Inactivity or Staff?

Name says it all
User avatar
Johnny Leviathon
Adept Scribe
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2014 12:52 pm
Contact:

Inactivity or Staff?

Post by Johnny Leviathon »

Hey all,

Just some general curiosity, I under stand the staff have real lives, jobs, family etc, but these last few months I have notice a MAJOR decline in staff responsibility, productivity and attention to pages.

Three weeks ago I had a page in the que for OVER a week, my brother also, had a page in the que for 6 days. Legitimate issues, questions, bug reports etc. Not just saying "Hi" or what not. I get people can be busy, I know I can too, but if the staff is not going to be active, actively answer pages in a timely manner, then maybe a couple more staff... (counselor) level staff, just to help move things along, make players feel a bit more secure with the server.

I have been playing UO since 1997, I have been on free servers since omg, 2002? or 03, I think. I have noticed decline of population here, or new players coming and going very rapidly because there are MANY people just idle afk but not really "active." Also the lack of staff being active as well. This is how servers fall, One of my favorite servers was up over five years, had a HUGE player base, then the staff got too busy with real life and within months the server population dropped, donations stopped coming in and the server shut down. Another the staff was never
available, the economy was collapsing so they wiped it, tried to start over and it never bounced back.

It is unfortunate, but it happens. I am not complaining mind you, I am just concerned. I have been on the server for over 400 days, love it here, (not long compared to most) but I have noticed a decline in vet players, new players coming in, staying a while when they notice there are no one to answer their questions, no idea where or who to turn to they give up and move on to another server.

I would really like to see more activity from staff, better promptness in answering pages, more events, setting of the raffles in a more timely manner. The new facet has had everyone waiting in anticipation, but with the lack of staff activity, updates to the web page, forums, etc, many people are beginning to question weather or not the staff is as dedicated as the welcome on the website indicates.

Well anyhow, this is just my observation, and the observation of about a dozen or so people I have talked to on here about the server, we are concerned that staff has forgotten we exist. WE STILL HERE!!! :lool:

Safe Travels!!
Image

Fate Whispers to the Warrior,
"You Cannot Withstand the Storm,"
and the Warrior Whispers Back,
"I am the Storm."
User avatar
+Nyx
Administrator
Posts: 2472
Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 1:31 pm
Contact:

Re: Inactivity or Staff?

Post by +Nyx »

Not a very observant observation :)

http://www.uoex.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10268

I've updated folks in-game numerous times in the past month, and I warned everyone I would be away a significant portion of December and January due to holiday travel and work responsibilities, well in advance of that beginning. As for your claim that there's been a "MAJOR" decline in staff activity in the past few months, that's just plain false. I had a seasonal event running every month from October-December, along with regular events, and in September ran an event at last once per week. I've had people working on beta testing the Elysium plant system for the majority of the past 4 months, and was very active both in wc and pages/content until mid-December.

The shard population is not declining. People always arbitrarily say this to try and add validity to their point in complaint of our seeming unresponsiveness or their gripes about the economy or what have you. We reached a 250 online milestone not long ago, and our online numbers are steady in the same place, if not a little higher, than they were for the majority of last year. Yesterday was uoex's 10 year anniversary, and in my nearly 5 years here, there has always been high turnover with new players, mainly because people join before really reading anything about the shard and then realize pretty quickly it isn't for them (particularly those aiming for pvp or insta-win). That's to be expected with any free shard and nothing that is any different than it's always been.

Also, saying that the people online are inactive is like saying that the staff aren't on just because you haven't personally talked to us or your page went unanswered. Players have zero way to know that or verify it, so you can't really speak to it as if it's fact. Even during my illness, I've been answering several pages a day. There are some pages I don't answer because I either can't (they're for someone else), it's not properly formatted so that I can handle it quickly between work tasks (IE: house moving, which is quick, but they didn't page from the location or explain what they actually want done, which would then involve having to go verify everything and wait for them), or it's something that will take too long (multiple house combines, complicated harassment issues, etc). Those pages will have to wait, because I just don't have the time or energy at present to handle them.

Not to mention, the holidays are barely over and many of us have real jobs that need tending to (especially at the beginning of the year, when there's time and work to make up from vacations over the holidays and customers/clients take on that 'new year new me' mentality and suddenly want everything done all at once). January and February are usually pretty slow months for the shard. It used to be that all the winter months were quite slow, but the winter events perked up December quite a bit, so there's a more noticeable lull at the beginning of the year.

