Some advantages have a cost to maintain. Contacts and networks are something I am terrible at maintaining, my best bet of being better at it is if it ties in with my hobbies (LoL!). My dad is a good example, his hobbies are golf, wine drinking, motor biking cross country, men's clubs (like the rotary, makati biz groups etc..), fine dining etc... As compared to mine which are RPGS and airsoft.
Contact and networks are very powerful because of all the uncertainty, we do business with people who are vetted and whose background we can check. If the GM emphasizes this reality, then my character will need the same hobbies as my dad.
When I found out that a bunch of BPO country heads were playing paintball, my dad was telling me to join them... What a quandary - I'm part of a team, one where camaraderie is made up of bonds that is organically grown. Joining them is creating that user-user relationship, it will diminish my credibility (not that it is advertised or gets around). Right now I just can't, I'm afraid of the complexity it will bring to my life, at what may be a very negligible opportunity.
Like the maintainable of a game group or a team, social advantages have a cost. Even the ownership of wealth is scary - I've experienced a lot of theft of company resources. A reality I noticed not a lot of GMs point out, unless it's traveller and there is always someone out to rob you of your ship. Wealth and assets are a story of itself, without anyone trustworthy it's gone. I guess it makes sense why all these owners are talking about loyalty. I personally don't need loyalty, I just need honesty - I'm not offended if the person leaves for greener pastures... But it sucks to realize that they are leaving because they have stolen your leads and mean to compete. Business is not for the soft hearted, and there seems to be a low value for a good working environment vs money.
In reflection if some RL limitations, I'm thinking of adding a social cost to social advantages. Merely X no. Of hours a month equal to the Point cost. 1cp contact is 1hr a month, 20cp worth of contacts are 20hrs a month. Quality and competence modifiers don't count, at the same time the GM hides these details, resolving it like a save system.
Wealth has some hours guidelines, which I will follow more closely.
Sufficient to say, my social networks are only those in airsoft and freethinkers. I guess it's a blessing that it is not complicated by work.
A Meta Gaming Blog talking about How to Frame Narrative, Exploiting and Exploring Biases, and Using Work Productivity and Motivation tools in a TRPGs most of the time.
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