Unabridged

[Itzzaboy]

I'm sorry that, in essence, my inactivity kinda hauled this all on you. Is there any way you could look at drafting in some help in the lore side of thing? That way you can spread the work slightly and, if there is any backlash (not that there should be anyway) then at least it isn't 100% then at least you don't take the full brunt of it.

I cant comment too much on the magic system itself, as I've really not been too involved in Hollowworld for a good while, but I do remember that you were extremely thorough to include details, and that everything made realistic sense.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. People need to stop looking at staff as some sort of superplayer with powers. In-character, they are just the same as every other player you can encounter in the world, and they should be treated as such. If people have issues with the magic system, then they need to suggest improvements to better it, or with all due respect they need to keep quiet. Minecraft is pretty limited in any sort of dynamic changes without plugins, and rest assured these guys are doing their absolute, 110% best to create such a system to improve YOUR roleplay, and if you hound them for it, all that will happen is that they'll just stop trying. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. If you have nothing constructive to say (and that does include criticism) then don't say anything.

I'm sorry my post kind of transformed into a rant, but I'm sick of seeing things like this happen. As Naelwyn's signature ironically states:
"THIS IS WHY WE CANT HAVE NICE THINGS"

 

[Smurf]

Point 4: People and the inability to handle the In-Character / Out-of-Character divide.

This has been a problem... well, basically forever - but it's been growing really out of hand of late and I'm not sure precisely why - I digress.

I'm not the type to be impolitely specific, but I do have to go into a bit of detail so people can see just how broadly this affects things.

I think it is fairest and the best way to conduct this to start with myself. Twice, in my time on this server, I have been brought past the point of maintaining the IC/OOC divide that is truely essential for this kind of thing.

The first point in time was a Tournament, held in the era before the very first Game of Crowns - I myself was a member of Hawklight at the time - the event was proceeding normally before myself and every other participant were suddenly teleported into the centre of the arena and killed by mobs, and then the fellow under favour of the hosts was declared the winner. [People these days really have no idea what 'Staff Abuse' actually means, but again, I digress.] I was, to state it - a tad offput. I complained about how terrible the event was run in house chat. Then I got a PM where I was attacked about having complained in my house chat by the people who ran the event.

The very first thing I decided on at that point was a vicious campaign of IC nastiness directly squarely at their person.
What saved me was actually the thought, "If the staff are like this, it's probably not worth it and I'd rather just bail."
I apologized for it instead, but I'm not sure I really meant anything I said to people threatening me. For my own reasons rather than their threats I decided to withdraw from the Game of Crowns - I didn't like what it did to me. (Nor did I think it was worth participating in when the largest participant was also apparently allowed to write the rules.)

I think I could have done far worse.

The second instance of this was when my growing frustration at a particular individual continuing to commit flagrant, despicable crimes and continue to get away with them for mostly OOC reasons - I was trying to ignore them as best I could and then they kept making things personal.

I had planned to throw literally everything I had at the fellow and dare him to wriggle a way out of it. [Incidentally, the finale step of which would polymorph him into durable metal or stone, ward him against heat, and drop him in the heart of a volcano, where he could remain cogent for the rest of his days.]

Again, however, I allowed my in-character rage at things continuing to be made personal even though I was trying to ignore the fellow to overflow at the time into my personal mindset. I regret that part and apologized for it.

I choose to air my own failings in a specific, detailed manner first so that you all listen to me when I address yours in a much more general fashion.

For instance, this constant internal violence and bickering is getting bloody ridiculous and you all need to stop it.

We could really have something tremendously interesting going if you all could remember it's a damn game and act accordingly.

The biggest annoyance I have had in my management of things so far is how much time I have to spend writing rules and telling people off for things that should be common sense.

I don't think people have any idea how many times I've been asked things that were basically just to put their character at an edge over something - sometimes even as ridiculous as trying to justify having invented electrical theory and tesla coils. [I can call this one out because that fellow is superbanned.]

Seriously folks - calm down, take a step back, stop hurling vitriol at one another.

I don't think it's anybody's responsibility to make up rules and herd you around so you can play through this - it's gotten to the point where I have heard a suggestion to outright ban the use of OOC conversation from roleplay chat entirely and it makes eminent sense.

