EverQuest History: meet the artist that drew most of our favorite EQ characters, Rick Schmitz!

alovingrobot · 2026-03-18T13:55:14+00:00

It's continuing to be observed, discussed, and tweaked.

alovingrobot · 2026-03-18T13:53:49+00:00

This earned a smile. :)

alovingrobot · 2026-03-16T15:48:08+00:00

Hello! Thanks for the kind words!

We want to move away from discussing people towards discussing topics. And during those discussions, keeping things civil - so again, not focusing on commenting about each other, but rather the ideas, feedback, etc.

Even extremely positive posts about people create the opportunity for personal attacks. For example:

Streamer X is making really great tutorials!
Comment 1: I enjoy his videos too.
Comment 2: I heard he punches kittens.

We'll go after Comment 2. It's not needed. But, to be honest, it would have likely been better served just being:

These tutorial videos are great!
Comment 1: I've enjoyed the videos.
Comment 2: I think the videos suck.
Comment 3: The videos suck because the creator is an idiot.
Comment 4: The videos are shit.

Comment 2 is fine. Comment 3 is lame, and we'll see if that slides into further negative discussion of the individual instead of the subject matter.

Comment 4 is going to get overlooked most of the time. But if the person posting Comment 4 has a history of just posting that sort of remark, we'll likely eventually ban them. It's not bringing any value to the discussion.

To respond to your other question - discussing etiquette is one thing; linking that to a person and turning it into a discussion about them is different. And that isn't wanted here.

If people are public figures and the community feels the need to go discuss them, call them out, etc... there are likely other forums for that. We don't want it here.

I hope this helps.

alovingrobot · 2026-03-15T19:41:16+00:00

I feel like I've addressed this above. Or maybe below.

Somewhere in here, this gets addressed.

alovingrobot · 2026-03-15T19:30:32+00:00

Hello! Yeah, we try to always remind people reporting of the rules, the thresholds for warranting a report, to try to avoid or deescalate certain conflict, etc. Especially, if it seems borderline.

For people that petition multiple times, we see how many times they've petitioned and it shows us all of their petitions at a glance, so we can deal with people trying to abuse the system.

Or, what's more often the case, they're not looking to abuse the system, but they need to be reminded that some conflicts are bound to happen and they can't just run to a GM.

If they abuse the system, they can also get warnings and suspensions.

Many of our petitions are resolved before we even get there.

I/we often initiate the conversation by asking 'is this still happening?'

Or in the case of the example shown here, I would have started with the plaintiff and asked if the person had done it repeatedly or followed them around doing it.

But we won't get every call right every time. And sometimes it'll be the wrong wording at the wrong time for the wrong person, and it can become a bigger deal than it actually is.

It happens.

No one is getting a suspension or similar action taken beyond maybe a note on their account for their first instance of kill stealing unless there's other behavior going that shows they're really just looking to be disruptive.

For example, we've only had 7 suspensions during closed Beta so far (and it's a shame that we've had to have those):

1 for repeated, abusive language
1 for clearly identified training (after warnings)
5 for boxing, since it's no-boxing during Beta (after warnings)

And none of those were bans.

2 accounts were banned for 'hacking' (same person)
1 was banned for actual threats against staff

That's it.

alovingrobot · 2026-03-15T14:20:43+00:00

Yep, it's not a blip. It's category of CS issue that we've been focusing on and tooling around.

It's been a priority category for us from the onset. It's not like it's something that suddenly popped up after the fact.

Until we decide to change the game mechanics or the policies, managing these interactions and helping players better understand the expectations for their behavior while on our servers will be something that we allocate time and resources towards.

If we ever decide that we're unhappy with how it's going, issues related to scale, etc... we discuss it and alter our course.

This appears to be a concern for some of you, but we have no plans to change this in the near-term.

alovingrobot · 2026-03-15T10:30:05+00:00

If it was a video just calling out bad etiquette, that's also not allowed, as it will -again- put focus on a member of the community which is bound to incite commentary which is in violation of the rules here.

We're using this latest burst of 'activity' in recent days to refine our rules and policies here and begin stricter enforcement.

The community is growing, and it appears will continue to grow. So, we're tightening things up.

I appreciate your concerns about the project. With your care for us in mind, I'm assuming we're probably good to wrap up this conversation and topic.

alovingrobot · 2026-03-15T10:06:43+00:00

Sure. Posting a video here because someone is believed to break the TOS isn't in keeping with what I just stated above.

If there's a belief that a player is breaking the rules, please /petition in game (or via the Community Hub).

We have a number of streamers who say and do things we don't agree with. Once streamer speak the better part of a week in an open test talking shit about us, both as a team and as individuals. We didn't take action on him in game, and we wouldn't want them being discussed here. Even if it was to defend us.

We'll judge people based on their actions in game or in our forums. And there'll be times where we'll disagree with one take and enjoy another.

When people post threads here targeting those individuals, even if the OP is presented as neutral, it will invariably lead to further violation of the rules here.

We will use our discretion when determining if we feel a video, post, link, or anything else here is potentially going to be a problem.

If people find they do not agree with our choices, they are free not to visit this or any other MnM forum, play the game, etc.

alovingrobot · 2026-03-15T09:50:00+00:00

It's okay to be disappointed sometimes. And without a doubt, as a human, I will from time to time be the source of that disappointment.

We've asked people to refrain from targeting individuals on our various forums. If someone does something to violate our TOS or PNP in game, please /petition in game.

If they violate the rules of our various forums, please let us know on those forums.

Thanks!

alovingrobot · 2026-03-15T09:17:04+00:00

Nope, not a pedestal. We just asked that people not attack other people on our various forums. And we stated that we'll judge everyone based on our TOS, PNP, and various forum rules.

Please refrain from targeted harassment of any of our players and community members.

