Plot Raffle on Arm

Wait, what? They're rewarding players who run plots by giving stuff to their characters as thanks? Items, skill bumps? What the flying fuck? Is this even an RPI anymore? That's the sort of shit I'd expect of games like HavenRPG. What's next, +1 strength if you write a positive review on TMS? Vote 10 times and receive 1000 'sid?

If your character gains something as a result of a plot, it should be strictly from in-game events, i.e. skillgains from usage and items from obtaining them through gameplay. Anything else is starkly anti-RPI and frankly laughable. The one good thing left about Armageddon was the integrity of its separation between IC and OOC in terms of gameplay.

Then again, maybe they're so desperate for plots that this has become necessary after years of staff systematically discouraging player endeavors. It used to be an active, thriving game until Nyr and his successors put an end to that and taught players not to try. Reap what you sow. How low that game has sunk.

Armageddon has over a dozen staff members. They've utterly failed to keep the game interesting in recent years. Bribing players to do it for them is not going to work, because most of the players who can pull it off properly are long gone, chased away by awful staff and a game that didn't respond to their efforts. Cause and effect.

I'd ask staff what it is they consider a plot?.. on the whole, I've found staff involvement in plots to be a mixed bag. While staff support can definitely add elements of legitimacy and purpose to a plot, they could also wake up on the wrong side of the bed one morning and blast it to oblivion by smashing key figures in said plot for seemingly little to no reason, then telling you the plot is enhanced because death drives more plots. This can demotivate existing players and make them wonder if staff is out to get them, because some characters can't simply be replaced by someone with a similar skill-set, as a character is much more than a skill-sheet with legs.

Plus, such a tactic to boost plot formation could seem to some to be a form of favoritism, as we all know it's only human to keep your eye on the players you like for support, and for punishing the ones you don't, and that's a tough habit to break. It requires a LOT of soul-searching to be able to say, while I don't like this player, I am going to be honest with myself and try to support their efforts and see where it goes. You're fighting your subconscious compulsion and everything you've learned over the course of your life, and that litte devil will always be on your shoulder whispering naughty things into your ear. If you can't tell him to fuck off, you're best off not interfering at all, or even looking, and therein lies the problem...

Because once the gossip mill fires up and one staffer takes issue with a certain player, then you're going to hear about it. Maybe this other staffer holds pull in the community, for whatever reason. Maybe the popular choice is to jump on the hate bandwagon and look for things to take issue with with this player, while ignoring the good they might bring, while doing the exact opposite for a player who is well-liked for, reasons. It's an old pattern and it's not unique to Arm staff, and indeed, it takes a lot of honesty and willpower to resist and wipe the slate clean again and again, and really ask yourself the tough question, am I really being fair and even-handed in this manner? Am I promoting a culture of forgiveness and growth? Or one of oppression and exclusivity? This is one of the things I really dig about Sindome staff, is on their very boards you can really see some of them discussing bits of self-dialogue they've had while asking themselves the tough questions, and opening it up for discussion.

Plus, staff there are generally pretty lenient with their bannings. They WILL ban your ass, but for like, a day, or, for more serious offenses, a week. If you're found guilty of wilfully and knowingly discussing IC information OOCly, it's like, a year. But because they're not as heavy handed with their policies, and because they're open with their discussions and really seem to value player input, and have an OOC channel IG that you can turn off (I leave mine off, too distracting from immersion and sometimes baits me into a rant), it leaves one less inclined to take the discussion elsewhere, and less likely to get their jimmies rustled. And when they do, it doesn't get yanked from the forums, it stays there. Banned players don't seem to get their posting rights to the boards removed.

I'm not sure if any part of this would work for Armageddon, things may have gone too far the wrong way for the course to be corrected now... I just think the plot raffle is a bad idea. Incintivizing players to create plots strikes me as desperate, and unfair. A better strategy, in my opinion, would have been to first not run off the players who consider creating plots an incentive in itself. In doing that, it would appear there is now some kind of need for a raffle, which honestly shouldn't be necessary in the first place. But that's just like, my opinion.