I have really strived to not only roleplay on this server but keep the entirety of my experiance in-character.

When I wanted to say Naelwyn was better at punching things I simply spent around 4 hours a day for a month, running around, punching things. It's the most immersed I've ever been in-character, and I'm not sure why people are missing this experience.

I'm wondering what kind of experience could be facilitated by removing from the game entirely the Local chat, and the enforcement of literally every single action you do being in-character. I've done it. It's a drastic change that makes the experience... really quite something.

I think for the better part of months my character goal was to "Be able to do everything in-character that I can do out-of-character as a moderator." This got even more difficult when I got promoted to administrator.

I guess if I had a point to make here it's a simple -

Try and get more immersed in-character. Get deeply in-character, and keep the fact that you're working with people out of it.

Focus less on winning and instead try focusing on telling a good story.

Maaaybe try stabbing people less.

Part 5 Interpersonal Conflict and Escalation:

This is another big one that I've noticed - people deliberately provoking others and then everyone and their friends being drawn into some kind of hate fest.

I kinda want to go slappityslap about both the upcoming "Order of Harateth" and "Order of Rahas" until it's understood because it totally looks like that's going to happen.

As above in Part 4 - If people are fighting it stops being "Why is this character doing this" and becomes "Why is X doing this."

I think the effect is worst with people whose account name matches their character name. (Scardrac et. al.)

I'm still not sure how to stop this - I mean, it's people taking things personally - I don't have mind control or something, I'm not going to be able to stop people from forming grudges over things - but I really just don't understand why people are getting so vehement about it.

Is it due to the freeform nature of the roleplay on our server that leads to people arguing about the effects of everything during fighting?

I don't think the solution to that is trying to stat out everything because it's outright impossible to stat everything.

Maybe if people would accept "winning" a fight at some degree less than "Total death or mutilation of all opponents."

I've debated outright turning off the Sisterhood entirely because it seems the only thing it changes it that people try and mutilate others instead of killing them -

Ultimately people are engaged in consistently trying to stop others from playing their character. I guess that's what it boils down to.

I don't think there's much a single post can do to address Points 4 and 5 - but I'd at least like to talk about the fact that I see this in our community and I'm not sure how to resolve it.

I think the first thing to remember is -

Characters are Characters, Players are Players, and the attitudes of a character do not necessarily represent the attitudes of a player. As a fine example, Naelwyn still resists the impulse to pummel Scardrac into something resembling funnel cake, but I myself think he's an okay fellow.

The second thing to remember is:

Characters and Players are people, not AIs, not robots, not NPCs in your grand story, but other people. What you want to happen in your personal story may not precisely correlate what someone else, or even anyone else, wants - and probably the worst thing you can do is try and force your vision of a story onto someone else.

*bows down*

I do really think that the IC/OOC divide has been a huge problem lately- as well as the personal things leaking into RP.

One way that one (me, in this case) might think of the first is- well, I am jut going to lay this flat out. It is something that leads to the later, and- even though it is not against the rules- really gets to me. And that is when people (RPers) use I (first person) in their RPing, as if their character is them. Sure, it can be based off of them... But then they get super attached to the character and whine every time something happens. This is just a nit-pick of mine... But it often leads to personal things leaking into RP.

There is also a huge divide between what RP should be- THIS IS ALL AN OPINION. IF YOU DO NOT LIKE OPINIONS, DO NOT READ THIS- and what RP should not be. This tends to be with newer players- and I myself could be in either catagory. I have been on the server for six months, which is nothing compared to some. Yes, the older RPers tend to group together, but so do the newer players. And then there are people that are stuck in the middle, Rping with both. Which is completely fine.

And there is the problem of diversity. On any given day, you can run into 40% humans. 30% elves. 20% half breeds of the two. That makes roughly 80%. You might see one or two earthspawn. Perhaps even one of the extinct races. A few halflings? Sure. I personally usually don't see a dwarf. AND if I do, not once have I seen a female one. (..Which I am planning on creating at some time myself, hehe.) Maybe a couple of Caparii. A few moor elves? Yeah, thats common.


And then there is aging.
Dear god. I used to do this myself- so, yes, I pick on myself for it.

