Also, so that none of you get the wrong idea, this is my typical "roaring mouse" routine. I see something I don't like and that I know will be just awful for me and for others, I kvetch and bitch and whine, but do so in that tone that suggests to those who read between the lines that I know the whining is futile. Most of you take it far too seriously for your own good.

If forced to bow down before a new Head DM, I suppose I would do so, but it would really kill a ton of enthusiasm I have and just put me in a bad place.

Penny for your thoughts Disco?

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Guys I play:
Finng Meras
Joshua Steel
Daniel Makie
Celub Elubmiire
Tristan
Len'ionel

I'd never want to force it. I see a trend that is sad when the only "recommended" person I could "report" to was Lally and she left the server to get married not even a few months later, blatantly stating she didn't have time or effort to deal with the stuff anymore. If I went around "reporting" what happened to the rest of you, bitching at you (which admittedly I did a little bit), I just turned into an asshole myself. (As some have done.)

But, the reality is I had a legitimate concern that should've at least been more communicated about before getting punked and shrugged off so casually and dismissively. And so did/do quite a few others. If a Head DM won't help solve that, there has to be something else that could.

I know the feeling. However, even when we had a head DM mind, it wasn't much better. Also, touché Yoss, we have no assholes at the moment. However, that doesn't fix the residual effect they left behind for many players.

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a.k.a. Audrey Zinata

Talk to Glim. In the absence of that, he is your best choice, followed by Nivo. They will ensure that things get done, or at the least, that things get posted. There are plenty of DMs that you can trust to go to to handle things. Ainjyll and Bobo are extremely competent as well. There is one thing you should understand: People told you to go to Lally because she was a convenient excuse to shove everything onto so no one else had to deal with it, as well as the fact that she was the unfortunate volunteer. That was the reality of the situation for much of the time.

That doesn't mean no one else would help, it's just that people most often went to her because she was 'recommended'. I can tell you there are plenty of others to recommend as well. You don't need a recommendation, just find a DM. I can sya with 100% certainty that the current DM team is the best Amia's ever had.

n.b. I saw you were concerned about people "turning into me [sic]", Estara. All your past irritations aside, if people turned into me, I would think you might have more beneifts along with the obvious problems. That said: you have little fear of any of the current DMs turning into pocket tyrants, just like I never did either (and some would disagree, but I assure you, I did not run the DM team with anything close to an iron fist. I didn't run it at all.). There were and is also no shortage of DMs who were willing to 'put my in my place'. Trust me. You don't see it because it was on the DM forums, but were anyone to become as loudmouthed publically as I did, you can bet there are a half dozen topics on teh DM forum about it. There are plenty of DMs available to 'reign in the assholes'. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it wasn't done.

I'm purposefully skirting your situation Estara because I personally find it disingenious to pick at and open the old scar long after it's been resolved, and indeed, to do it after I'm no longer a DM, implying that you should re open the wound because I'm not there anymore. It's very deceptive, going behind people's backs to do things as soon as a certain person is gone in the hope of getting new results but here you simply do it publically and tear me a new asshole because I'n gone in your posts. I am still part of the community and I'd appreciate you not doing that. I have no 'power'. Don't cling to those old wounds and grudges that were 'caused' by me, because they are dust in the wind, and it's only hurting you to hold onto them like a lifeboat.



I think a lot of you have a gross misconception on what it was like to have a head DM. It was bureaucracy and not micromanagement, but that said: we got about the same done either way because no Head DM envisioned themselves above everyone else. And that's how it should have been. If you insist on using me as the example: I was the "same", when Nekh, and when Cosmikgirl was Head DM as when there was no Head DM. No difference. The rest of the team was the same. The point of the Head DM position was to solve intra DM disputes and break ties more than anything external. It didn't do that and so it ended up being scrapped when Nekhy was gone for quite some time in the hospital. Then we realized for the most part we can solve our problems ourselves.

n.b.2.0, I realize my post differs from Yoss and that's because it's my personal take on teh situation. I hope the DMs don't think I'm being out of line posting this stuff because I think the insight is still nice... plus I'm being trashed by a few folks here and you know how thta gets my hackles up sometimes.



