The last thing I'd want to see is Amia become a "Power Rangers" scenario. Where "Evil has popped up here!" and all the heroes ride out, squash it, and ride back to their cities and wait for it to happen again.

The major thing I see with evil being RPed on Amia is that it doesn't seem very goal-oriented. It's always "Let's see how we can piss people off today."

The most successful type of evil I've seen in my RP experiences is not the kind that shows up and makes demands out of the blue, but the kind that gains power, then slowly arises from the background under the guise of "doing the right thing".

The biggest thing about Evil, which I thought I could hack it on but really couldn't and thus why I don't really play my evil characters anymore is this:

In order to really achieve with Evil, you need to:

1) Be patient. Going for the quick win only works if you have the resources honestly in place to both make the win happen, and back it up afterwards.

2) Think beyond the box. Think just beyond the typical 'Wow, I'mma turn people into zombies or threaten to kill them or enslave them' .. yes in many cases to really achieve these kinda threats, you need DM assistance. But, hard as DMs can be, they can sure make things interesting for ya even when you do fark up. I'll demonstrate with a screenie from Hispara Ralynn:



Contextually, she was trying to jump for an item which was believed to be of value in what was being done. It was a long shot, but given she was fanatically devoted to her master, she attempted it regardless. Even with the results being a mistake, you can get some interesting RP out of it.

3) Accept that you by all realities are not gonna be looked on kindly, especially if you're open about your evilness. Play the cards right, and you can quite possibly make many of the good-aligned factions look foolish. You just need to find the vulnerabilities, and exploit them for all they're worth within reason.

I think Evil, properly done and with a willingness to accept good's likely coming after you with a vengence.. can be done quite well.

One thing I forgot to add:

Enjoy the little things.

This wisdom applies in Zombieland, and holds true for Evil on Amia.

You conveniently neglect the fact that Cordor has been destroyed once already.

Oh puh-leeze, don't even go there.

# We do not play to win.

Even though the RP of following Bane is highly focused around success or defeat, this does not apply to Amia as a whole. Always remember, that you're playing a game. A game, where the goal is not the win in the end, but to enjoy the ride.

It is the RP in the progression of achieving our IC goals that should be fun and rewarding, not the absolute need of actually achieving them.

Why? Because he's 100% correct?

Has happened several times with the Banites. And it's not the Banites, that provoke war on several fronts at the same time.

----

And after the temple was built, they declared the Crags as Banite territory, and banned every faction who had banned Banites from their areas for years already. And somehow... that's enough to put together yet another crusade, to "liberate" these lands from Banite oppression (even though the Banites have protected and offered economical support in the region, amongst other positive things).

Except... he is.

Drop the fictional self-preserving north Korean propaganda approach to flawless DMs.

Imo that is exactly provoking a war on several fronts at the same time, since you ban all those enemies at once.
And in a community as small and interwoven as this, it is basically just asking for the enemy to group up and smite you all together (as in a crusade).

Uuuuh... so, characters that continuously strive to erase the Banite existance, and started with banning us, years before we finally got to ban them from areas we laid claim to (just like they've claimed areas), aren't the ones who did the provoking?

I didn't say we were flawless (we are not), I said you were wrong. the Banites are not held to different standards, drop the victim act, because you are not victims, you are merely players treated the same as everyone else on the server. Personal feelings have no bearing whatsoever.

I know, for one, that I'll never be running anything even vaguely contributing to a 'plot' or 'event' for the Banite Faction, unless required by circumstance, as long as the situation remains as it is right now. This isn't a sentiment I'm carrying alone within the Team, either, I assure you, considering this post has been screened and discussed by the DM Team before being submitted to you. Get yourselves in check, and you're more likely to earn the favour of your peers; which does indeed mean putting your pride aside.

Did you ever wonder why many DMs would want nothing to do with the Banites?

It's simple: we're here for our personal enjoyment, as well as that of the others. But above all, our own personal enjoyment.

Yes, and reading these topics and seeing your gross overreaction and how you spoke down to players in the IC topic when they said you were breaking PvP rules, I wonder why the DM team considers your faction a gross headache.

I wonder.

