Talk:The Opportunists

Opportunism in the post-apocalyptic post-apocalypse

Whether from the recent rule change, or from the recent influx of huge numbers of dedicated zombie players (the Dead), we seem to have entered a new phase in Malton. There are now almost twice as many zombies as survivors and the numbers are still trending toward more zombies. It seems that the targeted combat revive has become very rare as the needles become more precious. The offshoot is that, in my experience, the fluidity of the flow between life and death has been interrupted, and that death is becoming more permanent for the Opportunist. I have not been revived in a month now, and I am become quite bored with how easy it has been to play a zombie lately. I ache to play on the survivor side and see what I can do to swing it back a bit, but I am still very attached to the idea of the Dual natured/Opportunist and am loathe to go the mrhh-cow route as that still just seems like silly game play. How have other Opportunists been handling this? Are you having the same problems with chronic deadness, or is it just me? Is it time to bend on principles and get the planned revives so that I could do my small bit to bring the game back into balance? What are you doing? --Quincy Kildare 18:56, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

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I just joined The Opportunists. I have a very low level alt who is just starting out, but if you wandered into a revive point and didn't Mrh? I can't see anybody insinuating that you are cowing. It's not like you actively searched for an RP, but more like you found a small horde, and took refuge for the night. After all, there's safety in numbers when you're a zombie.

-- DirtMan^T|FU|StäV 04:02, 25 April 2008 (BST)

Pssst...

You might wanna remove the character Bobby Bubonic from the list of Opportunist supporters. I'm playing him pretty much as a dedicated zambah these days... And I'd rather let you'se do the editing, than have some busybody accuse me of vandalism ;) Thanks. Someday, I may very well designate an alt as a full-fledged Opportunist, or at least Dual Naturist, because I whole-heartedly support the ideals those policies. Sadly, though understandably, most players prefer to "pick a side" and stick with it... Including me for the moment... --WanYao 19:29, 18 October 2007 (BST)

The Opportunists questions

I wonder if you could point me in the direction fo the The Opportunists leadership? I've got some fun questions I've been asking the leaders of Maltons biggest and best groups for a wiki project of mine. Thanks. --Kristi of the Dead 09:34, 8 September 2007 (BST)

Day-to-day life on a Zombie Opportunist

I was wondering, have you already been combat or random revived ? Random revives are strongly discouraged by the general principles of UD, so how an Opp get revives in general ? Do you show in your profile that you're OK with random revives (with the risk of being considered as a sky ?) ? Regards, kurtosis

I've been an opportunist for the past few months without realizing it, and yes I've been killed and revived frequently. I make it clear that I have no objection to combat revives by not joining an zombie group and indirectly mentioning that I "don't mind the occasional needle". Usually end up being revived during sieges (especially at NT buildings) and haven't had any accusations of being a spy so far. --Artuur 10:50, 4 June 2007 (BST)

So fun you just revived me hidden inside a horde of 100 zeds, then :) -kurtosis

Just doing my part for the defense of the mall. Took a bit of a risk, as it was slow going scanning each zombie and guessing whether or not to revive. Might just as easily have ended up joining you in the horde. :) --Artuur 15:26, 9 June 2007 (BST)

Misc

Id probably like to join you guyses, so sayath mr coolerer http://www.urbandead.com/profile.cgi?id=719097 MSN= mr_coolerer@hotmail.com

Thank you for your interest, you've been added to the list of members. Tsaya 01:31, 21 April 2007 (BST)

I would also like to join: http://www.urbandead.com/profile.cgi?id=750139 --Bluish wolf 00:39, 26 April 2007 (BST)

Welcome and thanks for taking the time to check my grammar and spelling! Not being a native speaker myself, I appreciate the help. --Tsaya

I have joined me with my two characters, one scientist and one zombie (just to check both aspects of the game without having to wait until I am killed/revived). I prefer the roleplaying aspects of the game. So I think that the opportunist I just the good way to behave. Also, it makes the game more interesting, if one zombie enters a building with 10 survivors and everyone is an oportunist, it is not impossible that everyone dies easily, like in zombies "tradition", your partners end eating you :)