If I had to guess, "Talk less, play more and have fun."

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham

Urr... residual effect? No offense... but I can tell when it's me being talked about. If you're still worried about *me* of all people... well, I dunno what to tell you except 'don't be'.

Ed: And... haha, there's still assholes, trust me, they just don't open heir mouth as loud as I did. And they know I mean this with the best of intentions.

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham

What you did in my specific situation was wrong, whether you'll ever admit it or not, and I didn't bring it up because I want it changed or I'm trying to get any new team to change my situation. Please don't put words in my mouth! I brought it up because situations like that have obviously happened before and may happen again. Your advice sounds like it is the nice way of saying bitch down a few other, just as busy DMs to listen? Sounds like a plan that would be just as successful as the last one, sadly. All you're teaching people is that there's currently no solution and those that are being proffered are ones that have been tried and failed. Noone called the DM Team bad and noone is insinuating that. I firmly agree with you that the DMs up there are great-- and I thought you were too!

Don't worry Tormak, she isn't talking about you.

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Khaldun Menetnashte Khalfani
Victor Wilkinson

^totally not a lie or anything.

Well, Lally was pretty successful while she was there, and the reason I named several DMs is specifically so no one individual would get overloaded.

n.b I don't know if the team has an actual "problem person" picked, I just threw out some names based on my admittedly outdated info.

I mean, in the end, yeah, it is 'bitching', if you want to call it that, but I don't call bringing legitimate problems to the attention of DMs to be bitching. You just need to be ready for the fact that... ur... your problem may only be legitimate in your mind, and you may not get the answer you wanted...



O... my ego strikes again, sorry.

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham

And see, there's the rub. They "may not see it as a concern and may not give you the answer you 'want.'" I'm not sure anyone who has had their ego bruised by the DM Team and feels as if the dichotomy of your forum presence and your In-Game presence is frustrated only about the denial of a request or the putting-off of a plot or whatever.

You seem to think it's the "No." that gets someone upset. Well, that wasn't what got me upset and I'd like for you to have just as much faith in the playerbase as you do in your DM Team, Tormak. I was personally angry about the STYLE of how I had seen it happen and then how it shockingly happened to me. I was really turned off by the disrespect that you personally showed to me and I suppose to Didi and soriano since they named you specifically as well. I would imagine there are more for you, and more for other DMs in the past and even currently. What got me upset was the dichotomy of your presence mixed with your "die-hard attitude" that you felt necessary to give to me when you were the one who got frustrated in the end, at something that wasn't even my fault. So... yeah.

I think it's something that needs to change and I think it's something you personally needed to work on. I'm not being a bitch for saying so. I think it's been a problem and the strange presence you all create for yourselves bought into some poor attitudes in a poor way. I see the potential for assholes up there, just like you do, and can only imagine what they hide behind the curtains. Yossarin especially!

Well, I mean, believe it or not, sometimes people complain about things that aren't actually problems... either because of personal belief issues or because of a number of other things, incomplete info, miscommunication, etc etc etc....

The number of people who will cling to this erroneous beliefs and take them to the grave going so far as to smear people years after the problem has been hashed over and resolved a number of times is staggering.

I'm not getting into a public bitchfest w/ you over your request, sorry. Suffice it to say, and you know quite well, that it was not just me, but quite a few of the DM team, who disapproved and spoke to you. I dislike the representation being given here by you of the situation and I find it pretty deceitful but I don't care to make a spectacle of it when I've said everything dozens of times, as did Lally, Yoss, bobo, ainjyll, gunz, etc etc etc.

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham

Well, the only reason it may even look like a public bitchfest is because you called yourself out on being the one I got upset by. Also, I didn't even bring up my own problem specifically. I mentioned it as something that personally spurred me to leave, possibly forever. Please don't try to twist any of the last few posts of your worrying about your reputation back on me! This would be the reason many people leave instead of feeling okay to bring a problem up, Tormak. I spoke plainly. Please leave it at that.

