Out of Character LS Repearling 2/24/12

[Gospel Gestalt]

Hello, everyone! It has recently come to my knowledge that the server situation is going to be reworked.

 

I'll repost the ongoing situation here.

 

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"Hello. This is Producer/Director Yoshida.

 

I am sorry for creating problems for everyone with the World Merge.

In regards to the World Merge specifications that were announced the other day, we have received a large amount of feedback from everyone and I would like to share with you the results of our re-exploration of the specifications. Since this is a forum post, and not the specifications itself, this is more of a concept, but until the official announcement is released, please check over these two posts in regards to the direction of the specifications.

 

â Simple Digestâ 

 

The specification overview is an extremely large amount of text, so I wrote out a brief version. If you just want to get a grasp of the content, then please just read over this post.

 

The foundation of the World Merge will be based on consolidating multiple existing Worlds as below:

 

A + B = New World

 

For both existing Worlds, Linkshells, Friend Lists, and Blacklists will remain intact. The Worlds will be consolidated from the current 18 Worlds into 10 Worlds, which includes a completely new World recommended for players in the EU time zone. The 10 new Worlds will have completely new names.

 

Also, at the same time as the World Merge, we will be temporarily accepting âWorld Transfer applications,â so if you are looking to change to a new World, take this opportunity to do so.

 

In regards to character names and Linkshell names, I have written about the handling of those at the end of the next post, so please check it out."

 

----

 

 

Since we are able to keep our LS's friend/black list's. I will have to schedule a time for the re-pearling of the Out of Character LS so new management can go into effect. I've scheduled for the re-make of the shell to occur on February 24th 2012 at 6:00 P.M. (EST) I will hand out pearls and give members pearling status etc. I'm making this post now to give everyone 11 days notice so everyone can be ready to prepare for the re-pearling operation.

 

I'd like to kindly ask that all current RP LS leaders make a topic on your forums or at least do well to remind your members that the shell will be recreated. I will do my best to send reminders in the last coming days to everyone to try and make sure nobody gets caught by surprise by this.

 

I'd like to thank you all for your cooperation in advance and if you have any questions you are more than welcomed to post them here or PM me if you have any private concerns.

 

PS:

 

I -assume- everyone is going to be staying on this server. That is, unless Yoshi. P in the coming days addresses a specific Server that will be a preferred RP hub - I'm going to be going about things like I stated above. If he does however mention a new Server for us to gather as the RP hub, I will halt this operation and re-think about the re-pearling.

[Ventus Zeruel]

Thanks for the info Gospel, I;ll be sure to mark this on my calender.

[Gospel Gestalt]

Just giving a friendly reminder to everyone that this is still scheduled to take place on Friday, February 24th at 6:00 P.M. at the Quicksand (Leve Hub) in Ul'Dah.

[Gospel Gestalt]

One final to bump to remind people that the Out of Character repearling is today.

 

The Repearling will take place in Ul'dah Adventurer guild (The leve place) at 6:00 P.M. CST (7pm est) (3pm pst)

 

The New shell will be called "Intermission."

 

If you are unable to pick up a pearl at the following time don't worry. I'd like to keep the Out of Character shell active for at least a week, this way we can get everyone into the new shell. So if you're unable to be there at the following time just contact me on the OoC shell or shoot me a /tell and I'll get a pearl to you or get someone in the new shell to pearl you.

 

I'd like to thank everyone for their cooperation and hopefully this shell be able to hold long enough till S/E adds some darn LS control features. If not, we'll just rebuild once more.

[Smiling River]

New name? :cry: To me it seemed like OOC worked partly because of the simple name. I know you can't have two OOC's heh, so I don't know a way around it save for naming it "OOC" (unless there is a 4 letter minimum for LS names) or "Out Of Character II," other than that, maybe you have some good reasons for the name change.

 

I wont be around to pick up a new pearl today, so hopefully we'll get in touch somehow.

