Excelsior

I wasn't going to bring any of this up. Even though some of this has bothered me when and since some of it happened.
But today I finally am, just to get it out of the back of my head and see what is what.

I consider an add for in this case a shard a promise as to what I can expect to see in it. No pk, friendly and courteous admins/gm's, etc.That was parts of what was promoted here. That's why I came here first. I am not trying to single out anyone but using them as examples. A admin explained something to me when I had a question, took a good deal of time doing so even. I felt bad when he was done and I had to explain I wasn't questioning the rule but trying to point out that the description of it on the sign said something different and could it be changed to reflect it. Again he explained how only two admins could do so and agreed with my thought of posting in the forums. His behavior then and since has always been so in my dealing with him. Colibri, he clarified the mistake, answered my next question on roughly how we would know a change in rules were made and did not take my asking a question as criticizing him or any other gm. He has answered questions and thanked players for helping out other players for doing the same.

Now the situations that have led to this posting. There are cases where this was not the case. In one instance people fishing were told no afk fishing was allowed. I was afk fishing next to my house and had just finished reading the forums and did not notice this change. I did not say anything till a player made a comment about admins changing rules at any time without notice and for any reason. Because I had just been told differently by to admins I mentioned who and what I was told. I then asked when this was changed and where I could look for it and any other possible changes. Next the admin said it wasn't changed yet but was about to be. This was now just a warning even though that was not what was being said before. Privately I was told not to contradict an admin ever again.
During an event I asked a question on a spell as I did not normally use them, which I stated. The reply from the gm was to ask me if the spell used a follower slot, something I replied I did not know. the response was not to answer my question but to criticize my not knowing the answer. Another player had to answer my question.(this assumption that all players should somehow know everything about uo or played uo before is rather prevalent among many here and other places and I wish some would remember it simply is not the case.)
Most recent problem occurred from the player using some exploit and we had to sit around for hours doing nothing to see if there would be a reset. I admit that I was not happy as it had been a week or so of constant lag and d/c for me and others(from I feel different sources not just some possible server problem) I finally it was gone and I could do more then water plants and chop wood. I didn't want to come back to find myself dead somewhere I had left hours before with no way to do anything about it. After a couple of hours of players coming in and asking what was going on no player felt like answering again. They tole people to check the chat log. I don't remember who it was, but for five or so minutes this person kept asking with no reply so I finally did answer with the same answer as before. I also did include that I really hoped that the person responsible for all this would be named so I could properly thank them. For this I was publicly told by a admin basically to sit down and shut up, and never to speak for the admins again. I along with others had answered questions from other players before. I had never been told this was speaking for the admins before. In point of fact there are many times where if a player did not answer the question it never could be answered.

Perhaps some of these instances were crossed messages, perhaps frayed nerves from dealing with or getting tired of something. My points/problems are this. What is speaking for the admins? As I've been accused publicly of it before for what I feel was simply answering another question from a player that no one else would I would like clarification. If a admin appears to be flatly stating something wrong shouldn't we question this? If you respond with the codex or other stated rules is that considered speaking for admins? If there is a question especially for an event should not the players be encouraged to ask questions if they do not know? I've read several times where players are told or reminded what they are expected to do or reminded of what is required of them, I do not recall once seeing what are the requirements of people as admins, and don't get me wrong or think I somehow am going after them. One of the admins who did several of the above I voted for this month. I simply see a string of situations that I feel is inappropriate or at least require a clear definition.

I've used the word I several times as I can only speak for myself. I try not to break rules, I try to be helpful, I want to have it explained to me what I did wrong when I am accused and I want to have a chance to defend myself. I answer questions if I feel I have the right answer, I try to make my points clearly to others, I also understand I do not always do so. I have pointed players to forums, codex, and admins for answers where I have none, I've tried to find answers or help without using a admin page so others who need it more can get it, and I understand that admins can't always be on to answer. I've not come running in here to complain every time something occurred. Perhaps though that was part of the problem. I don't go looking to go after someone or to get someone else to handle things for me. I don't feel I've done anything wrong in these instances.

You need to make the distinction between admins and staff. Coli and Rayne are admins, they've got final say on stuff. The other GMs/Seers/Staff may not be as aware of certain things as Coli and Rayne.

I personally don't vote for favorite staff member, never have, I'm just not a fan of the premise.

Staff don't always have answers, for that matter admins don't always have the answers. Non-admin staff are just regular players and aren't familiar with everything. Neither admins nor other staff are perfect either. As far as the fishing thing goes... what?

