For the last couple of weeks, and well before that, I've gotten at least 5 IMs from THG players (per week) asking why I left FFTHG (That's Final Fantasy: The Hunting Grounds). I suppose this is the best way to tell you all and explain what's going on.
When I first started playing THG, back in about late 2003, I was a frequent member. The game was in it's aplha phase (version 1) and the creator asked me to join the brotherhood. His name was Dagolar. From then, I donned my orange robe and started working on maps.
Skipping ahead a bit, Dagolar left the development team. He was honestly good at running the game and took it in the right direction. But it was his creation, and the rest of the dev team was lost in terms of what to do next.
Brotherhood members came and went. Many were fired or just stopped showing up. Not me, I stuck to it.... right up until a year and a half ago, when things went to hell.
We had our first abusive host... FlameSage, I believe. He hosted the game, took the files, blah blah. Then came Matt. Turns out, "Matt" was a woman pretending to be a guy. I'm sure you've heard of guys pretending to be girls over the internet. That's common. And it's usually easy to tell. And needless to say, I could tell Matt was a girl just through her typing skills, well before it became public knowledge. "Matt" became "Megan". "Megan" became "Abusive" and claimed the game as her own. The savefiles were lost once again.
Then came Mahn. This is self-explainatory. And it's common knowledge around BYOND still today. I don't need to explain it. A third pwipe was in order.
Then came Host #4: ME! Hey! Whoa! THIS IS FUN! WOW! It was fun for the first three months.... sure it was.
Then it all fell apart.
Allthough the development team meant well, stupider and stupider additions to the game were added on a daily basis. Such amazing features included a swear filter, party lock-outs, and neglecting to nerf White Mages. Of course, being "merely a host" I was given little choice of what was added into the game. Complaints from my BYOND friends spewed in at tremendous rates (specifically the Proelium/DWO/DWSoE communities) telling me hoiw much I suck for hosting such a sucky game. The game's internal system was deteriorating, that is to say the, the gameplay went to garbage.
Another thing that bogged down my morale for the game was the abusive administration. I'm not naming names, but you know who i'm talking about.
The game wasn tfun to me anymore or remotely interesting. I had intended to host a fun game with a fun community. Instead, I was hosting a game with design flaws, a community of backseat moderators, and a lack of the constitution's first ammendment.
So that's why I left : It was the opposite of what I had hoped for. THG, is not a bad game by any means. It definitely needs some extreme tweaking, and some of the regular players need their mouths stapled shut. Maybe if everyone woke up and realized this, THG would be in a much better state of critical reception than it is now.
EDIT: I shouldve said this sooner, but I am writing this article to criticize the game, and not the brotherhood itself.
ID:17704
 Aug 22 2006, 10:23 am (Edited on Aug 27 2006, 6:16 am)
|
|
|
Aug 22 2006, 10:27 am
|
|
Baram
 |
I concur.
|
Amen.
| |
Depending upon how popular the game gets, I may need another trustworthy host for Acheron's Awakening.
If you're interested, I'll let you know when the time comes. | |
I think i'll pass Silk.
I forgot to mention the electricity bills in my post. After I stopped hosting THG, my bills cut in half. | |
"I could tell Matt was a girl just through her typing skills"
I find it hard to be believe how you can tell someone's male or female by typing skills. Unless maybe in a cyber she screws up and is all, ;pulls down her thong an-OH CREAP I MEANT UNDERWARE*************OMG AND HIS*; | |
I would like to say a few things. You were never "merely a host". As part of the team, you had equal say in everything. I feel a bit disappointed that you would feel like that or even quote "merely a host" as if the other members actually said that to you. It is not true. We all value equality among the players and ourselves.
