Kyphis the Bard

Sorry Rhaegar, not ironic, just crappily written (actually there is a degree of irony in there, as its not what most people would think of as a poem. But still is). As one of the people who actually got to talk to him a lot, he really is an asset to the realm, far more than most of his detractors would ever give him credit for.

Completely forgot this existed :D Link!

How we miss your silent "." The way that no syllable at all, Could mean so many things. You never told a lie, For you never spoke. And by selfsame virtue never gave away my evil plans The way that people would flee before you, it was not fear or hatred, but simply being overwhelmed by how utterly, mind destroyingly awesome your "."'s where. And how we all loved to see the words, "Eon collects herbs" repeated over and over in a single scene We miss the way you would always find us When we played hide and seek And thump us playfully as your way of saying "Tag! I'm still It!" The BHC will never be the same without you, And your Mur sanctioned-if-council-denied prizes That where always given to the strongest, most rule following player. The way you would rip our stats out from under us, And get us to work as a team to create new defenses, Those where the good old days that we all miss. But most of all we - Or maybe its just me? And dst? Heck, Eon, I miss you!

I've sent off a request to a web artist I watch to see if they might be willing. They do a webcomic that is full of well drawn animal peoples, so I thought that might work :P Here is her website. Although, do bear in mind that you will need to look around since its a webcomic :P EDIT: This is a good one though :P

Just a reminder for anyone who wants to try and make the avatar: Do NOT trace an image. Any image must be fully your own work. Tracing even a photo will get you in trouble (Even if the photo is your own, if it is loaded up on the net). It must be an original image. Changing one or two things is not enough.

Nuts, I would have applied for this, but it was announced and chosen during the time I was asleep :( EDIT: I have compiled and sent the data for MDA anyway. Since you didn't leave long enough in volunteering for me to do so I obviously wasn't at your planning meeting to learn exactly what data you want, but eh. I included whether it was internal/external, natural light, ambient light, and artificial light. I have the data for the vast, vast majority of MD as well. As an archivist I have lots of data like that. Resource maps, clickie maps, black letter maps, weather maps, water maps, parchment maps, etc. We have compiled a very large library of data.

With the new bushes and teamwork resource items, I would suggest the following in response to your plans to make it so that these items can be restricted to those contributing to its produce in each period, while still allowing for theft and interference: Group resource items generate their specific (refined) resources for those who contribute. However, a comparable, non-regenerating resource is also added to the location, which anyone can gather. Gathering of the general resources depletes the refined resources. For example, useing the new bushes: Say one bush can produce 20 fruits per loading cycle. The location the bush is located in would have its local resources increased to include [0/5 herbs]. The number of herbs available does not regenerate like other herbs, but is tied to the number of fruit available on the bush. If the bush has all 20, then there are 5/5 herbs available. If there are 19 fruits there are only 4.75/5 herbs available, and so on. If someone harvests a unit of herbs from that scene, then the amount of fruit available decreases by 4. This means that anyone can steal the produce of the bushes, however only those who contribute to the production can actually get the fruit itself. Additionally, so that people can actually still harvest such common resources as herbs from a scene, and so people trying to grow fruit have a chance to get warning of someone try to steal and respond to it, I propose the following on top of the above: If a location has herbs (or whatever base resource) for a reason other than the teamwork items, then all the normal herbs must be depleted before the bushes herbs can be gathered. For example: A scene has 10 herbs due to having a lot of trees. Having a lot of herbs already, it becomes a logical place to add a bush, so the scene's gets two herb counts (first is 10/10, second is 0/5), or maybe even just the one (10/10+5) The bush is loaded up, and the location's resources change to 10/10 and 5/5 (or 10+5/10+5) Someone wants to sabotage the fruit picking, so begins harvesting herbs. They have to get the count to 0/10 before the fruit pickers get their count down to 0.75/5 or lower (or 0+x/15 before the fruit pickers get the +x down to 0.75 or lower) This lets people be dicks, while still letting people respond and possibly outmaneuver them. One last, technically unrelated suggestion: Have the amount of time that must be waited after a full harvest before a new loading can begin be based on the amount of time taken to deplete all the fruit/herbs from the previous harvest, with the faster the fruit depletes the more time has to be waited. This still allows people to harvest fruit, while giving more of a point to sabotage. ie, not only are you stopping them this time, but you are slowing them down for next time (even more so if the fruit pickers speed up in response to your sabotage, so a double edged sword) This works especially well with the prior suggestions about representative resources as well, as the fruit pickers can simply leave the last three pieces of fruit on the bush for a longer period to try to reduce the impact of a quick harvest (although if this is changed to harvest time per unit vs total harvest time then it strikes a fair balance, giving power to both sides relatively fairly). This can be made more interesting by having fruit rot on the bush if left too long (and would that increase or decrease the time until next use? Logic says reduce, since it would be extra compost) Retrieval? In terms of addressing some of No One's concerns in regards to the original post, here are some suggestions: If you attempt to steal (successfully or not), you have to wait a period of time before you can try again (on anyone), just like attack cooldown, except a successful attempt has a longer cooldown. You may only attempt to steal an individual item once (successful or not). This means if someone harvests a log, and you steal it, then someone steals it from you, you can't steal it back and have to wait for a new log to steal. In terms of addressing Nimrodel's desire for crime and punishment, here are some suggestions (although, I do NOT approve of them, just putting them forward for argument's sake): Anyone who steals successfully gets the "THIEF!" status for five minutes. This behaves exactly like the fugitive status, except if you attempt to log off with it active the server maintains your character within your last location until the status is removed (ie you log out but you can still be grabbed) Anyone who is grabbed is sent to jail for 24 hours, after which they are automatically returned to the location they where grabbed in (this is the part I disagree with, as people will use it for trips to the jail) If a thief is captured, the stolen item is returned to whoever originally harvested it if they still have it (obviously not, if it has been stolen again or palmed off onto some other stooge) VARIATION: The thief status sets your AP to 5, and your regen timer to the same duration as your status timer. This means you have a timer telling you how long until you are successful in your theft, and also means you can only move upto 5 scenes away (assuming viscosity is kind to you ;)) making hunting for you a bit easier. A five minute timer should be long enough for a victim to organize a posse to hunt a thief down.

