Hello and goodbye people of MapleRoyals, My time has come to leave, but I would like to thank everyone who made MapleRoyals a good place for me while it lasted. Firstly, I want to thank the community, and in special the part I know personally, for making MapleRoyals what it is. Even if I didn't know you, you're probably making this a place worth to stay for someone else! I'd also like to thank the Staff for giving me the chance to make MapleRoyals better. I was given a little spot in the team, as Developer, and I've tried to make this a better place. I hope I've added some value to the gameplay. However, the reason for my departure isn't that shiny. I've been wondering for a while if I should post this public, or not. But I guess I should, from this point forward these are all my personal opinions, and experience through my time here (about 5 months). Who am I? Since I didn't get a fancy announcement when I got hired, some might not even know me, so I'll take liberty of this moment to make a very brief introduction. Nobody likes to read full paragraphs about other people, this is me in a MapleRoyals-nutshell: My name is Gi; I was, until now, a Developer for MapleRoyals; For which I'm thankful I was given the chance to do, even with my limited coding experience. I like cats, proud owner of two Persian cats. They're too cute Well, that wasn't too long was it. Ok, so now for the actual reason of this thread, the goodbye. Why am I leaving? I've been struggling with the way I'm treated (see 2.1) and how certain things are handled inside the Staff's headquarters (see 2.2). Spoiler: What I mean when I say 'Staff' When I mention Staff this can mean a single person/a group inside the Staff. It's not always the same person/group. Certainly Staff has people always willing to help, it's just a shame it's always the same people. I'm not here to call names. Every single one of the Staff is trying to do their honest best. I know this, but yet, as a group, it seems to be going in the wrong direction sometimes (which I explain in 2.2). I think you're all wonderful people, even though I barely spoke with most of you. Treatment (because of lack of better words) I'm pretty sure this feeling isn't only with me. Wether this is true or not, I will not express about. But I do like to mention this, because I feel it's an important sidenote. Everything I do is taken for granted because it's my job, it's not. It requires a good amount of my time to figure out bugs and fix them. I'm not the person who puts a bandage on the wound, I try to cure it. This requires some extra time, but is totally worth it for a server this size. Up until this point I'm all fine with working alone. But when I'm asking for help to test out new functions, bug fixes, improvements... Well, lets say the chat can go pretty quiete suddenly. After the effort I put into fixing the bug, should I put more time into testing if it actually is fixed? Spending a lot of time alone, when sometimes it can be tested in a few minutes with a few people? Is asking the Staff (please remember the spoiler) a little fraction of the time I needed to fix it too much? Apparently it is, thank you. More recently, I only get told what to do, and shame on me if I do something else before asking permission. Fixing bugs is not what I like to do all the time. I like to implement new functionalities. I've tried to keep the balance between what I like to do, and what has to be done. Reminding you that I do this voluntarily. Just an example: I've made a feedback thread about ~bosshp. I thought I had the right to ask the community what they think of ~bosshp. I also included my own suggestion to change it. Given my forum title, this looked more like an official announcement than feedback. My tone obviously was that I would implement it, who else would? According to the Staff list, two other people could. Granted, I'm hired as Developer, but given their titles they can help me out too. Rather than commanding me (actually this doesn't include Matt. He tries to step in where he can, broadening his knowlegde. It would be unfair if I called him commanding.) what to do. You're not my boss. Thank you. How certain things are handled I'm not not the person who gives a whole lot about ban appeals/minor offenses/... Generally those problems can be solved with manners, or reading the Terms and Coniditions. I'm also not going to let my sleep for the ins and outs of MapleRoyals. Nevertheless I've had a few remarks on how things got handled, things that irk me. As they say, a picture tells more than a thousand words, well, this picture said a whole lot more after Rob was magically added into Staff. There was no discussion on adding Rob (something we did have for Manny and Tommy (those were the only new GMs added in my time)). When asked about it, I was