Regens

[Nakhi]

 

Admin Key: Regens

 

Complaint:

Firstly let me preface this by saying that I hate that all my posts here thus far are something along these lines and that this first paragraph will be more to set the tone I am trying to portray so that the post as a whole isn't taken the wrong way. I do thoroughly enjoy the server, and by and large like the staff. It's a well put together team that keeps the server functioning well and deals with trouble should it crop up. That's why I am hesitant to even write this in the first place, because it feels wrong for me to do so. So, with that being said...

 

This complaint is less directed at administrative level issues, and more at in-character/in-game interaction and things relating to such. As a broad spectrum, it's part of getting away with things that other people would be banned - temporarily or permanently - for. On a less specific scale, there's been things that were directed at me personally that irked me significantly, still on the character level rather than just the administrative level. When directed toward me, after thinking it over, I figure - I hope - it's more of an unintentional maliciousness derived from trying to make things interesting for me, but it's still off putting.

 

Foremost, and what I am going to call the tipping point, is the recent round that had ended at 7:10 pm EST on June 18, 2014. This round in particular regarded a special event about NanoTrasen cutting costs and attempting to maximize profit. I was playing the Captain (Klara Rio) at the time. I personally found it to be an interesting event that could go many different ways. Even as an "Emergency ERT" (or however it was phrased) was called in order to assist in obtaining 2000 sheets of Plasteel, I figured it could be interesting. I sat aside and waited for proper ERT reports, only to have one barge into my office, and start disassembling the Communications Console. I disarmed them, only to get stunbatoned and cuffed, and then a cyanide pill shoved down my throat that led to my death with not a word regarding what was actually going on. This was immediately followed by the Blueshield being decapitated. Likewise with no word about it. After being cloned and given a Greytide implant (which was the point I had committed suicide, despite not wanting to be "that guy") I actually did have to step away for a minute.

 

Only afterward, and reading here that they were infact an antag ERT (something not made outwardly clear) did things become a bit more clear, but now pulls up another issue. As was going on, people were being killed for no real reason, station being torn apart to suit the needs of this ERT. There was no indication of antag and it was a running event that was going on. There no reason to question the matter, and I had no reason to outright fight back (hence a disarming rather than harming). So, with that being said, I have to bring up rule number 5, which I will quote simply to ease cross referencing, though I do feel a bit like an ass for doing so because it feels like preaching to the choir.

 

5. Play antagonists responsibly:

 

If you’re selected for an antagonist role, then treat it as an interesting challenge and not an excuse to destroy other peoples’ game experience. Your actions should make the game more fun, more exciting and more enjoyable for everyone. Even or perhaps especially your victims.

Keep to your objectives, they’re there for a reason. Being an antag is NOT a license to murder whomever you please - unless your objective is to kill whomever you please.

 

So, for this point, the complaint is more directed at the actions taken despite being an unstated antagonist. Getting away with several counts of murder on minor things, derailing a round for others. As I said in dead chat and elsewhere, I don't mind admin shenanigans* but there comes a point where I can't just stand idly by and take it. This was that point, though I guess this comes off as somewhat whiny. Really the only reason I am bringing it up is on the principle of the matter, as opposed to wanting any formal actions taken unless it is deemed necessary by those that would/should know better than I.

 

Second, and less personally affecting of me, was another round where I was playing the Captain. Regens had been playing virologist, and ended up releasing a virus upon the station that gibbed the person in anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes, if I recall the statement correctly. Naturally, most of the station was rapidly killed and the emergency shuttle was called. Something that was amusing, though annoying, was after executing them, they resurrected themselves just to infect me as the shuttle was about to depart, and got me killed as well. I laughed at that (because last words were "What the fuck" followed by gibbing). It was the end of the round so it wasn't a round ruining event. Like before, it's more the principle of the matter. In this case, and I hate to phrase it like this, ruining the round for others simply to test an experiment.

 

I guess I probably rambled on enough, but the complaint, specifically, is more in regards to bending and/or breaking the rules to suit (it seems) their own goals and purposes with little regard for the other players. From a professional standpoint based on my own administration duties elsewhere, I find it to be bad form to try to enforce rules that are broken for ones own amusement. From a player standpoint, I can understand the experimenting, but there's test areas and admin areas for that that wouldn't hurt the playerbase or ruin a round.

 

In the end I don't want to come off as whiny or make this a personal thing, I am just stating things that struck me as off, came off as distasteful, or felt wrong. I won't make too many assumptions, but I don't think I am the only one that feels this way. I hope I didn't come off as too rude or disrespectful. I tried to phrase it well enough to get what I was trying to say across without doing so.

 

Thank you for reading this.

 

------

* - "Admin shenanigans" being my personal general term for admin initiated events and actions through use of power. I don't necessarily mean it as a negative connotation, because it can be enjoyable when applied well.

