Staff/Player Transcription leaked by the ALA

Arm Player/Staff Q&A, August 16th 2014. (partly paraphrased and summarized)

adhira: We'll be starting our session now.

valeria: Is the submission tool going to be functional?

nyr: We're working on it.

bcw81: What are your plans with Tuluk, where do you plan to take it/where do you see it going?

nyr: We have minor finishing touches we have planned, all the major changes have occurred, nothing big left. Yes everything in the game is constantly changing in ways.

adhira: The changes we add usually go thru a review period of 6-12 mos in case there are unintended effects for us to look into.

kismet: Are there any plans to upgrade plans in the city of allanak the way you did with Tuluk recently?

adhira: We have plans to revamp some of the region surrounding Allanak, but it fell through. We recently made some changes in some areas like the rinth, roof rooms, etc. We realize parts of the world like Allanak need some love but also need to focus on current projects before working on that.

kismet: To add, are there plans to add more stuff like farming villages?

adhira: No plans for that specifically, no.

kol: How many kills have you had in the past year?

adhira: I've had none.

nyr: Are we talking like kills, or being more metaphorical here?

kol: How many players have you killed?

nyr: I can get a file with the number of requested kills we've gotten over the year, hold on.

rahnevyn: While he's doing that I can say that I have tried and failed to kill players in my time as an imm. I have a bad track record in succeeding at that.

nyr: We're not doing that great this year, only got 14 requests on that. Yeah I think we've gotta up that, really be serious about this harsh environment (sarcasm).

shadeoux: Since the Red Fangs, no desert elf tribes have sprung to fill that vacancy. Any plans to open up a tribe to fulfill that raiding role in the future?

adhira: There is room to open something up, it's something we've kicked around in the past. We're changing/rotating admin stuff in September, so that may be an ideal time for us to look at what clans are opened then, or what can be changed. Just so you know, Welda will head the indies, and will head the d-elves and make that decision. Rathustra is heading to the northern team, and then Nyr will cover Allanak.

badskeelz: Along with killing players, what would you as staffers like to see yourselves spend more time doing?

nyr: That's a great question actually. I'd like time to do more animations and also to really read more into the clan docs, the structure, etc. to see how to tweak or restructure it to make it more fun for players.

nathvaan: From a coding perspective, I'd like to have more time to work the flat files in the code database. It helps with giving us more mobility. For example, I want to work on rewriting the rewrite code so that we can tweak not losing things into the ether during crashes, etc.

nyr: The rewrite code issue is involved with game crashes. for me I'd like to work on some more clan-related side projects that don't get as much attention, but they need to be done anyway. Working on side projects is always fun for me.

adhira: I started looking at guild system earlier, and I would like to spend my time looking through those, updating things, and giving players more options, as well as looking at other areas in the game like animals in the wild, population of critters, and make sure those are functioning properly for players.

kaineus: So we all know slavery is a huge part of the setting. I'm fairly new but I believe in the past slavery was more frequently played by pcs, however these days I only hear very occasional calls for slave roles. Is this deliberate and something you want to always have as role call, or is it possible these could be played in the future without needed that?

adhira: The last slave role call was held to see if slave roles could be viable again. We stopped it years ago because pcs in charge of the slaves beneath them were spending overtime dealing with the slaves. So, we decided to try it a different way (the last role call) that would allow it to be playable without being as much of a strain on another player (the slave's owner). As it stands, it is something we are looking into for the future, though it should be said we did not get very much interest in playing those roles, and the slave stored pretty quick.

roguegunslinger: What do you guys feel about the workload of upper level staff and coders? What determines when you promote someone to higher level staff? Also do you think you need to get spec apps approval/denial times down, or that coded additions to the game are coming at a good rate?

adhira: Spec apps are open to about 5 staff to answer (like account notes), and people tend not to want to do them. In recent months we've been worse, partly because I wasn't doing them. 2nd question, I know people would like to see more code in one place, Nathvaan would you like to say anything on that?

