CoLA vs Midian

I've been looking at both the CoLA and Midian City sims and would be interested in getting any input from folks that have experience in these sims. Even better if you have tried out both.

TIA

To me, Midian has more 'free form text' RP than CoLA. So if you're into writing/descriptive text... and all.. then i'd go Midian City.

but... i admit.. i'm not a big RPer.. but... when i visited CoLA it felt like 'major combat system based' RP. And if you weren't into shooting people with guns or other weapons, then it seemed like CoLA wasn't the place for you.

However, CoLA is 'bigger' (land wise). So if that means something to you .. you might wanna pick that too.

I have never been to either, but I did see this:

http://www.mermaiddiaries.com/2007/03/day-159-midian-city.html

(the visit to Midian City was recommended by Torley)

I've been to Midian and read their premise, which seems good. Well, I didin't delve into huge detail, but at first glance it struck me that your choice for "roles" is a little limited for female players. Lots of hookers there, but i didn't see anyone else.

The dialogue that I did see was very expressive and the city itself is beautifully built and one of the most detailed that I've seen. Very impressive.

Unfortunately, such detailed places bog me down into lag heck and so I am not able to fully explore the sim, or take part of the story.

It really does depend on what you're looking for.
While Midian City does have a combat system it is very much an RP based sim WITH combat rather than a combat sim WITH RP.

As for the discussion around female roles, actually there no reason a girl can't be a member of any other faction (except The Hounds and even they have an associated female group called Phoenix Rising) the notecard at the entrance detailing the factions is a little out of date so I would encourage people to wonder around OOCly for a while and pick up a little more info. I have two female characters in Midian neither of which are hookers.

even when it comes to combat most playser prefer to RP combat and it's only when there's some kind of mass shootout OR the decision is made by the players themselves that the Combat meters are used to determine if a shot is successful.

One of my characters is the female assassin mentioned in this article which you may find useful http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2007/12/the-storyteller.html

COLA

Large build generic build.
Heavy Scripted Combat.
Lots of people on the map.
Roleplay light
combat heavy
No restrictions.

MIDIAN
Decent size build of over two sims both of which are future dystopian in theme
Scripted Combat available but not predominant
A decent size community
Roleplay intensive
Combat light
few restrictions on species choices but this enhances the sim rather than distract from it.

If you are into competitive roleplay where one player seeks to "pwn" the other. COLA is for you.

If you are a text descriptive emoter who enjoys discriptive roleplay and working WITH a player to create a text heavy wonderful scene , then MIDIAN should be your choice.

Of course I'm Biased slightly coming from Midian myself, but the observations are what made ME choose Midian.

Those coming from MPORPG'S such as WOW where combat is script or computer decided should have a better time In COLA.

Those old schoolers who come from forum, e-mail or chat room roleplay should have a better time in MIDIAN.

Neither sim is better than the other, just more suited to different types of players.

Its like choosing XCITE over decent emotive discriptive sex. What ever turns you on at the end of the day. A script, or discriptive text.

CoLA: There seems to be a slightly better community feel for newbs and people who are just passing thru.

More fun for begginers as they can get str8 into the rollplay and combat.
Might seem to some people that it gets repetative

It could be build better (this is based on about 5 months ago, it could have been remade since then)


Midian: Very well build (althou they need to adapt to Windlight, there sky looks really odd in the windlight viewer)

Has a real sence of mystery and a good and original story line.

Really difficult to get into any crowd and can get boring and tedias very quickly.

Once (and if) you ever do finally get into a combat or rollplay group it can feel like you are loved and/or respected/feared by allot of people, they all stick together (this can turn out to be a bad thing)

In a few peoples experiences (no not just me, some others have had the same problem and ended up on my sim or at missing mile {soap} because of there intollerence towards homosexuals (and according to someone i spoke to, transvestites aswell)



Both:
laggy as hell (quit using 1024x1024 textures on small objects!!! and try to make sectioned textures rather than seperate ones!)

have good and bad points

all in all i think i would choose CoLA (this is not taking into concideration my past experience at one of said sims)

Both i have been into using a special ALT character i use for rollplay (and no the name isnt Chaos)

You could always try the Crack Den (Hathian sim is the landing point) as an alternative to both of those. They are up to 4 sims now. It's more straight-up urban role play, without the fantasy vampire/neko/whatever element to it.

Actually, we have a female-led Faction that contains no hookers I am aware of. This would be the Sarcina and we're arguably one of the more active Factions at the moment.

The Roles are "generic", kind of like "Fireman" is generic and an individual firefighters job is really defined by where he works and what firehouse he belongs to - and Faction membership generates RP opportunities more so than "Role". We have several "gang" Factions, allegedly some vampires and werewolves, mercenaries, police factions, one faction that DOES hold the local prostitution market, the Medical Center is its own faction, as is our Pirate Radio Station, the street kids and even our bars and Community Center are Faction-based. Friction and allainces between Factions drives a great amount of the public RP - most factions have a large female component, and many are led by females.