[Eva]

I like the new name. It seems to fit with how I use the linkpearl anyway. Like if there's no RP going on at the time or I otherwise need a break from it I toggle the filter and listen in or chatter away a bit. It seems like at any given time there is only a small and oft varying subset of the much larger RP population chatting OOC there anyway. I'm sure there are folks that use it a lot more than I do and the RP is more of an intermission from the OOC, but I think the new name definitely keeps to the spirit of what it is and makes sense for RP.

 

I'll try to pop over to Ul'dah later on at the indicated time for a new pearl. Thanks for doing this Gospel! :cheer:

[Aysun]

This is great but I do hope we put in place some ground rules now that we have repearled. I found mysef today warning fellow RPers before I invited them and I was downright embarrassed by the behavior in the shell.

[Selyne]

I'm not sure if this is the behavior you're talking about Aysun, but...

 

I was a bit shocked to log in today and the first thing I'm met with is lines of green chat from Intermission repeatedly screaming obscenities and f-bombs.

 

I realize I'm new to the LS and am doing little more than lurking (so I apologize if I'm coming off the wrong way by speaking up), but is this kind of chat normal? I know that can be off-putting to some people. It's definitely not what I was expecting.

[Verence]

I was going to ask for a pearl when I found the time to log on sometime this week, but if this is the sort of behavior that is the norm... Forget it, honestly. I'm happy to connect with the larger RP community, but I can't be arsed to suffer perversion, vulgarity, and drama for the sake of a chat. Without respect there can be no meaningful communication - if Intermission cannot self-regulate its radical elements then expect its less extreme ones to not stick around very long... Thus undermining the entire point of the exercise in the first place.

 

Long ramble short: If people don't want to play nice, nobody will want to play with them.

[Smiling River]

Agreeing with Verence as per usual.

 

Not that I am offended by the naughty words, but there is a point where the shell becomes nothing but random chatter about nothing, for a long, long time. (Speaking of /random ). But yes, if there can be more people speaking up (without being made to look like, you know what, I feel that the atmosphere would lend itself to more RP or RP-based discussion rather than random chat spam.

 

That said, I don't really think that there should be any hard set rules made. Just a bit of self-regulation.

[Manari]

I don't usually see too many f-bombs being dropped, but from time to time certain members can tend to get out of hand or become a little overly inappropriate. But it's not really all that bad usually. And if someone tells the people involved to tone it down they normally will comply. Overall I think the LS is a good thing and I'm glad I have it for when my LS isn't active at the moment, since I usually play so late into the night.

[Miyu Asuka]

Agreed, the ammount of profanity is just getting annoying, in the old days when I created the shell I've put up a rule against that kind of thing with a zero-tolerance. I sincerely hope that Gospel didn't change that allong with the name of the shell which was already perfectly fine and simple.

[Gospel Gestalt]

I've been giving friendly warnings over the pearl but please understand I can't be on 24/7 if you want me to step the rules up even more and start temporarly booting members for profanity I am okay with this but keep in mind people will become even more agitated if I start enforcing these rules.

 

As far as I see the only members I've known on the shell to frequently drop the F bomb are Ventus, Leon and Arkine. Now keep in mind these members are RPer's. I will give them a private warning and if this continues I will boot them, but I don't want to hear anyone causing a fit if they are gone. This is what you guys asked for.

 

If there are any other members that I haven't named that are causing problems like this I'd like you to name them here.

 

As I have it now I have things set up as this.

1: Public warning to tone it down.

2: /tell warning to let them know for the sake of keeping things civil for the more sensitive members to keep it down.

3: if still unable to comply I will give one final warning. If they choose to make a scene then I will kick them for atleast 24 hours. Please note that many members have pearling status. I'd appreciate it no one would re-invite whoever is kicked until asking my permission. I will also make a list of who was booted and for what reason. These rules sound harsh but remember this is what you all wanted. I expect you to all comply.

 

I've asked for a list of who's causing trouble, so if someone is causing it aside from the 3 I've stated above then I'd like to see their names mentioned ASAP.

[Merri]

Fair enough. Problem solved.

 

:cactuar:

[Aysun]

It was when the shell became an orgy again and I was told I was the problem, not those discussing said things, that I left. A little bit of self control was all that was needed. Good luck Gospel.

