7
7632
Guest
As many of you know, I am the primary owner of House Lavoyard and its main region, Le Havre. Throughout the past four months I have tried to perpetuate the legacy and heritage of the House and its many regions. Many who are close to me know that this came at huge personal expense, not only to my "wallet" but to my general well-being. I agreed to inherit the House, against the judgment of others to whom I consult, because I care deeply about preserving the history and legacy of one of the greatest and most influential houses this community has ever seen.
I set to work immediately, with sheer determination powering my pursuit of lofty goals. I began buying up the Lavoyard regions to ensure the integrity of the Empire, then conducted searches for players to run and eventually inherit these regions. In all, I owned 9 regions and had trusted IC leaders in most of them.
Activity in Le Havre went in bursts, but I could see that the few Lavoyards left on the server either did not approve of me or did not approve of my character, or both. I did not receive the support, I feel, that my endeavors warranted. My own duties as a staff member, particularly to make players happy and entertained, began to come in conflict with my duty to run the Empire. Rather than uphold the integrity of the Empire, I decided to sell two regions to players who had ooc attachment to the regions in question. Those efforts, some might say, backfired, because it soon became clear that even more regions were desired. Before long it was evident that more than one group had their eyes on Le Havre and became vocal about intentions.
One group in particular developed plans to do exactly what my character had been working on but refused to work with me toward those goals. The other group supported my character but also had plans to succeed her.
Many of my fellow staff members will tell you that a staff member has the same rights as every other member of our community, but one self-imposed exception is that a staff member's character ought not consolidate political power to the extent of stifling the creativity, expression, and political power of non-staff. Simply put, I felt it appropriate to defer my character's efforts to create a central government to a character or characters not played by a staff member. What that means is that I do not deem myself the appropriate choice to lead Lavoyard in its current state and with its current goals.
I had choices to make. Hard choices. Choices like changing the goals of the House to allow me to continue to rule. But that would change the legacy and history of the house. Choices like scrapping the entire region and House and starting over. That, too, would negatively impact the legacy and history of the house. Choices like finding a new IC leader and just working OOCly. That choice preserved legacy and history, but made me feel like I would be even more isolated. Choices like giving the region away to someone more competent than myself, which I ruled out because even though Le Havre hasn't grown since I joined, it still represents a seat of power, and I worked hard and spent a lot of money preserving that seat of power. I feel like at least some recompense is necessary.
Then Sally's thread emerged and word traveled of the discussions I had been having with various groups about the fate of Le Havre and House Lavoyard. Most people contacted me about it, but a few made or contributed to a thread that painted me in a very negative light. Some of those people have apologized and some have not. It was very hurtful, though, because even after I explained myself people were squabbling with others and forced the thread to be locked. I don't like locking threads because I feel that all ought to have a chance to speak, but that thread got out of hand and ruined it for others. The lessons we all can learn from that thread is 1) Do your homework before you accuse somebody of wrongdoing. 2) Arguing and being unreasonable toward others means depriving fellow community members of the chance to speak.
At any rate, I've already explained myself to a much more in-depth nature on that thread, so here all I will say is that it is evident that I have spent hours and hours thinking about the best solution, consulting both parties, and attempting to find a way to make everybody happy. I proposed solution after solution, solicited advice from the groups, and listened to pros and cons of many more solutions.
Nothing about this process has been easy, and yet I'm glad it's happened because it's good practice for all of us and good lessons from which we all can learn. Even now I am still unsure whether my decision is right and I have no doubt that somebody will be upset. All I ask is you either keep it off our forums or contact me privately to share your thoughts.
I set to work immediately, with sheer determination powering my pursuit of lofty goals. I began buying up the Lavoyard regions to ensure the integrity of the Empire, then conducted searches for players to run and eventually inherit these regions. In all, I owned 9 regions and had trusted IC leaders in most of them.
Activity in Le Havre went in bursts, but I could see that the few Lavoyards left on the server either did not approve of me or did not approve of my character, or both. I did not receive the support, I feel, that my endeavors warranted. My own duties as a staff member, particularly to make players happy and entertained, began to come in conflict with my duty to run the Empire. Rather than uphold the integrity of the Empire, I decided to sell two regions to players who had ooc attachment to the regions in question. Those efforts, some might say, backfired, because it soon became clear that even more regions were desired. Before long it was evident that more than one group had their eyes on Le Havre and became vocal about intentions.
One group in particular developed plans to do exactly what my character had been working on but refused to work with me toward those goals. The other group supported my character but also had plans to succeed her.