But when you age your character 10 years. In a course of three days. No. just no. It throws everything off, and makes US have to age OUR characters. The same with parents and children. If your child turns ten, then your parents have to age ten years.


Okay, thats enough ranting for now- at least for me. ;-;

 

[Constable Quokka]

Sindri is female. but Last I had RPd her DwarfLike charm upset some Elves who tried to kill her for making a child cry.

 

[Mad Hatter]

6: Villains. Yes. Yes yes yes. YES. I think the biggest problem I have with some of the character people play is that they are creating villains who they intend to play indefinitely. This bugs me. Immensely. That being said, I would LOVE to see more player-driven (i.e. CREATED) events centering around the ultimate vanquishing of their own villains. THIS WOULD BE SO COOL, GUYS.

I really truly agree I think this would also be a good way to resolve some horribly long standing feuds... Permanently.

 

[Faelin]

*Grumbles about the conversation moving faster than Cherry can type, but hops back to Part 1, Magic anyway*

Truthfully then, and semi-adjusting my original response wherein I was under the impression that this decision was more concrete, I would like to offer my own defense of the system presently in place.

As I have said, I honestly feel that with the threat of its removal, we will be able to hear far more of the positive feedback than if otherwise. This is not because it was not there, but because it's a recurring problem that negative responses tend to shout the loudest and sting the most, while those who are content say little or nothing and just enjoy the game quietly. I do not, then, believe that those people should lack for a system they enjoy because they have been shouted over by those with issues with the system.

Now, let us have a look at said issues, annotated hopefully helpfully (as opposed to school-teacher irritatingly...) below.

This system:

1) Causes biased feelings, dislike, and interpersonal complications amongst people due to denial from things they want.

This, at the end of the day is unfair in itself. Keeping a good system from one collection of people who have worked hard to meet requirements... Because another group cannot accept their not being directly involved, and because the latter group makes the most noise? Pure and simple, I would call out the actions of the second group as outright misconduct for acting upon a blurred distinction between what is IC and what is OOC.

As shown, it is likely that those running the system will be reluctant to be involved in the resolution of such behaviour (and frankly I wouldn't bloody blame you) for fear that those involved will cite bias or abuse of a position as a defence, which is not only a downright underhand way of trying to get what you want, but really hurtful to an individual who is just trying to help everything run smoothly.

Fortunately, and this is certainly something I will be considering in greater depth, we do have some conveniently placed moderators (who, incidentally, I hear are rather charming) that aer more than willing to, well, moderate. Mediate disagreements, follow up cases if people do not understand their position, make sure people know when they are being unreasonable, and - with any luck - fix it.

I have always pretty firmly stood by the fact that the creators/managers of just about anything should not have to be the ones to deal with public relations. It is why even very small companies and retailers will have a human resources department or customer service office. It is so very easy to lose faith in people's ability to comply with seemingly simple things and, as sadly evidenced, it can quickly lead to said managers losing faith in the target demographic or becoming reluctant to continue their work, absorbing what seems a vast amount of backlash while any positive yield seems negligibly evidenced by comparison.

2) Requires substantial upkeep in the realm of time from people - causes resentment directed at people when they "Take too long." I'm not going to try and make people prioritize a game over anything they are doing in their actual life, and if the system is too resource-intensive it rapidly becomes untenable.

As Som mentioned, this is only the first generation of apprenctices. Once more mages know what they are doing in greater depth, it will indubitably relieve pressure on your guys playing the Magi, as there will be more individuals capable of teaching. At that point, transfer of such a position to an/some existing apprentice/apprentices is likely to make teaching feel less pressurised for those playing the Magi, and more enjoyable rather than bordering obligation.

Even if a characters choose to take a personal break from teaching, or if the role of Magus for a discipline is transferred in another manner, I feel it would be a better action than the removal of the system. That way, teaching might be passed on or continued at some point in the future, and the system would not need to start again from scratch.

3) Causes people to pressure teaching-capable individuals OOCly for knowledge or faster progression

Again, I refer you to my response to issue #1. If people are being unreasonable, I feel it is in the interests of those who do comply to the system for staff uninvolved in magic to appropriately respond. Juuust as we would for any other attempted manipulation of others' RP. It is obliquely against the rules and should be treated as such.

4) The way it was set up to prevent metagaming leads to other accusations even when material is publicly available in a confidential section for fact-checking.