"If you look at what the Banites have done for the last couple of months... they've pretty much only hung out in Guldorand, offering protection to that village, while waiting for the new temple to be built. And after the temple was built, they declared the Crags as Banite territory, and banned every faction who had banned Banites from their areas for years already. And somehow... that's enough to put together yet another crusade, to "liberate" these lands from Banite oppression (even though the Banites have protected and offered economical support in the region, amongst other positive things).

(...)

Going back to Guldorand. The Banites made massive efforts to try and interract with and push a plot in Guldorand that would potentially raise support for the Banites. Not forcing them to convert to Bane, but just give the Guldorand NPCs a positive image of the Church and root for the Banites, and against the Banite opposition.

(...)

My offences on Amia:


In my early days, I wouldn't doubt if I did some muling or twinking. Nothing I remember now though, but at the time, 99% of the entire server did it, so I can't see why I would be an exception.

After Darthion was exposed as a Banite, while still in the Cordorian PC guard, and some characters did their best to forever (censored) him up, I went on a PC killing rampage, and after that, an NPC killing rampage in the Grove, killing those elementals that used to be there. One DM possessed one of the NPCs though, made it invulnerable, raised its strength to 100+ and basically killed Darth with it. After which I respawned.

A year ago, as I was still leader of the Banites, I got framed for "twinking". Basically, the twinking/muling rules stated that I had twinked Hort for giving him a Fire Giant King's belt as an IC reward for a few missions which were assigned to him within the Church. The penalty was to have 3 years of gathered equipment and 34 million gold removed from Darthion. After that, I left Amia.

A few months after I came back, I was found guilty for boss farming and likely harassing two other players. The penalty was a 6 week long ban.


I have probably been accused for a lot other of things throughout the years. Supposedly having metagamed, comes to mind. But I never intentionally metagamed anything, and I've always aimed to separate OOC knowledge from IC.

What is mentioned above, are the offences I committed on Amia.

I'm no saint. I've done my fair deal of (censored). For that I've received penalties.


With that out of the way.



It really is rather disappointing, to see the DM team putting forward such a post, in such a manner, with those statements in it.

I know that WonWon likely hates me both as a person and a player. For that reason, I've always avoided his DM events, since I knew he wouldn't want me there.

I also know, that a lot of the DMs dislike me. On behalf of some, I wouldn't why. On behalf of others, I can probably think of a few conflicts which may have gotten them aggrevated with me.


There are only four persons left I still respect in the current DM staff. Tormak, Yossarin, Disco and Uberuce.

Why is that?

Because, throughout the years, the various DM staffs on Amia have given me sooooooooo much more (censored), than I've given them.

After my rampage with Darthion, after he had been exposed as a Banite while still enlisted as a Cordorian Guard, I ended up on the DM blacklist. I didn't receive a DC for more than 9 months, although I played and RP'ed 12+ hours per days.

On several occasions, I had DMs randomly spawn unbeatable beasts against Darth, out of nowhere, just to see my character die, so that I would have to respawn and lose gold. I would encounter the Fire Giant King, who had infinite amount of heal potions. At one point, while standing in Cordor, I had an unbeatable dragon attack Darthion, out of nowhere, with a grumpy DM trying to push me down.


I can live with that though. If the DM's don't like me, detest me, want to disfavour me, then that's fine by me. This is a game, and I, as a person, won't commit suicide over it.



But what I find hard, is to see the DM team making statements such as this, on behalf of an entire faction.

Are you even aware, of what you're saying? Are you that pompous, self-obsessed and arrogant?


I created the "Banites" with Darthion almost 4 years ago. Dositheus had made the Zhents before that, be he was as good as gone, and there wasn't a Banite following, at all, on Amia.

Throughout those years, I've recruited, RP'ed with and seen all of the past and current leaders of this faction. Nimien, Gurth, Arturus, Frey, Scylla, Katsumi.

Throughout those years, I can rightfully say that the only ones who ever did (censored) for this faction, was... at first, Pax Imperium (best DM Amia has ever had, in my opinion), then Tormak, then Yossarin, then Nekhy.

Throughout those years, the only thing the DMs have ever done for this faction, was the Worm in the hole-plot, the one when the Banites took over Wharftown.

