End of festival - Thin line between PWR and RPC

[Muratus del Mur]

First of all, the current festival was a chaos, but a very creative and useful chaos

A lot of players got rewarded and some rpc's went very upset because of that and some regular players went upset that they did not get something too.

I will not comment now why and how rewards were decided.

There is a very very thin line between RPC (role playing character) and PWR (player with role).
Some pwr have more abilities than some rpc's but they do not have the required age, or proven stability in game to become RPC yet. Some rpc were made rpc to see if they can do good, but they are under close surveillance, and other players were made PWR even if they should be RPC, but with a good reason.

The main difference between rpc and pwr is the access to special logs. Only players that stayed long enough in the game can gain access to edit those logs.

This whole pwr/rpc separation is new, i still don't have a very clear image on how to separate things well or if the current method is the right one to use. Its very likely that i will reorganize rpc/pwr roles soon. Initial reason for separating rpc/pwr was the access to some spells that could be easyly abused, BUT it seems that even the oldest rpc's abused them too, so , the current separation is only based on who has access to the logs and apears on the rpc list and who does not. I am giving spells based on how well that person can use them for their role, not based on loyalty or active days...not anymore. There are several ancient rpc's that are performing worse than some new pwr, and that situation will be changed soon.

for now, my intention is to make all players with spells and quests as RPC, and keep as pwr all those that have only tag/description but no spells or quest, and also clean the current rpc list a bit. There will be a minimum age for rpc status and a limited number of active rpc's...that means pwr will take turns in rpc role from time to time.....dont ask me more, i have no clue right now myself...its just a thought...there are still a lot of things to figure out after this festival.

The current contest proved to be an excelent way to see what players are realy capable of regarding role play. A lot of things will change and improve based on the things i learned from this contest and the festival. A new rpc admin interface is in work based on the things i learned from the festival, and much more will come during Alpha 7.

Those of you that did not get rewarded during this festival dont give up. Keep your contest info on your page, and improve it.

There are about 15 more players i want to reward but i dont think it will be possible untill tomorow (sunday) when the festival ends. Prizes for those players will continue to come after the festival but at a lower rate during the next month.

A lot of new spells were created during the festival, these spells will be given in next festival also to other players that should get a similar abilities, they are unique just for now.


After the festival there will be a cooldown period, i will be attending things i missed to do in this period, and you will probably go wild with your roles, or doing new quests

Lets say i usualy have 150% ideas from the 100% max work capacity...well aftre this festival i have like 500% out of 100% i can do ...so i have to cool down also a bit to put my thoughts in order and see with what to start to make things better. My main target will be to make player promotion to pwr and rpc much more fluid. I also have new ideas of ingame quests/puzzles based on a new magic system i finished in this period and many many many more...but i have to cool down and start bit by bit, after a short break of course.

The Artisans contest is also over, rewards/winners have been decided but it will take a while to dispatch them , after i finish with the festival first.

Puzzle contest is complicated to decide. I've seen amazing quests, some very dificult some very easy but fun. It would be unfair to reward just the most complciated ones and ignore the easy and fun ones. Thats why i will delay, or even cancel, this contest for now. Eah player with a nice quest was reviewd for a rpc/pwr role anyway. Decision is not final on this, maybe i change my mind and pick a winner for this contest too...even if its so dificult to decide .

well thats it ... tomorow things will get WILD..last day of the festival!
Thank you all for participating

[lord3angle]

Aww, Mr. Mur, I had been waiting for that big, wild Festival finale. but its already a Sunday here already (GMT +8) in the Philippines., and tomorrow (your Sunday) is work day for me already. I pray that when you decide on another Festival in the near future, please end it on a Saturday. Work is the only inevitable thing that hinders me from logging on. Even so, I still do during break, and lunch time..

Congratulations on a successful festival, Sir. I fancy the writings/collection on my page as of now, that I didn't put up my role play. I sure hope that we may soon be provided a different page/paper for what we write for role play; and for miscellaneous yet important things we may consider personally, though still within the borders of the MDA Gameworld.

