The Issue From An Ex-Staff's Pov

[Samson Option 9652]

I believe Freya when she informed me that she confer my request that this not be locked. You'll have to excuse me when I say I don't want any GMs or FMs trying to lock this with the slight of hand that 'We take this into consideration, thank you and locked' or any other manner of configuring the statement to sound nice and rosy. I will name-drop, you will have to understand that I am merely returning to the bluntness that I use to communicate with and I give any and all the chance to hear me out if you will duly read on.

 

Various people will go out with a bang, some will go out quietly. Some people view this video game as some part of them in which I will always bite my tongue and show respect towards, some people view this as a video game and I am one of those. As much as I have somehow been tied to this conspiracy of conspiracies where a hive-mind of all trolls [despite countless many of them NOT being so, such as Jroy96, Meguzara, and TgTemplar for example] have wrecked havoc upon thy server and lo' behold that the 'Mogmen' have tortured your lifelines that is LotC. Lets cut the bullshit, turn your perspective and realize that it was not ALL trolls and you cannot control people's actions. I want to clarify that I AM NOT in their rank and file as much as I know the teamspeak gossip may lead you to believe. Some will stutter, saying "Gaius, I have a screenshot of you in Mogroka's Teamspeak", that is definitely true because I just don't get into video game drama and/or politics, there are some comrades that I play M&B:Warband with as well as just some cats to talk to as I do even on LotC's teamspeak and I hope that is fine.

 

I will make a confession and I will explain it also. I did in fact give Scipp3r the minas, yet I did it for a purpose. All throughout the time of my return to LotC, I have noticed a bellicose attitude amongst the staff, the 'I stand on high ground you lowly fool' type of treatment of various players that I honestly could not stand. Whether it was Wodehouse's utter degradation of Mogroka, which love or hate him, you still have to have manners in treating ANYONE with respect. I go out of my way to see that certain players get treated nicely by me, I for example do not comprehend well the 'anime digest' crowd and their form of illogical combat RP yet I STILL treat them well. I do not say 'Oh look at Naruto over there' in Skype chats or in-game chat; I was appalled to see that certain members of the staff could not impart such manners. Likewise, I wanted to see how the staff handled such a MINUTE act that could be wiped with the /fe commands easily [and be tracked by doing /lb chat player Scipp3r and/or /money top]. Instead, the sky fell upon everyone and the drums of drama were beat for some odd reason. There was a reason why I kept pointing out when I covered my defense with 'I am light-hearted and made sure you all cooperated'; that was to see if you could cut all the bullshit and theatrics and I am not surprised that it didn't happen.

 

1. So this brings me to my first criticism: Staff need to stop bickering amongst each other and have some manners when they converse with each other as well as players. I am not saying 'professionalism is necessarily needed, but manners certainly are needed; even on the internet. You are dealing with a large sum of players all with different lifestyles, "IRL" situations, and personalities. The best method of being a staff member is to try to meet middle-ground and just be kind and light-hearted with all. Despite the possible [and ignorant] backbiting that clamps me with the 'Gunnerdude trolls', I got along with the White Roses, the Elves, the Dwarves, the Orcs, and other playerbases and cliques.

 

2. Streamline for efficiency: I was appalled at how much invective was dealt out concerning the 'Nation Mines' decision between Rittsy and Mogroka. The Admins as far as I saw were hardly active besides Urasept, GMs need to be able to make objective decisions as quick as possible to react to the much larger playerbase that they try to take care of and thus I think it needs be ended that Admins 'should have to vote together' and I argue two points: a. Their inactivity and b. We need people on the 'ground' so to speak to make decisions, not admins who hardly participate in-game.

 

3. Less applications, more time spent actually just ensuring people play within the confines and do not abuse. RP default I believe may be a culprit as to why we need so many apps, not even some of the GMs I could say don't have a good grasp over what is possible and what is not possible when it comes to say, combat RP, regulation is drying the playing fields so to speak and has bore many as they feel themselves restricted to what they've accidentally wrote up in their VAs. There is no variety, merely staid, straightforward restriction to do the very few things that the application ties the player to do. Likewise, as I said, not even staff are immune from trying to put their two-cents and in the act, controlling another player's character. Perhaps less applications and more time ensuring players don't abuse situations is in order, if players cannot bar themselves from powergaming and such; /banhammer and let them sit it out to realize their mistakes.

