ACTUALLY, WHAT I SAW WAS A PLAYER DOING A GREAT JOB, NOT A GM. [Author: hedron]
[Mon Feb 05 22:29:18 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘then you should have noproblems what so ever with us. ‘
[Mon Feb 05 22:30:11 2001] Vaylin tells you, ‘thats what Im hoping I dosuggest you guys do something about those in your guild who wish to say thatthey wish to violate our rules as it puts your guild in a bad light bothwith myself and everyone else on the server.’
[Mon Feb 05 22:31:03 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘can I ask you a question onclarification? Does any one guild raid incompass a whole zone under Verant’srules? I don’t see anything to the such on www.everquest.com’
[Mon Feb 05 22:31:29 2001] Vaylin tells you, ‘No one owns a zone.’
[Mon Feb 05 22:32:00 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘and if I were to zone into azone, and attack a mob that was not agro, chasing, orattacking any other player, would that be breaking any such rule?’
[Mon Feb 05 22:32:22 2001] Vaylin tells you, ‘But then again if you go and disrupt someone elses raid that is another story.’
[Mon Feb 05 22:32:55 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘I understand the rhetoric,but what do you concider disruption? If we are in the same zone, and theydon’t want us there?’
[Mon Feb 05 22:33:41 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘If I proclaim, that I and myguild are ‘raiding’ a whole zone, and another group zones in. Are theydisrupting my camp of the whole zone?’
[Mon Feb 05 22:34:03 2001] Vaylin tells you, ‘Honestly I know you guysknow what you should and shouldnt do. All Im asking is dont do somethingthats going to get me on you or something you would hate done to you.’
[Mon Feb 05 22:34:28 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘off the record, does verantlike this calendar system that the rathe has?’
[Mon Feb 05 22:35:36 2001] Vaylin tells you, ‘my answer on that will always be ‘Myself as GM nor does Sony Online Entertainment support anycalendar system”‘
[Mon Feb 05 22:35:56 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘I understand that answer, but yet, you say that there will be reprecussions for breaking such agreement?’
[Mon Feb 05 22:36:38 2001] Vaylin tells you, ‘I never said that. I justsaid dont break any rules and ask that you treat the other guilds like you wish to be treated.’
[Mon Feb 05 22:37:23 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘aye, I know that you can notdo or so anything other than the guidelines.’
[Mon Feb 05 22:37:53 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘I just want to be sure that such guidelines are followed if such an occurance were to happen.’
[Mon Feb 05 22:38:21 2001] Vaylin tells you, ‘Like I said just dont break the rules you guys know what not to do. ‘
[Mon Feb 05 22:38:51 2001] Vaylin tells you, ‘Then we wont have anyproblems.’
[Mon Feb 05 22:39:10 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘I’m sorry, but it seems as though you keep going by the book, and then turning around and reitterate something else’
[Mon Feb 05 22:39:58 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘On a side note, is The Rathe being concidered for a server split, I’m sure if it were, it would could prolong and even negate some conflict if it were to arrise’
[Mon Feb 05 22:42:14 2001] Vaylin tells you, ‘On the guild issue dont break the rules. As for the split I dont have any input on that issue.’
[Mon Feb 05 22:43:26 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘I understand your hands are tied on the server split issue, but if you had any information… I would be able to use that to persude things differently. If you still can not say anything, we will be under the impression that the server ‘
[Mon Feb 05 22:43:44 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘the server isn’t splitting any time soon, and maybe never’
[Mon Feb 05 22:44:05 2001] Vaylin tells you, ‘Honestly they dont tell me anything on it. You’ll hear before I will.’
[Mon Feb 05 22:44:34 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘Ok.. I understand. My hands are tied with issues at work too. ‘
[Mon Feb 05 22:45:37 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘Honestly, we don’t want to cause the GM’s and guides any more headache. But with the high levels problems getting worst every day, I dont see things becoming clear any time soon.’
