what is alfa?, do you actually play NWN if you join alfa?

As hells you do play NWN if you join ALFA!
Visit www.alandfaraway.net (http://www.alandfaraway.net) and join the ranks.

Basically, ALFA is a group of servers that try to recreate the world of Faerun (Forgotten Realms) on NWN. You apply to be a player (or GM) and if you get in, you are allowed to play (or GM) in their world. The application needs some work, because they can (and will) choose the best players.

Ah, well, to be precise, they can and will chose the best *applicants*, which may or may not be the best players. I'm sure anyone who has hired a lot of people will realise the significant difference between those two things. :D

Aloha
Vormaerin

I have to agree. They will choose the applicants that they like the best, based likely on certain key things they are looking to aviod on a application and the creativity and quality of the applicant's background story and answer to one vague question about what a roleplayer should be. Will this translate into the best players possible? It has a chance to, but it just as easily might not. ALFA at this point seems to be one of the best organized online worlds in which to play NWN, so they have a shot at being one of the better ones. However, this remains to be seen, and I think we should reserve the right to call ALFA's roleplayers the best until the verdict is in, not before the trail starts.

[This message has been edited by Crawl (edited November 06, 2001).]

What will ALFA achieve ?
"Yeah, I applied, and if I'm not accepted, I'll become the Devil Incarnate of all PK's and wander the internet destroying ALFA-players characters and dreams."

This is a Schism in the making, people.

Clans, Factions, call them whatever you will are a long established tradition on the 'net but isolating the actual worlds that are to be played upon can only be a BAD thing. In fact, EXACTLY the bad thing that happened to the Pen & Paper A/D&D. People keeping to themselves and their tight communities, not actively seeking to expand the user base.
ALFA is anathema to the internet gaming tradition of 'free-for-all' gaming.

PS: Skullport is no more (That's why I'm so Nihilistic)

No, not really. At least it'll keep (most) of the powergaming munchkins out, if nothing else. Check out some sites of guilds that don't intend to play on ALFA. They're all in the same "we'll be the l33test, have the best weapons, hoard the most money etc.". Thanks, but no thanks. Times of unpatched Diablo 1 are over as far as I'm concerned. (Not that it wasn't fun or anything, but I hope NWN will be above the level of Diablo in that aspect.)

It was fun there, sure, but I prefer to have munchkins separated from people who will at least try to role-play as much as is possible in a CRPG.

No one is forcing you to join ALFA anyway. If you want to make the effort to join and be a part of something special, great. If not, there are plenty of munchkin guilds around and the powergaming servers will outnumber role-playing ones at least 1:10 in any case (I'm 100% sure of this), so you needn't worry either way. Both worlds will be able to have fun in their own way.

Well, its kind of hard to expand one's "user base" in PnP. There's a reason why those groups of 4-8 are the norm. :)

As for ALFA, I don't see it causing any such problems. What's the ALFA player cap currently, something like 1000? That's a plenty healthy size for a gaming group, in fact more than likely too big for the number of DMs (depending on how often people play, I suppose). But it'll only be a drop in the bucket of total NWN players if this game is at all succesful.

People play games in differing styles. I have many friends who are also gamers and not all of them are good in the same campaigns. At that is just among my friends, much less strangers off the street (or internet). There is nothing wrong with what ALFA is trying to do.

I just want to see the game before I worry about *where* I'll play it.

Aloha
Vormaerin

Well spoken my Tasloi friend...

My point is that there are more than 1000 honest to goodness roleplaying chaps out there and where are the non-ALFA guys going to play?
I think ALFA is an excellent idea, just for the record, and is an example of what can be achieved by a like-minded community.
BUT
NWN is probably going to ship over 500,000 units which leaves 499,000 non ALFA people.

And Taluntain... read Bain Croix's posts and tell me he did'nt PK in Diablo !
HE WILL BE IN ALFA !

No offence to anyone, love u guys, peace

Linael

Linael, I never said anything about him. :)

He might be in ALFA, but the question is, for how long? ;)

Anyway, I'm not up to speed with the latest developments but I hear Jon left over some of this crap...