not a guild, it is a town. Many guilds, people, and establishments may take up residency and citizenry in PaxLair.
FireLotus: Why is it called “Peace Place”?
Winfield: PaxLair is a crossroad for anyone and everyone to visit or reside. Since friends and enemies may freely come, we don’t want constant fighting in our streets or pubs. Therefore we have the tenets of Peace and Neutrality, along with Role-Playing. We can even help disputing groups with our diplomacy or our justice system. We plan to hold fair and impartial trials when needed for anyone who comes to us.
FireLotus: Why a town? Why not a conventional guild?
Winfield: We are building a town mainly because we like immersion, realism, and a wide range of interests. Whether PaxLair is a town of 10 people or 200 people, the goal is to have a physical area with houses in a place people can call home. People hanging out and getting to know each other can spawn great things. They can create new opportunities as individuals or groups, and thus drive their own destinies. For example, it is likely blacksmiths and carpenters will be extremely valuable and profitable professions while PaxLair residents build their homes and explore the lands. Later, PaxLair will need defenses such as militias, guards, and even an armada of ships. As the town’s physiological and security needs are met, the town will likely explore diplomacy with other towns, establish trade routes, increase its market, develop a judicial system, build libraries, and even conduct theatrical plays. With this approach, we believe all things immersive and realistic are possible.
FireLotus: Why Shroud of the Avatar?
Winfield: Simple. It offers all we can hope for to build PaxLair in a new realm. It will keep us entertained and busy for many years to come. We love the Ultimas, Ultima Online, and similar games. We have enjoyed Tracy Hickman’s novels for decades. We trust the Portalarium leadership to work with the players and they already proved that. The player community is so good at working together with many leaders devoted to helping others. So why go anywhere else?
FireLotus: This sounds like a big undertaking, is it a challenge?
Winfield: Everything is a challenge these days. Our goal is to keep this simple and fun. We want to be organized enough so people can participate, build what they want to build, do what they want to do, and avoid drama. We want to make it easy for people to meet others with similar interests (adventuring, combat, crafting, writing, etc.). When people cooperate well together, the challenge is easy. If we don’t cooperate well, then the challenge is hard.
FireLotus: What are you working on prior to release?
Winfield: We are building a PaxLair in each of the pre-Alpha Releases. We started in R5 with just a few homes in Valemark. In R6, we got organized a bit prior to the R6 launch and enjoyed great involvement and support from people like Violation and Amber Raine. R7 will be even bigger for us and I imagine the land rush to PaxLair will be huge. We are using these Releases to experiment with what works and does not work both mechanically and socially. We want to see the ideas of Player Towns succeed for all people; we are hitting this as hard as we can to help out. Between the Releases we are participating in the forum discussions at non-Dev+ and Dev+ levels. We are getting to know more people who are community leaders and members interested in this sort of thing. So we think the ideas of Player Towns will really catch on the more we and other communities try it out.
FireLotus: How can people get involved?
Winfield: Prior to Episode 1 Release, the best way to get involved is through the SotA Forums and the pre-Episode 1 Releases (pre-alpha, alpha, beta, etc.). We are looking for great ideas on three things: 1) what mechanics are needed to sufficiently launch player towns in Episode 1 so they can be a hotbed of activity and grow. 2) How to leverage latest social media and web technologies to support a 24/7 town (e.g., twitter alerts; SotA Wiki pages to document the town, establishments, pubs, treaties; Avatars Circle to connect up many communities; a town web site that looks and feels like a real town web site, not a gaming site). 3) what can be done in each pre-Episode 1 release to try new things and test them out. We have threads in the SotA Forums such as Building PaxLair in Release 6. https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/building-paxlair-player-town-release-6.10756/ We aren’t really recruiting people into PaxLair. However, many people told us they are interested in having a home in PaxLair in the future. Right now, it’s hard to “become a resident and/or citizen” without a physical town in New Britannia. Remember, PaxLair is a town, not a guild. Anyone may join and anyone may visit.
Follow these links for more information on PaxLair:
Town Hall Listing in SotA: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/paxlair-player-town.10707/
Web Site: http://www.paxlair.com
FireLotus: What do you hope that PaxLair will achieve in the future?
Winfield: We hope PaxLair will become a vibrant, realistic, player town that many people can enjoy living in and visiting. We also hope the efforts of PaxLair and other communities around us will be great examples to follow, adapt, and create new ideas for generations to come. We are in this for the long haul, so yes, “generations” is appropriate.
Amazing!
Great stuff!