Staff team changes

It's getting increasingly frustrating watching Matt's responses in this thread.

The departure of at least 4 of the 6 staff members in the last 3 months reflects a culmination of the disappointment in how the current MapleRoyals Staff are functioning as a whole. It is not isolated to one single incident and nor is it isolated to one staff member albeit a heavy part of this thread's focus has been on Becca's impacts towards staff dynamics which Matt has thus far not accepted.

Instead his posts have specifically asked for examples from ex-staff members which is difficult to provide on a feedback thread visible to public to begin with, because
- staff confidentiality
- the conversation history is no longer available to ex-staff and thus inevitably a recall of events becomes less credible
- the public is unable to verify either side of the story

Overall the effect is that the disagreements with MapleRoyals administration is minimised by focussing inappropriately on specific case-in-point examples for which we cannot prove or disprove. What is being undermined however is the reality that individual staff have left and provided open criticism towards how the Staff as a whole function in a pernicious dynamic for which no concrete solution is being provided. Being defensive about this feedback is not constructive to moving forward because the reality of the matter is that the departure of multiple staff in succession in itself speaks volumes about your conduct as a leader and the capacity for MapleRoyals administration to function as a team.

The only definitive commitment has been the rewriting of the Terms and Conditions by the next GM Blog (for which Staff reserve the right to not update every month, by the way, as it stands in what's laid out in the first blog). This commitment itself relies heavily on community input to have a balanced view of what the TnCs should entail and I am not sure how you are expecting to meet this deadline without openly asking for players to provide input beyond the same old "please write to us on the Feedback forum so we can consider your feedback".

 

How ridiculous, my posts keep getting deleted, how annoying.
You want some reason for my post?
Then i guess i can just say that for all my time in this server on and off i honestly don't believe any of the errors and faults with it (being it the hack problem, leech/economy problem and adm problem) will ever be solved, i feel that the adms simply don't care that much and are simply riding with the server being the most popular.
Just my 2 cents, i hope i'm wrong and this server gets better, i wasted too much time playing here so i guess i care a little.
Regardless, this discussion is still very interesting as it in one way or the other lets the normal plays take a look "under the hood" of the staff.

 

i was really hoping it wouldn't come to this, and that you'd at least have the decency to acknowledge certain significant events without me having to go over everything we'd already talked about before in Staff chat. i did want to preserve those details as much as possible; firstly because of confidentiality, and secondly because i'm unable to provide screenshots of Staff chat when these occurred (i honestly never thought i'd need to but so much for "weaponising" i guess). however, it seems like it's of no fruitful contribution if we keep going around in circles being vague here. i will try to provide a personal recount that's as accurate as possible based on memory

1. Matt starts getting involved in an aspect he usually wouldn't, if not for Becca
as already highlighted, there was a period earlier this year where only John, Gert and i were working on reports (probably >95% of them). this wasn't for 1 or 2 weeks, rather it went on for at least 3-4 months (if i remember correctly). other Staff members did help out here and there, but not consistently. it was basically a "day/night" shift for us since John and Gert are in the western half, while i'm in the Asia timezone

there was a particular report that i'd mishandled; in summary, a presumptive hacker ban that didn't have sufficient evidence. i'd misread the screenshot, and the reporter had proven to be reliable in their previous threads, so i jumped the gun there. because most discussions take place when i'm sleeping, i only saw the other Staff members point it out the next day. i admitted it immediately, apologised and explained the reasoning behind my aggressiveness: like most of us would agree, hackers are destroying the server. i'd honestly rather make one wrong ban and be able to revert it after, than be overly cautious and let him go unnoticed for the next 12 or more hours (until John/Gert could come online), easily injecting upwards of 1b mesos into the black market

again, being a GM is not just about catching hackers. there are many other things to be done, e.g. being helpful on Shoutbox/Discord, testing etc., in which the other GMs have always been light years ahead of me. but one thing she said during this particular incident really put me off: she accused John and i of being too lazy to collect video evidence ourselves when dealing with hackers. even if she didn't mention our names specifically, the choice of words she used definitely insinuated this. she even told us not to do it if we couldn't be bothered

naturally, i felt this was completely unfair and confronted her about it. at this point, we were handling easily 15-20 reports a day each. by this time also, the sheer difference in scale of hacker bans we'd made (compared to Becca) was extremely apparent. so i make one mistake (out of the thousands of other bans) and i'm accused of being lazy by someone who wasn't even helping out? she got defensive and said i was starting drama without knowing what i saying. Matt also stepped in and said he wouldn't have made the ban (he hardly ever helps with or comments about hackers, and rightly so, since Admins should be focusing on more important things), which wasn't even necessary since i'd already acknowledged my mistake. this obviously was him backing her up

other Staff members mediated this, i accepted it and we moved on. however, John and i decided to take a break. after a couple of days, the reports started piling up. Becca started helping out again, and guess who she (presumably) roped in? yes, Matt. while it's his server and he's technically a GM as well, an Admin having to respond to hacker reports instead of dealing with things like Support threads just doesn't make sense to me (now you know why your Donor requests take so long!)

