A Land Far Away

Y'all punks be runnin' for office and not postin' platforms, so I'm starting threads.

I hope no one wants to vote on people when they have no idea what the candidates want to do with the office, so let's start there.

1. If elected as PA, what do you expect to accomplish?

2. What makes you better qualified than that other person?

3. Is there any process/ policy/ whatnot you want to reform?

4. Which (if any) processes/ policies/ whatnot do you think are working well (and you'd want to keep the same)?

Would you be in support of initiatives to bring back online OAS2, as well as RP101?

So the questions I should've asked in the first place, what with it being the stuff I would have to do work for:
How good are you with the technical side of PA work? When it comes to investigations, for example, how many of your own queries will you be writing and how much will you be leaning on others for help when, for example, trying to place an order of events from logs after getting conflicting reports from players?

And do you believe there is a reward system (specifically static XP and wealth) that can make the benefits of farming trivial enough that you wouldn't bother to enforce? Related to as much, do you believe that opportunity cost can be implemented well enough that the benefits of powergaming would be triival enough that you wouldn't bother to enforce? If either is a yes, what would that look like?

1. As player admin, what would be your view of the role of the HDM's and DM's. What responsibilities do you think server DM teams have (within the purview of the PA of course)

2.What do you think of "Player density". Is it too high, too low, does it even matter?

3.A player sends you a PM complaining in emphatic terms that a DM has killed them because the player believes that the DM doesn't like them and they would like a res and be moved to another server. What would you do?

1. If elected as PA, what do you expect to accomplish?
- As PA I am mostly keen on bringing a happier playerbase. It has been nerving me how the environment was frequently ruined on the various servers due to people interactions and OOC drama. Multiple suggestions would thus be made to individuals so the environment can lighten up a little.

- Furthermore Paazin and I have been trying to make the BG low-level experience more bareable for low-levels, as there have been several notices of new players coming and leaving because they couldn't handle ALFA's start with entertainment.

- Keep ALFA as a game, not a job

2. What makes you better qualified than that other person?
- I don't like answering this question. Everyone has their abilities and disabilities.

3. Is there any process/ policy/ whatnot you want to reform?
- There may be multiple I wish to see changed but I wouldn't do anything without passing a 2:3's vote system. This is a server, people are majority and thusly the majority shall over-rule. Some of the changes I may take in mind are:
- Removing the IRC
- Create a player querry/trouble private thread that a PA or Admin can view and discuss about, in interest of the players on ALFA
- Make the server a bit more loose, meaning taking people in a less firm grasp to lessen the paranoid nature of doing something wrong what ever you do.
- Try to make ALFA more entertaining when server-populace is running low.

4. Which (if any) processes/ policies/ whatnot do you think are working well (and you'd want to keep the same)?
- What I currently do not see working well is ALFA's PvP oriented environment. There is more player stuggle then duefully neccesary, especially as alot of it turns out into OOC grief after.
- Some timezones are currently overlooked and I would want to take a look at that so every player can experience ALFA better.
- The Rules on Griefing and the like have been taken loosely.

5. As player admin, what would be your view of the role of the HDM's and DM's. What responsibilities do you think server DM teams have (within the purview of the PA of course)
- Even though a valid question, I will not be pointing fingers openly here on the forums. There are many worries I plan to attend to there that have been told to me by our playerbase.
- DMs are there to provide entertainment and aswell have enjoyment (but that enjoyment is not ment to come in the cost of someone elses fun). It's an interactive server afterall. Furthermore, DMs are just players to me - Players that are offered to tell a story and open the options for a character to develope the way THEY want to. DMs should not be capable to hand out bans or any of the sort without contacting an admin position.

6.What do you think of "Player density". Is it too high, too low, does it even matter?
- Out of my own experience too-high of a population causes individuals to miss out on entertainment through playing with other characters or DM events.
- Too-low keeps people uninterested and mostly without anything to do, especially on ALFA.

