Motivation Killers
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In regards to all that Moloch, I didn't know anything about it. I just saw a DM getting a bit out of line on IRC and had to speak my mind. I'm going to throw him into the pool on this and say, MrRagingSunshine has probably been the best help I've had in regards of keeping my temper in check. He and I have agreed on a lot of the points that have been made by people but he's not afraid to call someone out on going too far which is what I believe has happened. We've taken it too far.
I really thank you for coming to terms on that Moloch. I call bull shit when I see it too. We just gotta focus now on not going too far. If everyone who's let their tempers get heated learn to use it to fix stuff rather then just bringing negativity, we can Save the World… I mean the City of Arabel. We got great thing going. So many creative minds and stories. I really do love coming back here. I love immersing myself in this game all day. This is honestly the one thing I can do with all of my spare time, that I don't feel guilty about.
Like I said, it's a new year. We've aired out the dirty laundry. Suggestions need to return to the Suggestion threads. I get what you're saying Wildcard. Those aren't going to get fixed over night. Hell, it may not even go back to where it was. But we have to give the server time to heal itself. People will come back if they see that the server is coming into itself again. Will everyone come running back and sing Kumbayah? No. People are getting on with their real lives. The server isn't going to die. At least not for a few more years. We will just have to see what is to come.
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I am sorry I didn't make my point clearly Moloch let me try again. Below are your own words in a reveal what was to be v5 before it was scrapped. This is what I meant by a vision/theme to the server. There is a stated objective and everything around the module is built around that goal. The spoilers indicated a fleshed out setting to fit a certain type of feeling to the world. Just by reading this reveal I know exactly what this setting is about and how the module will be built to support it along with the various factions and NPCs that inhabit it. The current v5 feels like it is lacking this. If the theme is frontier than I'd like to see the module reflect this more and know how it currently does.
Our vision then needs some explaining. In the next version of Arabel, we want to have the main focus stay on the city itself and the people who live and adventure there. The city needs to be a safe and stable place in a world that can change, where DMs are free to tell new and different stories while keeping the familiarity of a city that has become its own character in this story. That said, Arabel has always been the City of Caravans, and in our next incarnation we will let players visit new locations where Arabel is gathering resources and conducting trade. The new module will have a modular feel to it, while trade routes are open to these new regions players can explore and adventure in them, and DMs will run plots and stories there. At some point though, when we feel the stories there are told for now, we'll open up a trade route somewhere new.
To depict all these new areas, we wanted new tilesets, and new creatures to inhabit these regions. Ultimately, the freedom to move beyond the limits of vanilla Bioware settings and creatures is what drove our decision to utilize this new hak. The DM team though is committed to keeping this hak small, filled with high quality material, and subject to an annual update and modification at most.
How we describe it is a "modular" feel to the setting. New regions and areas will come, tell their story, and then move on. The city of Arabel though will remain the main hub from which adventurers travel, explore, and where they come home to rest. The city itself obviously will be a center of its own adventures and stories too though.
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I believe that is going to fall on the Players Wildcard. We have to give the DM's the motivation to be building all these new areas and path ways. I really do believe that Idea could work, and it would give the city itself more of a theme then "Wait… How many things want the city destroyed right now? Oh Only 3? Back in my day we had 50."
There has been a recent IC movement towards securing new allies and what not for the city. Perhaps, there could even be a new plot put in about the Thayans opening a portal to Thay. Could open up a new motivation to conflict or aid Thay.
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There is one point I would like to make which is not directly related to what was brought up so far in this topic.
I am conversing with several players who ask my own opinion over the situation, which I have openly voiced to several DMs by communicating with them directly. These players told me that because they are actually trying to promote a dialogue between the Team and the Playerbase, they are suddenly branded as "on their side". This is a childish behavior that needs to be nipped in the bud right now if we are to have any kind of healthy dialogue between the Team and the Playerbase.
We need to understand that the DMs were once players who took it upon themselves to entertain us. The Team and the Playerbase are two sides of the same coin.
I preferred to air it myself rather than encourage said players to tell the DMs who will issue some statement that will only contribute to this toxic atmosphere. If you care about this server and this community, move for healthy dialogue.
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Thanks for saying that Seter. There aren't "sides" and its sad some people want to make sides or attack the folks who realize we're a community.
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I'd point out pretty quickly that there is a very manufactured feeling of discontent. A couple people have complaints, I really don't think more than 3. They aren't completely invalid, but there's no actual us vs. them mentality, and there's no simmering unhappy playerbase. You just have two vocal people acting as if they're the majority.
I've been here for 13 years. This shit happens every few years and it always goes away, and nothing ever changes for the worse or the better, because this is a community and living piece of art. If you're unhappy, it's likely time to take a break because when you come back things will be fun again, and nothing will have changed, except in your perspective.
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Manufactured feelings of discontent pretty much sums it up. There will always be different camps and schools of thought when it comes to play style, and I was disappointed to read in a previous Moloch post about a couple of players being harassed for respawning (presumably after an execution), more so because I think if it was a couple of years ago I would have been one of those doing the harassing. There really shouldn't be a perception of "playing it proper" on a server like this because there really isn't one, and thats the beauty of CoA. It is attempting to embody the idea of a collaborative story and with anything thats in anyway collaborative there must always be concessions and compromise.
I'm not going to pretend I play at the moment but I do interact with the community and check in every now and then. Given this and a bit of history with the place I can probably guess as to the context of this thread relative to the current cycle of complaint. So instead of repeating things, I'll just leave some advice that I've gathered from a myriad of great DMs and Players.
HOW TO HAVE FUN AT COA
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Made a topic under suggestions. A bit long but bare with it. Thought it would be helpful with some constructive criticism/feedback.
As ppl say this happens once in a while but perhaps there'd be a way to diminish it? -
BG's instructions are pretty spot on. Everyone should give that a read.
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( I don't want to quote a wall of text. )
Tl;DR
Stop acting like a jerk. Player or DM. No one was trying to attack the DM team. No one was trying to suppress the player's views. Shit got out of hand. Lets ring it back in. It's new years. Lets start it right.
In response to dripster's and many other comments.
Moloch did indeed sound harsh many times on the forums, but all honestly I see a shift toward pacifism and wisdom if anything.
DMs have their own styles of writing, and as EoF once said to me in a completely different context, tone is difficult to express in written word.
I always assume the tone (of players and DMs alike) was positive, and when I fail to assume, I try to inquire if it was.
Bear in mind that we all come from different points on this globe, and even if you share your home country with someone general attitudes, temperament and even meanings of certain words change on the scale of a few dozen kilometers.On mention of tyranny. On my opinion, this has became popular lately as an accusation in the world.
I have the pleasure to hear politicians and other people to claim they live in a country where freedom, especially the freedom of press is denied. They write this a lot and whine about it a lot in the TV. (They even export the idea to foreign press, some would probably recognize the situation I speak about.) It makes little sense, to be honest.
Well, I've lived in actual tyranny. Granted, five years total, but I have heard much about my families' experiences. It is not like this.It would be very hard for me to play here if I assumed DMs were not there to make the server running, provide us with entertainment and I couldn't value their effort.
Player complaints can't spoil this for me, DMs could, but somehow refrained to do so in the last couple of years. : ))
But there certainly are other players who might end up discouraged by this or that.
So I suggest posting even rants in questions. (ie: prefer "I'm furious. Why this post was deleted?" over "I'm furious, this post was deleted!")
It's much easier to respond in a way to get the opinions closer to each other again.