Hello there pretty faces! I've been wanting to post something like this for a while because - although it may not be relevant to all of you - I think it needs to be said. As you may have noticed I've been around in game recently hosting a bunch of events for you guys. And I do enjoy hosting and I'm happy when most of you respond so greatly and grateful to the events. But there's also a large number of people that don't and I wanted to address that. I find more and more that people get impatient / competitive / bored / frustrated or whatever it is with the event and take it out on the hosting GM. This is not any news to anyone and has been happening for a while, but it doesn't mean that it shouldn't stop. People seem to very easily forget that GMing is something we do in our own free time voluntarily, and any event hosted is only ever to get players to enjoy themselves only and give them the option to win special prizes. As GMs hosting events we try to be as creative as we can and give everyone a chance to join different kinds of events. So yes, sometimes it will be luck based and sometimes it will be knowledge based and sometimes it will be a mix of the both. However, almost every time an event is announced, people will talk angrily about the choice of event. To that I just want to say - please realise that you are not the only player on the server! Whilst we truly love hearing feedback about what events you guys enjoy more and what less, not every event will be to your liking because not every player likes what you like and we're trying to have something for everybody! Once we get into the event there are a few more waves of abusive or verging on abusive whispers throughout the events. It starts with people shouting 'hurry up' and 'faster please' and carries on to 'this event sucks' 'you're the worst' 'you don't know how to do anything right with your life' (maybe not those specific words, but I've personally heard much worse than that too). At which point all I have to say - if you feel like the event is not worth your time please leave. Like, please. You are literally making nothing better. I know a lot of you guys are amazingly happy about events, but truthfully, stuff like this is extremely discouraging to carry on hosting events. I'm not the first nor the last GM to have wanted to / actually stopped hosting events because the harassment was just unbearable. With the recent Musical Chairs Event suggestion I really wanted this to be said. I'd be very happy to try this new event and possibly more, but I'm very scared of the response I will get, because the last time I attempted to bring a new event in (for you guys!) the response was awful. With new events especially - we are trying it out for the first time too, so things are bound to go wrong. I just wish it was handled with more understanding and less abuse during the events. We are human. At the end of the day - if this is the way so many players here are going to treat event hosting GMs - why would they want to keep hosting events? I really hope the people who need to see this will. I know a lot of you who will read this do not act this way and I am grateful that at least you guys exist too. Lots and lots of love, Event hosting GMs <3
I find it pretty sad how GMs receive so much profanity when they are simply giving back to the community in their own free time. GM events are a PRIVELEGE not a RIGHT to us players. I swear I learned about privileges and rights in 3rd grade. Anyways, you GMs are amazing people and want you to know that there is a large number of us who care for your events. Just the presence of a GM makes me go nuts. Myself and LOTS OF OTHERS appreciate everything you do for us. Thank you and I hope you have a great day
I'm new to the server, but I've already seen a few GMs in action and you guys rock! You don't deserve that kind of negative reaction at all. Don't be discouraged, we appreciate all you do for us! <3
Dear Alyo, Like you said, if people are not happy about the event, they should not take part/leave. I do that too. I never take part in JQ or Q&A as I'm just horrible at both. So, screw those little kids. Just ignore them. I know it's hard to not get upset by such ppl and I honestly don't know how you manage to even have the strength to host events even after that. If it was me, I'd have banned all of them one by one~~ It's sad to see that people cannot put themselves in the GMs shoes. I like some GMs in this server, and don't really like the others. But I'd never disrespect them in such a childish way. Ppl should speak out, but not in such a way like you have given examples of. Because the way I see it, the GMs, the ones I do like and don't, all are working really hard to maintain this server. Answering to everyone's Q&A and trying to solve each and every issues. You and your team are doing a really great job, so keep at it and just ban those who are rude to you~~
Yes, i understand that. Sadly that's extremely hard to avoid and for some, it's hard to ignore too. I wouldn't suggest you to ignore those people, because you just said it yourself, "I'm not the first nor the last GM to have wanted to / actually stopped hosting events because the harassment was just unbearable". About the event suggestion, personally, i'd like to see it happen. It is unfortunate that some people behave this way, but that's the way they are. Anyway, it's up to you. If it happens, great. If not, then at least we know why now.
ALY = #1 GM. That said the people who will see this post are not the same people sending the abusive whispers to you. No matter what you do, you are going to get them, even if the event goes seemingly perfect. This is the internet; You are a gm so either ban these guys if you think its enough to be considered harassment or ignore it. That said the events are fine. My only criticism would be that you guys decided to host an event when the server was clearly unstable, which kind of went as you would expect. Appreciate the effort on your part regardless, I had fun.
