Intent of the Forums

[RichardCranium]

The GSIV Forums are intended to be a venue for open discussion regarding all aspects of the game. With this in mind, all of our players are openly invited to utilize our Forums to the best of their ability to initiate, join, and contribute to discussions of all types. These discussions are intended for three main purposes: 1) to help game developers sort through the wants, needs, and desires of our playerbase and compare them with the design intent; 2) to give players a venue to exhibit their creativity, engage in a "meeting of the minds" with other players and game staff simultaneously, and gather/share information they feel is vital to the enjoyment of the playerbase as a whole; and 3) to give players and staff a place to socialize with one another.

With the exception of #3 (for obvious reasons), these types of intended use require our posters (both player and staff alike) to post in a clear, concise, and constructive manner in order for their voices to be heard. It's this type of behavior that we have come to expect from all who post on our Forums. Even in socializing, a degree of constructive posting is to be expected to ensure that we keep from offending one another. Following this premise allows for everyone, player and staff alike, to benefit from an improved gaming environment despite our various levels of agreement, disagreement, and compromise (into which game development can ultimately be broken down).

When a poster chooses to set aside this premise, the chances are high that they will create a disruptive atmosphere on the Forums, an atmosphere which is non-conducive to true discussion. While their posts may be well within policy from a technical standpoint, the result of their posting (in that it creates, fosters, or continues a disruptive atmosphere) is reason enough to remove the posts from the Forums. Furthermore, if a poster continues to post in this manner without any attempt to modify their behaviors with regards to the aforementioned intents of the Forums, chances are high that the poster will be removed from the Forums entirely.

All that aside, let me reiterate that we, as game staff, WANT and DESIRE our players' presence on the Forums. We SEEK player input regarding the game in all of its various aspects. In order to accomplish this goal, though, we must seek to ensure that our players feel comfortable in coming to the Forums and expressing themselves openly and freely. It is the intent and role of the Moderator staff to ensure that the Forums remain such a place.

If anyone wishes to discuss this post, you're more than welcome to do so here in this topic.

~
GM Emeradan
GS4-EMERADAN@PLAY.NET
GemStone IV Forums
~
"Da FehMeister, Da FehGuru, Da Sultan of Feh." (courtesy of Krystic, Plat)
You say, "Sobriety is only a lighter state of inebriation."

This message was originally posted in Help For Players, Policy Discussions. To discuss the above follow the link below.

http://www.play.net/forums/messages.asp?forum=102&category=2&topic=14&message=689



Hypocrite much?

[Stretch]

I actually don't mind Emeradan. I don't know if I've had any posts pulled by him, but he's done okay in the threads I've kept up with that occasionally get derailed.

The only time I've ever had a beef was a couple years ago when I posted a laundry list of shit I wanted to sell at flat prices in the Auctions folder. Quabu deleted my post and requested that I adhere to forum policies. Apparently Auctions was for items with a minimum bid to be auctioned up, so it was expected that I instead go through and sell everything I had wanted to in separate folders (i.e. OHE, shield, etc). This was before the Empty Your Locker folder was created.

I was a little pissed off, and I thought it was more than a little retarded.

I haven't had any issues otherwise. I got a post deleted the other day that was my response to Virilneus' assertion that I was a bought character. Heh, I posted something about getting 101 ranks in perception and using 402 if he had a problem with not seeing traps, as well as saying that I was pretty sure glyphs were the only traps that rebounded 125.

[RichardCranium]

Emeraden's not exactly the poster-boy for constructive criticism. He can ( and will ) be a dick more often than not.

[Gan]

My impression of the GSIV Official Forums was one of just a single huge sucking up contest from the player community to the SIMU staff.

The discretionary authority displayed with regards to thread moderation and the clique's that have formed around the moderators make it impossible for someone new to try to add input, question a topic, or refute an obvious flame post by an established member of said clique without having their post deleted.

And the "bug" > "squish" posts are utterly retarded, especially when you consider its childish attention seeking humor coming from someone well past their mid 30's.

PC > SIMU FORUMS
enough said.

[Fallen]

Interesting post. Emeradan can be a dick sometimes, but he atleast DOES his job. Threads that turn into pointless bashing are culled in time.

As to the officials themselves...If you want to be informed as to the details of what is going on with various mechanics and profession updates/spell/skill knowledge, it is fairly important that you read them.
Beyond that, the Marketplace folder should be read by anyone who is a merchant, even if you dont care for the boards themselves.

On the whole, the officials take a GREAT deal of getting used to if your coming from a PC only background. It is just a whole 'nother ballgame.

[Asha]

Officials take care of my questions fast and usually 100% correctly. I learn a lot from just browsing the boards, and listening to replies to anyone elses questions too.
Obviously the market place is a good waste of 20 mins a day, and if I'm interested in Perigourds latest adventures I'll go look over the GK or darkwoode folders. Pffft...

[Mighty Nikkisaurus]

Heh last I posted on the officials was a story about my treatment by a GM who was checking if I was AFK scripting.. the GMs/Moderators immediately came to call as well as many other ass-kissers and instead of reading my post, defending scripter checking and defended their training, and the GM who treated me like shit even after I made it pretty clear I wasn't AFK.

