Conquest of the Horde

Hiya.


I kinda like rules. As a gamemaster I suppose it comes with the job. I’m not one for stifling creativity, of course—But I feel if something is to be made available it should be done through proper channels. It should be argued and put into place so that others may follow in that example, should they want to. With this in mind, allow me to use a quote.

Quote: The unspoken rule on CoTH is apparently that some things are best gotten away with by not asking at all

Don’t take me for naive; I’ve known that this has been the policy of a few people. I’ve even heard that some have made comments such as ‘this character isn’t going to be profiled; I know it wouldn’t get approved’. I suppose this is simply the first time I have seen this sentiment laid out in front of me, and phrased so bluntly.

Mentalities like this make me question why am a GM. Why there are GMs at all; or even a server like CotH to begin with. As far as I knew the draw of this place as a whole was an adherence to a common set of rules. To escape the vast fields of disguised dragons and exotic islander humans who caused the Catacylsm (it happened—I am serious). Because while CotH is a server made to be RP oriented it is by no means the only one. There are a multitude of other servers where those in charge are not as strict or completely free as to what they will allow to be played on their server. Why CotH then? Why bring something that is forbidden in and just hide it, hoping it will never surface to the GM team’s knowledge? Why not leave that for another server and simply keep to what has been outlined on CotH?

Let’s face it: The server in and of itself is growing more and more lax, and I’ll freely state that. When I joined Demon Hunters were all but non-existent. Armor was generally whatever you could scavenge from PvE or an auction house, until you got your silver tokens from a profile approval—And even then, you likely needed to farm an extra one or two to have all you wished for. Characters were leveled without the use of tokens, and variants now easily accessed (technomage, gunslinger, ace, etc) were pinned down under a rigid and hard to access system. Since then things have changed a lot. There are portals to most convenient RP locations; some new zones have been cleared or phased for use, and formerly special equipment such as glaives, guns and tattoos has been made readily available for a paltry sum of OOC gold.

From both a GM standpoint and that of a player I feel that there’s been a lot more made available, and that rules have been stretched quite far by the administration and gamemaster team’s choices in the past as it is. And I don’t even necessarily dislike that. But why then must those lines be stretched further? Why is it that limits are expanded only to be called for even further expansion? How far can they be pushed until we’re enveloped in that roleplay from retail that we once tried to avoid by seeking out a private server? People may act like their ideas are small, but no raindrop will call itself responsible for a flood.


Let it not be said that I am against new ideas, or even changes to current policy though. I didn’t mind when demon hunters were opened, or when new places were added to a teleporter. At first. I feel that there is a feeling of excess being fostered inadvertently, but that is another matter entirely. My issue is that not only are rules being expanded upon, but some people decide that the GM team is not worth discussing these matters with. Is it because we take time to respond? Unorthodox ideas or changes to what was once a rigid and already weakening policy is something that takes time to discuss. Is it because we may not view your argument well? You may think the same of ours; and in some cases it is not wholly possible to find a ‘right’ answer. Only one which is put in place for the server to follow by those who maintain it.

Is it because we may say no? I imagine that is a large reason. We do say no, at times. What is the point of a group which keeps a set of rules though if those rules are not meant to be enforced? What is the point of attempting to enforce a rule when those you are attempting to benefit will just subvert your efforts and make infractions in secret? And yet at the same time I guarantee some of the people who act in this manner will be the first to cry for these same rules if they see something –they- perceive as an infraction. There just does not seem to be a middle ground to me. If you feel your concept fits within the rules you agreed to upon joining this site, then bring it before us. If not, then just let it be. Even those on the GM team have had characters and concepts rejected before, so we do not flippantly disregard an idea presented to us. Many of us, if not all, know how it feels to have a concept you have put thought and enjoyment into making. But sometimes that concept is not for CotH.

I have been told before that we would all be much happier if we would just close our eyes when interacting with concepts we dislike in roleplay. Turn the other cheek, so to say; allow them to have their fun, and go elsewhere. In that same vein I have been told that if we were all simply blind and uncaring to the things we did not like, we would be all the better for it. But I’ve done that step already. I was blind to dragons, robot night elves, inter-dimensional travelers, vampires and every variety of stock villain brought into light. I’ve already walked away from them, and let them have their fun; it’s why I’m here now, after all. I don’t want to be blind to CotH, though. I want to see vibrant personalities and complex characters. Realistic and believable protagonists in conflict with their equally made antagonists. I want to see colorful oddities—peculiar, but not made for the sheer sake of being random. I can’t get that on retail—even if I were to find some friends who were like-minded, there is no incentive or reason for anyone else to follow in our interests. And while that roleplay still exists on CotH, it doesn’t preserve itself. I don’t mind change, and I don’t mind new ideas—I just want to be able to know where the line draws.

