AMIA ARCHIVE • View topic - Let's talk about Gear, Levels, and Roleplay.

I like your post. It's sad that you've seen things happen that, in my opinion, should not happen.

The only thing I could say in possible defence of the situation is that the DM team does a general understanding that there is leniency at levels below 10 (to my knowledge). So a player who had a level 20 character would need a request, but a player who had a level 6 character would not. As I understand things the general reason for this is the speed of leveling. For the majority of people level 6 is a couple hours of investment in the character so they really have not had much time to settle in and affect the world around them. A level 2 0 character has been around for a few weeks or months and so has an established in game back ground that might be affected.

IMO there is no reason 2 players in identical situations should be treated differently.

Beyond that the opening to your post is golden. I couldn't agree more. I wish AI was better equipped to make PvE more challenging than it does so, from a design perspective, we weren't pushed to power creep critters making them to hard to impossible for many but okay for the few... Or get stuck making them challenging for some and a cake walk for others.

One of the best posts I have read lately.

Objective and true, yet non-offensive.

Salute, Angst.

You could have messaged a DM IG for that, and you would have received the same help. Granted, if it was a similar situation, as in being below level ten or needing a simple delevel/relevel.

The true fault here would be a lack of written notice that we're more lenient on full rebuilds below a certain level. I don't believe the DM meant to be playing favorites as it was perceived. It's just the usual failure on our part to document our fluid progressions on rules in the name of knocking down the bureaucracy on our server.

Telling stories on the forum without telling the dms what actually happened doesn't help solve the situation. Speaking like you've revealed some nebulous corruption that grips amia to its core but then refusing to reveal what actually occurred is pointless and doesn't help us solve something if it's actually going on. Your retort is probably that we are so corrupt that it doesn't matter, but I would challenge that belief on any day at any time. You should send what happened to one of the dms. If you are worried about the dms being so corrupt, then I would suggest you send the pm to paladinofsune. He is so far detached from the normal hustle and bustle that he simply isn't around or in game to even form the connections that you make the complaint over. If you're worried that the dm team is doing this, then please at least lodge the information so it can be looked at in case something is actually going on.

No, it is not good enough that whatever mystery dm knows or does not know. The entire team should know, so that the situation can be evaluated objectively from all viewpoints, and action taken if necessary.

DCS are never going to be a perfect art, but it's what we got. I pay for at least half of every single request I deliver, regardless of person, unless they express a strong desire for me not to. When I see people donate, I look at how many dcs they have. If they don't have many, I cover the donation myself. Not because I want to diminish the effect or thr meaning of their donation, but because I feel moved that people who do not see many are still donating to help people. I don't ever play enough to spend my dcs on anything. I would rather see then put to use the same way I dm: helping people enjoy the server. It's not a bank, they don't earn interest, and I don't take them with me when amia dies. I might as well give them to people for requests.

There is no blacklist and never has been. I understand that when you think there is a blacklist and corruption among the dms, the dms saying there is no corruption a d no blacklist means abiut nothing to you because you don't have any faith in our words. But I don't know how to proven that something that doesn't exist... doesn't exist.... so all I can really do is say it. I'm open to suggestions on how to prove the non existence of things.

Im not even sure if this post is super helpful, since I feel like these assurances coming from a place of authority, spoken to people who have no faith in authority, are ultimately meaningless to the very people you're hoping to reach out and affect. But without the ability to do anything different, this is all I got. All I can do is make posts and keep trying to dm to the best of my ability.

I'm sorry we made you lose faith in the server, and I hope you are having fun at whichever server yoy went to, because at the end of the day, that's why we're all here. I hope, anyways.

angst360 wrote:

Really long post, go back to the bottom of page 2 to read it.

Just. Bother. The fuck. Out of. The DMs. Do it in game. Just pester them any time you see them.

Do it. Seriously. If you feel like you're being ignored that's just the DM dragging their feet on almost EVERY request. I am on good terms with almost the whole team and I have requests that take forever all the time.

Getting a speedy response on a request is just universally a pain in the ass. You probably just saw something happen once by luck because that person bothered to ask. I mean just ask. Do it. Do not be afraid to ask. Asking in game or on skype can do wonders for expediting the process. It's not about corruption or a social circle, it's literally just that it's much easier to get a direct answer personally.

I don't mean to preach here but this mole hill is not the illuminati headquarters.