nathvaan: It boils down to the bandwidth of the people that are available to do the coding. Code just doesn't go in, and there is a double-checking process involved for code items. Sure, I'd love to put more code in, unfortunately being busy with real life along with so many other things go on behind the scenes that sometimes don't warrant the information. There are a lot of little things as a coder that takes time away from the big projects that can add to it.

roguegunslinger: So basically I'm asking are you looking for more coders?
adhira: Our main problem is retaining people who want to do the storyteller role, so when we don't have enough of that, you end up having high level staff filling in and doing those jobs. It's what we call having a top-heavy staffing problem. So if you have too many people at high level positions, they all do the same thing, where the bulk of the work should be working with players. Coding spots are the hardest to fill because we need ways to build up trust with the person since there is a lot of power and potential abuse with that position. Nathvaan, for example, came up with javamonk(sp?) first, then moved over to help us with Armageddon.

roguegunslinger: How often are you doing general staff role calls?

adhira: Every 4-5 months. Normally 3-4 people are accepted, and usually just 1 sticks in that time.

winterless: Is there any staffside interest in implementing some of the popular idea threads in the GDB, and if so could you tell us which?

nyr: Can you elaborate more on that?

winterless: There was a widespread literacy thread started by D-man, talking about making written language more available, etc. and then the distance room size and travel thread started by RogueGunSlinger.

adhira: Regarding literacy, there is an interest from staff in expanding it but we still don't want to see a totally literate world. Nathvaan has mentioned there are problems with the writing code and books, so we've decided to defer from working on it until the code is fixed for it.

nyr: We don't have a problem with people learning literacy in the game thru the current system, but if you do happen to do it in game, no we don't have a problem with someone trying to start an in-game plot that way. The problem with revamping is that there could be a lot of retcon involved, so we need to hash that out more but deciding to do that.

nathvaan: Could you be more specific on the world travel thing?

winterless: Right now it's easy to get from one city to another in a short time. Any ways you've considered about making it codedly longer to get from one place to the next?

nathvaan: The way to have it would be to have the game on true coordinates. Unfortunately on this codebase it is unlikely since it involves rewriting most of the codebase. I cant speak if that was something Tiernan was looking at, but that wasn't something that I had on my plate.

rahnevyn: We do read the GDB a lot, and a lot of the ideas that come up get discussed on the IDB, the thread, or another port, but there are a lot of ideas and projects, and we have to determine 1. What do we have time to implement, and 2. What is easier to implement so that we do not slow the progress on other large projects.

slvrmoontiger: What is the current status of the world as far as pc population base between Tuluk and Allanak goes?

nyr: There are some areas we can make adjustments with clans, so you may see things that are announced, some that are not, so we are working on that. I hope that answered your question there

slvrmoontiger: Thanks a lot.

ghostymudy: With regards to characters in clans that can craft, is there a list or database they can get to see what items they can order?

rahnevyn: We do not give merchants in the GMHs the whole list of the items in their clan database. Right now you would just do it manually as each request comes, ask about it, and then get an answer for each item. I'm not sure why we don't give out the list.

adhira: People don't have a complete list because the aim is to give them the list that would be of common items and easy to order, but there are still some items that are flagged for different clans, that are less common or appropriate for the game, etc.

ghostymudy: What about items that are less common but still appropriate for the game, how would players find out about these, there are a lot of items there that are part of stock that no one even knows to ask for.

adhira: Basically if it's not a clan item then you would get it loaded as a GMH shopkeeper, but sometimes we load items into the game under diff shopkeepers. Then, the GMH may query if such an item exists in the world, and we may be willing to make it if it fits the theme.

rahnevyn: Salarr wants to order something for tor, we determine what Tor would be having ordered, etc.

nyr: There is a project in process, possibly with Kurac I don't remember right now, an item overhead order project. Doing these requests
takes a lot of staff time, so it is something we're considering automating in the future. Just letting you know it is on our radar.

frankjacoby: I was nervous about making this question, but what if anything is being done to address the shadow boards and the disgruntled players on it?