KleenARMY

we agree to support you group so maybe alliance or something like that can be envisable--Kcold 22:50, 29 March 2007 (BST)

I definitely appreciate the notion, however I am unsure as to what you have in mind when you suggest an alliance. There is nothing The Opportunists could offer to an ally, since no Opportunist will ever be given an order or told to achieve a certain goal. Opportunism (as we represent it) is a concept that any guild or individual may decide to support, but it is not a group with any in-game goals of it's own or the interest of supporting Maltons internal politics. If faced with Opportunism your choices basically are to support it (preferably because you like the idea of course) or not to support it. But besides the basic idea we really have nothing to offer. -- Tsaya 02:24, 30 March 2007 (BST)

roger that then we agree with that concept so you can add KleenARMY--Kcold

Since KleenArmy seems to have vanished into thin air, it's been removed from the list of supporting groups. Tsaya 15:19, 23 April 2007 (BST)

maybe my group do not exist anymore but i will continue to support your group with my current char--Kcold 00:43, 25 April 2007 (BST)

Dual Nature

	Dual Nature
	This User or Group supports the Dual Nature Policy & believes that the citizens of Malton should embrace their two-fold nature.

Sounds quite similar.

The ideas are indeed quite similar and I considered supporting the Dual Nature Policy before I created The Opportunist. However, there are two very important differences between the two:

DualNature is a policy that centers around this wikipedia. Once one enters Malton, there is no way to identify a supporter of the Dual Nature Policy. This isn't necessary either, since the DNP is a behavioral code only, that you can decide to follow or not to follow. The Opportunist being an in-game group on the other hand, offer possibilities of interaction even to those, that aren't members - that's why it's important that Opportunists can be identified as such by other players.

The second problem I see is that - according to the DNP - revive points should be abolished. While the idea of not needing revive points is a good one, I don't like telling everyone else what to do - but that's exactly what the DNP tries to accomplish. Should there ever be an "ideal" game with all players accepting their dual nature, there would be no need for revive points anyways. I simply don't like getting there by telling other players that "revive points should be done away with, play like we do" but rather by showing them that "I don't need revive points, come and join me if you like".

As long als revive points are essential to survivors all around Malton I don't think they can be abolished that easily. Abolishing or simply not supporting revive points may have severe effects on the freedom of other players while simply not using them ourselves is a more subtle approach. As an Opportunist, I only restrict my own ability to become a surviver whenever I please, while a supporter of the DNP restricts everyone else's.

--Tsaya 16:53, 26 April 2007 (BST)

Nevertheless, I would say the two groups should cooperate. You have basically the same goal, and from what I understand, DNP is willing to make concessions on the rev points. --Timzor 23:22, 27 April 2007 (BST)

After some consideration, I believe you are right. There are some differences, but they aren't big enough to warrant a complete separation. After all, the basic idea ist the same so I'll go ahead and add the DNP to the list of supported policies. The choice of following the suggestions of the DNP won't be mandatory though - it should be up to each Opportunist to decide how far he himself wishes to go. --Tsaya 19:58, 29 April 2007 (BST)

I love you too. Kalir FTW! _{Z/S UD Potato Words} 02:30, 28 July 2007 (BST)

Name

Brilliant! I was already a Dual Nature Policy Supporter, and I shall be joining this group as well. Only thing is, I feel like the name of this group could be taken the wrong way. When I first heard of a group called "The Opportunists," I immediately thought of some PKer group who believe that humans should kill humans simply because they can, or something along those lines. After all, note the definition: 1. the policy or practice, as in politics, business, or one's personal affairs, of adapting actions, decisions, etc., to expediency or effectiveness regardless of the sacrifice of ethical principles. 2. action or judgment in accordance with this policy.

Emphasis on "sacrifice of ethical principles."

As I said. When I hear opportunists, I think PK. Just thought I'd share that with you. -Timzor 22:48, 27 April 2007 (BST)

Being called an opportunist is indeed not a very nice thing - in this case however, I think it's a pretty accurate description of what we do. While we may not change our principals on a regular basis, we have two distinctly different sets of principals. Upon death, each Opportunist becomes the very thing he fought prior to his demise. This equals a turn of 180 degrees and is in fact what I would call opportunism.

