What does +Nyx look like in RL?

[Tildane]

Beautiful avatar +Nyx will you reveal your real self?

[Tildane]

and yr cakes are fine but would be good if you could spend your time doing fun events for the shard ya and i know your real life is for real and so is ours so i would appreciate u not popping that one on me again.

[+Nyx]

Beautiful avatar +Nyx will you reveal your real self?

and yr cakes are fine but would be good if you could spend your time doing fun events for the shard ya and i know your real life is for real and so is ours so i would appreciate u not popping that one on me again.

I have no problem posting a picture of myself, if +Colibri allows it. I'm not sure of the protocol on that.

Tildane, it would be good if *you* could spend your time finding something more productive to do than troll and snipe at me. I have spent months - yes, months - working closely with +V on a huge project that will hopefully be done in the near future. So don't gripe at me about spending time making events when you have no idea the kind of time I put in for them.

I reminded you that staffers have lives and jobs outside of the game because you purposefully broke a chat rule in order to try and get our attention about a page. At four in the morning my time. On a weeknight. So.. yeah. I value sleep, my real life, and my job over answering pages / waiting for PMs that may or may not be forthcoming. If you keep forgetting that fact, then +Colibri and I will just have to keep reminding you as we did in that instance. Just like I am now reminding you to think more before you speak, because being purposefully rude and disrespectful to a staff member isn't a very wise decision.

[Tildane]

thankyou nyx, i am not being disrepectful, just commenting on what i experience on this shard, mostly very good however i do find your responses a bit automatic, like the "i do have a real life" would be nice if you dropped that one and found some other way of saying it, maybe something like ' thx Til yr comment noted, busy now' then I would not feel offended or put down, being lectured by someone i dont personally know and of course will never know is what i find unkind. I like this shard and think u all do a great job of keeping it going.

[Tildane]

and i am sorry you had to get out of bed to respond if that is what happened I live in Australia and it is 21.32 here now, Sunday, 26th Feb, dilemma of time zones.

[Lagos]

I feel that +Nyx might not be getting all the appreciation she deserves. Folks are quick to post complaints/criticisms/angst, but I feel that perhaps we are none too quick to post compliments, thanks, appreciation, and cheer. Perhaps we could change this?

[JimTheDM]

I agree. Nyx has been wonderful to us since we have been on here. We love you Nyx.

[arrow]

Yabber and whinge at another sheila ya galah!

[Devlin]

Beautiful avatar +Nyx will you reveal your real self?

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?

[+Veritas]

Player breaks a rule, player gets into trouble, player feels that they were somehow wronged by being expected to follow the same rules that everyone else has to follow, fuels the fire, then lashes out whether passive or actively aggressive. I wonder what the product of this whole trend will be...Any ideas player base? What are your thoughts?

+V

[arrow]

Here's what I'm thinking:

[+Nyx]

Lagos, you're correct. Many are very quick to post such rude things, but few bother to give praise. Those of you who posted nice things, I very much appreciate your kind words. It's nice to hear once in awhile, especially in the face of such snideness as there has been recently.

I think it is very easy to forget how hard we staffers work behind the scenes. In the last month, on average, I have answered about 100 pages per week, and it has been slow for pages. I have spent many hours working on events with +V. This includes the hunting quest - for which I built the lodge, tallied the scores, made the reward bags, and sent them out. You guys may not see my name all over any given event but I help a ton with them where I can. It's particularly upsetting to be told how to do my job when I think I'm doing quite well, and so does my boss - considering he recently decided to promote me.

So yeah, let's make this thread about positivity rather than negativity. Why don't you guys all post your favorite staff stories, or tell us what things we do that you love?

[Ilsanor]

My word (or phrase rather) would be "escalation of hostilities". Which (almost) never leads to something good.

Basically the GMs will feel resented and perhaps react with less than friendliness to all the woes of the players. Players (at least some of them) will feel oppressed and angry. They will lash out at GMs more. The GMs will get more frustrated* and retaliate... blah blah blah. Pretty easy to figure out, though not as easy to remedy, I'm afraid. Hopefully things will calm down a bit by themselves, as this shard has a tendency to produce players who are at least content (happy even) with only a small fraction of the angry and oppressed rebels.

My opinion (kill me for it) is that the GMs should (try to) ignore any discussion with the trolls, flamers and rule-breakers. Simple - you broke a rule, you get punished. No speeches, lengthy explanations, arguments. Like in real life courts - anything you say *can* and *will* be twisted to suit the offender's purpose. Any word can be misread, misquoted or misinterpreted. I know such silence can (and does) lead to the conception that the people in charge don't care. It's a fine line. Still, it's healthier sometimes to ignore the ranting, perhaps completely log out even, go for a walk to clear your head. This should apply to players as well, but some people simply will not get it. Out of a thousand players there will always be a jackass who thinks he's a rebel-martyr able to topple the "soulless and oppressive regime". When you argue you simply hand out the stones to be thrown back at you. Some people don't want to discuss things like rational human beings - they'd rather yell and spit at anyone and everyone who disagrees.

