To a portion of Magnagora,

There is no reason, ever, that any individual roleplayer should come into this game, be excited for all the possibilities and incredible roleplay opportunity this game has to offer, and then quit because they've been repeatedly shamed and degraded by the established playerbase. They're humiliated, they're bullied, and they're quitting because of it. We're losing new blood and amazing novices because your idea of 'fun' is alienating people.

Yeah, Magnagora is the home of the superbadass, I get it. I've been here longer than most of you have, and treating novices like garbage seems to be a relatively new thing. Until I came back this last time, I have -never- seen a novice mistreated not for doing something wrong, but just for being a serf, for -interacting- instead of grovelling their way underneath the radar, systematically licking boots. Holding the floor down? Yeah, it's funny for five minutes, maybe they even laughed at first. After that? It's humiliating. It's worse when you know you can't leave because if you do, you'll get in trouble. It's demeaning, it's -degrading,- and not just ICly.

There's a fine line between being a super cool militant, caste-society noble and a giant douche. Except there isn't - it's actually a pretty easy line for most people to walk. For those that don't 'get it,' here's a short reference list of things I have seen that you shouldn't do!

DON'T:
o spend upwards of twenty minutes harassing every serf that walks by into playing monkey-on-a-string on threat of death.
o crap on a novice for not rejecting their grace of innocence to defend one of the city planes. If two level fifteens are going to make or break your defense, maybe you should rethink your strategy!
o threaten undeserving people because you can get away with it. Yes, you are CR6. Yes, they are CR1. No, they don't have a voice or anyone to go to to make life hard for you. That isn't a valid excuse. Threatening/killing citizens purely for ego and because you can is lame.

You can hold your position of authority and be respected, if that's -actually- what you're trying to accomplish with your collective reprehensible behavior, simply by showing respect to the players around you. Yes, even a -serf.- Serfs are new players. New players keep the game alive. You can be a super cool badass without hurting the game, go figure. Few enough novices stick around without your e-peen measuring stunts.

I am in no way trying to dissuade the general population from being the Magnagora we all know and love. Snuggling unwilling participants at the Megalith? By all means, lop some heads off. Spitting in the Warlord's face? Cut their tongue out, sew their mouth shut. Threatening death for pointing at someone? Not okay. Seriously, one of these things is not like the other. What I'm saying is, keep in mind that you are creating a toxic environment when you do these things. If these are the just the things I've heard about, the implication that worse things are going on that -no one- hears about appalls me. You should be ashamed. -You know better.-

Man up, grow some respect for your fellows, cultivate an environment people can thrive in. Lowbies should feel relatively safe in their own city, not that some random GM is going to swoop in and DESTROY, DESTROY, DESTROY for thanking someone in a way they don't deem appropriate. Is this really that much to ask?

With love,
Gav

Uncool, Magnagora. We're wanting to grow the playerbase not shrink it.

I hate to be "that guy," but when I made Liok and joined the Ninjakari... everything you just said is exactly why I liked Magnagora. I had a father with little approval and threats of death, and I was in a city where the slaves were poked and prodded. I hate to admit it, but Lusternia (actually, all the IRE games) are not kid-friendly, and won't be. It's not meant to be that way. Don't want to Magnagora-RP? Don't. Don't want to play in a game where racism runs rampant through all the cities/communes, people kill you just for stepping into a territory that doesn't belong to you, or you can't just call the gamer-police or ISSUE ME (Ovid killed me and I didn't do anything! RESPONSE (Sorry, he's payed for too many credits for us to do anything about it - try to get a good RP experience out of it, and stop your belly-aching!), go play MateriaMagica... or WoW. It's cheaper (if you want to be top-tier).

(DISCLAIMER: This post has no disrespect meant. It is not calling anyone a horrible person. If that's the way you take it, bake some cookies, enjoy them with a glass of milk, and watch yourself a little Spongebob.)

There's a difference though, between roleplaying poking and prodding someone and scaring people off by being a jerk.

I mean, if you want to yell at some serf who breathed wrong, fine. But, make sure they know it isn't personal. And yes, I'm sure everyone will say, "If they get that upset over being yelled at we don't need them anyway!"

Well, everyone is wrong. Lusternia needs those people too. Everyone complains that there aren't enough players to go around, well, scaring people off doesn't help. If you want to berate your novices, fine. But send them an OOC tell explaining that it's just the RP of the city and if they can play along with it, they'll make a good name for themselves and move out of that phase. Or, if they don't seem to be able to handle it, recommend they try a different org where the roleplay has a different flavor.

