Thoughts on: Return to true Gor: Let’s start with making the meter less dominant

I don’t usually re-blog other people’s posts, I think this may actually be the first time, but this one made me want to.

When I was roleplaying in SL Gor, I really hated the combat element. Not just because I was dreadful at it, but because I like stories and good roleplay allows the creation of great ones which I felt the combat spoiled. I played the local tavern keeper, which gave me a safe place to create those stories, because taverns are traditionally “safe-zones”.

Header image: An old screenshot from 2019 showing a griefer dressed as a Star Wars character,abusing the combat system right outside my tavern in the safe zone.

I’m not sure how I feel about the term “true Gorean”, because Gorean is a fictional term (I’d compare that to calling yourself a Jedi Knight or something) but in this case it refers to role-playing realistically in relation to Gor story-world lore. If the requirement is to have actually read some of the books, then I meet it and what a feat that actually is and shows a players dedication.

I’m glad my old friend Mariko is advocating for a less combat-oriented community, it was a contributing factor to my departure as the nearby panther tribe became more focused on combat than stories.

On the rare occasion I was in the tavern on Friday night or at the weekend you couldn’t concentrate for the noise. I had panther camps on three sides of my location, so there was a ridiculous number of combat meters flooding local chat with messages about who shot who. Which apart from being very annoying, from a story point of view, it was information I’d have no way of knowing from within the tavern compound.

I know meters aren’t going anywhere, too many people like them and non-creative, combat-focused “pew-pewer” players use them to initiate stories by starting fights. It would be nice though if this wasn’t the focus of roleplay in SL Gor. So I invite you to read what Mariko Marchant, a long-time and respected member of the SL Gor community has to say on the matter:

Well if you are a true Gorean and you read some or even all the books of John Norman would you expect that a craftsman, a weapon maker in  a city  would have a document with the standards a weapon should have to be approved? I ask myself, approved by whom? There is no such […]

Return to true Gor: Let’s start with making the meter less dominant