A not so very Merry Murmas

[Sasha Lilias]

This Christmas I, and quite a few others, have received a rather large disappointment in the Murmas celebrations. Instead of receiving the gifts as so many others have, we received nothing, Zilch.

It seems that [i]active days[/i] has become the new currency of loyalty to the game, although some don't quite seem to get the idea that not all of us can log on every day for a few hours due to work, family or other real life issues. This makes the Christmas a very unfair period, especially to those that [b]have [/b]been around for a long time and trying to get as involved as much as we physically can.

I myself felt rather disappointed, and slightly annoyed, as I watched those that are rarely seen doing anything in the community, receive so much. I see people hold such an arrogance to active days these days, and this raises my annoyance, especially as I have tried to log on as often as possible, do as much as possible and, trying to keep in contact with it as much as I can. I'd also like to point out here that someone would not spend around $2000 [b]just[/b] for the [i]perks [/i]of a game.

Active days, for the tree, is a rather petty, and lazy, way of looking at [i]loyalty [/i]to a game.

On a personal note I found the Confused santa rather ignorant and [b]very[/b] annoying, due to the fact that the confused santa decided to ignore me completely when he asked "is there anyone that hasn't received a present?" and when I asked "I wonder if santa has some sort of grudge against me", of which I may have missed the reply if these was one due to real-life christmas issues, that when I asked "Did I miss Santa's reply?" he decided to say "[b][url="http://magicduel.com/dlg/dlg.userdetails_arena.php?eid=GIU3LEK8AGLtrpaNcFk-hA,,"][color=#CC0033]Confused Santa[/color][/url]: [/b][color=#000000][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=2]Sasha you missed it, too bad." [/size][/font][/color]

If you get a Santa then you should make sure it is a neutral player or an outside [i]adjudicator[/i]
of sorts.

So basically, what IS game loyalty based on? In my mind if a player that has been playing for three years, logged on regularly and spent around $2000(and more) then I don't really know what you would say a [i]loyal[/i] players was.

End of Rant

~Sasha

P.s. Sorry, to be precise " a player that has been playing for 1238 days."

Edit: After around 3 people asking Santa to give me a gift he decided to give me one. I chose to accept it and then pass it on. My point still stands. Would you enjoy a gift if it was given to you through pressure or because they actually wanted to?

Edited December 25, 2011 by Sasha Lilias

[Hedge Munos]

Is that why we didn't receive gifts, then? Active Days? What was the percentage required?

Hedge

[Sasha Lilias]

Of the percentage I am unsure. Around 80% or 90% I believe though. A percentage that once it has gone below the required it cannot be reached again, it will just remain equal if you log on every day. Therefore making it near impossible to ever gain the required active days.

~Sasha

[Hedge Munos]

While I understand abuse of alts, alt abuse has been restricted in areas such as item sharing and battles, so, can't this method be used for this as well, rather than going to active day percentages?

Hedge

[ZenTao]

I too looked at the nice red present under the tree and wondered why i could not open it, tho the Confused Santa gave me a creature which is awesome

[Chengmingz]

I could not open a present either. But it is okay. I will live.

C

[Atrumist]

I couldn't open the red present too, low active days, I just returned in MD after 6+ months inactivity.
When Scanta asked who did not get present I replied and I got void (2 times).
I haven't done anything for the community except adding one player plus on the counter, but I love to play the game in the manner I do, in a passive mood.
I haven't bought anything for RL money, and I doubt that I will ever do. Sorry for that I will donate if I got.

I'm sorry for I haven't been constructive too, but Easter I like more than Christmas :X

And I don't believe in negative energy, just in wrong polarity,
live on, do without expect

[stavaroiu]

And here i almost thought i was alone with my impression of "a not so very Merry Murmas".

Indeed, Activity days hurt more then they do good.
This has been my third Christmas with MD and probably due to my relatively low activity days(677 out of 889 days), my third disappointing Murmas.
The days that have been lost due to some reason you didn't log in scar you for your entire MD life.

