Nostalrius and the long-term life | Open discussion.
Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 12:24 pm
Some time ago I sent a PM to the admins ( without getting a reply, I must be getting on their nerves by now ) with the following questions. I'd love to hear what you guys think about my questions and my suggestions on how to make sure that Nostalrius will survive the long-term life.
The server launches in 4 days and I am a little bit concerned that there are still questions going around about what will be allowed and what will not be allowed, when will the GM's intervene ( griefing ) and when will they let the players be.
I was hoping that this was something that they had planned out ( as in writing a more thorough rulebook ) and not something they evaluate on a case-by-case basis.
I think players would also love to see a 'GM policy' which specifically states WHEN gamemasters can intervene/help/do their GM duties and when they can't, HOW they can do their duties and to what degree.
This will clear up a lot of questions like "If I find a bugged quest will the GM complete it for me?" or "I accidently deleted a item will a GM restore it for me?" - The list of questions is long, a GM intervention/help policy should be in place for two reasons:
1. The GM's have a framework that they have to follow, each player will get the same treatment.
2. The players know in what situations they will get help and where they will not get help.
Taking constructive and good feedback from an open-forum is very hard. Not all people know how to put aside their trolling/subjective opinion for the greater good. Individuals elected by the players ( democracy! ) will act as "representatives" for the players and will consult with the developers and staff with changes to ensure that both the developers and the players agree.
Something like ( of course on a smaller scale ) this would ensure that the staff doesn't do any changes to the server that will hurt the playerbase or the gameplay with the bonus of getting good feedback from the players. Heard of the phrase 'happy wife happy life' ? Happy players, ... happy server?
There seems to be a lot of questions going around, such as how your policies will be on certain things like griefing, etc. Is there any plan on releasing a more detailed policy or having a open-thread where players can ask questions on what will be allowed and what will not?
I think banning multiboxing is a nice step towards countering one of the many downsides with private servers today.
The server launches in 4 days and I am a little bit concerned that there are still questions going around about what will be allowed and what will not be allowed, when will the GM's intervene ( griefing ) and when will they let the players be.
I was hoping that this was something that they had planned out ( as in writing a more thorough rulebook ) and not something they evaluate on a case-by-case basis.
I think players would also love to see a 'GM policy' which specifically states WHEN gamemasters can intervene/help/do their GM duties and when they can't, HOW they can do their duties and to what degree.
This will clear up a lot of questions like "If I find a bugged quest will the GM complete it for me?" or "I accidently deleted a item will a GM restore it for me?" - The list of questions is long, a GM intervention/help policy should be in place for two reasons:
1. The GM's have a framework that they have to follow, each player will get the same treatment.
2. The players know in what situations they will get help and where they will not get help.
Also, if I may suggest: Have you heard about EVE Online? They have a council of elected in-game players which meet with the developers 12 times a year ( once a month ) to discuss gameplay changes, change in policies etc. This allows for the dev team to take feedback from the players and you create an excellent arena for discussing changes to the server with your players without the cluster-fuck of a open-forum. Look at the councilmembers as player representatives. I think something like this would be nice, but of course at a smaller scale.
That's just my 2 cents, I definitely think Nostalrius might be one of the best servers to come around and we all just want the best for it to succeed in the long term.
Taking constructive and good feedback from an open-forum is very hard. Not all people know how to put aside their trolling/subjective opinion for the greater good. Individuals elected by the players ( democracy! ) will act as "representatives" for the players and will consult with the developers and staff with changes to ensure that both the developers and the players agree.
Something like ( of course on a smaller scale ) this would ensure that the staff doesn't do any changes to the server that will hurt the playerbase or the gameplay with the bonus of getting good feedback from the players. Heard of the phrase 'happy wife happy life' ? Happy players, ... happy server?