Pretty good day for pacifism in DAOC. I started it with going to Agramon and meditating there. Chatted a bit with a group of Mids - they did not seem to believe in pacifism, but wanted to get the wisdom-of-a-day. I am not sure that my message of wisdom for the ages reached them though. :( Then I got killed by enemy soldiers and decided to pursue peaceful quests. Someone in this blog has suggested to me to get a merchant task. I did that. I also continued the Dragonslayer quest line. Between the two I got enough experience for level 2 and got free level 3. This in turn opened quite a few quests in Mularn. Unfortunately, most of them were the usual violent kind "slay this, slay that". However, couple just required visiting the task dungeon and the new low level RvR dungeon. The dragonslayer also gave me a letter to her mentor, which I delivered in the realm frontier side. I believe I finished the dragonslayer arc of the story available to low level characters. With all that, I managed to get to level 4 without even doing additional merchant tasks. I will be receiving a free level 5 in couple days. Apparently, even though I am a seer, a troll cannot become a Healer, so the only path open to me is being a Shaman. Not necessarily the best name for a pacifist class, but it will do.

Yesterday, as I logged in, I found a group of Albion heroes already waiting there to talk to me. Unfortunately, by talk they meant sword and I found myself dead immediately. As I looked at the map, it appeared that a Bledmeer tower was taken by Albion, so I could not port to Bledmeer to run to Agramon. I had to port to Glenlock Faste and take a boat to Bledmeer. Since I am poor, I could not afford hiring a boat myself, but fortunately some kind souls were travelling the same way and I joined them. My first run to Agramon was interrupted by Albion heroes again. When I returned to Glenlock, it appeared that Albion heroes decided to harass peace there too. Both visible and stealth groups were hunting Midgardians trying to get to the boats. But though they killed my body, they could not kill my resolve to get to Agramon to meditate. I returned again and again until I got to the dock. There I sat and waited for a someone to hire a boat. Midgard group came and helped me out. I bowed to them, they bowed to me, and here I was again on my way to Agramon. Unfortunately, as we came onto the Agramon isle, some Albion fighters were there to ambush and kill all of us. Although I do not care for myself, I chanted for Midgard folks who supported my quest for peace and died because of it. Finally, the port to Bledmeer was retaken and I managed to run to the middle of Agramon to meditate. As I passed the bridges, I felt invisible Albion stealthers around me, but they decided to let me by. My meditations go out to you guys. You may still find a way to peace. :)

While cleaning up my computer, I found a trial version of Everquest II and instead of deleting it, decided to give it a whirl in a peaceful way. After couple of hours of patching - it was an old trial version - I finally created my pacifist character and got onto the initial island. Of course, EQ2 as almost all other MMOGs tells you that you are good and the others are evil and your job is to kill them all for the greater good. Ignore this. Just give peace a chance.

So back to my character. At least low levels of EQ2 are definitely easier for pacifists than low levels of DAOC. Finding a new area (zone?) gives you experience, quite a bit of it actually. Since there are about 5 zones in the island, this ends up being not a bad experience source. I found only one quest on the island that does not require killing: Ebik's missing parts quest. Some of the parts are hidden in areas with aggressive monsters, but sprinting and fast thinking solves this issue. I got my swimming, defense and evasion skills up to the maximum while running from misunderstood creatures who tried to kill me. (There may be other peaceful quests for other classes, I found only this one for a Monk.)

The largest experience contribution comes not from the quest or new area discovery, but rather from bird feather and seashell collections. These just require harvesting (gathering) of feathers and shells and full collections are worth a lot.

