New Forum, Altered Rules

edited August 2012 in North of Thera
The forum rules have been altered slightly from the old forums. #1 and #2 are the changes.  http://www.achaea.com/forum-rules
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  • I imagine there will quite a bit of whinging about IC consequences for what has traditionally been OOC-only interaction (forums), but I feel it's a step in the right direction if it results in more participation from the Divine and other behind-the-scenes personas.
    We ought not offer only on one occasion, subliminally sublime sublimation.
  • I have a question about Rule #2. If I say that God X sucks I will face in-game repercussions, that much I understand. But does this also mean we can use the forums to interact and contact Gods that we usually wouldn't be able to in-game and expect an in-game response?

  • I have a question about Rule #2. If I say that God X sucks I will face in-game repercussions, that much I understand. But does this also mean we can use the forums to interact and contact Gods that we usually wouldn't be able to in-game and expect an in-game response?
    Up to the God. And of course, the God may simply just not see it, which is probably the case most of the time. 
  • Oh ok, thanks for the really quick response. I hope people realise that Rule #2 exists, because up until now I've always thought as the forums being totally separate from the game.
  • edited August 2012
    Can't say I'm fond of that particular rule. And while I'm not a fan of censuring, I'd still find it more honest and straight-forward to outright ban people from criticizing the players of god roles on the forums, rather than establishing some kind of weird forum-game link and mixing up IC with OOC stuff.

    I don't think this sets a very good example for players, when it comes to the IC-OOC barrier.
  • Well, we're open to changing to to just banning criticizing the Gods, but 'criticism' is a very very broad and general term, and we didn't want people to feel like they can't say anything about a God at all for fear of the banhammer or something.
  • edited August 2012

    Well, we're open to changing to to just banning criticizing the Gods, but 'criticism' is a very very broad and general term, and we didn't want people to feel like they can't say anything about a God at all for fear of the banhammer or something.
    I just imagined Phaestus forging a banhammer and wielding/waving it in front of people who question the Divine.
    "Faded away like the stars in the morning,
     Losing their light in the glorious sun,
     Thus would we pass from this earth and its toiling,
     Only remembered for what we have done."

  • [quote]Well, we're open to changing to to just banning criticizing the Gods, but 'criticism' is a very very broad and general term, and we didn't want people to feel like they can't say anything about a God at all for fear of the banhammer or something.[/quote]

    I just imagined Phaestus forging a banhammer and wielding/waving it in front of people who question the Divine.
    Phaestus wielding a banhammer is something I'd definitely like to see IC.
    We ought not offer only on one occasion, subliminally sublime sublimation.
  • Well, we're open to changing to to just banning criticizing the Gods, but 'criticism' is a very very broad and general term, and we didn't want people to feel like they can't say anything about a God at all for fear of the banhammer or something.
    I can understand that, and it's obvious that such decisions would in the end always come down to admin/moderator discretion. I'd simply prefer if any sort of punishments/reactions to forum posts stayed on an OOC level, be that on the forums, or in extreme cases in the form of administrative (not "Divine") punishment in-game.
  • @Sarapis Just wondering if anyone else noticed the "Options" icon next this thread when on the main Discussions page. It drops down to "Dismiss" which has me thinking it's an admin/moderator function?
    "Faded away like the stars in the morning,
     Losing their light in the glorious sun,
     Thus would we pass from this earth and its toiling,
     Only remembered for what we have done."

  • @Wysteria Not sure. Give it a try!

  • @Sarapis Just wondering if anyone else noticed the "Options" icon next this thread when on the main Discussions page. It drops down to "Dismiss" which has me thinking it's an admin/moderator function?
    The Dismiss function is for announcement threads and other threads which are 'sticky' and maintain their place at/near the top of the list of threads. Using dismiss will unsticky it (for you only) and from then on that thread will appear in the thread list normally rather than always being at the top.
    We ought not offer only on one occasion, subliminally sublime sublimation.
  • Instead of taking OOC comments and punishing players ICly, why don't you just ban the people who do that from the forums? That seems like a more reasonable solution.

  • It seems kind of bizarre to bring something that might be completely OOC into IC, since we're posting as players, not our characters, on the forums. Cooper's idea seems more reasonable...
  • Yeah, taking anything from the forums IG is a really bad precedent to set. I think I understand the intention behind it, but deal with it through forum sanctions rather than encouraging blurring of IC/OOC boundaries.

  • edited August 2012
    Horay. I can finally start taking cause out on people who forum troll me.

    That's what you're working towards, right, Sarapis?

    Achaea 2013 is going to be forum-only.

    Edit: Also, while I'm at it, let me make a somewhat callous remark, having been an administrator of a minor MUD before.

    If reading negative comments about yourself on the forums offends your delicate sensibilities so badly you have to breach the wall and bring it IC, then perhaps you're in the wrong business.

    Or perhaps, I gently suggest, you stop behaving in a manner that is worthy of scorn.

    No, I'm not saying you shouldn't be true to your Godhood, IE -- if I was the God of Hateful Spite ICly, I wouldn't be nice to people.

