Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2015 22:31:46 GMT -5
teatowel, you're asking for people to post specifics about recent events which would likely out their PCs to players and any staff who read this. For some people this might result in bannage. People who are playing are probably among the set of people who fall into the category of "People who don't want to get banned." I can confirm that there have been events recently that either have already resulted in or are in the process of resulting in changes for the better. No, I won't go into specifics for the reason stated above.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2015 23:08:07 GMT -5
I sense that things are better in Arm. It's hard to fully quantify. Maybe I'm wrong and things are really much the same, or they've improved too little and my standards are too low. That's quite possible.
I also feel like things are too negative here, and are probably contributing to a decline that may ultimately kill the game. (I doubt the mass exodus will result in staff going, "Okay okay! We'll do things your way! Just come back!") I may be wrong about that, also, but I don't really have much else to say on the matter.
I don't want to kill the messenger. I've said before that I totally support you guys' freedom to express what you think about the state of the game, which is part of the reason I haven't said this before. I didn't want to come across as bitching about the fact that you guys still have complaints.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2015 0:46:17 GMT -5
I think Davey's words sum my opinion up quiet well as well. I do not know if it is noticeable, but I've actually magnified my white knighting by a considerable amount. Strictly due to the fact that lately, the amount of negativity coming from these boards is just so intensely soul crushing and simply unnecessary.
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bastilleangel
Clueless newb
Wielding the Power of Love and Investigation Since 2013
Posts: 119 
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Post by bastilleangel on Dec 2, 2015 1:00:32 GMT -5
I started Arm after these boards came to be, so I don't have the built up loyalty/resentment. I think these boards are a pros/cons scenario. I think it definitely is a location where disgruntled players kind of feed into each other until staff like Nyr transform from irritable people in power to the Antichrist. That said, transparency in discussion and mechanics is a great thing for the game IMO, particularly when it comes to retention. I LIKE Arm. I want more people to be playing it. I do feel that the powers that be handle criticism very poorly. But I do wonder how much of that is a defense mechanism to a series of boards that attack them daily. I personally don't believe in censorship, but I don't think these boards are immune to groupthink. All that said, I think these boards are ultimately good for the game. So, I basically haven't played since Nessalin's Favorite Website started up, but had played for years before then. And I can say with confidence that Nyrcakes didn't need any outside encouragement to feed his rank narcissism, raging ego, nor (perhaps worst) pretensions of pseudo-intellectualism. Having typed that, I'll grant that having a forum - community, really - that he couldn't shut up and couldn't control only made his paroxysms of pique all that much worse. You pretty well sum up the situation with the bolded statement above: " I think these boards are a pros/cons scenario." It would be hard to argue this in good faith, at least for me. I will add that at the time JCarter started this venue up, we (the Arm players) were in desperate need of an outlet that wasn't the GDB. Perhaps things have skewed excessively negative, and groupthink is always a potential issue with any ongoing gathering of people (virtual and otherwise), but I don't know that there's a viable alternative if we want to be able to have anything resembling an authentic discussion. Maybe "killing" is a bit dramatic, but if it dies then it won't be. I don't know. I've tried to make a post on this a few times but I've never been quite sure how to word it, so I've deleted my post every time. I'm almost certain these boards have brought about great changes. I'm really encouraged by the shift in attitude and management in the game, but I see just as much negativity here, or almost as much. I don't know. I don't want to come off like one of those GDB people who says things like "if I were staff I wouldn't want to do anything for you ungrateful players when you say things like that!" I think those kinds of statements are eye-rollingly ridiculous. But when I see (what I think is) positive change in the game and in staffing and I turn here and you guys pick it all apart or say it isn't enough or that things haven't really changed, and the numbers continue to go down and down and down...it's really disheartening. I wonder if this kind of attitude is contributing to the continued decline. And some people do seem to take a sort of glee in watching it burn. It's all subjective. Who can say who is right or wrong? You voice your criticisms because you think they are good for the game. And perhaps if the game crashes and burns, it's because the players have decided they don't want to play in the current environment, and it will deserve to die. I