 

4. As part of a multi-player game, we should expect members to be cordial with each other and work together, if they do not; they obviously lack the foresight to recognise what actually makes a game fun to play which is cooperation. No need to have people 'sit back and try to shake hands', they should inherently already try to do that, if not; then let the hammer fall and bluntly state the errors of people's actions in ban reports.

 

5. Regulation and Perm Removal: Let players regulate themselves, trust me, it happens. You remove those perms and some tom/****/and harry tries to make 'The Knights Templar' and cannot roleplay progression and interaction with outside influences; he/she will only lead themselves to being put down through roleplay and the GMs at the most might just have to assist in gutting builds in odd cases.

 

6. Stop the Drama:

 

Take note of Samples 1 and 2 below, if that is how you deal with 'stress', then do what I did and just step down. You can't be two-faced, ask for drama to stop over the forums when you make remarks such as in the samples. Likewise, as much as I am not 100% clarified on the Geoboy66 - pheonixpro1 situation, if the remarks made by a staff onto a player is true; then it is merely reminiscent of the behavior of bhorner and Ivrae towards me back in 1.0. Do not act like that and if you are guilty of such, then it may be for the better of the server to merely step down as you have, with your own actions, proven that you cannot control yourself to remain objective and level-headed and thus not a prime candidate for staff as one should be.

 

PS Note: Even if pheonixpro1 was in the same 'clan' with yekim7 that may have caused a bit of ruckus with the Kha' playerbase, you need to transcend it AND still treat people with respect. If I can say 'Whats up' and be nice with bhorner when he came back for a short time; you can act respectfully with pheonixpro1 despite all that has been done. Transcend the tomfoolery is a nice way to put it.

 

Sample 1:

 

Sample 2:

 

This is all I have to say at the moment, I tried to simplify my points as I typically write out rather complicated messages. More may be added as time goes by.

[Kaiser 2347]

agreed or not, you're just another man at the shouting contest. People, and the staff, will hear you, but not take much notice, or take any actions to your guidelines. 

 

This is LOTC, at the moment, and the staff don't listen much to the complaints or the advice, they just go out and do what's "useful" or "needed" rather than "wanted" or "correct".

 

oh, and the only thing I have to say in your list is #3. I don't like apps, but they are needed at times, just maybe not ALL the time.

 

Edit: I'm laughing at the GMs. "Oh Gaius, how dare you lie! BAD BAD BAD- Not like I ever did anything wrong!" 

 

They act like their hands are clean too. Pathetic

[Samson Option 9652]

agreed or not, you're just another man at the shouting contest. People, and the staff, will hear you, but not take much notice, or take any actions to your guidelines. 

 

This is LOTC, at the moment, and the staff don't listen much to the complaints or the advice, they just go out and do what's "useful" or "needed" rather than "wanted" or "correct".

 

oh, and the only thing I have to say in your list is #3. I don't like apps, but they are needed at times, just maybe not ALL the time.

 

This topic was made at the urging of multiple players, I am not trying to paint myself as a 'crusader' although I feel secret Skype chats probably insist this. I am merely gesturing to what I feel is useful to comprehend and if it is ignored, then so be it.

 

Yeah, an application to be able to join this server is needed no doubt. VAs at the very least should be shortened and not attempted to grasp a player by the balls and insist 'You cannot do this or that', it kills natural progression and transformation of other characters. Writing more VAs is a hassle that as I said, kills the playing fields as players have to change their VAs and stunts their willingness to even progress.

[Zarsies 6795]

Stick it to the man, yo. But, in all seriousness, these are quite wise words to be considered by all.

[MonkeyCoffee 516]

I'm... kind of dissapointed that you actually lied about it...

 

But even then, I agree with some of your points.

 

P.S.

 

 

What.

[blindmind 350]

Alright, Gaius, you know how I post, and Imma stick to that, despite the blunt nature of this topic. Bluntness is certainly not what we need, right now. Possibly a year ago, but not so much today. Before I say anything, I just want to say that I was really looking forward to working with you, but with all this, I'm not sure you're the Gaius I celebrated working alongside, anymore.

Firstly, understand that despite your intentions, you have done yourself and the community a disservice by doing all of this now, in the way you've done it. Frustrated as you might be by your association with certain trolls and now infamous names, I would argue that your timing and methods have betrayed you. In doing so, I wouldn't throw the frustration back at anyone else too far. Objectively speaking, the community was wounded like a dog, and that dog has just been kicked.