I'll be honest — seeing this makes me incredibly disappointed in this community that I've grown to love. I'd like to apologize on behalf of those people and to tell you and all the other GMs how much the rest of us appreciate the work you guys do. It's not just hosting events, but also all of the administrative and logistical bullshit you guys deal with. You don't deserve getting abused and harassed for giving your time to us, and I think people need to remember that you guys hold events for us. You don't owe us anything, but you still hold them for our enjoyment. You guys are awesome, and you make this a better place. Keep doing you <3 Hwaiting !
Thank you guys for the messages! I am perfectly aware that there are a lot of people who think just like that. Obviously, Not everyone behaves the way I described originally - I just kinda hoped it would stop at least a few people who do. Storytime; I actually have a friend on the server who -about a year and a half ago- joined his first or second event of mine. Words were said. I wasn't feeling great about it at all - especially being one of the first times I'd actually encountered it as offensively as it was. About a year after that we chatted and became friends and when I told him how much of an effect his words had on me at the time he was very surprised and sorry. lol. So, I don't believe everyone realised that they're making it harder on GMs sometimes. I suppose this is one of the reasons I felt this was needed to be said Also - and I should have actually put this up with the original post too - it's not always just words! Unfortunately there are (and I know there always will be, just again, hoping to change a few minds) people who constantly don't cooperate, too. People who purposely spam drops, skills whatever not, which dc's me (and I then have to start my laptop and its long and annoying and unsmooth) after I've simply asked not to, and then that delays the event, and then more people whisper me about how slow I am! Just - discouraging to host at all. But I do know this isn't most of you. Most of you are extremely sweet annnnnnnd I'm still around to host events aren't I?
Dear Aly, I've participated in 3 of your RR events. Why do you always choose my platform?! Am i that attractive to you?? All i want is a janus sword Sincerely, Doodoo
Some people have to realize that GM's are people too. Just because you're talking to someone behind a screen doesn't make them anything less than a human. Thank you guys for going out of your way to help us/host events for us :^) srsly tho y'all are underappreciated
I know I'm relatively new here but have been joining all events if I'm online at the time. I think they're great fun and it's good to see so many get involved them. It would be a shame to lose them just because of a few bad eggs. I used to host a lot of events for my guild back in old Maplestory so I know how frustrating it can be at times. My advice is to simply not to feed the trolls, don't respond to the smegas or hurtful comments. I noticed at a recent event when you asked everyone not to start dropping items then they started dropping more just because they were told not to. Keep up the great work Aly, it's appreciated by most of us.
I can't believe I have to say this even but sometimes you guys take criticisms way too personally. Most of what people complain here is not meant to be directed at any specific person, they're for the most part, venting their frustration. Whether these rants come off as being constructive or sounding like an ass, just know that these people aren't saying them with any malicious intent. Some people aren't as leveled headed as you so you can't expect them to behave with respect. As far as events go, do you honestly expect everybody to be nice? That would be very ignorant on your part. A lot of people here take these events seriously and they join for the sole purpose of winning so of course they'll be upset when they lose, some more than others. It's not at all surprising that people will go over the top with their reactions and send nasty personal messages. That doesn't make it any more appropriate but that's just the nature of it, it's something nobody can control no matter how hard they try, you just have to accept it. You also mentioned that being a gm is a volunteer job and is something you guys do on your free time. That's true but that doesn't give you guys immunity from mistakes or criticisms. I'm not saying you guys do a shit job or react that way but some people here think because you guys volunteered to be a gm, suddenly makes it okay if something is done wrong or mishandled. I don't care if it's a volunteer job, if you take on the role as a gm you need to be able to handle the workload and criticisms that come from it. That might sound insensitive of me but I'd want to be treated with the same expectations if I were a gm otherwise I wouldn't apply to be one. I'll leave it at that before I offend any people (lol). Aly, we do appreciate all the events you've hosted and it'd be a shame if you stop hosting them due to a few mean individuals. This goes out to all the gms, don't take things so personally and most importantly, this is the internet. P.S - musical chairs sounds like a great idea, you should definitely consider it!