In regards to the vendor stone exploit issue, I know I spent 2-3 hours that afternoon explaining stuff and answering questions just to help out while Rayne and Neptune were trying to deal with the main issue itself. Just dealing directly with the people involved was more than enough to keep 1 person completely busy. As a council member on the shard I do what I can to try and help in those kind of situations. And I'll admit to getting more then a bit short when a few people wandered on and started a bunch of crap about a server wipe or some non-sense that hadn't even been remotely mentioned.

Edit: Grammatical adjustments.

In reguards to the first, not sure if I understand how you mean that but. I was trying not to distinguish between the two. Example for why: I did state only Colibri as someone that I thought held himself to a high standard. Now if I were to turn around and have said that it was another admin that I felt was doing something I felt was not appropriate then I've just targeted Rayne. Not what I wanted to do. I've been for example a forum moderator and been in charge of others and told them and been told that you should always remember you represent the board(or this instance shard) be mindful of that and while enforcing rules remember you are also to follow them. That your behavior should reflect this and you should try to hold yourself above those standards you set for the posters(players). I'm not asking for anyone to go deal with them, I'm posting this in the hopes that if someone reading it (could go for anyone including me) but yes mainly hoping the ones involved would consider their way of handling the situation and in the future try to do differently. Do players need to be singled out publicly? Were the players really doing what you accused them of or are you just letting the situation get to you? No one is perfect which is why I really try not to get to involved in there or here to much but I do feel I try to stay in the boundaries as I understand them. I'd just some people to consider if they do the same.

I don't like favorite, don't see it as helpful. It is however how it was chosen and so I instead use it as who I felt was most helpful. Have to have some way to give positive feedback as sometimes a thank you ingame doesn't seem enough.

Fishing, The codex says you can afk fish period. Gm was paging people and saying it had changed(that was stated first by player then by gm in chat) Player made what I thought was their statement of gm's behave as tyrants "player made a comment about admins changing rules at any time without notice and for any reason" I mentioned to that player that I had just been told that was not how it worked, then how and by who I was told. I then asked the gm when this change was and what other changes were made, also where I could read this and that I was afk fishing near my house. Then was told by gm that the rule hadn't changed yet, but it soon would. Apparently my question or the fact I stated what I had just been told to a player was construed as contradicting a gm(well I didn't say anything else) and I was privately told to not do it again. Point of why I mentioned that was if you see someone giving out clearly wrong information should you not question it? Also if it occurs to often then how can players trust what they are told to be accurate. It leads to either confusion or worse distrust.

As for staff not always having answers. That's part of why I finally decided to do this. Sometimes it's the player who has the answer. After the last time I didn't want to get targeted again so I stopped answering any questions for a while so as to not risk causing a problem. If someone answers a question then is told they are speaking for staff and not to do it again then what, you have to wait till a staff member is on to get an answer? Also won't that coming from someone with the power to jail or ban you lead to the players no longer being helpful to others?

I remember you in there and to be honest it was the first time I can remember seeing you. Also when I found out you were on council. Since you said something I will say you did not seem to be flustered or short to me. Perhaps you made a comment to someone who seemed to offhanded suggest that a gm had something to do with the problem. I know you said nothing when it was mentioned that a player had just quit and perhaps it was their stuff or some "suggestions" on what to do to the person who was responsible. As for Rayne and Neptune, I thought it was just Rayne handling it alone which is why I stopped publicly voicing my worry of coming back to find the possible reset did occur and I was placed back in a dung. and killed. That was also in part why I tried to answer questions with more then just go read the chat logs and was clear in stating"this is the last update we received from her". I and others felt it was only telling players what was the last update even when it was just"there may be a reset, they say they are looking into it, please wait" and not speaking for staff. I still don't see it that way either. That is why I brought that up along with reading a thread telling players how to behave today.

Kile Morgan wrote: My points/problems are this. What is speaking for the admins? As I've been accused publicly of it before for what I feel was simply answering another question from a player that no one else would I would like clarification.

Hail Kile! If your question is about Rayne's number one point in "Disciplinary System- Player do's and dont's", I beleive that you don't have to worrie as it seemed to be entirely directed to me and my behavior on boards and in game.

As I now try to stay away from trouble as much as possible, and that I feel "stigmatized" already (to borrow the word so wisely chosen by Colibri), I will avoid posting on the boards at all cost, because I seem to be unable to avoid to fall in some kind of brawl everytime I post. Possibly my latin "hot blood" origins.