really don't know. I'm just questioning whether all the continued negativity and the ripping apart, say, the Tablelands plot announcement, for example, is unnecessarily contributing to player dissatisfaction. ETA: By the way, I am not at all saying there should not be a venue for people to speak their minds about the state of the game. Please don't think that. I'm just wondering if some of the loudest voices are managing to convince players that the game is no longer worth playing. It's actually managing to make me not feel like playing as often, despite the fact that I do feel encouraged about the direction. It doesn't make sense, but there you go. Prince, I feel you. I really do. I've had many of these same thoughts. As I've written elsewhere, my "falling out of love" with Arm was a long, painful affair. The dying of hope didn't happen overnight, and isn't something I predicted - after a decade with Arm, I figured it'd most likely be more-or-less a permanent fixture of my life, sometimes prominent, sometimes in the background, much like writing, martial arts, and others aspects have been. There's a part of me that's still, somehow, naive, even after everything I've seen and experienced surrounding this damn game, a game that folks with far more tech savvy than myself tell me is hopelessly obsolete. I want to believe things are getting better, I want to believe that I and those I care about can still enjoy the beautiful setting without undue OOC harassment (due harassment, mainly in the form of IC backlash, is something else entirely). I truly hope that Rathustra can turn things around, and that Adhira finds something she enjoys doing and vacates a spot she clearly hasn't found fulfilling in many years, in favor of someone with a fresh, vivid perspective, stories that spring from that, and the fire to tell them. My geeky little corner of the world would be better for it, and for the many I have had the honor of playing with. I guess this is as good a place as any to develop a point I haven't seen made yet in these here parts (and if it was already, apologies; I missed it): I think there is a qualitative difference between those who want to see Arm close up shop so that something "better" (however that's defined) springs up in the void it leaves, and those who, in Prince's words, "...take a sort of glee in watching it burn." The first, while I don't agree with it, is a legitimate position that one can defend and support, citing past examples of such occurrences. The second would seem to come from an urge toward sheer animus, without much to redeem itself other than a gratification of those sadistic impulses that occasionally run through all of us. At any rate, I hope this post contributes to the conversation. |
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jjhardy
Displaced Tuluki
Posts: 288
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Post by jjhardy on Dec 4, 2015 12:28:57 GMT -5
IF the game is about Roleplaying, then why are the coded portions hidden. I think it would help RP better if the coded portions were NOT a mystery. When you have half the people in the know, it's completely unfair to have the other half clueless.
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dcdc
Shartist
Posts: 539
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Post by dcdc on Dec 4, 2015 12:52:31 GMT -5
IF the game is about Roleplaying, then why are the coded portions hidden. I think it would help RP better if the coded portions were NOT a mystery. When you have half the people in the know, it's completely unfair to have the other half clueless. This is my sentiment exactly. When you see some one floundering about cause bad stats and knowing all the while that for them it will be either a.) futile or b.) at best a very long hard road wrought with failure. Some days you wish you could just OOC them "Reroll... oh gawd dude just reroll." When the massive, muscular man can't pull the same boy being used by the petite, teen half elf... |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2015 13:02:01 GMT -5
When the massive, muscular man can't pull the same boy being used by the petite, teen half elf... pulling boys has nothing to do with stats. |
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dcdc
Shartist
Posts: 539
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Post by dcdc on Dec 4, 2015 13:18:53 GMT -5
wow that's amazing typo. I almost don't wanna edit it.
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dcdc
Shartist
Posts: 539
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Post by dcdc on Dec 4, 2015 13:20:58 GMT -5
Why can't my big muscular man pull better boys than the half-elves? Their half-people for Christ sakes!
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blargle
Clueless newb
Beast Master
Posts: 63
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Post by blargle on Dec 4, 2015 16:56:34 GMT -5
Really these forums have been a long time coming. It is an overall good thing for the PLAYERS to have open discussions that they couldn't have over on the Gestapo Discussion Boards. It really isn't great for the STAFF who have their dirty laundry aired. It is also kind of an equalizer for newer players, because they can get real helpful information rather than the snide FOIC conditioned response you get on the GDB.
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