... I guess 11 pages was a pretty good run.

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Winner of Amia's "Most Ethical Time Traveler" award 2026

Character Portraits!

Both of you getting agitated over it isn't going to 'improve the server'. The team as it is now is fine because they know how to handle requests reasonably and without patronizing people. What I think really needs to happen is that people should get in game and try and improve the quality of roleplay, because the topic is probably going to circle around back to the beginning subject again. Another thing people should think about is not taking IC actions to heart and definitely should think about ignoring people who would seek to incite you out of character over something they did to you IC(because that's just griefing anyways).

Edit: Fixed a really bad typo lolol

Considering Sam and Herial just got RP praise in the roleplay topic today.....



It circled around 4 times already. And yes, that is what needs to happen.

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham

Meh. The topic doesn't need to be locked or any of you to be put off! This is a perfect example of why the current dichotomy of DMship bothers Yoss and fails in my opinion (and in other DMs' opinions as well, perhaps). I think both Tormak and I should be fine with it being evidenced since he came into the topic to talk about it! I spoke to Tormak many times as a friend, when he was both player and DM-side, and I figured when we got into a disagreement that he was obligated by the fact that he was both player and DM, and my friend, to be kind to me as a person even when saying "No." to my face. (I still think he should've been nicer and should still be nicer, but it's not my rule to make!)

However, the DM Team has differing opinions on this, and since they do, Tormak has no obligation to be any way when he was the DM besides to do his job. Neither does any other DM! Therefore, we get to the sticky part, wherein the dichotomy created my assumption that he had to be kind (and where others assume he and other DMs should be), where if he was like Yossarin, and separated himself completely, far less people would be put off by the asshole comments that come out of the mouth because they can't associate it with a friendly person or a personality. Far less people would be bothered because there wouldn't be claims to make at all. He would be totally DM, or totally player.

Yoss can bitch, I can bitch, but the fact of the matter is enough people have to be bothered by these things (and not leave) for it to change. So you all get to choose whether you are or not. I still think it was worth talking about and worth what might be perceived as "bitching."

This is a thread entitled "What happened to Amia?"

Like it or not, DM forum behaviour is a big one of those things. The attitude of many DMs was clear that there was always another player to take the place of one who left because of DM rudeness.

Well, now there isn't, and we're at a point where probably as many people have left because of rude treatment as still remain. The current DM team need to be aware that what players see from their perspective is more important than the amount of work done behind the scenes.

This is shown again by player's nostalgia for Nekh. We want to see a DM team that acts as though we are part of the same community. Disco used to seem to run an open house every summer. I can't remember the thread, but I remember some DMs fairly recently discussing that they would only ever consider meeting with other DMs in real life, never players.

Basically, I'm saying the bedside manner is as important as the medicine in this (very poor) metaphor.

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I'd like to return to the OOC v IC issue, because I think there's a lot of value in what that discussion can bring to plots.



I completely disagree with Yoss' position that OCC is not necessary just because he doesn't take it personally; even an enlightened person can take something personally, especially if their character - which they have invested time and effort into - is being singled out. Whether that is a personal failing or not, it's a truth about human behavior. Being inclusive means having room for as many people as possible, and maintaining strong OOC bonds with people whose characters you are in competition with is as essential to a healthy, supportive RP environment. Think of it like playing in an intramural football league; you need to be friends with people off the pitch so that when you tackle them on the field you both know it's the game, not something personal.

Furthermore, if you are creating plots, things are going to go infinitely smoother if you can get stakeholders in the same room and discuss what each is willing to put on the table. Each 'side' needs to be willing to lose something if they expect to win something, and equally, it's effective to have victory conditions established or else it devolves into random CvC. Having all that set down before the plot begins then frees the players from unnecessary uncertainty and animosity, as well as allowing them to focus their RP towards accomplishing their actual goals.