Many of my fellow staff members will tell you that a staff member has the same rights as every other member of our community, but one self-imposed exception is that a staff member's character ought not consolidate political power to the extent of stifling the creativity, expression, and political power of non-staff. Simply put, I felt it appropriate to defer my character's efforts to create a central government to a character or characters not played by a staff member. What that means is that I do not deem myself the appropriate choice to lead Lavoyard in its current state and with its current goals.
I had choices to make. Hard choices. Choices like changing the goals of the House to allow me to continue to rule. But that would change the legacy and history of the house. Choices like scrapping the entire region and House and starting over. That, too, would negatively impact the legacy and history of the house. Choices like finding a new IC leader and just working OOCly. That choice preserved legacy and history, but made me feel like I would be even more isolated. Choices like giving the region away to someone more competent than myself, which I ruled out because even though Le Havre hasn't grown since I joined, it still represents a seat of power, and I worked hard and spent a lot of money preserving that seat of power. I feel like at least some recompense is necessary.
Then Sally's thread emerged and word traveled of the discussions I had been having with various groups about the fate of Le Havre and House Lavoyard. Most people contacted me about it, but a few made or contributed to a thread that painted me in a very negative light. Some of those people have apologized and some have not. It was very hurtful, though, because even after I explained myself people were squabbling with others and forced the thread to be locked. I don't like locking threads because I feel that all ought to have a chance to speak, but that thread got out of hand and ruined it for others. The lessons we all can learn from that thread is 1) Do your homework before you accuse somebody of wrongdoing. 2) Arguing and being unreasonable toward others means depriving fellow community members of the chance to speak.
At any rate, I've already explained myself to a much more in-depth nature on that thread, so here all I will say is that it is evident that I have spent hours and hours thinking about the best solution, consulting both parties, and attempting to find a way to make everybody happy. I proposed solution after solution, solicited advice from the groups, and listened to pros and cons of many more solutions.
Nothing about this process has been easy, and yet I'm glad it's happened because it's good practice for all of us and good lessons from which we all can learn. Even now I am still unsure whether my decision is right and I have no doubt that somebody will be upset. All I ask is you either keep it off our forums or contact me privately to share your thoughts.
THE PLAN
I have included two plans here. The first one is the operative plan unless something happens. The second is a contingency plan in case the first plan fails. You are free to share your thoughts about each plan if you so choose, but please remember to be civil to your fellow community members. Arguing and causing a ruckus does nothing except deprive them a legitimate right to offer reasonable opinion.
I am going to refund the region back to the server and grant @Rygan the right to reclaim and preserve much as he can. Rygan will receive IC and OOC leadership of House Lavoyard and will be playing Charlotte's son, Charles Lavoyard. Charles is currently a teenager and rightful heir, as he is the son of Charlotte and Barthe.
Rygan does not have the ability to cover all of the plots, though, so he will preserve the ships, bridge, and the castle first, then the palace and surrounding buildings. The remaining builds may be worldedited out, at normal cost, by the black banners and Marr, taking turns and rolling to see who goes first.
To begin, both party leaders agreed to this plan. This is because neither the Black Banners nor Marr get Le Havre. Rather, Charlotte's line is continued. Rygan is a great choice not only because of his standing in our community but also because he is the best equipped to save as much of the region as he can and wishes to.
The Back Up Plan
Rygan is waiting on some assets to free up, and should those assets not free up or should we find ourselves in a place where the Rygan plan does not work for another legitimate reason, we will execute a different plan.
A few months ago, Archbishop created a chest donation mechanism for establishing who would be able to use the ball in the Tambry Ballroom. I would employ a similar method, setting up chests for each group and assigning values to each valuable item donated. The group with the highest amount would win, and if the group reaches 1m value in its chest by itself, all other chests would be refunded.
The winner gets the region, the House, and the right to play Charles Lavoyard and may do as they please with the region.
This plan absolves me of having to choose who gets the region, because every other solution I came up with will result in somebody being upset at me specifically. With this method, the community decides who the rightful owner of the region ought to be. It also preserves the region as it currently is and allows the new owner to do with it as they please.
While more appealing to absolve me from the line of fire, I felt like Rygan was a better choice because of his independence, ability to save all the important builds, willingness to take on the project, and goodwill. In addition, both parties agreed.
While more appealing to absolve me from the line of fire, I felt like Rygan was a better choice because of his independence, ability to save all the important builds, willingness to take on the project, and goodwill. In addition, both parties agreed.
Final Word
I want to thank everybody one final time for being reasonable and working with me on this. It makes me happy to see all sides find an agreeable solution despite our differences. If I could split Le Havre in two and give one to each group I would. Remember that our community is centered around a game, albeit one to which we attach value. When our ability to play and enjoy the game is impeded upon, that value diminishes and affects everyone else, too. Stay classy, HollowWorld.
Tagging
@Cap
@Tybalt
@Rygan
@Scardrac
