Shattered Kingdoms

Love the Journal idea. For new players (and inexperienced players like me) it's very hard to feel justified approaching an Imm or even to know how to approach Imm's and Paragons. I just don't feel comfortable unless it pops up in the normal course of playing. The idea that Imms could share a more intimate knowledge of a new players char and be able to head off problems or provide opportunities in a less public way than bad RP makes me a lot more comfortable. (It minds me of sitting down with my DM to discuss my character before implementing some radical idea without his input. It's not only easier, it's a good way not to get your char killed for convenience.)

As for all this 'go play another game' nonsense, I'd like to quote something from SK's front page.


Emphasis Mine

I'd hate to see the community become hard on new players and I don't think that will happen. If you play this game for a while and you find that things need major changes before you can be happy with it then you should heed the upfront warning that this is a different kind of game and find one that suits you. There is only so much flak that people can tolerate. Especially if they aren't getting paid.

This has the added merit of demonstrating to the staff who is a competent writer and willing to go the extra mile. These seem to me like qualities to look for in prospective immortals.

Actually, one of the first lessons you learn in the sales industry is that the customer is ultimately the one who writes your paycheck. I have made a living in the sales industry for the past 10+ years in both the corporate and private levels, and regardless of how difficult a customer may or may not be, if you aren't giving them their due diligence you likely aren't making very much money.

It might be really fun as a staff member to read journal entries. In fact, I can imagine what some might look like:

Giving due diligence is one thing. Bending over backwards to please difficult people is another. I don't know a single person in sales who hasn't "fired a customer" at some point for simply not being worth the time. In the case of SK you have limited resources and limited time. It's a hobby for all involved, and there's really no reason to waste time on difficult people. If I were putting my limited free time and energy into offering a free service for people to enjoy, I personally would not tolerate ingrates of any stripe. There really is no need to do so.

If I ever get asked be an IMM, I hope my job is reading those journal entries

Don't get me wrong, I agree that people give the staff entirely too much hell considering they are doing what they do because they love the game and wnt to see it continue to evolve. However I also think that "Go play another game" is something the staff should never say, especially in a forum section like GamePlay. Like you if I was staff I wouldn't put up with anyone's [REDACTED] here but I would never tell them to find another game. The difference between staff and the player base is the staff is a representation of the creator and the history of the game itself and should maintain a level of professionalism at all times.

That said people seriously need to lay off the staff. I don't know anything about the accusations of cheating but I have always been treated with the upmost respect by Alshain and have always been given the opportunity to explain my position of any of them thought any of my actions were questionable in the least. The most recent staff is the best we have had in a long time and I really don't think anyone wants to see us go back to the day of there literally being zero staff because they all got burned out.

Also, I can 100% say that I have not once ever "fired a customer" or anything remotely close to rude to them. I was the sales manager of a used auto dealership that worked primarily with sub par credit for 2 years - in that time I had more than my fair share of rude, ridiculous and outrageous customers and I learned quickly how to handle people like that without bending over and taking it for their every wish. I haven't been selling cars for over a year now and I still get calls to this day from many of those very same rude customers who are in the market again. Residual income accounts a vast majority of profits for a sales person and I don't know anyone that's been in the sales field that doesn't realize it doesn't work without the customer, even the difficult ones.

You're thinking of this as car sales. Think of building a team of car salesmen (or an accounting team, or a football team, or whatever you like instead. Addition through subtraction can be a real thing when you're team building (or player base building) and have someone who's morale is for whatever reason so low that they bring other people down or drive people who'd otherwise want to throw themselves into the team away.

I'm not sure OA qualifies - while he's generally a turd on the forums he's one of the few folks who can run a cabal well in game. That is, until he inevitably gets so worked up about something on the forums or over some perceived slight that he deletes in a huff...

If being an imm is a thankless job perhaps the Pbase should understand being a cabal/trib leader is one as well. It's why few people do it and fewer are good at it. Just saying.

Haha Finney, that made me laugh pretty hard.