What is stopping you from re-arranging the whole interface so chat is next to the scene and other things are below? Triggers box doesn't need to be where it is, nor all the refresh stuff. I'm certain there are plenty of other things you could move. And I know you will argue that Time is stopping you, but I say Bah to that. How many years have you already invested in MD? And then remember that MD has been evolving that whole time and the layout has barely changed. Maybe it is time. Or maybe just create two layout profiles, one with everything as it is and one with chat on the side, and let us use the options to pick for ourselves.

Can confirm, posting into chat still possible with keyboard shortcuts. My Debugger also lets me look at things it shouldn't (default Firefox debugger, latest version), although the Profiler does not. Style editor also has a fair bit of info, although nothing I can see being used maliciously. Inspector gives me... wow, everything. Inspector gives me just about everything I click on, all the data. On the topic of recording chat things, you DO realise what my roles is, don't you? Chronicler? I have more Acoustic casts than I could use if I tried (although, that may now change, so I might need to petition Mur for an increases, haha)

I like to keep long, long lists of everyone's alts. It is a hobby. From doing this, I can assure you, it ain't hard to spot an alt, even without tools. Then Why would you post on No One's PL that he was an alt? (ironic anyway, since he isn't) ♪ Hypocrisy ♫

You know you have been on MD too much when you remember when this topic was created...

Just because it isn't well done doesn't mean it isn't a good idea :P Although personally I am in agreement, the way it shifts is very annoying. Good idea, needs refinement (I especially hate when I load the page and am looking at the mood panel (or any other page), only to have it start rising up the screen while I am looking it because the thing is closing. Worst is mouseover pages like Active Vets.)

Congrats, there is a hell of a lot ahead of you to experience, and a hell of a lot for you to look forward to.

Also, pretty sure you can still continue training. I made it to 3 mill at MP3. Although that was years ago, before Ren made it on the team. Falsh is still around though.

