Monthly Newsletters (Graphic Help Appreciated)

[ski_king3 0]

Project:

 

Let's keep this short and to the point. Myself and then Jerry restarted the LotC monthly newsletters (linked below). My plan is to get those going again at a similar quality as before. We'll get all the important news from the past month or so, organize it neatly, slap on a pleasing font/color and share the knowledge with everyone!

 

What I need:

 

-- People who can make graphic headings like the one's you see here.

-- Folks to proofread the newsletter once it's done and let me know if I missed anything or had spelling errors

-- Your love and support

-- Ideas for player interviews

 

Let me know if you think you can help me out. Really, only the first request is specific to an MT skillset, but help with all from anyone willing is appreciated.

 

Mine

Jerry October

Jerry November

Jerry December

[Giga 357]

I can assist with graphical headings. Shoot me a PM on skype with what you need.

[ski_king3 0]

Hello my Craftian compatriots, and welcome to this month’s issue of the re-revitalized LotC Newsletter. We haven’t had one since the Holidays, so it may be a bit longer than usual. Bear with me, as there’s plenty of interesting content to share with you all. Let’s go!

 

As of late, the server has undergone a number of updates. While I’m sure we all enjoyed playing with the ftb plugin on April 1st, it’s more important to know we’ve updated to 1.8.1! This long-awaited update allows us new blocks, skins and banners, so we hope you enjoy. If you find any new bugs, don’t hesitate to contact the staff.

 

However, we’ve seen more than just an upgrade to 1.8. Kowaman has been kind enough to grant us with new toys, those being new statuses and tag colors. You can now be kawaii to your heart’s content, or show the world that your character is off crusading for their faith. Unfortunately, RP names will not appear above player’s heads for the time being due to secret techie reasons.

 

The staff is also taking a tougher stance against abusing racial bonuses, so please don’t do that. We like you and don’t want your personas to be deleted. For more details, read the thread I just linked!

 

Recently, the forums also underwent a major reorganization by Raptor, Kalameet, Z3r05t4r and Man5791. They moved tens of thousands of topics in the process, reorganizing on an unprecedented scale that the staff hopes will make finding threads easier and more intuitive. For more details, we’ve got a thread for that.

 

For more server news, Urasept posted a good thread that addressed a number of topics brought up by the players. Similarly, Readicti posted a thread about an update limiting alt accounts as well as a few general reminders. Please read both threads if you haven’t already, as they’ve got plenty of good stuff (they’re here and here, respectively). Also, no memes, because we hate fun! (just kidding, just don’t be a jerk and you’ll be fine)

 

As many of you likely know by now, LotC has undergone a change to how magic is handled recently. Even better, it lacks an MAT or magic application, instead merely emphasizing in-character learning (no doomsday scenarios either, woo!).

 

The goal of this system isn’t to make magic restrictive, but instead to establish a framework that makes it easy to identify the source of problematic magic roleplay. If you’ve already learned magic prior to this, then you needn’t worry about making any changes.

 

However, new magic roleplayers must have a teacher if learning arcane magic, and permission from the lore keeper (I’m one of those!) if another form. Self-teaching may still be possible, but is meant to be less common. Similarly, arcane teachers must register their teaching abilities to their lore knowledge can be checked. It’s hard to accurately represent the system is so few words, so for more information, read the previously mentioned thread, or those found here and here.

 

Also, a classified source within the staff has shared that an interesting magic plugin may be around the corner this month. Is this fact or rumor? Only time will tell.

 

This month has been full of staff changes and updates that are relevant to the average player. First and foremost, we should recognize the ascendance of three new Administrators, those being Readicti, Frott and Sky. Readicti and Frott will maintain their current roles as AT and GM Lead respectively, while Sky will serve as the Community Relations Admin. On a related note, Rittsy has left the ranks of the Administrators, bringing us to a team of five Admins. To Rittsy, we appreciate your service.

 

The Application Team has recently added several new members to their ranks, those being johnan2, Escharian, Supah, Cybersick, Baconthief, skippy369 and myself. Congratulations to everyone, we’re excited to see you perform in this pivotal role.

 

Below is the application count for the month of March. While some may be concerned that there are more denials than acceptances, don’t be! The Application Team has recently made internal changes that try to move it away from a deny-heavy team so we can get more roleplayers on the server. The application count can be seen below:

 

301 Total Applications

130 Accepted Applications

171 Denied Applications

Most Reviewed: 50 by Quavinir

 

Last but not least, the Application Team is looking for new Mentor applicants. These Mentors are meant to function similarly to the Guides of the past, but with a more narrowly focused goal and coordination with the AT to avoid past problems or the creation of extraneous teams. If you’re interested in applying, that’s great, because Readicti is looking for members!

 

Husky would also like me to convey that the Media Team is also looking for new applicants. We’ve recently added me back into our ranks, but there are plenty of folks far more talented than me in our community. To those of you who are, please consider applying, because I set a spectacularly low bar!