I don’t really know how to conclude this, because I don’t expect anyone to come forward in response to this. I don’t imagine any of the people I am attempting to talk to here really value my opinion in general—I’ll be wholly honest in my perception in saying that they’ve probably closed out this tab a long time prior to this point in this (currently at time of writing this number) 1,242 word length post. But I’m depressed. So I thought I would scrawl my musings down once more.


~Rigley

Rigley. I don't know if you want anyone to respond to this or not but...


If anything I agree with you whole post. I mean the whole thing. I remember when players had literally nothing like we do now and we were told to just run out there and RP. Farming gold to sustain other characters, finding new pieces of gear, or something like that. And how there were prestige characters on the chances of being stricken by lightening twice in the same spot. But, again I agree man. Rules help to carve a path and guide the everyday jerkwad, like myself, into a set way of doing things. Granted, rule breaking things can get interesting, but you need rules as much as you need guardrails on a narrow cliff road.

Rigley, I hope this picture sums up how I feel about this post. It is all positive.

...And people ask me why/how I have so many characters that I keep Profiling over and over.

I adore the tons of possibilities given to us on CoTH, especially of late. Reinterpreting class abilities? Yes please! It makes things like Lightslayers possible! Rogues that actually use Shadow for their spells - isn't that awesome? Or heck, Spellbreakers, or Wardens and all the other lovely things we get to muck about with. It's -delicious-, I tells ya', so long as it's kept within the boundaries of plausible Lore(Gray and diffuse though they are). In addition, we get custom locations to play in, and fun items, and a heck of a lot more. Pretty much anything that makes sense(And is not horribly overpowered) can be obtained on CoTH, with few exceptions.

I love the addition of Skills & Abilities, and my favorite characters to role-play on were indeed approved ones. I don't even -feel- like playing unapproved characters because they feel somehow... invalid. I ask myself "But what if what I'm doing will have to be changed to get the Profile through?" - I know it's never happened before, but... it keeps me from going nuts with characters. I hate retcons. Very, very much. Which is why I tend to try getting a character approved before using them excessively.

I'm not saying I don't try out characters before Profiling them(How else could you get a grasp of who they are, if not by putting them in diverse situations?), but... things feel so much better with an eighty to your name. And I have no idea why. I'm probably a junkie of such.

Anyhow, I've seen a good handful of unlikely and (sometimes, in my view, which is not always in agreement with others') impossible character concepts. Even here. I've tried not to mind them, and I don't anymore. Instead, a sort of bitter amusement washes over me. And y'wanna know why?

Because I've been there. In the past, I've made some utterly horrible characters. Things that would throw a litmus test off the scale. Sure, not on CoTH, but I -have-. And, after being berated and smacked around for it(Verbally, of course), I bawwww-ed and moaned and felt oh-so-very-bad for having my utter failures dismantled. But in the process, I also got better.

Characters - and not just characters, but concepts, writing styles, settings, you name it - are like forging a sword. Formless metal is all over the place. It needs to be beaten into shape first. Then you hone and polish it, until it has both a cutting edge, and a shine to it.

Nowadays, I talk my mouth off about fictional societies and their internal machinations, slurping up damn-near every bit of Lore I can find... It's not just Warcraft. I've done the same with things like Warhammer, D&D(Some people may know of my love for Planescape), and the like.

Lore's good. -Do- bother with reading up on it. It helps out a lot. It's basically all of the rules, set in story-form. Except Respect. No one can teach you that one.

TL;DR:

Be creative. Read the rules. Stay within the boundaries of plausible Lore. Please don't make catgirl Blood Elves. We get enough hate as it is.

I agree with all of this. To have so many crazy and overly powerful characters would be insane. The rules prevent just that. Skills & Abilities was an amazing addition, mind you I'm still figuring it out. I've been on other private servers and.. Well I won't be going back.

Before I was on Coth, lore was never important, and neither was spelling. But look at me know, I've gotten better with both. Sunwell? No clue what that was. Kinda important isn't it? Demon Hunters? Da crap is that? But I get it now.

Sure, I still got quite a bit to learn, and my own kinks to work out, but I'm looking forward to it.

I mean yes, I do have crazy idea's, and they are completely.. Bad. Just horrid ideas. And I kinda hated it when they where turned down. But who isn't? I did spend time on it, and I thought it was great. But now I look at it and think, "Wow.. Just.. Bad..." And I'm sure there has been others with the same thing.

I joined this site almost two years ago because of the rules, I love them. You can't find them anywhere else, and I don't want to, this place is just great. Hell, I even have a goal now for this site, and it's to become a Gamemaster, no matter how long it takes. I'll learn all I have to, and then more, because I love how this site functions.

