jcarter.org and Arm: a vote on impact levels

I currently see two people voted this forum has been nothing but a minor problem for the game. I would love to know where they think player-staff relations would be if the only Arm forum ever was that karma stripping, dissenter-ravaging circlejerk known as the GDB.

These forums are a bit too positive about Arm. The official Gestapo Discussion Boards are so sterile and safe these forums should be a bit more extreme on the critical end of the spectrum to sort of balance it out. The best posts though are the traumatic bonding victims who come along and vehemently defend Arm. Real good for a chuckle. For example that sperg flying off the handle calling people little bitches and cunts because they dare to be critical about playable gith.

That being said I think the overall effect of having a bit of transparency has been a net positive. Need more dirt slinging and staff exposé though, they won't stop acting like shits if they aren't exposed and called out on it. There must be way more stories about misconduct than have been posted on these forums, though that isn't too surprising many people who have been fucked over probably left in disgust and have little interest in talking about it.

RE: not throwing imms under the bus enough.

Look, most of the times when I have disagreed with staff have been ridiculous... except in the case of Vanth and Nyr. I mean, it was clear that they did not like me at all OOCly, and the way they interacted with me/fucked me over reflected that very much so.

I've not even come close to ever hearing as many people express negative sentiments about a staff member before... not from the anti-gypsy crew bitching about sanvean... not from people PK'd by Bhag-o-vision... not from people frustrated with Halasturd's shennanigans (fwiw i thought all of that was sorta fun).

so, it seems like... when the masses rise up against a staff member on Arm... there is usually a damn good reason for it. And if it ever makes it to the public, it's either because someone's having a bad day or because what happened is part of a trend or pattern.

While it may be true that there are problems with staff that have not been brought to light, I would say that most of them link back to Nyr. I am not necessarily trying to say that the staff is perfect, but at least most of them do not become combative, antagonistic, etc, on a regular basis to players.

To me, what racks up a high population on the shadowboards isn't shit like staff members not being exciting enough or doing enough or performance issues in general:

mostly, it has to do with people being mean. yes, it is a harsh IC world. No, staff don't get paid. No... that is not a license to treat people like trash, which is damn sure a two way street that us over here should remain cognizant of as well, else we begin to strongly resemble those we've taken issue with.

I didn't vote. The option I wanted wasn't there. I think this forum has had a significant impact, but around half good and half bad.

This board has been the entire catalyst behind bringing the truth to the surface and forcing staff to change their ways. It remains to be seen just how much they've changed; Nyr's departure is still too recent and their sudden focus on the Tablelands still makes me suspect that they've given up on Allanak, which will prove ruinously short-sighted-- but there can be no denying that without this community, Armageddon would have continued to wallow in its self-destructive stagnation. The exodus of experienced roleplayers would have continued and worsened. Staff would have grown increasingly totalitarian and alienated all but the most masochistic bootlickers. It was headed in that direction and showed no sign of stopping.

Nothing objectively negative has come from these boards. There are some secrets that have been revealed, and information that was considered sensitive, but it's very much up to debate whether it's reasonable to withhold information such as which skills a guild gets access to, or ways to go about advancing your character. It was always an artificial construct of difficulty in the game, something used to keep newer players helpless for no reason. Withholding basic information about game mechanics in order to stifle the power of people's characters is inherently antithesis to the spirit of roleplaying.

Some players have quit because of things that have come to light through this community, and it's very likely that Armageddon would have lost less players in the last year's time if all of these scandals had remained under wraps. However, that would not have lasted. The game was in steep decline and people who were willing to quit over anything revealed here would have quit anyway once the state of the game got sufficiently dire. In the long run, the shadowboards have done no damage to the playerbase in that regard. It simply expedited the departure of some players who would have left anyway.

This community has been good about not sabotaging the game. People haven't outed others, haven't ruined plots by spreading sensitive information, and haven't turned this board into a place to take revenge on the game or its players. Nobody has ever come here and posted anything like "player X just PKed me" or "player Y is planning to assassinate Lord Z." This community has been very mature about not undermining the game unjustly. In-game events that are still relevant have largely been respected here, so there can be no claiming that these boards actively oppose the game.

Jcarter.org has completely changed the tone of Armageddon. It's finally turning into a game where people can speak somewhat freely, where staff can't necessarily get away with corrupt bullshit, and where the direction of development needs to be positive or else the players will voice their discontent. This was not the case before. It was a game where staff did whatever they wanted, bullied and harrassed players into silence, lied to the playerbase, systematically culled content from the game, and cultivated a community where you either kissed ass or had to be silent if you wanted to keep your privileges.

I don't think they've given up on Allanak so much as with the removal of Nyr they looked around at the game and wanted to run something new. It may be backlash from him focusing on cities and wanting to give another area a stir up that they felt were neglected. The Tablelands plot has been fantastic and the number of people roaming around that area really has been a breath of fresh air, the arrival of gith PC's is going to make it a battleground that hasn't been seen in some time. It feels like every week there is something new going on there, a good bit of room building/changing is going on as well. I bet they will return to a more Allanak focused plot once this one has run its course because where else would they do it?