Shattered Kingdoms

Also, your post is full of putting words into my mouth that I never said. I never said administrative actions can be hidden -- you did. I never said some people get invisible customer service -- you did. I never said Vassar got an approval -- you did. If you've got a complaint, all you need to do is fully explain your allegation, starting with the appropriate admin for the subject, and working your way up to me if your issue isn't satisfied. If it comes to me, then those admins will be called on to explain themselves. They know that they ought to be keeping their own logs to defend themselves in these situations. In addition, everything they do is system logged.

But Grep, your posts in this thread and many others really do come down to trolling. TheORplayer is a new player that is being driven away by the sort of pedantic nonsense that you appear to thrive on. And he clearly isn't the only one tired of you riding the line. I've already warned you privately several times over the last year. So consider this your final warning. The next post you make that another player plausibly makes an argument for being considered trolling will finally get you banned.

PS. The posts were coming fast while I was writing this. Gonna hit Submit anyway, before reading them.

For better or worse, you've really just described the experience of being part of a thriving mud community. And while this mud may not make the same peak numbers that some others do, it's not due to the one factor alone, I can promise you that. You can say 'shut it down' on the forums, and even threaten to punish it, but that really won't stop player to player information sharing. I was staff on a top 10 rpi for a year, I know this. In fact, that same RPI forbade posting anything IC no matter how old on the boards. And someone else set up a discussion forum for it. Which now sees more logins in a day than the mud sees in a week. Because it's hemorrhaging old players. And really, for the same reason that most muds do. Most staff on muds that I know of, have a greater likelihood of winding up involved with the players of that mud at some point than with someone who doesn't. Most of the players or staff have had enough interaction with each other for good or ill by the time anyone is a real 'veteran', that everyone has some longstanding bias with regards to each other, for good or ill. Frankly it is refreshing to me not to see it stamped out with total disregard for the players, because stamping it out is not going to stop it, believe you me.

You are right that it doesn't matter whether it's righteous or ignoble. I think you are probably also right that if people just stayed IC and played the game, everyone would end up having a much better experience. But I have yet to find a way to make people want to do that. And harsh enforcement drives people to other corners of the internet that are not policed at all. If you think these forums are nasty, this is only purgatory compared to the levels of hell that can be found elsewhere.

I will be truthful and acknowledge that our player base has a lot of warts. I do believe that other player bases have many of the same problems and they are either better at hiding it or the game has little depth. Anytime people come together in a competitive environment that they care greatly about, there are going to be disagreements. I'm deeply thankful that you expressed your opinions about this subject and hope you stay to continue to provide a positive influence. We need more players that can stand up for a positive environment and help dilute the nastiness down to a tolerable level. Thanks.

Also thanks. It's good to have some validation. That said, I do want to make things better somehow and not settle for the status quo.

Or the old Yahoo forum this game once had, good times. Though I agree with Dulrik, these forums are pretty tame compared to other gaming forums. The truly hellish forums exist upon the FPS communities.

You can only hear 14-year-old boys say they've [REDACTED] your mother so many times before it just plain gets old.

lolz What is this ruckus?

It's really funny to read this thread with grep on your foes list. It's like everyone's arguing with thin air.