Although I went into a PvP server, I did not see any PvP on the island although the game says something about "this zone being PvP within 8 levels". Maybe the peaceful ways are spreading into PvP servers too. :)

Result: Level 5 Monk in one day, all island explored. I am not sure the trial version allows to leave the island and get to the Qeynos and other areas. I may try it sometime this week before my trial runs out. If I can't get off the island, I will not continue EQ2 exploration, since DAOC still awaits. :)

Edit: The trial does not allow players to get off the island, so this is my one and only post about pacifism in EQ2 for now. Maybe I will revisit it later. Peace. :)

A rather busy and adventurous day. First of all, I decided to pursue couple of quests. I found the dragonslayer in Huginfell although I had to take a horse there - a lot of aggressive purple animals are on the way for a 1st level adventurer. I got some experience and coin for talking to the dragonslayer and returning with the news to Lailen in Jordheim. Then I went to vale of Mularn to get a collar for my clockwork cat. There I found another quest that does not require killing: "Truth or dare". I had to go into a new low-level PvP dungeon, like a mini Darkness Falls that can be entered by players of various realms and to touch the statue in its middle. There were no opposing players in the dungeon - probably the word of pacifism is starting to spread - but there were some red and orange aggressive demons. They may have felt my peaceful nature though and I reached the statue unscathed. I went out the same way I came in and collected my reward: leather armor set, some coin and some experience. I have now 6 bubbles (out of 10) of 1st level experience and one quest lead. We will see if I can make it to level 2 without slaying any creatures.

After questing, I decided to go meditate in Agramon. I witnessed quite a few bloody battles and died quite a few times, but I meditated quite a bit too. I had nice hugs and cheers exchange with a lonely Albion Minotaur looking for "Mu". I bowed to the fallen of stealth battles. Some Midgard group asked for my teachings and I tried to show them how to meditate, but they were more focused on worshipping me than on hearing my words. :( They built a huge Crystal Titan by my meditation spot, probably to honor the place where crystal clarity is achieved.

Sitting and bowing in Agramon. Everything becomes clear. Boom. 1245 damage. Dead. What is this?

I spent some time meditating on Agramon island as battles raged on various bridges and mainland around. It seemed that Mids and Albs were doing most of the killing, so I was not surprised that a Hibernian group killed me very soon. I decided to see if I can get some more experience by doing some quests. I met a nice NPC in Jordheim who gave me 2 gold pieces, but no experience. Then I found a quest to find a dragonslayer. This proved to be a long hunt, since people for some reason did not want to reveal his name. More to come...

On the way to Agramon center, I chatted a bit with a Midgard Skald. He was curious where I was going and what I was doing. But then he left me, as there was a fight going on near my meditation place. I got there almost at the end. Midgard forces were victorious, so I did not get killed, but I still spent my time bowing and meditating for the fallen. The dry tree and the mountain at which I look while meditating, reflect pretty well the condition in Camelot: the war that kills and the enormous strength that outlasts everything.

I did not have much time to spend on the 4th day of MMO pacifism in DAOC, so there are not many adventures to report. Running to Agramon took most of the time, as bridges were occupied by Hibernian fighters. They did not want to hear my peace message and killed me. On the third try, the bridges were empty and I successfully reached Agramon center. There I sat down to meditate in my usual spot, gazing at the mountain in the distance.

Two or three Midgard groups ran by. One of them decided to buff me and to put traps for enemy near my meditation spot. Unfortunately DAOC does not allow to disable these killing devices, so I could only move to another spot and hope that peaceful Albion or Hibernian people do not stumble upon the traps. With no other notable events, I meditated and logged out

Peace, say "NO!" to mines

2nd day was rather uneventful, with warring factions spending time outside of Agramon. On the 3rd day, yesterday, my meditation place became a battleground of group-vs-group (8v8) Midgard and Hibernia fights. I tried to tell them to give peace a chance, but they did not listen. So I stayed there and meditated on the needless deaths in this barren parcel of land. I died quite a lot too (9 deaths in about 1 hour), but came back to my meditation spot and continued. One kind soul contacted me and asked if I was running to the Labyrinth. I told him that I just ran to meditate in the middle of Agramon and wished him to succeed in finding his true self. I would meditate in Labyrinth too, but unfortunately it is full of aggressive monsters that I cannot run around.

I also spent some time looking for quests that do not require me to harm peaceful creatures. Unfortunately, it seems that even to make drugs for battling a disease affecting town of Aegirhamn, you need to kill sea creatures. I found one quest that required me to talk to a city guard and got 3 bubbles of experience (out of 10 needed for a level) and a cloak. I have not yet found any other quests that can be done without killing, but I will continue to search.

