Strikezulu

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  1. Nature vs nurture arguments are kind of futile, since it's impractical to gather concrete empirical evidence for either side without a time machine and crimes against humanity. Suffice it to say that what is "natural" for humans encompasses a great deal of learned behavior - we are social creatures, and our socialization is part of our nature. The line between learned and instinctive is kind of fuzzy and ultimately irrelevant. We are what we are.

    Anyhow...

    Do you know why democracy originated in Greece, and not, say, some other ancient civilization?

    It's because of weapons technology. The premier weapon system of the time was the armored hoplite, wielding a spear and shield, marching in a phalanx. Aside from it's superiority on the battlefield, the thing that set it apart was that it was a very "middle class" technology. The average citizen could afford it, and use it effectively. Yes, the rich neighbor could afford a horse, but without stirrups, cavalry were of limited use. The professional soldier could train all his life, but only become marginally more effective than the farmer who practices in the off season after he got the harvest in; diminishing returns had a big impact.

    Parity of power led to parity of political influence. You had to respect your neighbor, and he had to respect you, because you were equally powerful on the battlefield - and the tactics required encouraged strong social cohesion if you wanted to protect your community.

    (Slaves and others disenfranchised by the Greeks were in the self perpetuating trap of not being effective in a fight - they didn't have armor.)

    In the dark ages, armored knights on horseback dominated. Kinship ties were the primary social bond, so infantry were (mostly) undisciplined and ineffective against them. Stirrups gave cavalry striking power and made their mobility useful, so they ruled the battlefield. Equipping and sustaining a knight was expensive, so they were a small subset of society, and this warrior class came to dominate politically. Feudalism both enabled their existence and was enforced by them.

    Then, wouldn't you know it, a new weapon technology leveled the playing field again. Muskets meant that a cheaply equipped farm boy could match the most well equipped soldier sponsored by the state. It didn't take long for a democratic approach to be tried in the new paradigm. All men are created equal - as long as they're bearing arms.

    Now, what do you think would really happen if a subset of humanity gained "superpowers" that allowed them to militarily outclass everyone else? Yes, some would try to be "heroes", some would be "villains", with the norm somewhere in between. However, no matter how virtuous they might be, they would tend to gain more and more political power until they became a new ruling class.
  2. When the invention system was coming out, I was so excited because I thought it would come with a lot of temp powers we could make. It remains a tremendous disappointment.

    "A $@#% Baseball bat? That's your 'invention'?!?!"
  3. Despite being a male player, most of my characters are female.

    I used to joke that it was the "Lara Croft principle" in action, that if you're going to stare at your character's rear end all day, etc. etc.

    The truth is a bit more complicated. You see, guys are BORING.

    There are thousands of years worth of literature about male protagonists, while females have only gotten similar attention for a few decades. All the themes and character concepts for males are pretty much done to death. Female characters have a lot more untapped potential; variations that haven't been examined as thoroughly, cliches and tropes to be inverted and twisted around, and new roles to be explored.

    There's also the consideration that women are a lot more complicated. Most of us guys are straightforward to the point of being dull. Women operate with extra motivations and perspectives that can give them an entirely different approach to everything in life. That presents plenty of novel material when creating and playing a female character.

    Another consideration is that eccentric behavior coming from a guy is frequently considered creepy or obnoxious. The same behavior coming from a female will often be seen as endearingly quirky or exotic. Individuals with two X chromosomes can get away with a lot more crazy before it makes people uncomfortable. When you're trying to make characters that are interestingly odd, this can be very helpful.

    At this point, my only level fifty character and the next two highest level characters I have are all female, and the one after them is a genderless robot. What this says about me is open to debate, but I think it says a lot more about people who try to read too much into it.
  4. Thread Necromancer would be a good character concept for an Undead MM. Of course, I'm sure someone's already made a character along those lines.

    What's really amazing is how many of the suggestions from this thread have actually been implemented at some point. The game has come a long way.
  5. Though, I do want to colorcode the various protection bubbles I put on people so I know when they need to be refreshed. The big bubbles (Force/dispersion) are going to be transparent.