Communication and timeliness are the two biggest failings of the current dm team, imho.

TormakSaber wrote:

Communication and timeliness are the two biggest failings of the current dm team, imho.

And Negativity.

That is a really big, wide open subjective thing to say, and really doesn't help identify any key issues for the dm team to resolve.

It's also not really constructive when used as a single word, compared to communication and timeliness as concepts and things that can be worked on and improved. "Negativity"is a subjective thing - us simply denying a request could be seen by us as just doing our responsibilities, by three other people as the best thing ever because ugh what a dumb jdea, and by three others as how dare the dm team do nothing but be negative and deny their ideas. On the flip side, no one can really argue thay when we take a week to make a single reply to a request, that it's a failing on our part with no question.

Nah man, giving a yay or nay on a request has nothing to do with positivity or negativity. You can dislike an idea, or deny a request and still be positive about it. My comment in itself was rather negative and in poor form so i'll apologize for that and try to make myself clear. There are many cases, none of which i'll bother to quote, but i'm sure we've all come across, where we as a community are being toxic to one another. Where resentment over the chaffing of DM responsibilities, the burden of (DM or PC!) creativity, or frustration at a lack of progress starts to bleed either subtle or blatantly upon others which serves only to wear them down as well. I am finding it hard to explain as i type this, but i can't imagine people are blind to what i'm talking about even with my bulls grace. Mostly i tend to ignore a lot of the negative things i hear, or disassociate myself from the people and groups that spew it because i'm rather pessimistic myself and am easily convinced to join in on such things. Maybe it's just me? What i'd suggest though is we try to be more positive between one another and spread the hate less. Tarnus became a DM? Oh great, what is he going to gum up? That is great news man, can't wait to see what you come up with! Doing this i think we may come to see the communication becomes easier, because we're not a bunch of bulls locking horns. Timeliness might be resolved because people feel more positive about the work they're doing, instead of feeling like their growing cancer cells when they think about NwN. I hope this makes some sort of sense.

This is not targeted at you, Tormak. You're vacation seemed to have served you well and i've been glad to see you back with what appeared to be refreshed desire to play rather then a growing resentment over responsibilities and dealing with dumb ideas. I do strongly suggest you get an active char though! Being down in the trenches is important to stay connected to the community, and for us to stay connected to you. That does not just apply to you, mind. There are a few DMs i feel more connected to and less aggressive towards (Amarice! <3) after then became more active as players. You were all treasures as players long before you were DMs, don't let us forget it! Obviously the struggle to juggle DM and Player side time may be an issue.

I love you guys.
#MakeWinyaAmiaGreatAgain!

Commie wrote:

When I first got to Amia, I was like level 19, getting ready to go do frost giants. I ported to the brog mountain, and was suddenly subject to a line of questions by some invisible people. As I had ported from A, I had no buffs, and being a -4 str kobold, I couldn't walk w/o a strength buff. I went to cast bulls strength on myself, and was murdered for it with wails of the banshee, as buffing means you forgo your pvp warning, and I found out later, my 'out' was to march unbuffed into a pack of frost giants. At the time, I wasn't built for PvP. I didn't want to PvP at all when I arrived. But that's when I learned, if you arn't built to fight, and don't want to fight, doesn't mean someone won't just come up and push your shit in, no matter how much people say it's not a PvP server.

That 'fight' was pretty much the biggest 'thing' that ever happened to me as a player on Amia. It changed the paradigm. It single handedly changed how I build and play every character on Amia.

Because of that, I learned gear and levels and builds matter. A lot. Otherwise someone can basically kill you anytime they want and there isn't shit you can do about it.

This is a rare case and not how Amia is, even in this instance i would suck it up, and go on without even considering i'l now have to always be ready to pvp
I'm here from 2005 and i can tell you without a shadow of a doubt this is not a pvp server, and i personally have never had a problem with pvp hungry folks

*Edit* And we love you tormak no worries :mrgreen:

I am offended by the thought that we have some sort of black list for people or have favorites. I am a DM because I want you guys to enjoy yourselves and I want to enhance your RP experience.

Use your green wands because it spams the DM channel and it does get our attention. Even if I am in the middle of doing someones request or redesigning a critter DM side ill still zip over to check out someones recommended person.