Sadly, I think that a portion of our player base has become quite spoiled after 2015, when I ran the most events in a year that uoex ever had. I haven't seen exact numbers, but I'm quite sure that the staff as a whole answered more pages than previous years, handled more issues, and that +C added far more in terms of scripts and updates than previous years. To say the shard is declining, and that we're not dedicated, that things aren't getting done is just ridiculous.

Personally, if some folks have lost confidence in uoex because it's been a quiet month, because the staff have real lives and concerns that far outweigh that of our hobby here at uoex - they are welcome to go elsewhere with my best wishes. I wish them luck finding a shard this populated with staff this dedicated, involved, organized and creative, though. It just doesn't really exist on this scale anywhere else, which is why uoex has survived and is still going strong after a decade. To each their own, though, and truly if playing on uoex is making someone unhappy, they should find something that doesn't. I am a very firm believer in spending one's time doing only things that give them positive experiences, as much as is possible in life.

Everyone needs to make the decision that is best for them about what they do with their time. I, in general, choose to spend the bulk of that time making content and events for uoex, and monitoring the shard/answering pages. But that does not entitle anybody on uoex to my time; and when things in rl arise that require attention, they will take priority. My health is more important to me than uoex, and if anybody's convinced the shard is dying because I've said that, well, there's the door lol.

Anyway, no hard feelings Johnny, but in the future please don't put on your chicken-little hat and run about telling us the sky is falling without doing a little research and sticking to the facts :)
Silent
Legendary Scribe
Posts: 242
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:05 pm
Location: Portugal

Re: Inactivity or Staff?

Post by Silent »

It is not only the staff's responsability in this shard to try to keep new players, If players neglect newbie calls for help or simply pass by them and go about their lives it does not show a community as it is this shard's logo. this means that population decline is not caused only by staff since new players don't interact much with staff during exploration of the world but it's all players fault not to interact with the new players.

Veteran players also don't need staff for anything rather than events or bug reports or GM actions. This means that veteran game abandoning will not be caused by these factors and will mainly be caused by IRL related issues.

having said this, consider your own actions thorwards new player and think about the general atitude of other players regarding this issue and you will have your awnswers...

Furthemore I can only say that I hope the Staff manage to get their precious free time back to hang arround the shard with us ^^
Lurking the forums since dec 2012
User avatar
+Veritas
Administrator
Posts: 533
Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 6:24 pm

Re: Inactivity or Staff?

Post by +Veritas »

Really can't wait to open Touria...

A lot happens behind the curtain, my friend.

Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it's not there.
-{Excelsior Shard Administrator, and Death Event Extraordinaire}-

May the BODs be ever in your favor!
User avatar
+Colibri
Administrator
Posts: 4067
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 4:08 pm
Location: static void Main

Re: Inactivity or Staff?

Post by +Colibri »

I remember concerns like these raised back in 2008.. and 2009.. and 2010, etc, hehe. But we're still here :) I take care of all help requests in queue at around after lunch time, and then at around midnight shard time. But I don't like to hang around public chat much because then I dont get much else done. I remember just today seeing & answering your help request (was an 11 hour wait, but as i mentioned before we're not at 24/7 5-minute response team... would be nice if we were, but for that there would have to be a lot more staff members which raises other issues as well).

As for population decline, we're at around 220 daily peak (and let's say 240 on weekends) as it has been for about a year now, up from about 190 daily peak as was the average in 2014. Though, yeah new players come all the time and some people get bored and leave, perhaps it's those who you played with the most that are no longer playing and it seems like everyone is leaving.

The help requests your brother, if they're not urgent they might linger in that secondary queue, sometimes for a long time. Every bug report needs a certain amount of time and attention, to find, fix and then test.
+Colibri, Administrator of UO Excelsior Shard

Don't know what the purpose of your life is? Well then make something up! ;)
(Old Colibrian proverb)
User avatar
Johnny Leviathon
Adept Scribe
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2014 12:52 pm
Contact:

Re: Inactivity or Staff?

