Rip Van Winkell

[The Sociologist]

Are there any specific features that people think that staff implement just for themselves. Because it seems like a paranoid assumption.

No, not paranoid. The whole tiredness issue got implemented because certain people on staff went orbital over pirate attacks on the Zuzi/Siom and Seatown/Krif coats. And amazing how many of the pirates just "happened" to end up awkward at combat. There were also a whole series of changes to render pirate ships more vulnerable.

You will notice that you get tired from hitting but not ever from dragging. Furthermore, with the new skills system it became possible for particularly strong characters to drag others single-handed. Isn't it rather amazing how many "elite" characters can do this? Yet it took me a RL year to make myself just one, and even he's variable. Of course a crowbar is useless against imprisonment by such characters anyway, since they can singlehandedly drag a victim back and forth through a sequence of rooms and thus interrupt the project.

So, the menace of piracy has been replaced by the menace of absolute imprisonment, but I'm willing to bet that once too many people use this technique in piracy--to drag people onto ships by themsleves--and if this becomes frequent along the abovementioned coastlines, then you will soon see the "rules" changed again!

Please bear in mind that if you are on staff, you can arrange to have a character terminated whenever you like. I've just experienced a character drop dead in front of my eyes, yet I know that it is a staff player who still has other charries functioning in the game. Yet when non-staff players apply for the same benefit, you are told "this is no longer done". And finally, of course, the new "Forty Day" rule slants things even further. There seems to be a desperate effort under way to prevent too many such rambo-dragger characters being "bred" rapidly via the old "suicidal newspawn" technique.

I would also point to the tinkering with vehicles. At one point you simply could not hit anyone on a vehicle. Then some rogues got hold of vehicles and began attacking a major town or two. Hey presto, suddenly you could attack people on vehicles again. A major programming bug-fix that we were supposed to be grateful for? Nope, I'm guessing this was just a parameter change. There were numerous such tweakings at one point, but it's rather tedious to reproduce the whole list.

Finally, I must point out that efforts were made to kill off my character Francesca Foscari by "database poisoning". I won't go any further into the details, but had I not happened to go online at a time when I don't normally do so, she would have died that day. I'm not a popular guy with some people, as you know. Perhaps, they feared having a major character of mine too close to a certain limestone town. Who can say?

One thing I have noticed, though, is what seems to be a complete end to the database poisonings and parameter tweakings since Chris began playing the major role. Things are now much improved. Chris has many characters throughout the game in many positions and is very neutral and even handed.

So things are looking much improved. What we need now is for a really even-handed programming guru like Chris to help fix the utterly wrecked combat system.

[Nixit]

Erm... touche.

[Phalynx]

Yeah all power to Chris, as far as you can tell in the forum and through PMs he is totally even handed and works on getting things fixed... Bugger knows how he manages to work for a living as well!

He also isn't an arrogant tosser who uses opportunities to put people down and berate them, even if their ignorance is evident..

I'm curious about Fran.. can you explain how that would work to a less technical mind..

[Mykey]

Excuse, that I interrupt you, I too would like to express the opinion.

[Oasis]

Sorry, but they sound like paranoid rantings to me still. I have seen no evidence of anything you're purporting, Sociologist. Changes in game are not made by one person, but by a team of people. They are not made to aid their own characters, nor hinder others purposely as you are insinuating but are carefully discussed and implemented in a constructive manner......not that all changes have the desired effect, as we all know, but that doesn't mean the desired effect was stated falsely.

Please bear in mind that if you are on staff, you can arrange to have a character terminated whenever you like.

This is not true. Special privileges such as this are NOT given to any staff. Staff who have the ability to do so themselves are not allowed to, and if they wish any characters deleted, must go through the same process as anyone else.

I have no idea what you could mean by "database poisoning", and I find it very unfair that you make accusations without explaining yourself. If there is ever any situation where you feel that staff have abused their privileges, etc., this should be reported to the GAB immediately so it can be investigated..........do not let these things build up and fester inside you until you're forced to post something like this.

[Mykey]

Trifles!

[Schme]

Like I said in the first post, you guys, I'm not trying to bring back the "Good old days". I didn't play this game in the Good Old days. But it's now fucked up.


At least cut the rot in half. If they'd just do that, and maybe laser out the birthday tatoos, this game would be much full better, I think.

[Marian]

I have no idea what you could mean by "database poisoning", and I find it very unfair that you make accusations without explaining yourself. If there is ever any situation where you feel that staff have abused their privileges, etc., this should be reported to the GAB immediately so it can be investigated..........do not let these things build up and fester inside you until you're forced to post something like this.

