While I do agree that it is the internet and some people (like our recent harassment reports) have been a little bit over the top with their entitlement, there is a difference between being sensitive and being a bully. I don't recall if that's the case here, but in other countries, you can be sued and taken to court for cyber bullying. I'm sure it's not stuff like "YOU SUCK" that Aly is talking about. I'm pretty sure it's stuff that is too vulgar to be mentioned and/or along the lines of something violent. Clearly, she didn't say she wanted EVERYONE to be nice. The tone you're taking makes it sound as if she's too ignorant to realize this. She's asking people to take a step back and remember that she's human too, nothing wrong with that. And she's talking about whispers too. Last time I checked, those are directed at a specific person. And if the content in it is vulgar, rude, and distasteful to the receiver, it can be seen at the least harassment (if not being bully). I hate the excuse "It's just nature so deal with it." Of course, we can't do anything to change people, but why should she have to just sit down and take all the abuse people put on her just because they lack self control? They can say profane things to her, but she can't even ask people to just remember she's just human and trying to do stuff people? All in all, it's true that this is the internet and sometimes people are bit too sensitive. In my opinion, this is NOT one of those times, and to hear you call it an appreciation circle jerk seems rather rude and it wasn't even directed at me. Furthermore, you're telling people to act in a way that you think is right (in this example, to just get over stuff) and also taking jabs at people for being selfish or whatever. In no way do I think this okay. In fact, I think it's rather selfish of you to come onto this thread and just tell people to get over it, and in a rather rude way at that. Depending on the level of profanity, especially when people tend to get angry and violent, I don't think it's selfish at all to just ASK for a little consideration. I don't always agree with what the GM's say or their decisions either, but that doesn't give me or anyone else, the right to be rude to them.
I just think that this whole thread boils down to one thing, and it goes for more than just events, it applies to every interaction you have with a staff member: Whether you believe it or not, we're doing this for you, to help you, because we want you to be happy. I've been harassed myself, had people talk badly about me to my face and behind my back, often times for doing the things that I'm supposed to do to make sure that the server runs as smoothly as it can. My perspective as an event host isn't as thoughtful as Aly's might be because we all know she's far better of a host and does them quite a bit more often than I do, but I can apply everything that Aly said to what people have flamed me for in past. All this post is really trying to say is that... please try to remember we're real people, with real feelings, who are only doing what we do because we want to make this server great for everyone to play. If you disagree with us, if you don't like a choice we've made... I can see how that sucks, and trust me, denying anyone of something does make me feel bad, but attacking us personally isn't going to accomplish anything positive, it just makes us resent ourselves more than we already do for having to turn you down.
Sentiments like these make us turn to the great philosophers of our era and consider their wisdoms: But seriously, you guys (GMs) do so much for this server that half of us don't even notice. You guys are the real MVPs here, and there's nothing I/we could even begin to say to show us our thanks for keeping our favourite game enjoyable. From indexing thousands of Cash Shop items, to dealing with afking rewarpees, you guys really are the unsung heroes of this server. So with that, I say thanks for your hard work, your countless hours volunteered to bettering each and every one of our experience's, and for all the boring stuff that has to happen to keep Royals up and running. I SALUTE ALL OF YOU
You know.. If someone were to be rude to another, say colourful vulgar things to them, etc etc.. They can make a thread on the abuse section and that person will get banned, right?? So, WHY should GM/s be any different? If someone is being extremely rude to a GM, I think they should just take a SS and ban them. Also, @ intermission or whoever it was.. I work with patients/and family as well and sometimes, I too get those kinda ppl I just wanna rip off their heads and stick them in a pike.. But, at the end of the day, I remind myself that I am getting paid (more than average) to deal with such BS. But she said GM is voluntary work, meaning they are doing this for free, they get no money in the bank at the end of the day. She/they are trying to make your MapleRoyal life more than just voting to do Gacha.. Gaching to get cheese and some useless scrolls.. Selling scrolls to buy leech.. Buying leech to level up.. Levelling up to boss.. So in one word, they are doing it to make Royals FUN for you.. Just because the bus that came is not the one you're supposed to get on, does not mean you should curse and w/e at that bus driver.. If it's not for you, then just shut up and wait.. Your bus will eventually come, no?? And if you play basketball/soccer/video games with your friends, and you don't win.. Are you abusive to them?? No?? So why should ppl be keyboard warriors in here?? Yes, I too go," Fuk this RR!! Never WIN!!".. But I don't go and PM and Smega to a GM to say," Your events SUCK!!"
Since a couple of you have mentioned this - we do kick people out and ban them if its harassment-y enough. It'd be nicer if we didn't have to tho. EDIT: As @Michael mentioned before, we don't particularly enjoy excluding individuals form things (or denying people stuffs), I definitely don't kick straight away - only when the interruption is persistent, giving people a second chance and all, but when it's needed - its needed.
