Arelith

Meta-organizations are organizations in which members are themselves organizations, and they aim to collectively control external organizations and to influence the surrounding environment.

In large RP campaigns (like the old Role Playing Gamers Association) I have participated in, "Meta-Orgs" are those groups that your character joins within the game. In Arelith, a Meta-Org would be the Hawkin', the Cordor Guard, the Knights of the Road, the Spider Legion, Whartown Waymen, etc...

I played one of the founding members of the Horde and it was really worth it in the end. He was the last founder to still be active a few months ago and I decided to delete him, to see if the faction would maintain the momentum without him. Turns out it's still very, very active. It makes me really happy to know people are still enjoying the Horde - creating new, intriguing and rich plotlines, achieving new goals and taking the Horde to exciting directions I never thought the faction would take. Fun!

That being said, I don't know if I'd be the head of a faction anymore, or at least I feel like I need a looong break from it. Apart from work, social life and my own D&D campaign that I DM, logging in on my character felt a bit like starting a shift at a job, sometimes. I'd log in to receive 3 different messengers and just sit around on meetings for hours and it felt kind of boring and kind of killed the vibe of the game sometimes. Not to mention that there can be some very unpleasant OOC pressure.

tl;dr I'd rather join some faction nowadays.

I've created small factions before and aided in a revival or two, but it's a lot of work, often starting off slowly, and requiring a lot of time.
I don't mind doing this and will likely do it again at some point, but I don't do it nearly as often as joining existing factions and helping with management roles in those. Voted join existing because of this.

Habitual non-joiner. I like working with organizations as a sort of mercenary or outside helper, but usually find the IC rules and restrictions of smaller groups off putting, and the drama/bureaucracy of larger groups tiresome.

When I do join groups, it's due to the draw of a particular player, rather than the IC benefits of the group.

Cordor Government 4 lyfe.

I played one of the founding members of the Horde and it was really worth it in the end. He was the last founder to still be active a few months ago and I decided to delete him, to see if the faction would maintain the momentum without him.

Long ago, I'd joined, what seemed to me , to be a rather tiny and unpopular faction.
... Within it, i could never have been more wrong, as well i'd notice (what i can only describe as) : a beyond Fanatical Loyalty!
It fast became a LOT of fun.
Then its very Founder & leader decided to "end-his-toon" ... moving on to build and play as another all together.

For most within it seemed THAT would be then, the faction's end.
But they mostly seemed to base that ending decision, off the Class of the exiting Founder/leader ... and the fact we had no matched class to replace him with ...
(cleric-type boss exits & no clerics left).
At what was almost, and expected to be, the final meeting ... "sum one asked"
... Why would the next boss need to be, so much the same ... ?
So a newer leader got chosen of a different class all together + was all non-drow anyhow.
And the faction would continue on ...
This very same faction has gone threw a few leadership changes now, ... then into my lap as one.

Join? Revive? Create? ... Or even save a faction, from its possible "current" ending ... Outright?
Or just let them die ... ?

I don't know if I'd be the head of a faction anymore, or at least I feel like I need a looong break from it.

................................

just sit around on meetings for hours and it felt kind of boring and kind of killed the vibe of the game sometimes. Not to mention that there can be some very unpleasant OOC pressure.

To Quit the faction, and End it : (finally, its been far too long anyhow)
To Never quit the faction, and Never End it : (on-going, over its older history)

OOC/RPing pressure : Even tho It's not an actual MEGA-Faction, or did it ever sum how almost qualify regardless? (id wonder).

Id get mostly/more recently,
perhaps equally -pulling- me into two opposite directions at the very same time ...
... with me really and actually -lost- sum place within the middle ...
Yet a tads stretched from both sides ...

If i can never actually say, Its hard, ... i can still say sum times its not so very easy ...

Yet we keeps in mind ... just a game afterall

There seems to be a stigma against the creation and proliferation of Meta-Orgs. I personally don't see a problem with them.

Personally, I think it's important to encourage new groups and people trying to make new events and bring new ideas to the table, pretty much whenever you can. I try to join or support smaller, budding factions where I can, both to make sure I don't end up insulated from engaging roleplay outside my usual circles, and because allowing these new ideas to flourish is going to enrich the culture of the server. I wish more people were willing to take a chance on small time factions rather than so often ignore them until they're inevitably absorbed into a larger, long-standing one. But, c'est la vie I suppose.

The best experience that I had with this was reviving the Radiant Heart with Kerri. It was very cool to grow that from two existing members, plus two newly created ones (that were not created together) and run with it. Was a hell of a lot of work, but Kerri had the exact personality to allow that to happen an thrive.

At the height of everything, something bad happened that could have been attributed to her, so I stepped back and handed it off to some other members to run with instead.

Imo faction type (Org vs. Meta-Org) matters the least in mechanical terms. My advice for any group on Arelith is going to be the same. Optimize for pvp potential and optimize for farming. Nothing I've seen suggests that anything else is a better strategy in terms of ensuring your faction can resist other factions. I love Arelith and I love the roleplay that's come from a lot of the organizations, but nothing I've seen suggests that leveraging server mechanics is going to become the non-dominant strategy. Basically the only exception to this is guard rp, being part of a settlement's guard is among the #1 ways to get elected later once you've established a fanbase.

First, a perspective disclosure, I rarely PvP and don't actively seek that portion of RP. And, I'm near 60 so I come from the pencil and paper heyday of RPGs. Hence, some bias for my posts.

I selected "other" as I enjoy loose-knit groupings that aren't truly organizations as there isn't a "leader" or joining options. Examples include a group of folks that barter goods and services and are known by an IG RP name but aren't a faction or a group of folks only connected by an RP storyline. I enjoy helping casual players and new players in this manner as sometimes they are learning about the server. In the old days when enchanters had a bigger impact on gear it was fun to offer lower priced items because I could. Currently I run a toon that literally doesn't charge for cutting gems or making intricate items or high-end essences as long as the RP with him is good (Rami).

I choose to believe that organizations (i.e. factions) greatly aid with power-leveling and insta-gear. It also allows players that enjoy each other's company to have access to immense wealth and resource building as they change toons. While these actions are technically within the "RP rules" of the server, it could be viewed as legal meta-gaming. And, it does place casual players at a huge disadvantage and encourages joining organizations merely to survive. Not everyone, but I think you all recognize what I'm stating.

I've been a Hawkin (Aphia, Owari), a Tower mage (Imran-with Elise Davontis and a young Angela Amana), a Necromancer Guild member (Jitua), a Shield (Shihar), a Horde (Moig, Rajeen), a Pirate crew (Remy)...and had fun with each of course....and each was also a faction and had the privileges I mentioned above. BUT, I have had more fun with groups that were only grouped via RP and in name only with no shop, nor dwelling, etc. The Dragon Shields out of Wharftown (prior to Greyhammer being built) was a blast as my role was being the scribe for a mercenary group. The Bendir Thieves Guild interacted with the Cordor Thieves Guild in RP only and neither (at the time) were factions nor affiliated groups. - shrug wink - uh...I meant Finders of Items Guild...yeah...that's what I meant.

To each their own. I mean no disrespect to anyone with these comments and my views are often in the minority. This is merely an opportunity to add to the discussion with something different. Maybe I misinterpreted the original poll. But hey, we're supposed to be here to have fun. Be safe, I wish you all well in RL - the most important thing.

I play adventurers.

So i generally don't join a group unless the allies ive made along the way are part of that faction and ask me to.
Even then it's only if i can think of a good reason why my adventurer would limit themselves to that group.