adhira: At the moment we don't have any plans to do anything. It's not part of our game, and we have no say over what goes on there. As far as disgruntled players we try to work with players within our existing systems like the request tool, and we don't always end up satisfying people, and we have disagreements, but we try to work through things in what we consider a fair manner. What they do there is not really under our control.

bcw81: Franky kinda asked the question, but I'll come up with one on the spot. The removal of so many northern houses in Tuluk... it still seems like Tuluk holds a.. as you were saying earlier a top heavy balance. It's not really possible for staff to bring in actual players without sponsored roles, but are there ways you've been thinking about bringing in more peons and lesser roles to Tuluk?

adhira: Longer answer, a little more difficult: We won't force people to play where they don't want to, but there are IC situations that cause things to be more strained up there. For example, the Byn was banned from Tuluk for a while and had a rough time... were looking to change that and have more of a Byn presence there and give players who want to be in Tuluk something they can join.

isfriday: Fuck, I forgot my question.

kismet: When can we play magicker subguilds?

adhira: We're experimenting with them now and we hope they can open with the next couple of months.

kismet: Experimenting how?

adhira: We are letting some pcs use the extended subguilds

kismet: What is the rubric of acceptance?

adhira: This was based on spec apps for other things we discussed with people and instead we would end up asking them if they wanted to try something else instead. Those apps aren't being done anymore, in case you wanted to ask.

kaineus: This may or may not have happened. Two people are mudsexing, they've given consent, if a 3rd person is hidden and is like fapping in the shadows, do they have to ask for consent?

adhira: <brief pause> ... That was a little creepy.. uhm..

kaineus: Could that like be considered rape if they don't? Is there a protocol against say hitting someone with it(unclear what they meant here)?

adhira: So, if you're hidden in a room and peeps are doing something you don't OOCly consent to, speak up.

nyr: If you're hidden you have the obligation to consent to whatever is going there, since you put yourself there.

isfriday: So, nobody in their right mind wants to play a fucking GMH merchant because it's a horrible, horrible role. The way
it functions creates this seething, despicable role. It creates this drama role with the player that has to play this asshole who has to deal with the asinine way the code works for them.

adhira: We understand that role sucks for that very same reason. Rahnevyn mentioned we've been working on some automated ways to make that happen, so we are finding ways to make the role more able to take all these orders.

nyr: We pretty much agree universally that the role can suck, so its something we're working on.

isfriday: A lot of people don't like playing high karma roles for that same reason (they're isolated), but what it ends up is that you end up just hating your character's life, and I don't think that's what the role should be about.

rahnevyn: We do feel your pain, the system around how you get orders to people could definitely be worked out, with a direct exchange
vs the request system, etc.

isfriday: Probably you get a black hole if there's no merchant in a GMH, the orders build up, and it becomes a vicious cycle for each GMH merchant that comes on boards.

adhira: We understand that, and we're working on that.

path: You mentioned you have a review period for newly coded things, how do you conduct the review, is it through gameplay, or what?

adhira: Mostly our reviews are based on stats, player feedback, surveys. Actually playing some of these roles has merit but it can be a time issue.

adhira: We could expand on that a bit more.

badskeelz: What's your next big project, something you're looking forward to?

nyr: I've been working with Welda to determine future plans in mind. I'm still working on finishing documentation before transitioning to Allanak. One of the things I'd be willing to look at is seeing at working on Allanak as mentioned earlier.

adhira: And we still have existing projects in Allanak (apt expansion). I like to work a bit on Allanak as well, so Nyr may have some occasional company in that.

rahnevyn: We've also been doing some updates to clans, there's not a major revamp projects in the cities, but there are lots of things going on behind the scenes.

roguegunslinger: How many players have you had to ban since the ban amnesty?

nyr: I could find that out in a sec.

adhira: I looked at the last 5 days of peeps logging in. 231 accounts logged in and played the game in the last 5 days, 125 had been playing the game for more than 5 years. 62 of them have been playing for more than 10 years, so that is pretty significant.

nyr: We've got around 5 permabans.

roguegunslinger: Any plans for another ban amnesty?

