[GSM]

Fine. I'll give my own piece, in my own words. Feel free to twist them to your own devices, but I just don't give a shit anymore.

This is only addressed to the group that wanted to kickstart this change. You know who you are, and I frankly don't need to call names. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you frankly don't need to worry about my post targeting you.

Before any of the admins, etc., get on my case and say that this is inflammatory in nature, I'm intentionally curbing my tongue and censoring the true extent of how I feel just so that I can be heard, as I was meant to be. I am being as civil as I possibly can.
If I need to be warned again, then so be it. I've already caught two from my half-assed meme.

I'm only going to be going over what I believe is worth discussing or talking about, in my own eyes. I'll be starting with Apple's initial post, piece by piece.

It's been... just over four months? Either that or three, it's not entirely clear. But a third of a year already, and the same topic has come up in circles, bringing me to a simple conclusion:

It simply feels like, despite it all, nothing has changed. We had the GM team become more active for a week or two, but now that seems to have fallen away again. Which, inevitably, is a problem, because it doesn't feel at all like we've gone anywhere. Most I hear is a few minor things.

Beyond the droll, corporate tone, which is an overarching theme of this entire post and belying its true nature, I will need to remind anyone at home not a part of the group they're within that this all started because of a collective tantrum within a Discord server, with people of varying opinions all present, melting down about how Dyst was the worst GM because she didn't do anything (???) and didn't respond to their application posts, be it public or private (horribly ironic for people who wanted transparency and enablement, and are now undergoing the same process as anyone else, but in private). It's almost like Ham pointed out; they're human too, and they've got their own lives. 


I agree that the inactivity of the GMs is a problem, but actively bashing a GM behind her back as a collective, and then pretending like you didn't while asking for further reforms is unnecessarily two-faced and sets a bad example, especially for an Event Staff member, regardless of if this is your true intention or if Apple is simply a mouthpiece for the larger group belying the surface (which is more than likely the case).

Let's start with the new application system. To be honest, glancing over it, it's not hard to see who the MVP of that is. Slydria has been pulling a lot of weight in seeing to applications, where there has been quite a lack of other GM input, and in a climate where people are increasingly asking for applications for races, this does feel like it is inevitably going to be unsustainable in it's current state.

While I can't confirm nor deny how much Slydria has been pulling weight, it's an actual hindrance to actively idolize one GM, and leave the rest dead in the water. Other GMs can give their own piece, but this is quite frankly disrespectful and distasteful to the rest of the GM team, especially with the context given above.


All of the applications up to this point have been for things we've needed to seek out approval for in the first place, be it height, age, et cetera. The rest have been for enabling players to do crazier shit with magic or just having a stronger presence within the world, which I don't particularly agree with, but I do appreciate that steps were taken to allow this kind of thing within the game's scope. If only everything was public, like it was called for, from the very beginning, and nothing had to be privately submitted. 

I do agree that some races need application, especially with how large the community has gotten and how many new races have been pushed into apparent strong points in terms of narrative, and the major implications of races being permitted to exist (e.g. Vampire, Dullahan, Lich, the upcoming Amalgama, Reaper and Apertaurus, especially), but it's of my stark opinion that we haven't gotten a race strong enough in the mechanical sense nor the lore sense that it'd actively require applications. The sole reason why I agree that some races need application is that I don't trust a good portion of the player base, neither novice nor veteran, with half of the "strong" narrative choices in race or to treat the race's legacy and lore with dignity and respect.

Just look at the reputation Liches have.

Regarding enforcement - we had a situation where we went days with two people wandering around with names like caramel dansen, and this was brought up in GM-help in the main discord, but only seemed to get any notice when the alleged people themselves showed up in the chat. Now, if this was a more serious offense, imagine that being unattended to?

This is such a needlessly contrived and convoluted reason to say that the GMs don't actively enforce their own rules that it physically pained me to paste this into a quote box. These people were literally not interacting in RP, and weren't bothering anyone, as they had pointed out themselves. Sure, I'd be agreeing if these people were rampantly doing stupid bullshit in the square and/or screaming nonstop about who-the-fuck-knows with distracting icons and names, but this was actually so minor that it's amazing that it's even in this post. 


New players don't actively take everything seriously, and if they wanted to try the game, then whatever, let them have their fun, and then let them make up their minds whether they want to stick around. This is exactly why some new players do not stick around in the community. 

Shoveling blame to the already-present GM team for such a minor thing not even within a few days of it being already being dealt with is seriously fucked up.

