Staff/Player Relations and Interactions

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

First, let's be very careful about the tone of this thread. I do not want to see any emotion in this thread. Perception is tolerable, but perception tainted with emotion is not. Problems can not be solved when emotion is involved, by large. Emotion twists perceptions so badly that communication is tainted to the point of being unreliable.

There should be no incidents within the last year referenced. If you have had a problem in the last year, I believe that a general description of perception will suffice, rather than a description of the problem. What I wish to see more than such specific events, though, is discourse on and from both sides regarding how to handle each other better.

As the creator of this topic, I will PM you if I feel that you can word your post in a better manner and still maintain your thought. If you fail to do so, I will ask that the post be removed. I am deadly serious about keeping this civil, but I am equally serious about improving the relations between Staff and Players.

Now, I am personally satisfied with my Staff, for all intents and purposes. The purpose of this thread, though, is to offer an environment for civil discussion of staff/player issues that have caused players to leave the game. As a staunch player of this game, it bothers me to hear of some of the experiences players have had. Whether they are telling the truth or not is obviously something only they and their immortal know. but assuming that even a bit of what they say is true, it is still marginally discouraging.

Staff, I encourage and beg you to follow the same sorts of rules I have lain out for the players. I think that both the players and the Staff have things they can learn from each other. While you have all been players before, at a certain stage, there is a disconnect between past and present experiences. It is possible that many of you are at that stage, and perhaps it is time to reflect once more. Perhaps some of you can offer examples of rules that perhaps helped you make choices that players did not understand in some cases.

I wish to play advocate for both sides, though I'll not pretend to know every person or every person's issue. However, I have been playing for a long time, and I have had my share of hopes and dreams dashed. I have had my plans squashed from time to time. I have been accused of things that I did not do before. I have been corrected. I have dealt with Ness' (who, let's admit it, can be brusque). I have been where you are, in all likelihood. Yet I still play, and I still feel important to the game and the community. Obviously, I have a demeanor which allows me to do what I do and be what I am, but perhaps I can oversee civil discussion geared towards this problem.

Player/Player relations should also be discussed, I think. Not all players leave because of Staff. Some players leave because they are unsatisfied with the manner in which other players IC conduct their play. This is also disturbing. I have heard cases of OOC rants about a player's IC play conducted in a harassing manner, even to the point of disrupting IG play to do so. This is not at all a good thing. I believe that there are ways to address concerns you may have without being an ass about it, and most certainly without undermining ongoing IC play.

Well, that's the preface. I encourage everyone to have an open mind about this subject. It is a serious matter, and it is one that can be solved, without question. It is, however, important that the participants, Staff and Player, be open to thought concerning the topics that come up. Much like any sort of therapy program, the participants can not solve problems without being open to solving them.

To discussion, then.

[Clearsighted]

I have a feeling this won't be the most popular thread ever created.

I'm sort of at a stage in my game-playing life where I take a fairly dispassionate view towards staff one way or the other. I've staffed on other games, and seen how things work behind the scenes, and it's all rather second jobbish. There are always going to be exceptional staffers that get burnt out fast, really lazy staffers that seem to hang on forever, and a whole multitude along that spectrum. You'll find the same sorts on every single game you play. Armageddon is no exception. It has, on the surface at least, a much greater enforced distance between staff and player fraternization, so as to make individual grudges or problems more impersonal. Which is probably what more games should do. Though it does dehumanize staff a bit in the eyes of a new player. I think if more people had more realistic expectations aobut what to expect, there'd be less drama.

That said, I do not think you're going to get much of a response. Anyone who really had a beef with staff to where they quit is long gone, and if their friends are still around, it's unlikely they're going to bring up. The only other sort of response you're going to get is the anxious show of appreciation for how great staff is, which I don't think you're looking for either.

A real dicey subject to have any kind of real discourse on.

I would say that the majority of my experiences with seeing players leave, (any game, Armageddon included) is perceived favoritism, and the retention in positions of great power and influence, those they feel are undeserving. I've actually seen less of that in Armageddon owing to how staff attempts to present themselves to the masses. It doesn't mean it's not there. It's just hidden. Which, since it'll always be there no matter what, is good enough, one must suppose.

[brytta.leofa]

There's a rather impassioned negative note on my account.  Because of the way it's worded, I sort of dread that my character might fall into the sphere of influence of whomever wrote it (I can speculate, but I don't know).  I certainly don't fear any malicious action from that staffer or any other, which in itself speaks for our staff's professionalism compared to other games.  I do worry that conclusions will be jumped to regarding my motivations.  I suppose that's a good reason to bio carefully, for everyone's benefit.

I'm generally very pleased with staff.  I think my expectations have moderated towards realism as I've continued to play: staff members generally do not have time to, for instance, counsel Joe Byn Runner's player on rambling questions about how to roleplay something nebulous, or to tease out of you what exactly you might need from a multi-NPC, cross-clan animation.

[nessalin]

Most definitely not.