Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2016 17:42:30 GMT -5
(First: If you're a newbie, you likely won't have to worry about any of this stuff... for now. But as you continue to play ArmageddonMUD and develop your own ideas about the game, invariably, you will disagree with other players... and at some point, you will probably disagree with staff. I think the best thing to do is to be aware of this potential for conflict and try to avoid it in the first place. Unfortunately, you won't be able to manage that by sticking your head in the sand; I believe that being conscious of these problems in the first place will ultimately result in diminished occurences)
Well, I guess it's easy to be negative sometimes. It's also seemingly easy to forget that many players have went rogue on the shadowboards or otherwise find it hard to sheath drawn weapons because of very legitimate concerns. So, let me do my best to remain positive while giving some feedback and noting problem areas; some problems affecting ArmageddonMUD are extremely complex, and I think it is unfair to look to staff for easy or quick fixes. Some things, really, need to be fixed by players themselves.
In terms of having a healthy game, these are some points that merit at least reflection, some more than others.
These points mainly are about interacting with each other as opposed to gameplay suggestions. Really, I have been impressed with a lot of the recent changes in Arm, from plots to code changes... and generally, it seems like things are better. I appreciate that people are actively working to make the game better - I can tell that work is being and has been put in - and maybe by avoiding ugliness in the future by being mindful or what has caused it previously, we can work toward a game with significantly less of that bullshit from either side.
1. Hostility between staff and players.
Look, this problem should not be as hard to fix as it is. First, we all need to admit that many players left the game or otherwise got into it with staff because of one particular staff member's tendency to fly off the handle way too far and way too quickly. I can empathize with this dude and don't know the extent of bullshit he had to deal with, but such behavior really doesn't have much of an excuse when the sheer number of stirred up players is taken into consideration.
If staff just refuse to really acknowledge it when a pattern like that takes shape in the game, well, that is just really disappointing. I am not suggesting that everything the person I'm referring to be undone, but I think that punishments levied at a *myriad* of players as a result of such interactions should be scaled back at the least. Don't punish players for standing up to bullies, even useful bullies, and similarly, don't enable bullies.
By recognizing that some concerns that need to be discussed here are legitimate, I think there is a better shot of burying hatchets faster.
GDB posting... well, as long as there is this attitude of just deleting disagreements and banning people arbitrarily... or otherwise acting on negative biases... this board will serve a purpose. @banme talked about having a healthy game, and I just don't think outright suppression is the best way to go about this. No, accustory tones, flaming, or being a jerk don't either... but I think that maybe some player outbursts happen as a result of having been suppressed or messed with - even by staff who aren't around anymore - that has made them more guarded/less nice in general.
Instead of looking at a player and going, damn, that dude needs to lighten up, maybe try to realize that it was a particularly nasty interaction with staff that sent them in that direction in the first place. Most people don't become hostile or defensive or paranoid for the fun of it; there is usualy a start to the problem.
2. Communication between staff and players when resolving conflicts
When conflicts happen, I think there needs to be maybe a better way to resolve them. Not really making any concrete suggestions here, but maybe even a person-to-person discussion might be good sometimes. I realize staff members aren't uhh counselors, but maybe even having one designated staff member who has NO assholish tendencies could be appointed to be this person. Only problem with that is that an actually nice person might get tired from dealing with crazy bullshit that happens sometimes.
I feel like there should be a way to mediate disputes between sending in a "staff complaint" or phrasing it as a "question/request" in the request tool. I just don't think it's adequate all of the time.
3. Doing away with vague, undefined, eternal punishments
I think that vague, seemingly eternal, or otherwise undefined punishments need to stop. I think they can definitely be way more severe than they should.
If a player is punished or faces seemingly eternal restrictions, then I think they should be able to work toward an end to those penalties in no uncertain terms. If a player is eternally blacklisted from being able to do X or play Y without having to ask permission, let them know what they need to do in order to make it right.
Glass ceilings, at least OOC ones, need to be as little of a thing as possible in this game if conflict is to be minimized. Because what I think tends to happen... is these glass ceilings become something that is arbitrarily imposed because of things outside whether or not a person is truly trustworthy. Glass ceilings in Arm seem to be applied because of conflicts outside the scope of the potential a player has to abuse roles; I think many are applied for personal dislike with thinly veiled excuses. I know I've felt that way beore.
4. Safeguards against arbitrarily blocking players
It is probably hard to speak in generalities about things so situational as this, but as a general rule, I think it should be more difficult than it currently is to block player actions.
The last time I felt like I had a character who could do some really neat stuff in a merchant house type of way, I felt like staff were dragging their feet because they didn't want it to happen. Soon after that, guidelines were put in for the creation of minor merchant houses. Really, I have been... nervous... to try one of these because, as others have pointed out, the rules seem a little, ah, complex.
I see a need for less arbitrariness when it comes to what players can or cannot do. Admittedly, it is hard to come up with suggestions for this because, even if guidelines were proposed, it would be impossible for players to know whether or not staff are being honest. Still, I think we need to acknowledge that a staff member's personal opinion of a player (they just don't like them) should not really be a determining factor in whether or not a player can do X, play Y, or accomplish Z.
5. Arguing on the General Discussion Board
To have a healthy game, public flaming between staff and players needs to stop. Especially when the staff can just ban the player to have the last word.
We all like to be right, and as leaders in a game, I realize staff do not want to be seen as "wrong" - sometimes, at all. Sometimes, though, it's just not worth it to escalate conflict. There is a culture about Arm, historically, where the staff were viewed as "mean" and almost as harsh as the gameworld. Well... I think it is maybe time for a more PR related approach.
This doesn't means imms have to cow to players. Instead of escalating an argument with someone who is just confused or maybe having a bad day, simply remove posts and impose a temporary ban with no snark or "fuck you" zingers. Don't paste shit players have written just to try to make them look bad or otherwise just add fuel to the fire. I think there has been a trend of escalating conflicts with players or even groups of players, and at this juncture, antagonism doesn't really seem like it will help bury any hatchets. and I think there are a lot of hatchets that probably SHOULD be buried by parties on both the player and the staff side... de-escalation seems key.
Disparaging remarks about players or groups of players shoulder probably be reserved for mortal GDB accounts. Otherwise, people just get riled up.
6. Players being nice to one another
It is easy to get tunnel vision when thinking of conflicts between players and just get angry or choose sides, and I am just as guilty as anyone else about escalating bullshit nerd flap fights.
But... maybe we can just... try to stop talking as much shit about other players or groups of players. I know everyone likes to grab their popcorn.jpg when the flame and troll gears start grinding, but there is a tendency to - as Synthesis wrote earlier today - to speak in superlatives or generalities about other players or groups of players. At the end of the day, this just widens whatever standing divides there are and, in the end, makes for a toxic environment at times.
I'll put forth an effort to do better myself. You who are reading this... don't have to at all, but it will probably be better in the end if some people acknowledge they've been wrong and just cut it out.
No apologies are necessary or even acknowledgements... we can all just silently try to do better than some of us on both sides have been doing.