Your View: On Course—Off Course?

[MailC3p 1159]

10 minutes ago, Onnensr said:

more pvp bureaucracy wont solve the issue, and really it's time we eliminate pvp all together. anticipated issues of time commitment in combat don't exist when you can take a minute to emote, roll through a tc-esque system, repeat. definitely more time consuming than pvp, but it actually honors your character and roleplay, especially with growth derived stats, and still remains faster and easier to reach a common consensus on than crp. you can't argue or modshop against numbers

I disagree about removing pvp altogether, as someone who tries to balance rp and pvp (I.E, I Enjoy pvp but I also recognize this is an rp server) there’s certain points where you just need to pvp instead of crp, points where there’s too many people 

[Cheese 2307]

Can we have the auction house back.... that's like the only thing I can think of off the top of my head because everyone else has made the important stuff, but would personally like to see back on the server

[MailC3p 1159]

1 minute ago, Cheese said:

Can we have the auction house back.... that's like the only thing I can think of off the top of my head that I would personally like to see back on the server

Having AH off the server has been a big + imo, saying this as a person who made most his mina off AH last map. 
 

if you wanna trade, now you gotta go and RP in another city with your goods

[monkeypoacher 6993]

i don't really have my ear to the ground but from the latest wave of ban appeals and other complaints i read it seems like u guys completely loosened up standards from the charlemagne ban. unbanned all of his friends even. interesting to see a sort of federal reserve dynamic where the server gets inactive so the racism interest rates are increased

 

[__WaterFox__ 631]

I cannot get friends I made on other servers to join because of Lotc's reputation with racism and biased staff.

[_NotChris 202]

8 minutes ago, Cheese said:

Can we have the auction house back.... that's like the only thing I can think of off the top of my head that I would personally like to see back on the server

 

preach! 

[peachcool 508]

i want more races i dont have to apply for i hate applications i hate applications i hate applications give me more fun stuff pelase please character creation mplease

[UnBaed 8951]

Toxic OOC environment lingers and is fostered with how nations are handled, PvP continues to be considered too important and close to RP that it ruins a lot of narratives.  There's people who genuinely have insane egos just because they can beat people who type all day in pvp, after they get stomped to shit on an actual faction server - would wish more of an effort was made to show how much those people aren't welcomed on this server

 

We make steps into making RP easier to reach, but also take steps back.  It's like not everyone is on the same page.  Techs (not bashing them) make elaborate pluggins for PvP encounters rather than pluggins that could be more beneficial to generating RP or adding more flavor to the narrative atmosphere

 

It's also a pain in the ass to deal with toxic and questionable individuals, especially those in staff.  If they have value to a team or decent work etiquette - there is nothing that could get them efficiently punished unless they are directly caught doing something where there's no excuses to get around it.  Racist stereotype RP, promoting harassment, targeting, ect Big reason why I decided to step away from ST

 

The server isn't wholly trash though, the community is a lot more fierce in ensuring degenerates aren't welcomed around here.  But I'd perhaps argue too many of them are virtue signaling and just scream to look good (i.e. wanting to crusade against people who do hand-holding rp?)

 

Would wish that there's better systems in place for building to be easier for players, or for players to have a better chance in finding RP because no way in hell am I motivated to walk 10 minutes to a city to see if I can find someone not AFK running in the street or RPing in their homes

 

lol

[Asutto 1990]

As funny as some Moderators quippy one-liners are, there needs to be some level of public professionalism displayed by ALL staff-members. I believe that would unironically go a far way in improving both the quality of the server and the quality of roleplay.

Additionally, all staff teams need to stop with the vague rule/lore posting. Don't leave things up for interpretation. Write everything out. The average LoTCer's two braincells can't comprehend anything that isn't spoon-fed to them.

[Salvius 347]

From a player that could still probably be regarded as a 'new-gen,' these are my personal thoughts.

 I personally view the server as very clique based. Groups be it from nations to spooks. Are very wary and some flat out deny entry of new people. It limits the roleplay chances of new players (players that are needed to increase activity and keep lotc going). When you look at the cycle of players in leadership positions in nations it presents itself very much as a cycle almost. New players obviously shouldn't be thrown into high leadership positions, but such a cycle suggest that this also occurs on the lower parts of the ladder.