 

Freema wishes for everyone to know that the Event Team will be giving its builders the task of altering Polaris and the surrounding region. This will be similar to how they completely overhauled Angren, with the purpose of providing extensive events there in the future. The Event Team also recently had a particularly successful PVE and RP event in which the forces of Athera marched on Angren, leading to an event chain which many have been able to participate in. Expect more fun events like this in the future.

 

Last but not least, the Lore Team would like to remind players that all hidden and secret lore will “expire” soon. It must be written down and declared to the team by April 4th, or it will be considered null and void. This doesn’t have to be long, just sufficiently documented.

 

Competitions

As of late, Lord of the Craft has had a number of competitions in which players can receive all sorts of interesting prizes. My totally unbiased favorite is the Athera cartography competition, with the goal of providing an immersive yet easy-to-understand map of Athera usable by new players. Prizes include 25,000 minas, a skill tome and custom in-game tags. Submissions are due by April 25th.

 

Readicti and Kalameet are also holding a wiki editing competition until April 30th. There are a number of previous towns that require more information, and they are willing to reward you for writing pages about them. For a list of applicable settlements, read the thread.

 

Last but not least, the Media Team will continue its monthly skin competitions. However, this month will also feature a competition for art to be posted on the homepage. The criteria for entry are somewhat specific, so please make sure to consult the thread for details. Also, see last month’s skin competition winners below, made by Katiesc.

 

 

Instead of reviving the “Player of the Month,” we’ve replaced this with both a player and staff interview. These are meant to get some insights from valuable members of our community who have contributed in a meaningful way. The staff and player interviews are a trial, so please leave your feedback about them below. In this issue, we were able to interview the Lore Master HELLFIAZz and recently returning player iMattyz.

 

HELLFIAZz

ski_king3: Hellfiazz, I'd like to congratulate you. The Media Team is returning the LotC newsletter, and you've been selected for our staff interview. Rather than doing a "Player of the Month," we're doing a staff and player interview where we'll interview two members of the community who have made meaningful contributions here.

HELLFIAZz: Thank you very much , glad to be a part.

ski_king3: I'm glad as well. Now, this will be similar to interviews in past newsletters. I'll ask you questions about your experiences on LotC. To start, I want to ask you a pretty broad question; how has your time as a Lore Master been thus far?

HELLFIAZz: It's been pretty fun, and it feels good to be part of a team on LoTC. I'd be pressed for complaints.

ski_king3: Well, we're glad to hear that. What sorts of things have you found yourself doing since joining the team?

HELLFIAZz: All sorts of stuff. The usual kind of duties that you'd expect, like reviewing player submitted lore and such. Then other stuff like working on great big event lines like Aengudaemonic Descension, and helping do events within that.

ski_king3: That's great! Have you had to write any lore since joining the team?

HELLFIAZz: Quite a lot actually, and a lot of subjects I never thought I'd end up working on.

ski_king3: Do you think you could share some details on your favorite thing you've written?

ski_king3: Without leaking private information, of course.

HELLFIAZz: To be honest my favourite lore I've created was about the Spirit Realm back before I was an LM, probably because it was about a part of LoTC that I was really interested in beforehand.

HELLFIAZz: In my time as LM the vast majority of my work has been on private things I couldn't talk about if I wanted to.

ski_king3: That's fair enough. I know that you have to deal with a lot of things that are meant to be kept private at the time of working on them, so that's understandable.

ski_king3: Can you tell us about anything the Lore Team is working on now. I know much of it has to be private, but is there anything that we may be seeing soon that the players should be looking forward to?

HELLFIAZz: A lot of us are working on Aengudaemonic Descension, which a lot of the staff are looking to forward to fully releasing. As of now there's been a few preliminary events for it, but they're very minor compared to the scope we want to have.

HELLFIAZz: What we hope it will be is an engaging server wide eventline, without the need for a big antagonist that has frequently led to a lot of frustration on the part of the player base.

ski_king3: Well, that sounds very interesting to say the least. I'm sure there's a lot to look forward to.

ski_king3: I'd like to change gears here and ask you a couple questions more geared towards your experiences on LotC before we conclude.

HELLFIAZz: Sure

ski_king3: For one, you've obviously been around for quite some time. Can you tell us a little bit about how you've seen LotC change over the time you've played here?

HELLFIAZz: I'd say overall LoTC has changed, but I wouldn't say I have any less fun than when I started. I certainly have some nostalgia about my first couple months on the server, but that's as I say nostalgia. A lot of people say the community is a lot less mature, but I'd say that there's always been bad eggs.

ski_king3: Fair enough. It's always interesting to see people assess how the server has changed; everyone's experience is different after all, and it paints how they view the way the server has changed.

ski_king3: Anyways, my last question is pretty simple. What's kept you on LotC for close to two years now, and do you think it'll keep you around for the foreseeable future?

