I don't think that should we be casually sweep the discussion under the rug. People are allowed to be upset at how things went down...
Players generally don't know what went down. They have the one log and one staff member's assurance that the virtual world was taken into account for this particular plotline.
or jealous of not being able to do what's been done in that log.
That's actually a good reaction, or better than being upset over what went down. Being jealous of another person's plot involvement can at least possibly lead to a player saying "man, I wish I could do that...you know what, I'm going to go give it a shot," or try to match it. It can also go badly, sure, and lead to complaints, but them's the breaks.
I think that thread could have avoided a lot of problems if staff just said "Yep, we changed shit, it's better now, and what you couldn't do before you have a better chance accomplishing now. If you don't like that we're sorry but we think its changed for the better." Or the flipside: "You could always do this, here's some examples of others doing such:"
But it's neither. It's a unique plot. I guess it depends on what you're asking...
Is it this: Could you, everyday player with a PC fresh out of the box with no real IC work or anything actually do what these spies did and be heavily involved in an HRPT with the equivalent of a spotlight role (no pun intended)? The answer is "probably not."
Is it this: Could you, everyday player with a PC that has invested tons of time into the role, developed it to the point where it was ABLE to do what these spies did, then get heavily involved in an HRPT with the equivalent of a spotlight role? The answer there is more complicated. We don't really have so many HRPTs in the first place, it's hard to guarantee that.
Is it this: Could you, everyday player, snag one of these kinds of roles in the future? Absolutely (depends on being selected for it) but even then, you might fail. There was ample chance of these folks failing. The fact that they succeeded didn't mean they didn't have obstacles to overcome.
Is it this: was this a new kind of plot? The answer is both yes and no. Yes, in that we actively recruited players to play very key roles in this plot, with this plot alone in mind for them and its influence on the future. No, in that we've always had larger HRPTs that worked somewhat based on what players did (but not with specific roles like this). Yep, it was railroaded to some degree...most staff plots are. Of the overall Tuluki stuff going on plotty stuff, this was probably the least railroaded part.
Why this has to be something controversial or worthy of banning people for or getting insulting and questioning their love for the game I don't know. It's not a big deal from either side and people should probably just calm down in general. I don't like how Nyr goes into defense mode and hand-waves away any possible criticisms, so hopefully this thread will allow for some proper discussion without people getting upset.
I think it's fair enough to ask about what went into a plot and learn how to do things like a certain plot in the future, or how plots in general might be, or HRPT stuff, or what-not. To enter the process on the negative...probably not the best way to discuss or even debate.
I honestly don't give a shit if this plot only survived with staff assistance and manipulation. I think there's room for railroaded plots, open-ended plots, all sorts of plots. We don't need to only have one thing, the world isn't black and white.
And regardless of what the spies did, all of the crap in Tuluk
was going to happen, though the parts they contributed to would've been different. I feel like that has been said before, though.