Staff should not play here

​

When I first heard of UO:R I, like most people, went to uorenaissance.com to see what it had to offer. The description of the shard, right on the landing page, stated clearly that it was operated by “experienced staff, that do not play here”.

There is a reason why that statement is the opener for the shard’s broader description: the potential for corruption should be avoided at all costs, as it will eventually doom any endeavour. That declaration gave me confidence in the leadership and direction of the shard, for surely the founders considered and desired to prevent the pernicious effects of having staff that could benefit from their involvement in operations.

I recognize that the state of the shard today differs from what it was when that description was written. My understanding is that there are far fewer “staff” than before, with much more responsibility falling instead to “volunteers”. Their contributions can indeed be quite meaningful to the shard and should be celebrated accordingly.

It must be noted that with hatred permeating this community, this thread is certain to needlessly drag @Quick into the fray and for that I am sorry. But this discussion is overdue and cannot tolerate being held hostage any longer. The same group that will inevitably come to trash this thread will almost assuredly seek to denigrate him, his contributions, and his associations. Quick has been wholly transparent in his work (it’s open source) and contributions to the shard (literally game changing), benefiting not just UO:R but the larger UO community as well. He has no in-game powers and his Staff badge on this forum is an inaccurate label which should be changed. You won’t find any evidence of him pushing his name, his guild, or raiding anyone else’s harrowers either.

Demonstrative harm is being inflicted on the shard by the current status quo and I feel compelled to bring attention to it. The fact of the matter is that there exists an active player who also has access to special in-game powers. This is plainly antithetical to the stated ideals of the shard.

Those robes look awfully familiar...​

Credit where credit is due: @Keza’s content is very much appreciated and a boon for the shard. It is not my desire to detract from that in any way. The issue at hand here is principally with the fact that he has powers not available to regular players, while also playing here.

Whether or not there is active abuse of these powers, the mere perception of the capability creates a problem with player confidence in the system. This community needs to be asking why the appearance of impropriety should be tolerated. To be clear: I’m not saying staff actively demonstrate favoritism, I’m saying the perception itself is a problem.

Do all volunteers have the ability to see hidden toons?​

There is actually a more subtle advantage being gained here though and someone needs to speak truth to power: Keza’s events are essentially a recruitment tool seeking to gain undue influence for P’S and ultimately PwN. A veneer of content is being used to conceal what amounts to a recruitment pipeline.

​

The idea is that at minimum, name recognition and exposure bolsters the reputation of himself, his guilds, and his associates; perpetuating their hegemony over the shard. Name recognition is extremely powerful and it alone can lend itself to politicking for associated groups. It begs the question: even if none of the aforementioned hypotheticals are occurring, why isn’t an alias being used?

The answer is insidious: the same group of people that have dominated the shard for years now, maybe even from the beginning, have found an admittedly brilliant way to sustain their position.

​

What makes matters worse is that groups tightly coupled with PwN, such as the senior members of P'S and BoW, have dedicated themselves to making life miserable for any new player who hasn't joined P'S, or more to the point, has joined any other non-aligned guild.


All in all: a dedicated recruitment arm competing on an unlevel field, coupled with a tireless griefing machine creates a recipe for one group to maintain their force of numbers in perpetuity and chase off any players that haven’t joined them.

In the past, people like @Nymeria who have called them out on their high-level meta games got their character assassinated and were forced off the shard. I believe it was a member of P’S who even doxxed him (making public his real life identity). They hide behind the guise of helping new players and declaring their desire for competition but their actions speak louder: they want dominion. Anyone who goes against them is attacked from every possible angle. On here, on discord, and through tactics of suppression and griefing in game.

A predictable group will reply and attempt to deny, distract, deflect, or otherwise derail this thread. I have no doubt that this will devolve into an attempted assassination of my character, rather than a genuine discussion of policy and principle. Their goal will be to drag it to Trash Talk. That is not the purpose of this thread. I am trying to foster genuine discussion and so would ask that any moderator address individual comments appropriately, rather than moving the thread itself.

P’S and other guilds with similar charters have a very valuable role to play in the shard’s ecology. They help new players get established and integrated into the community. But they need to do so on a level playing field, not with the weight of a staff member tipping the balance of recruitment by promoting their name and their branded events.

I have genuinely enjoyed my time on this shard. I cannot adequately express my gratitude for the passion, dedication, and work that has gone into this place. Despite my attachment and vested interest in seeing UO:R succeed, I fear that I’m bearing witness to the beginning of the end as we stand upon a slippery slope that has been greased by compromised ideals, rabid hatred, and unchallenged disparity.

Any state has a leadership. More often it throws dust in the eyes and takes advantage of the benefits created by the people under its control. If something threatens him, the state will eliminate the outbreak by any means. We don't have the right to vote? Can't we publish and submit? The only reason is that facts and evidence are being fought mercilessly!

@ Fenrir How much gold do you have in the bank and what's your favorite game template?

