Shattered Kingdoms

I'm all for enforcing the rules, but how you enforce them can change dramatically and you could still have the same effect. People aren't complaining, for the most part, about someone performing the job of Rules Manager. They're complaining about how you, specifically, are doing it. The attitude you have about your position and the apparent ignorance to the impact of how you're treating people is having on the game. As someone who plays the game, I understand that I can't just always do what I wanna do to have the most fun possible. I have to give back to the game in order for it to be in a position to give to me. You just keep taking. Our conversation, when Ezaya got deleted, was nothing more than a power trip. You had your mind made up about being judge and jury and my deletion 100% set, before we even started talking. That's just not how someone in charge of maintaining a game like this should act. Think about every punishment you've handed out, and how you've handled it. Do you honestly think that in your tenure as Rules Enforcer you have been a benefit to SK? Sure, you've made sure people didn't cheat. But you've also created this enormous "Thuban is watching me" idea in the player's heads that has basically caused the game to come to this stagnant, living in fear of "what's gonna happen to me" lull. Your job, as Rules Manager, is the same as all player's jobs are when it comes to a community game, make this someplace people can have doing several different aspects of a mud. You've essentially killed PK. You've alienated a lot of the veterans who make the game more interesting for new players. Sure, nobody's cheating....but nobody is playing either dude.

The only ones complaining about me enforcing Rules 5, 6, and 7 are people who have broken Rules 5, 6, and 7. Nobody else is arguing that people should get to cheat.



You are ignorant to the impact of how you treat people is having on the game. When I have to watch you, I can't do other things that players would much rather I do like catch up on bugs and typos, handle lingering religious investments, and build new stuff that players have been asking for. You are wasting my time with your cheating and making the game worse for everyone in the process. I'm sure they also don't enjoy knowing there are players out there trying to get an unfair advantage against them. Why do you want to treat us that way? Remember, you started this by cheating. I didn't start this.



Regardless of how much you give back, you still aren't allowed to cheat.



You aren't entitled to cheat at Shattered Kingdoms, but you are entitled to your opinion.



Are you still complaining about that? Let's take a quick look at the rule:



You got exactly the punishment the rule describes, to the letter. Power tripping would have been me handling it any differently. If I had given you a lighter punishment, that would have been favoritism. If I had given you a harsher punishment, that would have just been mean. I offered you the chance to appeal to Dulrik, who has the authority to overrule me, but I personally wasn't going to do anything else besides what the rule specified. You're essentially still mad that I didn't abuse my position on your behalf to let you slide. Instead of being mad at me, you really should accept responsibility for your own actions.



If players don't break the rules (and, again, most don't), then I don't have to enforce them, and my alleged inability to handle giving out punishments will never enter the picture. This doesn't start with me; the power is entirely in your hands to stop cheating, thereby forcing me to stop handing out punishments. So stop killing the game by getting me involved! Take me out of the picture by playing clean. You should be in here asking the small set of diehard rule violators we have to stop violating the rules, not asking me to stop enforcing them. You think you're speaking for everyone when you say the idea that "Thuban is watching" is in everyone's heads, but most players are well-aware Thuban isn't watching them, except maybe to hand out rewards. Thuban has other things he'd rather be doing. Maybe you and the other players you talk to with the same sense of entitlement you have about cheating feel that way, but other players have actually thanked me for enforcing the rules. And, I have definitely appreciated hearing from them, because they are the ones I am most interested in having a good experience at SK. I am here trying to get their back and make sure people don't cheat to get an advantage against them. But, if you elect to cheat, there is really nothing I can do for you to improve your experience.

All you have to do is play fair and you will never be subjected to me enforcing a rule on you. Just like the vast majority of players who have played during my tenure as Rules Manger.

In my first char back after 5 years, I botted it to save myself leveling time to get back into the swing of SK quicker. That is the ONLY cheating I've done. Sure, I had a trigger on Ezaya, fully admit that, but in no way was I trying to gain an advantage. Other than that, I think I have a great impact on the game. The fact that you think you "have to watch people" just plays right into my point that your game is built around trying to catch people cheating. It's obvious when a player is cheating. You shouldn't have to spend all of your time snooping people to catch people breaking the rules. The way you go about your job and even your entire demeanor is just horrible. If you feel like you're doing a great job and people are thankful for the work you're doing, let's take a poll? I mean that's the real test, right? Not the scoreboard that shows how many cheaters you deleted.

I'm not sure I follow you on these points. On the contrary, most times when a player is cheating it isn't obvious, and it always requires time invested in order to see if someone is cheating. I'm personally not aware of any real-life magic spell that allows someone to mystically sense all cheating in SK.

This is honestly one of the biggest points of confusion I feel you have on this issue. The rule about automation doesn't contain anything at all differentiating triggers that benefit your character mechanically versus those that don't. Rather, if you trigger an action in response to mud output, you're cheating. By your own admission here you seem to think that you were only "cheating" when you botted in the newbie area, but you weren't "cheating" when you triggered "emote manifests into view" on Ezaya. The problem is, according to the rules, you were cheating both times. Both times you deserved to get deleted. So, you have actually cheated on two separate characters, and you should stop convincing yourself that you only cheated once. We as players don't get to decide what's cheating. That's what the rules are for.

I know that in your case you don't feel there should be an equal punishment for your two cases of scripting, and I understand why you think that, but that doesn't change the fact that the rules are clear on the matter. There's absolutely zero leeway in the botting rule, and if you break it, you earn the punishment. There's a really easy way to avoid this. When you open up the "trigger" menu, don't send any commands to the world.

When I played last, triggers were common and certainly nobody was deleted for them. So when I used them to bot that character I knew I was cheating. When I got brought to cold storage, a conversation could easily have been had that would've prevented me setting up the trigger on Ezaya. Instead, it was just the wham bam yer deleted. All it would've taken was, hey dude, you are here for triggering. No trigger of any kind is allowed and you were certainly using them. I would've said, wait, NO triggers whatsoever? He replies, no, none. Then I wouldn't have ever set up that stupid RP trigger. Simple. Explaining the rules and promoting that players abide by them, along with explaining the penalties for not doing so and the reasons why these rules are in place are JUST as important as enforcing the rules. Thuban seems to only care about the penalty part of his job, not the diplomatic and encouragement approach he could be taking. He really takes it personally when someone breaks a rule and instead of giving that person the benefit of the doubt that they may EVER be an asset to the game again, he puts them on his forever snoop list TRYing to catch them slipping up in some fashion. It's just ridiculous to have someone who WANTS to delete people SO bad that he's constantly trying to catch them breaking a rule and reading the rules by the letter, instead of using his job as Rules Enforcer to promote fair play. After all, fair play is supposed to be something that draws players TO the game. Also, you punish a character, not a player. Saying that I am having a negative impact on the game now is about the dumbest thing that's come out of his mouth. I go out of my way to help player after player, and also hold back on impacting other players in a negative way.

People definitely got deleted for triggering 5 years ago.