Sheep, Shepherds, Wolves, Bears, and Hunters

I wrote up a quick essay on the PvP metagame, and why I think it's worth preserving and including in SOTA. Please read it:

<strong>Sheep, Shepherds, Wolves, Bears, and Hunters</strong>

Now that a new Richard Garriott "Ultimate RPG" has been announced, everyone is talking about the early UO PvP metagame. I have some particular thoughts on that subject, and I'd like to share them. I regularly hear people talk about Open PvP from a particular vantage point; the folks who get killed and robbed and generally have a bad time. They're the most against this type of system, because the PvP metagame ruins every other metagame they're trying to engage in; especially for solo players. But, I would argue that the PvP metagame is worth isolating and encouraging.

One of the essential problems with this PvP metagame is that it depends on being able to slaughter the weak and innocent for profit, which isn't very good for the weak and innocent. If they all quit playing, it's just as bad for the PvPers as if they were unable to attack them. So there must be vulnerable people, but they must also choose to become vulnerable. Because people prioritize safety much more speed, the rewards can't be something they'll get without putting themselves in peril, and they must be valuable. But, likewise, they must not be neccesary, or you might as well make the whole world open PvP and you're back to problem one!

I would like to analyze this metagame in the following way: I call it Sheep, Shepherds, Wolves, Bears and Hunters. The sheep are the most absolutely vital piece of this game. They are your regular players, doing regular things, chewing grass and growing meat and fluffy coats. Everybody wants the meat and fluffy coats! The sheep are satisfied taking the slow and safe path of just chewing grass, but the best grass is on the other side of the fence.

When the Sheep go to the other side of the fence to eat the best grass, they are nolonger safe. They are the prey of the Wolves and the Bears. Wolves and Bears are two kinds of Player Killers. Wolves hunt as a pack, working together as a team to catch Sheep. Bears are solitary hunters; they don't get along with anybody and they're as likely as not to hunt Sheep, Wolves, or even Shepherds and Hunters! They are more likely enjoy the thrill and challenge of combat, while the Wolves may prefer just the rewards.

While the Sheep might band together to defend themselves, this type of play isn't their style, and they'll lose far more often than they win on the basis of skill, even if they outnumber the predators. But, while some Wolves and Bears are happy to fight for fun, most are after the meat and fluffy coats. If they just kill the Sheep, the Sheep will be lean and scraggly. So, it's best to let the Sheep graze on the best grass. Sometimes instead of being Wolves or Bears, PvPers will become Shepherds.

Shepherds want to protect the Sheep. This could be because they are friends with the Sheep, or because they want the Sheep to freely give a portion of Meat and Wool, or because they cherish the idea of protecting the weak, innocent, and defenseless. Shepherds fight against the Wolves and Bears, making a challenge for the predators. The predators can wait for the Sheep to stray and attack then, or they can try to take out the Shepherds as well.

Finally, some would prefer to become Hunters. Unlike the Shepherds, the hunters aren't interested in playing defensively. They lust after combat, but have some ethical standpoint whereby they cannot prey on the weak and just; so instead they prey on the strong and foul. The Hunters hunt the Wolves and Bears as the Wolves and Bears hunt the Sheep.

This meta-game I have described, the game of Sheep, Shepherds, Wolves, Bears and Hunters is the delicate dance of player-versus-player that so many old Ultima Online players want to return to, and it is a metagame that can be placed on the side of another game without disturbing that game, so long as it is balanced correctly.

A working, if not balanced, example of this Metagame is EVE Online. In EVE Online there are some issues with scale. Only the largest conglomerates of players are able to reap the rewards of the most dangerous parts of space. Huge teams of Sheep, Shepherds and Hunters who go to war with oneanother. The Wolves and Bears are unable to make their living off player killing alone; the rewards are too slight. Those who do it only do it for thrills, and they must maintain a second 'sideline' to fund their hobby.

This metagame is both simple yet incredibly engaging once you're a part of it. It also never ends. I think it's worth preserving, and I hope to see it emerge in the new game by Richard Garriott's company Portalarium; Shroud of the Avatar. We'll see if they agree with me when they read this.

 

Excellent post my friend, and I agree with you 100%!

 

This philosophy is true in the US Military as well, as was noted in a prominent Mil-Blog, Blackfive. If you want to learn more, read the essay there entitled "We love our sheep, We Dogs of War."

This is EXACTLY why we in the KGB (Knights of Glory and Beer) became Anti-PKs on UO: Siege Perilous, and why we look forward to SotA, if only open PvP is also offered. Many in the KGB, are veterans, and old habits die hard.

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2011/08/stand-and-never-yield-sheepdogs.html

 

The poster at the link is hard to read. Here is a text version.

The Sheepdogs

Most humans truly are like sheep
Wanting nothing more than peace to keep
To graze, grow fat and raise their young,
Sweet taste of clover on the tongue.
Their lives serene upon Life?s farm,
They sense no threat nor fear no harm.
On verdant meadows, they forage free
With naught to fear, with naught to flee.
They pay their sheepdogs little heed
For there is no threat; there is no need.

To the flock, sheepdog?s are mysteries,
Roaming watchful round the peripheries.
These fang-toothed creatures bark, they roar
With the fetid reek of the carnivore,
Too like the wolf of legends told,
To be amongst our docile fold.
Who needs sheepdogs? What good are they?
They have no use, not in this day.
Lock them away, out of our sight
We have no need of their fierce might.

But sudden in their midst a beast
Has come to kill, has come to feast
The wolves attack; they give no warning
Upon that calm September morning
They slash and kill with frenzied glee
Their passive helpless enemy
Who had no clue the wolves were there
Far roaming from their Eastern lair.
Then from the carnage, from the rout,
Comes the cry, ?Turn the sheepdogs out!?

Thus is our nature but too our plight
To keep our dogs on leashes tight
And live a life of illusive bliss
Hearing not the beast, his growl, his hiss.
Until he has us by the throat,
We pay no heed; we take no note.
Not until he strikes us at our core
Will we unleash the Dogs of War
Only having felt the wolf pack?s wrath
Do we loose the sheepdogs on its path.

And the wolves will learn what we?ve shown before;
We love our sheep, we Dogs of War.

Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

 

Neat Poem! Thanks for sharing it Owain.

I'm pretty sure they'll have at least some Open PvP, on the frontiers. It seems like something they're pushing for as much as the players; they just want to make sure we REALLY want it.

RGdC has also commented on a cool PvP game where you normally are safe, but if you pick up a certain macguffin you will be hunted and huntable by monsters AND players while you're tasked to carry it across the land. That'll be neat.

 

Great post, but my biggest fear is not enough people will opt for this dangerous open play.

You can't have this divine balance without enough people, and given the option the masses probably don't want what we do. I expect to find most people with their PVP flags happily turned off, leaving little to none for this fragile ecosystem.

 

Well, the Sheep are absolutely the keystone of this type of gameplay, but even in Open PvP UO the Sheep could stop playing at any time. There was always that ultimate PvP toggle, and yet they stayed and kept doing their best even in the worst situation.

I think that there will be enough sheep even if they have to choose to enter the danger zone, so long as the grass is greener there.