I have not actually seen any specific instances of this myself, so I am quite surprised to read this, but I would once more lean to appropriate investigation and resolution from staff members deemed neutral parties.

While it's fresh in my mind, I actually just glanced over the length of this post and the time it has taken me to write it, chuckling to myself that I could have probably added a whole religious scripture to m'Norvägen lore by now. This, though initially a... mildly entertained musing, actually brings me nicely to another advantage of external mediation from staff members not involved in writing or maintaining the magic system: the lore writers are free to write lore.

It takes an awful lot of time and energy to respond to queries, qualms, criticisms - the user sends their one comment or question, but the manager has to deal with every one of them every individual who registers one. If we had more people on the job, I suspect it would tremendously ease the workload, in turn allowing writers and managers to focus on maintaining the system itself.

5) A system designed to require roleplay to advance in any way sounded amazing on paper and ended up leading to many issues when put into practise.

Oi, stop trying to fill up more numbers, you've already said that.

Really, Naelwyn. *Swats good-naturedly*

6) Gross misassumptions about the playerbase.

Tall Poppy Syndrome has caused, does cause and will continue to cause issues, but certainly not restricted to magic. Yet I feel that saying that the misconduct because of this is applicable to "the playerbase" is something of a generalisation considering the vast, vast majority who work within and around this system in a mature and amicable manner; it comes back to the noisy few who make it a problem.

Again, I will refer to my my response to point #1.

I do not think it reasonable that we conform to a situation where people can get away with a mentality of "well if I can't, why should x", simply because that is not how the game works. That is not how life works. It is not how either should work.

We should not be conforming to this to a point where we can't have nice things.

Inciting discord is against the rules. If individuals are persisting in being unreasonable to the point they are actively seeking reason to give others a hard time, then it should not be a case of "We need to dumb down the system to give absolutely everyone an easy opportunity" or "We need to remove it so that these people do not cause issues for others".

No.

We should not have to take something away from a perfectly decent majority because of these people. Anyone bullying, persecuting, generally being damaging over something so petty as jealousy, over something so petty as a game needs to reconsider what they are doing here in the first place.

Right. Now onto phase two of my extremely extensive point.

My response so far has been aimed primarily at shoulds and coulds. How you and others can keep a damn good system working. I've touched briefly on why, but I do not think I am quite done in that respect.

People like magic, we know this. Many have developed some skills IC already, many have characters already intertwined within the system, and for many of these players I suspect that it is quite important to them. Lots of people like it just for its presence in the game, for the added dimension and as something to respond to and interact with as opposed to wielding it personally.

People like this system. I have seen pretty much every attempt at streamlining the magic lore/systems over two years playing on the server, and I have never seen anything nearly as functional and cohesive as this.

The lore itself is stunning, and a brilliantly integrated take on something that was previously so mundane in the sense that it slotted so woodenly slotted into the archetypes of the fantasy genre in which fireballs and lightning are apparently the height of sophistication. What has been written since is awesome, in every sense of the word. It makes you think, it transfers well to the free-form style of roleplay, and it still manages to be understandable.

The manner of progression, too, brings a rather ridiculous grin to my face (one day I'll post pictures, I promise). The way the mages are effectively tiered, with the present teachers with the varying requirements to begin tuition means that the characters accepted as apprentices are almost guaranteed to be ICly capable, and OOCly patient enough to go through with the process. Which means, that when these mages hone their abilities further, and we start looking at third generation mages, the teachers aren't going to be characters who manage their skills poorly, and the transfer of knowledge will be so much better for it.

As I see it, it is not the magic system that has failed.

Not the writing, not its management, not the apprentices, but those who choose to make it difficult for all of those three things.

After your post, I will be very surprised if we do not see any change. I do not think I have felt quite so optimistic about the community's responses to any post of its kind for a very, very long time. I am hoping upon hope that we can all finally pull together on this. It... really seems that we might see a change, and I truly hope that this is recognised, as I hope your own investment in your work is recognised by the community it was made for.

I guess the long-awaited TL;DR is that you are not alone. I know that you and many others do not want to see something good crash and burn, and so I urge you to remember that it is a success, and that there are people OOC and IC with the desire and the means to help see it through.