One of the biggest issues I believe we have when it comes to DCs is timezone coverage. I can only give out DCs while I am home from work and before I sleep at night. This isn't a case of favorites but simply of needing to sleep. If I could stay up rewarding people for being great server side all day I would. Anyone who is in a weird timezone, poor aussies, but knows some great RPer that might make a good DM please suggest him to us. We do take suggests, and requests for DMship all the time.

Tarnus became a Dm and I knew I had my chariot for War! Kidding aside, first thing I did was to sent congrats to him/her. Because it is great to see people you know making it and the person fit the role so well. Imo.

What I am trying to say is that communication, what Mith pointed out, is important. Most of my frustrations in Amia are based on the lack of it. Not because anyone was being a horrible person, but communication was not working and my character was paying price for OOC aspects. That grinds my nerve.

Secondly, perhaps being more open to options instead of being "But the rules state this". What I mean is... That we are playing a fantasy world and the current way of heavy realism having to be done is, imo, counterproductive in a game that is supposed to be imaginative. Just to make an request for character flavor feels like a mission to get all facts correct in first try or be done with it.

And no, Amia is not a PvP server. Played one and can tell it was far different from this one. Gear and maxing skills seems to play a role, hence I focus on few skills to have them maxed. You know, the most useful ones such as Lore, Spellcraft, Spot and Search which matter to my char in IC aspect. Was not everything so immune to everything, I would not care for the mechanics... Or events PvE based. Slash and hack seems to be most events stuff, and I rather walk around doing bunch of useless divinations.

Do your Rp right and people don't dare to touch you ICly or PvP before thinking twice. I know a few characters I would not go and PvP before I was certain it would work. Why? Because their IC reputation and prestige places considerable amount of IC consequences if you do fail. To say you can ignore IC and RP is simply stupid.once your banned from cities, you can rest assured DM's will follow up to that and place mechanical consequences if you keep breaking the rules placed ICly.

I also do agree with Mith on the negativity aspect. I understand there are stupid ideas, but sometimes the players don't know better and if the first response is telling them off or not even placing an effort to help them come with other ideas.... It is negative. It doesn't contribute in anyway. What I learned is that it is actually better to check DM's first before even starting to plan an event... Because if they don't want to do it, it is just standing there. But perhaps you could provide IC reason why it will not move instead of chats having to go and say "can't do this." 'Why?' "well... Too complex.." 'Ah, you're just lazy person..' Again, having IC consequences due to OOc decisions.

EDit:

Also will add that you don't need to be lvl 30 to do RP or events. At lvl 6 my toon with others were doing magic research on bags of holdings, spells and joining events being planned for lvl 30. Sure, she survived thanks to inviaibility, nor was she one to do the hacking or slashing nor was she one figuring stuff out due to being horrified. But she gave other characters someone to protect because she was weak and they got a spotlight of being a hero for a brief moment. Still at lvl 30, she relies heavily one a melee build char to do the physical protection when she is doing her investigations or divinations. Which is reason she does not need to be mechanically stronger build because she knows there is person to protect her if it comes to that. And he know she always has protective spells prepared for him. Which results that he doesn't need to be mechanically stronger build when we have two builds to cover one another's weaknesses.

Adding to something mag said, although I feel like we are moving away from the OP at this point. We do a good job at quality control for our servers rp, but quite often it feels like there's a fetishism for certain things to match some sort of ideal. Dragon stuff, druids stuff, elven stuff mainly. Now this is partly FRs fault; there is so much written on these things that there is just more lore out there to adhere to for them. By the same token, as an outside observer to some requests, it is completely overkill in what we ask of some RP and requests. What's worse, it seems like if the first few answers to your request aren't a resounding yes, you're probably boned. Our dms are some of the most knowledgeable players on our server when it comes to both balance and lore, but I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen an individual or the group go "ah, we'll that's not my interpretation, but you've reasoned it well. My bad, I'm for this, go ahead." If you don't pass with flying colors at the first pass, it feels like you're from then on climbing a wall where every dm has already dug their heels in.

What's worse is that often, you'll just get flat no's rather than suggestions on how to make what you want work. The onus is constantly on the player to appease our dms to get that yes, rather than it being a process where a player is trying to get their idea/rp/item into the server and dms helping them get those things to get them into the server, changing things where necessary, but in respect to the original idea. That's the goal here, not to have some sort of floodgate that keeps anything of lesser quality out, but to raise the things coming in up to our own standards.