OOC will always trump IC because we make an OOC decision to play the game. If someone stops having fun, they won't keep playing because IC their character would go on. The same goes for any other interaction.

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You dare mock the Tibbly one, catcherer of drowses?

For once, I fully agree with Tormak's first post about Head DMs and problem solvers. I just PM my problems to whatever DM happens to be online the moment I need them, and trust they either address it personally or post it for the other DMs to consider. Hasn't failed yet.

If you want more clarity you can always appoint some DMs to handle specific areas. It's done a little already, but you could have requests DMs, topic locker DMs (who decide when discussions like this get locked, if they must), PR/announcemnt DMs, lore forum DMs and such. And I'm not saying you should have all of those, but if someone is interested, eager and has the appropriate skills and temperament for a role, they could handle it. It won't work to just delegate jobs to people who aren't interested in them, though. But that's not necessary, it's just one way to organize action without a Head DM. But then again, like Tormak said, the Head DM was never really very relevant outside the DM forums.

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What you can try, is shut down the whole forums for a week or three, and see how the game plays from there.

Nah, that's rather draconic. But I agree that if the people posting here would put that time in playing we wouldn't have to have this thread in the first place.

Just a general positive note: even the nastiest behaviour on this forum is pretty meek compared to 99% what is posted on l'Internetz. I guess part of the problem is that most of you are simply too gentle and fluffy for any forum outside My Little Ponies' Paradise (although I have heard that those kids can be pretty mean about tail colours). But that's no problem either, it makes you so adorable.

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Say 'no' to JSBF!

My little pony paradise is a fucking horrible place filled with retards who believe that rainbow dash is cooler than applejack.

Disco... don't derail the thread

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Jys'zyne Do'larn

Man, this account is over 10 years old. Where do I get my old man beard?

They both suck.

Twilight Sparkle is best. Flutteryshy is just sickly amounts of cute, and Pinky Pie is so squishy and lovable.

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Khaldun Menetnashte Khalfani
Victor Wilkinson

^totally not a lie or anything.

I have never agreed with this guy so much in all my time here.

Except on the part about Pinky Pie. /continuederailment

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@Thanatopsis#6293

This topic needs more Gorn Eyes!

Mostly just me. Others might have casually agreed with my assessment, but I'm the one who stated that. If I wanted to hang around with people pretending to be nice and sociable but really either jockeying for some kind of subconscious favor from me (or just outright trolling me to my face), I would get into politics.

Most of the DM Team, on the other hand, are pretty cool customers. More importantly, none of them are in a position to need or want anything out of me, so RL interaction could be genuine and carefree.

I am aware that such a statement sounds cold and dismissive, as though I think players aren't valuable people. That's not true. It is just that I apply the same results of "OOC conversation" online to hanging out RL: chiefly, that it invites both favoritism and accusations of favoritism.

Which is further why I have the opinions that I do. I really am surprised at how OOC communication between DMs and players is not only being sanctioned but being encouraged in this thread, when that is the very thing that causes and creates the favoritism players are so afraid of. It reads to me like, "I think it is right for you to chat OOC'ly with players, potentially develop good relationships with them that are clearly public in nature, because that is why we're all here, after all, and then should you ever seemingly show favor to that person over me, I will accuse you of favoritism towards that person."

It makes me do a Lewis Black double take head rattle and finger jam.

Of course, your counterargument is, "That isn't fair, we're not like that! We're much more sensible than that!"

Some of you are, sure. That's always a given. But not all of you.

What happened to Amia?

I've not been here as long as most of you, but I'll tell you from my experiences why the people I know have left, and why I don't play near as often as I'd like...

I've had some DMs that are always professional and gracious in their dealings. However, even they are far over-shadowed by the 85% of interactions with the "staff" where players are treated worse than French peasants before the revolution. Someone stated it well earlier, No we don't see what goes on in the DM forum, "behind the scenes". We only see how we are treated on the forum and in-game.

.:THINGS I'VE WITNESSED:.

