What i find interesting is that for years it has felt people have been name dropping on clan forums to reap in any benefits from being a well known name.

That said, I think forcing people to create a clan GDB name every time is not necessary just to prevent negative effects. Unsure if this is the ask though, it feels like you just need to have a separate account.

People should really just be creating one for any sponsored roles, after a notable long lived clan character and maybe then once a year after that depending on usage. This way it'll be easier to manage both from a player side and staff side. Pretty sure staff would not readily know my clan forum account without comparing the IPs or 5 years+ old requests. Maybe there could also be a name format that the clan accounts are created as to better manage them. For example, CLAN<NEWGDBNAME>

Quote from: Dresan on August 09, 2024, 09:50:56 AMWhat i find interesting is that for years it has felt people have been name dropping on clan forums to reap in any benefits from being a well known name.

Can you elaborate on this? Like what benefits are there from "name dropping"? I'm not saying the benefits don't exist but you skimmed over this and it seems like you're framing it as if it's bad if someone benefits from being known as a good player.

This might help if we can get someone to do it:  https://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,60875.0.html

Where you make a alt or not the crowd in Arm will discord and go after you anyway here.  Seen it here and on another MUD not long ago with my character.  Why I left the discord channel is too much trouble in the ooc field of Armageddon to enjoy the game.  As for GDB I post in clans to get rpt times but figure Team X will locate me anyway so just enjoy what I can to then.

Quote from: Halaster on August 09, 2024, 10:54:19 AMThis might help if we can get someone to do it:  https://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,60875.0.html

I love the idea. If someone can't do it, perhaps we can fund outsourcing the work someone that can with donations too.

Unsure the viability of that from a coding perspective considering the game's scope, but might be a good test.  

Quote from: Halaster on August 09, 2024, 10:54:19 AMThis might help if we can get someone to do it:  https://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,60875.0.html

This is a great idea.

With this being open source, and can be tied in, how likely would things like automating joining clan boards when already recruited IC?

I really don't see the issue that requires a complicated solution here. Making a gdb account takes two minutes. What's the issue?

QuoteI really don't see the issue that requires a complicated solution here. Making a gdb account takes two minutes. What's the issue?

yeah making a gdb alt with the gmail+ trick usiku mentioned was hella easy and took no time at all

there is no issue other than people being melodramatic

Quote from: Nao on August 09, 2024, 01:03:42 PMI really don't see the issue that requires a complicated solution here. Making a gdb account takes two minutes. What's the issue?

Quote from: pretty pretty princess on August 09, 2024, 01:43:18 PM

QuoteI really don't see the issue that requires a complicated solution here. Making a gdb account takes two minutes. What's the issue?

yeah making a gdb alt with the gmail+ trick usiku mentioned was hella easy and took no time at all

there is no issue other than people being melodramatic

My issue is:  I simply don't want to, and should not be forced to do it. So, I'm just not going to join any forums after my current character. Simple.

What a hill to die on.

Quote from: Inky on August 09, 2024, 01:55:15 PMWhat a hill to die on.

Honestly doesn't affect my enjoyment of the game.  I don't app for leaders or rolecalls and I turn down IC advancement to leadership as fast I can. 

Not participating in clan forums will not affect me in the slightest. 

Quote from: Nao on August 09, 2024, 01:03:42 PMI really don't see the issue that requires a complicated solution here. Making a gdb account takes two minutes. What's the issue?

The issue is switching between GDB accounts. You may not find it troublesome, but I find it irritating to be forced to do so.

I think a happy medium would be if you could join with your regular account just not post. It'll protect you from identification and you can still follow the conversation.

want to post? make an alt.

don't want to make alts? Cool, just follow along. How often is posting on a clan GDB reallllllly critical?

Quote from: Agent_137 on August 09, 2024, 02:53:47 PMI think a happy medium would be if you could join with your regular account just not post. It'll protect you from identification and you can still follow the conversation.

want to post? make an alt.

don't want to make alts? Cool, just follow along. How often is posting on a clan GDB reallllllly critical?

The ONLY positives, outside of clan documentation, which let's be honest, only a handful of players actually follow, to a clan GDB forum are RPT times and discussion (shouldn't be discussion, you either can come or can't) and possible locker assignments. Everything else can be accomplished IC, or should be attempted at least.

This honestly feels like a lot of fuss and argument over almost nothing, but I guess that's Arm for you!

It takes like 3 clicks and less keystrokes than your average emote to make another GDB handle. Maybe they'll just find a way to anonymize clan forums.

Will it make a difference? Who knows? I appreciate them trying. It'll be okay, guys.

At this point, staff should be making the game more accessible not more complicated. Do you want interaction? Make it easier, not more of a pain.

Quote from: Norcal on August 11, 2024, 08:36:30 PMAt this point, staff should be making the game more accessible not more complicated. Do you want interaction? Make it easier, not more of a pain.

Again, they aren't doing this because they want to. In fact it sounds like most Staff dislike that they are doing this, but feel they don't have much else in their arsenal given recent leaks and trolling/speculation.

They're doing it because we (players) can't keep our mouths shut, and can't help but find out who's playing who, spilling the tea elsewhere, and causing a mess for people playing those roles while Jcarter forum people speculate on why Soandso is playing <insert leadership role> and other petty drama.

If we were a better community with a healthier focus on the game/playing the unwinnable game for the fun of it and not to 'win' it, they wouldn't probably feel it necessary to takes these steps. They are, it seems, looking into other alternatives (and also stated they would roll it back if it ended up not being effective).

Do these changes hurt accessibility? I suppose they do, as they make it just a bit harder to join a clan forum, requiring creating an alternative account/email (which Staff provided guidance on performing).

Do OOC Cliques and gossipmongering/participation hurt the game? I would posit it hurts it more than these steps from Staff might, that are, in essence, an attempt at protection for leadership roles and 'who plays who' speculation.

Quote from: Norcal on August 11, 2024, 08:36:30 PMAt this point, staff should be making the game more accessible not more complicated. Do you want interaction? Make it easier, not more of a pain.

The game isn't any more or less accessible, you will have no more or less interaction in game. This only affects your access to clan forum posts. It's a pretty big convenience to access them, but that's all it is. People can still play in clans without ever joining the clan forums, or reading them. There are people who already opt out and manage just fine.

This thread feels to be headed in increasingly non-productive directions.

As is clear from Halaster's post of plugins for SMForums, alternatives are being researched to simplify life.

Thread locked at least for a bit.