I don't feel it's any one DMs fault in particular, but instead a symptom of the system. Just last night I was talking to another player, and shame as it is, my advice to them on their request was: you tried to explain too much at first. The more you front load making your case, the more it just seems like it's something OP or should be disallowed in the first place. Specifics are great when asked for, but too much and youve just handed more ammo over to shoot it down with. Also, ask for more than you want, because more often than not, what you put forth is going to get something said "no" to by default. When you're asked to pare down or rebalance, then you're more likely to get what you actually wanted. You're probably *never* going to get the team to reconsider their stance on something being too powerful or not lore congruent, so build in a lightning rod, say youre right, and hope you still get what you're after.

If that shows a lack of trust in our system, I'm sorry. I'm not happy about it, nor do I like the idea of ever "playing" a system, especially one run by what I consider my Internet friends and peers. But our system is a beast currently and there is a lot of less than ideal situations that exist in it right now.

Forever gazing up at that glass ceiling of DM 'status'.... That's my current stance here on Amia.

I see a lot 'wrong' with things and nothing I can personally see to 'fixing'.
Watching requests for roleplay with DM's go on an on un answered bothers me.

I really do think our structure though intended to keep thing lore accurate bogs down and kills creativity and puts a whole lot more in the way of road blocks as to what a person can do with their stories.

Everything is so censored with red tape and 'rules' that aren't even apart of the site's stated rules that even don't stem from the same source materials stated to be established to the server. Players are being expected to know what can fly here and what cant meanwhile the standards of knowledge are kept out of reach of players and the lack of response from the DM 'Team' as a whole is really dis-heartening.

I am of the stance that a DM should be around to facilitate and enhance the experience of roleplay and plots. Not being a constricting limiter. Even with the changing of the guard few things have gotten 'better' in my eyes about the server. Some things have gotten worse too.

There is no doubt the OOC 'system' we have affects the IC greatly so. Placating comments only go so far. It's very easy to warp the image or ideal of something especially when in truth you are always missing half of the details. From my studies our system is based on 'Trust'. I know this sounds strange but really. It is. That's what our system truly boils down to is personal preference of those who have the opportunity to be labeled as 'leaders'. If you do not fit with in the established status quo no matter what it is, then sorry to say. No such luck chuck.

I'm honestly tiered of trying to tip toe around the major problems of our community. Roleplay can be a great and wonderful thing that allows us as individuals to dip in to a world completely different than our own. We shouldn't be bringing OOC malice IC- No matter the cause.

For me. I was told by a certain few I needed to expand and open up to the community as a whole and show that I can be a team player. I tried to do this. I made a lot of friends out of people who I previously believed hated my measly black guts.

How did I do this? I just interacted and sought people out IC. I did everything I could IC to play the role of the caring concerned individual and try to help others out with their ideas and projects.

IC and OC always effect each other here on the server.

I would say what hurt me the most in this social experiment was that when I started to 'hang out with' other pc's that belonged to folks my 'circle' of friends disproved of for w/e various reason they would tell me not nice things about that PLAYER ooc. I wasn't communicating with them ooc granted only IC. yet my friends. Dm's alike- were talking down about those player to me and disproving of my spending time with them.

The second thing that hurt me pretty bad was teh people who told me to do this, told me to be more open minded and willing to play with others in the community flat out refused to acknowledge my PC's or just ignored them or gave them standoffish behavior IC.

I did this experimental with just about every group and Clique I could think of- With 4 different Characters. It didn't matter what character I was on, or how the character behaved. I was still ostracized in roleplay by certain groups. I found it more prevalent in these groups that were stand offish, that they were actively looking for reasons to get rid of my PC's from what ever area they were in. This really did hurt me on a much deeper level though. The very same people who told me to do this were not open to interacting honestly and openly with my characters.

I've Done this Experiment on alt accounts too. I'm sad to say I had the same results and commonalities.

Prior to this I made an effort of reaching out to a few other players who previously had some-sort of problem with me on an OOC manner though we had near never met ic or OOC yet they had a strong dislike and aversion to me. After spending a great deal of time with me they came to me and told me that their friends used to say just really not cool things about me. They said that spending time with me got to show them that what was being said wasn't true at all and that they felt sorry that they had treated me in such ways before with out ever really even getting to know me on their own terms.

For whatever reason our community doesn't behave like a community at all. I seriously think the vitriol nature between players needs to stop. We're all here to have fun right? Then just roleplay. Don't let what you have heard about some one limit your interactions IC. Don't let IC leak OOC either.

