In the last 24 hours I've seen a tremendous amount of stupidity happen all on the grounds of Winning. We the DMs are going to have to deal with that, so I thought I'd give some advice and clarify some things, just so our intent isn't misinterpreted and we don't discourage the things that are happening that are actually good.

In the interest of helping everyone out, let me give you a single piece of advice that will help every single conflict on the server:

Lose.

The fact is, dealing with this stuff gives people the idea that we don't like conflict or PvP or certain types of characters, when in fact we want the exact opposite. I want to encourage people to fight each other and have wars and violent conflicts that can only be resolved by the death of the opposing side. This gives players things to do, it add risks and drama to everyone's stories, and it gives characters a chance to be the most fun, most dramatic versions of themselves. But this stuff never works when players don't want to lose.

You are not your character. You aren't. I know it's nice to be powerful, and to hang out with some OOC buddies that have powerful characters, and do powerful things in powerful ways with powerful results. But at the end of the day, my avatar is stronger. While I can't control how good a story teller you are, I can control what happens when the "I must win" mentality pushes you to stupid decisions that very clearly break the rules. I don't care how powerful your build is. My avatar will always win.

We're all trying to tell stories here. Every character is that player's own protagonist. Remember that. War is the best thing for the server... but it's impossible if both sides aren't willing to lose anything.

So here's my point, very clearly: I want everyone to fight. I want evil characters and good characters to do epic battle. I want PvP and tense hostage negotiations and maniacal evil villain speeches and rousing rallies to boost the spirits of noble knights. But I also want everyone to be aware that somewhere, their enemy is trying to do the same things. And behind that enemy are just more players, trying to have fun.

You are not your character. Let that character suffer. Let him die. Winning is easy. Losing for the sake of the story is more difficult... but it's just as fun, if you let that be the case.

We're here to help. If you are a part of a conflict, and you want to know how to best encourage strong RP for both sides instead of just winning with your club of powerbuilds, please drop me a line. I want the conflict. Just not the ego.