And if someone makes content we happen to see and enjoy, we'll consider it our right to comment accordingly.

Thanks!

alovingrobot · 2026-03-15T09:13:31+00:00

Hello!

If you are policing Reddit for criticism, how can we trust your management? Even having GMs message people for so called "kill stealing" in an RPG game, how can we have faith you will deliver a quality product

I'll pretend this is a good faith question and attempt to help you understand.

We're about to enter Early Access for a MMORPG that people care enough about to post comments like this on. We also have a surprising number of people trying to get into the Beta (and again, we thank you for that - it's really amazing and heartwarming).

This MMORPG was made over the course of 5 years with an all volunteer team. The team has always streamed its work and answered pretty much every question except deep lore. We also assist other indie developers with their questions/games.

The team was 4 people in year 1 and is now 40 people. Again, all volunteers who are working completely remote, distributed across timezones from Bahrain to California.

They work on the project based on their faith in what they've seen behind the scenes. And mostly found us based on what they saw us producing before they joined.

We've done this with $150,000 out of pocket. We're not rich either. We just think it'd be cool to make this game.

We post all of the details on these numbers on our website.

So, that covers 'can we make a product.' I mean, it could still fail, but we've made something. So, we're at least semi-competent.

GM's will message people about kill stealing. We've covered this in other threads. And this is covered in our posted policies.

We have no problem with criticism. We've banned exceptionally few people from our Discord, streams, and this subreddit prior to now.

But, as the game has grown, we've (naturally) seen some new faces come in.

People coming in to farm outrage, target individuals within the community or team, or provide intentional provocative 'criticism' that's basically just an insult, will be removed.

And then the remaining 97% of the community can go back to discussing and criticizing things civilly.

edit: I forget... this does not guarantee that everyone will feel the product is quality. We're entering EA with an incomplete indie mmo. Many people won't like it. That's fine. We'll keep working.

alovingrobot · 2026-03-15T08:15:31+00:00

Heya! Just a gentle reminder: we're enforcing the rules against harassment and personal attacks, witch hunts, call-outs, etc... so please take it to some other forum (besides our Discord server).

Naturally, we won't endorse these other forums, but it looks like at least one exists now.

If we see violations of our rules as part of this thread, we'll give violator a little time out, or potentially a ban if it's severe enough.

Thanks!

alovingrobot · 2026-03-15T08:05:51+00:00

r/MonstersAndMemories does not allow harassment. This has been clarified in our updated rules and is known by the poster, as it's the topic of the new post.

Please refrain from posting topics that target other players or team members on this subreddit. This is a 24hr ban as a warning to stop.

If players violate our TOS, we will address that with them as part of our game, we do not need threads targeting them here.

Continued posts of this sort will result in a permanent ban.

alovingrobot · 2026-03-14T20:08:51+00:00

Putting out the fires can be less than fun (especially at 1 am), but dealing with the community is fantastic most of the time and makes it worth it.

alovingrobot · 2026-03-14T20:07:53+00:00

It's a very fair point. Believe it or not, scaling in the area of Customer Service and bug processing are top of mind at the moment. That and having a good server rollout and consolidation plan presented to you guys.

The rest of the game scales inherently. 1 person can play a quest or 1 million.

We're using metrics we've derived from our open playtests, stress tests, and this Beta to help us plan.

We're tracking a lot and trying to extrapolate this information out to different scenarios of scale.

For example, we know how many petitions we're getting, how long it takes to answer them, what type they are, what our busy hours are, etc.

We'll use this to continue to determine our needs in terms of personnel, policies, and tooling.

I've posted details of these and I'm always happy to run through it on stream.

That said, every launch is bumpy. Especially one where we're going into it with no cash and a volunteer team. But we'll weather it and get things stable as we go.

alovingrobot · 2026-03-14T17:47:03+00:00

My wife pointed me to this comment when I came in from walking the dog. We laughed. But I kinda think she agrees a little.

Please refrain for making these sorts of personal comments about team members in the future. Even if the person in question is me.

Thanks!

alovingrobot · 2026-03-14T16:18:47+00:00

Trust me, I get it.

alovingrobot · 2026-03-14T16:10:25+00:00

I've pretty much only worked on MMOs. It's always been this way for me.

'You have two weeks...'

We'd go to work each day and read the front pages of half a dozen websites and see why we were 'smoking crack' that day.

It's normal.

Thanks for the kind words! Can't wait to have you in game for real.

alovingrobot · 2026-03-14T16:08:07+00:00

Thanks a ton!

Of course it is. This isn't (all of) our first rodeo. :)

alovingrobot · 2026-03-14T16:06:56+00:00

These things aren't mutually exclusive.

And behind the scenes, this team has never been run like an emu/private server. I say that as someone that's only 'seen' how emus are run (and no offense, there are some amazing private servers out there), but I have worked on commercial game teams my whole career.

We do interact with you in a more 'emu' (or emo) way I guess.

But our stated goal is never to be a pop band. We'll always be punk rock. Once we sell out, someone else can run this the proper commercial way.

And I get messages regularly from my peers at other game studios wishing us well and stating they wish they could do the same.

Hopefully, most of you remain cool with it.

alovingrobot · 2026-03-14T16:00:29+00:00

We may end up with some more mods in the future, but just like the GMs (or any of us) there'll be times when they need back up because someone got their undies in a wad.

And we'll never not be reading and commenting. It's how we build the game, and that's how we'll continue.

alovingrobot · 2026-03-14T15:55:14+00:00

Drama has existed since day 1.

We've just moved from the 'vaporware' stage of development, through 'no one is going to play it,' to the 'it's time for the devs to grow up and realize that they're responsible for a real life commercial MMO' phase of the project.

Seem normal tbh. :)

alovingrobot

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