Why are the staff playing and the rules say otherwise? Why does the teddy boy and the public's darling see characters lurking? Why doesn't the staff want to explain and OPEN ANSWER?

The deleted topic is not considered by anyone, except for the corrupt officials gathered at the table laughing at us ...

DELETING - AFRAID!!!

Why do these threads keep getting deleted? Seems strange.

I am not staff, but want to explain what my understanding is. There are two main "staff" members, samorite and telamon, They have the full GM powers and can basically do anything. Below them are volunteers such as quick, keza, peace, avery, rezon etc. These people may some additional powers but its very limited. i think some of them might be GM's on test center, or counselors (the dudes that greet new players), but im not really sure exactly what the volunteers do.

Keza and quick are more public with what they do, quick has done alot with designing new areas(amibs), intergrating the classic client and designing a new razor. Keza has sponsored alot of events (with his own earned in game gold) and helped redesign the dungeon lvls.


It depends on how technical you want to get with the rules, only samorite and telamon are staff. samorite and telamon definately don't play. The rest are volunteers. If their help wasn't accepted, we would not have had aloooot of the new fancy stuff we've had the last two years. Volunteers are different from GM's. We've gotten so much new fancy events and toys because of them. I am very very thankfull that they are here and Telamon is taking their help. im definately not gana be one to tell anyone that if you help VOLUNTEER you have to delete all your stuff.

Ultimately these volunteers cant ban you, delete your items, spawn items, etc is my understanding but their help is accepted in a limited and directed fashion.

Yes @Garavar

How many are already there "under consideration" ...

Let them let us publish, then people will discuss and in case of not satisfaction or questions, the staff will explain to us what is happening.

@RavenMagi Yes, you are absolutely right, but we need to publish a topic that is closed and removed by all means. We all love this place.

We are blocked instead of answering, this is strange as well as inappropriate!

I do not believe in this nonsense and it is ridiculous! This is not an answer, it is a punch to the face and a shot to the head.

from what i understood, GMs especially newer aren't supposed to be playing. Trustworthy only. And as long as i don't see custom neon shit specially made for a donation i frankly don't give a rats ass...

I so far dont know any that play and as i said as long as nobody comes out riding a ancient wyrm and shooting fire out their ass's, i think its all good..

Whats the problem here!

The post with the potential problem was deleted... which becomes part of the problem.

Fenrir is PeaceApe and will betray you.

Looks like I missed some interesting drama over here while I was busy arguing in that other thread. I think Raven covered it pretty well. From what I understand, these volunteers are extremely limited in what they can do. If there is a question of a volunteer using their "powers" to benefit themselves or their buddies, there is no way Telamon would allow that to occur, or even appear to occur.

I think now there are 2 topics. One being the concern about the fact that the banner on the UOR homepage says that staff doesn't play, the other being that simply bringing up the topic for discussion is apparently censored and deleted.

It gets messy when you consider that the staff being discussed all run in the same group.

There is obviously a difference between a player being considered staff, and a player being a GM.

If you have the ability to delete threads, you are at some capacity staff. If you have the ability to create in game content and items, and see invisible players, etc., you are staff at some capacity.

The fact that merely sharing your concern about the subject gets your post deleted, is pretty crazy.

Who cares that volunteers play? How is that affecting you?

Much prefer them to have an understanding of the game and community rather than make blind choices that player's don't enjoy.

How many times have you implied that Quick has given us some sort of in game advantage? Is this post a fucking joke or are you a retard? Imagine if Quick was deleting your forum posts and posts by your friends. Imagine Quick was removing discord messages and banning your friends. Imagine if quick had in game powers and was raiding your group activities with us. Imagine Quick could spawn in game content and give us a heads up whenever he did so. You would lose your fucking mind. Have a little empathy. You know you would lose your shit so stop acting like you wouldn't.

Find where I've implied any of that.

First, nobody deleted posts. It's in review while Chris is moving so he can address it accordingly.

You being banned from discord is completely separate. Last time I saw you in game you were spamming shit about Landarr. Has nothing to do with volunteers playing.

What volunteer is raiding your stuff?

And what event is Keza giving people time and info about before others?

Or just gonna imagine things?

Considering shit. Posts deleted. A person playing with a gm account will somehow start using it for their own purposes.

In this case, it became a little louder than before, and therefore, to create an impression, the staff will make beautiful eyes and say that the topic has been considered and is not relevant for further consideration. You can create any illusion of topics in the queue. You can write many beautiful posts and go to the shower after using the toilet. But this will not help restore order in any way, because when our posts are removed they remove hope and faith by reaffirming their cheap power.

While the staff and the “buddies” close to them will create the impression of volunteering and work for the good, their dark side will each time interfere with the main, strong and old players on whose shoulders Sosaria is holding at the moment!

An honest one does not remove, an honest one communicates with the people, listens and answers, acts for and helps.