Peace, Talk and Cloaks

On my first day of MMO pacifism, I created a level 1 character on Dark Age of Camelot (DAOC) Killibury cluster Merlin server. I created a Troll Seer with high Piety and Empathy. For some reason, my character gets a hammer and shield by default. I discarded the hammer immediately. Some kind soul donated me a staff, which I thought was a good symbol of a pacifist monk.

I decided to head directly to Agramon island, which is in the very middle of the RvR (Realm vs Realm) 50 level area of New Frontiers. New Frontiers is the place where people of Midgard, Hibernia and Albion kill each other incessantly. I was planning to sit and meditate in the middle of Agramon, which is really the middle of DAOC universe and to have my medition permeate this war-torn land.

So I ported into the New Frontiers, ported into the Bledmeer Faste - the castle closest to Agramon and ran towards the island. I did not even make it through the very first bridge. An Albion stealther killed me with a single blow doing 1216 damage (my level 1 troll has 35 hitpoints). Unfortunately, this blow made the Albion stealther visible and he was immediately attacked by a Midgard stealther. Apparently the Alb was not alone on the bridge, so his friends attacked the Mid in turn. More Middies came to fight the Albion stealthers. And so the circle of violence turns...

I released and ported back to Bledmeer again. This time I made over the first bridge, but when I got to the second bridge, I got killed again. Bless their souls! Another release, and this time I ran through both bridges without an incident. Perhaps my teachings of non-violence were bearing fruit. :)

I made it to the middle of Agramon. I sat there in the crossroads of paths coming from Hibernia, Midgard and Albion and meditated this bloody conflict, which has been going on since King Arthur's death.

I sat there for about half an hour. A group of Albion's heroes ran by. Some of them waved. Some cheered. I just bowed to them. After some time, another group of Albion's heroes ran by. Someone cheered me again. Someone rooted me with a spell. I just sat there and bowed every time a message about someone killing someone else appeared on my screen. I am sorry, I do not remember the names, but I saw a lot of messages: A was killed by B in Agramon. B was killed by C in Agramon. C was killed by D in Agramon. All these people dying and for what?

Then a Hibernian group ran by and I was dead, hit by spell for 250 damage. Poor guy, I sent my meditations to him. I released and ran back to Agramon. On the way, I ran into an Albion/Hibernian fight and was killed again. Another trip. I found a Midgard hero dead on the way. I bowed to his corpse and told him that only by not fighting he can attain true fighting. And I ran on to my meditation place in the middle of Agramon. I sat there for another 10 minutes. A group of Middies ran by, one of them slapping me. I told them that there is no attainment with nothing to attain. They did not respond, but I hope that my words reached their hearts. Another five minutes. Boom. I am dead again as Hibernian group runs by. "Om mani padme hum!" guys. Release, run back.

In total, I spent about an hour and a half meditating on Agramon yesterday - the first day of pacifism in DAOC.

This journal and MMOPacifist were created as an idea that arose from a discussion on ganking in Terra Nova blog. While a lot of people denounce ganking and griefing in MMOGs, they come through as at least partially hypocritical. Come on, most MMOGs are based on killing - if not other players then innocent monsters. Of course, there are always rationalizations why the monsters are "evil".

Thus I decided to spread the word of pacifism through the MMOs. I am planning to see whether it is possible to advance in MMO without killing anything. I am also going to go the PvP areas and spread the word of peace, love and rock'n'roll.

Just couple notes: It is possible to live in Second Life without killing anyone. From what I heard, it is possible to advance in Eve Online without fighting back, by just doing mining and trading and possibly politics. There are games like "A Tale in the Desert", which are mostly based on non-violent behavior. However, I am going to play my pacifist in Dark Age of Camelot and maybe later in other mainstream "killing" games such as World of Warcraft or coming Warhammer Online. Nobody said that pacifist's life should be easy. ;)