As for in game, I will do my best to be friendly, helpfull and give the new players a chance to adopt this shard by having a friendly attitude with them. And if my blood starts boiling over the acts/words of an other player, I will use ignore button without first saying how I feel about him/her, as I should have done before getting all this attention.

Peace!

In reguards to the first, not sure if I understand how you mean that but. I was trying not to distinguish between the two...

I was more responding to your entire post with my first part. Every time you were talking about staff you said admin, but there are different levels of staff. Admin being at the top and them being Coli and Rayne, below them are GMs, and below them are Seers.

The reason this is worth noting is that Coli and Rayne have extensive knowledge of the game in general and the commands at their disposal. GMs and below have a more limited command set with which they can do things, and may not be as knowledgeable about the game as Coli and Rayne are, they are players volunteering their time and not all players have experience with every segment of the game. For example I know I don't know much about bee keeping because I've never done it.

My comment about being short with someone was directly about a single individual that came in about 30 minutes - 1 hour after the whole thing started that had received a phone call telling them there was going to be a server wipe and decided to log in and raise hell about it(At this point I have no idea who that even was). Other then that I was trying to be helpful, I know for a fact Rayne had her hands full and Neptune was taking care of some extra stuff that were related with the issue. Licos(a player, I think he's on the council too) was helping gather up some stuff that was found. We were just trying to pitch in and do our part to help ease the other 70-100 people that were online through the situation until a resolution was found.

As fingers said the post today was in regards to forum activity, not even so much in-game stuff.

I can't speak for staff but I don't think I've ever seen you doing anything questionable so I'm not sure why you felt you were targeted.

before saying anything else I wish to state this. Normally I'm a bit restrained in commenting in game or in here. Perhaps it's because all the pain killers the stupid doctor who dropped my cast covered leg pumped into me that is driving me to the oh well state i'm feel right now. Safer to be in here then in the game for everyone. I doubt anyone wants to hear me discuss how santa and satan seem to be an anagram etc. Well they do both wear black and red, and have you ever seen both at the same time?

Perhaps I should have just used the word staff. as they are all staff and that way no one other the the one used as an example would know who I meant. I wasn't mentioning commands or anything that wasn't written down, it was more perceived behavior. And yes I could make an even longer winded thread about player behavior including my own but think that was already covered.

Targeted, when someone singles you out by name publicly in chat I can't think of another word to use. You are the target of someone. Really I could have used other examples but since I was not directly involved as with those I used them same as the opposite where I mention how helpful someone was. Oh forgot to mention the only time I've interacted with Osiris was when she explained how to remove an item made by the yard wand. No one else knew how to do it and I really needed to know. So there's another to add to thew first column. Ok so now I did mention a name other then Colibri but I rarely hear anything about her.

Questionable, I have strong opinions. I state them. I also tend to see things in more of a black and white then I used to. That could be seen as questionable. I mean in part I could understand why someone would see me pointing to the codex as being questionable. How repeating something I read was not as much as trying to be helpful and more playing staff. I know my intent but someone else might not. Another reason I did not post anything.

And for some reason I feel right now I have to reply to any reply to me I read.

1. The Gold Scam pt. 1 I would like to advise that as players, there is information you are privy to and information you are not privy to. Whether it is to keep the rumor mill from running full speed or to isolate a problem, it is to our discretion as staff members how much information we give out in certain situations. The way the gold scam was handled was in attempt to avoid a very large revert. It was still not assessed til the very last moment that the revert could be avoided and this was due in part to the players who assisted in returning the gold and items.

2. The Gold Scam pt. 2 There was never a time where an Admin told anyone to sit down and shut up. It was announced multiple times that there were specific people that were the source for information regarding the events that took place. This was to avoid rumors. Despite having specific 'go to' people, others continued to give their "i think a pink elephant crashed the server and now all male chars are being wiped" kind of statements. I do not want to think how much worse it would have been without the order that was set up. Those who would start to discuss the situation or come up with their own version of the events were told to "please take a seat" as there were designated go to people for correct and updated information. I am sorry if you didn't like the ruling but that is how I chose to contain the situation and I would not change that for a moment. And Admin most certainly did not tell anyone to sit down and shut up nor were you or anyone else told "never speak for Admins again."