    But what I am saying is that people only post administration related grievances when they believe a plurality of the playerbase is going to be as offended by your behavior as they are.

    Now, when a person makes a gripe no one agrees with, the forum usually takes it upon itself to swat it down, with players berating the poster instead (IE, "totally IC", "totally reasonable" , or various other defenses of the administrator in question).

    But when you -- say -- give someone a 30 day true disfavour for ICly opposing your faction and they post about it, good grief, you've earned it. When the plurality of the playerbase agrees with the OP that you've done something worthy of derision, the solution isn't to pursue the OP across IC/OOC boundaries. The solution is to reign in your own behavior so you stop giving people legitimate gripes.

    tl;dr: Player accountability is one side of a coin, upon the other face of which rests staff accountability. Legitimate forum vetting stemming from actual grievances supported by numerous players should result in staff self-reflection, not further avenues of punishing those that vet staffers.


  • In practice, the gods aren't going to zap you in game because you complain about an event being awful. Although... I can't really speak for Sarapis!

    However, if you are continually whining about the gods on the forums, they might not want to have anything to do with you in game. I think this is closer to the intent of the rule.
  • I think it's reasonable, but only if the rule defined criticism more specifically. I mean, outright bashing of Divine is inappropriate and should be treated as such, but critiques on how a Divine may be able to improve their standings with their player-base, ie "How could x Divine appeal better to x organization" or simply things people would like to see more of.

    Perhaps keeping all criticisms in its own section and limiting punishments to admin punishments like pacifism or reduced experience gain. The main issue is actually defining what is acceptable and not going overboard in punishments
  • @Mannimar Leaving it non-specific is the only way to stop it ending up like the old PK rules, with a bazillion rules covering a bazillion situations. This way, the Gods just don't do anything if the discussion is benign, which it is most of the time.

  • @Sarapis True, I just worry about extreme reactions to comments, but I guess thats a bit ridiculous of me. Over all I think it's a reasonable rule.
  • In my experience, preventing discussion of problems and problematic individuals has never really served to solve those problems.

    A better way to solve this issue would be to encourage your Gods to listen to players in game, or solicit opinions from involved parties, or just generally take into account player input (not saying everyone, or anyone specific is guilty of this).

    When people feel like their issues are listened to, they rarely feel the need to 'rant' about those issues.

    I will provide an example.

    About a year ago, Tecton and another unnamed divine called myself and Silas to a meeting to discuss Shallam's direction and how to best approach it's future. After asking what we thought of the situation, the unnamed divine said, "Well, we have a lot of different ideas, but I'm not going to talk about them here!" and then proceeded to ignore every analysis and suggestion we'd prepared and made over the last half hour.

    I can remember ranting about this situation, and I can remember Silas ranting about it. The rants didn't arise because of incompetence or a desire to hurt anyone, they arose because people asked us to prepare an analysis of a situation and propose solutions, then effectively informed us that our input would promptly be ignored.
  • Where is the troll reaction along the bottom? :(
  • I'm sure the Gods are likely going to be reasonable with how they respond to forum criticism, but I think the rule should be changed regardless; the game should not be encouraging blurring OOC/IC boundaries. I just can't see any good reason at all for having something that is, in principle, promoting lack of player-character separation. It's essentially just as ridiculous as, say, disfavouring someone in-game for sending you an email.
  • I'm sure the Gods are likely going to be reasonable with how they respond to forum criticism, but I think the rule should be changed regardless; the game should not be encouraging blurring OOC/IC boundaries. I just can't see any good reason at all for having something that is, in principle, promoting lack of player-character separation. It's essentially just as ridiculous as, say, disfavouring someone in-game for sending you an email.
    Exactly.

    This is a dangerous precedent to set and a slippery slope to commit yourself to.
  • That's going to do a lot more to hurt staff and player relations than help it, and you'll also lose the truest medium of feedback you have -- even if the feedback you receive isn't always positive, prior to this rule, it was honest.
    This. A thousand times this.

    You should appreciate any feedback you get. Positive or negative, it all helps you guide the game in a more positive direction.
  • A lot of the things said about Divines on the forums made me uncomfortable. Even if they're honest, not all opinions need to be shared. I'm glad to see -something- is being done to prevent the sort of extreme bitterness and negativity I'm used to reading.
    ________________________
    The soul of Ashmond says, "Always with the sniping."

    (Clan): Ictinus says, "Stop it Jiraishin, you're making me like you."
  • I'm glad to see -something- is being done to prevent the sort of extreme bitterness and negativity I'm used to reading.
    The thing is... if the negativity is that extreme and that prolific, it needs to be addressed and not covered up.
  • A lot of the things said about Divines on the forums made me uncomfortable. Even if they're honest, not all opinions need to be shared. I'm glad to see -something- is being done to prevent the sort of extreme bitterness and negativity I'm used to reading.
    You don't think the something that should be done is a greater emphasis on staff sensitivity to players' needs and expectations?
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