@event System

One of the system features available to players in Allegory of Empires is the event system. The event system was created with the intent to not only give people an alternative option for gathering favor and influence, but also and more importantly, a reward for being active and engaged within the community as a whole and not just inside their own circles. 

The premise behind the event system is simple: to show your engagement as an active member of the community. It is not a PA system for what would be considered basic roleplay or attendance. It is representative of a structured gathering of people for a purpose. The key part of this is that it is for a structured purpose. Being in the same place at the same time with other people does not an event make, nor should this grant you recognition for your involvement. I will outline examples of things that are structured events below.

Exhibit A: Lady Garçon discusses with her peers an idea for getting together with people. She decides to begin hosting a biweekly ladies night. Every other Thursday, Lady Garçon goes to a prearranged venue, bringing with her refreshments, entertainment, and hors d’oeuvres. During the evening, the people who attend the event enjoy the company and food, discussing various matters, including current events, while forging relationships and opinions about those of the community who also attend the event. 

This is a perfect example of the event system as a way to show active involvement in your community. 

Exhibit B: Mister Femme is a new carpenter in town. He has a lot of skill and experience, but no contacts and little knowledge of who knows who and who works for whom. He wants to increase his customer base and get his name out as an active craftsman. He decides to host weekly open hours to get clients, meet people, show his wares and become a part of the community. He can be found in the carpenters workshop during these hours, and the purpose of the meeting is very easy to understand. 

This is a perfect example of how the event system can be used to gather people together for a distinct purpose, growing your reach and influence in the meantime as a member of the community. 

Exhibit C: Sir Dan has been charged by his superiors to organize the soldiers and guards under his authority. He decides to host a weekly practice session to work with the group together as a whole while also inviting others to join in for practice and display their prowess and potential. He comes up with drills and plans and arrives equipped with the tools and items necessary to execute his plans. 

This is a perfect example of the event system being used to gather people together with a structured purpose while also following the orders of a superior and working toward a broader goal of showing influence and dominance in a specific area of the community. 

In all of the above examples, the events have a clear purpose, and gaining notoriety from these events would be a logical extension of the planning and forethought that went into ensuring that the event is a successful example of being active and involved in the community. These are all structured events with a clear purpose and a logical reasoning that would fit perfectly with the concept of it being a favor-granting or influence-growing event. In order to better illustrate not only the intent behind the system, but also the ways in which it is not intended to be used, I will illustrate examples of what NOT to use the event system for.

Exhibit A: Lord Guy and Lady Jane step into a nearby cafe to share some drinks and idle chit chat. After a while, a few more people come into the cafe, and a casual conversation develops as everyone buys drinks and sits around the various tables with their friends or family. Lord Guy notices the group forming and decides to call an event to take advantage of the attendance. 

This is NOT how to use the event system. In fact, this behavior would be considered an abuse of the system because at no point had you planned to host an event. You are simply taking advantage of system mechanics to further your progress. 

Another aspect of this we have noticed is the frequency of players intentionally gathering together for meetings in which the event is called, everyone gets together and the group is predominantly idle or talking OOC. This is explicit abuse of the system. If you have no intention of role-playing the intended purpose of the event, do not call the event. Just as you would not call a spar event for a poetry reading, you should not call a consulate meeting without the intention to RP the event.

This brings me to my second example:

Exhibit B: Having a good understanding of the mechanics behind the event system, Lord Kanye knows that he already hosted a spar event this week, and he will not get points for hosting a second spar event. Instead of calling the spar event again to accurately represent what he is intending to RP, he decides to call a gathering so that he gets credit for the group, knowing full well that he intends to spar and not gather casually with friends. 

This is another example of what NOT to do with the system. This is an abusive workaround to take advantage of the system to better your character’s progress and not a use of the system to improve roleplay or be involved in the community. 

Exhibit C: You log in and notice that there are a few people online who you would like to hang out with for a little while. You decide to announce that you are hosting an event so that those people know where to find you and can remove themselves from what they are doing and find you at the location you announced. 

This is NOT how to use the system. Again this would be considered abuse of the system. You are not using the system to announce and host structured events intended to gather the community together for a specific purpose. You are using the system as a quasi-OOC/IC form of communication to avoid breaking crossover rules over the OOC chat line and artificially alert people to your location. 

 

Event System Mechanics

There are two basic commands. @event announce <event name> and @event start <event name>

The first is used to announce the event to the population of the game. The second can be used approximately five minutes after announcing the event to officially start the event, which enables the code to begin processing. If you do not use the second command, the code never triggers. 

The event will use a complex algorithm to determine who is attending, who is hosting, how long the event is and what, if any, favor points to grant the people. The favor that is given is based upon the loyalty of the person hosting the event. 

Attendees and hosts both stand a chance to earn favor points, but the host stands a slightly better chance, therefore it is import to not only host events, but to attend other events as well. 

Please always remember that the promotion, favor and event system are not a means to avoid roleplay and are not the aim or goal of the game. As always, this is a roleplaying game and the intent is to roleplay and tell amazing stories. Always remember that focus when using this and any other system found within Allegory of Empires. Have fun!