What is your most elitist Everquest viewpoint?

[Vormotus]

Originally Posted by Nagoya [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Agnosticism in Everquest makes absolutely no sense.
Even in regards to Jimjam's response (which makes more sense), you could argue that Agnostics don't commit to the knowledge of any godly entity above the Everquest gods, but that doesn't make the current gods less godly, they create life. On that point though, the definition of "God" is much more vague than Magic or Agnostic, so fine, i'll concede that point to Jimjam [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I stand by my 'elitist' view that anyone playing an Agnostic character fails at EQ tho :P

I support it too, exactly for these reasons and within the logic of the EQ Mythos itself.

Agnosticism in this game is like ... being a Flat Earther. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]


Note: Just kidding guys eh? :P

[Jimjam]

Would be fun to RP a conspiracy theorist agnostic, ascribing all miraculous magic to really being cheap parlour tricks, undead to being trick or treaters and godly avatars as being mere large monsters.

[loramin]

Originally Posted by Vormotus [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

So yeah, I still feel Agnostic is kinda odd within the universe (outside of ease of game mechanics and factioning of course)[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Not to let reality intrude on a perfectly good fictional computer game, but ... here on Earth, back when people believed in polytheistic religions (eg. in ancient Greece) almost everyone was "agnostic".

The vast vast majority of ordinary people believed in all of the various gods, but they worshipped whichever god could best fulfill their needs at any moment. For instance, farmers almost certainly gave more offerings to Demeter, but that didn't mean they "picked Demeter at character creation." If they were going to have a party they'd say a prayer or make an offering to Dionysus. If they needed to know what would happen in the future they'd consult a priest of Apollo, and if they got sick they'd pray to Asclepius (a lesser known god of healing). If their wife needed marital help she'd pray to Hera, and so on.

My point is that the only people who actually pledged themselves to one specific god were priests/priestesses and the members of "mystery cults" ... which were very small, secretive groups that made up less than 1% of the overall population. Aside from them, the default of almost everyone back in those days was to believe in all the gods, and pay tribute to any that were relevant to you, but never actually commit to any one in particular.

If anything EQ should have used the term "polytheist" instead of "agnostic", but while that might have been more accurate, it probably also would have confused a lot of modern players raised in monotheistic systems.

[maskedmelon]

i think deity selection is an integral part of character creation and tend to lump agnostics in with min-maxers whose min-maxing i consider glaring indication of arrested mental and social development, closed-mindedness and petite penises not unlike grown adults who refuse to eat onions, fish or capsaicin containing fruits.

i do exempt Filbus from this lumping though, because I love him and believe it was more an honest mistake than some infantile inclination to pursue the most-bestest condition despite its exceptional creative deficiency, which we well know Filbus does not suffer ^^

[Wonkie]

Originally Posted by Nagoya [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yep, I agree.
If I had been on the creative room in that meeting, I would have suggested:
Skeptic, Dissenter, Heretic, Pagan or Blasphemous. Agnostic makes no sense.

It's never too late to reroll Filbus! The server is not going anywhere ^^

in·fi·del
ˈinfədl,ˈinfəˌdel/Submit
nounarchaic
1.
a person who does not believe in religion or who adheres to a religion other than one's own.

[loramin]

Originally Posted by Wonkie [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

in·fi·del
ˈinfədl,ˈinfəˌdel/Submit
nounarchaic
1.
a person who does not believe in religion or who adheres to a religion other than one's own.

Infidel has incredibly strong connotations of being bad/wrong. You can't just be "an infidel", you have to be "an infidel in the eyes of a believer". Heck, if you look at Miriam-Webster's definition of the word, the very first definition is not "doesn't believe in religion X", it's:

1: one who is not a Christian or who opposes Christianity

Plus, the people who made EQ weren't linguists trying to find the most precise word possible, they were game makers looking for a term their player base would understand ... and not get offended by (religious language tend to bring out the worst in some believers).

[Wonkie]

It means they don't follow your god(s).

it can be tortured as 'untrustworthy', which is a fair assessment for the infidel fellow Filbert.

[loramin]

Originally Posted by Wonkie [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It means they don't follow your god(s).

it can be tortured as 'untrustworthy', which is a fair assessment for the infidel fellow Filbert.

Oh totally: from the perspective of my Tribunal-worshipping Barbarian Filbert is most definitely an infidel [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm just saying that from the perspective of a character creation screen (where there is no "you" to define "your god(s)") infidel would have been a bad choice.

[Wonkie]

it would be a bad choice, but it would be correct in meaning.

I forget what we were arguing about.

[Vormotus]

Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If anything EQ should have used the term "polytheist" instead of "agnostic", but while that might have been more accurate, it probably also would have confused a lot of modern players raised in monotheistic systems.

Hmm yes, I can see the beauty of that idea ... That would be very good!

It would fit more within the lore, and in a sense, the afterlife would be the one more attuned to your Norrathian life acts, yes yes, that can work [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

On the other side of the coin, another elitist gripe is I find it kinda short the list of available deities.

For example, The Nameless or Zebuxoruk would be awesome as deities, one for being so remote the other for being a Rebel hated by the rest of the Norrathian Pantheon, like Prometheus.