But all that aside, I love the portals. Yeah, makes travel easier, but.. Well it makes it easier. Money wise? And how you can get all your armor? Kinda much, but not every character starts off just poor with little to no armor. Tokens? Their fine I guess.. Probably would just be better to get rid of em entirely, you don't really need to be leveled to get anything. Armor upgrades, weapon skills, their all free to get at any level. The leveling? Fine, it can add depth to your character if you know how and what to use. But yeah, the bronze tokens are out their. Perhaps if they where an event type thing (I remember something like that about a year ago, Christmas special or what not) where people put in a name of their character, mind you just one, and they got a token. Cool right? I still don't think it matters.

But all in all, the rules where made for a reason, and they should be followed. Make it harder to go prestige, make people work for it. Whats a little effort to make a good character? I don't see a problem with it.

But eh, doesn't matter that much.

Now as a (relative) newcomer, I've never known CotH except as a place where there are teleporters, you can .addrpitem pretty much anything you can think of within reason and without yall's nostalgia goggles on... Things are still pretty good here.

This is not at all to say that concerns of people taking advantage of the many freedoms here is invalid, mind you. I know what its like to see a beloved online community make a gradual but tangible decline over the years.
But this server has provided me with my most satisfying roleplay experience in any medium, at any time in my life. Over and over. And after college and graduate school have all burnt me out on writing, here comes CotH, making me genuinely enjoy such an activity for the first time in years.

The line in the sand, of when to turn the blind eye... That I cannot answer. I'm typically a suffocating sort of person when given power, which is why I tend to avoid such positions in the first place. My more level-headed side insists on more preemptive measures; making introduction posts more trying a procedure, but in reality that may be much too far to one side...

Really, though, you're the GM. For whatever reason, you were put in this position because your opinion was trusted. If something feels wrong, go with your gut. You obviously care about this server, and more so than someone who is willing to bend the rules the authority here so sensitively upholds.
Perhaps promote making this server an environment in which everything is questioned and discussed, so that when someone has made poor decisions with their character is confronted, it is not such an uncomfortable situation for both parties. I dunno. But let us general users know how you feel we can be proactive about promoting the good health of this server. After all, we are all on the same boat here.

I agree with much of what has been said. That's really all I have to say.

But also.. <3 Kag and.. DRAENEI GHOST GIRL. So much love.

O Piken, u so silly. I haven't seen you around in a really long time.

And let me add that one thing that's changed dramatically is the free infinite resurrections for characters, which I'm on the fence about. That didn't used to exist, and problem characters were weeded out of the system by permanent and irrevocable character death (with one possible rez, of course, but none after that). Even these days, chances are high that a character that's died more than twice is a problem and the reason they keep dying is because people hate them. Then again, there was plenty of abuse by certain villains (who were, themselves, swiftly killed by people like myself, Mikain, or Nostra, and occasionally all three of us at once, to preserve the karmic balance) that made it more work for GMs to deal with all the tears and rage. I'd advocate going back to the one rez rule as a means of controlling ridiculous characters, but I can definitely see that there's a reason it got removed and I understand how it was a problem in some cases.

Hmm, I would agree with going to the one-rez rule, it just makes more senses..so long CWs are consensual, I guess!

Piken, challenge accepted

Thank you for your insight, Rigley.

Conquest of the Horde is a strict-yet-flexible environment in that we do have quite a bit of liberty as players but also need to follow certain set guidelines. For many of us, this server is an escape: we're able to explore roleplaying concepts in a safe environment where like-minded people frolic and weave stories. Generally, we've fled retail servers for similar reasons: we were tired of lore being brutally savaged on a regular basis, we were tired of being mistreated for being roleplayers on a roleplaying server, or we wanted to find more of us.

I tend to think that, in terms of what can and cannot be done in roleplay, I'm fairly liberal. With some tweaking, research, and effort, almost any initial character concept can be breathed to life and do so without chicanery or bucking the rules.

I started writing this whole wonderful lovey-dove thing, where I entreat players to follow the rules, but I don't think that that is the response that is needed. Just abide by the rules. It's a very simple premise and we have a lot of flexibility, all things considered. No chicanery. No underhandedness. No blatant attempts to skirt the rules.

I'm not saying that everyone should take it upon himself to correct other people's behaviors (that usually ends up in drama), but don't be afraid to pass along concerns to the appropriate authorities if you have any. Unlike the retail servers, our staff can actively enforce roleplaying conventions and server rules. Embrace that! Lets make Conquest of the Horde the best damned conventional, lore-appropriate, kick-ass roleplaying server out there.

Because, honestly, there are a number of other servers out there if people don't want to play nicey-nice.