i believe this is when Aestel's report got "ignored" or received a rather delayed response (ultimately from John himself anyway). after about a week, both of us couldn't take the backlog anymore, so we just took matters into our own hands. the situation then reverted to us doing a duo run on reports almost everyday

2. Matt (and Tim) gets involved again
for those who frequently help us out with hackers (thank you!), you'd know that different Staff members have different ways of handling reports. yes, as far as possible, we do our own confirmation in-game. however, if the evidence provided in the report is indisputable, then of course we'd use it. otherwise, why would we trouble the players to go through all that effort to take videos or screenshots?

somehow, Becca finds this unacceptable and insists on acquiring her own evidence. that's all well and good; everyone has their own style. additional confirmation never hurts too. however, the reporter actually asked why his evidence wasn't sufficient for a clear-cut ban. John managed to review it and decided it was enough, so he proceeded to respond to the report. this was after Becca had replied something like "he's not online in-game now i'll wait for him!". again, for those who are very familiar with reporting hackers, you'd also probably know that she might be the only one who does that, unless it's a thread with multiple hacker igns and we have to strike names off. (what even is the point of that response tho? to show the players you're active?)

as you'd expect, this turned into another ruckus, and there was another discussion in Staff chat about undermining each other, presenting a united front, and how when a Staff member makes a decision, we should all support it, at least externally. the next day, Matt himself makes an announcement about this very issue, apparently after discussion with Tim. why is it that these "official" initiatives and directions are only presented or addressed when Becca is involved? who knows

i think it's also very important to note also that when dealing with reports, Becca is able to go to Matt directly (e.g. chat logs for harassment bans, like wtf) but the rest of us usually have to go through Tim and/or Andreas

3. the final straw
if anyone has read this thread previously, you'd know that Becca's post wasn't the way it is now - this is edited and reinstated by Matt himself. the original post included sensitive details like:

• an estimate of how many hackers are banned in a day
• Becca describing how she sits online and waits for hackers that were reported
• an indication of how many Staff members are active at any point in time

the above provides cheaters with plenty of information they could work with, and potentially benefit them (in so doing, worsen the situation for us). it was clearly also a narcissistic attempt on her part to show the playerbase that "she's doing work"

i deleted it (i think many people had already read it by then), and immediately brought it up in Staff chat to discuss further. this was after i had ended work (around 6 or 7pm Singapore time), during which most of the other Staff besides Kai, Peter and Chee would be sleeping; Matt and Becca included. so i thought once we had more input, we could provide a more professional and approved response

the discussion following that basically involved:

• me pointing out that the post was completely uncalled for (other Staff members agreed it was too much as well)
• Becca insisting she did the right thing, and that she had gotten approval from Matt to post those numbers (there was no prior discussion with other Staff members at all)

these were Matt's words (almost in verbatim) to me when i explained my rationale, "you have no right to delete another Staff member's post, especially after i had personally said it was ok". no one should be spoken to like this imo, much less someone who's volunteering his time and energy (and i do strongly believe i did the right thing still). this really triggered me, and further aggravated the entire situation about favouritism that had already been developing over the preceding 2-3 days. subsequently, Kai and i left Staff, followed by John, Eli, Gert and June. so here we are today

the timeline above might not be exact, but it definitely provides an accurate overview of those incidents. along the way, there were many other conflicts that occurred as well, but because i wasn't involved in them personally, i think it'd be more appropriate if the (ex-)Staff members themselves comment on those, if they wish to. in all these instances, both Becca and Matt always insisted they were acting separately (but more examples have already been given prior to this post)

why am i posting this?
because:

• it is clear that Matt doesn't want to take ownership (no surprise) of the absolute shitstorm that Staff currently is
• he still doesn't want to admit that Becca being on the Staff team brings about way more cons than pros
• the way some of us are treated is completely unfair, especially those who have put in so much more time and effort

at the end of the day, i signed up for Staff to make a difference, primarily in the RWT aspect of course, and i thoroughly enjoyed it. i didn't expect to be thanked by Matt or groveled to by anyone. but i certainly didn't expect to be treated like an outlier, neither did i expect that my (and other Staff members') work would go so unappreciated by the owner himself, who isn't even paying a dime for our time

i hope this provides a clearer picture and closes some gaps in the players' understanding about the situation; prospective applicants should definitely be aware about this before they decide whether or not to join Staff. likewise, i hope the Admins (or rather Matt) will have the courage to acknowledge that it is time for change too

 

I can state for the record that I remember the same thing as Josh did. And those were the last straw that made us quit. The anonymous feedback I mentioned earlier is a result of whatever Josh mentioned here as well.

@Becca it's time for you to stop hiding. Come out and face reality, and provide accountability on your end. Let me remind you again that the feedback contains 13/15 negative review. Feel free to clarify again, but now, publicly instead of within Staff chat. If you can't do this, then step down like you said you would.

People often think that we're paid for our time. Not really. In the past 5 years I only received 50 (or 100?) RP and that was only given recently for one of the patch. I really think more can be done to reward Staff. Honestly I think giving RP on a monthly basis wouldn't hurt the server, it literally won't.

 

Some players have asked me to share some of the anonymous feedback to provide a fuller picture. I thought about it and think it might be in the best interest of the community that I reveal it. Refer to the spoilers below for the feedback of the 15 Staffs that I approached, including GMs, Interns, Forum Moderators and Developers, with the exception of Admins.