 

[Eldrin-Kanthos]

I also have been stewing on this for some time. I was very upset from a game standpoint when a virus exploded 50-ish people that round. To me it seemed excessive in the extreme. Regens bragged about that in OOC after the fact and to me it was very offputting to see an admin bragging about something that would have been worthy of a permaban for a normal person.

[necaladun]

 

I take full responsibility for both of these events.

 

Firstly, the virus thing -

 

Regens released it when I told him to. This was done to

A: End the round.

B: Test if a virus could really be that bad, as it is not meant to be at all.

C: See how badly it would spread, considering the host has so little time to infect.

 

While from what I saw, there was a lot of a laughter about it, I can understand the worry. I'd like to assure you it was done knowing the consequences and the shuttle call was made sure to go through so it would not end up with most of the server dead and unable to play for any more than 10 minutes.

 

Testing can be done in admin areas, but that does not give us an idea of how such things would go on the station, or if they are do-able with station equipment.

 

The release of the virus was a minor part of the testing - it had been shown to work on test subjects already - and was done to end a round going on too long and dragging out.

 

[necaladun]

 

ERT/Profit Loss event:

 

While I did what I could to ensure ERT had clear orders not to kill, there was some miscommunication here with my orders to "enhance profits". Some ERT had it clear that they were not to, and were themselves upset others were killing.

 

However, due to Regens coming at different times and missing some of it, as well as myself putting everything in corporate speak, there was a miscommunication when it came to command staff replacement.

 

I take full responsibility for this, and offer my sincere apologies.

 

I should have made the following more clear:

 

Crew and command were allowed to rebel more, and given an adminhelp asking, would have been granted permission to engage in violent tactics - as one player did with bombings.

 

That no crew were to be killed at all, due to the IC reason that it costs money, and the OOC reason that it's harsh, too easy, and not the point of the round.

 

That ERT were antagonists - there were plans to do this through various newcaster announcements and other, but with the clusterfuck, I did not have the time. I think pre-writing these to copy-paste in at appropriate moments would have had me better prepared.

 

 

As a GM, it is our responsibility to make the round more fun and engaging for others. We failed to do so for many players in this round. Antagonists are to be made to enhance the story, and I never intend them to win. Personally, I do not find it fun to use admin tools to create OP characters and defeat the crew. I do enjoy seeing the crew rally against the odds and defeat them, however.

 

In future, I will ensure that I:

Am more clear in my communication of the intention with events to both players and fellow staff assisting.

 

Am more prepared and organized with events.

 

Attempt to tag antagonists as such, so that ghosts watching have a better idea whats going on, as well as players at round end.

 

Make it clearer to players what their options are when it comes to fighting back.

 

[necaladun]

 

I would like to thank you for posting constructive criticism and complaints without personal attacks. Such is needed to help me understand the impact of these events. A lot of the time the only feed back I get is "fuking adminboose" or "that event was awesome!" which do not really help.

 

I encourage more feedback like this. Again, I offer my apologies for anyone negatively affected by the round, and my assurance such feedback will be taken on board and I will do whatever I can to make sure future events take this feedback into account to avoid such occurrences.

 

[Regen]

 

Feedback is great to get, The ERT was my fault for not getting more information about what we were doing before joining inn.

 

As for the virus, I asked neca several times, it was extended (or close to, since all antags were dead) so I asked if we could just end it with what seemed like an OP virus.

 

I stated several times in OOC that Neca agreed to this, and I didn't just give myself the green light to do it.

I have already apologized to Neca for ruining his round, and I would like to apologize to you as well for fucking up what could have been a good event between the captain and Centcom.

 

[Nakhi]

 

To be honest, the responses weren't quite what I had expected, but it definitely explained things more in depth and gave me a grasp regarding what had gone on. As I said, the ERT one was sort of that one that made me have to speak up. But, with the explanation, I realize it wasn't all it seemed to be on the surface, and I thank you both for the response and taking the time to reply.

 

With the virus one, I mostly brought that up in part because it seemed so off, even if it didn't affect me personally until the very end. It was an interesting occurrence, admittedly, but I had the feeling there was more to it, that's why I said nothing in the end that time. It definitely gave a hands on look at the capabilities of the game mechanics though.

 

As for the ERT, while it was an interesting concept, I had intended to work with Centcom regarding the issue, but one of the ERT people just walked in and started dismantling things. That's part of why I had to say something and why the events that followed felt wrong. I saw a lot of potential in that myself, and I guess not being able to see the potential realized was part of the disappointment on my end.

 

In the end, that was the point of this I think. Just raise the concerns I had, and then have them assuaged fairly quickly. So, thank you again for taking the time to read and reply.