Post by Johnny Leviathon »

+Nyx wrote:Not a very observant observation :)

http://www.uoex.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10268

I've updated folks in-game numerous times in the past month, and I warned everyone I would be away a significant portion of December and January due to holiday travel and work responsibilities, well in advance of that beginning. As for your claim that there's been a "MAJOR" decline in staff activity in the past few months, that's just plain false. I had a seasonal event running every month from October-December, along with regular events, and in September ran an event at last once per week. I've had people working on beta testing the Elysium plant system for the majority of the past 4 months, and was very active both in wc and pages/content until mid-December.

The shard population is not declining. People always arbitrarily say this to try and add validity to their point in complaint of our seeming unresponsiveness or their gripes about the economy or what have you. We reached a 250 online milestone not long ago, and our online numbers are steady in the same place, if not a little higher, than they were for the majority of last year. Yesterday was uoex's 10 year anniversary, and in my nearly 5 years here, there has always been high turnover with new players, mainly because people join before really reading anything about the shard and then realize pretty quickly it isn't for them (particularly those aiming for pvp or insta-win). That's to be expected with any free shard and nothing that is any different than it's always been.

Also, saying that the people online are inactive is like saying that the staff aren't on just because you haven't personally talked to us or your page went unanswered. Players have zero way to know that or verify it, so you can't really speak to it as if it's fact. Even during my illness, I've been answering several pages a day. There are some pages I don't answer because I either can't (they're for someone else), it's not properly formatted so that I can handle it quickly between work tasks (IE: house moving, which is quick, but they didn't page from the location or explain what they actually want done, which would then involve having to go verify everything and wait for them), or it's something that will take too long (multiple house combines, complicated harassment issues, etc). Those pages will have to wait, because I just don't have the time or energy at present to handle them.

Not to mention, the holidays are barely over and many of us have real jobs that need tending to (especially at the beginning of the year, when there's time and work to make up from vacations over the holidays and customers/clients take on that 'new year new me' mentality and suddenly want everything done all at once). January and February are usually pretty slow months for the shard. It used to be that all the winter months were quite slow, but the winter events perked up December quite a bit, so there's a more noticeable lull at the beginning of the year.

Sadly, I think that a portion of our player base has become quite spoiled after 2015, when I ran the most events in a year that uoex ever had. I haven't seen exact numbers, but I'm quite sure that the staff as a whole answered more pages than previous years, handled more issues, and that +C added far more in terms of scripts and updates than previous years. To say the shard is declining, and that we're not dedicated, that things aren't getting done is just ridiculous.

Personally, if some folks have lost confidence in uoex because it's been a quiet month, because the staff have real lives and concerns that far outweigh that of our hobby here at uoex - they are welcome to go elsewhere with my best wishes. I wish them luck finding a shard this populated with staff this dedicated, involved, organized and creative, though. It just doesn't really exist on this scale anywhere else, which is why uoex has survived and is still going strong after a decade. To each their own, though, and truly if playing on uoex is making someone unhappy, they should find something that doesn't. I am a very firm believer in spending one's time doing only things that give them positive experiences, as much as is possible in life.

Everyone needs to make the decision that is best for them about what they do with their time. I, in general, choose to spend the bulk of that time making content and events for uoex, and monitoring the shard/answering pages. But that does not entitle anybody on uoex to my time; and when things in rl arise that require attention, they will take priority. My health is more important to me than uoex, and if anybody's convinced the shard is dying because I've said that, well, there's the door lol.

Anyway, no hard feelings Johnny, but in the future please don't put on your chicken-little hat and run about telling us the sky is falling without doing a little research and sticking to the facts :)

I have A lot to say about this response, but I will not. Albeit, your response is offensive, taking my post personally, when it was just a simple putting words to page and voicing my opinion as is what the forums are for (or so I thought) was my only intention. Not to be insulted by someone who is no more than a human being than myself... We all make mistakes.

I will be the bigger person and commend you for all your hard work and wish you well, but responses like that are what drives a wedge between staff and players ultimately making people feel unwelcome.

Have a good day.
+Colibri wrote:I remember concerns like these raised back in 2008.. and 2009.. and 2010, etc, hehe. But we're still here :) I take care of all help requests in queue at around after lunch time, and then at around midnight shard time. But I don't like to hang around public chat much because then I dont get much else done. I remember just today seeing & answering your help request (was an 11 hour wait, but as i mentioned before we're not at 24/7 5-minute response team... would be nice if we were, but for that there would have to be a lot more staff members which raises other issues as well).