When I picked the name, I was looking for something that would describe the idea of having two ways of "life", while still being somewhat catchy. Opportunism was what I came up with, since I like the somewhat cynical connotation. While it might not be an ideal choice and may lead to some misunderstandings, I am confident that once we become a bite more popular (which of course we all hope for), people won't have to rely solely on their interpretation of the name alone.

--Tsaya 20:38, 29 April 2007 (BST)

Hope you're right. -Timzor 18:30, 3 May 2007 (BST)

Reality of Opportunism

I've been a human Opportunist for several weeks, and with the human-zombie ratio what it is right now (62/38) it doesn't look like it will change any time soon - at least not without taking unnecessary risks like sleeping on the streets, and how is that different than jumping from a tower? In any case, I started out as a dedicated zombie and I daresay I'll go back to it for now. I think Opportunism is a great philosophy when the ratio is a bit closer and if the balance shifts I may well be back, but for now I have to go with the underdogs. In the meantime, I may eat your brains. --Paxsarahhhhh 23:41, 2 June 2007 (BST)

Now I'd say the ballance has definately shifted, thanks in part to policies like Salt the Land --Kingwad 19:33, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks!

I would like to say thanks to hegel5000 for responding to my flare and healing me up outside the hospital on June 11, 2007.

I was infected, down to 1hp, and stuck outside two hospitals both barricaded to free-running required (against the local barricade policy, no less)

• draeath 20:48, 11 June 2007 (BST)

TO - Player Killers

• I've been PK-ed by one of your members (Piggott) as a survivor. He started attacking me yesterday and eventually killed me today. I would appreciate it if your members stopped attacking others, because I've already seen two acts of PK-ing by members of The Opportunists and I've already been previously attacked by another member. --XterrorX 22:56, 5 August 2008 (BST)
  • Looks like he's developed a habit of PKing. Feel free to add him to the contact list as an enemy. --Sigma 7 14:55, 22 September 2008 (BST)

• Someone in your group named Kurtosis PK-ed me in Tikhon Medical (my group's HQ) today. Don't know if you guys support this or not, but in general, most Dual Nature groups I've seen don't endorse killing other survivors while alive. --Fiordhraoi 22:48, 28 November 2007 (BST)

PKing Wrong or Right?

Well guys what i have to realy ask is, if we are playing this game realistyicly, whats wrong with PKing? I mean the apocolypse is on our door step. Of course the streets are going to be filled with murder and even suicide. I think a true fan sould support PKing (not on a redeculous basis. It would add more realism to the game. And those of you who are whineing "Its not fair for the human side. They would have a disadvantage." Boo-Who. To bad. Its the end of the world in the game. Its suposed to be dificult. If the humans are complaining then they just need to get more organized.

I agree with the above comment. Murderers and the occasional "death cultist" are very common in this genre. When the whole world goes to hell, people can get desperate and even go insane. See the original Dawn of the Dead or almost anything by H.P. Lovecraft for well known examples. As I was reading your philosophy, I was almost a supporter until I realized that you had forsaken realism for the sake of realism. While I generally don't play that way, precedents have been made decades ago that show that these actions are not out of genre. Hell, even "revive points" can be explained by good roleplaying, as each work of fiction tends to have it's own rules, and Urban Dead is no exception. See the Stephen King novel Cell for an example. I liked Hell Rising until I realized that zombies could use "walkie-talkies" like the living. While it adds balance, it makes no damn sense. So I stopped playing. I believe the undead are thoughtless and driven on only the instinct to feed, and they should by played that way. The living have many things that the dead don't: emotions, psyches, desires, fears, etcetera. They are complex and can be fragile or strong. That's a lot of good roleplaying potential. Zombies, however, only run one program, and it can't be interrupted except with destruction. Nice try, though. Your policy follows my ethics about 74%, which ain't bad, really.--Bishop Vagancia I 10:29, 26 March 2009 (UTC)