adhira: We understood we've banned people say 5-6 years ago for reasons that weren't valid anymore, and we wanted to give them another opportunity. We haven't determined if well do another amnesty soon.

shadeoux: I like to explore and I've seen quite a bit, but the world hasn't seen much growth, and in fact has seen some reductions. Are there any plans for new things added like terrain, mountains, etc.?

adhira: Currently no projects like that have been approved. We're not adverse to expansion, but for all of these buildings & area type discussions, they take a lot of time, and they're not easily implemented. Again, we try not to have too many projects on our plate, since in the past we've had people start something then drop the ball a month or two in and the unfinished work causes bugs or other problems, so there's a period where we have to determine that the person can carry the project through before letting them go for it.

slvrmoontiger: As far as indies go, what is your recommendation for submitting character reports? There are lots of conflicting suggestions on the GDB. 2nd part is if you have a char in Tuluk and they are partisan should they submit as an indie, or as under that House?

nyr: To the 1st question, some indies send in reports just like a clanleader would, and though there is not as much hand-son love as a leader would get, we do respond to those. If you are partisan, you can submit to the North, if you're more indie, submit to the indie staff.

kismet: HRPTS. It seems we have one every 4 years or so. What is the process that would go into having them more frequently? They are really fun.

adhira: This is a role-playing game, and so it's not easily planned. We need to justify it with storylines and reasoning behind it. For the HRPTs since I have been staff, there's always been at least a full year's worth of storymaking and work before they occur. So generally there needs to be an IG reason and some time out before we conduct one. The last one took us 2 years. We identified changes we wanted to see in the game, we looked at what players were doing and what they wanted to see, checked out several storylines and ways to approach them, and then we started to put it in motion. Things started happening in game a year out. In the future it could be less if we do less ambitious things. The problem is HRPTs suck out a lot of staff time. Setting out the warcamps took me a lot of time.

kismet: What about HRPTs that are less ambitious but more globally involved.

nyr: It works fine on paper but a lot of times we end up not all being able to work around the same time, or projects build up, and when there isn't a full team it becomes harder. We'd like to do more work, but once again we have limited staff. 1 year is probably too fast, 5 years... too long, 2,3,4 years may be more likely.

kismet: The every-4-year HRPTs definitely have a cool World Cup feeling, but i meant more globally involved plots..

adhira: We've planned for quite a few things in the last few months, opened up ways for staff to do more plots. The problem is staff leave so we dont end up with people to see things through, and players die... then sometimes we put plots up there and players don't pick up the stick or apply.

roguegunslinger: This one's from valeria: What do you see as the direction of the game in the short and long-term, and what projects do you have in mind that you haven't touched on yet here?

adhira: Producer level standpoint here: My #1 priority is having a game here that people are still playing, since this is a very niche community/market.

nyr: The idea of apt complexes that match the gameworld that are more expensive, that do interesting stuff and open the door to new things in the future (dorm housing, slums, etc.) where you can play a poor char if u like to a lot more easily, but again that's a bandwidth thing and more easily done if I have more time to work on it.

adhira: I've been working on the apts also, and this week there's a new project. Currently there is a cap to noble house pc numbers, so noble houses are limited to four people (two nobles, two assistants). We are looking at expanding that cap so that nobles can have a bigger pc presence in game.

case: When I started, staff had a bad rep (10 years ago), either thru ooc bitching or aggro behavior on the boards. I think it's good to see we've come a long way from that, and it's a lot more regulated and fair to me, having done some emotional things via the request tool myself. Instead of favoritism as in the past, people now are unhappy about the way they are treated or feeling powerless, or feeling like things are nontransparent, or that things are stagnant in game. Instead of saying we wont address this issues, I was wondering if we could work to draw back these disgruntled but impassioned players back.

adhira: As far as approaching disgruntled players w/regards to doing things, we are willing to do that, but there is a point of diminishing returns. If a person doesn't agree with what we think should be happening, there is not much to be said or done. Am i willing to go to places like the other forum that was mentioned and address them there? Absolutely not. I'm not willing to put myself in that position to have things said to me or about me in that way. I'm willing to work one on one with people in a professional, grown up way. I joined staff 10 years ago exactly, been a produce for 5 years, and despite what others say about bureaucracy, I'd like to say instead we've regulated things and made things more balanced for everybody.