One Cherry, over and out.

 

[Faelin]

...It looks like a rant.

My mother would call it "aggressive supportiveness".

 

[Mad Hatter]

Magic.... Naelwyn, understand that I say this with respect and I'm trying to be as candid as you clearly were in your post. I've thought a lot about this over the past few days, and it has come to a head in my own mind in such a way that I am having trouble sleeping at the moment. So here is what I've decided I have to say.

I have read your reasoning, and I gotta say that, quite frankly, I think you're throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The system of magic that you and the other three Magi (Maguses? Words. Weird. Want fix.) have come up with was fantastic. Were there problems? Yes. But it is absolutely unreasonable to expect a system to be perfect without a shakedown period. And the only magic discipline that got that was Cogitation. Would I have liked them to be a bit more cohesive with each other? Yes. Would it have been nice for the learning to go a bit more quickly? Well, yeah, but this was the first generation of apprentices. There is a clear learning curve for everyone involved. You didn't even have a full adept in any discipline before calling it quits, and I don't think that is fair to the Magi who put in all the work or the players. And I really don't think it's fair to the people who were apprentices or wanted to be apprentices under this system. Their character arcs were (or will be) basically all cut short in one way or another. HELL, the character arcs of each Magus are being cut short.

Let me put it in the language I know that we both speak: when a team (yes, team) develops some sort of product, be it a satellite or robot or piece of software, it goes through design phases. First there is the proposal (essentially), where things are put down on paper and mathematically analyzed and just... basically thought about. Then bits and pieces start getting fleshed out and some even start getting tested. This is the preliminary design, and in my opinion the magic system was not much past this. Once you start rigorously testing every piece, you throw some bits out and replace them with better working ideas. This would probably be all the disciplines having active apprentices who are using the magic and running into logistical issues and holes and such. Eventually you have something that works. Even at this stage, not everything's perfect, but having a perfect satellite is going to cost exorbitant amounts of money, when a satellite that is "just fine" will do. Sure, sometimes (often, actually) projects get shelved before they really take off, but this is usually a result of incompatibility with mission, budget, or vision. But I really do not think that's the case here. I've run out of interest in this metaphor. Moving on.

If you don't want to be a Magus anymore, that's one thing. Perhaps the transition could be to three disciplines instead of zero. Or two. Any number of things could have been done. But I think that saying it is inappropriate for the server is simply not true, however much you might feel that it is. Let's brainstorm ways to fix those problems you listed instead of throwing in the towel. At least, that's my opinion.

Or don't. I mean, I have absolutely no control over your decision, but I want you to know that it frustrates me. Not as a player, not as an apparently failed Mysticism apprentice, but as staff. Because as Baron has gleefully pointed out to everyone who has started to offer alternatives, the simplest (yeah, simplest. Despite what you said~), easiest solutions to the magic problem have been done already. Magic fits Altera. It always has. We just need to be careful not to let it get out of hand like what's been done before. And apparently this system is to be lumped with them. When honestly, if I were to make a magic system from scratch for a roleplaying server like Altera, it would be more like the system you came up with than dissimilar. And now we're basically cut off from that, it seems, because it has been given a big "F" from Naelwyn. When I don't think it should have been.

Perhaps I have more faith in people than I should, particularly given recent events. Perhaps I didn't see what you saw (but I feel like I saw an awful lot). Or perhaps I've experienced the Tall Poppy Syndrome so much in real life that it no longer phases me when I encounter it in a virtual environment- yeah, it's a thing in the real world, folks. You know that smart person you hate because they're such an insufferable know-it-all? That's the Tall Poppy. The star quarterback or forward who all the unpopular kids despise and all the popular kids take special pleasure in talking about behind their backs- Tall Poppy. It's a fact of life, and I don't particularly feel any need to shelter people from that. It happens, it's a thing. Yeah, it might be nice to shield those you love from it, but you really can't. Ultimately. Maybe I'm just a jaded old person, but yeah. As staff all we can do is make sure things don't explode and that things are fair. We're not trying to control experience or even ooc sentiments. ....And in one breath, you say you heard tons of positive things, and in the other, you said you were tired of ooc hate- Eh, I'm too tired to really do much with that, I'm going to wrap this up.

