Kalopsia wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:56 pm
I agree. The thing is that in order to achieve this different treatment there’d have to be IC means of discerning nobles from commoners. So either there’s got to be some sort of insignia item or a name/description tag.
The biggest problem is this: If you give people a way to mechanically prove they are a noble, they are no longer required to RP it believably. They have mechanics on their side. You could have a character concept that is not related to being a noble at all, then take the nobility award, and boom. You're a noble. Nobody can question it, you have proof. The people that will still RP disbelief at it are the minority. And being a noble is nearly always a good thing in people's eyes, in itself that's enough of a benefit. People will feel inclined to take it even if it has nothing to do with what they plan to RP, because noble = more valuable.
So when you have a whole bunch of people wearing the "noble" nametag but not actually RPing it in a believable fashion, it is detrimental to noble RP as a whole. It becomes the norm to not pay attention to it. It adds to your character's specialness factor and requires very little effort besides spending a reward.
My point is, the moment you dispel the mystery over whether or not somebody is a noble - is the moment that any RP done effectively becomes window dressing to a mechanical token. As it stands, if you want people to believe that your character is a noble, you have to earn it through cultivating a reputation. If you "Arch of Benwick" this situation, it will be detrimental for everybody. Your new character will still arrive on Arelith as a complete nobody, just the same as any commoner. There's no reason people should be able to automatically recognise somebody as a noble EXCEPT through IC reputation.
Nobility is a social construct. You have to validate it through social interaction. Not a nametag, description tag or physical item.