The reason why this anonymous feedback was started is stated in Josh's latest post above, refer point 3. the final straw

P/S: Sorry for not formatting it, but it should get the point across. Don't bother figuring out who is who, that's not the point.

Spoiler: Staff #1

i'm prepared to leave if that'll make things better overall; not exactly hankering to stay tbh
i've never felt that Becca deserves to be on Staff team - she's pretentious, attention-seeking and
overall just too self-entitled. to make things worse, things btwn her and Matt started, so all the more
she prob feels like mrs. owner now
either way, i'm ok. i think i've done pretty much everything i can during the past few months, so if me
leaving is better for team morale, i'd be more than happy to do it
but i won't stop calling her out for her bs when clearly she doesn't know how to contribute properly,
and the only reason she'd continue to be on Staff is to motivate Matt to be more active
for sure if Matt continues to let her be the devil in his ears, things will just go from bad to worse. at
the end of the day, i don't think any of us really need to be here; we're just doing it as an interest and
"community service" of sorts. he should really learn to appreciate us better in general
Becca is def a major problem now, in more ways than one. and i don't mind being the bad egg to call
her out when it's necessary haha, either way they prob don't like me much alr anw :joy: but thanks for
looking out, and also for being objective in the situations that had occurred thus far. i think if we don't
stand up to this, it'll just go deeper and deeper into a rabbit hole
it's not wrong to be defensive of your partner i guess, but not at the expense of professionalism at the
same time.

Spoiler: Staff #2

the only thing I didn’t like was how Becca seemed to get overly upset at other staff members (rather
than herself) and how she most likely told matt to defend her and scold Josh for deleting the post
I really like Becca and she is my friend
But I don’t like her victim mentality and I think it’s unhealthy for staff discussion
I’ve argued with her before and she never backs down even if the evidence is stacked against her. It
can be very annoying and it’s not good for the server because if one person makes all the decisions,
it’ll only fit their needs.
She always seeks validation too
If you noticed, she always says Matt and I
I doubt she does anything aside from giving her opinion while Matt edits the wz files
It’s demoralizing to see someone complain over that when the rest of us deal with much more quietly
I dislike the fact that we are not treated equally. Becca has access to far more information and has
much more influence in decision making than the rest of us due to her direct line of access to Matt.
She never backs down from an argument even if it may not be in the best interest of the server as you
can see in her opinions on srsbzns. She takes everything personally when someone tries to criticize
her actions and it's unhealthy for staff to be afraid to call out other staff members privately in our own
Discord.

Spoiler: Staff #3

overall, being on staff has been a positive experience!! i didn’t have any prior bias since i didn’t rly
know anyone but i did know becca didn’t have many fans
i do believe he's under a lot of influence from being in a relationship with becca
i don't deny that the both of them do contribute a lot to staff but there's definitely a dynamic that is
harmful to our cohesion as a team
in regard to what can be done better... i believe matt should act more as a mediator than anything.
it's important that staff can discuss different opinions without being afraid of hurting feelings
generally we do discuss different ideas well, and i don't think people are particularly opinionated on
gameplay debates, but in how we approach players... that's something i think becca took particularly
harshly
and ultimately, i think she influenced matt to defend her
i think the best course of action was to have her consult with us as a team instead of consulting matt
only
just as how sen and dave usually consult with us when dealing with difficult users
i understand this server is ultimately matt's, but if he expects us to work as a team he should also
concede to our opinions sometimes
in my short time as an intern, i’ve experienced a power dynamic that is corrosive to team discussion
and accountability. there is a clear bias towards becca from matt, and it’s made clear in the way he
reprimanded josh after he deleted her post on the thread. although many GMs disagreed with becca’s
post, matt still defended her. the fact that becca can bypass us in getting feedback only contributes to
her inflated position in staff. this is the main incident i’ve experienced but i believe it is substantial
enough to be a catalyst for change. i am more afraid of what i do not see than what i do

Spoiler: Staff #4

Personally I do think Becca over-reacted about the situation
Her reaction plays a big part about why Matt called Josh out
About deleting another GM's post
Love can make someone go blind
So if Matt chose to appease her instead of discussing without any bias
Nothing we can do to change his mind though. I can understand why they chose to defend each other
given their relationship status
I think Madori is burnt out by the GM duties
And starting to rage about it
Cause what Joel said wasn't that triggering
But I felt she took it very personally
Is not a matter of whether Matt approved
But about what other Staff think about the issue
Regarding the drama, here are my thoughts about what happened
Personally I feel all of the parties involved care about the server, but their expression of showing care
is different.
Becca wrote
"but giving them a range can let them see that we are doing our job instead of "lol all you guys do is
host events when there's insert number of hackers running around" as she was upset about players
feel that Staff are not doing their jobs and wanted to explain the misconception"
However, there are also downside of revealing the number range
- Hackers knowing how many we banned and able to estimate how many that escaped the radar,
example 70 out of 100 hackers banned daily
- Players may not believe the numbers and may find it too high or low, especially after sparky (well
known hunter for hackers) mentioned it’s at least 100+ daily
Here’s the part where I felt things went wrong - about how Matt approved the message and Becca felt
others were attacking her based on the following quotes / keywords use
"He gave me the green light. Not to be a dick and deflect"
"because that looks like a giant finger in my face"
"Doesn’t matter to me do what you feel is right."
Personally, I don’t feel the conversation we had was triggering or trying to blame Becca, but just a
discussion on how the Staff should have responded to serious issues such as hacking or auto ban topic.
Maybe I am missing out some previous events that occurred before I joined the Staff, but I feel the
amount of anger Becca had at the time seems too much – doesn’t seems appropriate for what the
other Staff wrote. I am guessing maybe she was feeling the burnout of being a GM, and disappointed
of not being appreciated by the players or Staff (how she felt)