The best part was that in pretty much every post I made, I stated I wasn't against scripter checking or GM's training. What struck me as hilarious was.. when it comes to events and fudge-ups there, all we here is "WE'RE HUMAN TOO, WE MAKE MISTAKES" and when it comes to game mechanics checks and what have you (a la scripter checks) suddenly it's like they're infallible.

Long story short, Ganalon has it correct. There are some brave souls who post contrary posts, but for the most part each section has it's resident ass-kissers and the GMs tend to be loose in regards to enforcing their own rules. I can't say enough how ironic it is that Emeradan made that "Welcoming" post, he can be the most unconstructive asshole on those boards at times, heh!

[Latrinsorm]

someone new to try to add inputThis isn't really as hard as one might think. I didn't know anything in 2003, but people take my mechanics posts fairly seriously now. Maybe it's different in the hippie folders, I don't know.

I don't think I've ever seen Emeradan be unconstructive. He's certainly made nonconstructive (or aconstructive, I suppose) posts, but I don't find that deplorable.

[SpunGirl]

Emeradan isn't a bad guy, he just has very little tolerance for stupidity. There seems to be a lot of that on the officials. And come on, just reading complaints from Nodyre would drive anyone insande.

And Stretch, I agree with you totally. If you've noticed, Quabu no longer seems to be around (I posted on this like a year ago, I think). Heh, heh, heh.

-K

[Daniel]

Does this mean Perry will have to stop posting in the Politics folder?

[Kainen]

The freedom of speech we have here is huge. I belong to another forum where it is crystal clear in the rules that NO bashing of any kind will be tolerated. Let me tell you.. after posting here and being able to tell someone I think they are a dumbass, it's hard to restrain myself. In fact I have posted a total of 10 times and already got a post pulled because I told someone to go back to the threads where their opinion counted. (not my exact words.. but you get the drift) It's easy to forget that not all boards allow you to express yourself as freely as the Player's Corner does. And it's easy to think of a mod from a differant board as being a dick because you got a post pulled. (not to say that they can't be)

[Sean of the Thread]

Fuck you (cocksucker).

[Things2Come]

At least you're a consistent asshole on the officials and on the PC. Good job Xyelin!

[Warriorbird]

I think it's also to give another excuse to remove embarassing stuff.

[StrayRogue]

I agree with the majority here: It's a bit of a hypocritical post by Emeradan, for sure. Plus the boards are a haven for immense ego-boosting, cock-sucking and general OOC-patting-each-other-on-the-back-ness.

[Alfster]

lots and lots of weiner licking/suckage

[Czeska]

Hm.. Stop reading them?

[Gan]

Hm.. Stop reading them?

The only time I grace the official boards is when I'm looking for some specific mechanic information that I could not find on the PC, or to post sale items in the marketplace folder.

[Aaysia]

I mainly read the DDR and the Kharam-Dzu folder. Those are my prime interests. Sometimes I'll take a glance at the town systems folder, or the Discussions with Simutronics folder if I want to see what people are currently bitching about.

[Sean of the Thread]

At least you're a consistent asshole on the officials and on the PC. Good job Xyelin!


<----never posts/read the officials.

[Flurbins]

Mabye it's a setup to start banning the super trolls like celtar and hakwea. Never understood why those two were allowed to carry on like 3 year olds and other people get posts pulled for acting maybe 1/4 as annoying.

[Asha]

Hakwea knows his shit.

[Numbers]

Hakwea knows a lot about the mechanics of the game, no doubt. It's just a shame that he can't present it coherently, or use anything close to proper grammar. Most of the times I just skim his posts, as it's a pain trying to translate them. That, and his arguments are oftentimes daft and circular.

Anyhow, Emeredan's still a douche. Sure, his job sucks, but he's still a customer service rep, and he should not be making customers feel like crap or get them angry at the company. Those are two things he excels at doing. I also noticed that he made that post in the announcement folder after pulling a whole bunch of posts from the discussions folder, so that may be what prompted that response.

[Kitsun]

There were several posters that came to mind when I read that announcement. Some people can't post even a single time without starting a fucking argument over there.

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

Emeradan isn't a bad guy, he just has very little tolerance for stupidity.
-K

He must be self intolerant then. I can't stand the guy myself, he just seems like a power tripping anti-customer service ass.

[Things2Come]

<----never posts/read the officials.

Sorry, my mistake. It's Xatier, not you.

[Things2Come]

I do agree with what was said about Paragonlost and Hakwea though. Both posters are ignorable..

And I wouldn't want Emeradans job, the official boards are downright horrible most of the time.

[Tea & Strumpets]

Hakwea knows his shit.

Yeah right. That guy doesn't know his ass from his elbows, but he does like to present poorly thought out arguments.

[Artha]

I haven't played in more than a year and I still laugh at the idea of phasestones.

[Landrion]

I have sympathy for Emeradan. When I read the officials I could skim and ignore the idiot posts and even still I let fly with my temper once or twice. That poor bastard has to slog every friggin post on every topic he administrates. I can think of one or two of the posters alone who would drive me to drink.

The guy's always been pleasant to me (on-boards and at the con). So hes cool by me. Yeah maybe his replies arent always top of the line witty or maybe hes arbitrary from time to time - but my work isnt a home run every day either. God knows I posted some dumb ass things from time to time.

[Atlanteax]

Yeah right. That guy doesn't know his ass from his elbows, but he does like to present poorly thought out arguments.

Concur with Tea & Strumpets.