Sure, most people will realize that of course it's just roleplay and of course it's not personal, but there are gonna be folks who don't at first and it's a crappy attitude to say, "Screw those guys if they can't take it!" Because a player who stays is one who has the chance to learn and improve and contribute to the game. One who freaks out and leaves is one who doesn't get to do those things and that's a shame.

As much as you have a point, Kio, I'm afraid you have missed Gavriel's message entirely. The Magnagora we all love is the predatory Empire where Serfs are rats scrambling with their heads held low and the nobles are the rabid wolves that tear at you for looking at them the wrong way. Gavriel knows that and honours it, in fact, I know he is enthralled with that Magnagora and would have it no other way. What you describe has nothing to do with what he is describing unfortunately.

There is roleplaying an asshat noble to enrichment of the game and being an actual asshat to the detriment of the game.

I hope I fall in the former category, never the latter.

I'm curious as to whether or not they're taking what they do OOC? I mean, if Magnagora is supposed to be the city of hard knocks, why don't they treat their underlings like crap? Seems to fit in with the RP. Obviously, as you said, there is a fine line between that and unmitigated harassment.

From my perspective (newbie Hallifaxian Sentinel), the Magnagorans seem really really rowdy, but there are some that are nice. One day we were hunting Spectres on the island in the Inner Sea and a few Mags came up and started harassing me and my friend. They started to attack me when I didn't give them Spectres back (because I couldn't, in three seconds, say "I don't have any spectres"). Luckily, Miss Grench was there and super nice about it. She helped me heal out of what they did and told me to run along, as well as explaining just why we shouldn't be doing that.

Since then, I've been PK'd once on the Water plane, and attacked several times by Mags, but coming from another game with a playerbase much, much worse, this pales in comparison.

All-in-all: I'm not a kid, my RP was only furthered, and it only gave me some goals to look forward to when my character grows up.

EDIT: Come to Hallifax if Mag abuses you. We've got some great people to play with!

As a true newcomer to the game, I have only this to add:

Don't treat me any differently than you would anyone else. If I do something you would kill someone for, kill me. If its your RP to make me dance like a monkey under threat of death, give me some tap dance shoes and play some music. Life's too short to worry about text consequences and embarrassment. I'll never issue you, I'll never use that Avenger thing. Do what you will, lets have some fun.

I will get revenge, though!

The problem with evil orgs in any MMO is that they tend to attract asshats. There's a huge difference between RPing a jerk and actually being one RL that a lot of people seem unable to grasp. Granted some people will like that very harsh style of roleplay, but you're alienating at least as many people as you're attracting by being so merciless towards genuine novices.

Bolded for truth.

Seeking out issues or using avenger; lame and boring. I wanna have RP interaction between my character and her text-enemies. Gonna kill her for killin your ur'dead? AWESOME. Be prepared, though, because unlike most Hallifaxians, she won't let you oppress her!

Or indeed even if said roleplayer was not excited by the possibilities / opportunity.

It can be a difficult line to walk at the margins because people are different and experience is subjective. It goes without saying that whatever your roleplay intentions, if you're making someone's game unplayable or tedious then you shouldn't be; but sometimes at the margins, one person's roleplayed badassery may be interpreted by another as simple OOC dickishness - and in that situation it might sometimes be appropriate to drop your victim an OOC line to check it's all ok.

It's difficult to comment in a vacuum - I haven't noticed anyone treating a city subordinate in an excessively untoward manner of late; I will keep more of a lookout now. But please be considerate in your roleplay.

As a comment, the administration can and will step in if you (or anyone) is attempting to force newbies to reject innocence, for any reason. It's there for a reason.

Ohh more Fain interactions woo?

Or reject their innocence metaphorically.

Yeah, that's right. I've heard all about those "What Magnagora is Like Without Pants" newbie tours. You all are sick, sick people.

What.

Er, yeah, if we find there is RP that is so extreme in terms of bullying/hazing that it's driving players away, we will be forced to take action. And I'm sure no one wants that!

Happy viscantis make the Necromentate smile!

And unhappy Viscanti make the Necromantate's tummy happy?

*makes Magnagoran Serf alt in defiance of all asshat nobles*

EDIT: I wouldn't make Fain angry when it comes to the novices. He has a soft spot for them and will murder all of you.

*adopts you on purpose*

Yeah, we don't let Revan give tours to lil' geomancers any more.

LOL