Spoiler: Staff #5

I think Staff is in a good spot compared to where it's been in the past. Last 2 waves of hirings haven't
had any issues, chat does seem more active, so does Matt. I think we need to highlight those
differences that are good, in addition to the bad because honestly it's been so much worse... not sure
if Joel was in the discord when all the shit with Mike and the others happened but that was a sketchy
time for staff coordination.
My biggest gripe I have experienced personally is Becca does seem more cognitively aware of her
influence and her confidence in being able to do what she wants. I know what I'm doing- if not some
of the info is dated because I wasnt even aware we could look up related accounts anymore... lol. But
it was the logical progression for me, and I will never be a "GM" GM, like we've had in the past who
hated forum interaction and community interaction. I will never reach the ban numbers some of you
have and thats okay. I still spend most of my time on the Forums, and I will and have been hang
around in game- I don't afk though unless hidden. There was a bit with becca when she warped me
because I was sitting in a chair in the FM, she wanted me to respond and I didn't- I already talked to
her about it but if I'm just hanging out- theres a good chance I am whispering someone or actively
sitting at my desk eating or playing with my cat. I know not to AFK places, I know not to spawn items,
I know not to pull a Charlie with the veil of "just testing out scrolls work", or some of the shady stuff
others have done with rewarps, etc. It's been over 3 years. She also made a comment at one point
when I was travelling for work (liek I am now) that I shouldnt forget my GM duties. I may have just
been a forum mod, but we are all equal here, and it doesnt matter if you have a leaf, a hat, or a spooky
spider next to your name.
As Joel said, we all have strengths, and with how active most of the GM's are, I don't think I should
feel bad (and I dont) that I havent banned 20 players at a time. Some people are busy, some people
are doing other things and have other strengths and thats good. We have 2 new forum mods who
have been killing it, but the forums is a crazy place just like in game and I am more useful there than I
am on my not-so-great laptop trying to catch hackers with a trackpad and keyboard and 1 screen (a
real handicap for me lol... im so spoiled by my desktop) - and- I have spent a fair amount of time
around low level places, players respond very positively to seeing Staff in game outside of events. Im
basically doing what I did in the shoutbox, and if some people (so far only Becca has said anything)
have a problem with that, they should say so but there should be no insinuation that someone isn't
doing their job, when theres more than catching hackers, and most of us have taken time away and if
its okay for one of us, it has to be okay for all of us. We cant be a team if people arent treated like
team members. and I think thats the crux for a lot of people- Becca thinking shes above the team or
somehow in a management spot when that doesnt exist in the first place. <3
Also, it doesnt matter if youre an Intern or now a GM, everyone is allowed to speak and have opinions
and have a seat at the table, and in that breath, no one should get special treatment or access because
of how close they are to Matt.

Spoiler: Staff #6

tbh I almost left staff cause of these arguments
I do agree the staff dynamic is very awkward
Imo what Matt and Becca are doing will just eventually run out the active members of staff
<redacted> and I pretty much wanted to leave at one point
I feel like most discussions always go by Becca’s side unless Joel or another admin steps in to say it’s
definitely wrong or disagree on the situation
I think it’s kind of weird she tries adding value to conversations when she didn’t reach to the certain
point on her legit
And that report where I handled and she later got mad at me
I think I’m generally nice enough to not hold grudges or anything but she keeps pushing it
Say like buffs to certain areas, etc
Tbh idrc about my position on staff, I’m here to help the server so I want it to be drama free too
Was definitely considering leaving once auto ban phase one comes out
If someone else but becca got intercepted
Nothing would have happened for sure LOL

Spoiler: Staff #7

I feel like there is a huge conflict of interest happening here, where Matt always seems to defend
Becca in every single situation and has never reprimanded her for anything she has done wrong. It is
clear that their relationship is getting in the way of Matt carrying out his obligations to us as the leader
of a team. We are meant to be a team, all of us, including Becca and this means that there shouldn’t
even be a bias in the first place. I understand that Matt feels the need to appease Becca or she might
go on another hiatus but maybe this should be a big eye opener to Matt that not only this behavior is
toxic to our team and the server, but also to their relationship. I can only hope that Matt will be
independent in making decisions and stand by his teammates that he chose to protect the server that
he built from scratch, instead of bending backwards for his girlfriend. If he is unable to do that, I really
hope that Becca could take the high road and just step down from being a GM, as her being a part of
the team with bias towards her is only going to drive everyone away from the team.