Nothing was ever neglected and plenty was discussed on many classes, including whitemages. The discussions are still ongoing however as we are compiling information on all classes to make the changes. It would be too many updates that could instead be compiled into one that is more planned and refined. The gameplay is barely different from when you had started. A filter and a party-lockout is hardly limiting on gameplay. The party limitation prevents you from partying with other people, with a one boss difference. Besides those that try to powerlevel other people, this minor limitation is mostly not even noticed. Although there were questionable additions, there have been plenty of ones that most would want to have. An example, the new boss battles that were worked very hard on and have been released. I think they do very well for gameplay. Abuse among the adminstrators I believe is pretty rare. Most has just been mistakes and overreacting, which when does occur, the person in fault is told and explained how to better the situation. Those that do make the mistakes have even at times apologized to those their mistakes were acted on. As I said at the top, we value equality among the players and ourselves. The first ammendment works well even there. People are free to speak their mind. A swear filter is not exactly very limiting on it. I understand why you would want to leave or feel the way you do. I am not going to try to change your opinion on it, but I hope this information is something. | |
As adding to what Kija had said, your treated yourself as merely a host by refusing to show up to any development meetings or even expressing your opinions or complaints to other members of the team. Instead you just come here and post lies trying to make everyone else seem like the assholes.
| |
People are free to speak their mind. A swear filter is not exactly very limiting on it. WRONG. SHUT. DIE. I got banned for typing "Penis?" "No?" And using caps. Caps is considered shouting, and I was shouting. So I get banned for that? What kind of "fun" is that? And free speech? I think not. That's like saying in the 1700's we had free speech to talk about the crown. WRONG. SHUT. DIE. Copyright(C) 2006 | |
yeah, once a lead developer leaves a team or game, That's it. Because, it was THEIR game to start, and had THEIR features, when someone else takes command, well, the game gets torn to shreds with that persons ideas and what not.
| |
I believe Druid's story.
Druid Mettol FTW. | |
I'm with Jared
| |
I got banned for typing "Penis?" "No?" And using caps. Caps is considered shouting, and I was shouting. So I get banned for that? Oh my god...My biggest pet peeve is when game moderators are so bored/bitchy that they actually enforce no caps rules. More than once I've logged into a game, and used all caps for ONE LINE OF TEXT JUST TO PROVE A POINT! And a moderator actually has the audacity to say "no caps or mute." That makes me sick. Oh and while I'm responding to quotes... Dever says: Instead you just come here and post lies trying to make everyone else seem like the assholes. That's one of the more pathetic attempts to save face that I've seen. Just flat out calling Druid a liar kind of justifies a lot of what Druid has said about you guys. | |
Using capital letters is within the rules.
The rules states: - Keep the caps to a minimum. Three words are all right, but whole sentences will not be tolerated. CepheusSeriphos was banned because of something else. I was there when it happened. There is no attempt to save face, only the truth given to help clear things up. Plenty of developers have left before him, and the game has been fine. The game has not been torn to shreds, and there has been many updates to make the game better. What is so bad about a swear filter and party limitations that it completely destroys the game and deserves the people working on the game to be bad? Whether or not you choose to believe his story, it is still not true. Even he knows this, but he will probably not admit it. I have always worked hard with everyone, equally. After all this work together, with compromises, deciding together as a group, and must come on here and see this. To actually accuse everyone of neglacting and ignoring someone on the team is insulting. Something I am sure plenty of people know, when you are a group, you will not always get what you want, because it must be what the group wants. This means that it is not what Mettool wanted, but what the group wanted. It would be wrong to try to interpret that as ignoring his views on the subject, because they were not. I thought Mettool was better than this, but instead he wants to make false accusations. Even if we had our disagreements, I still considered him a friend, but no friend ever does this. I do not appreciate being falsing accused. | |
Kija:
The rules states: - Keep the caps to a minimum. Three words are all right, but whole sentences will not be tolerated. If you have enough time to worry about moderating stupid stuff like that, then no wonder your game started to suck. Do you sit there and count capital words? What about 3-word sentences? THAT IS STUPID. >Something I am sure plenty of people know, when you are a group, you will not always get what you want, because it must be what the group wants. Apparently communism doesn't work in any aspect of life. Go figure. >Whether or not you choose to believe his story, it is still not true. Even he knows this, but he will probably not admit it. His story is that you guys ruined the game despite outcries from both him and the game's community. You haven't done anything to disprove the accusations of outrageous moderation or poor game design choices. From what I've seen so far, you've proved his point. | |
Enforcing the rules is not stupid. It is what keeps a game in order. That is how a bad community is created. From what I have heard about people in some your games, the community is pretty bad, even if it is a fun game. I do not have to sit there and count the capital words. It is pretty easy to see how many there are. You do not have to be a genius or a lot of time to see the difference between someone using seven words instead of three. Whether or not you care about keeping a game in order, I do. I care a lot about the game and have worked hard on to make it better and keep it safe. If that makes me a bad person, then so be it. I am bad person.
