XA- Xeno Alliance

[Xalrok]

We have re-evaluated the Xeno Alliance’s Offficial Faction request and after much deliberation, have made the decision to grant them official faction status under the condition that an acting representative, agreed upon by both the XA- and the staff, is selected to represent the XA’s interests within development chats and when submitting faction requests.

However, a few things should be clarified regarding the original decision to decline the Xeno Alliance’s Official Faction status. Some points that were raised will also be addressed.

1. It’s understood that some people were upset with the decision to turn down an Official Faction request from someone who is motivated enough to invest time and effort in good role play standards. It was also upsetting and annoying for the team to have to reject officialdom for an otherwise good faction due to the attitude of its leader.

2. Unlike how some have made it sound, rejecting officialdom is not intended to be synonymous with killing a faction. It is the decision to not give its members certain privileges that other players don’t have, in this case for the reason that the leader shows little promise of using some of those privileges responsibly.

3. The way the decision was first announced to the community could have been more detailed, but that could also have been perceived as trial by forum. The following statement is intended to serve as both an explanation to the community for the reasoning behind our original decision, and as a reminder of what is considered acceptable or unacceptable conduct by an Official Faction.

I have posted just as I was leaving work so I did not manage to contact you sooner about it. The vote was rather split, but the majority was in favor of declining the application due to concerns they have found with the faction. The reason for it was the fact that you are a leader of the faction. The staff was not impressed with your recent behavior and attitude and do not wish to grant the officialdom to the Xeno Alliance as long something is not done about it. I am personally sorry it ended up this way and I hope the Xeno Alliance will re-try going for officialdom, but I also hope you will take it as a constructive criticism and aim for improvement.

Seeing as I care for transparency. This is apparently the basis for faction officialdom now. Not your roleplay quality, not your conduct in-game. The fact that you, the player, are disliked for disagreeing with people. And being blunt with them. If you intend to get anywhere, for the love of God, butter people up. Don't be me, because being yourself is criminal especially if it's detrimental to someone else's clique and power.

Official faction requests are not denied because “you, the player, are disliked for disagreeing with people”. In the case of the XA-, it was demonstrated several times that the faction’s leader was not willing to reasonably discuss things concerning the faction, and that they were instead more interested in attacking and showing disdain for the people who tried to talk about it. Whether or not a faction is granted official status has less to do with simply following the rules during the trial period, and more with following the spirit behind them. Here are a few examples that hopefully illustrate the problem in Reeves’ overall attitude more precisely:

We think it was and it is the desired outcome that the Xeno player-base wants. The team must understand and respect that notion and work with it rather than against it. After-all, it is in everyone's best interests to give factions freedom of interpretation.

While it is indeed true that the desires of your players matter, so do things like an intact lore environment, balance between factions, and the players outside of the faction. Therefore it is really not helpful for a faction leader to demand something on the grounds that “our players want it, so you must accept it”. What you want may be justified or not, but the justification you chose is equally applicable to everyone and everything, so it is not a viable way to move forward. Taking this approach is not only a disservice to the people who try to keep the mod immersive and balanced between factions, but also to your own players because you are negotiating their interests in a counterproductive manner. An Official Faction Leader should be able to take into consideration other perspectives, and not simply conflate their own views with the entire player base of the NPC faction and insist that the faction get something simply because they want it.

Refrain from imposing your own uneducated interpretations of other factions into a thread asking for design suggestions. We most obviously know our faction better than you do. And if you have misconceptions in need of clarification then direct them to our feedback thread. We are more than happy to educate you with the correct facts.

Rudely declaring a differing opinion to be invalid solely because the person is not in your faction is not an acceptable way of defending your position. If someone is factually incorrect, you can elucidate without being rude and suggesting their view is invalid for not being part of the faction. This is the opposite of how Official Faction Leaders are expected to behave.

From the Discovery Story Working Groups Discord:

[10:03 AM] Reeves (XA-): I'm here to play a role not consult with the HF over pixels.

Unwillingness to discuss with another faction a proposal with the possibility to strongly affect them (the potential loss of a large percentage of their NPC assets), in a callous and disdainful manner is not the purpose of the Regional Story Development Chat. This is signalling here that the wellbeing of other factions is of no concern. Again, this is not something an Official Faction Leader should do. It is also not acceptable for an Official Faction Leader to justify their OORP attitude towards fellow players with the IRP stance of their own faction towards others’. Those are two things that an Official Faction Leader must be able to separate.

4. It is also true that over Discovery’s long history, instances of similar or worse behavior has individually occurred with other official faction leaders, members, admins, moderators, and developers, some of which suffered no direct or immediate consequences. However, that is not an excuse for oneself to engage in bad behavior, nor for the staff to not to act on it now or in the future. Secondly, the XA’s infractions were a recurring pattern during a period in which the faction was in an official evaluation process, to which they submitted it. They have certainly also done good things, but repeated failure to abide to the most basic diplomatic standards, without indication of a willingness to improve, could not let us grant Reeves Official Faction Leader privileges in good conscience.

5. In the community there are obviously widely varying opinions of what Official Factions Leaders have or should have to say on the development of their faction, which may have contributed to the attitude which factored into the Xeno Alliance’s original request being denied. Similar issues have arisen before, and they will be addressed by making more clear what faction leaders can expect and what is expected of them, by rewriting/expanding some of the existing rules and guidelines.