Resource Shipments to New Players

A common practice in Illyriad™ is to ship caravans loaded down with basic resources (iron,clay, wood, stone, food, gold) to new players that ask for these shipments, or even just say they are new to Illyriad™. While this is the first time I have ever seen such active dedication to supply new players in a game, I wonder if it's an actual aid to player growth, or a deterrent.

I have thought about this practice for a decent amount of time, indeed I can honestly say that I started having negative thoughts about shipping new players building resources since the fall of 2011.  Since the fall of 2011, I started to notice *or perhaps I started talking more in chat which lead to me noticing* more new players begging in global chat for resources. It could be as obvious as XXX asking "Hello I'm new and I would appreciate my resources from the Fantastic Community! Thank you!", I noticed that established players would then usually respond in a standard response "Care a vans in bound good buddy!", usually without even looking at the beggars population or alliance status.

Upon closer investigation I noticed a growing chain of players ranging from "five to six hundred" population begging in GC for resources, this shocks me because  there seems to be a complete abandonment, an encouraged abandonment among new players to build your own resource production up for your city needs and to instead expect established players who did the work to supply you.  When I was at three hundred population, I had a personal resource income ranging from one thousand to two thousand building resource *iron, stone, clay, wood* per hour, yet sometimes when I ask the beggar I get a horrifying answer *oh 28, 32, 25, 30 p/h*.

It makes me wonder, why are these resource shipments continuing to be sent to new players? Some claim that they encourage new players to stay in Illyriad™, though it's obvious that others liked the game for what it was and stayed long enough to establish themselves in the game without the need to beg, a simple thousand minimum stayed long enough for that.  Besides, is this how you really want players to stay in the game? Reeling them in by offering *tribute* instead of getting players to stay for the *game*?

Is this a recruitment tactic? Do you bestow new players with dozens of resource shipments in hopes they will join your alliance, then lie and say "nah I'm sending this because I care, not because I want them to think my alliance is friendly and a good fit"? I have no idea...

I honestly take no part in these actions, I may send a shipment or two to members that accidentally ques too many cows and are in danger of running out of food, but I don't encourage reliance on others to progress through Illyriad™.  I have personally spend months working on increasing output for resource production in all my cities, even now the majority of my cities have an average of 6k p/h on building resources,  I look on to that with a sense of pride and achievement.  I highly doubt those that require shipments from others to advance in this game get the same sense of accomplishment, so are they cheating themselves? Should shipments be banned? What do you think?

What to do with the *Criminals* in Illyriad™..

Recently I have begun thinking of what one, or the community can do about the undesirables in the game. What is most common is that the undesirables will be baited into a ferocious rage and bring about their own destruction, when those that they took the bait from rise up and crush them.  Other undesirables are people who are on the receiving end of large wars, players that the community may not want around for the *danger* they caused them.  What to do what to do..

I suggested long ago that some players or an alliance or two take up responsibility to construct a penal colony of sorts, force the undesirables to move their cities to a largely unsettable area with poor resources and require the prisoners to stay within the area with limited military/diplomatic units for a previously set period of time. Once the sentence is up, those previously prisoners would be free to move out of the colony and back into the mainlands of Illyriad™, much like our Undesirables of Society today.

Some players have criticized this project, over how the *Guards* would be able to keep a tight hold of the * Prisoners*, as well as voicing that forcing movement into a penal colony is cruel, though is it more merciful to crush years of work so that the *Critics* can sleep better at night?

I suppose in the end it will fall on those who have the firepower to orchestrate to the other players of what the outcome of the *undesirables* will be. For even if the alliance"s" in a war win, that doesn't mean the vast community will follow them in their penal colony, another case of might makes right.

Just an idea of mine, but with the community and human nature against it I fear it will not take off. Perhaps when another enemy of TLR™ surfaces, I can test out the process..