As for population decline, we're at around 220 daily peak (and let's say 240 on weekends) as it has been for about a year now, up from about 190 daily peak as was the average in 2014. Though, yeah new players come all the time and some people get bored and leave, perhaps it's those who you played with the most that are no longer playing and it seems like everyone is leaving.

The help requests your brother, if they're not urgent they might linger in that secondary queue, sometimes for a long time. Every bug report needs a certain amount of time and attention, to find, fix and then test.
You may remember this one, unfortunately my brother is a bit slow and mentally handicapped, he thought h e was bugged because when he logged in his Cloak of Mist was missing or that someone had stolen it and I explained he had to have it insure just like all his other items unless they specifically say "BLESSED." Unfortunately he does not know what happened to that and his sash or when he exactly lost them, and I advised him sending a page might help, but doubtful since there is only so far you can go back to retrieve items also he needs to know almost exactly when and where he lost the items.

He told me he waited for almost a week to get an answer, that might be a bit of an exaggeration since he was so upset lol. I should have thought of that before even mentioning it. That is fully my idiocy.
+Veritas wrote:Really can't wait to open Touria...

A lot happens behind the curtain, my friend.

Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it's not there.
No, I understand what makes a server run, I had my own that i ran for 4 years, ultimate I sold it and it went down hill and eventually was shut down. Such a shame too. :cry:
Image

Fate Whispers to the Warrior,
"You Cannot Withstand the Storm,"
and the Warrior Whispers Back,
"I am the Storm."
robinw40
Apprentice Scribe
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2015 2:42 am

Re: Inactivity or Staff?

Post by robinw40 »

First of all this is a game. A game I don't want to see go away anytime soon. It has been the best since ultima online came on line back in the 90's. I think the staff here on this game uoex are the best than I haver played with. They do this job for us players that we don't even know about to keep
things going . 99% of the players would agree. Sometimes thing happen that we may not like. It's just a game and stuff happens. The time all the + people put into this game they deserve more than a pat on a pack. There should be a way to to give a lot back to them for doing the best job they can with other things they have to do in the real world. If I fail at something or something I go on and try something new to get around the problem. If I die in game it's most of the time me being at the wrong place and wrong time and get over it. Wait times is something just happens. I lIke the people on this shard and the staff does the greatest jobs and put up with a lot of things they shouldn't. We as players need to thank them daily for the jobs they do. So thanks to all the staff and + out there you are doing a fantastic job!



In Game name (que)
User avatar
+Requiem
Legendary Scribe
Posts: 488
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 6:24 pm

Re: Inactivity or Staff?

Post by +Requiem »

starting with your original post,

I'm sorry you had to wait OVER a week, and your brother did too. I haven't been around due to personal issues, and I'm sure the other staff have their reasons as well. Like Nyx mentioned, oftentimes if a page is not formatted properly, and we cannot get to it quickly, we do not get to it until much later. Sometimes days or weeks later as it doesn't take priority. This happens a lot, and I even posted a long forum post about it, and there is a wiki guide as well.

While I don't think adding a staff member or two would be a bad idea, it takes an enormous amount of work and time for +C as he is usually the one who trains them, shows them around, and monitors their activity to make sure they aren't cheating, or abusing their new powers, etc. Time he may not currently have available.

I know he has been quite busy coding stuff for the new portal, and for the facet needs, and squashing bugs as he finds them, which takes priority over many things, including many pages.

The decline of players has already been addressed, and is more of a misperception on your own part than anything else.

You are in fact complaining, and trying to play it off as voicing your opinion. The very first thing you talked about was having to wait over a week to get a page answered, which is a complaint, unless I am somehow misunderstanding that.

There are many things I would like to see as well, but just because I'd like to see them doesn't mean they are going to happen. You're probably not going to get 24/7 customer service from a service you don't pay for 24/7 customer service from. None of us get paid for what we do. We are volunteers. While we try to answer pages in a timely manner when we are able to, sometimes it just doesn't work out that way. Heck, even some paid customer service is horrible. I think you have it pretty good here, considering. If you see a 2 raffle tables empty, try sending a page and asking us to refill them. We forget things too ya know?

Your "observations" are coming from only a slice of the pie, and don't show the whole picture. Even the "dozen or so people" you talked to, only see their own slice of the pie. While I personally don't claim to see the whole pie, I see quite a bit more than any player, and the administrators see even more than me. Please take that into account next time you feel the need to voice your opinions on the forums. That is, basing your opinion on a partial picture.