I appreciate your opinion but I disagree with how you see things, and I have a couple things to say. Firstly, the comments I was referring to were absolutely not criticisms. I don't know how malicious the intentions were (like I've said before, I do think most people don't mean it) but I made this thread so that people can think before they do it. I do not think this is a matter of taking things personally. With no relation to me personally, if I attempted to do something good and had bad results come out of it - is it not natural for you to be discouraged to do it again? Doesn't mean I now believe I'm a bad GM, but if people are complaining about something that was suppose to make them happy why bother? As for a GM being a volunteer job, I absolutely did not mean that in any way that says I try less hard than I would if it wasn't. I have never gone into anything thinking 'this is only volunteer so I can fuck up this event all I want'. If I have ever taken anything as an insult, to be honest, it's this. Simply because I think the staff puts an insane amount of effort into the server and it is such a shame that people see us as easily mishandling things and just saying 'whatever'. The only reason I even mentioned that was to emphasis that events are made for players. I gain nothing from it but the satisfaction of making people happy (which again, if I feel like I'm not doing, why would I want to bother?). And lastly, yes, we are on the internet, yes I am extremely well aware that not everyone is going to be nice. But we are also on MapleRoyals. A community I've known to have the sweetest, kindest, nicest people I have ever met. Is it so wrong of me to hope that people will be hear what I say and be nice? This thread was made in hope of doing 2 things: 1) Let people who don't realise they're discouraging GMs know of what they are doing, so then they can choose to behave in a more 'level-headed' manner as you said. 2) To hopefully reach the people who do it with malicious intent and change their mind. Because as far as I know MapleRoyals as attracted a great community, and since I'm a massive optimist, I truly do hope this will change things. At the end of the day, can you blame a girl for trying? It wasn't going to get better by doing nothing.
im new here and im not "fast enough" to take part of events, usually when i notice theres something going on, its finish. anyway. i think you should not agree with that bad behavior. give warning, penalty, whatever, until they understand that is wrong to act like they do. i think that a good GM need to be nice, helpful, kind and all that, but also be tough enough to give penalties too.
There have been several people kicked from events I have participated in for the reason they don't listen and disrupts the event.
That's the thing, a lot of people here aren't as leveled headed as you may be, they'll let their emotions take over in the heat of the moment and make comments without thinking, some people are just like that. There will always be people who won't be satisfied, you can't please them all. The best you could do is cater to the majority of the people, which you are already doing. Most of us know you guys work reallly hard as gms, the ones that don't are the new players and I'm gonna go with the assumption that those are the same people that complain and send you mean pms the most. How can you blame them? They're not dedicated enough to browse the forums or know the server well enough to get a good grasp of our community/staff. As for gaining nothing from hosting events, that's entirely false as you gain reputation from it but I know that's not the reason you guys host events, I'm merely pointing out it's not true you gain nothing from it. Every gaming community out there is more or less the same, you have the nice people and you have the not-so-nice people; MapleRoyals is no exception. It's easy for the assholes to overshadow the good of the community because those are the ones that hit our sensitive spots the most. I think it's a bit selfish to expect everybody to understand your point of view, you can't please them all it just won't happen. This thread is nothing more than an appreciation circlejerk (nothing wrong with that) because the only people who read feedback threads (including this one) are the ones that already appreciate the staff's hard work. That's not to say this thread is useless, the way I see it, it acts as a reminder to some of us who forgot how hard the gms work and it reinforces our appreciation to our staff. I'll ask you a serious question, do you honestly think the same toxic people that are constantly sending rude messages to you care about the server? Do you think those same people will take time out of their own lives to browse the forums and seek for improvement? Unlike you, I'm a very pessimistic person so if you ask me, I don't think so.
I think to try and justify the actions of those who are "ruining" the events for other players and GMs is something that isn't necessary either. This thread was created in feedback after deciding (as a group) that such a post wasn't appropriate to post as an announcement as it would infer that we would be changing our stance on events and feedback isn't intended JUST for staff but for the players as well. So to call this thread an "appreciation circlejerk" was not the intent and honestly, could have been locked with just Aly's message. You know, as someone who admittedly knows he is not the most favored staff member, I think I can speak from experience when I say you can be as thick skinned as you want and as resolute that things like this won't bother you, but there are just times where someone says something that really hits you. I'm not going to go into a whole thing here, but there's been numerous times where what's been said or done has really affected me and made me seriously question if it's worth continuing on, not necessarily as a staff member, but maybe stop responding to report abuse claims, or something of that nature. I truly believe that if you were in the event hosts' shoes, after the time and effort put into the event only for someone to ruin it by mass DCing people or the number of nasty comments they say to your face, or complain that the prizes sucked, etc., you would certainly understand the frustration and true intent of the original post. While I don't think you are completely oblivious to it, it's something you can only get full comprehension of by walking a mile in their shoes.
That snide remark is EXACTLY what I was talking about in my post. Cyberbullying isn't okay, no matter how harmless you may think it is. Try and think before you post, and keep it on topic. If you want to make jabs at me, take it to PM where I can at least hide your remarks and they won't affect someone else's experience on the forums.
It seems like the severity of the consequences aren't on par with their behavior then. At least the staff has control over when events are hosted. I think the majority of us would completely fine without events while waiting for the source update if lag is a problem.