Spoiler: Staff #8

I think joel was pretty blunt with his response, and yours, for that matter, so becca took it the wrong
way just from how they were phrased. I think josh shouldve just waited on deleting the post, since it
was already out there from the beginning, so there wasnt much damage control to be done. I feel like
it wouldve just been more controversial to have the post be gone and have players question what
couldve been wrong with what she said.
I do agree it couldve been worded better, and both becca and matt were apologetic about it, and that
matt has the right to reinstate that message when he did. It just looked to me like the same thing kept
getting repeated because emotions were rising.
Overall, it seems like it got taken care of and everyone seems to have worked out their issues or
understand each other in the end, so there isnt much to add from me
But she couldve responded better in regard to the "idc what you feel is right" but she obviously felt
like she was being made an example of in a bad light. That's just what im getting from it from what ive
read, but im really busy today so i havent had time to sit down and read the rest of the stuff on this
server yet
Whatever the outcome is of this, i just want everyone to be treated in the same way any member of
staff would, and not to allow special treatment for some over others. Everyone is a team here and if
that falls apart, it puts us as GMs and the server as a whole at risk. I do however, sympathize with
Becca in that she kind of got put on blast about her post regardless of it being used as an example,
and Matt did take blame for allowing it through, but it couldve been handled better by all parties
involved. If we can all come up with a solution that satisfies everyone, then by all means, go for it.

Spoiler: Staff #9

I just went back and re-read through srsbzns from a couple days ago to get a better grasp on what
went down(As that happened at like 6am for me and I went straight to work after waking up, only
skimming through it during some downtime). The entire situation and interaction was uncomfortable
to read through because it seemed like Becca took everything extremely personally, to the point of
even defending arbitrary ranges of numbers vs a specific number in said range, when it seemed like
more of a conversation addressing how to better handle staff posting as a whole moving forward. I
personally disagree with Josh's tone in his responses toward Becca and Matt and the action Josh took
in taking the initiative to delete Becca's post even though I agree with many of the points he made. I
especially disagree with it because it goes against the announcement that Matt made before but in
the end as long as we now understand that doing that isn't acceptable I feel that the entire issue
should be solved.
As for the situation that prompted Matt's announcement in the first place, I can't remember which
chat it was in to go back and read through it again but I do remember being a bit confused when Becca
posted something in lulz about needing a two week break because at the time when I looked through
a bunch of the channels, I couldn't find anything that might prompt her to do that other than having
some people disagree with some of the things that she said.
Overall I think we just need to get along and remember that we're here to work as a team. We're all
here because we love the game and want to make it a better place for everyone. Nobody is here to
make anybody else feel bad and we should all remember this when talking to each other. Even when
there are disagreements, nothing is a personal attack(Unless there's something I'm not seeing?).

Spoiler: Staff #10

Not feeling comfortable with her reason that it is with Matt’s approval that she proceeded to post
that comment. Of course, this is Matt’s server and he has the final say to everything, but I would like
to think our group exists for a reason and statements like this should have been discussed among the
group first before publicizing, especially that every of us should be aware he/she is posting on behalf
of staff as a whole.
On the statement itself, I do not think it could serve the intended purpose of showing the players that
staff have been working hard whatsoever. People can interpret it in different ways and still have their
opinions on the level of efforts we have been putting in and the server status (like we have banning a
lot hackers but players still see many around – would merely suggest that the server is flooded with
hackers in a uncontrollable manner) It is also giving potential hints to hackers with regard to our
degree of surveillance and usual hours of inactivity. Whether it is a concrete number or a range (small
one imo) makes no difference.
Overall, I share the same view with Joel, Chee, Karven and lastly JS. Got to say as a friend, I understand
how serious JS is with his role as GM, especially when dealing with hackers and rwters, but yeah this
case is a typical bureaucracy vs individual/urgency dilemma lol. While it’s right decision to take down
the statement, manner and procedure also matter for an administrative body and I do not think the
reason of time-zone difference justified his action, the least he could have been is to initiate a vote for
say one hour or two to gauge views first instead of making the assumption that other stuff members
won’t be able to read and comment – it is not something urgent in the strictest sense to depart from
a collective decision making process.
Also felt a bit shocked to see JS said things like “i don't know how all these could've been missed when
you'd vetted the response” lol, perhaps that’s why Matt responded quite blatantly in a rather
criticizing manner (which I thought would be better done in private rather than in staff discord) but I
trust that JS won’t take it personally.
That’s pretty much I think. Sounds to me this is not the first instance since we clearly got some clashes
of personality haha.