So if you're taking magic out, I would like to discuss with you the particular physics of the world that you concocted to allow for the magic that is there. Because eventually... I think it should be put back in. And it should be consistent with the lore already in place.

If you can't be convinced to change your mind about this...

*braces for impact*

So much agree and so much love this post. It cuts away the buffer of giving up and suggests a strong potential for success. It is easy to write off an idea, to give in to a challenge without overcoming it. It is much more difficult to see the potential of success in a daunting effort.

It is wonderful to see such faith in the ability of this community to be mature enough and talented enough to implement and utilize an effective magic system.

I also agree with the notion that the Tall Poppy Syndrome is a fact of life. I would suggest it would be nearly impossible to eradicate this issue. Also to do so at the cost of working towards an effective magic system would be tragic and disheartening.

Naelwyn, I love what I see in how you have tried to establish magic in Altera. I do believe it should be exceedingly difficult to learn magic and that it should also be hard to even find a place to start. I hope that this thread helps to make magic possible rather than herald the death of it altogether.

 

[Centurion]

I'm not a part of the magic system at this time, and have only been witness to a few instances of its use. However I can say that from my outside looking in perspective, having something that is so mysterious and extensive that I know near-nothing about is amazing. I'll address the infamous "I forgot," incident at Wintermourne. @Naelwyn @Michcat @Legion @VanquishedVyre @Ced @Mitch

So, Archaeus had gone to Wintermourne in an effort to tell Legion that his wife had been taken by the corruption, way back at the summoning of Sallana. However, as OOCly I was a complete idiot, I forgot the reason why I had went and sounded so urgent about speaking to the old General, only managing to make a fool of myself as I struggled to remember.

I very, very, very much enjoyed this. Not because I was accidentally le ebin trolmaster to Draiden, but because I had no idea whatsoever as to what would happen. It was a spectacular feeling to have no guesses as to what would happen to me this time for being so stupid. Having that fear of the unknown was a spectacular thing because I'd had such a long line of predictable events in my RP career. And then I observed as Legion exploded a town. Yeah.

Seeing all of the apprentices and Naelwyn in action trying to cool down Legion's unconscious body was insanely fun. It was an experience where I saw people who were much more powerful than I in ways I couldn't comprehend, and there was not a hint of Tall Poppy. I was envious, even. It really gave me the idea to have my alt character pursue a character arc where he seeks out an apprenticeship with Naelwyn. I think the idea of people being better at me at things and knowing more about those things than I do is a very fun idea. Frankly, people who would complain about things being too hard to achieve or find out, and those people being upset at other people for them trying harder is extremely immature. While I understand and respect your decision to resign, I would very much prefer magic to stay in place. The system is damn near flawless from all of what I've read, and it's incredibly fun to learn about from the outside looking in.

With all of this backing and support of the idea of a new lore manager moving in and taking over, working with the current system and/or changing it to suit the server better, I would like to be considered for the role. While I know I may not have the best record with some aspects of the server, I do believe I have an in depth and extensive knowledge of the lore publicly available to the playerbase. In tandem with that I have extensive time on my hands to devote to the project, I think I could potentially be a good option for a future lore guy. I can list a few valid reasons why I believe I would be a potential candidate.

I am a writer, to start. I have written a full length unpublished novel, as well as several short stories. I am halfway through a second novel and I am currently building an entire sci-fi universe in which to write a book. I have exceptional grammar and word choice, and I like to think I can convey a message across relatively easily. I love being detailed and extensive and thorough in my works, and this is something that would absolutely be necessary for someone who would take over the position.

To further address the points made above, I will reiterate that I have a lot of time available to me to write and work and devote to such an amazing place as Hollowworld. My schedule is very stable nowadays, and I am active in the community every day again now as I was before. I have several points in the day where I am able to log on and play, as well as a near constant state of forum activity from 5 PM to around Midnight Central Standard Time as I work from home on my computer as internet customer service.

Let me extend on the above job I mentioned. I work in online customer service for car dealerships, meaning I have a respectable amount of experience maintaining a calm, courteous demeanor, and know how to properly handle people with concerns and questions and difficulties. I have managed several roleplay communities in my history, as well - building a foundation upon which I am still building, becoming more and more experienced with professionalism and community outreach. I believe these things are important to consider if my... suggestion, request, plead, whathaveyou, is looked over.