3. The Gold Scam pt. 3 As a player, you are able to get up and walk away from any server problem that occurs, returning at your convenience. As staff, specifically Admin, we do not get such luxury. My entire day was spent containing/isolating/investigating said situation, and this is not the only time where a situation has occurred and an entire day is spent involved in the problem. The list of things to review/check/contain on that specific day was endless. I believe that +Osiris was also up until the following morning in his time zone assisting me where he could. +Colibri also was up quite late even though he needed to sleep in preparation for a very important day to follow. Also +Neptune, who was on standby in case we needed his assistance.

4. Players For Answers We always recommend and promote asking players about gaming questions (not related to crisis, but everyday events) before paging staff. It is not a 'last resort' to ask a player, rather the 2nd one. (First being one should research the information themselves). A lot of the players hold great information, received over time. Whether from doing research themselves or gathering the information through experience.

5. Unwritten Rules, Concerns and Complaints The fishing situation was discovered to be quite an exploit. We immediately decided to alter the rules on fishing, to be added to the Codex asap. However, this brings up a very good point. Actually two good points.
--a. A player should not advise other players privately or publicly of a rule before a Staff member has announced it. There might be times when one player's action reveal something that we see needs to be changed. That player should not announce anything related to that private conversation.
--b. There are times when a rule has not been updated to Codex, but a staff member advises a player of the rule.
----1. If a GM advises you that your actions are unacceptable, you need to listen to the GM. If you do not agree with the GM you can ask that your situation be reviewed by a Seer. (Meanwhile, you do NOT continue the action in question).
----2. When you speak to a Seer, and he also concludes that your action or situation is unacceptable, yet you are still questioning the situation, then you may ask that your case be seen by an Admin (Meanwhile, you do NOT continue the action in question).
----3. When an Admin reviews your case and determines that it is unacceptable, that is it. There is no more questioning or pursuing.
note: if an Admin tells you that what you are doing is unacceptable and the rules will be reflecting a change and until so, it is an unwritten rule, you must adhere to the information provided to you. A post will be made by a staff member regarding the change/update.

6. Meetings and Mediation I believe that some of the information provided here was inaccurate or construed. There is quite a lack of factual information. Furthermore, if you have a problem with a specific staff member, then you are to contact Staff to discuss it. Really, this goes for player disputes as well. When you have a complaint or concern, a meeting will be scheduled when we have reviewed the logs. You will be given an option of a time in which to meet and discuss/have mediation about your situation. Whereby at the end of that meeting a decision will be made.

+Rayne

I did not bring that up to say more information should have been given out. I was trying to get to something else which I will go into further detail on.

As I said I paraphrased. The exact statement used to people was to take a seat. In my case it was as I did say to answer a question from someone on what was going on and if there would be a reset they had been asking for five minutes with no reply from anyone. The reply I gave was "waiting to hear if it will happen and such". This was my only reply. It may be more of how I felt at the time it was meant then anything else but there it is. I also know I was not the only one who felt this way at the time about that statement. I was also told not to make any statements, well again I did wait through five min of the question before answering it. I made no other statements as to any reason why this occurred, what would happen or any other sort of odd comments. No one made any sort of announcement at the time of who to go to for answers till later or I would have likely have said nothing.

On fishing it was not a player telling other players, it was a gm. As stated in so far as I was at first involved I only mentioned that I had just had a conversation with a admin about rules changes and that i did not agree with their assessment(already stated what they said twice now). I was clear in what I said was only in to show I did not agree with the assessment of the gm's the player was making and not in what the gm was stating. It was not till after I asked when or where I might find the change and if there were other changes that said gm said it was not implemented yet. It sounds like there was another reason to point that one out as you sit if it wasn't final they should not have started stating it.