7.A player sends you a PM complaining in emphatic terms that a DM has killed them because the player believes that the DM doesn't like them and they would like a res and be moved to another server. What would you do?
- Research. If said player and DM deffinately did not get along, this player would get said res and be transfered on said server. A warning would be made for it not to happen again, as the player could easily avoid such a situation by
a). not participate in the DMs events
b). write to the PA in prior about worries
c). write a friendly tell to said DM that he wishes not to participate in their events. Any propper DM should accept this and thusly leave the individual alone. Not everyone will get along as we sadly do not live in a Utopian world.

For any more questions, please feel free to write here. I will reply as soon as I can. Thanks.

Would you be in support of initiatives to bring back online OAS2, as well as RP101?

- Both of these tell me little, but if you give me a bit of info I may aid. From what I can tell on first hand is that these are servers and I'd gladly be a mapper for them if so.

So the questions I should've asked in the first place, what with it being the stuff I would have to do work for:
How good are you with the technical side of PA work? When it comes to investigations, for example, how many of your own queries will you be writing and how much will you be leaning on others for help when, for example, trying to place an order of events from logs after getting conflicting reports from players?
- Technical side I am decent enough to know a few deals. If it goes for logs / scripting, I'll depend on those who participated in the whole good/bad affairs for aid if not even people who are not influenced by this, but have witnessed. If reports remain conflicted even through indepth research, I will ask the players to part ways and ignore each other in game. Failure to do this... well - I may offer one or the other to move servers in return for some compensation even though I would find it sad that it would have to go down that route.

And do you believe there is a reward system (specifically static XP and wealth) that can make the benefits of farming trivial enough that you wouldn't bother to enforce? Related to as much, do you believe that opportunity cost can be implemented well enough that the benefits of powergaming would be triival enough that you wouldn't bother to enforce? If either is a yes, what would that look like?
- Firstly the Powergame / xp gain / wealth discussion is a deadhorse for me with so many different oppinions that one can't make it even propper. People are wanting so much and buttheads to degrees that it becomes childish to watch. In effect I'd remove that rule wholly. We have quests added, encounters added. Risk it if you dare. Do it when you dare. It's not like people come to ALFA for action, seeing that we have an application system that shows that people are interested in RP.

- What I also wish to add is the foundation of the Powergame discussion comes from jealousy and grief over being PvPed. So if you solve the PvP / Grief issue, no one will complain about "Powergaming" individuals anymore.

hey zilvai,

1)
I am sometimes concerned that we are beginning to lean on tech systems to prevent cheating. These systems add complexity, take time to design and implement (time that could be used for new DM/player-fun-features), and are sometimes hard to implement to target a minority of cheaters without impacting on a few good souls who's RL circumstances may mean they are penalised by a one size fits all 'automated PC regulation' systems.

We have a system of prevention for cheating in ALFA. You cheat you get punished (if it's an honest mistake, you dont). We elect PAs to interpret the rules properly to ensure ALFA remains the game we love.
Except I feel that the punishment's currently do not establish enough of a disincentive to cheat and so we look for alternatives like system approaches.

I would like to see major exp/level losses, permanent attribute penalties, major item/gold losses, and premptive rejection of PrC/EO char approvals in the toolbox for the PA. I believe these more 'close to home' measures may be more of a disincentive (at least from mid-level on) than a strike and can always be IC played out in a world of random events.

What's your view on this?

2
Dan started picking people up on stuff that previously has been let go. I applaud Dan for this and think those that got away with it previously...'got away with it'.

Do you think the standard Dan implemeted was too lenient, too harsh, or about right.

That's a good set of questions Dorn. Personally I do not support the anti-cheating system we have because it is not perfect, as it's not a sentient being. One must always consider the lack of things to do and thereof in ALFA currently on different timezones. Some people are left with little more to do then go out and adventure, which leads to killing monsters or doing the static quests that ALFA offered to the players as a means of entertainment.

Cheating is also a quite broad word in ALFA's environment. People can't enter codes to cheat. The most that could happen is a DM giving a player items, muling, twinking and perhaps the abuse of a bugged quest (those being often reported and even more quickly handled). There are little to no blacksheep on ALFA and thusly I find the integration of an "anti-cheating" system pretty moot of a point and at most as an aid to look at certain OOC issues between players. I'm also an individual that rather would trust the playerbase then control them like a dictator, putting my security camera's everywhere.

zilvai wrote: Personally I do not support the anti-cheating system we have because it is not perfect, as it's not a sentient being.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean of "the anti-cheating system" here. Would that be a tech system or a persecution/punishment system? Or are you against either type of powergaming-mitigating rules?

zilvai wrote: One must always consider the lack of things to do and thereof in ALFA currently on different timezones. Some people are left with little more to do then go out and adventure, which leads to killing monsters or doing the static quests that ALFA offered to the players as a means of entertainment.