Again, congratulations Sir.. as well as to those who were rewarded and granted the status they enjoy today.

REspects.

lord3angle

[I am Bored]

Mur i think that the game has been flowing well (even if it has been a bit chaotic at times) I wish that it was possible for us normal players to make a statue of you in game but to do that would require you to program it and you have enough to do as it is. i think you should let .Sheops. handle the game for a little while while you go on a vacation, because i think you have been over working yourself and that you need to take you mind off the game and relax for a little while. if nothing else i will see who i can get to make it so you can't do anything with the game for a while (during your vacation) so that you will be forced to relax because you can't do anything with the game while on your vacation. oh and i will also leave you alone while you are on vacation.

[stormrunner]

the Festival was fun can't wait to see it or some like again(I may enter the contests next time)

[Muratus del Mur]

well its not vacation, i call it vacation because i will be away from the game but its not for relaxing, i simly go somewere else with other business for a few days.

and yes, there will be more festivals like i said, better organised.

and i am bored...you realy realy stressed me too much during the contest...too much...way too much ...true that its part of your role...but you are DANGEROUS )

[PenelopeLightMoon]

Wow! Thanks for the regen Mur....time for buying new boots, I think!

[Metal Bunny]

[quote name='King Manu' post='16625' date='Sep 14 2008, 02:13 AM']well its not vacation, i call it vacation because i will be away from the game but its not for relaxing, i simly go somewere else with other business for a few days.

and yes, there will be more festivals like i said, better organised.

and i am bored...you realy realy stressed me too much during the contest...too much...way too much ...true that its part of your role...but you are DANGEROUS )[/quote]

Lol..
You'd be surprised what he does when you don't reply..
>.<

But nice job on the festival, I liked the music the most
And RPC rotation sounds, very useful. I mean right now, some are making quests and some aren't. And the level of quests and the rewards given for them differ a lot, so yeah, maybe a system that only makes a PWR a RPC when the PWR has given a good quest for review and his participation is relevant for the storyline, can be very beneficial for the game.

[Emo Rogue]

hello... i wasn't able to participate much in the event... LOL

but how i wish next time.. it would be much more exciting and enjoyable... since it was the first one.. we would expect more of it in the future...

MD-SPEED!

[maggot]

Personally the roleplaying thing is unique but not especially appealing. This game rewards players who enjoy making up roles more than those who can win head contests. Understandable, because roleplaying seems hard judging by the quality I've seen. Nonetheless not fun for those who don't even care about it. Well, waiting for the ingame puzzles and features mentioned. Really liked that aspect, kept me playing for a while before I noticed it was limited.

[Udgard]

Well, here goes the last day... Time to hope that Mur would check out my papers lol
I know that how rewards are decided will not be explained now, but it would really be great to know that. I am really getting trouble improving my papers, because more and more parts of the role I chose has been given to other PWRs, and since I've done my role for more than 2 months, it's kinda already integrated to how I've been playing and it's not easy to do major change to it (I finally did a revamp, but the essence is still similar). Oh well, better luck next time, me =)

But seriously, the festival has been a very fun event. I got to see a lot of new interesting roles integrated in the game, and even get to see Golemus (I'm still not leaving until the last day! research, research...=B). One thing has kinda bothered me though, which is the huge amount of new quests that recently spawns with the MD quest contest. It kinda makes quests kinda lose its feeling of a quite big game event everytime an RPC releases a new quest, and turn into something you can see on anyone's papers. But well, I guess that might change once the quest contest ends.

Well, that's just some rambling of mine.. I really look forward to seing the next festival.

[Muratus del Mur]

udgard, as i said before, even if the festival ends that does not mean you will have to give up on your role. Initialy i was plannning to reward just 3 ppl (read the contest rules!) but now i am rewarding a lot more...and the natural reaction is that that people are upset they didnt get a reward too ...its sort of normal.