You can be a "Helpless Victim" role solo...or you can take that role, join a faction and have many more opportunities for activity and a social life.

If you'd like a tour sometime, or an introduction to some of our more stellar female charcters, feel free to IM me and I'll arrange it as soon as I can break loose of whatever RP I'm in.

*blinks* I've been in regular player in Midian for 4 months now and have never seen any OOC intolerence for homosexuals or transvestites.. yes of course some characters may express an intolerence In Character but that's roleplay, (incidently I know for a fact that the player who plays on character who expresses his intolerence is in fact bisexual IRL) certainly it's not the opinion of or indeed that many of the residents. I'm aware of a number of homosexual / bisexual / transgender characters that are heavily immersed in the roleplay and not as a seperate group either but mixed in with the other groups. I'm sorry for your experience but I don't think it would be fair to say it is something predominent in the sim.

Knowing the difference between IC and OOC in Midian is key, there are a number of players including myself who play multiple characters often almost polar opposites in personality and values in my case neither one I could claim as being "like me IRL" they are characters I've created and I play according to the specs I gave them.

My character has been "Out" for as long as I've been in Midian and its never posed an issue for me. I'm sure everyone has individualised experiences, but altho "In Character" we may have conflict (thats what drives Roleplay), "Out of Character" no one has ever given me a moment of grief (and IC has been fairly tolerant as well...but that's "In Character" and if soemone is not giving someone else some static, then things get boring.)

in my experience they ((spoke like this, in double brackets)) wich according to the rules is out of character, please correct me if i'm wrong

(( )) is one of the ways to denote OOC text, yes. I use a device that colours and denotes my text as OOC personally - but (( )) is the basic convention.

W/o knowing the content, all I can say is that my personal experiences have been positive and that any static has been confined to IC. Also, Midian has some very involved Game Admins moving about to resolve disputes and I have been impressed in the past with the their fairness exercised in managing the sim(s). They can be looked up in the Midian memberlist by anyone needing mediation.

Also, please note that Midian (and any RP sim) gets visitors from time to time who are not regular residents and whose agenda could best be described as "griefing". The Game Admins usually deal swiftly with non-residents who are acting out on others, because they want to prevent those persons from being percieved by potential residents as "average Midian citizens". Running around randomly shooting people is not what midian is about.

Sounds like the person you had issues with was not a paser-thru tho.

This boogles my mind.

I have three characters running around Midian and none of them are hookers. I'd say just the opposite, the roles women can create for themselves there are limited only to the writer's imagination and the rules of the sim. I know dozens of female players, Vampires, Nekos, Humans... and only two of them play 'hookers' and if you called either of them that to her face you wouldn't have a face long.

It's a stunning build and a wonderful community with a rich history written by it's players. Well worth the time and effort it takes to become a part of it.

Which one has more bad acting?

I must admit that while some of the things said here SHOCK ME, I suppose it does happen.

Yes, you may find some things in MIDIAN that you do not like, but I'm sure if you end up in a place where every little detail is to your hearts desire and everyone "plays" as you wish they would, then soon it will become boring.

Personally, what sets MIDIAN apart for me is the diversity that is apparent there. We seem to have characters that fit all types of people and usually can fulfill any levels of RP that you are wishing for.

Although there is violence,rape, murder and mayham there, there are also warm cookies and kind words if needed. We have a very active Community Center (Which I might add is ran by a lady with stunningly good taste and decorating skills) who welcomes EVERYONE she sees to the city.

No matter how things are going for you there, a warm bed, fresh wholesome food and I must admit, some of the best cookies in all of SL are awaiting anyone who visits MIDIAN and stops by the Community Center. ( you can get some great fashion tips there also)

I would urge everyone to come give MIDIAN a look. Meet the people, see what we are about. YES, I have also went to other places and I know that sometimes it can be hard for a new person to integrate themselves into the RP, but it is much like moving to a new neighborhood or the first day at a new school. In time, people will notice you and be welcoming. JUMP IN and speak to others. Don't be afraid to ask questions and NEVER FORGET that in MIDIAN there is a person there named "AUNTIE" who is dedicated to servicing EVERY CITIZEN and seeing that they have a delightful experience while there and honestly, where else can you go in SL and receive that?

:tands up and waves her hand::

I play Masha, a hybrid coyote woman from New Orleans, raised hard core in the African Diasporic faith of Vodou and extremely devout, and a member of the Sarcina Muleria.

Masha is not only NOT a hooker, she does not engage in sex at all. OOCly, my husband and I have an agreement that I refrain from sex in Second Life (a mutual choice - it would be just too strange and weird for me and it bothers him, so I get my sexah on in real life only!). This has never, EVER hampered my RP in Midian. Ever.