So you say that if a player feels they are not adequately entertained by ALFA at the moment, rules on farming and powergaming need not apply? Do you think the players who "kill monsters and do static quests" in a frenzy should be given more XP than those who play the same time just talking to other PCs when they find themselves at "lack of things to do"? Assuming you have gained XP rapidly from static content of late, and the "go out and adventure" would as a result yield no more XP for you than talking in-character with other PCs would. Would you consider the entertainment value of ALFA then reduced for you?

For you first question, T-Ice, yes. I am not much of a fan of mitigating someone the option of doing something when there is a lack of things to do. BG during my timezones mostly has 0-3 players online till late night, where I barely get chance to play. So I am left to do other things or merely log out. I rather play ALFA.

For your second question you are looking in an extreme that does not suit ALFA. There are hardly any players that "Powergrind" to any sort of extent on ALFA. No one on ALFA puts grinding over RP infact. Furthermore, some people will always have more xp then others. People who go out and attend to quests (which likely is in a group and hardly ever solo) tend to get more rewards.

I point to a good example in events, people who do more risky things get more xp then people who do less risky things, like sit in a tavern. It's how it goes and how it should be seen.

People who point fingers towards "Powergames" also cause the whole OOC drama in the server, because they see others get xp faster then them, thusly finding it unfair. Sadly they do not see the RP aspect of it and do not approach it in such a manner.

Once more I speak of experience. My former character, Akai'ye Lor'Atsa, hardly ever did something dangerous. It began to bore me, as I could not stick to the levels of others. I made myself a new character now and she is significantly more exciting because I take the risk to go outside, do statics and adventure a bit.

So to final up, I would suggest any who find their lack of xp intolerant to perhaps roll a new character, find a nice friendly group and have some RP adventure fun. It'll make the server more lively because you'll need to find groups to complete side quests whilst otherwise waiting for a DM event to occur.

That's what the static quests are for afterall!

I am not much of a fan of mitigating someone the option of doing something when there is a lack of things to do.

I think the point, and the one that it seems you're sort of dodging, is that the option of doing something has little to do with getting XP for doing it. I get you're against shutting down content from before players eyes due to how much XP their PC has gained in the last X, and so am I. But if a PC kills 200 spawns this week, do you think he should get 200 times the XP of killing one? Not giving XP for something, or reducing that XP, has little to do with the option of the PC ICly doing it or not, does it? The PC can go on and entertain herself by killing 200 spawns even if she only gets 10 times the XP of killing one, can't she?

I see. My solution to that, T-Ice, would be a script that forces people to pause after so much kills. I've seen this system work greatly on another server.

Example:

PC kills 10 goblins for 4 xp each. Each goblin then after gives 2 xp each for five or ten more kills. Each goblin then after gives 1xp, etc. The player is then forced to take the time off to "rest" his character at a respective tavern / town / outside camp and RP with individuals. He will still be able to go out for events and the like, just with less a reward for killing mobs. Maybe even the same could be done for repeated statics?

zilvai wrote:PC kills 10 goblins for 4 xp each. Each goblin then after gives 2 xp each for five or ten more kills. Each goblin then after gives 1xp, etc. The player is then forced to take the time off to "rest" his character at a respective tavern / town / outside camp and RP with individuals. He will still be able to go out for events and the like, just with less a reward for killing mobs. Maybe even the same could be done for repeated statics?

This would be closer to the sort of thing Dan and I had been talking about, and what my question about reward systems altering the need for disputes was meant to focus on-- it sounded like there was something else in mind when I mentioned it prior?

Zelknolf wrote:This would be closer to the sort of thing Dan and I had been talking about, and what my question about reward systems altering the need for disputes was meant to focus on-- it sounded like there was something else in mind when I mentioned it prior?

I don't quite follow, could you reword for me please?