 

I believe the staff have not taken the proper steps to try and limit bias from themselves. Staff members can and should be involved with nations on their characters, but they shouldn't be dealing with issues as a staff member that relates to these nations. If a mod is called because of a crp dispute it isn't surprising that the mod would more than likely side with the side they have an irp reason to side with. Something like that shouldn't occur and decreases the trust between staff and the community.

 

I see the server, especially how it is now, is very much weighted in favor of the nation in comparison to the player. Take the addition of Netherite for example. Nations have sole monopoly over the extraction of this resource. A player on their own isn't capable of getting it on their own. All the additions that came with this map (from what I know of) solely benefit nations. How does a cannon improve rp for a normal person? How does specific node locations primarily only nations have access to benefit the normal roleplayer? These are good additions yes, but nothing was added for the normal player.

 

People are incapable of separating themselves from their characters (including myself at times). Conflict rp time and time again seemingly just ends up being conflict ooc. I don't know what the solution to this would be, but I see it as something that adds unneeded toxicity to the server.

[Pancho 2527]

The state of the server's decline is on its way for many reasons. I'll list a few that I personally see, though this isn't all agreed upon by the community nor or the possible solutions.

Problem #1. To PvP MRP or CRP. There should be considerable factors considered in this. The facts of wether CRP will be possible, wether advanced notice was given by one or both sides, or if both sides even agree.

Solution #1. If given advanced notice (thirty minutes - one hour), a combat scenario will default to MRP. If there was no prior notice to combat (general villainy), then a combat situation will default to CRP. If an encounter is deemed too unfeasible for CRP (large group sizes, lots of rulelawyering, etc) then a situation will default to MRP, though it would be up to moderation judgement.

Problem #2. Goons are organizing into groups and recruiting from off server in order to gain numbers to fight. 

Solution #2. Add a villainy blacklist to anyone with a pink tag. If people are found to only log onto the server to fight for a bandit/villainy group (ex. nations to appease people who fight for mineman nation) then they can be given a villainy blacklist (especially if found to to "roleplay" with sub par emotes.)

Problem #3. Moderation disapproval. People don't feel safe when they cannot trust the moderation team enforcing rules on the server. This topic has been a hot one for the past week so I won't elaborate too much into it. 

[panda_bear 127]

2 hours ago, itdontmatta said:

 

I'm just gonna jump in here real quick. Respectfully, I'm not celebrating the fact that only 17% of the poll-answers are in approval of the moderation team. I don't understand how it is dismissive. I am actively trying to make changes in my leadership philosophy as I solicit feedback from my team & the playerbase as a whole. If there is an outcry, I haven't seen or heard it up until last night when I posted the poll. 

 

I realize that my tendency to be passive aggressive and point out hypocrisies on the forums can make people feel like I'm unapproachable. If people feel that the moderation team or server rules are going in a direction that is unhealthy for the longevity of our server — please reach out to me. Recently, other admins have been sending me some feedback that people have sent them, and it's very difficult for me to understand it without context or having a discussion with the player who is concerned.

 

I'm free for the next couple of days and I'll be out of town Friday-Sunday. If anyone wants to VC and provide me with constructive feedback feel free to reach out to me on discord. 

 

I would like to point that you are by far not at all approachable at all. You refuse to listen to your players and ban anyone who disagrees with you. This being said, you are no way near being the worst moderation admin. The servers staff used to be so much worse, so much more corrupt, way move obviously biased to certain nations ect ect. Take Punisher for example, no further explanation needed. I cant speak on anything other than your approachablity and my own experiences with you. I think you've implemented pleantly of good additions to the server, but please dont lie about being approachable. 

[satinkira 5919]

dynamic rp does not equate to giving people an hours notice before you come attack their settlement so that they can spam ping @everyone in their discord to log on. isn't that just a form of metagaming with extra steps?

[ChaoticallyCheshire 636]

• Community safety — promote a culture of respect, empathy, and understanding, where all players are safe to engage in the game and the community, free from harassment, discrimination, and harm

 

I think the post sparked by my ban report against pcswift and termss speaks volumes on how this is not being followed. The fact that said ban was basically swept under the rug and treated rather dismissively. Which after seeing this it doesn't shock me. It also instills a hopeless feeling of how nothing will change. A vast majority (not all) of the mod team are all part of the same community or similar ones, and definitely show bias towards said groups. 

