Realms Beyond According to Sirian

The Realms Beyond is definitely not a clan.

* There is no "joining", no "signing up". Folks come and go as they wish.

* Anyone can give our activities a try if they are interested. Those who have a good time can come back for more any time.

* We're a loosely knit community sharing a common set of ideals about gaming. The primary ideal is to "play legitimately". It derives from the community's origins with Diablo 1 (1997). Any of you familiar with that game will recall that cheats of all kinds were readily available and widely used, dominating public play on Battle.net. Realms Beyond players are not interested in cheats, trainers, etc. Our activities are structured in a way that offers many incentives to legitimate play and few if any incentives to cheat. There's just no glory to be had in it. We don't have ranks or rankings, we don't have high score boards. What we do have are skilled players and some rich traditions. Those attracted to our style of gaming may be relatively few, but they are out there, and we are always looking to make contact with kindred spirits.

* The secondary ideal is to seek challenge. If a game has a flaw in the design that can be exploited to massive advantage, we may agree as a community to restrict use of the option, or even ban it from our collective activities. That is to say, we may add our own rules to enhance the game environment. For example, in Diablo 1, the Sorcerer class was so strong, we would often play them without any use of items, just to increase the challenge and keep it interesting. Another example: in Civilization 3, the game mechanic allows the player to sign Right of Passage agreements with the AI's, and one can then carefully position multiple armies right on the doorstep of the target's cities, then betray the ally and attack. This effect makes no sense within the context of the game. (What civilization has ever been so gullible as not to see betrayal of that magnitude coming at them so clearly?) Only the combination of the turn-based nature of the game combined with several other factors allows this move. We've decided to disallow it from our activities. Just because the software allows you to do something, or cannot prevent you from doing something, doesn't mean (in our view) that it must be exploited. We believe the game is more fun to play without this option. Moves of this category are labeled "exploits" and taken off the table. We don't rush in to add rules for the sake of adding rules. The rules evolve over time, in response to imbalances or loopholes in the game that undermine enjoyment or defy reason. Those of you turned off by aspects of games that ruin the fun because they make the game too easy or warp the gameplay into something other than it set out to be, may find the standards, principles and cohesion at the Realms Beyond to be a safe haven from chaos.

* In seeking to embrace challenge, we also embrace variety. If you are the sort of player who finds a niche and never ventures out of it, such as playing the same race or game settings all the time, you won't have fun at RB. We thrive on creativity and variation, always looking for new challenges or scenarios that haven't been experienced yet.

* Because the Realms Beyond is years old (Since 1997), with continuous activity across our history, we have a rich culture already in place. There are bonds of shared gaming experiences, lots of good times our players have had together, which breed all kinds of "inside jokes" and references to past events. This may be offputting to some, but there's no elitism. People come and go all the time. It's very easy to participate. You just show up, familiarize yourself with any applicable rules (posted for easy reference) and play. The play is the thing. If you love the game, that will show, and you'll fit right in.

The Realms Beyond is not for everyone. And that's cool...

The Twisted History of Variants by LemmingofGlory