case: I wanted to say that there has been a shifting trend away from the game is corrupt vs. the game has rigid/regimented staff. I like Arm and there's sometimes strong and excessive reactions that people have to this game are a reflection of that (how much they love the game).

adhira: I hate to see the community get that way too. I know people are frustrated when things don't change the way they wanted, things are 'railroaded', all those comments.. however if we let everyone do what they want, we'd have no game.

rahnevyn: I read those forums sometimes, read complaints about stuff that happened from 10+ years back, before I even played the game. You have to put a limit on it; if you still enjoy the game, you need to come and try by playing. I don't think staff should try and pull people back from the abyss, per se. You should give it a shot, and if you don't like it too bad, but at least give it a shot yourself.

bushranger: Will we see any new player races, cats or lizardpeople perhaps? Please, maybe?

adhira: We don't have a project in the works for this, we have a bunch of clan and race write-ups for arm2 that we could draw on, but we haven't quite looked at those. We could perhaps happen after admin rotation, it could happen in conjunction with a new area, depends on staff being interested and getting that work done.

kismet: We've had the same clans for a long time, people like the rags to riches stories, people like playing indies. Do u think it's possible in the current game system to build a clan from the ground up and even rival competitive clans?

adhira: I say yes... but things like noble houses, etc. are very unlikely just because of the ic unlikelihood. The last time someone got their own clan started in game, it took years for the last person to do so. If you're asking if it's possible, yes. Can you make it as strong as salarr... not likely. Could you possibly make a minor merchant house? More possible. Best example is Terash. Player started out selling things, they got more political clout and got into the Senate, it took them 2 years to get things moving. Once they did, they started recruiting players and things started rolling. You need to do all the other stuff (social interaction) that is not happening on its own to make it happen.

kismet: How high would u say the bar is?

adhira: I would say establishing a new clan that is going to exist after your char is gone is the most difficult thing to achieve in the game.

isfriday: Maybe it's just my anecdotal evidence, and there are too many allusions for it on the GDB for me to get into trouble for pointing it out here because at this point its fairly obvious, but there seems a problem between the skill gap between chars that can hunt and those that can't. You have citybound chars that will never improve past a certain point in skills, and hunters that can go past that. Is there a way to overcome these 20-year-old dikumud problems with the skill fail system?

adhira: We talk about these issues a lot. A convo me and Nessalin have had is around skills, and what we can do. To me, spending all this time grinding skills isn't a great way to rp. 1st solution I mentioned earlier is the skill system I want to spend more time on. What I am thinking of is raising the base skill levels.

isfriday: One of the hidden questions I had.. *laughing* ok, more for special clan skills they bring to the table, should they be granted different things on a hidden or not hidden level for being part of a special clan thing?

adhira: We haven't discussed that.

nyr: There is a template in place for northern templars to use and aim in that direction. With Allanak, there is an area of rank you can get where you can specialize in that. If you last a long time ig or in clan, adding skills is something we're willing to award for testing purposes.

isfriday: That's what I mean, you have a Lieutenant who has been around for 4-10 ic years, and then they plateau and have nothing to show for it, even though IC it says you're training everyday, and you see no improvement. They should be literally the best at chopping motherfuckas up with bone swords.

adhira: That's definitely something we're working on, by 1. starting them out at a higher level (sponsored chars), and 2. checking up on them later in game to see if they're where they should be given their longevity and status.

ouroboros: Do you think there's a middle ground that can be reached between the corrupt and the controlling? (paraphrase)

adhira: I think everything doesn't always need to be regimented, but there needs to be some structure at least. We've gone back to letting staff do plots instead of only letting them do things players are working on. Anytime staff proposes a change, they need a sponsor willing to support them. It's bureaucratic, yes, but now every staff has the opportunity to present whatever project they want to staff, and if they get it signed off the they're good.

