After following this thread since the beginning, it's been quite a ride. Generally, everyone screaming into the void - but a few voices, I think, had some legitimate ideas. After some consideration, I figured I'd drop in & leave my two cents - however it'll be received.
Chaos has existed for a decade. We've had good times, and some bad ones... Let's not forget, some of our worst times were only a few years back, when many of the Majors were salt-mines & drama between writers spilled like toxic waste into a verdant field. Getting rid of a few bad eggs did a lot to shift things toward (generally) a more relaxed state-of-play for most writers & factions both Minor & Major. In my opinion, Chaos is due for a shake-up.
I can say, I support the idea that the bill has come due, and it's time to see the map cleaned up a tad. The way I see it, most Major Factions out there care only for the map game with very little attention paid to actually developing or writing anything on the worlds they dominate. A faction can have a hundred writers and reach page 4 in just as many hours, but claiming territory has taken center-stage. Actually writing anything on those worlds, once they're in your influence cloud? It doesn't happen. There's no love for exploration, anymore. The map game is tired, old, and dried up.
As a Minor Faction, The Family has been incredibly successful; constantly driving content on a number of worlds, playing in our own personal sandbox & gathering writers & resources. While many writers in The Family are content with where we're at (and where we could remain for the foreseeable future) there are others who believe Major Status could provide a boost in visibility, in recruitment, in reaching larger audiences. However, we have no interest in the map game... after all, why would we?
Being part of the MFO "Club", trying to reach some arbitrary standard of measurement in order to keep calling ourselves a Major, and having to drive constant activity? Couple that with what appears to be a group of Site Staff who seem to look down on nearly every Major, marking them as either inexperienced or well past their prime and it just doesn't seem remotely interesting. Major Factions are only in the game for whatever benefits them most. You either play in their sandbox, with their tools, or good luck getting support from your Faction Staff.
My solution?
Give Minors a reason to engage with the larger Galaxy. Give Majors a reason to engage with Minor Factions. Allow Minor Factions to (if it fits their needs) possess 1 - 3 hexes. Place a limit on how many they are allowed, so in-order to gain more, they have to meet the requirements to go Major. Place a rule on Majors that, in order for them to continue being a Major, they have to show continued activity on worlds they control, or they're assumed to have no presence there. It can be fluid, but it also keeps Majors from growing "too big to fail".
In my view, the map game is required to be competitive. To foster PVP between Factions, and encourage war-posting, so keep that. Measure Majors by post completion rather than post count. Make it so the map territories are constantly shifting as groups vye for power... while in other areas, minor factions can be seen as Governments/Organizations unto themselves.
Thanks for reading my long rant, but there it is.
