Empirism: Difference between revisions

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''For the religion, see [[Cystianism]]''
'Empirism', named after the 'Empire crews' that typically follow its beliefs, is the server political movement that believes PMC favours pvpers too much, and wish to promote a more 'passive', building, and economy orientated agenda. They normally suggest the removal of certain event items and enforcing stricter pvp rules on harassment and sieging, making them the polar opposite of [[Shrekism]]. Their main drive behind this is that many of the more aggressive and 'toxic' pvpers have taken over the server, making it more and more difficult for passive and 'friendly' crews to survive and driving away players. They often argue that the server has become a breeding place for hostile and unfriendly people that pick on newer players, damaging the community.


'Cysteenism', named after its most prominent advocate, [[Cysteen]], is the server political movement that believes PMC requires more moderation of vocal minorities, such as followers of [[Anarchism]]. They believe that many members, especially of the pvp community, are using language and actions against other players that are deemed damaging and toxic to the community, and are possibly driving people away. The additional moderation they seek is normally basic, such as improving the chat filter to remove words such as 'L' and 'ez', but also to enforce certain existing rules more harshly; such as harassment, bullying, and giving staff attitude.  
The main crews associated with this movement are SPQR ([[Rome]]), EM ([[Elven Empire]]), and VER ([[Verussian Empire]]), but there are also many followers in other crews such as BE ([[British Empire]]) and even TAS ([[The Asylum]]). This group of crews has had a long history of crew-on-crew drama and roleplay with other 'empire' crews, in which any battles fought were between inexperienced pvpers; and mostly just for fun.


The main crew associated with this movement is [[The Asylum]] (TAS), which contains most of the server's veterans from the 2014-16 era who are not too mad about pvp, but wish to keep the server a toxic-free and friendly environment. [[Cysteen]] has long been the main advocate for this, and several of her suggestions have been acted on by staff in order to curb levels of toxicity.
Along with [[Passivism]] (the more extreme version of Empirism), [[Empirism]] lies in the anti-pvp section of the spectrum, arguing for more restrictions on 'hardcore pvpers' and 'pvp crews' as to enable more roleplay and more 'fun drama' with other 'empire' crews - without being massacred every 10 minutes.
 
Along with [[Conservatism]], [[Cysteenism]] lies more or less in the middle of the pvp/no-pvp spectrum, only advocating for improved moderation of toxicity, language, and attitude as a whole, as opposed to changes in levels of pvp.


== Example Policies ==
== Example Policies ==
''These reflect commonly suggested changes players from these crews suggest and aim to show the general aims of this group.''  
''These reflect commonly suggested changes players from these crews suggest and aim to show the general aims of this group.''  


* ''Most of the policies of [[Conservatism]]:''
* Increased enforcement and/or re-writing of the harassment rule as to limit attacks to a few a week.
** Development of plugins, warps, and events to get more people involved.
* Increase the siege cooldown timer, and add a siege immunity and siege duration timer.
** The need for staff to moderate drama so it doesn't become a hostile environment for the rest of the server.
* Additional rules to prevent harassment, bullying, and toxicity of 'pvp crews' (an extreme version of [[Cysteenism]])
** Keeping current functions, mechanics, and rules.
* Removal of any remaining overpowered weapons and items, including elytras as to create a fairer pvp environment.
** Try to ensure both pvpers and non-pvpers can be satisfied with given updates, changes to rules, as to keep both playstyles viable and successful for all players.
* Re-introduction of pre-1.9 pvp (spam clicking) in which the difference in skill between pvpers and non-pvpers was significantly lower (making self-defense against a pvp attack easier)
* Increase and improvement of the chat filter to block racist, toxic, and immature phrases and words.
* Harsher punishments for pvp-related rules.
* Increased moderation of players who are deemed 'toxic' or 'damaging' to the community.
* "Pre-pvp update it was nicer"
* Increased enforcement of certain rules, such as bullying, harassment, and attitude.


== Followers ==
== Followers ==
As outlined above, the main followers of Cysteenism are members of TAS, although there are some members of other crews who also agree with its policies. One big reason for this isolation of these followers into one crew is that many of them joined in 2014-16 era, and experienced PMC at a time where rollplay was big, and toxicity was very very low. It wasn't until the appearance of [[Horsia]] in late 2016/early 2017 that the question of banning toxicity was raised.


Many members in TAS feel that the server has become a bit too lax on the attitudes of these players, many of them being physically older players above the ages of 18, and disliking the immature and rude attitudes of some of the younger players. Several other players spread across crews share this opinion, such as leaders from SPQR and BE.  
As outlined above, the main followers of Empirism are existing 'empire' crews (with the exception of the [[British Empire]] which has a more [[Conservative]] stance). Back in 2015 to early 2016, these crews dominated international affairs and drama, and teamed up to defeat any pirate threat. Once they were bored of this, drama between them usually started resulting in frequent crew on crew wars involving upwards of 60 players, pretty much all of which were inexperienced in pvp. This meant that any fights between these crews usually relied upon numbers of soldiers, ships, equipment, and outposts, as opposed to how good a player was at pvp, or how powerful their event weapon is (which was largely the case after 1.9).
 