First off I want to say that players should not be venting their anger towards any staff member ingame. The ~gm command isn't for feedback nor criticism, and whispering is (even more so) definitely not either. That's the whole point of having a feedback section of the forums. Secondly, events on mapleroyals are rare. They shouldn't be rushed, and all of the events I've participated in, the GM in charge of the event was always flexible and attempted to make every participant enjoy the event as much as possible. It's up to the players themselves to choose whether to participate in an event or do something else. Events will take time, and if there's something sooo urgent that needs to be done, there's a super convenient command to leave the event. People attempting to rush an event should be kicked- slow events tend to be slow because of unforseen circumstances that aren't the fault of the GM. In fact, the GM is flexible and attempts to fix the problem instead. Lastly, this is feedback directed at the staff/GM team (might seem a bit off topic, but ties to directly to player frustration): How come GMs are so elusive? Is it to make the experience of the server like actual maple where you rarely ever see or hear a GM? Are they not allowed to socialize on a GM account, and instead advised to keep all social activities to their non-GM account? Are the GMs avoiding socializing on their GM accounts because they just want to play their non-GM accounts? (at this point, it's more of an obligation rather than something they want to do) On a successful server I used to play on, GMs were allowed to be very social. Not all of them socialized with players, but the ones who did gave the staff team a favorable public image due to players actually being able to interact with them outside of an event. I feel that many players view the staff team in a bad light because the only interactions they have with GMs are in the rarely hosted events and rarely receive responses to their ~gm. At the same time, the GM team for the server was huge (4 times, maybe 5 times as large) compared to mapleroyals while the active playerbase was only maybe triple that of royals at most. It makes players wonder where the GMs are and what they're doing- "Are they just sitting in the staff room? Chatting with one another at ToT? Or maybe they're busy responding to other players so the turnaround time is longer than expected? If a GM can't help me with my problem, how come they can't whisper me the proper procedure or the reason why? How long do I need to wait before I know that there are no GMs online to help me and to just go post a support thread?" TLR = lack of communication results in player confusion & frustration ---- GMing for mapleroyals seems like it's a very tough job. The server is constantly unstable, and there are many bugs/glitches that haven't been patched yet. There must be so much shit going on in ~gm all the time, especially after a mass DC. On top of that, the staff team is pretty small, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are times where only one or two GMs have to deal with everything. Many (if not most) players don't understand how much time and dedication it takes to help others have an enjoyable server experience.
Your comment about people using ~gm and not knowing if a GM is on is very good imo. I haven't thought about it before and I think we could maybe think of something that can be done about it within the staff. Thank you for saying it! This is why feedback is so important. However, everything you say about socialising feels not very accurate to me? I personally spend a fair amount of time chatting to players and getting to know them when I can. I think the only reason people don't do it all the time is just them being busy. Not only is royals busy - but we've got real life stuff happening too. But I'm curious to see how many people would agree with you, as I feel the staff is very friendly? Maybe most people don't get to see that... As for hiring more staff - it is not my decision, but I don't believe we want too big a staff team. I think the priorities are trustworthy people who truly love the server, and that's not too easy to come by / know who is. <3
Social =/= friendly. I myself know that most of the GM team are very friendly (I say most because I've only met like 3 GMs.) but based on that, I'm assuming that the GM team is very friendly. Over the last few months of playing here I have rarely seen a GM in FM (and I camp at least one of my chars there almost all the time). I'm not even sure if a GM list exists, and apart from going to view GM introductions, I barely know anything about any of the GMs. I totally understand the real life stuff though; of course, GMs are just like any other player, just with extra responsibilities/obligations that they volunteered themselves for- it's only that I feel like players don't know who they're interacting with when it comes to GMs and due to that, they don't really see GMs on the same social plane. <3
I'm still going to disagree, just because I personally spend -some would say too much- time playing with people in FM. I stalk so many people I don't know who I've seen around the forums just to say hi and get to know people around the server. I'd call that social along with friendly. :/ But I can believe that not everyone has seen GMs around, timezones and whatnot, - so back to wondering how many people actually see things like you. As for a GM list and introductions I'm not 100% sure what you mean but Forums > Members > Staff will show you everybody if that's what you're looking for.
I think people need to understand the purpose and intention of this post is: BE NICE! As well as to spread the awareness that your words DO have an impact on ppl's feelings. Sure, its the internet (where keyboard warriors are 'supposed' to exist, where mean comments thrive). Sure, the GMs can always kick/ban rude players. Sure, the insulted ppl can just try to ignore the malicious comments. But at the end of the day, just because something is happening or someone's already doing it doesn't mean its right to do so. You me and everyone can try to make a change. If everyone plays their part and be more understanding, things will be nicer for everyone (be it GMs, mods, admins, developers or players etc.). After all, isn't enjoyment the main point of playing games? PS: I'm not saying that ppl should just keep quiet and not give feedbacks when things go wrong. But pls do phrase them nicely, make them constructive. Venting your frustrations as mean comments and malicious insults won't help anyone at all, and you will still stay annoyed inthe end. PSS: And to all the staff. Here's 2 thumbs up and a pat on the back for all ur hard work. From an appreciative player- THANK YOU
Everyone here have their own detailed opinion and I enjoyed reading all of them. This just shows how much you guys care for the community and as a player I appreciate that. Although I don't really have a lot to say I will keep this in mind because I too like to participate in events. Remember even though there will be people badmouthing you there will also be those who will thank you, support you and try to make you a better host.