It wasn't long ago but some one I didn't even speak to on an OOC nature got in to some altercation with one of my PC's they started sending me very not okay tells, highlighted with a threat or two. The initial reaction to what had happened IC purely on IC matters eeked out immediately to an OOC level. It was not fun. It was not enjoyable to be getting green text then for teh next 4 hours having to take screen caps and explain my PC's actions to a set of DM's. This particular person has since spoken with me a few times OOC and has shown more calmness and has been far more amiable after we spoke about the matter.

This is after all Amia.

The name comes from this being built to be an amiable place.

I would greatly appreciate it if more people could tell their friends to chill when they notice them talking trash about other players.

Friendly and pleasant is how we should be interacting as a community.

For me. My roleplay style is very very very intricate and complex at the core that builds up. A numerous amount of folks really don't 'get' my style of rp. And here my 'style' of roleplay is excruciatingly limited by OOC restrictions in the first place. Having Un friendly attitudes affecting the roleplay and choices of characters does nothing to further the sense of story or plot; it only adds to the toxic sickening nature that's thrived over the years. Some areas it's been trimmed back which is good. I know it would be foolish of me to expect an environment where every one was nice to each other all the time but please can we lax it up a bit and not talk trash about each other? Can we please be more willing to let our characters interact on a more IC basis befitting the characters rather than the player's ooc prefs of each other?

On the note of roleplay... It's very hard for me to find other characters that are as deeply entrenched in being In character to the point of progressing plots and stories is not very viable. There have only been one or two others I have been able to build a good story with on this server so far. Admittedly my standards are high for what I want and I suppose that sets me up for disappointment and rejection which isn't good on the mind or soul of a person.

This coupled with the idea that to progress in meaningful directions in acquisition requires a processes of seeking the approval of players who are most likely not invested or interested in your plots or story line makes things /unbelievably/ frustrating. It's two other worlds and lack of communication does not bridge the gap. Some times you are left to hang around and not permitted to progress a character's plot or story because such requests are not getting answered. Mean while the rest of teh world around you is permitted to continue to grow.

For me... roleplay needs to have purpose and meaning... the stories need to be interesting and need to be meaningful... they need to be progressive and have viable meet-able goals. If not... it just falls apart for me. A majority of the time I find that the game actually detracts from the immersion of the story. I find it much harder to write for my characters with how quickly things happen in game.

Don't get me wrong... amia is a great place and I love this setting but there's just something about playing and writing a character that are hugely different. My attentions are divided between controlling the clunky puppet representation of a character to really give the devotion that they story deserves. Being able to simply DO distracts from the charm of writing...

Quote:

On the note of roleplay... It's very hard for me to find other characters that are as deeply entrenched in being In character to the point of progressing plots and stories is not very viable. There have only been one or two others I have been able to build a good story with on this server so far. Admittedly my standards are high for what I want and I suppose that sets me up for disappointment and rejection which isn't good on the mind or soul of a person.

This coupled with the idea that to progress in meaningful directions in acquisition requires a processes of seeking the approval of players who are most likely not invested or interested in your plots or story line makes things /unbelievably/ frustrating. It's two other worlds and lack of communication does not bridge the gap. Some times you are left to hang around and not permitted to progress a character's plot or story because such requests are not getting answered. Mean while the rest of teh world around you is permitted to continue to grow.

For me... roleplay needs to have purpose and meaning... the stories need to be interesting and need to be meaningful... they need to be progressive and have viable meet-able goals. If not... it just falls apart for me. A majority of the time I find that the game actually detracts from the immersion of the story. I find it much harder to write for my characters with how quickly things happen in game.

Don't get me wrong... amia is a great place and I love this setting but there's just something about playing and writing a character that are hugely different. My attentions are divided between controlling the clunky puppet representation of a character to really give the devotion that they story deserves. Being able to simply DO distracts from the charm of writing...

To be completely 100% honest with you, this entire section basically says "I don't want to RP, I want to write a story." There is a massive difference and your language and context continually point to this, time after time. This server exists as an avenue for RP, not as an avenue for you to write predestined situations, sorry. I will never feel bad about challenging that line of thought. You are right - there is a lot different about playing and writing a character. The former involves other people, for one, and the latter is writing a book. If that's what you want to do, have at it, but don't insult the server with things like "No one is good enough to meet my story standards", when what you are trying to do is write a book, not create roleplay and become invested in a world that is much greater than your personal microcosm. The setting is greeat specifically because all of those outside people have the opportunity to involve themselves - whether you like it nor not - and because they also have the choice to try to push you out IC, whether you like it or not.

