Lycus
Legendary AdventureGuide!
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After reading through Lord Barrius's post/s in this topic (I recommend reading them, they certainly explain a lot), and everyone elses responses in Chosen's topic (With LB's responses too), I feel that most people understand what is going on, and is happening. The thing that some people don't understand is the difference between flaming, attacking, etc. and constructive criticism and phrasing things in a way that won't trigger others to be hurt. When posting something, there a few thoughts that you need to give before pressing that 'ok' button. Hopefully here, I can clear up any mis-understanding of what will and won't get you in trouble, and what will and won't be classed as flaming. Each person may/will have a different view on what does and doesn't step over the line, and I hope to be able to make it clear how to guarantee not to go too far.
When you post a reply, it's like ticking the 'I agree' box on the TOS's/Rules every time. By posting your response, you are saying that this post doesn't go against any of the forum/game rules. This doesn't mean you have to have a tab open with these rules open in at all times, but it means it's best to read through them all, and just make sure you understand what each means. If you don't understand one, then Lord Barrius, Cinderella, Ashari or one of the other lovely forum staff will certainly be open for you to ask for more clarification. First and foremost the most important step to following all the rules is actually understanding them.
Now to address the main problem, flaming, and the understanding of that. 'Flaming' can be taken in many different ways, some people are more sensitive than others, and therefore will interpret more posts as flaming, where as others may be more tolerant and don't see as many as flaming. The most important fact is that the forum staff always have the final say, if they feel something is too far, then that's that. This is not because they 'hate you' or because they're idea of fun is hopping topic to topic annoying people by deleting random posts, it is because they want to ensure your safety, and others safety in the forums. They don't want you to be attacked, they don't want you to get hurt or upset, they don't want any one to feel that way. The misconception is that Moderators/AK's are just doing their job, and the have to do what they do. Moderators and AK's don't get paid for doing this, the work is completely voluntary, which means that they choose to do it because they want to, they want to make this community a better place. They work for the of the community, and they have spent time to prove that, that is how they got their positions. People ask why should you respect them? That is why. They want peace, and happiness, they want people to enjoy these forums, for everyone to visit these forums and enjoy the experience, not leave incredibly upset. They believe these things, and took action on these things to improve the conditions for you, and to try to make this place a place where you can show your opinions, without being attacked and flamed by everyone. That to me completely explains why they deserve respect, you may not agree with me, but that is your opinion.
Now on top of that, that doesn't mean that they are the only people that should be respected. Everyone in this forum deserves respect. When you come to this forum you don't want to be treated like dirt do you? You want to be heard, you want to have a voice. So does this mean you shouldn't allow anyone else to have a voice? Absolutely not. Everyone in this forum are in exactly the same position, as Lord Barrius said, whether you've pay £1000 a day, or haven't paid 1p (I'm British), it makes absolutely no difference. Everyone obeys the same set of rules, everyone has the same rights, everyone deserves the same respect. Lord Barrius covered all about 'if your opinions clash', so I won't go over all of that again, because I think he phrased it very well. Though as I said, everyone deserves a voice. This voice can be used in many ways. It can be used as a whisper, to post small posts and not so often, or it can be used as a shout. You could shout your opinion out, which usually sounds like the best option, if you're in a crowd shouting, your going to be the one who is heard. This sounds great 'I'm going to be listened to more than the others, because I'm saying louder', but that's not how it works. Shouting only creates noise, and if you continue to do so, it will become your natural approach to posting. This means when it comes to replying to someone, you shout at them, and when someone shouts at someone, there's usually two main reactions from that other person, and that is they get really upset, or they shout back. This just creates a bad atmosphere, and potentially a lot more noise. By shouting, you're saying that your opinion is more important than other peoples, which may be the case in your mind, but in other peoples minds, you opinion matters exactly the same as everyone elses. As game staff, reading the forum, I know that every single opinion is taken the same, there is only one thing that the weight can vary on and that I will get on to later. On this topic to conclude, shouting creates nothing but issues, and when you shout at people, that's when people get hurt, and feel you are flaming them. Moderators and game staff have the final say on matters, and they are the ones who usually can answer the questions that you ask, if you then tell them that your opinion is more important than theirs, you're right, they're wrong. Then that's when problems start even more so. This isn't to say that Moderators and Game staff are much more important, this refers back to the above paragraph, they have been picked for a reason, and deserve the respect to be listened to, and they are in a position of authority. They are they are the people who can answer your questions the best, because they are in the position of being able to get the information. If you disagree with them, try to sort it out in a PM. At the end of the day, they are the people that you want to listen to your messages, annoying them, or upsetting them will not help either party.