+ Basic questions eliciting responses which vary from simple rudeness, to outright shreading the inquisitor

+ Months of RP that take place within a DM plot (with direct DM interaction) culminating a "formal" request for a character change which only got the player berated

+ Outright appearance of favortism for certain groups/players (usually those ran by a DM's PC)

* Including seeing multiple "plot updates" in certain areas, while things for other groups that were "approved" over two years ago and wouldn't take 5 mins in the toolset are still not done despite multiple requests/reminders

* Accusations made resulting in a player's ban in a situation that I was personally present for and KNOW didn't happen

+ No clear guidelines of what is "against the rules" in many cases, but players should just KNOW

+ The seeming constant assumption that those damn players are again trying to pull one over on us, when sometimes people just make a mistake, or weren't aware of something

The short of it, Amia is called a player driven world, but it's appearance is actually one of a personal sandbox for a few key players.

.:SUGGESTIONS:.
+ Guidelines and consistency for the DM/staff Team
+ If it's against the server rules/policy, then for grief's sake, put it in the rule's posting
+ Ease up a bit (I said A BIT) on letting the ROLEPLAY determine a character's journey

I see the purpose for the rules, and I'm not saying throw the baby out with the bathwater. But you can use guidelines, rebuild requests, etc, without such a complete strangle-hold.

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Iim'mur'ss - Grandmaster Shadowdancer / Aaralyn - Diplomat / Oleander - Toxic Desert Flower

To clarify, I am not encouraging OOC communication between DM's and players, I'm encouraging OOC communication between players engaged in competitive RP plots. There's good reason to contact DM's ahead of time if you're going to try something, to make sure you're not crossing any lines or stepping on any plots, but otherwise there isn't much fun in scripting out your plots. Establishing ground rules, which is essential when you have actors of equal power (player and player, rather than player and DM), is different from telegraphing every move.

Also, an idea occurred to me while thinking about the idea of appointing certain DM's to certain areas. If there is a DM for a certain area, then plots in that area should go through that DM. If an area doesn't have a DM - like Uhm (I think), or the Delta - then let players have the run of it. Thoughts?

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You dare mock the Tibbly one, catcherer of drowses?

That is effectively how it works now, actually. Though a little prodding and arm twisting is needed to recognize whatever you mean by players having a run at the place.

DMs are human. No faction/city/gang/group, and I don't care what you say, is not in some way OOCly motivated when it comes to who is allowed in, and who shines.

These are simple facts.

Make YOUR RP what is fun for you. Have a good time, and others WILL want to be a part of it. That's a lesson I learned a while ago, from I think Maryn, and that has proven true.

Am I irritated when it seems like, say, my character Bob is kept out of RP based on OOC friendships between Players and DMs being more important?

Yes.

Does it happen in almost every town/village/city around here?

Yup.


Have I managed to have a great time anyway, AND managed to make Bob's path go somewhere I never envisioned, AND made friends despite it?

Yup.

Take a lesson from this. You -can- have a great time on Amia when you let go and let the DMs be the human people they are, with the human tendencies they have. They aren't perfect. They aren't meant to be. If you have a problem, bring it up. If it isn't solved, try looking at it differently.

I was my own worst enemy, for four years. I couldn't log in and have fun because I ended up stewing over what I was 'being denied'. Over slights from the DMs and their 'pet players' that only I saw, and because of it my own attitude drove people away. It was a horrible, selfperpetuating cycle. But who suffered? Me. At my own hand.

Estara, I don't know what happened bettween you and thhe DMs. But I -do- know how it feels to be at your wits' end with these damned people and why doesn't anyone but me SEE?! And I'm sorry that you ever felt that. I won't say you're right or wrong, but I will say that I know how it feels, and I'm sorry.

So if anyone needs a hand in talking shit out, or bitching, or just venting and trying to find a good way to figure things out so you CAN have fun? I'm here. I've been there. I've been the tragic martyr, and the villain, and the persecuted underdog.
I ve done it all, and I want to help keep anyone else from feeling all the bad that I felt for so, so long that just wasn't -necessary-

How will we fix Amia? Together. Or not at all.