HELLFIAZz: It's honestly been the community and the people I RP with. There's been a lot of times where the staff had made mistakes in my opinion, but my friends in the Orcs kept me around more than anything.

ski_king3: Well, I'm glad to hear that. The friendships that come out of LotC really are a pretty neat thing.

ski_king3: Anyways, I won't keep you any longer. Thank you for agreeing to be a part of this interview, as well as for your service to the community and Lore Team.

HELLFIAZz: No problem, thanks for having me.

 

iMattyz

ski_king3: Hello iMattyz, and congratulations. The Media Team is restarting the monthly LotC newsletters, and we're doing player and staff interviews similar to the previous "Player of the Month" interviews. You're an important member of our community, so we'd like to ask you a few questions.

iMattyz: Ask away, I'll do me best.

ski_king3: Glad to hear it!

ski_king3: So to start, you've recently returned from a relatively long break from the server, correct?

iMattyz: Yeah, I got back home from university a couple of weeks ago and went and got myself addicted again.

iMattyz: Happy accident I suppose.

ski_king3: Well, I'm certainly happy to see you back around here.

ski_king3: Was there anything in particular that drew you back here?

iMattyz: It's weird, really. It happened the same way about twice before, I started glancing at the forums again. Then before you know it I was on the server again.

ski_king3: Well, I can certainly relate. The same thing happened to me pretty recently too.

ski_king3: Now obviously quite a bit has changed since your last stint on LotC, both in terms of the rules, server mechanics and people. Has anything in particular stuck out to you?

iMattyz: Probably the fact that people will just stop and RP with you now. Last year during the Fringe and Anthos, etc, it was rarer. I like it.

iMattyz: Even if it's nothing really important, just mundane stuff.

ski_king3: Well, that's a good thing to hear. I've definitely always been a big fan of just finding random folks and starting to roleplay with them. That being said, I still do sometimes find people who seem baffled by a random stranger walking up and saying "Hail."

ski_king3: Anyways, at the very least you're fond of this change, but overall do you think the server has gotten better or worse over your break, if either?

iMattyz: Glad to say I think it's better. There just seems to be stuff going on all around the place. You can wander around to the south and find druids, to the north there are paladins all about the place. The atmosphere just seems more friendly and more focused on RP.

ski_king3: That's good to hear. Now that you're back on the server, is there anything you hope to accomplish IC or OOC?

iMattyz: In character I don't really have the goal of accomplishing anything in particular. I just RP and see where it goes. I have the bad habit of changing what I want to do on a whim.

iMattyz: Out of character, I've got a GM app up on the forums, that I hope will be successful, but that's about it. I suppose I want to prove to everyone that I'm not a total jerk after my little grumpy stint.

ski_king3: Well, I'd say it's apparent that you seem pretty relaxed nowadays, so I definitely wish you the best of luck with your app.

iMattyz: Cheers mate.

ski_king3: Since you're applying as a GM, is there anything that you believe the current team ought to be focusing on more?

iMattyz: I'm not sure really, I still think there's a bit of a gap between the GM team and the playerbase, but I suppose that's always going to be the case.

ski_king3: Aye, that's a consistent criticism that the team faces I suppose.

ski_king3: Anyways, you've been great to interview Matt. Before we wrap this up, my last question is pretty simple.

ski_king3: What do you think makes people stay on LotC so long? You're a prime example of someone who's spent a tremendous amount of time on this server, even if it hasn't been consecutive.

iMattyz: Well, the server and the community go through good and bad times, but they're both worth hanging around for.

iMattyz: That would be my answer.

ski_king3: Fair enough. Thanks for the interview Matt. You're an awesome member of our community, and we appreciate your dedication to it.

ski_king3: See you around!

iMattyz: Cya later mate.

 

I hope that you all enjoyed this iteration of the Lord of the Craft monthly newsletters. If you have any ideas for how we can improve this, then please contact myself, Husky or any other Media Team member. Until next time, we hope you can enjoy roleplaying in the wonderful realm of Athera and keep up on all the LotC news. Thanks for reading!

 

      

[Elindor 666]

There's a little more to graphic design than just making graphics. If you compare my October to the November and December you'll see that the first is pretty poor (and VERY rushed) but that the others are quite pleasing to look at without the need for graphical titles. This is because they were made first with html in mind, and then converted to forums.

 

STYLE

The defining visual aspect was that there was a text style across it that was more than just This is a title and this is body text. There's a colour palette that remains consistent across it, but is also simple using only two colours. At max three. Preferably something complimentary. When there's lots of time you can even try to keep your images within that palette and not use anything clashing.

 

Bulking paragraphs of text are avoided. This isn't always so do-able because sometimes the news that is being brought actually needs to be talked about in the Newsletter and not just linked to another article. So wherever possible you want to visually break up the article. For me, this was where the image dump came in, or when I had the time, enough forward planning to ask for certain images.

 

Something I have found for myself so may not be true for others, but if a title is graphic I am less likely to read it. If this isn't true for others then just disregard. But if others' minds DO operate like mine, this means that graphic based titles should be very simple ideas. So as you had: MAGIC and STAFF NEWS. Titles that add no value. These work as graphical, but if you are putting in a title or headline so that viewers can get a quick glimpse at what it is about and decide whether to read or pass over it, that kind of text should be actual text. It is more likely to be read that way. And said text title should adhere to your style guide.