adhira: The corruption bit is very overemphasized.

barzalene: I get nervous public speaking. I love mastercrafts that are available, but it's some of the limitations are frustrating (for example, you have to make a separate item and request for different colors of the same craft). Is there any project in the works to fix this?

adhira: Currently not, but the reason for the restrictions is because of the work. If there was an automated way, that would be great, but we dont have that solution right now.

winterless: This is a bounce off bcw81's earlier Tuluk question. Will there be a chance for allowing more noble House options for play?

adhira: We are expanding noble clan numbers and how many people can be in a noble clan, or we allow three noble clans of play. Right now we have 9 noble houses in Allanak, with 3 open for play, but we don't have any plans for altering the noble structure in Allanak.

bcw81: Are extended apps going to be chargen soon or stay spec app?

adhira: We don't have the code to make it for chargen yet, but we have developed the concept of cgps and are still working on it.

nathvaan: One thing I did do is change the application process where the staff member can change the extended subguild before the char enters the game, which saves a lot of time and planning difficulties, but the cgp aspect is still being worked on.

kol: Any negative effects on mob respawn cycles?

nathvaan: We do a maintenance every Monday around 8am, but I think there are some economy related things that can be affected.

nyr: In 2008 after some stability changes to the coding base, we were staying up more often. The problem that came up was that some parts of the game weren't built to hold up being held up that long, so then we had the virtual economy system. If the game's up for a super long time, that can be impacted, but we usually have a manual reboot every week as nathvaan said.

slvmoontiger: Are the apt changes in Allanak also going towards Tuluk?

adhira: Yes. The reason it hasn't happened in Tuluk yet is that the staff who was working on it retired, so Cerys is working on it in Allanak now, and we're doing it one apt at a time, so eventually we will get to Tuluk.

slvmoontiger: Time frame?

adhira: 3 months was the first guess, we're only now getting onto our third apt and it has already been 6 months, so it is hard to tell.

badskeelz: Who has the sexiest pc?

nyr: computer or char?

badskeelz: char

adhira: There is a test char

nyr: There's a test char called testicle tendencies.

rahnevyn: My test dwarf is totally the sexiest. He is the tall, muscular dwarf: This dwarf is quite tall for his race, which still leaves him shorter than most everyone else. He sports largish ears and an equally large,
bulbous nose, set above a mouth full of straight teeth. Large, round,
coal-colored eyes scrutinize the world beneath a hairless brow, creased with
the wrinkles of someone who spends long portions of time in deep thought.
These wrinkles exist elsewhere on his face as well, perhaps suggesting he is
of advanced age for a dwarf.

adhira: This large man towers at least six and a half cords above the ground,
much larger and taller than most other men. From his head, crimson braids,
the color of wet blood upon a battlefield, cascade down his massive,
muscular back. His features appear to be the work of some master sculptor,
where every nuance must be pleasing and familiar to the eye, the flat planes
of his face chiseled and stern, yet personable and illuminated with perfect
health. His tan skin almost seems to glow with a brilliant light, and his
dark eyes seem to be filled with endless depths of wisdom, knowledge, and
humor regarding all they survey.

nyr: Here's mine: Name: Difficulties Sdesc: sup Desc: We appear to be having testicle difficulties said the doctor to the man.

shadeoux: I'd like to to know what some of the other requests have been for crazy spec apps that have been accepted.

adhira: We get lots of mutant ones, we dont accept ones that are so mutated that they look like another race. We notice they tend to come in cycles. Suddenly everyone wants lizard skin, or wings, etc. 80% of spec apps are for higher karma choices.

nyr: There was one we rejected that looked like an orc, and someone asked for a gortok pet in the past. I don't recommend anyone do that,
please. And I want to say someone got to play a nonplayable pc race, once in the past.

kismet: I've noticed throughout the years there can be shifting disparities in pc populations in different areas. Have you thought of ways to settle that issue so that all the areas of the game can flourish instead of constantly shifting around?

adhira: If it's because the other place doesn't work, then we fix it or take it out.