Cheers!
-M

i have played in several rp sims before i came to midian, ive been in dc back in the days when there was only one dc, ive been in toxia and ive been to cola before ive ended up in midian and am there since about 5 months now. the reason i stayed in midian is for 1. that there is more actual rp than in the other sims where people often have problems to distinguish between ic and ooc and theres way too much ooc in the ic. also something i found is that in the other sims people dont put as much thought into their chars as they do in midian;again too much ooc in the ic, people confuse their rl self with the char too often. secondly i personally enjoy a fight more when theres actually an ic reason for it and not just 'i dont like the way you dress' or something. as for the thing with the hookers, that comment can only come from someone who hasnt been in midian longer than 5 minutes. theres actually only one faction that consists of hookers and its not even a big one. some people may confuse dressing sexy or showing some skin as automatically being a hooker actually the more i think about it id almost say more than half of the big factions are led by women and successfully so. on the contrary id say i havent seen so many independant woman chars in any other rp sim yet. so why do i choose midian over all other rp sims so far:
1. good char planning
2. the built and atmosphere
3. the highly detailed rp
4. stringent storylines that have some planning behind them

theres many other reasons obviously but too many to name. i very often see newbies (new to midian) being included in rp, actually many people make sure to get new people in. i myself have done so often. obviously you cant expect to go to midian and after 5 mins YOU will be rped WITH. obviously you may have to come 2 or 3 times and also actively try to get into the rp

I still have yet to see this other than some characters IC dislike, which for the character is not out of place.



Exactly Angel. *Points to her crossdressing pet and reads title saying "Pet of the Hounds"*. Even the Hounds are tolerant. The Canis may not like it IC, but allows it.

As someone that's been involved in midian for just over a year, i can say this with honesty, and i know i'll hear about it later. I'm only speaking on midian cause, 'write what you know', right?

Midian's ups:
Descriptive RP.
Community playerbase
Good build
Array of factions
Vampires that are decent. (very few i've met. not mentioning names!)
Rules for inhuman races.
Un-required combat system.


Midian's downs:
Black's the new black.
Loyaltys are who you're sleeping with, and in most cases, thats everyone.
Too many factions, many seem alike.
Lots and lots of hybrid (neko) characters. (personal downer. too many chefs spoil the pot, right?)
Vampires who shouldn't be vampires. (Also no comment on names.)
Too many alts.
Too many women pregnant with alts.
And in many cases, too much meta-gaming from alt to main and vice-versa.
Too many one-sided or awkward rules for inhuman races.


Now, with that all said, obviously, it sounds pretty bleak from me. Keep in mind i've been there a long time and seen a lot of stuff happen. I stick around in spite of being probly one of the most hated IC people in town...and I play a hero. I also stay for a handful of very good, very caring friends on an OOC level that truely believe I enhance the experience.

Why should anyone come to midian? Honestly? You shouldn't. Many times there are large OOC dramas and it can be like a blizzard game; bringing out the worst sides of humanity, both IC and sometimes, OOC. Then again, like Charles said, if your an old school RPer from the days of yore when we were all in text based chat rooms as knights...well...you've seen your share, and probly can handle much of the crap that happens, dig through it, and find some gold.

*gives Mercy a standing ovation*

That review was worthy of a mainstream gaming magazine

I'm glad somebody posted this thread, because I was looking at RP Sims myself. My favorite experiences were REAL short-lived, and took place in most folks least favorite (now-closed) RP/Combat Sims: Hell's Kitchen and City of The Damned (not the current one...the zombie vs. police vs. citizens one)

I like to play in a city where vehicles are used occasionally and it has a decent amount of combat, but I'm not sure if theres really a place for me right at this moment. The closest I think I've found is Toxian...but I might spend a night in The Crackden and see what I think...they could really use more people now that they have so much land.

The only thing about CD is I would have to pay a lot to ride my bike there, & I love to ride around a big city, not run or walk when it covers more than a Sim and you can't fly lol (yeah "whine whine" )

...so if anybody knows of a place for character like an outlaw biker/bounty hunter or something like that let me know plz

I prefer Diet Pepsi Cola and have never drank Midian.

Why are you doing this sort of survey in a SL forum?

I don't think I saw a better place to post a survey about particular SL sims.


Back to the topic, I'm actually a NoRian myself. I work there, I play there, I live there. I've never heard of Miridian, but I've heard enough of CoLA to not have the best impression of it.

Thanks for some good input. I'm gonna spend a little time in each sim and see where I feel most comfortable. Having a little idea of what to expect (and not expect) is helpful.

Actually, there are almost always alot of people at the Crack Den. The roleplay isn't centralized all in one little tiny spot, so they are spread out over all four sims.