New review suggests staff still suck at conflict resolution

A staff member sends:
"Go ahead and point your origin city and we'll pull you up for a chat."

You point at Allanak on the wall-map.
Your surroundings fade away, then return again.

Seidhr says, out of character:
"Hi"

You say, out of character:
"Hi."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"So, in here we have a few staff. Myself obviously, Shabago - shalooonsh, and also Brokkr."

You say, out of character:
"Hello."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"I wanted to take a few minutes to talk to you before we proceed with the setup, because I feel like we need to."

You nod.

Seidhr says, out of character:
"Obviously you were upset about this whole dwarf thing"

Seidhr says, out of character:
"And everyone on staff agrees - there's no denying it. It really sucked."

You say, out of character:
"Yeah."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"So we empathize with you."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"We are all players too, and have had our share of dumb deaths, some our own fault, some other players, and so on."

You say, out of character:
"It was more the fact that there's just nothing being done to discourage stuff like that."

You say, out of character:
"And being copy-pasted the helpfile for "newbie" as a response was a bit on the nose."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"We all agree it sucked, and we felt bad about it, but we can't really open the door to that - because to be honest, in the past there -was- some favoritism and everyone hated it."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"(We're talking like, 10+ years ago)"

Seidhr says, out of character:
"I don't think I copy pasted anything from the newbie helpfile, I think I just paraphrased the three things that we do rez for."

You say, out of character:
"It was Akariel, whom I messaged immediately as it happened on Discord."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"Ah, yes. I did see the log of that."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"Which is an excellent segue into the other thing I wanted to talk to you about."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"So you were upset, as I said already, we understand. You tried to complain about it on the Discord, and also on the GDB, and Akariel moderated/moved your posts."

You say, out of character:
"I just felt like having a "do nothing" policy about things like this means the griefer is encouraged to continue. When you let someone grief-PK for fun and don't retcon the actions, why should he stop? He's got nothing to lose. You...

You say, out of character:
"...ban another of his accounts and he'll make another. The fact that you let the deaths stand means he gets what he wants."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"Also it delves into IC happenings, which we don't talk about in OOC means - whether it's Skype, Discord, GDB - even if you were married to another Arm player technically you aren't supposed to talk about IC stuff, heh."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"As for the dwarf guy, well - we did punish him."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"Because it was a dumb thing, and it did suck for the people he did it to, and he did it in a shitty way."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"So after you posted on the Discord and the GDB, you went a step further. It was brought to my attention that you went out to the so-called "shadow" boards and posted basically the same thing."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"So I went and looked (which I typically don't) and yes, there it was."

You say, out of character:
"Yeah. That was before Shalooonsh emailed me. Up until then, I had been "silenced" everywhere else that I tried to vent."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"Yeah. Well... it's not really against the rules to post over there man, but... those guys are extremely destructive towards the game."

You say, out of character:
"Well, it's a mix people who care but are disenfranchised, and people who are just morons."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"That whole "community" (emphasis on the quotes) basically exists to antagonize the game, the staff, players."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"Nobody on staff is perfect, but we do care about the game, and do our best."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"We don't tolerate cheating, and hold each other accountable."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"Technically, posting over there about the IC stuff is against the rules. In the grand scheme of things, does it really matter?"

Seidhr says, out of character:
"No, because other players who knew your character already knew he'd been killed, the killer was put to death ICly (probably more than he deserved - but that's how the other players rolled with it)."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"Anyway, from our perspective you could have almost taught a class on "Losing a Character: How not to handle it" - especially considering the derp board post."

You say, out of character:
"Sure, but there's losing a character and then there's being griefed. That's why I wasn't exactly relaxed about it. The tone of the initial response from Akariel felt very indifferent, and it gave me the sense that staff felt this is something..."

You say, out of character:
"...that isn't worth worrying/caring about. Akariel's response was to copy-paste 'help newbie.' That's not okay."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"Well - I'm sorry you felt that way and I can assure you that none of us feel like griefing behavior is acceptable, and we do care about it."

Someone says, out of character:
"Understand our responses are often neutral in tone, as we typically don't discuss what happened after you died, for instances, or any plans we have to do something about a situation."

You say, out of character:
"I'm not talking about a "dissatisfying death" here, I'm talking about some idiot in newbie clothes who had been idle at the bar for 20 minutes, standing up and drawing a weapon and PKing me without a word for no apparent reason. Especially...

You say, out of character:
"...knowing that this very thing has happened to multiple PCs recently."

You say, out of character:
"And the thought that this is something one must accept on Armageddon made my blood boil."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"It's just like any internet game, I suppose."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"There's griefers, they suck. We try to combat them but we also have to follow our own standards, and do our best to be objective."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"The invis guy that talked a moment ago is Brokkr, one of the top-ranking staff"

Seidhr says, out of character:
"So, you've got representation here from the Producer level."

You say, out of character:
"Well, I get what you're all saying, but the whole thing felt so shitty that I had to vent about it. And there was only one place where I wouldn't get moderated. My post was deleted everywhere else."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"Anyway, when we saw the derp board post, it was upsetting. Mind you, we really do -get- that you're upset, and why you were so."

You say, out of character:
"I understand."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"I guess the takeaway here from our perspective is that if you go over there and post, you're just contributing to the griefing those guys do, on a day to day basis. (These dudes who supposedly don't care about the game but obsess over it..."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"...enough to have a dedicated board to hating on and attacking it)."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"As a sponsored role, you have to work with staff, we're on your side, and we want you and every other player to have fun."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"And a part of that is communicating with us in a normal, constructive way (like we are right now - albeit using the request tool, typically)."

Someone says, out of character:
"For my part, I found posting to a forum that quite likely could be the hangout of the very person that griefed you was a particularly puzzling way to vent."

Seidhr says, out of character:
"Okay. I am going to turn you over to Shabago, who will handle your setup."