[GrimGriz]

You know, it almost doesn't surprise me that a majority of vocal players in the Jumpgate community are throwing a fit, quitting, getting banned, or changing servers. Almost. Then I remember seeing their birthdays on the bottom of the JOSSH forums, and the ages shown. Very very few children play jumpgate. We do have some that have been playing since they were teenagers, but if a census was taken I'd wager 90% of the US server is old enough to vote.

That's where the surprise comes in. I'm not any less guilty than the rest I'm sure, and a lot of people are very upset. What exactly they are upset about seems to vary from case to case. Some are mad that language in public channels is being cracked down on, some (like myself) are mad about the manner in which it's being done, some are mad about the strictness, and some are mad about comments like

Have a nice day

.

I wonder though, that if everyone who was so upset took a moment and asked: What would a rational adult do in this situation? Things wouldn't be happening the way they are.

Let's see:
You can't help but use offensive language on f5.
Hmm, maybe you should make a password protected f5, maybe call it :NC17 and make the password 'mature' and make sure all your friends know about it. The game DOES save your f5 booth when you log out.

You don't like the way it's being implemented.
Perhaps sending an e-mail to the appropriate party with a suggested alternative implentation, and get those who agree with you to do the same.

You think the penalties are too stiff, or the criteria is too strict.
Again, seems to me that e-mail from you and those who agree with you to the appropriate parties is in order.

You think it's being implemented with malice.
First option would be to voice your opinion and concerns calmly and rationally to the appropriate parties I would think. If nothing happens, your course of action after that point could be to change servers, or ultimately, the only power over the game you have: Do something else with your time.

Seems to me like people are jumping the gun, and doing childish irrational things like getting themselves banned from the forums because they go there to throw a fit. It's slightly ironic that the community's response to being disciplined like children is to behave like children.

I don't know if this tantrum will spell the end of jumpgate or not. I know that I've put way to much time into my accounts to transfer servers, and that if I find I can't control my words enough not to get banned, I'll move to a private channel. I sure hope that enough people stick around to keep the servers up, I'm really looking forward to the work Istvan is doing right now.

[Jump]

While you may have many valid points there. I think you are wrong in spirit. Trogdor needs to be reigned in. He has been throwing these tantrums for some time. It's an abuse of power that has an effect on others. I don't know how it is in the rest of the world. But it is the American way to pull up your soap box and rant. It is a right, and a responsibility. Those emails you talk of dispatching will do absolutely no good and everyone knows it. Themis and ND are themselves having a tantrum event. No email in the world will stop that. Sometimes you just have to throw the tea in the harbor to make your statement.

Hiding everything behind the scenes rarely does any good. Except for fanbois. Themis and ND need to start acting like adults who run a bussiness and respect their customers. You can respect someone while admonishin ghtem. They (Themis) don't respect thier customers. But I suspect there is no telling you, as this is the same thing you posted a year ago when I got band. Confrontation is a good thing my friend. It brings things to the middle.

[GrimGriz]

I'm not implying that things should be hidden behind the scenes. I get the impression that the 'ranting' stops on the forums. Unless you have an account I don't know about, I'd wager you have no idea how bad things have actually gotten on the public channels. Fanboi or not, I'm glad something is being done about it. That Trogdor is the one doing it is obviously a problem. I highly doubt this knee-jerk reaction will change that.

[fluid]

With all that's going on I'm considering cancelling my subscription. I haven't logged in for 3 weeks and the sequence of events that have transpired are making me annoyed at the thought of logging in, even though I personally have not been transgressed against. I think they've made a big mistake with tightening the leash on the community. It may have cost more but I think a re-examination by the ESRB would have been a better solution. They probably would have kept their E-V rating, just with the "Experience May Change During Online Play" subnote that so many other games have.

[Jump]

I'm glad they have cracked down. Don't forget I was an EP and have seen it all. IT's how they have gone about it in such a bitter manor. Very unprofesional. But then again, I'm very familiar with that side of Themis.

[fluid]

I certainly do agree that the rules were not being enforced nearly enough, and there was a lot of language and euphemisms used in trash talk on all the public comms. But it seems like there are many alternative solutions that would not have resulted in this much distaste.