I have no difficulty dealing with pressure and people's disliking of me for one reason or another. Let me cite my above mentioned experience managing roleplay communities as an example. With any community one assists in running - or runs fully, in my case - there will always be a portion of players that like how things are implemented and a portion of them who do not. I have dealt with public accusations and complaints and uproar in the past, as well as private disagreements and messages of hate for assorted things I do. My point here is that I know it's something that comes with the role, and it's a burden I'm able to accept without problem due to my knowing of how to deal with it.

I am not here begging to take over as Lore guy. I have simply stated a few reasons of why I would be willing to do so, and capable of handling the responsibility. I would enjoy the position, and appreciate if my post here and traits were considered and not outright shot down.

You asked for unabridged, and there you have it. What I've been thinking about for the past few hours, quite unabridged indeed.

 

[Somnastra]

Oh good lord, Glados. Gumption you got. A sense of the appropriate, I'm not so sure.

 

[Centurion]

Oh good lord, Glados. Gumption you got. A sense of the appropriate, I'm not so sure.

I can agree with both of those.

 

[apollo6000]

Well someone was quite blunt there..... IF the picking of a new lore dude is more than just a management call, which would be perfectly fine, I think it should come down to some sort of extensive quiz on all the current lore available, combined with some sort of themed submission chosen by management. You go through and see who gets best between quiz and writing and fits the position best. Beyond that you could find there are many more capable people than you thought making the management decision all that much easier. But, bottom line, I don't think it should go to the people who might scream the loudest for it.

 

[Ced]

I think it can be safely assumed that the new position will not be open to non-staff members, however, there may or may not be (I have 0 clue, so don't quote me on this) more opportunity in the future for people to write lore and find a place for themselves as a regular writer.

If there's one thing I do know it's that player contribution is a large part of why our lore and setting is fantastic, and I don't believe we'll ever want to get rid of that entirely.

 

[d_fry]

DM bro fist man, the whole "lets attack the un defeat able boss for the heck of it while we could easily escape." = my D&D players. Honestly i think a base issue is that there is no system for combat. MC combat can be mastered in a day (aka Diamond + Enchants + PVP server experience) and most players are not going to accept a death blow in RP. In tabletop games skills improve your chances at winning, making even matches fun and fights with weak players realistic. A console RPG only allows weapons of a high level to be unlocked with large amounts of gained money and the skills to match. On Hollowworld any player can get themselves any gear and with a couple weeks of intense RPing, start killing and such, while people like us have characters many months (even years old) who should be able to easily end their stabbing spree. In RP it is hard for characters to realize that they are up against a "master". With an either tabletop style or console style system, those without experience can not cause as much damage. I honestly gave up doing any combative RPs with my old character whom i had for almost 2 years, due to the fact that my months of character experience fighting grief, bandits, and enemy guilds meant nothing to most other players.

 

[Naelwyn]

I'm not a part of the magic system at this time, and have only been witness to a few instances of its use. However I can say that from my outside looking in perspective, having something that is so mysterious and extensive that I know near-nothing about is amazing. I'll address the infamous "I forgot," incident at Wintermourne. @Naelwyn @Michcat @Legion @VanquishedVyre @Ced @Mitch

So, Archaeus had gone to Wintermourne in an effort to tell Legion that his wife had been taken by the corruption, way back at the summoning of Sallana. However, as OOCly I was a complete idiot, I forgot the reason why I had went and sounded so urgent about speaking to the old General, only managing to make a fool of myself as I struggled to remember.

I very, very, very much enjoyed this. Not because I was accidentally le ebin trolmaster to Draiden, but because I had no idea whatsoever as to what would happen. It was a spectacular feeling to have no guesses as to what would happen to me this time for being so stupid. Having that fear of the unknown was a spectacular thing because I'd had such a long line of predictable events in my RP career. And then I observed as Legion exploded a town. Yeah.