Spoiler: Staff #11

ok so i never ended up seeing what the original post was BUT i did read through the entire convo in
staff chat, and i didn't really have a concern with the matt & becca dynamic in terms of becca receiving
unofficial approval by matt to post something that the rest of staff felt that she maybe shouldn't have
because those minor types of mistakes can happen
but i did feel the tension when joel brought up that we should've discussed it in staff chat first and
when josh had to viciously defend his decision because i think they both made fair objective
points/decisions and i felt like becca took it way too personally when it wasn't personal at all
i passed it off as a fluke since she's been going through a lot of shit outside of royals and she could
have just snapped uncharacteristically (i also haven't been in staff for very long so)

Spoiler: Staff #12

I think he handled it rather similarly if it had been any other staff member's, except it normally
wouldn't have been brought to his attention so quickly. If Josh deleted a post that I or you or Shane
or anyone else had made with the same subject matter, I feel Matt would be responded the same
way, perhaps a little less emotionally and quickly, but ultimately that problem stemmed from Josh
making a rash decision and deleting a post of another staff members without discussing it with the
group. Then we had a group discussion and agreed on the best route to go from there. As we should
be doing. There has also been quite a bit of undermining opinions coming from other staff members
aimed at Becca, with whispers of nepotism. Which I know to be factually impossible.
Matt and Tim actually both have reprimanded other staff in the group setting when it is necessary,
although that has been seldom.
While I agree personal lives should not influence Royal's staff duties, it's bound to happen as their
dynamic has changed to being a couple.
The only way to resolve an issue in a group setting is by the group. I don't see why there is any risk
when you are speaking openly and honestly. If you don’t want to do it, I will.

Spoiler: Staff #13

becca dating Matt has gotten him off his ass a bit when it comes to admin stuff. This whole thing seems
like an instance of letting personal feelings get in the way of professional matters. While being a gm
for a private server doesn't seem like a profession in and of itself, it still carries certain rules that need
to be followed. the incident of becca's post being deleted because it revealed too much information
about our methods of banning hackers was justified as it should have never been posted in that
manner in a public thread. While the edited post remains, it's clear what was said at first and it
confounds me why there would be punishment for getting it out of public view. It was like Matt was
complained to until he did something rather than bringing the issue up publicly to discuss with the
rest of staff, which is something I highly disagree with. I don't have an issue with becca and Matt
dating, but it should be bleeding into this environment and letting Becca use Matt as some sort of way
to defend herself from criticism/judgement. There's no denying she has had access to information
that nobody else has heard about or seen, but just because matt trusts her enough to reveal things
doesn't mean she can just have him back her up when she makes a mistake. I'm on mobile so I can't,
really re-read what I've wrote, but hopefully it makes sense. I just want all staff to be treated equally
in the eyes of the administration here, which has generally been what the dynamic since I joined. Can't
have one person be favored just because they're dating.

Spoiler: Staff #14

From my point of view, I can say that Matt's activity during the past 6 months has increased markedly.
I think Becca's presence may have revitalised him a great deal, and made him more invested than ever
in the game and server. I can also confirm that essentially all decision-making that previously took
place outside of public Staff chats has now moved into Staff chats, and virtually every step forward
since this Spring at least gone hand-in-hand with asking for all of Staff's input. So some things have
definitely improved. More concretely, however, it does not seem healthy for Matt to have to agree
with Becca at every point, and come to her defense at the first sign of friction. We are all adults and
should ideally be able to stand for what we believe, and be transparent about them. My concern here
is nepotism, clouded judgements, and most importantly the impending possibility of a non-Admin (or
anyone but Matt or Kevin, really) being given access to very sensitive data such as donor information
or the database. I do believe everyone can improve and learn from their mistakes, and that includes
Becca and Matt too. Not everyone is the best at everything, but we all bring something to the table. I
believe it is best if we acknowledge what we are good at, and focus on those things; and together we
can be strong. I think we need to stick together in this difficult time for the server, but of course that
does not mean remain complacent.

Spoiler: Staff #15

I have nothing against them dating, love is a wonderful thing, but it shouldn’t cloud their judgement
when it comes to official royals business, although it’s not really a business per se, but we still have
some rules to follow, and some hierarchy to respect. Everyone, regardless of you being intern or not,
should be treated on equal grounds, and that doesn’t mean having more access to certain info just
because you’re dating the owner. I’m hearing things, at least in my guild, that there’s gossips going
around in the community that becca is sort of flexing her position not just as GM, but as the gf of matt
and I think that’s really unhealthy, if the gossips are true. Not sure, best to have matt check this out
with her, but I don’t think she will react very positively given how she has always overreacted in the
past and this is something she must change because it pissed a lot of ppl off.
I’m usually quite a quiet person and try not to be involved in drama, because I really don’t need that.
But I also can’t stand seeing my fellow staffs getting treated unfairly. Like the announcement that Matt
made which he tagged everyone…I’m pretty sure that was the result of becca complaining to him. If it
were any other staff, I really doubt that announcement would have been made.
I hope once matt reads whatever we have to say, that he will reflect together with becca on what a
shitstorm this has all been, because it has really affected staff negatively and I’m on the brink of
quitting. Oh, and one more thing… I really hope she doesn’t become an admin or get access to secret
stuffs just because she’s the gf, because it’s really inappropriate and extremely bias. I feel there are
other staffs who are more seasoned and more well-equipped with whatever knowledge that is
required to become an admin. And if you’re asking me for a solution, I think becca stepping down will
be the best way to go, unless she gets her shit together and start understanding that she’s no different
from the other staff, and shouldn’t pull her weight around like this because it’s getting extremely
annoying and obvious. Matt just needs to have more trust and faith in the current team. I hope we
can be better down the road, if not this is the start of the end of a 7 year journey.