What do you expect to happen in a group? Do you wish that someone had all the power and the others were not really equal? That is what Mettool was complaining in the first place. Sometimes there has to be compromises, sometimes you do not get what you want. In the end, the majority has their way. But that does not mean it is not throughly discussed with everyone, allowing everyone to have their say before a decision is reached. I enjoy having a group where everyone is equal, and it has worked very well so far. What proof does he have that any of what he claims is true? What proof is there that we ignored him and treated him as nothing as a host? There is none, nor you will find any, because you cannot have proof for something that is not true. Many in the community agree and disagree with the additions, but they still get a long well. Whenever there is a discussion about it, we speak about it calmly. Whether the players agree with it, they have respected it as we respect their negative opinions of it and still enjoy a great game. A swear filter and a party limitation does not ruin a game. It barely changes the game. Our moderation is not outrageous. We are very fair in our actions. Although we enforce all rules, that does not mean we are cruel people who abuse others and let them have no freedom of speech. Have you logged in before, have you seen how any of us acted towards any other people, or do you want to take the words of someone like CepheusSeriphos, who even on the BYOND member posts has in the past acted horribly and actually believe that he was banned because of that? How have I proved any of his points? What have I said that shows that I do not value equality, that I ignored him and destroyed the game? The game is fine; it is fun, and people like to play. I still value equality and treat people equally. | |
I LOVE TALKING IN CAPS, IT'S VERY FUN. I DON'T SEE WHY SOME GAMES DISALLOW THE USAGE OF CAPITALIZED TEXT. IT'S VERY STUPID AND WELL, STUPIDDDD.
| |
Kija:
From what I have heard about people in some your games, the community is pretty bad, even if it is a fun game. Strike One: You admit that you don't know anything about my games, but "you've heard" that the community is bad? Yikes. The Silk Games community has been around for 5 years. There hasn't been a major game released in 3 years, but the community is still around. Why? Because it's a quality group of fun people. Oh, and I wrote this years ago as well. You may want to give it a read: http://byondscape.com/ascape.dmb/SilkWizard.2002-1013/ Kija: Do you wish that someone had all the power and the others were not really equal? Strike Two: Equal doesn't make anything better. Committees CERTAINLY don't make things better. Professional game development teams don't sit around and vote on stuff. People who have proven themselves to be talented and experienced game designers make the decisions. Can you imagine Shigeru Miyamoto asking for people to vote on his ideas? No wonder your game started to go down the toilet. Kija: What proof does he have that any of what he claims is true? Strike Three: EVERYTHING THAT YOU'VE SAID! (Sorry, that's four words... do I get booted now?) You've demonstrated just how ridiculous your moderation is. You've also given us a glimpse into the horribly flawed way that your game development team handles design decisions. Whether or not Druid approached you about these problems can't be proved. But the fact that he was an avid player and then a permanent host of the game makes it hard to believe that he kept quiet. From the sounds of it, your commie development team just didn't want to hear what he had to say. | |
IT'S VERY STUPID AND WELL, STUPIDDDD. Just like Xeal's irrelevant comments on blogs. | |
Silkwizard: Strike Two: Equal doesn't make anything better. Committees CERTAINLY don't make things better. Professional game development teams don't sit around and vote on stuff. People who have proven themselves to be talented and experienced game designers make the decisions. Can you imagine Shigeru Miyamoto asking for people to vote on his ideas? No wonder your game started to go down the toilet. ------ Sorry I disagree with that. I don't beleive there is much a of disparity between the level of skill in game design on their team, and that no one really proved themselves as a leader. Thus, this was a convenient way around a decision that could have torn the team apart. Also, just because they have a commitee doesn't make a game go down the toilet. Because a company has a board of directors does that mean it's going to fail? My team(composed of 3 RL friends albeit) makes decisions as a group, and we've found these decisions to be better. As they help catch design flaws and other potentially harmful errors. | |