 

 

That's my advice. Take advantage of headlines because only very old men read the newspaper cover to cover, so make headlines clear and communicating a simple point. Provocative as a bonus. And figure out a colour and font palette for that Month's edition and maintain it throughout. 

 

 

Provided you can get ahold of me and there is time enough before release, I can help edit.

[ski_king3 0]

Hail friends of Athera, and welcome to the May/June issue of LotC’s Newsletter. After this, we’ll be returning to the monthly format, but various complications arose that made it hard to release a newsletter in May. However, do not fret, for another newsletter will be released in July jampacked with information about the new map (spoiler alert!). Anyways, onto business!

 

Moving to Vailor

Well, we have a big change to announce in this newsletter, that being that we’re to move to our four-and-a-halfth Lord of the Craft map installment, the land of Vailor. As hinted at in this mass-collective vision, it's time for the descendants to prepare their departure once more. Pack your bags, get your sailing shoes on and prepare to depart on Saturday, June 27th. Each nation will be getting land when we arrive, so get ready to get building this Saturday! For more information, check out this neato post made by Kalameet for more information. There’s more important information than I can fit into this newsletter, so seriously, give it a read.

 

To go with the release of this new map, we’ll be holding two community Q&A’s. The first is on June 25th, and will be an avenue to ask questions about the soon-to-be-released Vailor. The second will be two weeks later on July 11th, and will be utilized to garner feedback about the map so issues can quickly be fixed. For more information, read Read’s post (heh)!

 

There were a number of folks who put in a lot of work recently to get this map ready to be released. Everyone, please show your appreciation to the builders who helped make this map so quickly. Without their time and energy, we wouldn’t be close to embarking on this new chapter in our journey on Lord of the Craft. Alty, iMattyz, Meguzara, Arteh, Freema, VonAulus, Raelplayer, Man, Ark, Lynxy, MrGreene, Nalatac and any others who assisted in this, we thank you.

 

And lastly, here’s the Vailor release trailer. Gigarun, BoogerBuster, and lordbobby123 made this in less than a week, and it’s really nice, so show some appreciation there as well!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbxYS7qyRiU&feature=youtu.be

 

Our Community

Lord of the Craft has recently added some new community guidelines for all players to follow. These include new ways of handling derogatory remarks, harassment or other disruptive behaviors occurring in roleplay (sorry memes). Most of this is pretty common sense, but it’s actually been codified in this post. Please read that for more information, as it’s really important everybody understands what is presently expected of them.

 

On a similar note, the staff has released a “Lord of the Craft Mission Statement.” This mission statement succinctly explains the goals of the staff and the expectations made of players. It’s the hope of the staff that you’ve seen these goals more adequately followed since the release of this mission statement. The new community guidelines certainly incorporate what’s outlined here. Thanks to Elindor for the idea of the mission statement, and Kalameet, Read and various other staff for refining it.

 

Clue

Recently, Lord of the Craft has been approached about a golden opportunity from the deep realms of youtube. Seven major youtubers are working together to start a series called “Clue,” and approached Lord of the Craft due to our sizable Minecraft roleplaying community. The series will open with a King’s murder, and focus on the quest to find the killer. With any luck, this will draw viewers to Lord of the Craft who will be interested in Minecraft roleplay as well as help these youtubers pursue a really cool series.

 

Many members of our community will be involved, and recruitment of actors from LotC has already begun. If you’d like submit a character to be a part of the series, more information can be found in this thread. Otherwise, sit back and watch the magic happen. Updates on the Clues series can be found at www.twitter.com/ClueSeries.

 

Other Server Updates

As of late, a number of other server updates have occurred, or will be occurring in the near future. The first of these is the update to the regions plugin. Though it will not be released until we’ve switched to 4.5, Kowaman posted a Your View about the plugin a little while ago. While this new regions plugin will not include Nexus plots, it will maintain a similar interface to the current plugin that allows region owners more control over their region, while also incorporating feedback given about the problems with regions in Athera. More information can be found in the Your View thread, though the most up-to-date information won’t be available until we move to Vailor.

 

Another exciting server update is the new options for more donor rewards. These rewards include the option to donate in exchange for skill experience reassignment, the ability to transfer skills from one persona to a new character, or other reasons for race reassignment. A clarification was later made to indicate that reassigning experience for skills will have to remain within a pool of similar skills, but there is potential for further expansion of this reward system in the future.

 

And lastly, a system of forced conquest has been implemented into LotC’s war rules. This system is designed not to destroy RP hubs, but instead encourage reasonable methods of handling war that can include vassalizing losing nations rather than destroying them. To get all the important details, your best bet is to read iMattyz’s thread. Since the release of these rules, a minor update has been made to both war rules and raid rules. The former involves how horses are to be used, while the latter handles a clarification in the definition of raid. If you think these are relevant to your regular roleplay, give them a good read!