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Aly'dra Zau'ana: Priestessish Of Eilistraee
Danika Nefzen: Druid of the Earthmother
Delia Am'Anodel: Paladin of Torm

I typed a few sentences concerning Didi's and Yoss' discussion on the intergration of the dms into the community, and that I agree with Didi that it seems to have a tendency to become less and less so. However, as I typed the first few words in reply to Yoss it sounded so ridicules I decided to just say this: This is a gaming community. The dm positions are not held to the standard of public office and while we should be appreciative for what they do, we should not make too much of them or of who hold them. Whether certain people want to meet or not is completely irrelevant and we are just here to enjoy some nerdy roleplay fun. It would be nice however if the community had a more casual fun atmosphere.

Throughout this topic a lot of the things that were discussed involved ideas and changes players could follow through with and some have begun to do. Yoss made the other topic concerning alt characters and that was a very nice piece of input for the playerbase. Because of that, I hardly think because of that this topic is now making a one-eighty, but is now focusing on the other issues as well, which includes the staff-decisions. I think it is very fair for all to look at the problems, not just a certain part of the community. One of these issues is that the players should be more involved in the world and how it is run. If you ignore the extremes that we can only have a server where all leadership positions are in the hands of players or one server where none of the leadership positions are in the hands of the players, then we quickly notice amia is already between those two extremes.

There are a few locations that are more playerrun than others. There are locations that have almost no player input. The way I would prefer it is the following: The majority of the major leadership positions like the thrones of Wiltun and Kohlingen and the councilor positions of Cordor remain dm controlled, as long as there is an acceptable activity from then if they are needed. This means for instance if the dm team can not manage to run a place properly, it should go over to player control. Anything beneath the highest leaders however should start being entrusted to players. This would allow the world to be more interactive, more player-steered and grant more oppertunities to characters to have a shot of changing the world next to the "all-stars". Just like Nevaeh and Xaviera in Cordor, Avadon in Wiltun, and Yaston and Ulrik in Kohlingen.

This not about being unappreciative towards DMs and their work regarding running cities, but simply that there are timezones, that there are limits to their time and that there are limits how many players one dm can interact with. So delegate so that more players can be involved. I recall in the past of having tried again and again to try to get a npc interaction over weeks that just would not work due to time and timezone issues. In some cases there can be no character delegate with the authority you need like the anoying situation I am facing currently with my character, but in a lot of the cases you can. For just that reason I think it would be worth it, as through that you can involve a far greater portion of the server.

Now if you say the playerbase does not have enough devoted to characters due to their alt-addiction, I'd say I think it is only fair to approach this issue from both sides and not wait until one has done their part so the other can graciously do theirs in turn.

Well, I have a gut feeling that most of this thread will be ignored, and nothing will change. I hope I'm wrong, but I cannot help my feelings.

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Khaldun Menetnashte Khalfani
Victor Wilkinson

^totally not a lie or anything.

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a.k.a. Audrey Zinata

There's an awful lot of suggestions being thrown around and it's hard to keep up. I have a feeling change will be gradual and appear as thoughts generated by this thread are digested by the people upstairs.

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Mathus, Void Apostle of the New Moon

This is what I am waiting for. I want to see the unified direction package that has been worked on for months arrive soon, especially now that they had the additional oppertunity to listen to the community once more after the feedback pms that were asked for a good time ago.

In the words of Billy Bragg

Reform will not come from above!

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Jys'zyne Do'larn

Man, this account is over 10 years old. Where do I get my old man beard?

Eh, nobody even agrees whether something's wrong, what exactly is wrong, and how to fix it. So no, I wouldn't expect many big changes and that's how it should be. Talking about the matter is useful enough, and should inspire people to do their own things. A lot of the issues brought up are something that's been acknowledged long ago, too, and worked on or already resolved. There aren't that many realistic, concrete suggestions that I'd take from this topic.

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... I hope so, yes. And that's no joke. I know it's an unattainable ideal, but it would be mine.