replied with the following quote. Do I smell the odour of favoritism there? Let me get it straight, Rob is doing a good job as GM. Would I have any objection in adding Rob to the Staff if asked? No. Do I like how this was done? Absolutely not. I've had a few occasions where the person banned/reported was someone I knew. So obviously I follow the chitchat in those cases. Please, keep your favoritism banners in your closet, I watch from the sideline. But when I feel something is wrong, ... I can't help it than raise my concerns. I've always heard that among the players the Staff are considered robots, enslaved to the Terms and Coniditions. Which I think is good, no grey. Only black or white, wrong or good, as things should be handled. However if the Staff doesn't follow their own rules, what's their to stop them from doing what they feel is right? As an example, I'd like to grab this ban appeal. Yes, I know her. No, I did not unban her @Tsunami, thanks for the comment about that though. Anyhow, when I brought the appeal up in the Staff chat (after Rob had handled the appeal) I was told I was emotional about the ban appeal. So lets state the facts. MsSalmon SMEGAs something in an other language than English. Rob(bocop) asks here to stop. She does it again, which is rude (wow, emotional argument). (wether or not she had time to read and respond to Rob's notice I don't know, I can't judge this from the screenshot.) She gets banned for SMEGA'ing in an other language than English, which is a rule. This is false. There was (at that time) no official rule that you aren't allowed to SMEGA in an other language than English. It was only stated in the TL; DR verion, which players can NOT be held liable for (as the disclaimer says). So was she banned for being rude to Rob? Then you call me emotional? Sure. If I banned everyone that was rude to me... Sorry I'm drifting away. She made the ban appeal, stating a valid point she can not be banned under the current Terms and Coniditions, but unfortunately the responding person doesn't follow the rules. I discussed this in the Staff Chat (getting answered by some of the people in the above mentioned picture, as a team). As a final result, I get the next quote as response. This is just an example of how things get handled incorrectly in my opinion. Staff handled this as a group of friends sticking their necks out for eachother to make the ban valid. After some more chitchat I'm told that the rules indeed are wrong. As a result rule 30 was added. And the ban appeal got updated. However, MsSalmon remains banned because of the precedents mentioned in the appeal. Precedents that were handled wrongly! Once again, this case was just an example, the answers I got in the Staff chat were a reason to start questioning the path we, as Staff, walked. Don't we, the Staff, follow the Terms and Coniditions anymore? There's more I've had other occasions where I felt bad being a part of the Staff (if you feel bad about being part of something, you shouldn't be part of that something). I rather not discuss every single bad happening, because obviously I had good times too. I wouldn't have stayed for 5 months. And I might still help occasionally, just not as an official part of the Staff. I'm truely thankful for the good times, both as Staff, and as nooby player. Goodbye Because I can't force myself to invest more time into fixing bugs/coding features, I think it's time for me to leave. The time has come for a fresh breeze, someone with the same motivation I had when I first joined here. I'd like to end this goodbye with a positive list (call it my legacy, bragging) things I have accomplished in (and for) MapleRoyals. Spoiler: Some of the things I've accomplished during my stay Changed rates on Maple Island; Added a server-check mode to the game; Reactor fix (hitting it with 2 players at once causing DC); Fixed weird NPC glitch when upgrading to Java8; Created the new CashShop with Donor items; Item sort; Made a nice Maple Admins script to for events (which sadly doesn't get used); Fixed the quest bug. (You're welcome); ... Update: I'm glad to hear that some of the concerns I've raised in here are being looked into already (I've shared this thread with the Staff before posting it public). I hope this may be used to build a stronger foundation for the next generation of Staff. Strong, better, hotter. Once again I'd like to thank all the lovely people (you know if I'm talking about you, I'm not writing down names) who made this a nice place while it lasted. And an other thank you for offering the chance of being part of something bigger. I wish you all (and I really mean everyone) the best. Don't let this goodbye get overshadowed by the bad things. Remember the good memories. I just wanted to explain why I left MapleRoyals. Sincerely, Gi.