Before that plot, no DM attention had been given to the Banites what so ever. Hell. It took more than 1½ years to even get a temple for the faction. And it took about as long to get our own forum.

After the Gurth-Frey OOC controversy, the Banites were given the cold hand... again. No DM would have ANYTHING to do with the Banites.

That pretty much nailed it for me.

I played on Amia for more than 14+ hours per day. I made a huge effort and investment into developing this faction, both for those within the faction, and for every other player on the entire server as well. The goal was to entertain all players, not just the Banites, and enrich the servers RP climate.

For the next coming 5 months, the DM's pissed on my efforts. DM's wouldn't respond on the DM channel. They would ignore my tells, my plot suggestions and the progress of the faction.

We managed to recruit 30+ active, unique players, with little to no OOC bickering what so ever. We included the entire server into our RP, and the faction was thriving.

The first DM to even give a hint of recognition, was Yossarin. I was told, so many times, during this period that... "The DMs don't want anything to do with this faction, because of the OOC drama which Frey and Gurth caused", and apparently, I, as the new faction leader, should have to take the consequences of their (censored)-up.

Once the entire server became aware of what this faction had grown to be, a lot of DMs all of a sudden decided to poke their noses into it.

I got 50 DCs in less than 1½ month. The 5 months prior to that, I had gotten 1... maybe 2 DCs. Had my RP suddenly improved by gigantic proportions?

The DMs still wouldn't do any plots with us. No one really wanted to get involved with the faction, still, but it was OK to stop by, watch the great RP we had going, reward a few DCs, or possess an NPC for a small event (such as a sacrifice).

After I left, the faction went back to its former (censored) up state of OOC bitching, bickering and whining.

Did the DMs ever do something to fix that? Did they ever make a contribution, to hopefully improve things?

(censored) no.

What the DMs have always done, through the entire history of this faction, is whine and bitch themselves, of how much whining and bitching there has been in this faction.

We asked you guys to remove Nimien from faction leadership, because she was inactive and completely incompetent as a leader. It took 3 months, to remove Nimien. By that time, the faction was already as good as dead.

And what of the situation between Frey and Gurth?

The DMs were so damn (censored) nervous to side with either, that they decided to side with neither.

Sensitive matter. Let's not take any actions at all, was the mentality.

What did you do after that? You ignored the faction. Completely.

Have you done anything during the split of the Church, when Frey and Arturus decided that the (censored) wasn't flying their way any more, and that they'd leave and take as much of it with them as possible?

No. You sat back. And complained, about us acting like immature (censored) with OOC whining and bitching.


And now... you come here, and say that we're (censored).

We're the lost sons and daughters of Amia, and we might never be accepted again.

That the DMs has had "enough", and that no DM wants to deal with this faction any more (except for Tormak, who's the BIG EXCEPTION here), and that those players in this faction atm, who's never done (censored) in harms way, have to suffer because of it.

Just like I, and the entire faction, had to suffer from Frey's and Gurth controversy back in the days.



You should be ashamed of yourself.

Truly ashamed.



I have often proclaimed Amia as having the best staff in NWN. But that's the end of that.


You have some true jewels, in your staff. Namely TormakSaber, Yossarin, Disco and Uberuce.

Those are the guys that keep you floating, and I hope you (censored) highly appreciate their efforts.


But to the rest of you, I could care less.

Some of you have hated me for ages, for reasons I don't know, and likely won't ever know.

Overall, I've been treated as (censored) during the vast majority of time I spent on Amia, and I'll likely forever be treated as (censored).


So for me, this black listing by the DMs won't have much effect. I've learned to play with the DMs disfavouring me.

But for everyone else, in this faction, who's a genuine good person, player and RP'er, I truly feel sad.

Sad, and disappointed. That the entire DM staff, would state something like this, after having acted the way they have, in the past, towards this faction.



EDIT: Typos, spelling, clarifications.

On several occasions, I had DMs randomly spawn unbeatable beasts against Darth, out of nowhere, just to see my character die, so that I would have to respawn and lose gold. I would encounter the Fire Giant King, who had infinite amount of heal potions. At one point, while standing in Cordor, I had an unbeatable dragon attack Darthion, out of nowhere, with a grumpy DM trying to push me down.

that's enough to put together yet another crusade, to "liberate" these lands from Banite oppression (even though the Banites have protected and offered economical support in the region, amongst other positive things)

I have a suggestion. This is just a suggestion from someone who has been on both sides: DM/Admin and Good old fashioned player noone knows.

