Shattered Kingdoms

Yes, to prevent Peso from cabal hopping.

Could we at least change the hoarding code to consider taking the items held in your inventory for the shortest amount of time? That help protect from the player from accidents.

There will be some changes to the monthly update code next month to deal with various bugs and make a few changes to the definition of hoarding. No, I will not detail the change, because it could be gamed. But it should address some of these concerns.

Thanks.

So you have a scale for different races when determining hero status? You say there maybe greater reward for those that hold hero longer but humans are at a disadvantage when compared to elves. I think it should be scaled so it's balanced.

I was recently asked: 'Why is Tolene not hero? Your system must be BS.'

So, I went ahead and investigated that, since Tolene isn't even on the list of candidates. The answer turned out to be pretty simple - her RP score was in the negatives. Remember that RP score is affected by rewards and penalties, so in retrospect it was kind of obvious.

They wouldn't be in the negatives if I as a player (not the character) received penalties for any little thing that your baby immstaff couldn't handle. Moreover, they are actively looking for reasons to punish me.

I have been cursed for shelving a character after being told that legitimate use of taunt is bug abuse, then riding with Peso's character to kill an enemy of both of both Tolene and Ghavorian 12 actual hours after I had shelved my swashbuckler. I was later told by another imm that the first imm that told me that using taunt was bug abuse was confused and didn't know what they were talking about.

Then I got cursed after stunning Silisa and junking her loot after she had roleplayed sleeping with Cendre. I was cursed and blemished. Silisa got High Follower of the religion. Cendre could have charmed her and RPed raping her but that's not the case since Cendre never got deleted. Given that Silisa also got the High Follower flag it might be that the staff is sending the wrong message to the playerbase. Some people's actions can be rewarded while others will be penalized.

Then I just got cursed for usage of [REDACTED] and get bent. [REDACTED] dates back to the 1200s, but it can't be used because the immstaff are a bunch of babies that need to watch the language of a game that despite it's text-based nature would easily receive an NC-17 from the MPAA and AO from the ESRB. I was then informed that even if [REDACTED] dated back to the 1200s they would curse me for get bent, and that there was a whole slew of other reasons. I didn't do those things out of anything other than being paranoid, and it turns out I was right to be paranoid.

I was told I could appeal the curse to Sadr, but I've elected not to bother given past circumstances with the immstaff and current relations. Given that I forwarded an e-mail some time ago outlining what I felt was leadership abuse you refused to read it. When I gave a spurious claim of Achernar currently giving info to mortals that I couldn't substantiate with evidence, (also not an accident, though you guys love to paint me as some unstable psychopath) a lot of effort was put in to discrediting my claim. Given that and the fact that the immstaff has been sent to watch me like some gestapo members, I know I'm not going to be treated fairly here. Most of those curses, I feel, should be reversed, but they're not going to be because it is clear that the immstaff plays favorites and goes after people they do not like. This is irrefutable since one of your imms [REDACTED] up and spilled the beans to my gamed actions to find out if I was or not being actively looked at.

I have to be extremely careful who I play with because I'm not well-liked by certain players in the community as well. I will no longer play with the character Onnika because whether or not she's in the crowd that sends messages to use the immstaff by proxy as a means to oocly harass me for not liking me on an ooc level, I have to take a guarded measure and assume that the player is. I shouldn't have to. This same situation happened with Zaarim.

Shattered Kingdoms used to be one of my favorite games. I put a lot of hours into it because it used to be a highly addicting game. You are also a fool to believe that losing players for the myth of the "new player" is a tenable strategy. No industry analysis supports that claim. Games are consumed. There is a huge initial wave when a game is released, and then it fades out of public view a month or two later, and the people that stick around are the hardcore gamers that will play it regardless. Who sticks around after the gamers that quit and complain over ridiculous reasons like the shade of black used in the game was too dark? It's the loyal fan and the dedicated gamer.

So yeah, I did use words like [REDACTED] and get bent, because Tolene is a rugged old mercenary that is racist against deep-elves. I used homogay (I blunted this from homofag at the time because reasons to soften it or whatever) because I wanted to show that my Druid Athrae was a naturalist and thought that homosexuality was an abomination. But at the same time I've also RPed a [REDACTED] relationship with Tolene. The then Peacekeeper leader completely lost his [REDACTED] at what he saw was an abomination in homosexuality. So no, my usage of words and ideas is not evidence of poor roleplay. If anything, I simply dare to do what others won't in pursuit of making the character what he or she is.

Do I like Shattered Kingdoms? Yes. Can I recommend it to anyone? No. The staff is strangling the life out of any RP. If you want to RP you're better off going elsewhere. If you want to PK, just go buy the latest Call of Duty game. And I certainly can't recommend a game to someone where they could end up being treated like me by the immstaff because they simply can't tolerate ideas outside of their own.

And no, I wasn't the one that asked why Tolene isn't hero. I know why I'm not hero. I don't see eye-to-eye, and I don't tow the party line.

I can't speak to the feelings of every admin, but I don't have any personal issues with Ardith's player. I un-retired Tolene at his request, although I certainly did not have to do so. And I have actually shown a lot of restraint in moderating his occasional foul language on the forums (usually redacting instead of issuing a formal warning).

But that could be a problem too, because then Ardith may feel he can keep going over the line and ends up feeling betrayed when he finally gets called on one of the instances which is not all that different from other instances.

Every time that it came up that Ardith was going to receive a penalty, it sounded justified to me based on discussion. If other people are getting away with similar violations, they should be reported and penalized as well. I understand that Ardith disdains the system and doesn't want to narc on others, but then he can't use the excuse that he is not being treated the same.

I don't disdain the system. When I report things they never get resolved. I reported some characters for leadership abuse and you outright refused to read it. I reported several bugs in quests *years* ago. Those things have not been fixed. I've formed the opinion that it's just not worth using the system because of repeated ignoring of reports, while at the same time having imms come down on me hard for the slightest infraction. The playing field certainly is not balanced. I mean I would report something right now just for sheer schadenfreude, but I'm pretty sure it would be ignored.

As for things that I get cursed for like using the word [REDACTED] I do not see it as a necessity to report players. I do not feel that using those words is a sin, and I do not get offended when they are used. It would be simply ludicrous for me to report people that I do not get offended by.

Just look what Marfik did when I told him to stop favoring Matsuro and Ivalyn. He completely lost his [REDACTED] and transferred me in front of enemy players. And then the immstaff noting that I was locating bills on Athrae when my character Tolene is specialized in bills. I simply can't trust the immstaff to be objective when I know they're looking for reasons. Other than receiving penalties when some player simply can't keep his or her tears in or does it simply for the lulz, I have very limited interaction with the immstaff. They avoid me like the plague, and make no attempts to engage me as a player. I was actively surprised when I requested leadership for Tolene on the Keeper forums and then got it. I chalked it up to Nashira making a mistake, because I figured I had been blacklisted from leadership roles.

Really, I would use the system if there was an olive branch extended, but I think I've just been labelled as a "problem" that needs "handled." I'd rather make the game an enjoyable environment, and I'm not out to cheat (I hardly need to). I'd like to keep playing, but unlike Syn I simply am not going to play under such circumstances, I'm not going to be handed an ultimatum.

As for forum violations, I generally don't remember that the forums have that bug of not censoring words next to punctuation. I've tended to just roll my eyes when it happens and wait out the forum ban.

In case it's not clear, I do want to note that the new Marfik is not the same Marfik (2014) that was involved in the incident you just quoted. Marfik (2014) retired from the staff shortly after the incident quoted, and while there are several other reasons for the retirement taking place, that was the trigger for some evaluations that needed to happen.