kismet: Are there certain roles like the Byn in Tuluk you'd consider opening there?

adhira: We are in the process of doing that starting with the Byn (paraphrase).

drek: If you were to traverse to the end of the Silt Sea or the chasm north of Tuluk, would there actually places and things past there to see?

adhira: (pause) There is a coded end to the world, and you can reach it. As far as where, we will not say, but this is a finite, coded world.

nyr: Lore-wise, there could be something there, but until we code things in they won't be there, and there is a coded end to the game. As far as our projects, adding a new area to the game is probably the bottom of the list because of the work involved.

roguegunslinger: This is from valeria: Why are we seeing calls for player contributions decrease in the past year?

adhira: Like for descriptions, etc.? Probably because we're getting more mastercraft submissions, and we don't have any major active building projects on aside from the apts, which we didn't submit for calls. It depends on what staff are working on. We have not had a lot of staff doing those extra building projects recently. More of our projects have been around documentation changes and working with players experienced in those areas, and shelling out the background of the world.

nyr: The pbase really helped out with the Tuluk call for contributions.

roguegunslinger: Why did the c-elf clans close, and is there any work being done on them?

adhira: They closed because they weren't working. There is work being done on them. Rathustra was working on them, but with our admin rotations Welda will be responsible for the work and reopening them. We would like to see some clan options for city-elves.

kismet: This is for all the imms: Who were your favorite chars that you staffed over, witnessed, played with, etc.?

adhira: The ones a lot of the players would not have recognized, in my case. There was a GMH char I remember other chars talking about being useless and worth nothing, but they were so cunning behind the scenes that they orchestrated their entire GMH to move out of a city and move back in a city, and I don't think more than one or two other chars even saw that.

kismet: Who was that char?

adhira: It was Brisseldal(sp) Kurac

kismet: Anyone else?

nyr: I wont give the name out, but the guy played a magicker for many months, didn't cast a single spell, and when they began to manifest, they were considering suiciding in game because they were committed to Tuluk, and he ended up killing his character. It took many months, and in the end it was all about creating a story

nathvaan: What is interesting about some of these great chars, for example in the Kurac guy's case, is that you get to see how everyone is reacting to each aspect of that manipulation, and how all the moving parts keep moving.

kismet: What are some things you have banned people for in the past? What are some things you can get banned for in the game if you could spell a few out for us?

nyr: Let's see.. one case where someone decided to write about their recent char experience on a blog and took it very personally. We said its fine, but you cannot play the game.

kismet: So talking about your char that is alive?

nyr: Not only was it incorrect, but weird. A lot of ic discussion of recent events. "Oh, well its freedom of speech," he said, to which we said, "Yes, you have the right to speak freely. You also are free to not play this game anymore."

adhira: Most people we ban starts with, "This is not ok with us. Please don't do that." And then it breaks down to them not agreeing, then it comes to, "Well, we would rather you not be part of this game and continue to do this action." I can think of 1 person that was banned because they were contacting other players, and we decided not to have them part of this community.

ouroboros: Could each of you state your favorite clan as a player and why.

adhira: That's hard. I would have to say my favorite clan to play in was Oash, and it could have been influenced by the players I was involved with at the time.

nyr: I like Kurac and Borsail. Hard to choose.

nathvaan: Kadius. It's interesting as a player to see how much manipulating can go on behind the scenes based on selling pretty things.

rahnevyn: Tie between Arm of the Dragon and Kurac...oh, just one? Ok, AoD, it's fun all around.

winterless: Do you have any plans to implement to submit char apps through the web vs. telnet, and also to have more than one char concept pre-approved to make it easier?

adhira: We've had many plans for a webtool for char submissions, but nothing that works.

nyr: Also having preapproved chars could run into problems if something ic happens that would not make that char approvable anymore before they're accepted, so no.

bcw81: I came in after the EOTW plot. What are staff's views on keeping the huge magickal lore ig alive? What about people coming across the historical landmarks across the Known?

nyr: I came on staff after the EOTW stuff. It doesn't seem as organized as stuff we do these days. These days there would be a specific goal in mind, whereas in the past it seemed less specific.