As for your sentiment for drama, in the same vein as the above, understand that you've now become the subject of many of your own criticisms, which I find disheartening. No doubt, it will be disheartening for the community as well, even if many yet look up to you. Despite the outcome of this thread, whatever trust and solidarity remained amongst the community and staff (and the interplay between the two) has just been shaken, and that glue a little more watered down. This is precisely what we should be working against, and while it seems that this was your intention, I think your methods have betrayed your point (and have accomplished more harm than good).

Regarding your criticisms, I'll try to address them systematically.

With your point about tact and manners, I will always agree entirely. The way we respect players translates somewhat to how players treat one another. Likewise, the way people witness this treatment, even on a player-to-player basis, is also crucial. It sets examples and shows members how they're expected to hold themselves (even if the example is poor). Right now, I don't believe this kind of thread is setting a great precedent, and will encourage the same (or heightened) level of sharp, biting interaction between players that you and I very much dislike, and would enjoy watching the server get away from. More than ever, we need members to be level-headed and cooperative with one another. This kind of thread, while intelligent and thorough, jeopardizes that in its bluntness, especially considering the popularity and reputation you've garnered for yourself.

As for efficiency, it's been the only word I've been hearing as a new GM. Ever and Rittsy, especially, are kicking our asses. 

As for applications and RP default, I believe everyone knows my stance (while it doesn't necessarily represent the team's).

As for perms, it's another thing our asses have been kicked regarding. Ever has been very kind and appropriate in distributing his boot.

I will admit that I'm essentially a greenhorn when it comes to being a GM, but I've joined not too long after yourself. Please, for the sake of the community and the direction we're trying to move in, don't destroy what you've since tried to build by encouraging anger and spite. We must be cool little fonzies, as much as some of us would like to burst with frustration. It's the only way we're going to get things done while maintaining a better community for everyone.

[Rhia 936]

You broke the teams trust and directly hurt the server. I give not one **** about what you think, right or wrong. 

 

This may seem harsh but we all counted you as friend and you did this as thanks. I have 0 respect for you now. I defended you to the players, I just feel very betrayed. 

[Lym 849]

> Supposedly hacks GM account

> Gives 20 million minas to Scipper

> Fully knows that can be undone with a few commands

 

No one who has a working brain can tell me they didn't know Gaius actually did it. Who the hell goes through the work of hacking a GM just to try and ruin the economy then, eh? Pulling a crazyguy or Khronos is a thousand times better.

 

 

 

Anyway, thanks for sharing your story with us, Gaius. I'm out, abandoning topic.

[Samson Option 9652]

You broke the teams trust and directly hurt the server. I give not one **** about what you think, right or wrong. 

 

This may seem harsh but we all counted you as friend and you did this as thanks. I have 0 respect for you now. 

 

I directly hurt the server? So you dramatise it still? Very well, your call. Likewise, I held 0 respect for most of the staff besides Rittsy, yet I still treated you all kindly despite all of the ridiculous actions between the staff.

[TEEbrown 348]

[i don't know why you care so much about this after you left...]

[FORƎST 1312]

Those are pretty much the reasons many GM's have decided to abandon ship. Luckily though most of us had the sense to be less childish about it.

 

Good knowin' ya Gaius.

[Free The Hobbits 859]

We all need to sit down and party hard.

[Ever 2648]

> Supposedly hacks GM account

> Gives 20 million minas to Scipper

> Fully knows that can be undone with a few commands

 

No one who has a working brain can tell me they didn't know Gaius actually did it. Who the hell goes through the work of hacking a GM just to try and ruin the economy then, eh? Pulling a crazyguy or Khronos is a thousand times better.

 

 

 

Anyway, thanks for sharing your story with us, Gaius. I'm out, abandoning topic.

 

Exactly. Very few actually believed he was hacked, and all the spawned money was fixed within an hour or two.

 

Right after the server came back up, I checked who spawned the money, then de-opped the account. Any claims of in-efficiency  are kind of nulled. We kept the server in Dev mode for the rest of the night to prevent any more trouble, not because we were panicking. 

 

I agree with nearly every point listed. And you know what I'm doing about it? I'm spending 10-16 hours online every day, attempting to work at them. To fix them. I'm not attempting to cause a mess for the rest to clean up. I'm trying. No long, detailed post. No refutes or claims. That's all I have to say: Things are a bit messy right now, and I'm trying.

 

Edit: And no, I'm not the only one. Some could be a bit more active, yes, but everyone is trying.

[Jchizz 115]

Your words are noted Gaius, at least by many players. Thank you for being respectful about it.

[mylimo7 409]

What did crazy guy do?