Edit: If you're curious as to why we did the feedback behind Matt and Becca's back...well, we know Matt will be able to accept criticism. But some of us felt that Becca couldn't. Originally, the intention was only for Matt to read the feedback, and for him to speak to Becca privately about it, before addressing Staff formally. But Becca decided to throw a tantrum and asked who did it, etc, so one thing led to another.

 

For ppl those who know me
But u guys might dk @Josh , he is a silent and shy man.
I played Royals very long time
If u ever HT/Zak or any other Boss run with me, You guys must know I always SSed (FROM 2015) all books sold price and then sent ss to teammates , split to whole ppl in team, I never ate any books splits. I am sure many ppl can confirm this.

I met @Josh since 2017 , we have been friends very long , we are super close and daily chat , daily boss together until now .
He is a Honest and Fair Guy that I ever met .
He very respect his gm job. Never do Double standard things
Just take one case example , He deleted mine post too , buz I bump mine selling thread <24hours , I deserved it , and I respected him.
After he become GM
He daily spent 1hour~2hours for catching Hackers , buz no AUTOBAN
He got a full-time job also , he actually can spend those time to do any other worth things
But he didn't , He spent his time to Let Royals Better.
Especially at catching RWTERS , we all know how hard it is, if u ever try to catch one. Definitely more hours than catching hackers

He is Truely Love and Care this game,

If u guys want to know how hard it is to have a Range 10.1k NL (mw20 only)? How many time and efforts he invested? Pm me I'll let u know
If u guys want to know @Josh Who having 8x200 charac , and have 2 more 190+ characs atm
U guys can realise he seriously Love this game, and did his best job .

I 100% trust his words , and he never told us any things that related to Staff or any other update change.
F PE price

Meanwhile

https://royals.ms/forum/threads/continuous-disconnections-from-cash-shop.158375/
@Momo
when u see another most hardwork player still can't go in his cash shop after 7 months

https://royals.ms/forum/threads/get-it-off-your-chest-—-should-players-be-forum-banned-for-ranting.180041/
@Tako Yuet

was banned so fast , that I don't even see the post yet , lucky got ppl ss and showed me

 

i never got any

 

For giving out more than 200+ hours of your life I think a little bit of rp is definitely fair

 

Sorry as I have nothing much to contribute to this discussion. I just wanted to backup this info from Josh, by providing some screenshots from my reports beeing made and only getting answers from those 3. The only ones from Tim are related to RWT.

As you all can see in the spoilers below, his first reply was on feb 26th, and his last on july 12 (these are just my reports, god knows how many they actually did). I'm glad I always got to express in the report abuse how much work they were doing and how grateful I was Thank you guys again for getting rid of those hackers!

Spoiler

https://pasteboard.co/JEJrQKo.jpg

Spoiler

https://pasteboard.co/JEJrYzP.jpg

Spoiler

https://pasteboard.co/JEJs4ns.jpg

Spoiler

https://pasteboard.co/JEJs9Hj.jpg

Spoiler

https://pasteboard.co/JEJsg9T.jpg

Spoiler

https://pasteboard.co/JEJsleu.jpg

Spoiler

https://pasteboard.co/JEJsqiq.jpg

Sorry, i sucked at adding those images

 

@Josh I think you are such a pure individual, I think a lot of royalers respect you for what you started (and continued) with this thread.
Also I think @June deserves to be recognized here from what I read throughout this huge thread (we are standing for you girl, we owe you).
Overall, I have tremendous respect for all the current and leaving-Staff for all the hours you guys have put inside this server.

I took the time to read this HUGE thread and it literally broke my heart to read all the issues ongoing.
I think the best solution is yet sadly to be found as there are definitely 2 sides fighting here.

I do however completely agree with what Josh said regarding separating relationships with "server duty".
I do not know what happened exactly with all the history with Becca, Matt, and the impact on decision making.
But I do feel like it is time to make a decision regarding who's in charge and who's needs to be put aside (as Josh recommended).

Once this is done, I think the server will start to go in a better direction.

For once, I think we need a global vote from the community as we are suffering and also shocked by what was revealed in this thread.
I highly suggest taking this vote as to whether we want to continue with the current Staff issues or do we want to start fresh.

This vote should be encouraged through in-game messages as I think it will be the turning point for MapleRoyals.
In the end, this game is made of Players and Staff and we also should have our decision to make here.

I suggest the following, prior to the global voting :

- Each current STAFF member should make a public statement (with PROOF) addressing the different topics from this thread (referring to what Josh said in the beginning) and also their accomplishment from the past year (work stats, topics, etc) ;

- Each 6 Leaving-STAFF member should also make a public statement addressing the different issues (with PROOF) and proceed with their recommendation. Also same as current STAFF, they have to list all of their accomplishments from the past year ;​

After posting, the voting will take place asking whether the player base thing there MUST be a complete revamp of the Staff (ADMIN included) or should we continu with the current state.

I know it sounds radical but I've seen this work in my company (over 17k+ members) where we used to have similar issues.
We took a global vote and now it works much better since we choose to completely revamp the high staff.

Please consider this seriously.

Cheers all !