 

Staff Updates

Given all the changes of staff since the last issue of the newsletter, fair warning that some staff changes will go unmentioned here. To preempt this, we would like to thank all staff who have left for their service to LotC, and congratulate all who have undergone promotions.

 

As for the Administration, there have been a number of changes. Both Sky and Frottimer have left the Administration, allowing for Tsuyose and then Moot to join the ranks of Administration. The former initially joined as the GM Lead, then shifting to the venerable “Highland Cow” position, then to the Lore Admin, before settling as the Lore Admin and Magic Team Leader. Moot has settled in exclusively as GM Lead (though he served as MAT Lead for a brief period). Read made a switcheroo when she stepped away from AT Lead and exclusively became the Community Relations Admin, and Menarra is no longer the Lore Admin. The Admins would like you all to continue to be cool cats.

 

Next, we’ll bring up the GM’s. Since the last issue, iMattyz, Man5791, CosmicWhaleShark, Vanir and Lark have all ascended to the rank of GM. Unfortunately, Benboboy, Zarsies, TheHuskyPuppy and Raptor have all stepped down from the role. For this, we thank them for their service to the team. We also have three trials presently, those being Meguzara, I am Ricky and MrGreene. Best of luck to each of them during their trial period. The GM Team wants you all to enjoy 4.5.

 

With the departure of Raptor, Man5791 now leads the Forum Moderator Team. They’ve recently taken on James, Gunnerdude and Publius, all of whom will hopefully do the FM team well. The’d all like you to play nice on their forums.

 

The Devs don’t have a ton for us (besides, ya know, keeping the whole server running. But that’s no big deal). However, 501warhead is now a Developer, so that’s cool.

 

The Lore Team, once led by Menarra, is now led by SupremacyOps with Tsuyose as the Lore Admin. This means that SupremacyOps leads the team, but Tsuyose will need to be consulted for certain lore (new races, Aengudaemons or other “big” things) to be approved. Likewise, the team has taken on myself and Tsuyose as new members, and are in the process of reviewing trials from several other candidates. It’s likely the team will grow in the near future. The Lore Team simply asks that folks don’t break lore and enjoy what we have in store for 4.5.

 

The Application Team also has some big changes. Read was once the leader, but this is no more! Man5791 took over briefly after his lengthy period as an AT Manager, but soon handed the team over to Raelplayer. Since then, johnan2 has taken over as an AT Manager. The AT asks that any new players reading this applies to the server. Also, AT app numbers below:

 

143 Accepted April
231 Denied April
374 Total April
Quavinir Reviewed Most April

 

The MAT now exists, and has changed leaders thrice! First it was Moot, then SupremacyOps, and now Tsuyose. All the team members are new since the last newsletter, so we’re not going to list them all! They’d like you to keep being coolio with your magic so they don’t need to blacklist you!

 

The Media Team is now in the hands of Gigarun after the unfortunate departure of TheHuskyPuppy. He’s promoted myself to an MT Manager, oddly enough. The team is presently looking for new members (particularly artists!), so if you have a knack for media we will be accepting new applicants soon! Likewise, if you have questions, Gigarun is presently on hiatus due to exams, so contact myself or Readicti for any Media Team assistance (we’ve been left in charge). The Media Team presently hopes you apply to join our team!

 

And last but not least, the Event Team! At the moment, Man5791 and Raelplayer are co-leading the team, though you should expect potential changes within the team in the near future. Arkantos1279 and Gunnerdude have both been promoted to Manager recently. They are presently looking for builders, and encourage anyone interested and skilled to apply!

 

Miscellaneous Updates

To start, it would seem that the monthly surveys are back. Vanir introduced the first of what is hopefully going to be a series of monthly surveys recently, asking questions regarding general satisfaction, thoughts on specific staff teams, staff focus, events, MA’s and more! The results are in, and some of the more notable feedback was covered right here! Take a gander if you’re interested in knowing what your peers thought, or have more feedback to give.

 

Another cool thing is that the Lord of the Craft TS server is up and much more user-friendly. Though it’s not at peak efficiency just yet, it’s far and away the best thing we’ve had in quite some time. Give it a try next time you have the chance, as it’s pretty actively used, has a lot of channels, and is just generally much more friendly to the average user.

 

Lord of the Craft is hunting for a new logo. Though the specifics may seem a bit intense, the rewards are numerous and pretty enticing. If you are skilled in the digital art department and think you might be able to help us share our server in an aesthetically pleasing manner, check it out and give it a go. We want you to succeed just as much as you do!

 

And lastly, I’d ask we give a little love to the Cartography Competition for Lord of the Craft. The results are in, and the winner was Spike823! Runners up were AmKrules, Graf and Bobby123. All of the maps were really impressive, and though we’re switching to a new map shortly, their efforts are greatly appreciated!