On the other now. Perhaps right now I'm taking the long way around the bush. Let me see if I can get there this time. One I understand stress, example is I once felt it when spending 18 hours guarding and distributing relief supplies. Different reason but stress is stress. What I am leading to is I don't go around trying to tell everyone what to do or how to do it. I don't criticize the staff here on a daily basis, in fact I try not to post much or say much in chat. I did leave out some details and paraphrases because I was wanting a discussion and not to go after any one staff member. I did not go back to directly quote what was said in cases as I went with how it appeared or felt. If I was looking to make it a issue where I wanted direct action taken I would have likely did what I did about a request on clarification on the training room. I would have stated exactly what was said and by who so it could be checked out in case or error or problem. Now you mentioned rumor, one was that a gm was involved in what you call a gold scam and I call an exploit. I mentioned a player making a statement to the extent of claiming some gm's were abusing power "admins changing rules at any time without notice and for any reason" which is the closest I will come to an exact quote. Where do such views come from? Some are easily dismissed as they will always distrust people as an example. I have apparently felt there was a problem from time to time though. I'm asking that if you're staff and think you may have done something like this to someone or made someone feel that way you consider that in the future. That you consider how you are affected by stress and if you might be in some way seen taking it out on someone or you are misreading what is said or looking at the wrong person saying it. The players have each other and the staff to remind them. Also players already read what standards they are expected to stand to, they do not know what the staff is told. That's all, not I want this or that one dealt with or removed or any other thing except perhaps some discussion between others on this. Even if it's to tell me I'm seeing more then there is and there really isn't a problem as they see it. We discuss other things but not much on that really. Should the only option be to go to Colibri and complain? (sorry but he's the one I usually get answers from so his name always comes to mind first)

One last thing. The last game I left I saw things, little things that had they been looked at early might have changed things. Might have cleared up misunderstandings. Instead they festered and I know I said nothing because I thought it was nothing. It turned to some of the players not trusting the staff, those that did were attacked and either shut up or left. Staff became defensive, in some cases rightly but in some cases overreacted. The place fell apart and is gone for all I know. Perhaps that is what or why I feel as I do but sorry I like it here and that I don't want to watch again without at least saying something. It's all I can do really. Like I said if people disagrees feel free to tell me.

1. A player's view of an authority figure can be scewed very easily, and their feelings as well. This does not make the Staff member at fault. The player could feel this way b/c they have problems with authority, they are not thinking of the shard, have previously offended, etc. This in no way reflects on the Staff member's character, period. (Unless some proof exists to show otherwise).

2. We would not be in the positions we are in if stress could deter self control, Lol. That is just silly. No matter how stressed we may get, we still do things as we should. We however are not here to babysit player's emotions. If you or anyone else wants to accuse staff members of acting out on a stress rampage, you had better have the proof to back that up. I know for myself, I am always in control of what I say and what I do, it's a pet peeve of mine. Everything that I say I have to come to an agreement with myself that I fully and confidently stand by it. We would not be in the positions we are in if we were not able to handle stress.

3. As for the Gold Scam conspiracy, I am speechless, but again, this does not reflect on the staff whatsoever, this was a very odd assumption and should have been laughed off. If some chose to fan this flame then they are also quite silly and are not going to get a response on the matter, as it is so outlandish. And may I add, a rumor.

4. It was said many times during the gold scam that there were designated people to speak with and this was to keep rumors from popping up. If you did not see it, then you could have reviewed the chat logs. Also the designated people were giving information consistently.

5. This shard has been around for a long time and is not going away.

6. Authority is just that. When a Staff member asks you to do something or advises you to do something, then you need to comply. There are some who for the sake of argument will keep PM's coming in, and this is just unacceptable. Again, we would not be in the position if we were not qualified.

7. All the Staff members have different personalities. It seems that I have become the disciplinarian based on the times that incidents occur and I am the only one around. I do not mind this stigma. And if it brings +Colibri into a much kinder light, then that is perfectly fine. I will however tell you that +Colibri backs my decisions. He may not be the one handling the situation at the time, but he is behind me. To have order you must have discipline. To have peace you must have consequence to wrong behavior.

+Rayne

Hello all I just want to say to +Rayne. I for one do not feel you have the Stigma of a disciplinarian. You have never come across that way to me. Just the contrary actually....You have done nothing I have seen that is not in teh best interest of the players.
I for one, am in real life "in charge" of many people and am a disciplinarion....I am afraid that sometimes in this game people just take it way to seriously and alot of people just cant handle rules in general and or change. I deal daily with the stresses of human nature and resistance to authority and change.
Let it all just roll off your shoulders and dont give it a moments thought. You do a great job here!

Sorgon wrote:Hello all I just want to say to +Rayne. I for one do not feel you have the Stigma of a disciplinarian. You have never come across that way to me. Just the contrary actually....You have done nothing I have seen that is not in teh best interest of the players.
I for one, am in real life "in charge" of many people and am a disciplinarion....I am afraid that sometimes in this game people just take it way to seriously and alot of people just cant handle rules in general and or change. I deal daily with the stresses of human nature and resistance to authority and change.
Let it all just roll off your shoulders and dont give it a moments thought. You do a great job here!