The Confused Santa was also very random at best. The way he distributed the gifts and the very gifts themselves were chaotic.
Some people received overpowered gifts like ou de dragon(a lot), darkling and reindrach egg, while others received joke rewards like scouts,Toxicodendrite Seeds and imps(i checked the logs).

Edited December 25, 2011 by stavaroiu

[Rendril]

Santa is confused, is the name not clear enough?

[quote name='Sasha Lilias' timestamp='1324840755' post='98571']
...
A percentage that once it has gone below the required it cannot be reached again, it will just remain equal if you log on every day. Therefore making it near impossible to ever gain the required active days.
...
[/quote]
This is not the case. If you are active both values increase at the same rate, total activity percentage therefore tends to 100 as activity tends to infinity.

[quote name='stavaroiu' timestamp='1324853983' post='98608']
And here i almost thought i was alone with my impression of "a not so very Merry Murmas".

Indeed, Activity days hurt more then they do good.
This has been my third Christmas with MD and probably due to my relatively low activity days(677 out of 889 days), my third disappointing Murmas.
The days that have been lost due to some reason you didn't log in scar you for your entire MD life.

The Confused Santa was also very random at best. The way he distributed the gifts and the very gifts themselves were chaotic.
Some people received overpowered gifts like ou de dragon(a lot), darkling and reindrach egg, while others received joke rewards like scouts,Toxicodendrite Seeds and imps(i checked the logs).
[/quote]
You have the required activity, you should not be having a problem with the GoE tree gifts.

[stavaroiu]

My problem is not that i didn't get a gift but because i got a gift.
The gifts are a lot influenced by activity days that much i know. My over 200 lost days are a heavy burden and i am sure that in the future this number will most likely further increase.

I can, in all honestly, say that no gift at all would have been so much more better then the joke gift i received and i just couldn't laugh about.

[Seigheart]

Weird. I hear Santa did a fantastic job of entertaining the crowds with his chaoticness, and confusedness.

Yeah, the method wasn't perfect. He often overlooked people due to the overwhelming number of people yelling "Me" when he asked who hasn't recieved a gift. And how many of those "Me"s were actual people who haven't recieved one?

Would you had rathered you just clicked a few buttons and got some free crap, or would you have rathered you had an interactive being to "play" with?

I think Santa did quite a good job with what he had available to him. (A list of CTCs, and a red name)

[Princess Katt]

I can say that I enjoyed the gifts and Santa, but maybe I would feel differently if I was one of the ones who didn't get gifts or got missed.

Some people have been playing a lot in the last 6 months or so, but it didn't make up for their earlier missing ADs. I think that's kind of a shame.

[awiiya]

I'll go out on a limb and be a curmudgeon here:

Gift. Noun. Definition: Something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.

A keyword to note: voluntary. This board is full of people who have an air of being cheated out of something, but by the very nature of gifts, you're entitled to.... nothing. This isn't a reward or a medal of achievement or even a prize. These are christmas gifts.

You may of course take my own words with a grain of salt. I received both the automated presents and the manual (albeit confused) gift of a darkling (not for sale, watch out for a quest in the new year). But really? Your disdain is as if Mur stole creatures from you for being inactive.

Awi

[stavaroiu]

The definition of gift is without a doubt right and i understand what you are saying, i really do.
But when i see all these creatures that i work so hard to get my hands on been given away like candy, i just cant help it. This just dose not feel right.

Edited December 26, 2011 by stavaroiu

[Udgard]

It's active days %, not active days, by the way. And IIRC, 70% was the cutoff. I'm still a bit confused about the confused santa's gift (no pun intended). He had been casting gift spell, but I can't seem to find anything different... what does it do, actually?

[Fyrd Argentus]

He gave me a creature (Joker) by PM'ing the CTC.

Looks like something was broadcasting a stock set of text to the realm - perhaps that was a spell.

