The Mana World Forums

TMW Community,
It has been a long while since I have felt the need to post a rather lengthy post such as the one this is going to become, but I feel a comprehensive, laid-out report is needed to evaluate the situation that many are in constant turmoil about.

Firstly, let me remind the community that there are currently only 6 rules by which the game is governed. I shall list them below:

Well, time to set some rules:
1. Do not abuse other players (it means insults, swearing etc. directed to a particular person/s)
2. No bots (and by botting I mean ANY AFK activity in game).
3. No spamming/flooding (including trade spam).
4. No begging.
5. Speak English on public chat.
6. RFC 1855.

These rules may change in the future, so it is worth to take a look on this thread from time to time.

Regards.

Now, these are the only rules stipulated anywhere in any form of governance. The first possible route to resolve many issues is to setup a clear, easy-to-follow, standardized set of rules from these (included RFC 1855) that applies to TMW. Make it so that a player must agree to them before downloading, and before installing the game. This ensures that any breaking of these rules needs no warning or explanation to the person, since they should have agreed to them and have already been made aware. When making these rules, you need to be within the scope of reason o ensure they are fair, but also do not be afraid, once implemented, to be strict without explanation.

What does this solve? Well it seems that many new “rules” are popping up every which way from lack of administration communication. This enrages players and confuses them, not knowing what is what and never seeing rules anywhere except the forums, which you are not required to sign up for. Place them in a spot where they MUST read them, however if they are ignored upon installation, etc, they have already agreed to them. Case closed, end of story. Problem one solved by a simple step.

Secondly, I agree with some feelings that the Moderators of the game need re-evaluation. Long-time dedication and following rules does not mean that a player is fit to moderate the game in any fashion. While some players are balanced and fair, and are not wrapped up in any sort of “deep” community ties, there are some who are. These people do not meet a requirement of being fair and balanced. It is also wise to take into consideration the personality of potential game moderators. Some may be more aggressive, which is unwise. Some may be too quiet, also unwise. You must have a standard set of guidelines to evaluate each potential GM the same way. There is no set standard anywhere, as GMs range from one end to the other. You also need to make sure they have time to dedicate to their job. If not, they need to be replaced. You must also take every report of abuse of a GM seriously. It is best to quash these with a proper investigation versus letting them fester and having newcomers possibly think that they will be persecuted by unfair elitist moderators. While it may be a hassle, if you can disprove a claim, you become fairer to the rest of the community.

Thirdly, while camping and other such activities are not perceived as good game-play, they are nonetheless allowed. Everyone must accept that there will be campers and whether you like it or not, they will be camping. Constant harassment of them will not deter them from continuing their actions. It is best to let them know your feelings, voice their actions to the community, and be done with it. Only the community at large can make up their minds about how they feel towards these “players.”

My final thought is that, contrary to my previous belief, a wipe is most certainly needed, only after the previously mentioned problems are dealt with. It is imperative to fix these issues now and not lose the trust of any long-standing community members for the sake of the game, its reputation, and its community.

I hope that none have taken offense; I simply feel this tactfully expresses the issues and anger people have been feeling around here as of late. Thanks for reading.

-Arilious

Arilious wrote:Make it so that a player must agree to them before downloading, and before installing the game.

Our rules are only relevant on our official server. 3rd party servers which are played with the original TMW client may have different rules. That means asking for agreement with the rules when installing or downloading is too early. The only document which says how you may use the TMW client is the GNU General Public License.

The first moment where a player has to agree to the rules is when he connects to the official server. We already have a rules dialog (even in multiple languages) which is shown to every character when it logs in for the first time.

Crush wrote:

Arilious wrote:Make it so that a player must agree to them before downloading, and before installing the game.

Our rules are only relevant on our official server. 3rd party servers which are played with the original TMW client may have different rules. That means asking for agreement with the rules when installing or downloading is too early. The only document which says how you may use the TMW client is the GNU General Public License.

The first moment where a player has to agree to the rules is when he connects to the official server. We already have a rules dialog (even in multiple languages) which is shown to every character when it logs in for the first time.

Something we've been talking about is a client-side dialog that shows when a new account has been made that has the rules and such and they must agree before they can continue.

We could also fix this issue by changing the start position to a new map with a rule NPC and without an exit and the only way to get teleported into the real world is by reading and agreeing to the game rules.

But a rules dialog in the login sequence could be useful when the rules change and thus have to be confirmed again by the player.

One advantage to creating such a map would also allow new players a place to learn how things work. Kind of a training area with dialog or as a tutorial. I didn't know how to do things when I first started playing. If the rules were set up with an NPC, you talk to the NPC and read the rules. If you agree to the rules the NPC gives you the basic weapon you begin with. If you don't agree then you stay in the training area.

Savi wrote:One advantage to creating such a map would also allow new players a place to learn how things work. Kind of a training area with dialog or as a tutorial. I didn't know how to do things when I first started playing. If the rules were set up with an NPC, you talk to the NPC and read the rules. If you agree to the rules the NPC gives you the basic weapon you begin with. If you don't agree then you stay in the training area.

We'll have a training area where you start. But rules should come before you get there.