>1) The game theory term for where this road leads is 'arms
>race'. Selling in-game content erodes game balance, and
>generally leads to systems of the "pay or be crippled" genre.
>We have a line in that sand, and I like where it is.


Some games/people make it work, some don't. If you don't like the idea, I'm fine with that.


>2) It remains my opinion that allowing more race/class
>combinations reduces roleplay, rather than heightens it. If
>wood-elves are conjurers and shamans and anti-paladins and
>whatever, after a while they're just humans with better vision
>and an XP penalty. Boundaries create opportunities for
>roleplay-- my favorite small example is how arial/felar
>descs/RP got much cooler in a matter of weeks simply by the
>equipment slot changes we put on them. (Prior to that, a
>large fraction of them were 'humans with wings' or 'humans
>with claws'.)

Here's where I truly think you are wrong because of the power of the CF community. People encourage others in game to RP. Ever listen to the Newbie Channel when someone tries to treat it as an OOC chat line? Those that don't follow some semblance of RP guidelines get shunned, and getting shunned makes the game even less fun. What I was suggesting with this is not more of a free-for-all with race/class combos, but a limited character set (thinking maybe 1 or 2 of each) of race/class combos, like the minotaur population has.

Why would this be neat? Because, currently, the only way to get a change is for SUPER stellar RP for HUNDREDS of game time, and then you MIGHT get lucky enough to be turned into something else. The expectation that someone might even try that is incredibly unrealistic, and really unfair if they play during a time that few imms are on. With a limited character given out in a chance system, you have the potential for people to step up and really shine. I know I would. Others I've talked to that like the idea said they'd put more effort into a character like that.

Compared to the alternative, I can say from personal experience that the last time I tried something even remotely offbeat, I was smacked down for it, but only for so long as it took to get certain skills/powers back which would have been.. what? 100 hours? Why should all my game fun have its marrow sucked out because I wanted to try something different? It's like punishing someone for trying to do a better job of playing the game and saying "Wow! You sure are great. Take this handicap for half of the character's life and you'll get a moderate reward for your troubles." *shrug* That's not fun to me.