[Gospel Gestalt]

Things are probably going to get alittle hectic in this thread now I think.... But let's try and keep this civil please...

 

I've listened to what people have asked and I made a short list with what I view as the severity of the said person.

 

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Arkine (high): I always get numerous tells about him "trolling" RPers and people often wondering if Arkine RP's at all... The only person I've known to vouch for him is Lyriah. Now from what I've seen. Arkine only RP's maybe 10% of the time. Some wouldn't even consider him an RPer at all.

 

Ventus (Moderate): I'm not -too- concerned with Ventus as I understand he's mostly just abit moody. I know he drops the F-bomb ...alot. From what I've noticed though, He only tends to do this when Arkine is around and sometimes if Endricane is around.

 

Leon (Moderate/high): I understand Leon has been known to ruffle peoples feathers but that's mostly because he's open with his mind... I'll admit I find it crude most of the time but he is also a serious RPer and I take that to note. Also everytime I've asked him to tone it down, he usually does.

 

Endricane (low): Honestly I'm not to worried about Endricane. Like Ventus, I only notice he gets alittle excited when Arkine is around and sometimes with Ventus... Merely saying tone it down is more then enough.

 

Tessa (low): I only bring up Tessa because of her scwabble which led to Aysun leaving... Aysun was well within her right to bring up toning down the chat and instead she was returned with backlash from Tessa along with Arkine telling her to stop moderating... I'm trying to vouch for both sides here but I still feel Aysun was in the right for trying to remind people of the shells purpose... Just because some members don't always talk, doesn't mean they aren't listening. The posts on this topic are a very clear example of that.

 

-------

 

As for now these are the only names that have come to my attention. I will talk to them privately and if I see anything happen. I will sadly have to make an example by booting one... Right now Arkine is highest on the list.

 

I sincerely apologize if this offends anyone or if you are offended by seeing your name used as an example but these were the ones that came to attention. I really don't want to play babysitter and have people going "HE SAID BECAUSE SHE SAID?" stuff, whatever the excuse is, I don't really care. I'm just going by the amount of people who have /telled me privately.

 

With that said. There's the list... I'll go from there.

[Tivahlt]

I'm sad to see that this is becoming an issue. I know I myself tend to swear like a sailor on occasion...but I try not to do it so much that it actively offends others. While I'm not personally bothered by any of the aforementioned folks, I have seen them start up some pretty intense "discussions" that got on a lot of peoples' nerves. If it comes down to it, I understand whatever decision you have to make about the whole thing.

[Gospel Gestalt]

Alright, I talked to the LS this morning and got the opinion on from a lot of kind members. I'm going to post the names and put edits after discussing the matter with the LS

 

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Arkine (LOW): I always get numerous tells about him "trolling" RPers and people often wondering if Arkine RP's at all... The only person I've known to vouch for him is Lyriah. Now from what I've seen. Arkine only RP's maybe 10% of the time. Some wouldn't even consider him an RPer at all.

 

(Edit): After talking with the LS last night, some have voiced that he's actually quite mild, so I'm going to bump him to low for now. I will still have a small talk with him.

 

Ventus (HIGH): I'm not -too- concerned with Ventus as I understand he's mostly just abit moody. I know he drops the F-bomb ...alot. From what I've noticed though, He only tends to do this when Arkine is around and sometimes if Endricane is around.

 

(Edit): I'm actually quite surprised but he seems to be highest of concern. As it stand now he's the highest on the list do to his frequent angry episodes. Most members have stated they feel -very- discouraged when he begins swearing because something didn't go his way and some have stated they feel quite offended by a number of his crude jokes.

 

Leon (HIGH): I understand Leon has been known to ruffle peoples feathers but that's mostly because he's open with his mind... I'll admit I find it crude most of the time but he is also a serious RPer and I take that to note. Also everytime I've asked him to tone it down, he usually does.

 

(Edit): It seems that Leon is second on the most discouraged list. Mostly for the above stated reason. I will talk to him when I can.

