I make a point now saying that this is not a rant. This is for the people in the past, present or future who have encountered this in their career here in Lusternia as players, divine or anything else:
Hi everyone!
Recently self-made demigods seem to be the target of the appetite of some people here (wow, so tasty) . And while that's -really- funny to some of you, or you may remember fondly on the time someone killed you and left you at level 94 or level 92. I don't think it should be laughed at, nor should it be encouraged by the playerbase to come after people trying to establish themselves with hours of playtime under their belts. Of course, I come out saying this now because it has most recently happened to me, but I had been planning on writing something here anyway concerning the targeting of fledgling demigods, how ironic right? I recently made demigod, I was about 2.3 million essence in. And now I'm fighting back down in level 95 (oh goody).
I was so excited guys. I was on the edge of my seat wanting to play. I finally got to be up there with the 'big dogs,' the people who get to do the first stages of Domoths. The people that have all the cool additions to their stats. I spent hours working to get there. I spent over $120 dollars to get there faster because Lady
@Lisaera needed more demigods, and mostly what I was doing was for her and Serenwilde. But then, it all got taken away in one big shot. Wasted time. Wasted money. And wasted emotional investment.
Now, without naming names, (because I'm classy) I have seen other people, well-established demigods, vernals, true ascendants go after people randomly and target them while they are still in the stages of "new demigod" which basically means you are building up a buffer that keeps you from dying and going back to the beginning of titan. My question is, for them at least, why would you do something to someone like that. Maybe you don't know them, maybe you don't like what they stand for IG, but to target them randomly, continuously so that they are forced to start over? Now, while I consider that abhorrent (isn't that a bit obvious), I also consider it a negative impact on this community, an ugly, oozing cyst upon the buttocks of our community. I'm curious to know why someone would do something to someone like that at random, to take away more than hours and hours of playing time that they spent, sitting at their computer, doing absolutely nothing but focusing on xp gain. Are you punishing them for being AFK? Not your responsibility. Are you just bored out of your mind? Your responsibility to do something about that instead of enjoying the tears of someone's suffering. Are you just wanting a laugh? Your responsibility to have a laugh with someone who can laugh back, or even shove it down your throat if that's what you want.
Do you remember just sitting there longing to be a part of the 'group' of people who worked that hard? The glitter crowd with all the cool titles and items? Who doesn't want to be a demigod? Who doesn't want to have the custom enter message, the custom look message, and all of the other powers that come along with it? Who tirelessly forced themselves up a level in this game so that they could do something successful IG, or contribute to a greater part of the society IG and here in these forums? If you wanted to be one of those people, and are, consider how you got here, consider how long it took you (more than others). Or even, if you wanted to be better at PK, and your little 93 level self looked up to those people who are well above rank 100 xp-wise.
Maybe those of you who target new demigods should think about how it drives people away, maybe that's your purpose, maybe that's what you want. But -real- people, much like the recent suicide in our community shows that -real- people are behind these computer screens. Real people, that really care about other people and how they react towards them. They actually want to play this game, they actually are nice people, they care about how other people see them. Which is why demigod is such a big thing. People want to be wanted and accepted, and by this particular action of killing them unawares or repeatedly, or just plain trolling them, having little knowledge of who they are as 'real people' will really destroy them.
And yeah, maybe it's just a game. People use that excuse all the time to justify something happening or doing something horrible and move on. But some people can't move on. Others won't move on, they'll remember. And they honestly won't laugh when they recall so-and-so ridding them of money, time, tears, and all the love that they put into wanting to be accepted. I know I won't.
Okay, so maybe you don't care about the real person behind the screen.
But, I know that from prior experience, that all the suffering one makes
for another person makes others lose respect for you. Maybe they put you in high regard, or admiration for all your hard work? If that really garners your attention, then I don't know what else will. This community should be a welcoming, growing place, either in taint, wyrd, ethereal forest, or any other magical environment in the Basin. And by doing these actions, or even any other kind of persecution, whether it was intentional or not, you are lowering the professional, mutually friendly reputation of Lusternia. So, the next time you complain about a low playerbase, or a playerbase that doesn't RP, doesn't do anything for their organization, remember that you are representatives. And it's likely more your fault, than the mechanics of the game that keeps the real people away.
Comments
Killing fresh demigods or non-coms has never been something to be proud of. While I ashamedly will admit to have done so myself in certain cases, it rarely tends to be a case of going out of my way to do so. For the record, someone who goes to defend their territory during a raid is not necessarily a combatant, and even if they were, attacking them in their own territory via ranged attacks when they might just be sitting around and chatting is probably not the best way to foster a friendly community within Lusternia.
Just my 2 cents.
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
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I know some people deliberately target new demigods, but this was a case of killing the poor Seren silly enough to let just anyone into their manse while they were afk, not a deliberately malicious act to strip you of demigod. A really really hard lesson to learn, but everyone should check their manse privs.
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I admit, if it was constant kills on you, then I would find this trolling..but you were afk in a manse that had privs to allow enemies in, definitely a no-no.
