Hard Mode, Why

We have been asked a number of times why we have selected to run this server on "hard mode". Aside from the simple fact that many of us enjoy it, there are reasons why we believe it is a better option for us then "easy mode".

• When items and skills are difficult to acquire they become more valuable. Valuing items in a role-play setting provides greater immersion and consistency. For those that like a realistic baseline for character "power levels" game mechanics can be far more effective then a lot of rules on just how rich, powerful, skilled your character CAN be. This is not true in all games, but Conan is excellent at this.

• Item drop on death makes people really think about what happens if they lose a PvP fight, and by extension, how they might actually respond in a given situation to RP. This offers a more realistic experience then PvP having only role-play consequence, which is often hard to enforce without staff intervention.

• Conflict can be generated from competing for and trading of resources. It can be very hard to create a player economy but it's all but impossible to do without something having value.

• Many online role-players are actual gamers as well. If a player logs in and there is no role-play available AND nothing to do mechanically the tendency to log off increases dramatically. By offering things to do, you increase the likelihood that a player will stay on-line a little longer, and hopefully long enough that role-play happens.

• Adds to immersion and creates shared narrative as part of the overall storyline of the “survival” aspect. When the world has no impact on our characters the amount of problems you have to "make up" to solve in role-play is much harder. When a world does have an impact on our character we can react to it and bring it into our role-play. Not everyone will do this, but that is a choice. Fore example, when you actually need armor, weapons, supplies, eat, etc. It can act as a roleplay generating tool.

• Working together improves community bonds by allowing actual community projects to BE community projects. Players having to gather resources and build actual locations together

“Put your money where your mouth is”

When actual items can be expected when players brag about how much money they have, the legendary items they have, how many men they have, etc. It creates a baseline that is shared by the entire community.