And another point to be made. Once again, it does feel like there is not enough outreach in the community from most GMs. People old and new are essentially being told to put their trust in people they may never have talked to, and may never see around whatsoever, and the fault is usually put on us for not doing so, rather than the lack of involvement from the team, which I feel is a wrong way to look at it, too. It's only sure to foster a feeling of distrust towards the team, and a feeling that they're just never there. That is very much problematic, to me.

I cannot get a point from this paragraph other than people are being forced to talk with GMs who they don't know, when... the GMs don't constantly interact with players? It's not their legal obligation, nor their job to interact with players just to have conversations. Their task is to make sure the game is moderated and healthy, and that people are following the rules. Even so, most players can speak with a GM about something for a quick second, be it in the Discord channels proper, or DMs, or the forums, or wherever, and most stuff is short and sweet.

This is another contrived point that I see absolutely no use in being in this discussion. The only reason I'm covering this paragraph is because I want to give my own accurate, concise analysis, instead of saying "yeah I support everything here" and moving on.

We very much need fresh blood on the team. We did then, and since very little has changed, we definitely do now. The amount of people I've seen echo a sentiment of this just not being okay at current is absurd - and though I don't expect anything meaningful to come of this, I might as well try again.

We need more GMs. Really, we do. And since the GM response to the last thread, we've heard nothing on the matter. But we do need them, and we need them to be active members of the community who represent us, and all. I think that this is a super important thing to consider.

Please.

I'd rather the issues with the current GM team be resolved first, THEN we look at new candidates for being a GM. 


I DO agree that new GMs would be a good thing for the game, but you have to be EX-FUCKING-TREMELY careful about who you put up in this thread as a GM recommendation. And with the context of this thread even existing in its current state, I have fair reason to believe there are VERY few actual, worthy candidates that are either in on the creation of this thread or in the group that started this fucking mess to begin with from the first forum post months ago. If you disagree, feel free to prove me wrong by writing an essay in my DMs, be it on the forums or on Discord. I'm fairly easy to find.

The last time we even got new GMs, one of them has already resigned, as Mark has already displayed in this same thread. Are we just going to give the title of Gamemaster to a revolving door cast of people that are already extremely opinionated or extremely biased, or are we going to fix the fundamental issues with the GM team that we currently have, improve from there, and then maybe consider new GMs? Who fucking knows, because it's impossible to read what this community wants half the time.

This last paragraph feels like the only thing that should've been stated from the start, because this is the true intent of the entire thread. Even then, with how blatant of a disrespect this was to the other existing GMs, with Slydria coming forth to explain how being a GM sucks for him specifically, this is a slap in the face to the dedicated community and only feels like repeating points to why someone you like should be a GM and not these people that are inactive from personal issues, or trying to resist burnout from moderating the game for longer than most people have been on the BYOND platform.

Lastly, for anyone that's going to try and argue my points as part of the group that kickstarted either of these two threads, I'm speaking as earnestly and as calmly as I can. What you're doing to a game I grew to enjoy for its leaps and bounds, and came to find many wonderful friends in, is actively revolting. I'm making this long-winded post to specifically silence this backlash of sudden GM hate that's become depressingly common on the forums, and in miscellaneous Discord servers. If you want to further your own goals, and if you want to antagonize me because I'm not part of your same group, then go ahead.

I don't care.

Now for my insultingly brief coverage of Mark's proposals:

I, PERSONALLY, feel that the only necessary addition to add beyond what we already have would just be a Lore Writer, because the world is so unnecessarily convoluted and simple at face value, and lore has become so convoluted and self-contradicting that I could literally pull out the old thread I made some years ago about how terrible it was to find an accurate list of what Vampires could and couldn't siphon focus from, in terms of blood. There's also some other aspects of the lore that need desperate revision (read: Naga) or fine tuning to be perfect and unique for a setting such as SL2 (read: Corruption, especially Shaitan).

Any other addition to the staffing of the SL2 community would just add unnecessary bloat and too many roles that have to constantly keep each other and themselves in check, with multiple people having to answer to others, and adding more internal issues with GMs and lower-ranking members where they're not really needed, as well as the worst kind of conflict; conflicts of interest.

And, finally, for Slydria:

I appreciate everything you've done for the game, inside and out of it. I'm glad to see you've found something you're happier with, and I'm glad you're able to see how far the game has come, as have all of us. I hope you recover swiftly, and I hope you're much happier once you're putting up the proverbial keys. Even if we didn't interact much, I'm glad you were there for us.

That's about all I have to say for now.