 

Interviews

As is the custom, we’ve continued the staff and player interviews. This month, we spoke with Ark (by popular demand) for the staff interview, and Leowarrior for the player interview. The interviews this month may be a bit of a departure from what we’re used to, but I changed my interview style in the hopes of getting more candid responses. I think that was a success. If interested, these can be found in the spoilers below!

 

http://i.imgur.com/GBLyGg5.png

Ark

Spoiler

ski_king3: Hail Ark, you've been selected as the Media Team's candidate for the staff interview of the May/June issue of the LotC Newsletter.

ski_king3: You available to talk for a bit?

Ark: Yeah, I am. What's up?

ski_king3: Well, after the last issue of the newsletter, a number of folks recommended I interview you, so I was fairly certain I'd end up interview you. Since then, you've joined the ET, so you're our staff interview candidate this issue.

ski_king3: But basically, I have a few questions about your experiences on the ET and LotC generally. Are you fine answering those?

Ark: yeah, i'm fine w/ anything

ski_king3: Awesome, glad to hear it bud

ski_king3: Well, to start off broadly: how has your time on the ET been thus far? Tell me about your experience.

Ark: The beggining?

Ark: Boring

Ark: I am a builder, I'm not an actor so I am not supposed to hold events for people.

Ark: However, there was nothing for me to build 99% of the time. So I flew around and fixed obvious land scars from the stress of Athera lol.

Ark: I felt bad because I did't want to be someone on a staff position where it was like

Ark: "haha they're there for pex xd"

Ark: I always asked for stuff to do, but lots of times there wasn't -shrug-

Ark: tho recently, we've been working on a big project which I no lifed on so I had fun

ski_king3: So that project has been a lot of fun for you? Would you say that's your best experience on the team so far?

Ark: Yeah in the short amount of time i've been on the team, that was my most fun project.

ski_king3: Well, it's good that you've gotten the opportunity to work on something you enjoy

Ark: yeah hope it's decent and well received

Ark: if not whatever i had fun lmao

ski_king3: Have you heard about any particularly cool events other than those you've worked on personally?

Ark: Not really, I don't particually enjoy events. I like to build and I like to help out. But staff ran events have never been my cup of tea

ski_king3: Ah, fair enough then. If it's alright, I'd like to switch gears here and talk about your time roleplaying on LotC, specifically with the humans.

Ark: what about em

ski_king3: Well, you've been with the humans since the start of Athera.

ski_king3: Have you enjoyed watching all the changes they've gone through since the start of the map?

ski_king3: If I'm correct, you've stuck with them the whole time.

Ark: Well, i've been part of Oren since I first joined the server in the fringe.

Ark: I've never not been part of Oren, to be fair.

ski_king3: Hmm, fair enough.

ski_king3: Is there anything in particular that has kept you with the humans, or is it mostly inertia?

Ark: Well, humans are more fun.

Ark: Atleast for me, there is much more to do.

Ark: I've been an emperor and i've been a peasent and both are rewarding in their own ways.

Ark: and, to answer your earlier question, yeah the progression has been okay.

Ark: I enjoyed my time, even if most of the scenarios weren't always in my favor, rply or oocly.

Ark: Schism war was tons of fun, I remeber the whole world against us and beating them at every turn. Things like that are just memorable I guess.

Ark: I probably could find said things in other places, but I just fit into oren, always have.

ski_king3: Fair enough, everyone finds their own niches.

ski_king3: It's good to hear you've found yours.

ski_king3: Since joining the server (so I guess since you joined the server), what has been your favorite experience(s)?

Ark: Uh, becoming Emperor of Oren was fun

Ark: I remeber that day

Ark: it was like 2 am

Ark: and I was like "so huh. cool im emperor now."

Ark: Favorite battle is definetly the mivilian bridge battle

Ark: I really enjoyed Kaphro all together, lots of people didn't like it because of it's leader, but it was a good place for noobs to get adjusted to the server and I really do like roleplaying with newer players so I always had fun.

ski_king3: Yah, Kaphro was cool. I remember meeting you there.

ski_king3: You were really good about encouraging new players to stick around. You were pretty compelling for me.

Ark: Oh yeah, I do remeber that.

Ark: I always felt like the server didn't help new players get adjusted very well so I usually take it upon myself to help them out.

ski_king3: That's pretty cool of you. Certainly a good thing to do.

ski_king3: Anyways, with that Segway, I'm going to shift gears one more time.

ski_king3: You've been on 4.0 since the start, and relatively consistently. What are your thoughts about the map as a whole.

Ark: map was ****

Ark: planned badly

Ark: implemented badly

Ark: bad desicions

Ark: Other then forced conquests being given at pretty much the end of this map

Ark: nothing really good has come from this map

Ark: other then maybe aesterwald being destroyed but thats it

ski_king3: Fair enough dude, though that's a pretty strong opinion

ski_king3: Any big changes you're looking to see in the next map?