*Not trying to be rude or treat the staff with disrespect, but you all are just people. Even +Colibri. And there is always only so much you can take. Sooner or later everyone snaps when faced with constant pressure.

[Viola]

Player breaks a rule, player gets into trouble, player feels that they were somehow wronged by being expected to follow the same rules that everyone else has to follow, fuels the fire, then lashes out whether passive or actively aggressive. I wonder what the product of this whole trend will be...Any ideas player base? What are your thoughts?

+V

I think that stupid feeds stupid. As a high school teacher, I see this all the time, unfortunately (I love teaching but being a police officer in my classroom is the worst part of the job). A single teen does an absolutely abhorrent behavior that is so rude and disgusting, the other children look at me in shock. I'm the teacher, and whether they like me or not, I'm here to protect them, even if that means protecting them from each other. I follow protocol for my school and district, to the letter, escalating each offense and reporting and documenting every instance of harassment that are sourced from the minor. Other teens are now so victimized by this one child in the classroom they have NO CHOICE but to join ranks and laugh and play along or to be a target. Other students thought it's now okay to act up and talk too much and be tardlets because no one is punishing the attacker. <--- this is what happens when there is not clear support from the school leaders (or shard leader) for their staff. Now the counselor, the school psychologist, my academy's AP, and the school police are involved and there is talk about a possible crime investigation, but it took, I kid you not, five months, my very well documented behavior file, and a sexual harassment scandal at another school in my city to get any real help or support with this mentally ill child. And only now that the abuser was removed from my class am I able to work with my poor students who have been subjected to this child and help them be more successful--even those who 'supported him' are feeling contrite and will do better now.

Public spaces, like public schools, do not get to choose who attends, as long as they meet a simply requirement of living in the right city area (or for here being able to get online and run the game). Some people here, are quite literally, crazy or were child abused, and that's not the fault of any of the staff members. You're not here to make them better. And I'm only a mandated reporter when I'm at my school, so I'm not here to fix anyone either. You can't save everyone, so don't try. All you can do is accept that they're broken and move on. Ignorant people without coping skills see other people being mean and nasty to someone, they often participate in the mean behavior to avoid being targeted by the bullies and harassers. It's not your fault they are who they are.

And it should always be remembered that although the internet is a public space, unlike public schools, entering here is entering a private space and your time here is a privilege, fellow players, not a right. If you continue to abuse that privilege and the staff that provide this home for you, expect to be disciplined or eventually excluded.

I hope you, staff, realize that by and large most of us are very happy here.

But you only see the complaints posted and paged on. We don't fill your page queues with YAY YOU! and I'm not saying we should, but I wish there was a way we could show you staff how much most of us truly do appreciate your efforts and work. And we don't want a few whiners to make you want to withdraw from interacting on the shard just to avoid being attacked by the slings and arrows of their discontent. After all, it's not the shard they're really unhappy with, it's themselves.

P.S. I was apparently writing this while +Nyx was writing, and I agree -- don't feed the trolls! You cannot fix them. You really can't, so don't waste your energy. They don't care what you have to say anyway, but they're eager for a captive audience. I totally agree with your idea: if you see a rule broken, follow the codex, quote the infraction, set the timer on jail or make the warning or whatever it is, and boogie on. Keep it simple and go work on fun things. ^_^

[ahorton12]

Player breaks a rule, player gets into trouble, player feels that they were somehow wronged by being expected to follow the same rules that everyone else has to follow, fuels the fire, then lashes out whether passive or actively aggressive. I wonder what the product of this whole trend will be...Any ideas player base? What are your thoughts?

+V

the Rules are placed for a reason. this is a family shard. with response to where the trend will go. rules will become stricter as will punishments. ppl will have to get put in jail for hours on there first offence and then it will end up in banning. To keep this from happening... easiest way is to follow all directions of staff and if u have a problem with the direction [pm the staff member directly BE POLITE. State your reasoning without getting whiny. if your problem with the staff member is higher than u think can be resolved and if you have not already been rude to the staff in any way contact +colibri. his email is CA@uoex.net. he will not side against a staff member u have been rude to. he handpicks his staff members because of there honesty and because they want to see the shard continue to grow and prosper. but he does answer your questions and if a staff member has contridicted a rule he would like to see inforced he will talk with that staff member and get the problem resolved.

Id like to remind everyone that if they were playing on an OSI shard the staff rarely ever mingles with the player base and if your caught breaking a rule your account that u pay for would be banned for days or permanently. so if your caught doing something stupid here u get a slap on the wrist.

so remember guys. rules to dealing with problems u may have with staff
BE POLITE
Dont Ever Voice your negative opinions in public chat/forums.
Try to resolve Issues With the staff member
if thats not possible go higher.

NEVER BE RUDE.

and always remember this is +Colibris house. he and all he deems good can stay in his house. he can throw anyone outta his house he feels cant follow his house rules. dont go into someone elses house asking for rights. you have only the rights he gives you.