Now here is what I was getting on to when I said some posts carry more weight. This isn't more weight due to respect. Respect is a mutual thing, you give staff and/or other forum members respect, they will give you it back. What goes around, comes around. If you write a message using your voice, that you have a right to, then try to show that you respect what the other person is saying. If you write your response thinking 'I'm right, they're wrong' then that's what the response will say, and in other words, that says, not bothered about what you say, what I say matters more. When you say that, that will come across as shouting (the idea of your opinion being more important than others, aka flaming), which as said earlier, just leads to more problems. Write your messages thinking 'I know where they are coming from, but I think this would also work' or something of the sort, because if you think that way, you will type it up that way. The idea of constructive criticism is that you value the other persons argument, you can show this in multiple ways such as 'I understand what you're saying about ________, I agree with you, but I feel that may be if __________ happened, may be that could work better', because what this shows is that you are listening to what they are saying, you are showing them respect. Respect is a mutual thing, as I said earlier, this means you show that person respect, they most likely will show it in return, this isn't even always due to conscious thinking, your sub-conscience takes in that respect, and will usually automatically make the reply show the same respect, that how humans are hardwired. The other thing that is involved in carrying weigh in your argument is evidence. It's great that you have an opinion, but opinions can sometimes be biased. For example, some people may want achievements for certain things in-game, purely for the reason that they will get more stars if it's implemented. These suggestions that are made just to benefit you as an individual aren't helpful, but sometimes because of a way something is phrased, we interpret it as a self-beneficial suggestion, when you actually made it because you feel it would be good for others. There is also the case of making arguments about problems with things, but then not being able to give examples of these problems. If you can show us where the problem lies, and give us specifics with what the problem is, and may be even tell us how you would fix this problem. This then tells us exactly where to focus, and how you want it to be sorted. It makes it a lot easier for us to read through and pick up suggestions, and it makes it a lot less stressful, which means we'll be likely to visit a lot more often. The posts that are respectful, identify a problem, give examples of it, and may be a solution carry more weight, because we can read them, they are a lot more clear and they don't attack us.
We make mistakes, we're human (this is easy to forget over the internet, but there are humans behind these computers), some things in the game need changing, me, Cinderella, Charfade, Ashari, Wiseman etc. have all admitted that at one time or another. What more do you want us to do? We can't make these things change any faster, I can assure you NightWraith, Hudelf, Charfade and Titan all work extremely hard, and get everything ready as fast as it possibly can, they don't slack off at all, they are extremely hard working people. If we admit some things do need to be changed, then you don't need to argue, because we have admitted we already know there's a problem, we can't possibly do anything, because that means we are already working on a solution. Type up your ideas, and we'd love to read them, but just saying 'dun like dis war, cuz itz rubish init' (worst case scenario post, I know), it doesn't help, it doesn't tell us how to make it better, what your problem is with it, and it shows no respect. It doesn't help you, and it doesn't help us. This is the 'game cycle':
We make releases ---> You tell us respectfully how they could be improved ---> We improve them ---> You get more out of the game because of that ---> Back to the start.
You 'behaving well' and having good forum etiquette helps both of us, you and us. We are fine with opinions, in fact, we love opinions. The more opinions we get, the more knowledge we have on how the players would like things to be improved. It's just telling us in an aggressive manor won't help either of us understand each other, it creates splits between us and you, between you and fellow players, and that just causes problems. If you're really angry, don't post, wait until you're calmer, and in a better mood.
The final thing I would like to say is we do read everything, as a body of staff, at least one of us will have read your post. So if you have a point, please just post it once. If we don't reply to you, then I apologies, but we can't reply to every single forum post. The staff have a document full of suggestions to do with all sorts of stuff, and if you have put your suggestion in a way stated above, so it's easy to understand, chances are, it will added to that doc. If it's added to that doc, it will be considered.
In short:
Use you voice, but do not shout,
Show Respect, and you'll receive respect,
Post constructively and you will have our ears,
Be assured, your suggestions will be read,
All this is in both of our best interests.
I hope that this covers everything, and if you have any questions please ask away, I'll be happy to answer! Thank you once again for reading my long post!
We may all be separate people, but as a community, we are one. We need to show EpicDuel as 'the game' where players and Devs work in near perfect harmony, and together we can make EpicDuel a privalage for all people to play. It will take time, it will take effort, but in the end, if we work as one huge team, the result will most certainly be worth it.
< Message edited by Lycus -- 1/15/2012 17:42:14 >
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