If you have something ascerbic to say to an individual or several individuals-- I do not care if you are a DM or if you are a player-- Please by all means send a PM. It will be equally effective in giving the needed outlet for frustrations without dragging the rest of us into it.

There are a lot of us here in this faction who come here to read information about our guild. I have avoided forums on servers for a very long time due to the nature of many posts which have left a bad taste in my mouth. It took a lot of convincing for me to register on these forums. This thread is an example of why.

We who are not involved in whatever ooc feud may be going on, do not wish to read the venom. It makes us feel uncomfortable and disheartened. It takes away from what would normally be a positive gaming experience.

I mean this with all due respect to the people involved, as I have an appreciation for each of you and have grown quite fond of all of you. I do understand the need to publicly defend yourself upon feeling publicly attacked, but in the future, it would be greatly appreciated.

I LUFF YOU ALL!!!!

<3 Hollybuns!

The Banite faction has, overall, a very good relation to the rest of the playerbase.

I just have to point out.

This crusade started actually from the fight when you and Audrey attacked Tellos and Shae thats when alliance began to be formed. So yes it took months and months for these alliance to come together.

You make it sound like someone said fight the banites and all the bored advenutres came out of cordor which pisses me off because of the amount of effort that us good guys actually have gone into.

Your extremely good at making people see it in your light and this OOC crap from you has made me lose the high regard I held you in.

I can probable speak for alot of people when I say I loved Darthion I loved the fact there was a guy out there that was so damm hard to kill. I suggest this to you. If your leaving leave. If you are deciding to come back let me be the first to offer you an invitation.

When I played this was totally untrue, banites were occly seen as bullies and gankers and powergamers who bruteforce their way though the server with unbeatable PVP, and hearing that a banite killed people in the forest again just gave us headaches. Everyone I talked to hated you guys, wondering why the DM's let you get away with it and don't just ban you. Only speaking for myself and the people I talked to, and several I still talk to feel the same way still. The banites got a occ rep for being warmongering trigger happy griefers only seeking conflict and ways to annoy and cause trouble.

BOOM!

DMs are corrupt...who would have thunk it...ummm....everyone? But they all get shut down with bans or defamation by the DMs....wake up DM team....you are corrupt!

If the DM team was so corrupt and evil hating as you claim, they'd have simply banned evil and erased all traces of it wthout a reason and done away with it all by now. We have not.

I am sure we will repeat it in the future in any more topics: you will do it because you feel you are exposing some grave injustice, some corruption in the system, and I will do it because there is not what you claim

I'm about to get banned from the forums for saying what I said in that topic, http://www.amiaworld.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=47346&start=50 , banned by Tormak no less, surprised?

Tormak is soooo cool.

Banned for saying this:

Banned for that....does that make sense to you?....just want another persons viewpoint that isn't Tormak.

I just got done telling you about your actions on the forum, and you make this post. What purpose does it serve? Why was it made? what progress in the grand scheme has been had because you make more silly, baseless accusations?

Your third ban may be permanent. I am warning you now. This is an actual warning. You need to think long and hard before you are posting.

Mago, I can't say that what you're doing right now is going to get you any sympathy.

Rage posting may be a great way to vent, but it doesn't win hearts and minds. If nobody wants to deal with you it's because they know that sooner or later you're going to tack up a quote from them.

Have you got any juicy ones with me in them, 'cause those would be super.

The Banite NPCs (particularly after the nerf) aren't the most powerful NPCs on the server. I know this. You know this. Stop trying to put forward that (censored).

At the same time, you're trying to portray yourself and other past DMs as flawless

t couldn't have been more obvious when you stated that there's no personal bias amongst the DM team towards the Banite faction or evil on Amia. Which there clearly is

And it's funny that you brought up DM blacklists. I have had DMs, both current and former, admitting on MSN that such has existed. Lol... Tormak. I think even you admitted to its existence on MSN once.