I couldn't have said it better. Nothing but positive experiences from this end and I've only wittnessed firmness with players who are being abrasive with staff and other players.

Me too, so far so good.
There's even times when i see people acting up i am wishing a mighty hammer would descend from the heavens and knock some sense into them, hehe Sometimes i think we need firm consequences so people will really stop messing around. Maybe people keep acting up b/c they think the consequence isnt a big deal. Like if someone champ raids or says horrible things in chat or harasses a player and then the punishment is just a 'dont do that' or 1 day in jail, pfft. If i was a little twerp id be like, whatever it was worth the annoyance i inflicted.
I always believe that stiffer punishment is always the best deterrent.

Also just b/c i dont benefit from a decision doesnt mean its the wrong one. Really i think the problem comes with word association. like 'it doesnt make life easier' = its wrong or like 'i pushed him cuz he pushed me' = its right or 'i cant get away with this anymore' = its not fair and 'staff are telling me what i can and cant do' = out of line. This is where the problem really is imo.

I dont know how you staffers do it, i would go bananas with all the politics, lol. You guys give sooooo many chances to peeps. I was on a shard once that was a no tolerance shard and it was like, wow. Someone steals from a player or takes champ goods or says horrid things in chat, doesnt matter if they were there for 6 months, they were outta there. The good thing about that strategy is it keeps people aware that their actions really do have consequence. I really give it up for you guys for being MORE then generous. Just another reason i can respect you all and feel your silent pain at the same time, heh.
<-- (what silent pain looks like)

love,
Llexa

This is quite an extended thread, more of a thesis on the purpose of meaning

In response to the first post:

I don't know which staff member you were dealing with on that occasion, i would need to know more to give an opinion. What i can say is, if you think that a staff member was either rude to you, or was giving false information, you can go up the ranks until you get to me. But well this should be done only in more serious situations.

The fishing problem - well the thing is, although we have already decided on the rule change, it takes me a while to edit the codex (i've upgraded the system for website editing now so it's easier) and at the time i didnt do it right away, so we were already giving out new information with that old one still up there. AFK macroing is disabled mostly because we don't want people to earn lots of gold by just being AFK. I have just changed the codex, and i will post on the excelsior daily about the change. If it's to any comfort, i can tell you that before this shard was founded, I played on a server that actually had no written rules, yet players were still required to know them, hehe. And any rule updates were posted in chat, on random times, so it was very hard to keep up. The fishing rule was not put on properly, but I hope you can forgive the temporary mess.

As for the exploit, i would explain a little but I still owe you all a post explaining a thing or two, which will also be posted on the excelsior daily. One thing to know about reverting is that, if i were to load a revert, i would shrink all of the pets in the world, and also check for any corpses to return items back to the player. So if it's a long enough revert that a large number of people could be harmed from it (for example, were in a dungeon while the world was saving) then i would make everything possible to minimize that damage.


In response to a later post:
We do our best to pick only the best of the candidates for becoming staff. The counselors who then prove worthy, then go on to become GMs. GMs who handle issues properly and display good judgement, go on to become Seers. And then if that person continues to show perfect record while a Seer, they go on to become an Admin. Apart from the 3 admins who founded the shard, there were 4 other admins (1 still is, hehe), and I can confidently say that I don't regret any of them being admins. Fact also is that +Rayne is mostly there during the hours with most people online, where incidents are more likely to occur. I wish i could also be in EST because it would be much better for me to be online at 10pm evening, not at 4am morning, but for now i'm still in europe


I hope that i've addressed the issues, but if i left anything out that you wish explained, please post in an ordered list, much more readable

My apologies, I had the seer/GM backwards.

Now I see what is actually going on, heh, I guess I'm done with lengthy replies to this thread.

As far as staff being involved in any thing shady, Coli has logs of everything staff can and does do so he can and does check stuff.

Coli are you still telling people I'm your play character?

Yes indeed there are logs of almost everything on the shard. I'm not the only one who has access to reading them, however I am the only one who can actually edit or delete them. So if there's ever fear that a staff member will edit the logs to frame you, no need to fear, well except maybe if we had a really good hacker on our team. Also, these logs are very long, especially with the large number of players, so reading them is really as a last resort if we can't piece together and solve the issue on conventional ways.

Hara, lol. Well i would tell that to whoever asked, but after that one time, nobody asked. Or maybe next time someone asks, i will tell them that some other player is actually my player char.