 

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So as it stands right now. Ventus and Leon seem to be causing the most issues for everyone. I will talk to them as soon as I can and see if I can manage to get them to act more civil. I'm sure they don't mean to offend anyone, at least I'd hope not. Again, I apologize if your name was listed. I'm only following the voices of the members and tending to their concerns.

[Selyne]

Sent you a PM Gospel.

 

Thank you for stepping up and trying to keep the OOC shell a friendly and comfortable environment for everyone. These matters are never easy.

[Aysun]

What is this pearl? What is it's purpose? What does it represent?

 

This shouldn't be just a social pearl. The purpose of this linkshell was to unite the RP community here on Besaid.

 

When you are in this pearl, you are representing all of us. Everything you say reflects on us as a whole. When we invite new RPers, you know what they see? F-bombs and constant sex talk.

 

THAT is my problem with the behavior in the LS lately. That is why I left. I don't want to be associated with it, because I am embarrassed and I don't want everyone to think I am like that. When I was inviting new people, I told them to mute the shell, or to please ignore what was happening. Those who are doing these things are dragging /all/ of us through the mud. RPers have a bad reputation as it is, just look at the official forums. We're freaks, or we're all just eRPers. We're being stereotyped over the behavior of a few people.

 

I have blacklisted people in our own community now. I never wanted to do that, because I didn't want to ever exclude someone ICly because of OOC behavior. Now, I am ignoring people completely IC because of this, because they are promoting a stereotype of RPers that I do not want to be associated with. Because they are too inconsiderate to think about others and the community. I will not be RPing with these people, and I will be encouraging others to not RP with them either, because until they learn to keep it private and stop basically slandering the RP community as a whole, I don't think they should deserve it.

 

I don't care if you eRP. I don't care if you're a guy playing a girl, or a girl playing a guy. I don't care if you're a futa, or if you're Ifrit's godchild. But when you make those things public (and Intermission is a PUBLIC SHELL--every RPer who wants to be invited will be), that is where the problem arises.

 

The point of all of this.. Have a little self-control. Keep it in your own personal shells, keep it in tells. If this shell is going to succeed this time around, the only way it's going to happen is if we have some sort of ground rules and remember the common goal.

[Gospel Gestalt]

I've already talked to the people which have been deemed as "Bad apples" I understand your frustration but actually to a point you are wrong Aysun. Intermission is nothing more then an OoC shell. Yes, it's used to promote RP and throw out events but it's also just a regular social shell for RPers to just break away and be their real selves for a bit.

 

I fully understand that in a large community shell there are going to be people you will not like and will say things that you may not agree with. I do my best to listen to the concerns of -everyone- and I am doing what I can to take care of the issues at hand. HOWEVER, I am not to going to bow down and cater to the demands of just one person. This is a community shell, it's run by the community, and all I am really is just an enforcer that lays down some rules but I will only enforce those rules once I get the okay from the majority of the shell. Just because I don't like someone, it doesn't give me the right to boot them. I will only do that if they start to become a problem for everyone.

 

I find it sad that there are people telling others to mute the shell but as odd as this is going to sound. But for the past few days this shell has be rather swell. People haven't been swearing like sailors or discussing sex, people have been discussing in game lore, announcing events, mild real life talk and even talking about prepping future RP events. They've just generally been having a good time being their OoC selves.

 

I will say that what I find what Aysun to be doing is just as counter productive as the impact the "Bad Apples" have. You're basically telling RPer's to segregate themselves to an extent by listening to only one side. That is a good way to scar the community, as it leads to people being biased, prejudice and even just out having a worse attitude then they may of had at one time. If you don't have something nice to say, just don't say it all. By trying to be friendly and "warning" people sometimes can have a negative effect on the person giving the warning. I know you are trying to be helpful but with things like that, it's just better to just let those people discover for themselves if they think it's bad or not.

 

I'm beginning to go way off topic so I'm just going to say. I've made the list of the bad apples. I've talked to them, they've seemed to tone it down or just not be online. I will say when they haven't been online, or when they start watching themselves, this shell has been truly wonderful.