I personally abhor the habit many of lusternia has (and it seems future generations) of simply going afk in their manse (some even in the open) if they have to leave for awhile. Why not simply logout? I feel like im one of the few that actually logsout. Is it because of all the defenses you've raised and dont want to reraise? I really do want to know why so many decide to go afk (even go to sleep and wake up to their characters) rather than just logout. You put yourselves in a very risky situation.
I've never seen people purposefully targeting fresh Demigods, I've seen people go after Titans who've a notoriety for being a pain in the backside, or going after Demigods who are also said pain in the arse who's buffer dropped low, but the whole "hey, new demigod, let's murder it!" with no reason other than for the tears feels like a myth that gets perpetuated as far as I'm concerned, I've never seen it nor seen people discussing it.
Also for the record you don't go back to the beginning of Titan, the game isn't that sadistic. Ultimately it's nigh impossible to lose Demigod without being reckless in some way, either by AFKing or raiding enemy prime on low essence. Guard influencing builds up a buffer, low level area bashing works for the same job, the UV tunnels are excellent for grinding up once you pass the million safety point. Keep using vitae or some other form of automatic resurrection till you're in a safe zone.
Demigod strips are rare, the fact we've had two in a 24 hour period is just freakishly (un)lucky.
The divine voice of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations, Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
Estarra the Eternal says, "Give Shevat the floor please."
^^^^^ Especially what Rivius said, though.
Regardless of my own situation. I think we can come to an understanding by these posts that everyone has a different opinion or interpretation of how trolling, griefing, or afk is perceived in this game by our playerbase. Maybe it still needs to be re-examined so that everyone can be on the same page so it prevents stuff like this from happening in the future. Of course, I do feel partially responsible, as I did qq, and was somehow not logged out. But it is a lesson to be learned, and a warning for anyone else.
Thanks all.
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On the topic of manse afking and manse killing... well, manses can't really be avenger protected - there'd be no real way to throw someone out of your manse otherwise. Also, since manses also double as aethership interiors (if they get turned into an aethership) an argument can be made that they are a part of the gameworld, not just some afk-spot. The biggest problem with manses is because they straddle this grey area between in-game area and OOC relaxation spot. They are fully player customizable, which means you can do blatantly OOC things to the rooms in a manse, which indicates they are not a part of the game world... but at the same time, aetherships are very much a fully fleshed out aspect of the IC experience. You can't just blanket declare all manses as afk areas and out-of-bounds to PKers (and thus define what falls under ethical behavior inside one), because there are manses which are fully designed to be a part of the game by their players. Yet at the same time, it is an official admin stance that afking should take place in manses - literally that if you are afking outside of a manse, there's the chance you may come under suspicion for trying to artificially inflate your vote weight (which carries real OOC consequences).
I don't know what's a good solution. Maybe make any new manse default to owner-only perms?
I suppose that a function to peace manses (Artifact, perm-type thing, whatever mechanism seems best) could be added in. Make it manse only, not aetherships, so it can't possibly have any sort of role in pvp. I don't think just having the option to peace manses is unreasonable if they're being used as designated AFK spots, although it does carry the downside of making it so the owner can't force someone out easily, same as making them avenger protected.
Estarra the Eternal says, "Give Shevat the floor please."
06/30/2014 19:37 Silvanus channels the power of the Megalith of Doom for you, stripping you of your Vernal Ascendant status.......bastard!!
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
@Arien : I'm sorry for your loss. For every handful of amazing, awesome people in Lusternia there's 2-3 douchebags that just go out of their way to screw with people, and the person who killed you both is one of them. He always has been. All I can suggest is that you need to make some triggers to phoenix, let people work to get you back to where you were, and learn better next time. I've seen people lose Demigod and work their way back, and you'll do it too. Just don't give up because of this setback.
EDIT: Also no idea who stripped the other demigod in Seren but it wasn't Leo! Talk about painting with a broad stroke of the brush .
Not minutes. Hours.
Sure the second one is a case that manse perms should have been set better and became unfortunate circumstance, but the first one to someone else happened outside a manse in the gaming world, where said victim went afk long enough to bleed several million + a fair chunk of titan. I can't have any sympathy there for someone who was breaking the rules, it's akin to sticking your hand in a fire and complaining you got burned.
The divine voice of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations, Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
And while I am against continuous griefing and borderline tactics I don't think we need to treat each other with gloved hands just because there is a perceived "low playerbase". If you do that, only thing that happens is people grow complacent, which backfires in the end. Learn the rules of the game, teach others so it doesn't happen to them, but honestly since you didn't get targeted for being a fresh demi why even go on a rant about that? I understand you are upset but you really only have yourself to blame here. You sound rather burnt out, so I think maybe a small break to put things into perspective might help. Glad you didn't outright quit though, and see your fault, so there is that. Catch your breath, get the levels back and err on the side of caution from there on until you got that buffer.
PS: I really like @Lerad's suggestion of default manse perms being set to owner only. I think a lot of people set that as the first thing anyway.
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