09-27-2009, 11:48 PM
Before I came to CoTH, near the end of 2008, I was a GM to a private server headed off by one of the best RPers I've ever had the pleasure of playing with. The experience I had during my time there were some of the most memorable experiences I've had since I first got sucked into roleplaying. The whole thing was vivid, enjoyable and innovative. I had never experienced anything quite like it. In some ways, it was not unlike CoTH.
Unfortunately, the server died during the summer of 2008 (Zason can correct me if that's wrong). The cause? Needless public division.
OOC drama wasn't necessarily what it was, though that definitely played a part. But, often times the actual division came in the form of something more direct: public GM criticism.
Since the server was a much smaller, more private, population there were fewer rules. Players got an insta-80 level, endless amounts of gear, and could practically teleport anywhere on the world map. We had everything at our disposal. And yet, there were certain things that were restricted, such as adding game objects or making custom weapons. The fact that these things were restricted didn't go down well, and soon there formed two camps -
1.) A group of roleplayers that felt that the GMs were inept and that there should either be a change in leadership or that the commands should be made available to all players.
2.) A group of roleplayers that felt that the GMs were doing fine as it was and the established order should remain.
As it were, these things poisoned the creative opportunities that roleplaying provides. It became more political than other things - and eventually the server died out.
In all honesty, the GMs were inept. I was inept! In that sense the roleplayers were justified in their accusations. But they expressed their frustrations at the price of the potential of a great deal of fun that could've taken place because they made their deeply-felt emotions public, and drew public lines of division. Instead of confronting the GMs, including the server admin, in private they decided to die on a hill that ultimately brought the server to an end.
The GMs were all able to deal with the criticism that took place. But somewhere along the lines personal feelings became hurt and RPers did not associate with one another based on "political affiliation" over what they had originally been there to do! To have fun!
Two things to take out of this story:
1 - Don't be too ridiculous of the GMs for what you ask for. They do have a stressful role as it is in trying to appeal to the majority of us in making this server vibrant and exciting( as if that isn't hard enough ), but lo and behold they also have lives to balance!
( And yes. I know this sounds like a broken record ).
2 - If you have a polarizing issue that you feel is worth taking to the GMs or to the server I recommend making it a private matter with the GMs before you bring it up into public discussion. If other people are feeling the same as you are, tell them to send private messages to the GMs as well! ( This is me speaking, obviously not the GMs ).
I don't say this to scare or to hurt feelings, but to warn of a correlation I see taking place. Please don't get me wrong in this, disagreement and concern is fine in the right context. But we are here to roleplay!
I understand that some of you may view this as a public criticism in wake of recent events, and it is, and I should take some of my own advice. But I'm posting this in the hopes of preventing from further division from taking place, not to point out them out!
At the end of the day, we've all come together for one legitimate purpose in my eyes. That is, to roleplay.
After all - we're all brothers and sisters here, right? Now lets go nerd it up!
Unfortunately, the server died during the summer of 2008 (Zason can correct me if that's wrong). The cause? Needless public division.
OOC drama wasn't necessarily what it was, though that definitely played a part. But, often times the actual division came in the form of something more direct: public GM criticism.
Since the server was a much smaller, more private, population there were fewer rules. Players got an insta-80 level, endless amounts of gear, and could practically teleport anywhere on the world map. We had everything at our disposal. And yet, there were certain things that were restricted, such as adding game objects or making custom weapons. The fact that these things were restricted didn't go down well, and soon there formed two camps -
1.) A group of roleplayers that felt that the GMs were inept and that there should either be a change in leadership or that the commands should be made available to all players.
2.) A group of roleplayers that felt that the GMs were doing fine as it was and the established order should remain.
As it were, these things poisoned the creative opportunities that roleplaying provides. It became more political than other things - and eventually the server died out.
In all honesty, the GMs were inept. I was inept! In that sense the roleplayers were justified in their accusations. But they expressed their frustrations at the price of the potential of a great deal of fun that could've taken place because they made their deeply-felt emotions public, and drew public lines of division. Instead of confronting the GMs, including the server admin, in private they decided to die on a hill that ultimately brought the server to an end.
The GMs were all able to deal with the criticism that took place. But somewhere along the lines personal feelings became hurt and RPers did not associate with one another based on "political affiliation" over what they had originally been there to do! To have fun!
Two things to take out of this story:
1 - Don't be too ridiculous of the GMs for what you ask for. They do have a stressful role as it is in trying to appeal to the majority of us in making this server vibrant and exciting( as if that isn't hard enough ), but lo and behold they also have lives to balance!
( And yes. I know this sounds like a broken record ).
2 - If you have a polarizing issue that you feel is worth taking to the GMs or to the server I recommend making it a private matter with the GMs before you bring it up into public discussion. If other people are feeling the same as you are, tell them to send private messages to the GMs as well! ( This is me speaking, obviously not the GMs ).
I don't say this to scare or to hurt feelings, but to warn of a correlation I see taking place. Please don't get me wrong in this, disagreement and concern is fine in the right context. But we are here to roleplay!
I understand that some of you may view this as a public criticism in wake of recent events, and it is, and I should take some of my own advice. But I'm posting this in the hopes of preventing from further division from taking place, not to point out them out!
At the end of the day, we've all come together for one legitimate purpose in my eyes. That is, to roleplay.
After all - we're all brothers and sisters here, right? Now lets go nerd it up!