 

As for you, Aysun. You are welcomed back to the shell anytime you wish. The shell has actually been very wonderful for the past few days. However, if I can give a small warning. I do not talk ill of you and would appreciate it if in the future instead of telling people to avoid or mute Intermission to instead let them know to just contact me if they feel like someone is giving them trouble.

[Miyu Asuka]

I erp, I am a guy playing a girl, if you wanna judge my character (ic and ooc) on those kind of trivial things, go ahead.

 

The point of this shell when I created it was a NON-DISCRIMINATION shell where ALL rp-ers can join willingly so we can unite the community in one single shell, nothing more nothing less. If I see people disciminating other people, like telling other people beforehand to mute the shell or ignore what's happening before forming their own opinion it makes me angry that I lost my juristiction to isntantly ban those kind of people, as that is what the original rule was: ZERO TOLERANCE!

I made a SINGLE exception for Arkine in the beginning of making the shell as he knows a -lot- of rp-ers and was easy to spread the pearl, he's a guest of honour.

 

I am seriously pissed off on how people judge eachother by absolutely nothing (skin colour, sexual orientation, male playing a girl) It's all the same! It are atributes that shouldn't and DON'T MATTER to YOU in any roleplay you're going to have.

 

STOP JUDGING PEOPLE!

 

Now I really am sorry I gave over the pearl..~

 

PS. Gospel is 100% right, this is a -community- shell, means it's lead by the community itself. We are all grown men and women, if you got an issue, solve it like one.

[Aysun]

These were my experiences in the weeks leading up to my leaving the pearl, and I guess the overall not-just-a-social-shell but having a purpose understanding I was given must just be wrong. All that I said was in no way a shot at you Gospel, but my perspective on what the shell had turned into. I see you attempting now to enforce your rules, and my post was more directed at those whose names you have listed. A reality check maybe, or an explanation of why I and a couple others were so offended by what they did in the pearl, since some did think we shouldn't have been offended.

 

I'm glad to hear things are improving. A lot can happen in a week if you're serious about change, which you are, so I don't doubt that there has been improvement.

 

Mostly I just want them to see it at least for a moment from someone else's view as to why I get so upset over these things. I love this community and support anything to keep it strong. I hope to get some guts and speak to those I've blacklisted to come to an understanding at least.

 

PMS makes me post things that sound nastier than intended, so my apologies for the sheer saltiness of my post.

 

@miyu: I did say that I don't care if that's what you do in my post.

[SamusKnight2K]

I'll just note something... while making it publicly known what you do could have an impact on the community as a whole we need to remember not to turn our backs on our friends either. I don't know, maybe it's just easier for me since I'm not overly affected by some actions. However I strongly agree that things like cursing and sexual innuendo have no place in the linkshell, at all. Smaller LS communities where you're with your friends or like-minded people who don't care about it, there it's perfectly fine if you want to curse up a storm or go graphic with your discussions. But not in Intermission.

 

@Miyu - All due respect Miyu, but stop acting like it revolves all around you. You were part of the problem with the original linkpearl thus why Gospel took over in the first place. The idea you had about bringing the community together was grand, and I commend you on this. But personally, you as a leader of any linkshell, I'd rather not be apart of. I'm sorry.

 

To get back on subject now, I've had very few issues with generally anyone. In fact I often tend to be pretty forgiving despite something somebody does. I'd rather make friends than enemies and it's always been one rule of mine, if you don't enjoy RP, why do it in the first place? All I ask is please remember things we do/say when we RP or go off on one of our discussions over a public linkpearl like Intermission represent more than ourselves. While we certainly don't represent all the RP on Besaid (Soon to be Balmung now.) in the community it paints a general view that can affect everyone. Sadly though it's more or less a stereotype we cannot get away from. What you do in private is fine, and it's fine to admit if you're a guy playing a girl, or if you eRP, none of that matters. What matters is when you go into random discussions like this throwing around innuendo or swearing constantly. I think I'm getting a little off track... So yeah, do what you do Gospel and keep on being you Gospel! :cheer:

 

*wanders off into random obscurity*

[Kylin]

