I originally posted this in the PiA Clans forum. It was suggested to me that I post in the SWAT forum as well.
If we take the licenses as the basis for roles in the game, then we should have people involved as:
Mercenaries
Pirates
Police
Smugglers
To break it down even further, what we really have is
Legal Trade
Illegal Trade
Pirates v Police
Pirates v Traders
Mercenaries v any of the above
Police v Mercenaries
BG function as a Military Clan, and R_39 as an Order clan, neither role fits into the game model. I accept that as a primary role all Clans should protect the server, either using a military or civilian model. However they should also have a secondary role, as outlined above. This includes BG and R_39.
There are also roles which because of problems in the past, have become impossible to realize.
There are no Mercenary contracts, because it usually ends up as a conflict between the 2 clans involved.
If Pirates attack a clan member, they risk involving there clan fighting another.
Trade is a boring necessity, because of the high costs in buying and equipping the ships you need. It matters little if the trade is legal or not, because there are no players acting as policemen. If you ask a clan member to drop his cargo, he will refuse, if you then attack, you risk retaliation from the rest of his clan.
The problem then is the way clans operate.
If the actions of Police, Pirates and Mercenaries, could be isolated to the players directly involved, we could add to the enjoyment of the game. If my actions bring me into conflict with a member of another clan, then the retaliation should be limited both by time, and to the persons directly involved. If we do not accept that model, then all we are left with, is trading to raise money, and the server events for fun.
I hope this sparks further debate.
PiA_JtaK