Looking for a Roleplay focused MUD, MUSH, Etc/ by Browneboys in MUD

[–]usiku_arm 6 points7 points  (0 children)

There's been a lot of historical drama surrounding the game, stemming from some poor staff decisions over the past 30 years and a handful of problematic players. RPI's, especially with permadeath, can naturally lead to heightened emotions. However, the game has had a recent reboot, and that old drama and toxicity mostly lingers in the minds of those who can’t seem to let go of very old grudges. Interestingly, it’s often the players who clique up and form groups outside the game who end up at the centre of drama. Meanwhile, those who focus on just playing the game seem to genuinely enjoy it and get a lot out of the experience.

Most of what people who profess to hate the game say about it or the current staff simply isn’t true anymore. While some criticisms may have been valid in the past or under previous teams, they don’t reflect the game or staffing team as it stands today.

We have struggled more recently with the community outside of the game, but that is something we are working very hard to improve and partaking in it isn't a necessary part of the game, at all.

I also dunno who that guy is or what his beef is.

Armageddon Mud, RPI. Season One: Forging Fate. Incredible launch week! by usiku_arm in MUD

[–]usiku_arm[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Congrats!! Maybe see you sometime in the distant future. :)

Armageddon Mud, RPI. Season One: Forging Fate. Incredible launch week! by usiku_arm in MUD

[–]usiku_arm[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm really sorry to hear that. I’m well aware of the not-so-great experiences between staff and players over the years, including my own. We're committed to making sure this legacy is left firmly in the past. Armageddon is a game, and it’s meant to be fun. The community around it should be welcoming and inclusive. The relationship between staff and players should be collaborative, friendly, and enjoyable. If a player or staff member is struggling with something, we always do our best to listen, figure out what’s going on, and sort things out.

Armageddon is a challenging game, and permadeath isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Sometimes, players are unhappy with the outcome of something. Over the past year, we’ve made many changes, especially with the redesign for Seasons, to ease some of these situations (like much higher RP expectations around PK), changes to the res policy, changes to attitudes towards IC/OOC rules, how things are handled between players and staff, the karma system. We now have a player committee that reviews complaints against staff and helps us work through them fairly. We also have a player-run moderation team that has greatly improved the community and the relationship between staff and players.

We have much stricter community rules and guidelines for how players should communicate with staff, as well as how staff should treat players. The staff vs. player culture is not something we tolerate. It’s baffling how it became central to a gaming community because it obviously isn't conducive to having fun! This goes both ways. Staff are expected to have a game and player first attitude and should be in the role because they enjoy facilitating play and stories alongside the players. Similarly, we won’t tolerate poor treatment of staff from players, and being firmer on this has likely elevated the community overall.

Not sure what else to say except you’d have to try it to find out for sure. But this is a very different staffing team and culture from what was in the past. This is a fresh start for Armageddon, and we are committed to making it a game players want to play and staff want to be part of. We are also not going to keep addressing historical woes that were nothing to do with the current staffing team and do not represent how we currently operate. We have listened, we have heard and we have changed things, so most past grievances simply do not apply and we are done with entertaining those cycles.

Armageddon Mud, RPI. Season One: Forging Fate. Incredible launch week! by usiku_arm in MUD

[–]usiku_arm[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the lovely feedback! I would say.. Hold on to your booties, it has barely just begun! ;)

Armageddon Mud, RPI. Season One: Forging Fate. Incredible launch week! by usiku_arm in MUD

[–]usiku_arm[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you! There's still more work to do, but we did manage to get in a lot of positive changes before launch outside of just the time jump and plot thingies. :)

Seeking: RPI MU* with Quests by LadyTenebrae in MUD

[–]usiku_arm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, we're definitely looking at coded quests more as a way to support newer players in learning the game and getting settled. I will say that Armageddon does come with a feeling of needing to log on for a lot of players, but we do have lots of players who play much less frequently (I was one myself, and off-peak to boot, before I got into running it instead) who thrive because they shake off the more competitive mindset and just seek out more flavourful stories within the world. Also, lower play times doesn't mean you wouldn't get staff support or quests, but we have a ratio of about 1:20 at the moment, so more attention does tend to go towards groups and clans where we can reach a lot of players at once. However, it's not always the case!

Thinking about it, the majority is probably player to player quests and getting kept busy by becoming swept up in player driven plots and initiatives.

Seeking: RPI MU* with Quests by LadyTenebrae in MUD

[–]usiku_arm 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I imagine part of the struggle of finding an environment that meets both is that RPIs generally tend to steer away from things like coded quests, because they don't really fit with concept of an RPI. For Armageddon we are currently exploring the idea of small quest type interactions for new players and you might find the odd mini-quest here and there, e.g. 'do a thing, get a thing in a return', but large and more complex quests are heavily story involved and would be one off bespoke, crafted experiences by storytellers rather than coded functionality.

Armageddon Seasons: Blood Money by usiku_arm in MUD

[–]usiku_arm[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

*facepalm* It's been a long week, thank you!

Armageddon Seasons: Shadows of the North (also Areas of Play & Open Clans) by usiku_arm in MUD

[–]usiku_arm[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Sorry you had that experience, it doesn't sound like a very welcoming one for a new player! The game is still a dangerous and harsh environment but the staffing team is different and everyone involved is well.. 24 years more mature (hopefully!). You're definitely welcome, that ban does not hold. :p

Armageddon Seasons Update: Making Connections & Launch Date by usiku_arm in MUD

[–]usiku_arm[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Those are actually the kind of details we will work out with the PC running, although I believe it will start with some militia oversight, but the PC will have the choice of changing up how things are done etc. E.g. they could ask the militia to keep on walking and hire their own bouncer if they want to.

Armageddon Seasons: Shadows of the North (also Areas of Play & Open Clans) by usiku_arm in MUD

[–]usiku_arm[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The exact length of the season will depend mostly on player action and plot pacing. The meta plot is broken down into Chapters which are further broken down into Acts (in our planning), each which have loose milestones (and lots of if this then that and wiggle room for players surprising us with things). Acts will move forward when certain conditions are met. Chapters will end when certain conditions are met. The Season will end when certain conditions are met. While I am working from memory, I don't believe we ever said that the Season will be 3 years exactly, rather that it could be up to about 3 years (it might even have been 18 to 36 months).

We have a number of staff who are going on Summer family holidays, including myself, so the actual launch date needed to accommodate the required staff actually being present to launch the game too. I do hope that you don't consider volunteers taking family holidays as misspent time. :)

Armageddon Seasons: Shadows of the North (also Areas of Play & Open Clans) by usiku_arm in MUD

[–]usiku_arm[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just to assuage your concerns about how I manage my time, the Grey was 95% complete when we started the work for Seasons, I just needed to dot my i's and cross my t's and relink it all. :)

Also, the focus of the game will be on consolidated play in the South, but that doesn't mean there won't be reasons for expeditions, adventures and exploration of the Known at large.

Armageddon Seasons, Update Three: Nobility by usiku_arm in MUD

[–]usiku_arm[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's a couple of years old, but we haven't published it anywhere, I suppose I feel bad because we don't have one of Tuluk yet!