Phira wrote:From what I have seen, at least in my short time here and reading the logs posted it looks like you are all a very tight little group and feel threatened by new people coming into the group because they might disrupt the flow of how things go. Either consciously or not it seems like you constantly push people away so all that is left is the core group. Those that do stay generally conform to the general theme of the game and the characters in it, which would include but is not limited to the following ; Dark, gloomy, psychotic, mentally unstable, power hungry, arrogant, self centered, self loathing, unhappy and well mostly all that I have seen is a really dark and uninviting atmosphere on the part of the characters so far.
An event that might be meant to be fun and get people to mingle and laugh and be happy is instantly shut down by the grumpy depressed and gloomy mentally unstable characters that most of the people here seem to play. I don't know if it's just because you don't know how to play anything else or because you are so much like your characters that you can't play anything else because you yourself have never known any different. While there is nothing wrong with this, try playing something outside of your comfort zone once in a while you might have even more fun!
Just a thought for the future, when dealing with new players especially ones that don't fit into your normal niche don't make them feel like they are unwelcome by being demeaning or simply being rude. In the case of Azrael a simple statement was honed in on and attacked by everyone rather than just either dismissed or briefly addressed and then dropped. The conversation about it having continued well after the person had already left is petty to say the least.
The case of mark`hudson could have been handled much better than it was in my opinion. Measuring things in pounds of force especially when talking about kinetic energy is just silly and is not how you measure something in applied physics. The measurement of kinetic energy in SI unites is either joules (J) or foot pounds (ft:lb). Here are some common everyday usages of this.
The muzzle velocity of a 5.56 NATO round is 1,300 ft/lbs or 1,700 J.
The kinetic energy of an average car (1600 lbs) traveling at 65MPH has around 232,608 ft/lbs or 315,375 J.
A single stick of dynamite has a rated energy of roughly 2,000,000 ft/lb or 2,700,000 J.
A baseball traveling at 90mph has around 85 ft/lbs or 115 J.
As I was reading what I took from the chat log is that to me is the player (Mark`Hudson) was trying to make what is called an ablative shield, rather than a regenerative or burst shield. An ablative shield is one that can sustain damage, absorb energy, redirect etc up to a certain rating. Once that rating is met or surpassed the shield fails and must be recharged or repaired before being used again, as well as losing either size or over all strength as damage is sustained. If you were to say "Well, that shield could withstand a quarter stick of dynamite before failing." that would give you something to set at. That would be still be high as you could absorb a fast moving car hitting it as well as a barrage of 5.56 rounds (330ish). If you said around 50,000 J that would be around a single magazine of 5.56 rounds which would be perfectly acceptable as a defensive ability, which of course could grow into the future.
Applying real quantifiable numbers to these kinds of situations can avoid all kinds of arguments since the formula for calculating such energies is readily available and an OP/Admin can easily determine by plugging in some numbers if a shield of X strength can withstand Y amount of energy.
The one thing I do have to say about the quote by AnE at the end is this, While I do not know the entire situation nor what kind of conduct was shown by Mark`Hudson before these posts, your comment about his email to you regarding his condition is in my opinion so much worse than Azrael's comment about breaking a cat's leg by throwing it. That said, I don't know you. I don't pretend to, however that comment spoke volumes to me in regards to your character. Regardless of if his claim is true or not you could have handled yourself in a much kinder and professional manner than you did. Being the 'owner' or 'administrator' of a community means you should do everything you can to give yourself and your community a good public image rather than the image you are portraying. If you are content with having a small private group of friends to play with that's great, but don't be surprised or offended when your approach or abrasive nature sends new players heading for the hills.
A suggestion for the admin body as a whole. Currently the forums are designed great, for people that know how to navigate them and are familiar with them. Perhaps creating a separate forum group for unapproved members something like an 'orientation' process should be done, nothing too complex just have an admin dedicated to new players to answer their questions if they have any as well as being in charge of a forum 'school' which would explain certain things such as the setting, character creation, interactions between characters and other such stuff. Make it like an orientation at a university, have a bunch of different topics and a questionnaire at the end to see if you 'passed' or 'failed' your exam to be allowed to start the character creation process.
Just some observations I have made and some opinions/suggestions that I have for everyone to consider. No disrespect is meant nor implied on my part and any that you infer on your own is your business.
Phira's rant
Phira's rant
In case she deletes it.