There are three keystones to a successful relationship: Love, lust, and like. Love is not just about the romantic, you should love your family but not want to sleep with them, after all. Love comes in lots of different flavours. You have yourself pointed out that as relationships mature, that initial feeling of giddy love tends to drift away. That isn't a bad thing though, it just shows your relationship is maturing. It's pretty easy to fall in love with someone, and not realize until after that giddy feeling fades away that you probably won't stay together. More importantly, don't be surprised if one of you finds the giddyness wearing off faster than the other; again, that's fairly normal and not an indication that the relationship is doomed. Like is, to me, the most important of all. Its about friendship, and getting on together in ways other than just the romantic. Having a lot of things that you both like to do will (usually) help you to find ways to spend time together, and help you get to know each other. I have been in many, many relationships, none shorter than three months, and only once have I come out of a relationship not staying friends with the other person (I will talk about that shortly). Now I am married, and my wife and I, we have an excellent relationship, because it is built firstly on friendship. Now lust; Lust is one of those things people think of as immature in views of relationships. However, it is actually an important component of a healthy romantic relationship. That isn't to say that if you don't have libidoes so hyper active you want to go at it every week your not in a healthy relationship. Indeed, there is nothing wrong with going months at a time without that sort of intimacy, if that is where both of you are comfortable. It is however important that you can feel comfortable thinking of each other sexually. If not, then perhaps it would be best to stay just as really good friends. Additionally, its also a good idea to try and find someone with a fairly similar libido to yourself. Not necessarily exactly the same of course, there is nothing wrong with variety, however if one of you is constantly frustrated, or worse - feeling pressured, then the relationship is going to have a lot more stress than it needs, and possibly even end up very unhealthy for both of you. Now, to talk a little about one of my own personal experiences... The one time I came out of a relationship not still friends with my partner, was my fault. I had feelings for a girl, but she herself didn't reciprocate. However, she let me know that Her friend had feelings for me. As her friend was attractive and interesting, I went along with it and we started dating. However, because I did not have the same sort of feelings for her that she had for me, she became very frustrated with my detachment and seeming lack of interest (not for want of trying, but you can't force feelings). In the end, she became bitter and we broke it off, but because I had gone along with it when I had no feelings for her I had been leading her on. Certainly, I had hoped I would develop feelings for her, and I liked her, but what she felt and what I felt did not match up. On to other things! One piece of advice I will have for you if you do find yourself in a longterm, high commitment relationship: If you have a fight, sort it out sooner rather than later. If possible, do so same day. The longer you leave an argument, the more damage it does. If you find yourself having a hard time cooling off, try writing out your side of the argument. Then, right their side as well as you can. Try to understand both sides, then go and Ask them to tell you your side. See if you have understood. If you need to, go back and write out your side of the argument again, keeping a cool head, and show it to them, preferably with you there in person so they can ask questions. Its easy to get carried away when you think the other person isn't listening, and when you get carried away its even easier to stop listening yourself. When its written down, its often far easier to understand each other. Last of all, never be afraid to say sorry, but more important than that, if They say sorry, think about what they are apologizeing for, and what made them come to the decision they needed to apologize. Then, offer them an apology in turn for your own part in it, even it it's as simple as "sorry for upsetting you". Being able to apologize like that shows you have thought about each other, not just yourselves, and if you get in the habit of it you will likely find that you have a lot fewer, and a lot shorter, arguments.

Don't worry, I was not accusing you of anything :P Just saying that, until we have feedback from someone who actually knows the plan, there is no point making assumptions. Raise concerns, make ideas, sure. But making the assumption that the concerns someone might have are not already accounted for before we hear a response from someone in the loop would be silly and derailing.

Actually, I am mostly pro the idea of this sort of censorship, for reasons I will state below. I just think that the sort of flaws this systems has would potentially make it unfair due to cultural bias (something which we can't avoid). However, Chewett or any of the mods has yet so far to weigh in on the points I raised with how they plan to get around it, so who knows? They may come up with a safeguard to prevent (or at least minimalize) such cases. I can't speak for dst, as I do not know her mind. I wouldn't speak for dst anyway though. 'cos, y'know, its dst. Far more interesting to watch how she goes about it herself than be a proxy. One of the complaints that I have seen, over and over, during the six years I have been playing (although moreso since around the time of Kingship and onwards) has been the amount of harrassment and vitriol present on the forum. A lot of the people I have gotten in touch with about why they left the game (although not all, just the vast majority) have stated the attitudes that get pushed around on the forum as a main reason they left. I'd wager that the main reason for this increasing trend is largely to do with the increasing impact the forums have been having on the realm, with people relying on it for trade, quests, and all manner of other things. The result of this is that while in game you can avoid people you don't like, or you might never even meet the sort of people you don't like due to different timezones, on the forum anyone and everyone (except, of course, Innocence :P) can make their opinion known, no matter how well meaning or wanted it may be. Certainly, with private forums for lands and the such there are still places that are populated by more like minded people, however its very easy for people with an axe to grind to harrass you on the forum, as your account is there even if you are not. For this reason; to help improve MD's image (which is quite broken, we have not got a very good reputation around the internet) and to help improve player retention (which the recent fundraising from Mur should be all the evidence needed that we need to work on that), something needs to be done. Indeed, there are people who would say its already too late to change, but as the old adage goes, "Better late than never" Personally, this sort of solution is what sprang to my own mind, and what I would be happiest seeing implimented. It lacks the censoring, while still keeping the forum civil (except, of course, for the places where you would expect to see it, ie there). The problem of course, is that I doubt it really meshes with MD's ideals. Certainly, freedom is a big one, however it is not freedom for freedoms sake, but freedom with a price.

