Admin Feedback Thread 2.0 - Printable Version

While some people may feel wronged by my own actions, like sieging bases with and without reasons, it has been brought to my attention that the essence of these reports is so that my participation be sabotaged by certain people who have been, or are currently banned for misbehavior themselves. While some of these very well could have merit, and I would never disqualify the judgement of these sorts of things (we're all human, and it remains to be seen that we're perfect in any way), it is clear that certain administrators act on the merit of "This player is reported frequently."

This is nonsense. The rules for Special Roleplay Requests states the following: "12. Administrators reserve the right to revoke a special roleplay permission if it fails to meet the post-approval requirements, or the owner fails to keep to the expected quality standards. Furthermore, any sanctions the owner receives from the time of approval on any character related or unrelated to the approved request, would first and foremost effect the status of their special roleplay character."

This rule, if properly executed, would greatly impact certain individuals on the server who have been sanctioned, banned, or otherwise disciplined for breaking server rules who hold SRP's. I still remain at 0% warning level, and have had my SRP denied on the merit of behavior, which is done so without evidence provided. I try to do things by the book, and regardless of my lapses, I continue to try to do so. While I realize the argument is there that when you make a SRP request, you agree that the admin team can revoke it for ANY reason, this is, at the heart of the rule, an unfair cop-out to allow admins to do as they please. If I have wronged someone, process the sanction. I'd gladly own the consequences should a valid claim be made.

As I stated in my initial rebuttal, NO ONE should EVER be afraid to report. The admins, while obligated to acknowledge all reports, can choose to dismiss certain reports should a decision be impossible to attain, or that the evidence is insufficient. There's people who play Sanctionlancer, and there are people who are targeted. While I have NO evidence of the latter, the reports I've made against members of the community hold some sort of merit before the report is made. If you feel that it should be dismissed, then the Admin may due so. If it is dismissed and the problem CONTINUES (in this case, it did.) then there should be significant effort from the administration team to handle situations that arise from things like metagaming. Note, I did not re-report things, or use malicious speech in any of my reports, I simply made the report after things could not be solved on the lowest level.

In the end, if my reports could not be processed because of shaky evidence, simply because of other lapses in judgement, and/or because the Administration team decides no action is necessary, then that is on me, which I give no fault to the staff. However, I now face the dilemma that I no longer wish to report because I'll inconvenience the staff and it will cause me backlash.

My activities as a member of the staff, specifically as a Dev, should NEVER impact my server participation unless out of some mythical enraged circumstance, I decided to do something like sabotage etc. While I'll admit, I'm not perfect and I've had my struggles with team cohesion in the past, Xalrok gave me this notice on the same day that my SRP was denied. While we still haven't got to the bottom of that issue, regardless of my rebuttal, this is an admin feedback thread, not a Dev one. This accusation in the conclusion shows that the investigation of me, and my representation therein was most definitely skewed, as I had evidence of admin approval before taking developer action. I spoke many times I had no intention of snaking anything into the Mod that did not belong, and I spoke with many members in my process that I didn't want to get hit for bias, unauthorized implementation, or otherwise.

Thorough evidence collection for the "investigation" was definitely not present, if the leading litigation was my failure to wait for a green statement when there was one. Simply checking the dates and times within the Git and on the forums would have taken between seconds to minutes to determine. That being said, I digress; if I failed to uphold the developer guidelines, then that should be handled separately, not with the expense of my roleplay. If the team decides they do not want my help as a developer, then they may do so. I don't believe it is fair for Admins to decide to revoke or deny SRP's based on someone's honest contributions as a developer that a member of the team simply disagrees with.

3.1) Structure and Accountability: At this time, the development team has no oversight externally (which is probably part of the mudslinging we're seeing), and as seen here there is NO head balance Dev. Therefore, Xalrok is the only individual with oversight power in the Balance team, however, Durandal wishes to act with authority that the head would use. While I'd love to present evidence from the Balance chat, it is both against the guidelines, and I've since been removed from the chat, I have no basis to defend myself. If you want to have the oversight power of a head developer of a branch, then you must also assume the responsibility. I get it, we're volunteers with limited time commitments, but if you disagree with a change and you ALSO have Git access, you have every ability to hold proper oversight. I'm not saying that negligence constitutes approval, but I am saying that there must be accountability. Whether it comes from the administration team to keep the balance team structure working as intended, or internally, there must be at least some oversight. No position of the team should go unfilled, especially if you wish to have a functional team structure. In Durandal's own words: "You don't put people on your team who refuse to work as a team."

I'm not going to try and paint myself as a saint. I'm far from it, and I don't feel I owe anyone insincere apologies for anything I've done. What I do know is that after taking control of a faction, I've done as much as I can to be an enriching part of the community, to contribute to interesting projects and endeavors, and a few fun story arcs of my own. I've put myself in the line of Dev blow-back multiple times, with a valid attempt to improve gameplay and contribute to anti-stagnation. If the admin team believes I'm truly toxic, then they have more than enough power to put me back in line. However, I don't believe it's a valid argument to say that I've failed to be a member who contributes more to the community.

Beyond that, most people who find a sour opinion of an individual, usually hold that opinion despite countering evidence. With this incident, I'm not confident I will ever receive fair treatment for the contributions I've made, and I have little faith that should I re-request this, that anything should change in their decision fundamentally, or that the request would even be fairly considered.