I find it interesting that you found Nyx's post offensive. You're not the first person to post this forum thread in one form or another. It usually happens as folks start getting back outside in the spring, and the average population drops a bit. It happens year after year after year. Higher population in the winter, lower population in the summer.

Another thing to consider, is not every staff member can handle every page. A lot of times with pages I can't handle, I leave them in the active que, as it is much more visible than the saved que. It's more likely to get answered quicker if I leave it alone. So, what you perceive as being ignored, is actually trying to help things move along quicker.

If you understand so well what makes a server run, then you should understand about limited resources, and especially time. You should understand finding trustworthy staff is harder than just promoting some random player to Counselor, GM, Seer or Administrator and letting them loose on the world with a printable version of their new commands. You should understand about prioritizing things that need to get done vs things you want to get done in the limited time available. You should also understand that personal time is just as important, if not more important than shard time.
User avatar
Johnny Leviathon
Adept Scribe
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2014 12:52 pm
Contact:

Re: Inactivity or Staff?

Post by Johnny Leviathon »

+Requiem wrote:starting with your original post,

I'm sorry you had to wait OVER a week, and your brother did too. I haven't been around due to personal issues, and I'm sure the other staff have their reasons as well. Like Nyx mentioned, oftentimes if a page is not formatted properly, and we cannot get to it quickly, we do not get to it until much later. Sometimes days or weeks later as it doesn't take priority. This happens a lot, and I even posted a long forum post about it, and there is a wiki guide as well.

While I don't think adding a staff member or two would be a bad idea, it takes an enormous amount of work and time for +C as he is usually the one who trains them, shows them around, and monitors their activity to make sure they aren't cheating, or abusing their new powers, etc. Time he may not currently have available.

I know he has been quite busy coding stuff for the new portal, and for the facet needs, and squashing bugs as he finds them, which takes priority over many things, including many pages.

The decline of players has already been addressed, and is more of a misperception on your own part than anything else.

You are in fact complaining, and trying to play it off as voicing your opinion. The very first thing you talked about was having to wait over a week to get a page answered, which is a complaint, unless I am somehow misunderstanding that.

There are many things I would like to see as well, but just because I'd like to see them doesn't mean they are going to happen. You're probably not going to get 24/7 customer service from a service you don't pay for 24/7 customer service from. None of us get paid for what we do. We are volunteers. While we try to answer pages in a timely manner when we are able to, sometimes it just doesn't work out that way. Heck, even some paid customer service is horrible. I think you have it pretty good here, considering. If you see a 2 raffle tables empty, try sending a page and asking us to refill them. We forget things too ya know?

Your "observations" are coming from only a slice of the pie, and don't show the whole picture. Even the "dozen or so people" you talked to, only see their own slice of the pie. While I personally don't claim to see the whole pie, I see quite a bit more than any player, and the administrators see even more than me. Please take that into account next time you feel the need to voice your opinions on the forums. That is, basing your opinion on a partial picture.

I find it interesting that you found Nyx's post offensive. You're not the first person to post this forum thread in one form or another. It usually happens as folks start getting back outside in the spring, and the average population drops a bit. It happens year after year after year. Higher population in the winter, lower population in the summer.

Another thing to consider, is not every staff member can handle every page. A lot of times with pages I can't handle, I leave them in the active que, as it is much more visible than the saved que. It's more likely to get answered quicker if I leave it alone. So, what you perceive as being ignored, is actually trying to help things move along quicker.

If you understand so well what makes a server run, then you should understand about limited resources, and especially time. You should understand finding trustworthy staff is harder than just promoting some random player to Counselor, GM, Seer or Administrator and letting them loose on the world with a printable version of their new commands. You should understand about prioritizing things that need to get done vs things you want to get done in the limited time available. You should also understand that personal time is just as important, if not more important than shard time.
No I was not "complaining" I was stating a fact. You definitely misunderstood. I find it actually quite funny the two staffers who have been most INACTIVE have taken my original post so offensive. Frankly I am glad I got all of your attention, Because my last three posts and pages about "might have found a bug" didn't. All of which were about the same thing just so you know. This was my original issue. I find glitches or so I think I did, so I report them in as a concerned citizen, no response I see the issues getting taken advantage of, but apparently that input isn't important, but when I chime in asking where the staff is for assistance, guidance, and issues in game, and state just my own observations, experiences etc, I'm bashed, called a liar, treated like a child and offended by two out of four the the staff responses.

