Do to harassment from a developer, yubaba, the rest of my family have stopped playing this game. Which means my personal ties to this game has reached its end, I simply do not have the time in my life to play anymore. Since, my sister, her partner, and their friends no longer want to be part of this community, because of the harassment, I am forced into accelerating my to do list for this community. I personally don't care if you listen to what I have to say, but trust me, failure to understand these basic things, will destroy this community.
1.) The most important resource for this game is the community. With out the players that play the game, you have nothing but a coded text file on a server in the vast nether of the internet. Developers and admins, may create the hands and feet of this monster, but the community is what gives it the soul. NEVER lose sight of who carries who in this game. (Here is a hint, the developers do not carry the community.)
2.) Power corrupts. In every political system ( and you have a political system), you need to setup a specific hierarchy which each tier is the others keeper. Abuse and harassment from developers, ie yubaba and mad camel, can not be allowed. Once they are allowed to use their power to help their friends and/or harm there enemies, the community will revolt. It has happened in the past and will happen again. A system of internal review and a code of personal conduct needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Simply put, the developers, gms, and admins can not be allowed to insult, troll, harasses, or engage in "personal" fights; the need to be held to a higher standard. If you do not reign in the a behavior of your members, you will never achieve the level of public growth in this community needed for a full out game.
3.) Terms of service. You are providing a service. When you prove a service to a group of people, you need to sit a few legally binding ground rules for that use. Terms of service is these ground rules. They specifically state what behavior is expected out of the community from the group holding power. If you do not set those ground rules, you, the group holding power, are place in a legally damaging position. Without terms of service, anything that is conducted on this server, in this game, and/or between the players in a public place, is considered an act of the community and group holding power. Complicity in a crime (An individual is complicit in a crime if he/she is aware of its occurrence and has the ability to report the crime, but fails to do so.), is considered in most first world countries to be a de-facto accessory to the crime. Talk about blowing up federal buildings, sexual prepositions of possible minors, threatening to kill world leaders, and the hundred so of other "casual" public talk that I have heard from members in this community over the last few years, is just talk, joking, and blowing off steam. But it only takes ONE case in which something bad happens to end up with the group holding power getting their servers seized and real criminal charges drawn up. After all, you just needed to know that a crime could possibly happen to be a de facto accessory to the crime.
4.) The thought police. In relation to number 3, you are going to have to expand the rules of the game to include illegal social behavior. If you do not, I will see this community on 60 minutes (or to catch a predator) in the next few years for the allowed social abuse this game does to it follow members.
5.) Multiboxing, leveling, and game play. You are going to need to limit the ability of clients to connect to the server by using a md5 hash or some other security feature. Failure to do so will continue in the corruption of the game. Level 99 should not be achievable in 8 weeks. It should not be achievable in 8 years. Game play needs to be radically changed. But you guys know this already, it is the how that is going to be the problem.
6.) And this is the most important subject. Please allow every person the right to sit equally at the table and to talk about the problems and advice equally. At no point can communication stop on any level. There needs to be a policy of no stupid ideas, no personal vendettas, and no muting the other players because you disagree with them. EVERYONE has the right to be heard and allowed to voice their opinion. Because as, Doctor Hawkings said,
By muting just one voice in the vast conversation, you are shutting yourself down to the most basic and life changing abilities we has a race could have, the ability to talk and listen. Well that is it. The rest of the stuff I have, you guys will figure out with time.For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk and we learned to listen. Speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible. Mankind's greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn't have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.
For those that I have come to fight with, you where a great enemy and a worthy adversary. You have open my mind, changed my world view, and made me listen. By showing that I am wrong, proving that I am right, or just insisting that there is another point of view, you have made me grow, for the better, as a person. I thank you for standing your ground, for providing your voice, and helping in my personal life way, I am honored to have you be part of my life experience.
For those that I have loved, and I am sure love me. You we have seen it all, haven't we? Cascades of trust, deep pools of pain, and the darkest nights of sorrow. We held on to each other through it all. You all made the game worth playing, and I love you all. And maybe some day the roads we are on will cross again, and we can sit down and talk about the times we where together and the times we where apart. I will not say good bye, because I am sure we will meet again some sunny day.
Until that day, I will just say, good luck, travel well.
Rain.