jcarter.org and Arm: a vote on impact levels

There should be a "both good and bad" option.

Jcarter.org has unquestionably been the result of positive changes, perhaps (just perhaps) even the great hiatus of nyr. It has forced current admin to self reflect, despite all their hardened resistance. It has even boosted the productivity of imm output. Perhaps most importantly it has forced the entire community to see itself through a different lens than that of the gdb (a perspective that had long ago become toxic due to its being the sole vantage point for players). The game desperately needed the dark mirror that is jcarter.org so it could look at its ugly self for once, ever....and without any censorship. It's like the girl who thinks she's ultra pretty being forced to gaze in the looking glass when she wakes up without her make up.

The flip side is it has further broadened that player staff divide which urinemoose likes to say does not exist at all. It has put staff into extreme denial, for who would want to admit that jcarter.org is what has improved the game lately. And when people in a position of power feel cornered they often resort of pettiness. I cringe at the idea of what people already prone to pettiness can do when they become injected with an extra does of pettiness. My only hope is they can in time man up (human up, for you lauramarses out there) and learn to face the feedback this board has been giving them.

For reasons good and bad both, this board and its community have 100% had an impact on the game. To say otherwise puts you in the category of flat earthers and creationists.

Why it matters is because of the longstanding culture in Armageddon to "crack down" on dissent. Previously - but for many anyway, over a decade ago - there was IRC, but even then, nothing much was shared. When info was shared there, it might remain in the buffer for a while but would otherwise be temporary. Here, you are communicate like on IRC... but its all out on Front street.

I think it goes deeper than that in the fact that there are and have been lots of reactions to this board... But probably 95% of them have been private. So yeah, I'm not sure if I was trying to insinuate anything... Maybe just acknowledge that it is nearly impossible for some grunt level windowlicker like me to accurately gauge anything at all about reactions to things that have been posted here.

Why does it matter? It doesn't much. But I think it is probably a little unfair to punish or hold bias against people who have actively posted here, just because they chose to post here. I guess that's what was in the back of my mind when I made the poll; it is sorta fucked up to actively - to continue to punish people - for having posted here.

Maybe it's just good to acknowledge that criticism can be healthy when carried out appropriately, but as you alluded to, egos get in the way when it comes to that being very easy/streamlined.

The only perfect system is one that doesn't exist.


I choose to believe that the community is the reason this game still exists, and while there has been a rotating cast, and lives move on, and others come along, in the end it has been our collective desire to tell a story that keeps us here.


What has jcarter.org done? It's given some transparency, but it can take away some of the magic if you're not careful, too. I think it's grown from a position of bitter outrage to a more centrist, reasonable platform of discussion that lacks the banal self-censorship of the gdb.  I mean, it could just be that the extremists are hiding in a cave in Afghanistan.


I'll be honest, though, if the gdb wasn't 1000% unbearable beyond its surface applications, I would have no reason to be here.

staff is here, reading, though. Not someone to boil it down into easy to chew doses, staff is here, and listening... so far, lately, been a great, amazing job, we shall see, but I am currently fuck-all smitten with staff. To let you know, I got caught, and I am SO not one of their favored players, but they were very gentle with me, and that made me all the more submissive and trusting. It's not a play for sympathy, they have changed, at their core.

Lol, yeah... I think it has mellowed out some over the past year. Took a while.

I agree that places like this can take away from the magick, especially when it comes to current events or characters, and even I have learned stuff that surprised me here. But I have not really seen much here that I regretted having seen.

And some shit that I have seen here... it's like, how in the mother fuck did I play this game for as long as I have and not know that? Heh. I think some knowledge of things like combat that have been discussed here help players have a better grasp of the general mechanics of Arm fighting, too. In terms of help files, like adhira was calling for, I would be really hesitant to say what should or should not be included. Some of the stuff provided here could be condensed into a good combat overview, but it will be hard to find very many people who agree on what sorta stuff should be publicly disseminated via published documents or whatever.

Purg, there were... a number... of public slap fights between nyr and players. When I think of how many ones there probably are in requests and emails, well... A LOT more, I imagine. But I bet that whatever was the straw that broke the camel's back is not related to some of the more public examples. Hmm, I could be wrong. Anyway, just trying to say there's really no telling.

Hmm, I don't wish nyr much ill will. Hell, I hope he chills for a bit and comes back. I would recommend that he roll up a warrior and do something on the lower order of shit. maybe join the Byn?

I think instead that internet communication forums have eroded a sense of courtesy and civility.  Imms have, in the past, said and done things that people should be called on in a polite society.  Pointing these things out as a warning to others, for public shaming, and a metaphoric slap to the face, should be expected and lauded as a contribution to civility.

I would further say that adults should be expected to welcome and "survive" criticism of their efforts.   Beyond the frustration that sometimes goes too far, it is hard to ignore that most of the writers on this board want to see the game improve.

I don't know, I think I'd fuck Nyr, while being as gentle as possible.