User blog:Alchimous/Sand on Land Claims

Hey everyone, I just happen to have have Sand Traven's thoughts on Land Claims laying around in my notepad documents(anyone that uses anything else for posting on the wiki is a complete asshole). Thought some of you might like the read. Have at it!

Transcript
I'd like to muscle my way into some forum space to inform some of you, and remind others, what things were like before 42 had Land Claims. I wasn't here for very long before its first incarnation came about, but I do remember a few things.

The first thing world 42 saw of Land Claims came with Armanis Fael's and Death Notion's attempt at a Council of World 42. Trust White Knights to be the ones to mess everything up, eh? *Shameless Kinshra supporter.* Anyway, back on this thread of theirs, which was dedicated to idea of a Council, they had a small list of lands. Next to each piece of land there was a name. The name merely denoted who would be representing that piece of land at the next Council meeting. The idea of a list compiling who owned what was a tiny little footnote at the bottom of their plan to promote peace and cooperation between roleplayers - merely documentation for their own reference, and that of others.

Naturally, seeing one's name up in lights next to a list of land bigger than anyone else's was too much temptation for some people. They were inundated with posts saying "I claim this bit of land! Put it next to my name!" Flames popped up all over the thread, and POCs, orders of knights, marauders, religious orders and all else went mad. Wars sprang up everywhere, numerous smaller clans were destroyed completely by bigger ones wanting what they had. This all came to a head when the Kingdom of Kandarin under Garth Downey and the Brigade under Red Warlord (two of most aggressive clans) declared all-out war over Mobilizing Armies.

Seeing what had happened and faced with those threatening to destroy the council itself (this was mainly Pyro when his men were refused guard positions) Armanis Fael and Death Notion decided to shut the whole thing down, and actually apologised for what they'd done to the community.

All was fine for a little while, although it took some time for things to die down.

It wasn't too long, however, before it came back. There's a little uncertainty here as to who did it first, but from what I remember, it was Red Warlord again. He made a thread devoted to the idea of Land Claims - or to be more specific, /his/ land claims. He'd document other people's claims, but updates were rare and his thread had none of its predecessor's mention of unity, cooperation, or any hint at some kind of organised Council or decision-making body. This was pure, undeniable, self-worship in roleplay form. Most people had assumed it was the idea of a Council that had caused all the OOC raging, rather than that tiny little footnote about claimed land. After Red's thread went under (or rather, when he figured enough people had got the idea that /he/ and no one else owned the Fisher King Realm) it was closed, and eventually someone else took it up. I can't remember who exactly (might have been Aro's first attempt) but since then we've had one LC thread after another.

So what actually changed when Land Claims came about?

Not much. There's always been fighting. There's always been arguing. But since the idea of land claims made its way to 42, much of that fighting has been about seeing a long list of land next to your name. Many people get extremely personal about it - I think it's like a drug to some of them (I won't name names, but why else would a cult try and own that much?) and is likely the only way they can feel big.

Since Land Claims' first incarnations, rules have been added and removed as necessary (fun fact: originally, Armanis and Death's thread declared Lumbridge to be unclaimable, while Falador was fair game) but many of those rules have now turned roleplay into a stop-start game of American football.

"Can our characters do this? Wait, no they can't. There's an OOC rule saying we have to declare our intentions in advance. Let's twiddle our thumbs until then, eh?"

Without Land Claims, we'll now see far more flowing roleplay.

If people wish to prove they own something, they will now have to actively roleplay there. It will no longer be enough for them to say "look on that thread. It says I own this city." They will have to establish a dominant presence to make the fact they own it undeniable. Another fun fact: when the Traven Kin conquered Varrock, which was the first major defeat of a clan that size (40+ members) and first major take over of a significant piece of land for as long as most people could remember, we never declared it on the land claims thread of the time. People simply knew we owned it, and we were extremely active within the city (mainly defending it from those darned White Knights).

Before land claims, people had to communicate to know who owned what. Even without a thread to say it, most people could've told you who owned Varrock, Falador, Ardougne, Yanille, the Kharidian Desert, and everything in between. They simply knew. Characters would tell each other. Most characters could've told you who owned north Varrock or south Varrock, who was running the White Knights or the Black Knights, what was going on in the Void Knights' civil war, how the lord of Yanille came to be the puppet-master of Ardougne's king, etc, etc. People did not need land claims to tell them what was what and who was where. If you didn't know, you had your character /ask/ someone. The one who deserved to own it came to be recognised through determination and being the stronger side.

If someone broke the rules, that news spread as quickly as who owned what, and the community ousted them like a bad smell. Remember that rule that says the land claims thread /cannot/ blacklist people because it's a community thread, and so by extension, we're forced to acknowledge them? That rule will go out with the thread. Mob rule is a terrible thing for the guy who breaks the rules or tries to bully people by making videos of them. Just remember that.

And that's one of Sand's long-ass history lessons.