[BFH]

Regarding GoE tree.

People were complaining because they could no longer abuse the tree. Wow, remember last year and the abuses and you will realize that what was done to the tree was very necessary.

As some said, why not restricting for alts. Well last year it was discussed that the active alts who also role play should not be penalized.

So the tree rewarded those who are active.

Santa, well Santa was confused.

If we think things with gratitude, we would realize that Santa was a way to gift those who couldn't reach the tree, but were still main accounts, but rather he rewarded everyone. As a matter of fact, it did not existed last year, so we complain if another way of gifting was allowed.

PS. seeing the chat log, people tried to abuse Santa as well, many alts not mains.

Thinking carefully, are gifts to be abused?

Well, I have a solution, next year [b]no[/b] gifts for anyone.

[Kafuuka]

If you give everybody a present, safe for one person, you should not be surprised that person considers it a punishment. No dictionary will save you/them from that emotion.
[quote name='Rendril' timestamp='1324855146' post='98610']
This is not the case. If you are active both values increase at the same rate, total activity percentage therefore tends to 100 as activity tends to infinity.
[/quote]
Since people do not live for eternity this argument is pretty silly imo. Looking at the realistic scale of one year, there are situations wherein a player is incapable of recovering AD%. eg someone who played a full year, then skipped two years, will even after playing another full year still be at 50% only.
[quote name='BFH' timestamp='1324909983' post='98650']
If we think things with gratitude, we would realize that Santa was a way to gift those who couldn't reach the tree, but were still main accounts, but rather he rewarded everyone. As a matter of fact, it did not existed last year, so we complain if another way of gifting was allowed.
[/quote]
That'd be nice if it worked. I don't get why the AD% is not counted for the past year only though. That would be an easy solution to remedy the case complained about and I'm currently unaware of other ways people 'cannot reach the tree'. Easy is good sometimes.

[Sasha Lilias]

[quote name='awiiya' timestamp='1324880463' post='98631']
Your disdain is as if Mur stole creatures from you for being inactive.

Awi
[/quote]

If I truly felt as if I were cheated from something, would I have given away a Morph? I think not.

I do not post here because I got no presents, I post here because I am very confused to as what you all assume a "active" player is? If I am completely wrong in my thoughts, then I am so very sorry, but for some reason I think I'm not.
Also your view seems very narrow minded here Awiiya. Try expanding the view of gift giving;

1) You obtained your creatures and rewards for "being active", therefore you thoughts will be biased even if you wish them not to be.

2) We are all told to "watch out for the gifts under the tree" for christmas and also are asked "Who has not had a gift?" from santa, does this not all point to the thought of receiving something?

3) Continuing from the last point, how would you feel if you see everyone else receiving a gift, yet you receive nought. This would bring up some sort of emotion in you, whether it be sadness, annoyance or the feeling of being "stolen from".

Also thank you Awiiya:

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][quote]as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.[/quote][/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]This proves my point in why I did not want want Santa's present when he gave it to me. [/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]And as we move onto the santa subject:[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Seig, of course you will hear he did a good job; from those that actually got something from him. [/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] As for him being "confused", this does not mean he is dumb. From my experience, this santa should have been called "Ignorant Santa". Read the logs, you will notice how he could not have missed me answering his question.[/font][/color]


Finally, please Rendril, do explain why the tree has such coding on it to prevent low active day players from obtaining...a present?

~Sasha

[Seigheart]

So, people who create accounts right before Christmas, to get the presents, don't abuse the tree. Simple.

Yeah, the tiny few new players who get affected still get a present from Santa. A Big one. Do you know who many morphs, darklings, and other INCREDIBLY rare creatures were given out this year?

Tonnes.

The small gifts you get from the tree are chump change compared to the Confused Santa gifts.

[Kaya]

[quote name='Rendril' timestamp='1324855146' post='98610']
Santa is confused, is the name not clear enough?


This is not the case. If you are active both values increase at the same rate, total activity percentage therefore tends to 100 as activity tends to infinity.