'''This is a bit more the history as to why this movement came into existence, as opposed to who follows it.'''
A common argument was that the learning curve for pre-1.9 pvp was significantly lower - all you had to do was look at someone and click the button as many times as possible. While advanced pvp stratagies did exist back then (and whoever mastered them was considered godly in pvp), they had an extremely high learning curve - so many people did not bother. Fights were a little chaotic and relied upon planning and the assistance of other crews in order to win fights - as such big coalitions of crews were formed to fight each other (see [[Second Verussian War]]), and many people hold memories from that era in high regard - no matter if you were winning or losing.
 
Problem is, times changed, and so did pvp. The introduction of 1.9 pvp set everyone back to square 1, but now the learning curve was easier as all you had to do at the start was time your clicks and remember not to spam. After a while, some players came to master this technique - a much greater proportion of the player base was now 'pretty good' at pvp, and those who did not pvp at all had little to no chance of defending themselves. As time grew on, those at the top of their pvp game were getting better and better - so even players who could time their shots pretty well and aim pretty well were considered 'bad' in comparison.
 
By 2018, the effects of this were visible on the server. There were huge differences in how good players were at pvp. Pre-1.9 you could pick up a sword, click fast while aiming at the attacker and you stood a decent chance. By 2018; even if you timed your shots well, were able to 'crit', aim well, and use the correct 'eating technique' to stay healthy, you would still be considered bad in comparison to what some players were now capable of - especially when utilizing event weapons. The addition of elytras and more custom event items simply increased this divide to a point where many crews just gave up trying to fight back and accept their fate.
 
In the spring of 2018, [[Godsdead]] added an 'improved' anti-cheat after suspecting the old one had let many cheaters slip through the system. It was very rough at the start; you would often be kicked for 'speed hacks' when equiping event items that granted you extra speed, and poor ping only worsened it. This caused many pvpers to temporarily leave the server while the new anti-cheat was being tweaked, and by summer 2018 it was more or less ready. Event items could now ''mostly'' be used, without the risk of being flagged and kicked for something. Since then it has caused many of the pvpers to return, 'making life hell' for non-pvp crews, as many put it.
 
''This is one of the main reasons why these crews are pushing for less pvp - as they enjoyed times in which the requirement to pvp in order to survive was not a requirement. Some call it lazy, others blame Mojang for the changes.''


== Criticisms ==
== Criticisms ==
The main criticism of Cysteenism is that it is too strict and that features already exist in-game to reduce the amount of toxic chat you need to read, such as blocking players. Players from the more pvp orientated agenda regularly argue that people who follow [[Cysteenism]] are driven by 'hurt feelings' and 'butthurt' about comments or attitudes in chat.  
If you had the patience to read through the above 'history', you may start to see where the criticism arise. Many current pvpers, especially people who follow the ideas of [[Shrekism]] or [[Anarchism]] believe that these 'passive, non-pvp' crews deserve all the deaths as they refused to adjust to the game. They are considered weak by today's standards, even though in 2015/16 they were the dominant force. Overnight, when 1.9 dropped, they were forced to learn how to pvp properly in order to defend themselves, or choose a life of death - and they chose the latter (in the eyes of some).


They have also criticized staff members for being too aligned to [[Cysteenism]], making them 'TAS/Cysteen pets' and accusing staff of subsequent bias against non-TAS members. Staff members have repeatedly said that this is not the case; arguing that any rule changes originating from TAS suggestions are due to the overall improvement they would make to Piratecraft, as opposed to being blindly driven by this group of players.  
A more general argument and opposition to changing back to pre-1.9 is the diversity the new pvp mechanism brings. Many weapons are now viable in combat, and with ever-increasing numbers of event weapons, it is becoming easier and easier to get your hands on some spicy new weapons. The addition of /auc to sell off confiscated goods has further improved odds for anybody to get their hands on gear and start learning - and it seems many previous non-pvpers are doing just that and are starting to get pretty good.


The other big criticism comes from the other side of the spectrum; those who believe Cysteenism policies aren't tackling the problem at its roots; namely too much freedom when it comes to pvp. A lot of drama and all these issues could be prevented by introducing new rules or disabling certain aspects and freedoms of pvp, essentially removing the 'toxic' players from PMC altogether.
The economy has also changed as a result of more dynamic pvp; sales of pvp-related items now make up half of the total items sold each month in the eco, and up to 90% of the value. If players wish to get rich, its easier than ever if you focus on pvp items. However it can be argued that this came at a cost to relative numbers of building materials being sold - as builders had less incentive to build.


People who associate themselves with Cysteenism are generally unpopular with the pro-pvp group. A big reason behind this is that they feel that Cysteenism is not a centrist/neutral viewpoint, and instead aiming to reduce the number of pvpers - thus being an anti-pvp movement.
Obviously, the most vocal critics of this political movement are existing pvpers who wish to be rewarded for the work they put in to master the art of pvp. But criticism also comes from more centrist movements such as [[Cysteenism]] and [[Conservatism]] - in that the introduction of more dynamic pvp means that it has become a more competitive environment. Pvpers, while often going for easy pickings, will also target each other to prove to one another their skill. This has creats drama that periodically sees many pvpers leave for spans of up to several months as a result, giving builders and non-pvpers a bit of breathing room.