Bry

 

I want to preface that I am in no way attacking the work ethic of our various staff members, as I cannot comment on that since I am not qualified. I just want to share some related information since Josh has referred to a report that I filed back in September - I remember it very clearly.

When I first started opening reports against hackers back in June, I only took screenshots with map ownership. After a brief dialogue with Gert in one of my report abuse threads, I started using Gyazo's gif feature more regularly.

Spoiler

Given this response from Gert, I started spending a lot more time on creating good gifs that would help Staff deal with my reports more quickly.

I remember this case really clearly because it annoyed the crap out of me, and made me feel like the time I've been taking to generate gifs was being invalidated. From the timestamp, you can see this happened after I had asked for clarification on whether gifs would help Staff render verdicts more quickly against hackers.

I had been surfing the Ossyrian continent for hackers for upwards of 1-2 hours at this point, and I remember struggling to get this particular hacker within my view before they could disappear. Everytime I would CC on that map, it would bring me above him, and I had to slowly swim downwards to catch him and I kept noobing it and getting knocked by mobs on the way down. This report in particular took me over 10 minutes to get (lol).

When I finally got a good gyazo (containing map ownership, mobs being vac'd, and the perpetrator in vision right before they disappeared), I filed my report.

This is the conversation that ensued, and I am posting the full thing for transparency.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

I didn't realize this case sparked a debate about a united front behind closed doors.

The truth is that this report left me feeling like Staff was wasting their resources if they still had to catch the hacker themselves, even if they have already been provided enough evidence to convict.

 

Hi @Henray17 thank you very much for coming forward and bringing this situation up. I didn't want to before because I didn't know if you wanted it to be publicized or not so I wanted to respect your privacy. I know exactly how you felt so of course I went ahead and answered the report abuse thread as soon as possible by banning the hacker since the evidence you provided was INDEED enough to warrant a ban. Just like you, I was super annoyed that the fact that I was called out on staff chat for executing this ban. Matt himself was there at the time, so he had to confirm everything so he can defend Becca but of course that was not even necessary because the hacks were super evident (any current staff member can check back @Henray17's report abuse post, if you don't think its enough then you are delusional).

The issue with this is that I even asked Becca before hand if I was allowed to answer the report because I thought the evidence was enough, and of course she said yes so I went ahead.

Spoiler

Fast forward to a day later, I got a personalized message on staff discord from the man no other than himself Matt, under #annoucements with something along the lines of "we should all be respectable to everyone". It was definitely a personal attack on me because I reached out to Tim and Gert about it and they said I should apologize to Becca. I just gave in and reached out to Becca to apologize for my "wrong doing" because I'm not interested in any conflict what so ever? lol. This really pissed me off to be honest. I was on the edge of resigning from staff at the time, but I ultimately stayed only because I loved this server.

 

Disclaimer: I am not taking a side on this and I solely speak on this screenshots.

I do not think it's a good idea to post game-related data on public. Data leakage is always a very serious issue regardless of what happened. One might think the leaked information is not sensitive, but do consider that illegitimate users may connect dots from other leaked data to get a full picture on how the source code work, subsequently to help them evade detection. I hope you and the staff take actions now and remove the post to prevent further damage!

 

Did that high staff include the chairman or the president of the company?

 

Always, if the leader doesnt change,. Nothing will change..never(this doesnt mean change the leader, as a change of attitude/vision...) Im responding for him/her bcs i find absolutely impossible that a company changes, with the same mindset from the leader...

 

I mean revamp in that context probably refers to removal and replacement with new members. If applied to royals, that would imply the removal of Matt who's the host and owner of the server. Will royals even remain as a server if that happens?

Edit: I misread when I made the reply, sorry. But then how will things change if the community wins the vote against staff? Will they dictate what staff should do?

 

I'm not sure this is appropriate but I really think Becca should step down. It's a conflict of interest that will always be over her, she definitely has a problem interacting with players regarding ban appeals (IE spamming emotes and trying to come across wholesome, it comes off as pretentious rather than empathetic) and her knowledge of the game is limited.

https://royals.ms/forum/threads/why-does-thief-recharge-stars-so-expensive.156851/page-2#post-930142

I've had one discussion with her regarding HP washing, and through all of the pretentious "Matt can do it, so can you, make friends, make sure your friend is a DK" was so tone death and brainwashed that I made it an objective to avoid her. The real confirmation that she was out of touch on how this game works, is she asked that players utilized HP scrolls and sacrifice attack. Scrolls that give +30 hp per 10% use. I bring this up not because I bare any grudge, but rather it articulates the exact tone deaf, dismissive personality these prior GM's are claiming she has.

Also if I come to you to get permission to take over a ticket, and you give me that permission, it's extremly disrespectful, catty, unprofessional and petty to go complain to my boss about it.

Very frustrating read.

@Dave Deviluke I think it's appropriate to remove it now and if he comes back with the proof allow him to repost it. It's just slander at this point, I do appreciate your caution and trying to keep the thread as open as possible.

 

@sparky95 It did include only chairmen.
However, the president is now less powerful. New check members have been hired to monitor and advice on his actions.

Overall, he took it very nicely in the end.

 

What did Tim and Gert ask you to apologise for ?_?