You have the required activity, you should not be having a problem with the GoE tree gifts.
[/quote]

Theoretically speaking that's true, however this also means that I'll have to come on line for over 600 days before I'll be able to get something. Not that I have something to complain, because I got a nice pressent from the confused santa but still it seems a bit odd. Especially because the last two years I've had an activity of roughly 80% so for at least the next I'll be punished for quitting when I first started playing MD years ago, and I'm not the only one, there are many people who quit MD for a year or half a year that won't be able to get pressents next 2 years.

Also go ahead and calculate it for yourself:
Activity days: [b]44% [/b] (A total of 529 out of 1200 days)

[Sasha Lilias]

[quote name='Seigheart' timestamp='1324914215' post='98659']
So, people who create accounts right before Christmas, to get the presents, don't abuse the tree. Simple.

Yeah, the tiny few new players who get affected still get a present from Santa. A Big one. Do you know who many morphs, darklings, and other INCREDIBLY rare creatures were given out this year?

Tonnes.

The small gifts you get from the tree are chump change compared to the Confused Santa gifts.
[/quote]

Yes it is abuse, but I'm pretty sure Dst, the council and everyone else that watches the who takes from the tree can do something about that. Why should so many others miss out because of a few?

I DO realise how many were given out, and I think he did do a good job. What I don't think is good is having a biased Santa. Therefore I still think a santa should be found from outside the game, or some other unbiased way.

And Seig, I assume that because what you get from the tree is so little you didn't take it? Be far to below you? Or..perhaps you did? In that case would you be willing to give it up for your cause? Of course you wouldn't. You take whatever you can and become critical on everyone else's problems.

[Seigheart]

I got a morph. I traded it for an item.

[BFH]

[quote name='Kafuuka' timestamp='1324913207' post='98656']
That'd be nice if it worked. I don't get why the AD% is not counted for the past year only though. That would be an easy solution to remedy the case complained about and I'm currently unaware of other ways people 'cannot reach the tree'. Easy is good sometimes.
[/quote]

Because it leads to more abuses. Actually counting last year would only work if another thing is fixed. I won't mention what exactly since it can unleash more abuses. But that "thing" is controversial too. So more complains. Tree is a script. A manual option was needed, Santa was that option, but it seems that people don't want it anymore.

[quote name='Sasha Lilias' timestamp='1324914876' post='98662']

Yes it is abuse, but I'm pretty sure Dst, the council and everyone else that watches the who takes from the tree can do something about that. Why should so many others miss out because of a few?

I DO realise how many were given out, and I think he did do a good job. What I don't think is good is having a biased Santa. Therefore I still think a santa should be found from outside the game, or some other unbiased way.

[/quote]

A FEW! are you crazy or what sasha. Last year HUNDREDS of alts abused tree. So many that Mur put the requirement after a few hours. DST, Council, Or whatever, have other things to do. Based on that point of yours. The fews turns out to be those that did not received a gift from the tree, and the majority alts. They even tried to abuse santa, imagine a tree without requirements.

[quote]

I DO realise how many were given out, and I think he did do a good job. What I don't think is good is having a biased Santa. Therefore I still think a santa should be found from outside the game, or some other unbiased way.

[/quote]

Again, what!? There are cases in wish the alt check fails, take the case of dst and no one, discussed alredy lots of times. Would you believe that someone from outside will identify that. Come on sasha! >>

Edited December 26, 2011 by BFH

[Sasha Lilias]

BFH, when I said a "few" I meant as in the few that create the alts to abuse. (Not long ago the tree was available for ALL, and was never actually specified that alts were not allowed to use until in recent years, so many would use their already made alts to get the rewards.)

As for your comment on the "unbiased santa", do you really think Mur would just let some random person do it without actually giving them a few tools and knowledge on the game first? So "come on" BFH!

~Sasha

Edited December 26, 2011 by Sasha Lilias