PassionateShadow wrote:

This is after all Amia.

The name comes from this being built to be an amiable place.

Mhm. No, I think the name comes from a very talented actress (don't google that).

Seriously though, I really don't get why you are so bothered with OOC relationship with others. Why do you care about some stranger you've never met before, about what he / she thinks of you, moreso if the opinion is based on rumors and whispers?

Do it like uncle Guardy and don't give a fuck. You'll breathe much easier and enjoy the game much more.

Actually it was more written with the term Amicable in mind during it's inception. (Amiable techinically but has the same or near the same meaning)

TormakSaber wrote:

To be completely 100% honest with you, this entire section basically says "I don't want to RP, I want to write a story." There is a massive difference and your language and context continually point to this, time after time. This server exists as an avenue for RP, not as an avenue for you to write predestined situations, sorry. I will never feel bad about challenging that line of thought. You are right - there is a lot different about playing and writing a character. The former involves other people, for one, and the latter is writing a book. If that's what you want to do, have at it, but don't insult the server with things like "No one is good enough to meet my story standards", when what you are trying to do is write a book, not create roleplay and become invested in a world that is much greater than your personal microcosm. The setting is greeat specifically because all of those outside people have the opportunity to involve themselves - whether you like it nor not - and because they also have the choice to try to push you out IC, whether you like it or not.

You're half right. However you're wrong in stating that what I do isn't roleplay. It's exactly that. Playing a role of a character in a bigger story.
I want to collaboratively write.

I'll be 100% honest with you. Most of my Roleplaying experience happened on forums with much much more dedication to what was being written and it was more to do with playing the characters. However you are simply insinuating I'm being elitist. I'm not. I play with people here. I've played with a multitude of people here. For you to 'simplify' my exposition to such shows me you do not understand the 'world' I live in nor the ideals I'm trying to speak on. You just simply haven't been in such an environment; so to you, what I do, you don't call it 'role play'. There's nothing wrong with the style of roleplay that is inevitably made by the gaming mechanics, however there is nothing wrong with giving more dedication to witting in general. You've made quite a few assumptions with your counter but they come off as a bit abrasive due to the wording you chose. I don't think this was your intention because from my experience you seem to genuinely want to see things turn out for the better...
They are both valid forms of roleplay. I just prefer one style over another. And after 3-4 years of not experiencing what was down my ally and really hit the ticket you get 'lonely' for such again.

Imagine if you loved chocolate but couldn't quite have this one chocolate that was your favorite...
After about 4 years of various other sorts that were still good but not your absolute toe-curling favorite you may still want to try your favorite again. Sure you can have Hersheys but they are un undeniably different than a ferrero rocher. Yet they are both chocolates.

From my experience most others that play here don't have that sort of back ground or have never tried roleplaying in such a manner, or simply don't understand it.

As for dedication to the world... I've been there. We've talked about this before. In fact I'm certain a certain few higher ups have labeled me a 'High Maintenance Player'. A lot of folks tell me I should be happy with my accomplishments but I'm not. I feel stunted and I feel like communication doesn't settle well across the board.

As for example.

Maverick00053 wrote:

Anyone who is in a weird timezone, poor aussies, but knows some great RPer that might make a good DM please suggest him to us. We do take suggests, and requests for DMship all the time.

I know one Australian that's seeking to be a DM, but the staff has done nothing but ignore the player, despite their repeated attempts to inquire into their application.

Would it help if I recommend them?

Guardian wrote:

Do it like uncle Guardy and don't give a fuck. You'll breathe much easier and enjoy the game much more.

Why do I care about why people should stop talking trash?

Because it breeds a not good environment for the community as a whole... It just becomes a cycle of hate. and generally not a very 'fun place' to hang out. I mean really... do you wanna relax in a place where people yell, scream, curse, and call each other stupid/ say they need to baby sit other, all day?

Not my idea of a relaxing environment.

I think perhaps my words are being misconstrued in to the wrong message or sounding like I'm condescending... I don't mean it...

let me try and shorten my words and say exactly what I mean.

I don't mean to say that I feel that roleplay here is meaningless...

Far from it.