Seeing all of the apprentices and Naelwyn in action trying to cool down Legion's unconscious body was insanely fun. It was an experience where I saw people who were much more powerful than I in ways I couldn't comprehend, and there was not a hint of Tall Poppy. I was envious, even. It really gave me the idea to have my alt character pursue a character arc where he seeks out an apprenticeship with Naelwyn. I think the idea of people being better at me at things and knowing more about those things than I do is a very fun idea. Frankly, people who would complain about things being too hard to achieve or find out, and those people being upset at other people for them trying harder is extremely immature. While I understand and respect your decision to resign, I would very much prefer magic to stay in place. The system is damn near flawless from all of what I've read, and it's incredibly fun to learn about from the outside looking in.

With all of this backing and support of the idea of a new lore manager moving in and taking over, working with the current system and/or changing it to suit the server better, I would like to be considered for the role. While I know I may not have the best record with some aspects of the server, I do believe I have an in depth and extensive knowledge of the lore publicly available to the playerbase. In tandem with that I have extensive time on my hands to devote to the project, I think I could potentially be a good option for a future lore guy. I can list a few valid reasons why I believe I would be a potential candidate.

I am a writer, to start. I have written a full length unpublished novel, as well as several short stories. I am halfway through a second novel and I am currently building an entire sci-fi universe in which to write a book. I have exceptional grammar and word choice, and I like to think I can convey a message across relatively easily. I love being detailed and extensive and thorough in my works, and this is something that would absolutely be necessary for someone who would take over the position.

To further address the points made above, I will reiterate that I have a lot of time available to me to write and work and devote to such an amazing place as Hollowworld. My schedule is very stable nowadays, and I am active in the community every day again now as I was before. I have several points in the day where I am able to log on and play, as well as a near constant state of forum activity from 5 PM to around Midnight Central Standard Time as I work from home on my computer as internet customer service.

Let me extend on the above job I mentioned. I work in online customer service for car dealerships, meaning I have a respectable amount of experience maintaining a calm, courteous demeanor, and know how to properly handle people with concerns and questions and difficulties. I have managed several roleplay communities in my history, as well - building a foundation upon which I am still building, becoming more and more experienced with professionalism and community outreach. I believe these things are important to consider if my... suggestion, request, plead, whathaveyou, is looked over.

I have no difficulty dealing with pressure and people's disliking of me for one reason or another. Let me cite my above mentioned experience managing roleplay communities as an example. With any community one assists in running - or runs fully, in my case - there will always be a portion of players that like how things are implemented and a portion of them who do not. I have dealt with public accusations and complaints and uproar in the past, as well as private disagreements and messages of hate for assorted things I do. My point here is that I know it's something that comes with the role, and it's a burden I'm able to accept without problem due to my knowing of how to deal with it.

I am not here begging to take over as Lore guy. I have simply stated a few reasons of why I would be willing to do so, and capable of handling the responsibility. I would enjoy the position, and appreciate if my post here and traits were considered and not outright shot down.

You asked for unabridged, and there you have it. What I've been thinking about for the past few hours, quite unabridged indeed.

I'd be willing to take people on as writers with assignments with nothing but a "I'd like to try writing something" - but offering to manage the entire thing with no staff record has a fairly obvious ending.

But yeah - I've attempted to organize a Lore-team.. around 4ish times and it usually fell apart - a big part of things is that most of the writing work is, at this point, done - and all that remains for Lore to do is keep the setting consistent and adapt Lore to whatever changes Management wants or to support events.

 

[Naelwyn]

I'd be willing to take people on as writers with assignments with nothing but a "I'd like to try writing something" - but offering to manage the entire thing with no staff record has a fairly obvious ending.

But yeah - I've attempted to organize a Lore-team.. around 4ish times and it usually fell apart - a big part of things is that most of the writing work is, at this point, done - and all that remains for Lore to do is keep the setting consistent and adapt Lore to whatever changes Management wants or to support events.

Mmmn - why the heck not, let's change the paradigm a bit - Glados - interested in probationary work in lore?

 

[Centurion]

Mmmn - why the heck not, let's change the paradigm a bit - Glados - interested in probationary work in lore?

Very much so.

 

[Exclaimer]

^ Initiative pays off, good for you.

 

[apollo6000]

If we're being candid about it I'd like to make an attempt if the spots are up.

 

[Scardrac]

If you've some loose ends, Naelwyn, I can certainly try my hand and see what I can do.

 

[Jstar]

My writers fingers/hands/wrists are yours if you need them. Like the others, my support is yours.