adhira: When you talk about these old creatures and finding lore behind them, for many of them there wasn't a lore behind them, they were created on the fly or the backstory that fit them in the world, so that's why some are not around anymore. We could see something like that again.

rahnevyn: The thing is about big baddies from a story perspective is that they're only new and exciting or dangerous once... and they you have to kill them off or have them go away, and if they keep coming back, it gets old. It is challenging to make a metaplot around these things that will keep it dynamic.

kaineus: Let's say you have a brand new bard char. Is it ok to sing about major historic events or figures, or do you have to wait until you get into some clan or Bardic Circle to do that?

adhira: That's nothing we can put a hard or fast rule on. Can I sing about things that are common knowledge? Sure.

kaineus: Would the docs be a good guideline for what is common knowledge?

nyr: There's some stuff available, the original submissions that are songs, if it's a song that people would know, you could do that, stuff on the bards board, etc. There hasn't really been a policy on it yet, but there is a thread they can refer to that are bard-submitted submissions that are interior to the Bard's Circle. In-game lore would be alright, but you probably wouldn't want to write a song about your former char.

isfriday: For indies, is there some sort of mentorship program for new players? Seems a lot of newbies end up as indies, and then what happens is that everyone tells them they fucking suck, and they end up in this black hole of derpiness where they repeat the cycle. I feel like a lot of indies fall into this gap as far as document understanding goes, vs. clanned chars that have leadership to guide them.

adhira: It's difficult, since if chars don't send in reports staff don't know they need help, and frankly players do play indies sometimes to avoid that sort of staff interaction. As far as new players I don't know.

isfriday: An example, I had a Militia Sergeant who was dealing with an indie who tried to put a bounty on a Militia Officer's head, which seems ridiculous in game context and what would happen to that char, and yes bad things did happen to them, but there was obviously a gap in what that player considered realistic, and I feel like this happens quite a .

adhira: This is one of the areas where we see players have a different view of the world that is intended, and we may animate the game in ways that try to guide them how to act, and it makes them mad sometimes.

rahnevyn: Did that char die or get executed?

isfriday: They had been tortured for doing random, heretical something, had their tongues cut out, then got banished. They put a bounty on my Officer. My char tricked him into the city and he got killed. I feel like these sort of things happen when you have that indie gap and you have players who don't have the experience.

rahnevyn: I ask because that is kind of the learning curve, just in a more elongated fashion (dying as a result). Sometimes those situations come up where you have to illustrate the world by killing or torturing them, or taking them under your wing as a mentor, etc. Don't hold back from reacting realistically.

shadeoux: Is the review flag or feedback option still used?

adhira: Not as much. 3 quarters of the mud has the flag on, people that have been here more than 10 years keep it on because they never bothered to turn it off, so it tends to be more clan-based, and so it usually works better through a clan setup.

shadeoux: Without staff support, it can be hard to keep raider presence alive for long. Suggestions for increasing longevity for future raider roles?

adhira: It starts with talking to staff and letting them know what your plans are and not trying to do everything immediately.

nathvaan: Start the raiding clan like u would ic, get your buddies that are on regularly. It's less about getting staff support and more about getting your support base to cover all the things you need. You know everyone will be coming from you, so don't start raiding until you're ready and prepared for what's coming.

rahnevyn: Also don't start attracting too much attention until you're ready. Killing someone immediately will catch up with you more quickly than if you plan it out.

adhira: Be prepared and start out in the right way. If you're picking out the lone salter, you wont pull the same attention as you would attacking the militia or nobility.

nyr: The two city states are at war. I would recommend getting a sponsor from one of those city-states to fund you being a raider. Just throwing it out there.

barzalene: Has anyone seen how much of an impact the helper chat has had with regards to increased player retention?

adhira: We don't have that info to hand, let me see if I can get someone to find it. I mentioned the 231 player accounts logging in the past 5 days, 37 of them have been playing since this year, so fairly good retention since this year.

adhira: That wraps up our session. Thank you for coming!