Post by Alec Williams on Jan 4, 2010 2:30:37 GMT -8
Towards the end of game on Jan. 2nd there was a scene run that has shaken my faith in the interim ST staff, along with the faith of other players. Since much of this staff will continue to serve in the incoming staff, including the HST, this shaken confidence carries over to that staff as well. As such, I hope that the staff will seriously consider the points that I've made below and will make their decision on how to proceed carefully. The following is an email that I have sent to the PAs to seek action from the ST staff. I am posting it here to open the discussion to the community as a whole, since the outcome could affect many, many players and future staff decisions.
The problems that I see are as follows:
1) Jeffrey Johnson’s character was ambushed because Jeffrey stepped out to do his duty in serving the community as a PA. It is a well-established fact that Jean-Lionel Martin goes nowhere alone. The reason he was alone was because Jeffrey didn’t want the players of the PCs with JL at the time to be stuck in a time bubble while he performed his PA duties. People took advantage of the fact that Jeffrey was helping with the election to gain IC benefit. That is meta gaming and has no place in this game. If this is the kind of treatment that people can expect when helping the community and the game they will never want to help.
2) The scene is occurring at the Elysium. Those who are attacking made a mistake in where the combat is taking place. This is not a scene that is taking place across town. This is a scene in the same building that, by all rights, would be emptying out in support of the Sheriff. Characters upstairs were for the most part denied any chance to interact with this scene and told they could not leave Elysium. Further at the end of the scene, when the summonings take place, there is going to be ample opportunity to involve all of those who were upstairs, which brings me to…
3) This scene should never have been allowed in the first place. A giant combat in the last half of game, involving a lot of PCs and NPCs, on the week before an event was a poor decision on the part of the ST staff. Honestly, if the scene is continued in a fair manner most of the game will be involved in it when it is run at the beginning of the Event. Let’s be honest, this is going to be a large mob combat. The characters involved are not going to forget about it or give up. At minimum, a large chunk of the game will be devoted to resolving this time bubble. Some PCs may be killed or torpored in the scene, leaving the players with no character to play for the rest of the event night. What it comes down to is this: most people will not be able to participate in most or all of the event that Ross has worked so hard to prepare for this community. If this continues it will discourage anyone from stepping up and deciding to take on that responsibility for fear that all it will take is a few players deciding they want to spend all night throwing chops to possibly ruin it.
In closing, I implore the ST staff to reconsider how this scene was run and bring it to a swift resolution that is fair to those involved. I know about the policy about retconning, but part of the beauty of being an ST is you can step in and wave your hands to fix your mistakes.
The problems that I see are as follows:
1) Jeffrey Johnson’s character was ambushed because Jeffrey stepped out to do his duty in serving the community as a PA. It is a well-established fact that Jean-Lionel Martin goes nowhere alone. The reason he was alone was because Jeffrey didn’t want the players of the PCs with JL at the time to be stuck in a time bubble while he performed his PA duties. People took advantage of the fact that Jeffrey was helping with the election to gain IC benefit. That is meta gaming and has no place in this game. If this is the kind of treatment that people can expect when helping the community and the game they will never want to help.
2) The scene is occurring at the Elysium. Those who are attacking made a mistake in where the combat is taking place. This is not a scene that is taking place across town. This is a scene in the same building that, by all rights, would be emptying out in support of the Sheriff. Characters upstairs were for the most part denied any chance to interact with this scene and told they could not leave Elysium. Further at the end of the scene, when the summonings take place, there is going to be ample opportunity to involve all of those who were upstairs, which brings me to…
3) This scene should never have been allowed in the first place. A giant combat in the last half of game, involving a lot of PCs and NPCs, on the week before an event was a poor decision on the part of the ST staff. Honestly, if the scene is continued in a fair manner most of the game will be involved in it when it is run at the beginning of the Event. Let’s be honest, this is going to be a large mob combat. The characters involved are not going to forget about it or give up. At minimum, a large chunk of the game will be devoted to resolving this time bubble. Some PCs may be killed or torpored in the scene, leaving the players with no character to play for the rest of the event night. What it comes down to is this: most people will not be able to participate in most or all of the event that Ross has worked so hard to prepare for this community. If this continues it will discourage anyone from stepping up and deciding to take on that responsibility for fear that all it will take is a few players deciding they want to spend all night throwing chops to possibly ruin it.
In closing, I implore the ST staff to reconsider how this scene was run and bring it to a swift resolution that is fair to those involved. I know about the policy about retconning, but part of the beauty of being an ST is you can step in and wave your hands to fix your mistakes.