 

There needs to be a massive change if this place is going to be as enjoyable as it once was. As an old time player I came back with an excited pep in my step that has since died out after seeing what this server has been reduced too. After the big post I'm debating leaving again because all it's done is pit everyone against each other and put a target on my back. It shouldn't be so controversial to have a slur removed from the server.

 

I once jokingly said "y'all ftbing?" in looc and pinged a mod who threatened to temp ban me for using said word, even when I expressed how it was a joke. I was in vc with said people, they were rping alone in their chars home. If I can ping a mod for saying that and get threatened then told never to do that again and how I wasted his time then it makes ZERO sense why a slur is allowed. 

[𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖌𝖚𝖘𝖍 2236]

My Experience This Map:

I participated in the Temp Map and the start of Failor SMP that was specified to every-one that there were no rules. During that time I took part in Brotherhood of Flame that was heavily of a martial culture. We joined at the very launch and our group initiated PVP the moment we entered the Desert that I got popped in the first few deaths. People called us goons and for bannings because they got "no-rp killed" even though the admins specified it was a no rule smp, but due to that backlash rules were placed on the SMP.

Afterward upon the launch of Aevos, I rejoined the Dwarves as the Irehearts asked me to take up the Clan Father role temporarily. There was a lot more cooperation between Urguan with a New King and a New Map. During this time I became familiar with the Canon's Regulars and found their niche to be very interesting so I joined them as well on an alternative character. Eventually, that character was lost due to them being banished from Adria. Most of the attention and heat of ambitious role-play only became kinetic during the Norland Coronation.

Dwarves were invited to Norland to participate in their Coronation of their New King, and even had an elf assassination attempt which some Irehearts attempted to arrest the Elf. One of the Irehearts chose to make contact with the Vale and remind them of our grudge, but due to one small action caused Norland to react in an extreme fashion. They captured the Ireheart and took his hand meanwhile my character was nearly killed for attempting to negotiate as the Clan Father. These circumstances I have been in have been very odd to me considering I had been acquainted so well with Norland over the temp map.

 

Eventually, some of the Dwarves that seceded last map chose to migrate to Norland and even cause a stir in the Dwarf community. It was said due to the actions with Norland made 'many others' in the Dwarf Community want to leave. Then, the banished Canon Regular players eventually created Frost beards and brought activity back to the once inactive clan, but have gotten just as much discrimination as the Irehearts used to get for having a specific niche of role-play. Even with all of the controversy and debate, the Frostbeards and myself put aside differences and ended up playing CSGO with Sneakybandit the King of Norland and even won the game. Only then to be found a day later that Urguan was getting raided by Norland, and even though Dwarves won they still chose to refer to Frostbeards as 'Bad Faith RPers' which is totally disrespectful and disingenuous when they were previously allied with Canon Regular and only recently after had conflict RP with Dwarves thus far. 

My Thoughts On Direction:

This is a little more difficult to discuss with such broad of a question. There are so many factors about the server itself that have been left off the table to be discussed and left to obscurity, but I won't touch on old things but more recently I have found that the discrimination over specific niches of role-play seems to be all the attention. There are many players I found that are to comfortable in 'safe zones' and don't ever have to face the reality that some of the other communities must. Due to the duration this stigma has existed has specific types of players upset if they are put in any type of uncomfortable position they are not in control of. They often villainize others who don't do tavern sol to put a target on their back and make their role-play more miserable with staff constantly watching them.

A large function of this is due to a culture that has been created within LoTC of what I was label as Chat-Players. Any function, action, or emote that isn't filtered through the chat is seen as a breach of role-play on many occasions. The chat-play feature has even forced many of the Warrior niche roles to to waste time in a CRP Default for hours every single day they log on to practice their passion than something that could be ended quickly and decisively. Dialogue and Emotes will always be needed for a Role-Play but what used to be a RPG server that reached for something greater degenerated into standing on a single block role-playing for hours.

• (Experts say adults should limit screen time outside of work to less than two hours per day)

There is always much more to say with such a vague question, but I just want to offer a little perspective and perhaps a riddle on what Role-Playing means:

A group of players rally and engage in a Combat RP raid in a city
A group of players rally and engage in a PVP raid in a city
Who is the real Role-Player?

 

Answer:
 

Spoiler

Both. If you choose to Play the Role of a Warrior you have a common practice of combat. If you engage in CRP, you are engaging in your common practice. If you are PVP raiding a town as a Warrior, you are engaging in your common practice.