Did he mean this? http://www.cantr.net/forum/viewtopic.ph ... =francesca

Still might be paranoia, but if something like that happened to just my character and nobody elses I might feel that way to...

[Oasis]

Ahhhh.......good find, Marian. I don't recall this, nor have any idea what the problem was. I cannot imagine that it was a staff member targetting his character and it not being found out, though. Thomas was rather good at that kind of thing.

[west]

Everyone that is saying that if they started playing now, as opposed to when they did, would not have started due to creeping featurism ignore the fact that if they started now, they would have no idea what the game used to be like and would take the current state as normal.

Perhaps you misunderstand. If I found the game today, considering its current complexity, even if I considered it "normal" for the game I wouldn't play. Or, more likely, I'd join, play for a few days, and then never log in again, just like everyone I've introduced to the game in the past few years. These are veteran RPers and people who are plenty imaginitive, as a rule, but do not have the time for the mounds of busywork the current system imposes.

The only reason I still play is that I am emotionally invested in my older characters, and they're invested in their communities. I cannot seem to enjoy playing newspawns. Maybe that's a personal flaw; I don't know. I just spawned another, though, and I will attempt to play him to see what the newbie experience is, although I am irrevocably unable to approximate that because I know the mechanics of the game so well.


As far as the accusations of changes benefitting staff, Oasis and others, nobody is saying that the majority of staff aren't unbiased and conscientious. During my time on the PD I was constantly impressed with the professionalism and unbaised approach of the then-current PD.

Oh, and The Soc, PD members are not allowed to delete their own characters at all, nor anybody elses without going through certain established protocols.

But enough people have made enough accusations about the same group of (in some cases former) players that it starts looking suspicious even if it's not. And as Mykey pointed out, it only takes one bad apple to cast the rest of the barrel in an unfavorable light, if not taint them directly.

Again, Netty, I'm not accusing, and I'm not saying whether I think the allegations are with merit or not. I'm just reminding you that these are not necessarily new fears, nor ones that come out of nowhere.

[saztronic]

I have to agree with west. If I came into the game today I don't think I would play more than a couple days. I started maybe a month to three months before the two things that just seem sort of purposeless and serve to make the game more tedious. Rot, and skills. Then later on, there were the food changes.

The problem is that every change that gets made, just makes it harder and more time-consuming to do anything fun at all. As west aptly terms it, the game now consists mostly of busywork. Drudgery. Something I have enough of in my real life.

I said it in another post. Double the types of things you can do, and halve the time it takes to do any of them. It's not rocket science.

[Doug R.]

Oh, yea, skills. Forgot those. I don't like skills. They totally ruined preconceived characters.

Perhaps I just like busywork in Cantr. I can count on both hands the number of times my character has fallen asleep without working on something. I'll just chalk it up to a difference in personal preferences. I've always just considered the mechanics to be peripheral to the role-play anyway, so even with skills, I role-played around them.

And thank you West for your balanced statements about the staff. The worst thing that can happen on any game forum is for players to start generalizing about the wickedness of the staff. While that may not have been the intent, any reference to "the staff" in a bad light is seen as a generalization and will illicit a need for staff members to defend themselves, which just creates a venomous "players vs. staff" situation which is impossible to dig out of. At my last job, the situation became so bad, most new staff have breakdowns and quit before they've even been on a year.

When I joined the PD here, I was amazed at how well the staff and the players got along, but I think there is a considerable danger now that this cordial relationship is poised on the edge of an abyss, and will tumble if both the players and the staff don't take a step back and moderate their words before posting them.

[Kreed]

Guys can I have your keys/tools/weapons if your leaving...as the game stinks so much now?

I did play long ago, before dragging et,all and I came back to it now I have charries that have just reached thirty I'm sure not all the changes are for the good but I think it still rocks.
From your comments about getting being to difficult to get into the game I would suggest you may be to close to the subject...two of my step children play, age 14 and 10, and they poo poo your suggestion. (I have never helped them in any fashion to play).

Perhaps someone could work up some stats on new players retained and then have an informed debate?

[Mykey]

Very useful message

[Doug R.]

Would that still ruin preconceived characters?

No, provided the progression was visible. As it is now, skill progression is so painfully slow that it may as well be non-existent. If you are on the botton end of a skill (as there is a range within each category), you will never see the next highest level. Fighting and strength improvement? Forgetaboutit.