Ark: I'm hoping the nation leaders have control of their land

Ark: I really just hope to go away from the focus of non nations

Ark: Nations keep the server alive, it's much easier for a new player to say

Ark: "im gonna go join humans"

Ark: other then some random group that lvies off in the wilderness

ski_king3: Well, I suppose we shall see what the next map brings us, then.

ski_king3: With that, all my questions have been answered

ski_king3: Thanks for your time Ark, I really appreciate it.

Ark: No problem

Ark: Uh can I add something before we're done?

ski_king3: Yah sure.

Ark: My biggest peeve about the server currently

Ark: is the unproffesionalness of

Ark: Ban appeals

Ark: Some guy who joined the Petrus guard back under coaster's reign as king

Ark: got banned for 24 hours with an appeal, for saying a word that discriminates against homosexuals

Ark: he had an appeal up for two weeks before it was looked at

Ark: and that's with me bothering a GM

Ark: the new guy quit and I don't blame him

Ark: Half the time that guy had played on the server he was banned because no one was checking the ban appeals

Ark: and that honestly just disgusts me lol

ski_king3: That's pretty unfortunate :/

Ark: Yea very

ski_king3: I'm real sorry to hear that.

Ark: it's alright I didn't know him too well

Ark: Just thought it was really shameful to see a kid who enjoyed the server a ton

Ark: to be pushed off since he wasnt getting unbanned for a joking statement

ski_king3: Fair enough dude, I don't blame you.

ski_king3: Anyways, thanks for doing this interview

ski_king3: We appreciate your service to the ET thus far, and the server in general. Thanks for taking the time to do this!

Ark: Np cya

ski_king3: See ya bud!

 

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Leo

Spoiler

ski_king3: Hey Leo, you've been selected to be this month (or technically this and last month's) player interview, as we feel like you have some valuable insights about the server. Is that alright with you?

Leo.gif: Mhm, that's fine

ski_king3: Awesome, glad to hear it. The first thing I wanna ask about is your experience with the wood elves. You've been a part of that playerbase for a little while now if I'm not mistaken, and seem pretty dedicated. How would you say that has shaped your LotC experience?

ski_king3: And yah, I realize that's an incredibly broad question. Answer it however you want.

Leo.gif: Well..

Leo.gif: Obviously It's shaped my core group of friends in this server, and I doubt I'd have ended up with the same circle I have now if I hadn't ended up with them

Leo.gif: And like with every clique, it's shaped who I have a negative and positive view on, though I try to generally keep that sort of bias away from me

Leo.gif: And obviously I'm now well versed in elven lore and know my way around elven RP regulars like the back of my hand

Leo.gif: that's all really

ski_king3: Do you feel like you've found a niche you'll probably stick with for however long you last on the server, or could you see yourself finding a different group to shift to in the future as your "core group," so to speak?

Leo.gif: All groups shift and change with time. The elves today are hardly the same as the ones a year ago. And I've been with other crowds, namely the Order of St. Lucien, which put me close to the Chivay imperial army in the fringe, and then aesterwald, and now the caliphate

Leo.gif: So short answer is I probably will end up in other crowds at some point in the future

ski_king3: Fair enough, thanks

ski_king3: I guess going more broadly, do you have any experiences on LotC you'd paint as your most or least favorite times on this server?

ski_king3: Another broad question, so if that's difficult, I can try narrowing it a bit.

Leo.gif: Mmm

Leo.gif: My least favourite times would probably be whenever I led any sort of large playerbase on this server. Don't know why I keep signing myself up for that

Leo.gif: Favourite times would be any time I just get to hang with friends IRP. if you want specifics there was one event on a boat involving a giant megalodon in early anthos that I think Freema ran which was cool

Leo.gif: Or acerbuddy's necromancer events back in the dayh

ski_king3: That's pretty interesting, you're not a fan of leading things, but you lead things somewhat often.

ski_king3: The next question I have is actually sort of related. You're a pretty big deal in the wood elves now/you used to lead them, and back in the day you were a pretty big deal/used to lead the Arcane Delvers, if I'm correct. Have those experiences differed a lot, and has one been more enjoyable than the other?

Leo.gif: Er, I generally preferred my time with the Delvers since there was a lot less politics involved. And there was no goal other than to exist for our own fun and the fun of whoever wanted to join us. Haters will hate on that guilds memory, but I don't regret being a part of it

ski_king3: Fair enough, can't blame ya for liking what you like. Thanks.

ski_king3: I'm going to switch gears here and ask you some broader questions about LotC.

ski_king3: The first one is another broad one. During your time on the server, how do you think it has changed, and do you think that change has been for better or for worse?

Leo.gif: I don't know to be honest, this server is always fluctuating on highs and lows.

Leo.gif: When I joined the server there seemed to be less toxicity, but maybe its because I was less involved with the community and didn't see it

Leo.gif: As for the state of the community, I'd say it'd better than it was 2-3 months ago, but not as good as it was when I joined

ski_king3: So do you think the server was more enjoyable when you joined?