[Mon Feb 05 22:46:55 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘if an issue were to arrise,would you like us to notify you or your guide staff of any intentions sothey can witness first hand if we break any rules set forth by Verant?'[Mon Feb 05 22:47:11 2001] Vaylin tells you, ‘Please do.’
[Mon Feb 05 22:48:08 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘I’m sure we will to make sure that things are observered. Is there anything else?’
[Mon Feb 05 22:49:53 2001] Vaylin tells you, ‘nope.’
[Mon Feb 05 22:50:40 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘Thanks for your time, if you have any other questions, feel free to contact us.’
[Mon Feb 05 22:51:41 2001] You say to your guild, ‘sorry if I haven’t been talking much. been in tells with our Head GM.. I’ll post the log on the message board in a few mins.’
[Mon Feb 05 22:52:25 2001] You say to your guild, ‘In summary… GM says..Don’t do it. I say, these are the rules, we dont break them. GM says, Yes those are the rules. GM says, don’t do it.’
[Mon Feb 05 22:52:47 2001] Vaylin tells you, ‘I wish you a good eve.’
[Mon Feb 05 22:52:51 2001] You say to your guild, ‘I say, this is what weare planning on doing, do these break the rules. GM says, nobody owns azone. GM says, dont do it’
[Mon Feb 05 22:53:09 2001] You told Vaylin, ‘you too. ‘
The GM basically came to warn this guy away from having his guild raid a zone that another guild is in the process of raiding. I’m sure that the core issue is that Guild A wants to hit that zone on a certain night and clear EVERYTHING out over the course of like 7 hours. Guild B is going to come in and clear half of everything out before Guild A can get to it all.
HEDRON’S OFFICIAL TRANSLATION OF THE GM: “Even though it’s not against the rules, and even though I don’t have any solution to the overcrowding, if you piss off another guild so that they flood me with whiney messages, I’m going to disband you. What I would like is for you to be passive and accepting of another guild’s claims. I don’t care if that leaves you standing around a bank somewhere with your thumb up your ass.”
HEDRON’S OFFICIAL TRANSLATION OF THE PLAYER: “What we’re planning is not against the rules. It’s bullshit that some guild thinks they can just plant a flag and claim the whole zone for an entire night when we’re all crying for room to breathe. So basically, if you don’t write down in a document somewhere that we can’t do this, we’re going to. Vague implications of banning us for violating UNWRITTEN rules are bullshit. Go screw.”
What they ACTUALLY did was dance back and forth. It was the PLAYER who was smart enough to politely request that they be able to inform a GM just before they do something and get an official ruling.
And in point of fact, I’ve seen a million stories about UO where players have done just that – checked the rules, asked a staff member, been given the ok, and then later on gotten screwed. That answer is always the same, “You should just know what you can and can’t do. Who cares who told you it was ok. You’re an ass. BAN!”
If a head GM sees a situation coming up that should be against the rules, but there ARE no rules, then this situation should be handled differently. Vague implications that they’ll be banned regardless of
what’s in the rules ARE bullshit. What they SHOULD do is inform the players as such,
“Your actions are going to cause problems. There’s a consensus here in customer service that even though no rules are officially posted that cover this exact situation, what you’re planning on doing is a bad idea. We are in the process of wording an exact rule about what can and can’t be done in this situation. We will have that rule ready in about a week. I’m instructing you (for right now) to stay completely out of the zone when the other guild is raiding. That’s a little unfair to you right now, but we’ll have an official ruling shortly and in the meantime I want us all to avoid conflict, and keep YOU GUYS out of hot water. Thanks.”
What’s so hard about that? Pass an OFFICIAL rule. Put it on the web site. Make it clear. Have a process in place to come out with OFFICIAL rules in a reasonable time period. We’re not talking about reworking the tax code here. We’re talking about an amendment to game rules – one that can be changed later if experience says that what you tried was a bad idea.
Hedron
The False Prophet
Gratuitous RP Signature