This is the tricky part. No manual can really thoroughly teach you how to deal with your fellow humans. Also, the game is much more complex than shooting at each other or going hunting together. Expect to see a wide range of human behavior: from cooperation and friendship to treachery and direct opposition. There will be plenty of humans around. Each Starpeace Online world can host anywhere from 100 to more than 300 players.
Luckily enough, the realistic economic model rewards cooperation and friendship over sheer confrontation. Although there is a lot of competition going on, most of it is based on fair play, since the economy simply doesn't allow otherwise.
The political system has also being designed in such a way so that politicians cannot abuse their powers, yet they still can be a significant force.
There are several ways you can communicate with other players. Aside from the internal chat and e-mail clients, you can also post your comments on the local newspapers. If you have something to say about the mayor, this is where you can vent or praise. What you state there will actually have an impact on the Mayor's reputation with the populace. If too many investors publicly complain about the mayor, he could get fired from office.
In general, we recommend that you make a few friends and try to work together. Although the very design of the game won't force you to do so, in order to succeed, alliances with other players will give you a significant advantage.
Very important: please try to be polite. Starpeace Online is a game that appeals to intelligent people (like you). If someone is being rude to you, just ignore that person and report the problem to the Game Masters or to Oceanus via e-mail. At the same time, if you are not nice to people your companies could be in trouble since players will gradually turn their backs on you -in the best case scenario.
To provide you with some guidelines, we, at Oceanus have created the Rules of Conduct indicated in the next chapter. It's important to follow these rules in order to have a healthy community of players and to maximize the gaming experience.