Leo.gif: To be honest, I think the server is more enjoyable for everyone when they first join

Leo.gif: Or around that time. I've seen a ton of people become cynical and jaded in time and resort to sihtposting out of either boredom or frustration once they become veterans

ski_king3: I'd certainly agree there's a sort of magic about LotC when you first join, if you stick with it.

ski_king3: Before you get involved in all the OOC bits, anyways.

ski_king3: Anyways, given your behavior on the forums, it seems like you have some pretty strong opinions about rules on the server, like forced conquest and PVP default to name a couple. Assuming you agree with that premise, do you think certain rules make the server a lot better for players?

Leo.gif: I'm against any one extreme being in place instead of another extreme and strive to find a happy medium.

Leo.gif: With conquest warclaims, I wanted a system that allowed for conquest but had that priveledge taken away if the invaders weren't decent enough to attempt to be cooperative. That said, cooperation comes on both sides so the defenders would have to be too

Leo.gif: As to your second question, Sure, I guess. Honestly the rules now are fine. We need more staff team regulation to dictate what is and isn't in their power. Because I see a lot of over-moderating and pointless restrictions going on

ski_king3: Funny you mention the staff, actually, as that's the topic the last few questions I have for you cover.

ski_king3: I'll stick with the theme and start off with a broader question. Specifically, do you think the LotC staff is doing a good job of listening to the players, or just generally?

Leo.gif: Depends on the individuals

Leo.gif: I will be brutally honest. The biggest and most common problem I see these days is in the lower staff teams, though it happens with GMs too

Leo.gif: It's people milking their power.

Leo.gif: Authority is attractive and when people have it, they'll use it more often than let it go.

Leo.gif: And frankly, there is a lot of just over-moderating over very trivial, small things. Giving players a hard time over magic, lore, GM rulings, just because the staff team person can, and because he likes to feel in charge.

Leo.gif: Now for the obligatory disclaimer, there are good staff team members out there, I'd like to shout out to Imattyz especially who's doing a stellar job

Leo.gif: This is why I want more restrictions and regulations that dictates how GMs have to handle certain situations. Its hard to just stick to your job and not over-moderate when you're given power over your peers.

ski_king3: Well, I won't comment on everything you've said, but I definitely do know from experience that being on staff pressures you to use your powers more than you probably should, at least at first.

ski_king3: Also, you got ahead of yourself. My last question was going to be if you had any favorite staff members, but it would seem iMattys is that for you, yes?

Leo.gif: Yup. Imattyz is doing a great job. I would say Emily, but we've been friends since long before she was staff so that may be bias of me.

Leo.gif: Who else...Birdwhisperer is a good FM, but again my opinion may be objectively bias

Leo.gif: I could go on but I don't have many others off the top of my head

ski_king3: Alright, last question then. I have a feeling your previous answer will sort of tie in with this one, but we'll see.

ski_king3: A lot of folks would say you're super critical of staff, some of whom would go as far as saying you just dislike staff categorically. However, you've applied to be a staff member on several teams. What's your motivation for doing so?

Leo.gif: Because I don't dislike the staff categorically, that's just thrown at me a lot when people try to invalidate my points

Leo.gif: As for why I applied, its because if I can't be the sort of staff member I want other staff members to be, well then what's the point?

Leo.gif: I want to step up and help out. Which humbleness aside I've already proven I can do. Obviously I have as many flaws as any other normal human being, but my critical view of staff policy I believe, frankly, will give me an edge on how my actions as a GM/FM will affect the players I deal with, and how to do my job as efficiently as I can.

ski_king3: Well, that's good to hear, then. Best of luck in your pursuits on the staff front.

ski_king3: And with that, I've nothing else to ask. Anything you'd like to add before we conclude?

Leo.gif: Well I doubt this interview will change who likes me and who dislikes me, but I hope it'll help some staff members open their eyes to the sort of things which frustrate players and hopefully they wont be too prideful to reflect on their own interactions with people.

ski_king3: Hey man, ya never know, hearing your perspective might be helpful for some people in understanding why you do what you do.

ski_king3: Anyways, thanks for being a part of this interview. You made it pretty easy, and it was a pleasure.

Leo.gif: Thanks, anytime.

 

Thanks for reading guys, and sorry again that there was no discrete May Newsletter. As always, if you have any ideas for improvement or candidates for the interviews, please don't hesitate to let me know. Enjoy your last few days on Athera before we move on to Vailor for bigger and better things!

 

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[Elindor 666]

Its looking good Ski!

 

Getting a bit wall-of-text-y but that's difficult to fix. Anything you could add to break up the text is only going to make the thing longer, and its been a while since the last one so there's obviously a lot to get through.

[ski_king3 0]

Its looking good Ski!

 

Getting a bit wall-of-text-y but that's difficult to fix. Anything you could add to break up the text is only going to make the thing longer, and its been a while since the last one so there's obviously a lot to get through.

 

Your approval is all I seek!

[Daisy 9739]

I can definitely help with any of this, headers, proofreading etc. If you need anything just ask!

[Chamosial 379]

Moved to the Archive. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.