Way to set an example.
Image

Fate Whispers to the Warrior,
"You Cannot Withstand the Storm,"
and the Warrior Whispers Back,
"I am the Storm."
User avatar
Johnny Leviathon
Adept Scribe
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2014 12:52 pm
Contact:

Re: Inactivity or Staff?

Post by Johnny Leviathon »

From now on, I'll keep my thoughts, concerns, etc to myself. Obviously they are not wanted.
Image

Fate Whispers to the Warrior,
"You Cannot Withstand the Storm,"
and the Warrior Whispers Back,
"I am the Storm."
Maze Scarlethart
Master Scribe
Posts: 63
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2015 2:49 pm

Re: Inactivity or Staff?

Post by Maze Scarlethart »

Perhaps they are treating you like a child because that is the way you are acting. They offended you? YOU are the one that came to the forums to b*tch about them but when they answer back you get all offended? Guess you are a giver, not a taker?

Honestly, I do not know whether they have been slow answering pages. I haven't put in any in quite some time but to assume that they are inactive because they are not holding your hand constantly is a bit silly.

As for events... you know I actually got tired of playing the game because of the constant events the last few months. I am now semi-afk from the game because the events took up so much of my time that I needed a break and you want more? Heres a refresher for you:
-Fall Deco contest opened Sept 27th (ran for a month)
-Halloween Dungeon opened Oct 1st (ran for a month)
-Onslaught on Oct 2nd
-Harry Potter event on Oct 3rd
-Walking Dead opened Oct 4th (ran for over a month)
-Storytelling event on Oct 12th
- Haunted House Event on Oct 29th
- Masquerade and Family Feud on the 30th
-Monster Bash was to be held on the 31st but D-Bags happened and it was held at a later date but Im not sure what day now.
-During November we had the last bit of Walking Dead, we had a grand auction and we had our first ever newbie auction. Fall Harvest quest also opened in Nov.
-In December we had the Winter Deco Contest and the Winter Event.
During the last few months there was also events ran by Mocha and Requiem, plus events by Nyx and Veritas that were spur of the moment. We also had several player ran events just incase the boatload of events that the staff put on wasnt enough to keep you happy.
January was quiet, perhaps that is what you meant by needing more events?
But chin up! It looks like there is a Valentines Day quest opening soon.

My account is 220 days old and during that time January was the only time there wasn't really anything going on (which I liked, it gave me a bit of a break). The amount of time needed to create these events is insane but you want the staff to do even more? I want you to go to your job right now, I want you to spend every free moment at your job doing work that everyone is going to complain about anyways BUT I want you to do it for free! That is what you sound like. Perhaps next time you should give things a bit of thought before posting, it might save you from feeling offended when the people you are attacking fights back.
User avatar
Sailor Jerry
Elder Scribe
Posts: 114
Joined: Sun Sep 06, 2015 7:31 pm
Location: WA USA
Contact:

Re: Inactivity or Staff?

Post by Sailor Jerry »

WOW

Of all people UO players should know…

Text communication is often misunderstood and it’s a horrible way to communicate anything with a shred of emotion. And, it's a game, it's free and that what makes this shard special is her owner and her volunteers. A couple of suggestions to anyone willing to listen…

* Compose your posts in a text editor, when done walk away, come back to it a few hours or a day later.

* Step out of your own shoes and into to those that you’re addressing. Seriously, try to understand who and where they’re coming from… be them. Ask yourself, how am I receiving this communication? Is this message and tone what I intended?

* If your message is or has the potential to be perceived as hostile use more emoticons, use question or open-end opinions/assumptions rather than direct statements.

Can we all just get along and stop pissing off the people that make this shard so special. They all have lives, require breaks and are behind the scenes building content for us more than some of us play, combined.
Full throttle, half-bottle, fun lovin, script huggin gamer nerd...
a Napa Valley 1 Percenter
User avatar
Arcon
Expert Scribe
Posts: 30
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:59 pm

Re: Inactivity or Staff?

Post by Arcon »

my lord British ! I put too many coins in the drama machine again !! :verymad:
aka Necropoloid
User avatar
+Nyx
Administrator
Posts: 2472
Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 1:31 pm
Contact:

Re: Inactivity or Staff?

