Many of you know who I am. Many do not. I'm Troy, a long-time member and current faction leader of the Vagrant Raiders unlawful faction. I disappeared for a bit after being fed up with some rules and the state of the community about a year and a half ago, but I've seen some changes made and am now actually glad to be back in Discovery.
But that's not what I'm here to talk about.
This evening I was cleaning up the faction post some more and I noticed a couple posts in the faction thread by a former leader (I will not name him, but I am sure you can guess who he is) making comments about SRPs and the admin team from the faction's forum account. This does not look good at all, and I asked Widow to remove/invis the posts for me (thank you for taking care of that so quickly).
Worried about what else may have been posted, I began looking through the vagrantraiders account's post history and found a particular thread that I will not link because, quite honestly, I am ashamed of it. For those who don't know what thread I'm talking about, it basically consists of the former leader whining about the SRPs for the VCS Metropolis, VCS Systematic Chaos, VCS Nightmare, VCS Black Cloud, and VCS Silver Lining being taken away due to issues with SRP transference and inactivity. I edited a disclaimer about the post being opinion of a former leader in and a quick apology on behalf of high command, and went through the thread to look for more.
And then I saw a post in it.
(05-25-2013, 11:58 AM)Jihadjoe Wrote: Andrew, as much as I hate to break it to you... The VR come and go and come and go and never stick around for more than a few months. They have spent more time not existing than they have existing.
Since Dream Theatre left they've become probably the single most tears-fueled faction I have ever seen... Honest to god, I've never seen anyone complain so much as yourself at the helm of the VR. It's embarrassing to watch.
I don't mean to single anyone out (especially not Joe, who I respect deeply as a person and a member of the community), but god, that hurt to read. I actually felt horrible reading that. I held back tears of sadness. This is not how I want people to see the Vagrant Raiders at all. This is not how I remember seeing people treat the Vagrant Raiders. The Vagrant Raiders were not a whiny bunch at all. We were calm and friendly. And seeing this makes me sad because it means the faction I spent so much time playing with and loving has turned into a mess that is regarded by esteemed members of the comunity as a "tears-fueled faction".
So I want to apologize, not only for any whiny actions of my own in the past, but on behalf of the entirety of the Vagrant Raiders. That is not us. We do not want to be known as a temporary, tears-fueled faction. We are not here to complain and to be disturbers of the peace. We are here like 99.9% of the rest of the community -- to have fun and roleplay.
I want to apologize on behalf of the faction for our former leader. While I appreciate that he kept the faction more or less alive for a while, I do not appreciate the tone he used when doing it. Using the faction's "official" account to whine is not cool. Nothing of the sort will ever be seen again. You all have my word that the Vagrant Raiders will not degenerate into a pit of whining and sore losing ever again. I would sooner disband the faction than let that happen again.
Since Josh (Dream Theater) and the rest of the original Vagrant Raiders high command left, the VR did take a nose dive, and I accept that. The past can't be changed. I would also like to apologize for the failure of the faction at that point, but I think I've done enough apologizing for things I couldn't have controlled at all. However, things are taking a turn for the better. Activity is up, membership is increasing steadily, and the names of the Vagrant Raiders and the VCS Metropolis are getting out there in-game and proliferating through Sirius.
The Vagrant Raiders are no longer a tears-fueled, temporary faction. We are here to stay, and here to enjoy the community and game with calmness and a desire to be remembered as a faction with some troubled times but an overall positive influence on the Discovery Gaming Community and mod.
Thanks to everyone who read this post.
TL;DR - Read the post, please. I put a lot of thought and an equal number of feelings into it.
The fact that the two remaining leaders have something of a history of angry ranting is likely not helping our case. So, uh, my bad? Is that the term?
* Thexare shrugs.
That's not the important part, though. The rest of the message is. We're both aware that the Raiders' reputation is not the greatest. We've... well, I'll put it as bluntly as the word filter will allow, we've screwed up a few times. No, not "previous leaders", me, DT, and Kaz too. We know, and we're trying to fix it.
To that end, we're not pursuing the SRP issue or reacquiring official status for a bit. Even if we don't get the Metropolis back in-game, it will remain part of our RP as a mobile headquarters. That's not to say we're giving up; we just want to ensure sustainable in-game activity and sort out some other things first.
And if I may throw in a more specific apology of my own, to LH (especially Phate and Moriarty): Yeah, we were dicks about the whole thing. You know the one. Sorry about that.
Well, from one point it's really good to see someone, at least, trying to hold away from whiny_qq attitude which at some point became very common amongst the old factions. The disco have changed and whinage is coming from the point of how it is now different from how it used to be in "good 'ol times". New factions are building on the basis of the current situation and qqs are less oriented on how it's everything wrong but rather on how they can't get XY gear, rights, rules. But to be honest there is no person who would generate the "general concept and development plan" for discovery server so it just rocks down following the population demand. Population need more fun and pvp and wanna have to fuck less with various rules, factions, rps, srps, restrictions, etc so we go that a way since majority wants that.
Old factions need to take it as it is and move along or disappear manly.
Hope you'll be alright since factions are just tending to disappear now w\o anyone attempting to put effort into making new official\unof factions. Being official, unofficial or a faction at all is now not necessary so welcome to the red book.
P.S. On being dicks. As I said many issues are coming from the degree of the changes which is meeting resistance from the old fashioned groups which can be, as one of the possible reactions, become kinda cocky because of the feeling of something shifting from warmth of the stability. I hope to be right it happened because of that and not because of the people simply being dicks themselves. I didn't had much opportunity to meet with VR so far expect few minor encounters in theta and omega 3 (from what I remember) and those were far from giving any info on the faction at all. I'm looking forward to have more fun.
I think each of the incarnations of the Vagrant Raiders so far were so focussed on being what they were that they unfortunately couldn't move along with the change of Discovery, and either the leadership jumped ship and dumped the faction or changed in a blaze of internal (or external) drama.
We want to avoid that. Discovery's not the same game we used to play in 2009 so we aren't going to play it like it is.
I also want to add that I'm (and many others I believe) are waiting for someone to resurrect the whole smuggling part of the gameplay which is now sorta dead.
We're avoiding Cardi for many reasons, including us moving on from the past, but expect to see quite a few transports loaded to the brim with Counterfeit Software, for example, heading up through Kusari and the upper Taus...
(07-18-2013, 08:36 AM)Kazinsal Wrote: (especially not Joe, who I respect deeply as a person and a member of the community)
This is how you can tell it's insincere.
Nobody could possibly say they respect Joe whilst holding a straight face.
GG, nice try.
[10:01:22 PM] kangaksldkjaslapalawr:I had talent and could cum on people's faces.
[10:01:22 PM] kangaksldkjaslapalawr: I didn't get [expletive deleted].
[10:01:33 PM] kangaksldkjaslapalawr: I bet if I pretended to be a chick I would've got everything.
Although as far as I can tell they were before my time, I didn't get the 'live feed' of the whining by Switchback or whoever else may have done it and actually have a fairly good impression of VR- as a high-RP Pirate ID faction. Whatever you might say about them, they have a large history. Kaz, you seem nice enough too, and... well, Thex is my dad supposedly.