Staff Feedback Thread

[Luke.]

What I'm gonna say is under the premise that I don't know Mort, nor am I a 1iC of any concerned faction. I also think a one-month ban is too much. A short one maybe, but not longer if no previous bans were issued. If there's been no warnings, then this is an insane decision to make, straight up. I also think melodrama such as threatening to leave over one person's sanction is not going to help. Staff shouldn't have to feel guilt-tripped, even if you feel they are wrong. I do personally (not that my opinion matters) wish to see more dialogue between staff and players however, since it always seems to be an utter stalemate at least since reading the forums again. Oh, my opinion also doesn't matter.

That said, however...

...sanctions should happen for repeated behaviours that are testing the boundaries of the rules. Think of it from the perspective that a long-term goal (for now) is to bring people back and/or new players in. Like it or not, Discovery is struggling for a variety of reasons and so it's probably very stressful to find ways to mitigate the issue when low-pop leads to lack of interactions, which leads to people getting bored and leaving, and the cycle continues. Case-in-point, people getting fucked in the ass as a new player by someone who can find them on any number of snubs at a moments notice (some have many, I'm sure most are aware of this) is not a great experience, especially with the pvp ceiling ever-increasing as time goes by. Meta-gaming rules exist to mitigate this, but it's hard to tell when that's being abused. There's no teaching, no real RP being done and that is the primary purpose of the server. Connecticut indeed exists to facilitate the purely bloodthirsty.

Disco's onboarding process needs to be better to warn people of these things, I agree, but that's a bigger topic for another day. Not a simple answer after all.

I'm a little tired of seeing the constant bloodthirsty culture though. Not the arranged raids or natural clashes between factions, but the lone wolves doing a /restart [faction] and just sniffing out people for a simple kill. I get it, it's a way to have fun and that's great. Wouldn't want to take that away from people. However, it hardly breeds genuine interaction even when hostility is the go-to for rival factions. It's not asking much to at least try and be more personable toward your adversary. Such is the void between pvp enjoyers, RP enjoyers and those of us that enjoy both I guess. The older the player, the more they'd obviously know what to expect. While it's not unjustified for people to start blasting when they see an enemy even in-RP after telling them they want them gone, setting a higher example is, in my mind, what at least some want to see. Should Mort be that example via sanction? I don't know, not seen all the evidence. I'm not taking sides here, but as a bystander and a player I can see why staff may want to nip this culture in the bud before it becomes too much of a norm. It shouldn't be, and it wasn't in the past. Nobody complained about having to think before right-clicking. You can argue that some just don't want to do that and so they'd leave instead but well, the purpose of the server is clearly stated.

I do agree there are better ways to do it though perhaps, such as revisiting certain rules and making it clear from the start rather than firing the banhammer sporadically, and if a change in attitude is what is desired then a bigger post should be made with amended rules. You have to consider the fact that for newer players, it's a steep hill to get better at the game and defend yourself. It is a natural part of the game, and not everyone will care either of course and may even enjoy it, but it should be understood that a game that feels so unwelcoming and has so much to learn with little in-game resource especially, makes for a miserable beginning when you're just blown out of the sky while figuring stuff out. Freelancer and Discovery as a whole is made or broken by player interaction, whether it ends up in a fight or not. Otherwise all you do is missions, or trade. Alone. Wonderful (it isn't).

Now is this happening to new players? Perhaps not, since I don't think reports would really come from them at least initially, but that in my mind would be the perspective to look at this from. It's not asking a lot to request that people at least entertain the idea of doing more than just roaming looking for a fight all the time. You can do that, but /1 /2 go gives people no time to even understand what's going on, let alone learn anything. An environment must be fostered to balance out the pew with the reasons to pew. Combat is hardly being taken away, and no one is being punished for wanting that result. Just put a modicum of effort in at least.

Just my two cents. tl;dr pew good but disco rp server so pew with restraint.

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