king achilles wrote:These questions regarding this matter have already been brought to the attention of the webmaster so he could look into this and evaluate the issues you have brought up. Please do not forget that this is a privately owned website and the webmaster or the admin can update the rules or policies as they see fit. If there had been a different judgment in a past case compared to this one, didn't it occur to you that lackattack or the administrators may have updated how we would deal with certain situations? Maybe some subjects are just too sensitive to discuss openly to the public and our actions speaks louder than our words. I hear your complaints and the faults that you see here which is why I have already forwarded this to the webmaster himself. No system is perfect and there will always be someone out there finding loopholes to criticize or manipulate. Rest assure that we will continue to hold the rules regarding multis and the like.
I know Achilles and that really boils down to the "Lack is a good guy, doing his best!" argument. I agree with that argument, he is a good guy under a lot of strain at present.
But the site has serious problems now. i realise that it always has had and that each new day brings 'the biggest problem ever'.. until tomorrow... but reflect upon the past few months a little.... did you? .. Well done, now tell me we do not have genuine problems in need of address.
These problems need to be dealt with directly but also symbolically in the vehemence of their tone!
Now there is a mistrust of the persona of the site, it is perceived to be inefficient and dubious in character.
Aside from everything else, which we will not address here, the good-will of the public is all but spent. And the commonplace practice of allowing cheats to re-buy and re-buy and re-buy again! adds to the swelling reservoir of mistrust and ill-will.
I was/am in a game with JCKing .. i had no knowledge that he re-bought and changed his name (JesusReigns was it?). Subsequently the questionable moves of others which handed the Cheat the game, were placed under a shadow by his mere presence .. "who am i actually playing here?.. Christ this could feasibly be me and 5 multis using proxy servers!"
Is this problem of perception due to Wickid and HP and Albuquerque!?
A little bit.. but in any PR disaster it is up to the man at the helm to reassure and take dramatic action to redress any semblance of foul-play!
Have we seen this? Not really! Though i did take heart in the creative manner in which Max was banned..... haha look now though! a re-buy and he is 2nd on the scoreboard! No point reset .. nothing of any help to anyone else but the site!
What we have seen is the site persona under serious attack in the past while (it has my good wishes and unyielding offer of support) and it crawling into a ball and hoping the assailant will move on eventually before the attack is fatal. That is likely coupled with Lacks sense that perhaps this shit is not worth it. I empathise with that! but the raison d'etre of this site is the gaming, the rest is simply fanciful distraction. If the faith in who we are playing and what we are playing is lost; the site is lost.
The site will carry-on in the short-term but will it grow or will it shrink to die in the long?
"Bah you exaggerate jim!.. except for a couple of hundred people in the forums who ever knows this crap about multis?"
True enough Jiminy Cricket!! but you must consider the cumulative affects on the whole site from a variety of fundamental changes. This has reached further than the words of a few disgruntled cyber-geek-terrorists and career forum moaners. This infestation is being allowed to grow unchecked and eventually it will be all-consuming.
So the ship needs to be treated for wood-worm! At the moment the site focuses on banning Forum smart-arses because they are an easy and visible target. Their ban also does not breach the contract to play, after-all - forums are an 'added bonus!'
But what really needs to be addressed are the habitual Cheats, Farmers and Blackguards who rub our noses in their misdeeds from the top of the Scoreboards and without sanction!
"Get caught!? Hah it's ok! .. I'll re-buy! hey I'll even change my name so my enemies will play me in their ignorance!.. Suckers! Cheats always prosper!"
Well no doubt these guys only cheat themselves in reality! However the perception is that Cheats are allowed to prosper because it allows the site to prosper!
The cumulative affects are serious!
This ship needs to find a rudder and it needs to plot a course. It also needs to tell the passengers and crew where the bloody hell we are sailing to.. or if we should alight at the next port of call.
I bid you all fair-well!