I will miss u Gi , no more Goblin Gi, or failing events at Chimney U forgot about the awesome buyback command wich saved me a lot of mesos! i wish u all the best of the world and hope to speak to u again (so u can afk or disappear midconversation)
I'll be sad to see you go Gi, I'll always remember you for all the bugs and issues you fixed, which far exceed the list you made. You've definitely been a wonderful part of the Staff and community and we won't be able to replace what you've brought. As for that ban, that's just how I've always been taught to deal with stuff. If there's a precedent you follow it. (My parents are lawyers and that's how law works, right or wrong.) We did have a precedent though, and if we didn't follow it that'd cause a whole lot more problems. People who were banned previously for the same offense would as for recompense, and even people who were banned for different offenses that weren't explicitly in the T&C would want to be unbanned. (Specifically account sharing, which wasn't specifically added until recently.) I apologized at the time of the banning and I'll apologize again, I'm sincerely sorry for any anguish it may have caused. But to clarify one thing, no, she wasn't banned for being rude, just for smegaing in a different language after I said not to. If it was me that said you were being emotional, I apologize, I didn't mean it in any offensive way. I know if someone I was that close to got banned I'd have been the same way. So I apologize. As far as favoritism, you're nor the only staff member to bring it up. When I found out that there was no discussion for my hiring I was definitely a little confused. And there have been other times favoritism has been in question that I won't bring up here. But you also have to consider that a player must be well known before being hired, you don't want to hire someone who will abuse their GM powers. Not to say that you're wrong, but it's a fine line for sure. Again I apologize for anything I did, and I sympathize with your other feelings. I'm sorry. I hope you'll remember me with a similar positive light that I'll remember you.
Bye Gi, thanks for all your hard work. Sad that we couldn't work things out. I can't say that I agree with some of your statements, but we've been over all these things already.
Sorry to hear you leaving Gi. I appreciate that you did a lot of good for the server. You're a remarkable developer, don't forget that. I remember when zakum was bugged and we were testing zakum bugs together (our special alone time ;]). I hope the server (as a whole) will continue to grow and improve after your departure. Thank you Gi. you are indeed #1 developer.
I'm really sorry to hear about all this Gi. You were a remarkable guy and an amazing developer. We had some brilliant times over the short time that I knew you and I will remember you for ages to come. Don't worry though, you haven't got rid of me! I will still send you snapchats and I still want to see your cats <3 Love you Gi x
I'm very sad that things have come to this, because I really, really wanted us to work together on sorting out the issues that have arisen. I just wish we had been able to work things out and that your time here hadn't come to an end like this. I wish we'd been able to talk things through properly before you said goodbye. =( So... point by point: 1) Yes, those Persian cats are absolutely adorable <3 2) Part 1A No, Gi, I honestly don't think we ever took you for granted. I know that I have said many, many times how much we appreciated your work. Obviously there were points where we didn't all agree, but yes, we do appreciate what you have done. However, what you say about needing more help from staff as testers is completely fair. I know there have been times when we haven't been able to help because we're in the middle of doing things ourselves. We've had quite a number of staff on vacation or unavoidably away over parts of the summer period (myself included) and there have been times when too much to deal with has had to be dealt with by too few. The proposal I put to the Admin team was that we looked into finding someone who would take on the role of tester to help Gi, be it someone willing from the current staff, or a new member of staff. 