I feel like my work here doesn't really pay off.

PassionateShadow wrote:

Maverick00053 wrote:

Anyone who is in a weird timezone, poor aussies, but knows some great RPer that might make a good DM please suggest him to us. We do take suggests, and requests for DMship all the time.

I know one Australian that's seeking to be a DM, but the staff has done nothing but ignore the player, despite their repeated attempts to inquire into their application.

Would it help if I recommend them?

Did this individual send one of us a PM inquiring? If they were denied it is because we believed they were not up to the task and it isnt us 'ignoring' them. The DM team knows the pressures and responsibilities that being a part of the staff involves and some people have demonstrated that they are not capable of handling those responsibilities.

Being liekd or recommended by players doesn't mean you'd make a good DM. Being disliked by players doesn't mean you'd be a bad DM.

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I want to collaboratively write.

Collaborative writing is not RP. It is writing. Collaboratively. With a defined start, middle, and end. Your rebuttal is not revolutionary nor is it much of a rebuttal. It says you did the lion's share of your RP on freeform forum RP where there are no rules, no oversight, and the only referees are the people who are dong the post writing. This is plainly obvious in the stuff you try to do on the server, as well, but it is not the sort of thing we do here and will never be. It's a square block in a round hole. I have been on freeform forum RP (contrary to what you claim with 0 to back it up) and so I know the vast difference between the writing that goes on there and the roleplay that goes here. Both may be valid and you may prefer one or the other, but the fact of the matter isu that collaborative writing is not generally what occurs here. It is roleplay in a dnd setting that meshes game mechanics with roleplay, with numbers backing up attempts and actions rather that authors collectively deciding the outcome before the posts are made.

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From my experience most others that play here don't have that sort of back ground or have never tried roleplaying in such a manner, or simply don't understand it.

Likely not, because it is generally ruleless, referee-less, and completely incompatible with 95% of tabletop systems, which is that there is a system of rules as an arbiter, and a personal arbiter that maintains the setting, compared to freeform RP, where the only arbiters are the two people currently enmeshed in the fight scene, and the only deciding factor is who loses is either the two authors having worked it out ahead of time or the person writing the scene deciding to take a dive. (Alternately, pressure gets put on one author or another for "godgaming", and gets stuff out or settles in to toe the forum line.) While every now and then you will get someone who acts as a general setting referee for the RP, it's not very much at all like what you're going to run into on Amia, which is people dipping in and out at any time, doing as their character would, with no compulsion to act on whatever script you've imagined up ahead of time, and sometimes what you want to to will simply be foiled at every possible angle for no other reason than they were better than you. This sort of thing, in my experience, makes freeform RPers chafe and scream, because what they want to do is write,and what everyone else wants to do is create collective drama, driven by the unpredictability of human interaction.

Which is exactly what you said.

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I feel like my work here doesn't really pay off.

If you're only here for "the payoff", you're here for the wrong reason, I'm sorry to say.

I'm from a rp site where we have 15 - 20 players and all characters needed approval before being allowed to play / join the setting. By playing the role of a character... you are literally playing the role. There were no set endings. It was letting characters meet each other at w/e time of day the other players were active and we would react to what was going on and interact with each other. We can sit here and make assumptions about each other all day but it gets no where. Some of the roleplays we did used pathfinder and character sheets or d20 systems depending on what roleplay it was. However it was much more focused on story and development.

This really isn't the place for me. If you try to work towards goals but get given impossible standards it's not really a goal it's just an unattainable dream. Most people tell me to play what I want ad just don't interact with the dms or seek their approval. Not really my idea of fun when dm's control the plots. It's awesome to see other's get their goals fulfilled but I just haven't been able to meet what ever standards are being demanded and I've run out of the want to keep going at this point. fact of the matter is a great deal of things rely on the dm's approval or disapproval and it affects the flow of play quite a bit.

In reference to the dm comment I wasn't referring to my self; I'm not Australian.

I like to play a character in a predefined setting. I don't use a 'script' that is settled with any predetermined end. I create personal goals I want to see if I can enable for the character through play but rolling with the flow of the story is always main priority. If I can meet my goals through play that's awesome. If not then eh... it wasn't meant to be.

Having a set up with controlling a puppet to show actions rather than detailing them is some what jarring for me. It's harder to control the directness and display what you want the character to do.

I think with this I'll bow out. Thanks for the chat Tormak.

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