Posted by Macheath on February 19, 2000 at 10:04:05:
I don't trust the forum bug enough to post this as an actual reply, so here goes with a new thread. The statue of Pontius Pilate, first of all, has been twisted by Saagkri into some kind of honorary idol. It's not that at all. It's simply a likeness of him, he being perhaps the most famous judge in all of history. The RP in imm-only rooms, secondly, has not been relaxed or abandoned. I don't see how you can take such issue with the words "Pontius Pilate" in a room description and not be angry at meeting Hector or Caesar in the first circle of Hell. It's long been generally agreed upon that real life mythology can occasionally be incorporated into Thera's lore without being attacked. Or at least, that used to be the case. My point being that if you want to complain about the description in the Arena of Judgement (which I find to be a very good description) on the grounds you've mentioned, then you should also take umbrage at almost everything in Hell, and several other places in the game. Reasons you've given for disliking the description in what few posts I could read without vomiting: - Pilate is an OOC figure and should not be in the game. I've addressed that already. Lay off. - Pilate condemned Christ to death and is an offensive figure. Yes. That's true, perhaps. However, consider the fact that Pilate was a very famous judge - and that's why he had Christ before him in the first place. His decision to crucify Christ was made for him - he himself would have been satisfied with 40 lashes (one lashing short of death). And if you recall, he washed his hands of the entire ordeal after the Jews demanded that Jesus be executed. Pilate is as tragic a character as has ever existed, and all because he believed in justice and in being an extension of the will of the people. Why, again, is he inappropriate for the "Arena of Judgement?" So maybe it's an offensive topic. Tough nuts. To some people, the idea that there even IS a hell is disturbing and they choose not to believe it. But there it is, in the game. I'd imagine they're offended. CF deals with dismemberments, eviscerations, disembowelments, rapes, genocide, and any number of other "offensive" things. You don't whine about those. You say Scarabaeus took pains to remove references to Christianity from Hell while he wrote it. So what? First of all, I suspect he did that simply because he doesn't *like* Christianity and he didn't want to honor it in his master work. Second of all, there were no more references to Christianity in the room description for the Arena than there are in Hell, so your point is useless. All in all, since I've lost my train of thought, I'd say - stop complaining and play the damn game.