Post by +Nyx »

Johnny Leviathon wrote:No I was not "complaining" I was stating a fact. You definitely misunderstood. I find it actually quite funny the two staffers who have been most INACTIVE have taken my original post so offensive. Frankly I am glad I got all of your attention, Because my last three posts and pages about "might have found a bug" didn't. All of which were about the same thing just so you know. This was my original issue. I find glitches or so I think I did, so I report them in as a concerned citizen, no response I see the issues getting taken advantage of, but apparently that input isn't important, but when I chime in asking where the staff is for assistance, guidance, and issues in game, and state just my own observations, experiences etc, I'm bashed, called a liar, treated like a child and offended by two out of four the the staff responses.

Way to set an example.
- You could've escalated your page for it to be seen at a later time, if you were genuinely reporting a bug as a 'concerned citizen'
- If you're treated like a liar, it is because you are, in fact, a liar. You've done this in-game repeatedly, and were spoken to regarding that previously. You made statements as fact in your original post that are completely false. Aka, lies.
- Your observations are based, as +R said, on a tiny slice of the pie. The admins see the entire pie. I know when I am on the shard, you have no idea when I am on unless I answer a page you sent or talk in wc while you're looking. I also can see when players are active or not, so your statements that the people online are never active were based on nothing but your own feelings (based on seeing people bank sitting or not seeing them talk in wc), or desire to make your point.
- The staff are not required to answer pages. +R made good points regarding things that would delay a response to your page, but also your attitude in general is a factor. If a player is someone who, after answering their page politely, then goes on to later tell people how nasty the staff were to him, none of us really have any desire to assist that person in the future. We are volunteers, but we don't volunteer to be punching bags and anyone who can't help but make drama is someone we don't really need to interact with.
- I shouldn't have to keep saying this, but apparently I do - a player's own actions set the tone for how they interact with the staff (and other players, for that matter). If one presents themselves as a complainer, stirring the pot for the sake of stirring the pot, then the staff will respond accordingly. You could easily have sent an email to any or all of the staff members to ask if we're alright. I've received a few PMs, pages and emails since December from players wanting to check in and see if I'm alright since they hadn't seen me on. I don't think any of those folks felt victimized when I replied and explained that I'd been sick and overworked, and not able to interact with the shard as much. However, you decided to make a post instead, clearly hoping to stir folks up to your "issue". Your original post set a tone of entitlement and complaint that your pages weren't getting answered fast enough, and you made false statements about the staff's activity level and involvement in the shard.
- It's amusing how, in any given year, +V will be inactive on the shard for months at a time, and +C will take lengthy breaks for vacations or etc throughout the year, but the one chunk of time I spend away from the shard, suddenly I'm the most inactive staff member and the sky is falling, the shard is dying, etc etc etc. I guess I should take it as a veiled compliment that you think because +R and I haven't been there to answer pages that the shard will collapse without us. ;)
- People with victim mentalities will always find themselves in the midst of being victimized. Regardless of whether they are or not. If you do not wish to be one such, then you should probably take a look at your behavior over your time on this shard, and how it's somehow never your fault when you end up on the wrong side of the codex/staff.
- Players who cannot be properly appreciative of what the staff does for them and who behave poorly towards the staff don't need to be attending the events we create. Attending events, playing on this shard, they are both privileges. Not rights.

Maze, thanks for the event run-down, it saved me some time hunting up the exact dates. :) You're correct that we did run a few spur-of-the-moment events not listed, including the Thanksgiving event where y'all slaughtered Baron Von Gobble Gobble, and a monster bash event in early October with the mutated pumpkins. Part of the lull for January has also been that I'm burned out, just like you. I hosted events at a break-neck pace for several months in a row. It takes a lot of effort to get events going, even just updating a previous year's quest to run for the new year takes 10+ hours. Eventually it's very tiring, especially when also having to deal with disrespectful players during the events. I probably would've slogged through my mental exhaustion to get the vday quest going a bit early, but with the work schedule + health issues, I just couldn't get around to it. I hope to have a chance this weekend.
Lonestar
Novice Scribe
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Dec 17, 2015 1:27 pm

Re: Inactivity or Staff?

Post by Lonestar »

This thread is weak. Thanks to staff for taking the time to reply in depth. I find it ironic that they have to spend time replying to this. Where do we donate to get this guy's server running again? Great server, staff, and players. Thanks for keeping it running.
Locked