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Say 'no' to JSBF!

It's not the DM's fault.

It is the people who have to win the server, no matter how much metagaming it takes...

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I hated hipsters before hating them was cool.

Parts of it have arrived already, without fanfare. The rest waits for your action, or for us to decide on the technical details of implementation.

I do not mean to be offensive or simply an arse, but purposefully vague statements that place the whole success of supposed changes in the responsibility of the players and absolves the staff from any fault or lack of action does not exactly convince me a whole lot really was done. Especially if the advertised changes should give a unified theme of the server, it seems wrong to now say to the player base with no administrative rights and extreme diversity of thought of what should be done that it is up to you.

Edit: it gives me the feeling that iron is right, that we talk about it but not to expect any big changes. Unlike him though, I do not think that is for the best.

What it should tell you is that not a whole lot of obvious changes were asked for in any strong way. And those.things that were are going to take much longer to be integrated because of the man hours involved.

The majority of people want mission statements and rallying cries. They want a vision to work toward. Most players are too lazy, too detached from events or simply too stupid to gather hints and follow what's going on.

I'm personally quite happy with my newfound purpose, though. And I think too much information about planned IC events will spoil them and affect the way people act. They'll rush to make new PCs or direct their existing ones to where they believe they'll get action. That can be a good thing, but it can also be pretty artificial and forced and throw off the natural course of events.

Without knowing what's going on, it's hard to say what's best. I don't care much for OOC communication either, if the hints can be picked up IC. I'm just pointing out in Phearnun's support that a clear statement to manipulate the masses is what players seem to have wanted with the quoted comments. A direction to adapt to, even if it's partly illusory - I don't really foresee any dramatic turn of direction in any case. That desire is not answered by events in game, insofar as they aren't blatantly obvious to even the thickest new player. Whether or not that desire needs to be answered and how is another matter. It seems somewhat forced to articulate what our common vision should be when the actual steps taken won't be drastic.

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I am trying to force some transparency and blunt honesty here above the so often used vague hinting that often left people dissapointed and change to be wanted. I do not care how "Most players are too lazy, too detached from events or simply too stupid to gather hints and follow what's going on". I simply feel interpretative promises of change that might never truly arrive will only dissapoint a good portion of it, and that will hardly make things better. On the other hand, if the staff simply thinks not much can be done, then it should be said. A unified "vision" of what the server should become was asked for, and Yoss said it was in the works since months. A unified vision people need to figure out and likely will not be able to does not appear to be what I was led to understand.

I have been around since a long time, and the "we are working on it, do not worry and we will do it in our own way on our own time" is not the staff slogan I am most confident in.

The problem is that it seems like you are asking for a sort of timeline. That's not really practical. The Devs and DMs are doing this on their own time, as quickly as they are able do to their real lives. Even if they give a projection, people will get in a huff if they have to stretch the projection longer. It's like with implementing the domains, they only told us once it was almost finished and ready to do.

Unless I'm misreading what you are looking for, Honey, in which case don't mind me!

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Whomst've'll'd'mn't I play:
Salema Nefahri :: A penny for your thots
Zrae'a'stra'fryn :: That which nightmares are made of
Khasir :: From the East a storm is coming

We're actually watching this thread quite closely. :p

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I don't think he's looking for a timeline because the sort of thing he's looking for isn't the sort of thing that can ever have any defined end point. He's advocating seeing more of a "here's the kind of server Amia intends itself to be going forward; here's how the players can help; here's how the DMs will be guiding the rules and plots in that direction," and less of a "here's a list of mechanical changes A, B, and C that will address problems X, Y, and Z by such-and-such a time." It's not a thing that can really ever be said to be accomplished, only a thing that can be worked towards.

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Winner of Amia's "Most Ethical Time Traveler" award 2026

Character Portraits!

What Lizzie said. Also, simple bushbeating statements like "Active and Popular" or "Cool and Fun" will make me a unhappy pony.

All right will have something for you later, Gabe.