I was hesitant to post this but I figured it was probably healthier for people to be upfront and honest if concepts like this are ever to fully reach their full potentialâ¦

 

I wonât comment too much on the f-bombs, sex chat, etc, because I didnât really see it /that/ often (though being afk and spending 8 hours a day working on the new site is possibly the reason for that). However, I do agree with Aysunâs primary points. We all represent the RP community in everything we do. If someone wants to ERP or do some outrageous RP, more power to them. Itâs 100% their right to do so. Just donât do it in public (Market Wards includedâ¦). Weâve had discussions on this on these very forums before. Some may not care what the non-Rpers think of them, but a good chunk of this community DOES care. Granted, there are some RP haters and trolls who will forever be beyond reason. But thatâs not the point. The RP community has a reputation to uphold to other communities. Some of us have been using multiple behind-the-scenes strategies to expand the RP community. Those strategies can hit brick walls when others unknowingly ruin it through their public antics. Not only that, but it causes small splinters in the RP community itself, which is what everyone is seeing manifest right now. We really can't afford splinters and/or stifling growth right now.

 

Again, I havenât seen too much of the above myself. But I agree with the overall premise of the argument brought forth.

 

Now on to the part I was hesitant to postâ¦I also dropped my Intermission pearl last night. My reason for doing so was completely different though than those who may have left over the above reasoning. After the absolutely abysmal turnout to the excavation event (and its subsequent cancellation as a result), I started to ask myself if these people I shared a shell with were ACTUALLY role-players at all. They liked to -talk- about RP a lot. But when it came to actually participating, it seemed an entirely different story. When you have 20+ Rpers on the shell and only 2 turn out to a unique event that breaks the cliché tavern gathering mold, itâs rather quite devastating (even moreso when 3 of those no-show 20+ are members of the hosting shellâ¦which prompted me to just spare myself a lot of future heartache and dissolve Archavalon early, but thatâs neither here nor there).

 

And itâs not just about this one event either. Iâve seen this happen in a multitude of events. This one was just the breaking point for me and thus is the one Iâm using as an example. Iâve Rped for about 8 or so years now in an MMO setting and Eorzea is the first ever instance where I constantly see the âI canât attend the event because itâs not something my character would doâ excuse. The Rpers Iâve known for years now (who are absolutely [glow=red]phenomenal[/glow] Rpers by the way), donât need an âexcuseâ to go to an IC event. Where thereâs a will, thereâs always been a way. Iâll take Endricane as an example. He sent me a tell that his character had no IC reason to attend and asked if it would make sense for Avalon to hire a bodyguard for Kylin. I responded by saying that Ky wouldnât be at the event, but it would make sense for the excavation team to hire mercenaries for protecting the miners. Within 10 seconds and a mere tell, he had a valid IC reason to attend for his character. I think he deserves applause for actually reaching out and FINDING a reason for his character to be there.

 

Iâm not sure where Iâm actually going with this rant. My point I guess is that I want to be part of a ROLE-PLAY community first and foremost, much like several others Iâve talked to. I donât mind socializing with fellow Rpers in an OOC fashion. But I was under the impression that the OOC shell would be a way to /unite/ the RP community by fostering greater communication, greater event participation, and so on. Perhaps I was wrong in assuming this. If the primary basis behind the shellâs concept is indeed just a social outlet, as it seems to currently be, I personally have no need for it. And as such, Iâm presently dropping my support for it. I may reconsider at a later point in time. Weâll see. But the only reason I even play this game at all is for RP. Everything else (leves, etc), takes a backseat to that for me. When you feel like everyone else has a different view in that area and when you see everyone constantly making excuses as to why they canât attend this or that event, the atmosphere becomes one thatâs difficult to stick around in.

 

One of my purposes with this public storyline was to reveal the multitude of RP events we as a community were capable of that didnât follow the same old format every single time. After this event, Toto-Rak and a primal fight were next in line and could have revealed ways for Rpers to recycle in game content for a myriad of purposes.

 

Anyway, Iâll cut this off now so I can stop rambling . Good luck to Intermission. Hopefully Iâll still see a lot of you around from time to time.