2) Part 1B The way we work is that if we're making or proposing any major changes, we try to discuss things within the staff first. With the exception of a few personnel decisions (which I will talk about later), the Admins also discuss potential changes with the rest of the staff. We need to do this in order to work smoothly as a team. If we're all off doing our own thing without consultation with the others, things are likely to get messy and tensions will arise. Obviously, we all take minor decisions off our own bats, because we have to, and if these decisions are erroneous, other members of staff can and will step in later if needed. Developer decisions tend to be things that affect us all, both staff and players, so I hope you understand our need for consultation here. On the subject of decision making, our Admins were hired because of their ability to do their job as administrators well. We have a staff hierarchy for a reason - we need to have people who are experienced in making decisions and in taking responsibility for those decisions, including putting things right if everything goes to hell in a handbasket. Being at the top of the hierarchy means being the people who get a massive amount of rage and abuse directed at them if they have to make an unpopular but necessary decision. It means being the people to whom the rest of us can turn when we aren't sure what to do for the best. It means co-ordinating the efforts of the rest of the staff and sorting out in-house problems. And it also means having a big mess to sort out if you screw up - the more responsibility you have, the bigger mess you have to sort out if you screw up. Lastly, it means having the final say in what the rest of the team do or don't do, because the final say needs to rest with somebody, in order for us to work together in a coherent and organised manner. To put it simply, the Admin team is there to make decisions and take responsibility for those decisions. You know how outspoken, fiery and opinionated I can be at times, but no matter how strongly I feel about certain issues, there's times when I have to take "No, Kat, bad idea" for an answer, and that's something I accept. 2) Part 2A We have explained why Rob was hired as a member of staff without prior consultation, in that he was well-known to the Admins (and many of the staff) and is well-suited to his job. He feels strongly about the importance of the community here at Maple Royals and has been very much involved with the community as a player. We know, like and trust him. Also, hiring and firing are typically a decision that ultimately rests with the administrative section of an organisation. This isn't about favouritism, it's about the Admins knowing that Rob was the right man for the job. Having said that, I have proposed to the Admins that we try to consult the staff prior to hiring new members of staff, because we need to function well as a team, and the non-Admin staff will be working with whoever we hire. 2) Part 3 As Rob says, he was following a precedent that had been previously set. There was no bias in the decision to give MsSalmon a temporary ban because we have been temp-banning people who smega-ed in languages other than English (particularly after being warned by a member of staff) for quite some time now. We did however realise as a result of this case that we had made an oversight in adding this to the tl; dr but not the T&C, hence we added it so that it would not be a grey area in future. However, we cannot be bound completely by the rules within the T&C because we cannot anticipate every possible situation where a ban might be appropriate, nor does every case fit neatly into the innocent/guilty category. There are times when we need to use our discretion, something that is also covered by the T&C. I think it would be wise, though, if we looked at the tl;dr and T&C to see if there's anything else mentioned in the tl;dr but not fully covered by the T&C.
I'm sorry that you feel that way. I just want to let you know that the community DO appreciate your efforts, even if you feel like some of the people within the community aren't. Best of luck, I'll miss seeing your nick on the forum
Sorry to see you go, Gi, you were certainly one of the people that brought many successful changes to the server and enriched the gameplay tenfold. I'm sure your hard work and contribution will be greatly missed, not only by the players, but Staff as well. Not hard to figure out who you're referring to here, hue. Anyway best of luck on your new challenges!
Goodbye Gi! I know we didn't have too many interactions together, but the few that we did have were very pleasant! You're a really nice guy and I hope you find what you're looking for in life. I can't really comment on any of your grievances because I don't really know the whole story, but I'm sincerely glad for everything you've done for this server. Thanks a lot for giving up so much of your time and energy to do something for the players. You'll be missed dearly!
Thanks so much for everything you've done to help the server Gi truly one of the best GM's with a great sense of humour The adventures of Poison"HOMOPHOBIC SLUR" and "Gay"ceratops still hasn't come to an end. I'm gonna miss you Gi <3
Dude I really liked reading this and seeing everything from your perspective. I really wish I talked to you more in game while you were here (sometimes you'd be chilling in fm ). Tbh you've earned my respect for coming straight out with everything and maybe showing us a glimpse behind the scenes at staff. Im sad to see you go but I wish you goodluck with what you choose to do and appreciate what you have done for the server.