I will put forward a furtherance of the concern dst has raised: Cultural differences. The majority of forum mods come from a western culture. However, this is not true for the playerbase. What may be considered completely acceptable within western culture, and hence not something to moderate for rudeness by the mods, may in fact be the height of rudeness within one of the other cultures present in the game. As we have already seen in No One's post, in the past (past, not future), what would be moderated for rudeness was subjected to the subjective opinion of the mods. The fact that it would be decided by the mods as a group does not combat the fact that it is fully subjective still. For example. Within western culture, patting someone on the head is usually seen as a form of childish affection. However, within Indonesian culture, and many others, this is considered pretty much the pinnacle of insults. Why? They view the head as the seat of the soul. If someone was having a seemingly polite if heated discussion on the forums, and knew "obscure" cultural insults such as this (raise your hand any Mod that was aware of this prior to my stating it please), then if one of the people involved ended their sentence with *pats [other person] on the head* it would, to a Mod look harmless. If reported, it would require an explanation of why exactly such a thing that seems so innocent was, in fact, rude. And even if such a thing was successfully reported... how would you justify giving a warning to the person who did it? How would you be able to prove, that the very thing you yourself took to be harmless, was, in fact, intended as a dire insult? Every culture has its own perspective on insults, both physical and verbal. In some cases, simply changing the order of a few words can make something an insult. Worst of all, what will you do if someone uses insults from their own culture, extremely rude ones that only someone from within their culture would recognize, and the person being insulted doesn't realize and it goes unreported until someone from outside MD sees it? Sees something which to them is exceedingly rude, and sees it being ignored while other things, much tamer things, are punished? How would you have known to censor it had the situation above (hand on head) been perpetrated by an Indonesian against someone who doesn't get it? Because that would be just as rude, and potentially much more damaging to MD's reputation if lesser things are being punished. I am very interested to hear your thoughts on this problem.

Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis

Getting a little off topic with the discussion, but just to comment on Juniors idea, I believe such has been suggested to Mur in the past and he has said something to the effect of he would never want to do that (although this is recalling from years ago, and people change, so don't by any means consider that a quote). However, I personally think it would be a good idea with two additional points: It is an toggle-able option for players that can be found in the player options and free credits page; default is to OFF It generates a small amount of free credits value to players who enable it (say .1 per day? Would need proper balancing)

I'll just quickly say that, it terms of collectibles, one of Mur's main concerns with any sort of suggestion is he doesn't want to turn MD too commercial. Basically, if its only going to be available to paying customers, then its probably not acceptable (functional or not). So for the suggestion of collectible creatures, that would probably be fine as they are tradeable, but things like clothes (I assume you mean a "vanity" style equipment piece for your combat avatar?) that would be out of the question with how those sorts of items are currently handled. Hence why we will never see Spell Doc's in the Credit shop (actually, there are so very, very many reasons that will never happen, but you get the idea)

Having more time to think about it I have hit upon another potential snag for this scheme, namely that, while coins are limited by how many you can get per shop reset and how rarely shop resets happen (a facet that is easy enough to get around if you want to, but which is still relevant), this form of currency would be accumulated every month, making inflation go insane. This would have a benefit however, as it would likely mean that the final value of such tokens would end up below that of silver coins, thus negating the devaluation problem listed about. However, as these are intended for use in high value sales, I will put forward an additional option for discussion. Specifically, that unlike coins which can be traded individually, that tokens can only be traded in stacks like resources. This would have several benefits, such as encouraging trade, and making it far more difficult to bid on multiple different items at any single event. It would however encourage the same sort of "muleing" of alts we saw when resources where introduced. Hopefully the same sorts of measures put in place to prevent that would work here as well though. It would also potentially make it far, far harder for non paying players to get their hands on any tokens at first, as players with high value blocks of tokens would not be willing to trade them away easily. Even considering that the largest balls would be removed periodically during fundraising events, this would still create a bigger gap between paying and non-paying players in the long term... As with any suggestion, there are many pro's and con's to consider. I think this variation is not a good idea, due to the sheer amount of cons and the potential for the cons to cancel out the pros directly (vis a vis open market pros and cons), so would not support it myself. I am presenting it to you mainly in case it sparks any other ideas amongst you. On the other hand, it does highlight that in the long term, the silver coin won't actually be devalued, which is a good thing.