[Jump]

I'm sure there are. But there are two sides to every story. ND stated they would be cracking down and as usual, peeps challenged them. Tuff luck I guess. I'm sure many just decided to test the waters and throw out a line. Well, they caught a big fish and that's the choice they made. Jumpgate is not a group of friends at the local bar. It's a game and a bussiness. It will be interesting to see how this will end. Frankly, if they could stop all the trash talking and fire Trogdor, I would probably eat my words of a year ago and return. I doubt that's going to happen.

[GrimGriz]

Ideally to me, if Istvan is going to take away development time from cool stuff to fix the profanity filter, all he'd have to do is make a server side list that can be changed(added to) at maintenance reboot, but a list of words in there, and if you say em you get muted. The length of mutation would be up for debate, and no one would see the filtered word, replace it with asterisks or something. That'd solve ND's problem with players language without banning anyone. It'd also mean no one would have to go through the chatlogs except for complaints of abuse or whatnot, freeing up more "TG hours" that would hopefully then go to Omega for events.

[SpaceDrake]

For the record, I emailed both Scott Brown and Alexander Macris (Scorch and Archon, respectively) the very day this happened.

That was on Friday. At this point (12:24AM EST, Monday Aug.16) I have not heard word back from either one of them. I do indeed have to wonder if they still care.

As per the EU server shutting down when the US server does... even without US presense, EU can still pull 150 people most nights, and can hit as high as 200. If they got a load of US players as well, then if NetDevil smiles sweetly and says "Lights out!" MG is going to slam its fist down and be like "BITCH, back this train the hell up." So I actually rather doubt EU will go down anytime soon - Istvan told me once that a large part of the reason he has a job is in fact because of the EU server's continued success. I feel you on leaving behind so much history, though, Griz - although Trogdor isn't leaving me much choice. I don't feel comfortable playing in an environment where a single bad night could lead to a permanent ban.

And concerning language on F5 - yes, it can get roudy sometimes, especially on a weekend after midnight. Pilots and alcohol will do that. But this is absolutely insane. As it stands, I could, as I just said, have a single bad night and end up banned. We all have bad nights - we're not perfect, we're human. There are some days I get on Jumpgate and I'm in a bad mood due to, well, a bad day. I might say a few things in the heat of the moment, and when I wake up, I see "Have a nice day." Or in large combat situations - oftentimes I'll get a little worked up, the adrenaline gets pumping, and I'll drop an F-bomb or S-bomb without really meaning to.

What cracks me up is that we already had good moderation of :chat and whatnot - from GM_Khronos. And he was reasonable about it, too. An example from a sentient attack sometime last January:

Me: *blows up Flux* "THAT'S RIGHT BITCH, SUCK IT."
Khron: "Tsk, Drake..."
Me: "What? Oh, ****... NO, WAIT WAIT, KHRO..."
Khron *five minute DrakeBan*

That's the sort of thing he'd do - if someone got out of line during an event or something, he'd prod them and then if it got really bad he'd temp-ban them for like five minutes or so. If they were in a Flux battle or something, he'd ensure they landed safe and sound (yes, that tempban was in the middle of a very large Flux battle ). I know you might have issues with the Easter Eggs, Griz, but Khronos was the best Game Master Jumpgate has ever, ever had and frankly the best Game Master I've ever seen in the entire business. Period. We would not be where we are if Khronos hadn't been re-assigned to another (I suspect "more important") game. (Though by his own admission, BabyK didn't help much either.)

Anyway, that's my thoughts on the matter. BTW, hi all. Nice place you have here, Jump. But, uh, when did you get banned? Was that back when I wasn't playing actively? (Sept 2002 - Nov 2003)

[Jump]

Originally Posted by SpaceDrake

Anyway, that's my thoughts on the matter. BTW, hi all. Nice place you have here, Jump. But, uh, when did you get banned? Was that back when I wasn't playing actively? (Sept 2002 - Nov 2003)

Thanks and yes it was about a year ago.

[SpaceDrake]

About a year ago... yeah, I was still deep into Planetside at that point. Good game, that, but it needs more joysticks.

[Wild_Bill]

SpaceDrake, I also sent PM's to Trogdor and Archon (both polite, no flames, no profanity), in the first case asking what was going on and in the second case asking Archon to look into what was going on, check the postings on this and JGW forums. I have yet to hear from either one. I also agree with you on GM_Khronos. I had more fun with him, and more interaction, than with any other GM, in or out of the game. Had he stayed in the position he was serving I don't think this would have gotten out of hand either.

I worry about the future of the US Jumpgate server and the game itself. I for one do not care to go Euro, but I may end up without other viable options.