I said "of PC factions and more than some NPCs". Your guards beat pretty much every city that isn't Cordor or a plot-reinforced Kohlingen, which is not always viable and can be easily stopped. Your guards beat every other town and faction's guards hands down because they were allowed to be made by player in the faction, instead of getting the template guards we normally give a faction. IN that respect you were actually treated better than any factio has ever been, except the old Shadowflames who were since removed and now have nothing.

Two temples is still multiple. You could also count the Gentleman's Social Club in Cordor as well, before it shut down, since it saw use by Banites, who make up most all of Amia's Zhentarim.

I believe this is also the third time I've said that not liking a player or a faction has no bearing on how you are treated in game. Because any decision goes by a full DM team, a player or even a few individuals that 'hate' a single player will find their decisions overruled if needed by the DM team.

I am not on a high horse. You are baselessly attacking the DM team for roughly the dozenth time or so, in public. You and your faction members (at least, the very high profile ones.) are nigh famous for doing this, along with other specific players.

It is a "bias list". Not a "blacklist". It is a list that at one time (no longer, currently) existed so that DMs who had issues with layers could declare their bias and thus avoid going into prolonged interaction with those players for fear that it would color a response to a situation. It was designed as a way to get around the very thing you accuse us of and it worked splendidly, for the most part, as there will always be situations when you are the only DM online and you need to deal with the person you dislike, but such is life.

And so yes, it is no surprise that some DMs continue to find dealing with your faction disasteful, when they must walk on eggshells or else their actions are reported to you or Gurth who then go off on a crusade in MSN or the forums or in game demanding satisfaction, like a duelist wielding the glove. It has happened several times.

As for your official status regarding the Banite faction, I do not think you can avoid being associated with them, simply because you have been around as long as you have. You continue to post in their forums, you continue to stand up for them and defend them on the forums. You do not really have a choice in the matter; much like how people are preconditioned to read my posts in the manner that they will.

I also do not know why you are posting PMs as if to weild them like a threat. He was warned of his forum conduct, of which has been terrible, and of which he has recieved 2 forum bans for previously, and so has very little lenience toward him. He was not informed of a ban or indeed, he would have been banned right now and unable to send you that PM. He was warned that if his forum conduct continued, he was going to be banned. I do note that none of my half dozen PMs to him were sent to you, merely a clipped off version of his post, and a frantic message that he was going to be banned, which tells me that he did not read the PMS I sent to him. That I will not be posting, because I repsect privacy.

I will not be ganged up on here like bullies harassing a child on the playground. It is utterly unprofessional from all of you involved.

Yeah, respect to where its due Mago, and you know I respect and admire you in many ways, but you need to just clam up and step back mate.

You of all people should know this fight isn't worth fighting. You've obviously experienced lots of (censored) up stuff on this server and its not healthy to lurk the forums and fling poo at Tormak or the other DMs when you feel like you need to defend the banites.

Tormak aint perfect, he admits to that, but he works damn hard for the server as a whole, and I don't believe he wants to see the banites whither and die, I really don't think anyone does.

So just relax man, let us make up our own minds about the DMs, there's no need to shout and scream for justice like your doing.

It would be hard to continue playing on a server if you felt like you'd been cheated or if you were fed up, but you did the right thing, you just exited the server. Please don't drag the rest of us into a pointless squabble with the DMs.

I also do not know why you are posting PMs as if to weild them like a threat. He was warned of his forum conduct, of which has been terrible, and of which he has recieved 2 forum bans for previously, and so has very little lenience toward him. He was not informed of a ban or indeed, he would have been banned right now and unable to send you that PM. He was warned that if his forum conduct continued, he was going to be banned. I do note that none of my half dozen PMs to him were sent to you, merely a clipped off version of his post, and a frantic message that he was going to be banned, which tells me that he did not read the PMS I sent to him. That I will not be posting, because I repsect privacy.

I will not be ganged up on here like bullies harassing a child on the playground. It is utterly unprofessional from all of you involved.

They as a faction don't wanna deal with the stuff he has raised, and they know that if they supported him, they would be faced with more of the same stuff they face now. Now that he is dead he can speak the truth, without repercussions upon the faction.

He is not a martyr. Don't paint him as one. There is no "Halleluyah, I am free, and now I will DESTROY THE MACHINE" here.