Fundraising Suggestion

First off, I just want to say that I have already raised this idea with Mur and heard his thoughts on it. He is loosely opposed to the idea, although interested in hearing community opinion on it. Introduction Currently with MD's server costs not being fully met for the next few months, Mur is running a sale to raise funds. This has both ideological benefits and downsides, some of which will be outlined below. The suggestion I am putting to you, the community, is intended to negate as many of the downsides while not compromising the benefits as possible. Any suggestions that further that goal are eagerly invited. The benefits of the current system are as follows1: They only use stock that existed prior to the current shortage They only use stock created either in the normal manner or for a purpose other than the current event They can be held at any time, as necessary It will likely be able to raise the necessary funds in the short term The downsides of the current system are as follows1: There is no way of knowing whether it will successfully cover costs or not, as the considered value of such items will be put into flux Only people who pay can participate Some people who can afford to make one off payments who wish to support MD may hold off until such an event, causing undue stress When building this suggestion, I had to keep in mind the following points2: Only stock that existed prior to and was created for a reason or occasion other than the current shortage are to be used for it Any suggestion: would need to be in such a format that, should the shortages end and this system of fundraising never be needed again, those who participated would still get something of value Any variation on the format needs to maintain the "Seize The Moment" aspect; ie as with other occasions such as Medal Ceremonies, if you are not there to participate at the time you miss out until the next chance No commodity can have its value dropped or put into flux in a significant manner as a foreseeable result Fundraising idea: Alternative Subscription Reward - Subscriber's Token (tradeable item) With these points in mind and an aim to move away from a "pay to play" attitude to such events, I put forward the following proposal. Currently, subscribers are given a 50% of bonus credits based on their subscription level. What I suggest is a new, tradeable item, usable like currency, called a "Subscriber's Token". This is instead of, not in addition to, the bonus credits. Given the properties I will suggest, it would likely have a value between silver coins and gold, as well as above basic credits (although this would be determined by the markets, as value always has been). The properties I suggest for this item are as follows: In the new scheme, you are given one "Subscriber's Token" per extra credit you would have received in the old scheme "Subscriber's Tokens" can be converted into credits in a one to one ratio Credits can not be converted into "Subscriber's Tokens" "Subscriber's Tokens" are tradeable The benefits of this scheme would be as follows1: Mur would be able to see funding levels in advance It will likely raise more money Anyone would be able to hold events that required this sort of currency, as well as normal trade Anyone would be able to get these items and participate in these sorts of events, whether they can pay or not (just like coins) This scheme does not rely on Mur to organize stock, nor require new stock to be created for it Events can be held at any time, by anyone The downsides of this scheme would be as follows1: It would almost definitely permanently devalue the silver coin, and possibly the gold coin3 There would likely be high inflation during its introduction, as we saw with the development of coins and avatars It does not maintain a "Seize The Moment" aspect It does not cater directly for people who can only make one off payments It only offers very specific increments Closing Thoughts There are a lot of variations possible with this suggestion. For example, there could be high value auctions planned by the TK's for events like MD-B-Day, or Christmas (but considering the nature of Christmas, probably not ;)). There is the possibility of adding extra options to subscriptions allowing you to choose between getting the extra credits and getting the tokens, or even possibly getting no credits at all but instead getting the tokens of the next tier up (although for some of this to make sense you would probably have to give less tokens per subscription than direct credits. While this would certainly maintain credits as more valuable than tokens, I am against it on the grounds it would make subscriptions confusing). There are a lot of different ways such a thing could be implemented, all with their own benefits and downsides. I have presented what I feel to be the most fair approach, however I am but one man and I only have my own perspective to go on. Please, if you have anything to add, suggest, criticize; any concerns to raise, or suggestions to make, please do so in your comments. And remember, based on my current discussion with Mur this idea is NOT going ahead. This will only happen if you find it acceptable and want it to happen. 1: There may be additional points I am not thinking of, or may not even be aware of. Please keep this in mind and feel free to point out any I may have missed. 2: And any suggestions also need to keep these points in mind, as these are the things Mur does not want to compromise on. 3: See Paragraphs 1-2, post #3

Apparently (according to the leader of the Treasure Keepers) We need to contact Council to get our rewards.