33 réponses à ce sujet

[omen_shepperd]

I wanted to add in to the discussion pertaining to the character playing the dragon trapped in an elf’s body. On the old server I ran a while back the dev team felt it would be a really awesome idea to allow players to assume the identifies of the various demon and devil lords of d&d lore. Personally, I have seen what people will tend to do when given power they should not have. In addition, unfortunately I was outvoted into allowing it, so when over ¾ of the server left due to the actions of one of these people. It was one of many nails driven into the coffin of the server over the year it was up. I realized the impact the situation had way too late to fix it. Therefore, I shut things down and took a step back. I view it this way some people do not mind having nine half dragon/half fiend vampire drow elves hanging out as PC’s. However, if it is something that will break the playability of the game for everyone it is not worth allowing anyone to play. Every server has its own style, so I never get bothered by telling someone with an incompatible style they may find a better server more suited for their tastes elsewhere.
I think time and patience is one of the best ways to find the RP’ers that are more suited to your tastes. Granted some advertising never hurts, just do not overdo it; overexposure can be a major deterrent for me to visit a server. Personally, I would rather play with five good people than to have a full server all day and night long.
As far as posting wall of shame or some other means of announcing troublemakers I feel that airing any form of response to trollish or disruptive behavior is probably not the best way to handle it. I can agree that the community as a group should work together to rid ourselves of such activity. However, posting something relating to this type of situation can cause even more problems for the staff and players of a server and it is probably better to not make announcements to your player base when dealing with such situations. Again, I had this type of situation happen on my former server and through our own mistakes, I can say I have learned to just ban and forget. Players tend to leave servers in conflict with former players/staff. You are better off standing your ground and letting someone continue to behave the way they will. If someone is a rampant PKer on one server, when they are banned from one they will tend to become a PKer on another server. The good honest players make it worth the while to keep on keeping on.

[A_Julian]

There's no magic formula. Serious RPers attract serious RPers.

[Aleron]

I tend to agree, Omen, I prefer a smaller quality group of people to a maxed out server number any day. Speaking as a DM and player, smaller numbers in events especially allow everyone to get a more personalized event and everyone to have their own roles and express themself better I've found over the years.

As for the topic of "airing dirty laundry", I have a hard time saying where I stand tbh. I don't think it is as black and white as most people make it. On one hand, yes, you are bringing these people to everyone else's attention and this is not necessarily nice or right. However, as a player would you prefer honesty? I've seen a lot of servers where the DMs don't tell the players -anything- that goes on and I wouldn't say it is better than the ones that do. Rumours tend to spread and exaggerate on those servers, especially since there is a lack of information of what actually happened and all word of mouth. If the DMs aren't allowed to give their side and reasons...then it tends to perhaps be coloured worse than it is.

It's a topic that I imagine comes up for every server. I'm not sure if there is a definite right answer for it either. Everyone will do what they think is best and everyone will have their own opinion of what that is exactly.

[Fellanor]

Another entertaining thread. Pretty funny watching a thread derail utterly, one must admit.

On topic, just a minor note:

I'm not necessarily sure serious RPers want skill checks for everything. Yes, apply them when it makes sense to, but I've seen people roll for the most trivial things and it stagnates RP and kinda ticks people off.

[FireWraith]

My basic theory is that it's a balance between:
-What the player wants to play
and
-The degree to which it strains the setting

Every server will have to find a balance to this.  I've seen servers that allowed just about anything short of "I'm a God", and I've seen servers that banned everything except the basic races.  My own preference is to try and help the player have the character concept they want, so long as it doesn't render the setting unbelievable to others.  This can vary with the setting of course... For instance, in a setting in Arabel in the Forgotten Realms might be far more lenient for planetouched (aasimar, tiefling, genasi) due to the presence of a gate to the World Serpent Inn (and thus the Planes), than it would be for Half-Orcs, due to a general hatred of orcbloods by the inhabitants of the city following its sacking by invading Orcs a few years back.  On the other hand, a server set in Menzoberranzan might allow drow, duergar, and a few others, with half-orcs and humans somewhat restricted, and such.

What the server I help run does is to require applications for anything but standard and standard variant races, and we then work to try and ascertain whether the player has a solid grounding in what they want to portray (such as, actually has an idea what Drow are like, and not just Yet Another Drizz't Clone), how it will fit into the server, problems the character can run into, limitations, and so on.  If we see problems, we'll suggest how they might be fixed or minimized.  If we run across someone who's just logged in with a crazy background description (the aforementioned dragon in an elf's body), we pull them aside and politely explain that such concepts need approval, and that they can't play the character as such without it.

Bottom line, I'd say to figure out where the line for "anyone can play this" and "this can be played by approved request only."  Try to be as open and even-handed about the process as you can, and about where those lines lie, and you'll probably find a good compromise.

[Aleron]

Very well said, FireWraith. Some good points in there. Especially on the parts about straining the setting vs what the player wants. Some servers just won't be a good match up I suppose and people will have differing opinions on where to draw that line.

Thanks for the input!

[Knight_Shield]

Since we're derailing here .I will add ..if you dont like a server build your own or go find one you like.I found one I liked but got banned for running while not in combat.Next 3 servers I would have stayed but they went down.Now I'm building one.

[TSMDude]

FireWraith wrote...

My basic theory is that it's a balance between:
-What the player wants to play
and
-The degree to which it strains the setting

Every server will have to find a balance to this.  I've seen servers that allowed just about anything short of "I'm a God", and I've seen servers that banned everything except the basic races.  My own preference is to try and help the player have the character concept they want, so long as it doesn't render the setting unbelievable to others.  This can vary with the setting of course... For instance, in a setting in Arabel in the Forgotten Realms might be far more lenient for planetouched (aasimar, tiefling, genasi) due to the presence of a gate to the World Serpent Inn (and thus the Planes), than it would be for Half-Orcs, due to a general hatred of orcbloods by the inhabitants of the city following its sacking by invading Orcs a few years back.  On the other hand, a server set in Menzoberranzan might allow drow, duergar, and a few others, with half-orcs and humans somewhat restricted, and such.

What the server I help run does is to require applications for anything but standard and standard variant races, and we then work to try and ascertain whether the player has a solid grounding in what they want to portray (such as, actually has an idea what Drow are like, and not just Yet Another Drizz't Clone), how it will fit into the server, problems the character can run into, limitations, and so on.  If we see problems, we'll suggest how they might be fixed or minimized.  If we run across someone who's just logged in with a crazy background description (the aforementioned dragon in an elf's body), we pull them aside and politely explain that such concepts need approval, and that they can't play the character as such without it.

Bottom line, I'd say to figure out where the line for "anyone can play this" and "this can be played by approved request only."  Try to be as open and even-handed about the process as you can, and about where those lines lie, and you'll probably find a good compromise.

What she said.

[NWN DM]

Advertise for them... knowing that when you do, for every one "serious RPer" you attract and retain, there will be 5+ for whom your vision for the environment doesn't match what they are looking for.