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Playing a Gladiator
===================
Now that your Gladiator is finished, you will be introduced into the league
by the GameMaster and off you go.
Playing ARENA is mostly writing RolePlays. RolePlays are all the interviews,
speeches and stuff that create the atmosphere that makes the difference be-
tween a real ARENA fight and simply two guys hacking at each other. Again,
watch a wrestling-show for ideas. :)
Although it doesn't make the impression from this rules, the RolePlays are,
what this game is actually all about. The fights are just kind of background
for this, and you should really put your effort into the RolePlays, because
otherwise it's all just about who created the best Gladiator.
Now for those who can't resist trying to actually WIN their fights, you might
want to know that fighters are getting a Ratio for their performance. How
exactly this is calculated is one of the big miracles of Arena Operations,
but you should know that your old performances don't count as much as your
recent ones. So to stay on top, you have to keep winning. Each 1st of the
month, your performances are reevaluated. You can also see this on your
status report. Behind the figures Victories or Losses, that show your total
performance, there are two figures in brackets. The first one is how many of
these Victories or Losses have happened this month, the second one shows how
many happened last month. Anything older than that is not forgotten, but its
impact on the rating is not that impressive.
The Fans
========
Depending on the performance of both (or all four) Gladiators, the fans may
get really excited or they may become bored. They may even leave the arena,
if you're really fighting like their grandmother.
Currently, there is no feedback of this, so your fight itself will not be
influenced on how the fans like it (or not), as you are far too busy keeping
that sharp thing your enemy wields aways from your precious body. However,
there is a value called Fan-Factor in your status report. It is combined with
a second value called Faction and I'll talk more about Factions in just a
second.
Depending on your overall performance during each fight, your Fan-Factor
will increase or decrease. Bad fights decrease it, good ones will increase
your reputation.
Your RolePlays may (and should!) also affect your Fan-Factor, at the
discretion of the Commissioner. This is especially important once you enter
the realm of indifference with the fans.
In Team fights (Team or Tag), it is also important if you and your partner
are members of the same Faction or not. Fighting alonside the enemy is not
exactly the thing to push your reputation.
Factions
========
Now, to enhance competition, not to say enmity, amongst the Gladiators, there
is not only a Fan-Factor, but also a number of different Factions that you
can belong to.
All Newbies belong to no Faction initially, or rather to a Faction called
"Newbies". Once you have decided on where you are standing and once you have
a couple of fans, you have to choose your side.
Your Commissioner may change this, but as a default, the following Factions
are included in the program. Please note that ALL Factions are enemies, even
the Good Guys and Good Inc. - both believe that the other is doing it mostly
wrong.
Good Guys The Good Guys are just that. They are Fighters, but they do
fight for the light. They don't usually use drugs or illegal
attacks, only if justice requires it. They're pretty much
down to earth and normal, just like the "good guys" of your
favorite wrestling federation.
Bad Boys The opposite. The Bad Boys are cheating and getting drugged,
laugh if the opponent gets hurt and generally have a lot of
fun, though not all may show it. They're the "bad boys" from
your wrestling shows. Bad, but within limits.
Neutrals These are the guys who either don't care for good or bad or
who stay out of that war consciously. It may be that they're
motivated by money or fame or just don't want to have any-
thing to do with that whole business.
Loners Loners may be anything, good, evil, neutral, but they're not
on anyone's side except their own. The legendary Elric would
be a very good example of an evil Loner. He might also be the
one True Evil (see below) - we will never know, Factions were
not yet invented in his fighting days.
Good Inc. Now these guys are not only good, the OWN the damn thing.
Good Inc. is bigger than life, much less pragmatic than the
simple Good Guy and these guys have sold their souls to the
war against all evil. They usually wear white clothes and
when not in the arena, some of them participate in welfare
or anti-drug activities. Off course, they would NEVER use
drugs in combat or make illegal attacks.
To cut it short: They're the extremist fanatics of the good.
True Evil The counterpart. True Evil starts where the Bad Guys stop.
Pacts with the Devil, bodies tattooed with evil symbols, not
accepting an enemies surrender (the worst foul possible in
this game!) and other things are the mark of a True Evil
Fighter. They usually spend half their time out of the Arena
because of penalties.
In short: The extremist fanatics of evil.
Obviously, most Gladiators will (and should) belong to one of the first three
Factions. Especially Good Inc. and True Evil are really EXTREMES and should
be played as such.
It is possible to switch Factions, but doing so will reduce your Fan-Factor,
so you should not do it very often.
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