The Player CharterYour Voice This article is about our rights as players. Do we have any? Should we have any? What rights should we have? We see planet partners and MindArk offer their rules for us to follow. Isn't it about time we as players organized ourselves to formulate some kind of rules that we think MindArk and Planet Partners should follow? My answer is a clear yes. We definately need a Player Charter. A charter that makes our voices heard. This would be better for us as players and planet partners as well as MindArk. Let me explain why through an example. EVE is a popular game but it has made some fatal mistakes at the detriment of itself and it's most loyal players. The developers of EVE basically nerfed the game so much that it disadvantaged older players. All their accumulated skills and equipment got nerfed to the extent that these most loyal players left the game. The point being we all have a breaking point. It may be higher in game involving RCE but nevertheless there will be a breaking point. A point at which we say enough is enough and move on. By having some kind of Player Charter We could avoid EU making the same mistakes as EVE. What's in our intrest is also in the intrest of MindArk and Planet Partners. There is a clear synergy between us players and game developers. So if we are going to have a charter what rules or guidance notes should we offer to PP's and MindArk? Well I don't think it's right for me as one individual to formulate those but something that should be a community effort. Having said that there are two issues that concern me at the moment and I think we should have some kind of rules related to them. For example we buy equipment be it small or large. Do we have a right to insist or have a voice when changes are made to those equipment in what changes should be made? Personally I think yes. A person who buys for example a pixie set has rights in that they bought an armour which they wanted to use as protection against mobs. That armour has some value. I realise game developers sometimes need to make changes. That is only natural but it should not be at the detriment of us players and it should be us who have some kind of voice to say that's going too far and halt such destructive moves. A pixie set may not be a good example but I hope you understand the main issue. Game developers need to make changes. We players need to have some protection from some destructive changes. So one rule for example could be:1) MindArk & PP must consult players before making changes to items that they own2) Players should have a right to halt some changes that they deem to be too detrimental Ok that's not one but 2 :) Another rule could be about...on second thoughts I won't mention that one. Like I said the formulation of this player charter should be a community effort. Indeed would be nice if MindArk and Planet partners themselves commented on the formulation of these rules because this affects them as well as us...
its not a bad idea......but there is also the point of players going overboard with the nos' for their own selfish reasons and nothing changing at all making the game stale
That's why that group of people should be a cross section of all players or maybe it should be ALL players that have a vote.
hmm all players having a vote s not a bad idea....as long as the players are educated enough to understand the difference between a pixie set and a adj pixie set.....and the implications of what they are voting on
Well the problem is that we players as a group are in general pretty stupid, i doubt we would make better decisions then Mindark does.
I agree, so maybe they need to see what happens with something small and if that does not work let us, the players, choose our representatives who will talk to MA, kinda like a proper democracy.
Hi, this is a great idea, and is IMHO worth pursuing, but (you know me, there's always this dreaded "but" ...): Creating such a charter, and filling it with life according to your examples, would require us players (all players) to agree to certain statements. How should this be achieved? There isn't such a beast as "us players", we are a conglomerate of very different people and factions, and what is of huge benefit to one may be a game breaking nerf for the other! Democracy, vote terminals - this would be quite easy to implement. But what would be the result? The majority would rule. Means, the huge number of low-middle-class players would have the power. This wouldn't add much to the fun and enjoyment of the few Ubers as well as the complete newbies. This game is about real money, and there's only one thing more reliable then human stupidity, and this is human greed. We'd have campaigns where "rich players" would try to "lobby" their goals, we'd have "agitators" in the newbie areas, we'd have the ugly face of politics in game. Don't get me wrong, I'm not dissing your idea, I just cannot see any way how this could work. Maybe we should solve this problem at first? Another problem: Such would require a platform where information, ideas, opinions and discussions would to be found, easily accessible for all and any players. Now we know that the overwhelming majority of players will never visit a forum, and certainly not write in such. How to achieve that such a "player charter" wouldn't be the baby of just a few "elitists"? Problems over problems. Let me illustrate with your examples: I might have missed something, but only axe 1x0 and hangars come to my mind. Axe was declared a bug, and we'll never hinder MA to kill bugs. And hangars - well, keeping hangars as they was would have stopped the development of the game. No CE2, no space, no space ships - MA would never allow us to stop such. And the hangar owners would never have reached a majority in vote as long as MA would have explained it well to the overwhelming number of not-hangar-owners, and maybe had added a tiny piece of sugar - the availability of space suited ships for everyone, for instance. Much more important was the changes done through implementing new items, and changing the drop rates. This has made serious changes to the items we own, to their markup. And again, would we have been able to stop the implementation of L-items? Would the owners of the old school items have reached a majority, when the majority would have benefited of such a change? So maybe people like me would be able to stop lootable space, and people that love lootable space would be able to stop my campaign? Or lower skilled players and people playing with a small budget might oppose the high-HP, high-Regen, low-Dam mobs because they are just a nuisance to them, while the gambling HoF-chasers loves & defends them? Again, don't get me wrong. I love this idea, and I'm ready to contribute to it. As such I have played "devils advocate" now and have pointed to a few problems that hitted me in an instant when thinking of it. I'm sorry, my time is limited today. So this was typed down in a hurry. There will be fallacies, logical inconsistencies, and plain errors. Excuse please, and correct me, you're welcome!I hope I was able at least to add a few thoughts. Have a good time!
OK to get rid of the "the huge number of low-middle-class players would have the power" maybe we could have a system where the amount of HP or stamina or any other skill would be the amount of votes you have. This way the smaller group ubers will have about the same voice as the larger newbie group.
Hi, I'm at ~130 HP (from memory), and I'm quite sure that the 100 - 170 (maybe even 150) HP group would dominate by far. We are many. We are desperate. We don't forget. Expect us! Similar with any other skill. And if you ever would have found a way to distribute the voting values in a way that even might work, "Xandra & the unwashed masses" will stomp in and yell at you for discrimination. I play for 6 years now, why should my vote count less then the one of the player that came a year before, has deposited less, but spent his first year in lava pools or trees in drone areas? This doesn't work. One participant, one vote, else we just don't even need to start to discuss this. IMHO. Because it wouldn't work ever. Have a good time!
Well we should have representatives and MA needs to listen. That's how it's going to work. We will never get control because, well, MA owns the company. With the exception of the land deed political system, I don't think a voting system will ever work for game changes. EVE is good at listening to the community. And I know us EU players are pissed at a lot of changes MA makes in favor of the company. MA is the owner of the game and they make changes for their own reasons. It would be "nice" of them to listen to the community a bit more, but I do not think any company would give control to the community unless it was some kind of free opensource sandbox game. That being said, I would fully support MA creating official polls of some sort to influence their decisions in game. But in the viewpoint of MA, this in itself would hinder their "big plan" and they risk public humiliation if they were to go against the votes from the poll. But I hope they open up a bit more if they want to last long. This is something they are very lacking.
I wonder what would be possible if we don't spend 6 Million USD for CLDs but instead for MA shares! Bridge investors might be willing to sell some...
Democracy, vote terminals - Ah... the voting booths. (sorry couldn't resist... they were in the game once. Went the same way as the umbranoids)
MA respectively their minions are obviously engaging in supressing endeavours of this kind (http://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?222455-Player-delegation-to-go-to-MindArk-HQ). However, the french revolution met some resistance too. At least that reminded me to post in this thread that was created when I was utterly busy with real-world work. How far are we with the player charter? Shouldn't take too much to get it started, right? Let me add just the headline of a possible paragraph: All avatars are created equal. A great inspiration: Raph Koster - Declaring the Rights of Players.
I think a close loyal playerbase with the ability to visit MA every quarter or two will be extremely productive. Eve *ahem* Online created the Counsel of Stellar Management to legitimately listen to what the community wants. What the bottom line is, we want ambassadors to represent us, the players, to MA because we think MA isn't doing enough hearing. We DON'T expect to follow in with everything shot at them, but at least we know they heard us.