I hope the contest actualy learned all of you that participated how to play the game. The roles should be the way you play it, not something just for a contest....remember that.

About the other players that do not enjoy role playing so much, well its a roleplaying game ... don't worry, the combat system will 'suffer' improvements and new creatures will be put into play. I wish i could work to improve both role-playing and fighting , but i cant do both at the same time...this period was for the role part...the same as the period when i made the head contest was for the fighting part. A lot of people dont like the head contest, a lot love it. ... it will allways be like that.

[Ledah]

This was definetly fun. I think we should have a festival every 2 months but not a role one just a genral fun atmosphere or summit. Also Mur your official name is Murry. If anyone needs a list of names say here

[AqlBeast]

The Festival is great Mur! Thanks for everything

I am looking forward to the next festival already hehehe....this one hasnt even end yet lol

[Tarquinus]

[quote name='maggot' post='16641' date='Sep 13 2008, 10:51 PM']Personally the roleplaying thing is unique but not especially appealing. This game rewards players who enjoy making up roles more than those who can win head contests. Understandable, because roleplaying seems hard judging by the quality I've seen. Nonetheless not fun for those who don't even care about it. Well, waiting for the ingame puzzles and features mentioned. Really liked that aspect, kept me playing for a while before I noticed it was limited.[/quote]
Some of us entertain ourselves; many more entertain ourselves and each other. To those of us who care about roleplay, the point is helping bring an alternative fantasy world to life. That's entertaining to a large number of us.

Even those who enjoy puzzles aren't shy about bringing their own to the table: check out the papers of I am Bored sometime. As is the case with many things, you get out of this game roughly what you put into it.

The game [i]does[/i] reward players who enjoy making up roles more than those who can win head contests. If it were otherwise, I wouldn't play.

It really is that simple.

[maggot]

Entertaining to you and large number, nonetheless still not a plus for another large number of players. Not protesting current rewards for rpcs, not protesting right of roleplayers to fantasize and have preferences, protesting lack of reward/incentive for other playerbases. Why reward players who enjoy making up roles more than others who dislike making up roles but participate in the game equally other ways? But think I now understand the development direction of this "roleplaying" game more: focus on hardcore roleplaying. Viewed as more important than combat. Doesn't appeal, but waiting to see if development in other areas will make up for it.

Game will always lose players unless it appeals to all equally. Really is that simple.

[stormrunner]

try to make everyone happy and you end up tired and no one is really happy and just a idea this is a roleplaying game your playing and you don't want to roleplay , do I even have to say it, it explains it's self

[Tarquinus]

[quote]Why reward players who enjoy making up roles more than others who dislike making up roles but participate in the game equally other ways? But think I now understand the development direction of this "roleplaying" game more: focus on hardcore roleplaying. Viewed as more important than combat.[/quote]
Stormrunner fielded this bit far more politely than I can bring myself to do. Re-read your second sentence above, and re-read it again until it sinks in. Seriously.

MagicDuel is not a democracy; it is not Hollywood; it is not Dungeons&Dragons. I am profoundly grateful for these facts.

[quote]Game will always lose players unless it appeals to all equally.[/quote]
Not all players are equally desirable. Did you think there was a goldmine waiting to be discovered here, or can you possibly, conceivably admire the art that has gone into the creation, and yes, the playing of this game?

[Azrael Dark]

I for one await the surprises that await us PWDs and abilities still in development for RPCs. I am sure Mur is working hard on some new stuff that both I and others can use so that we as a community develop better into our roles and make combat a little more interesting

[Tremir]

[quote name='maggot' post='16959' date='Sep 19 2008, 12:55 AM']Why reward players who enjoy making up roles more than others who dislike making up roles but participate in the game equally other ways?[/quote]


Are you even playing the same game?
Do you realize how much some of us HATE the head contest, which is precisely that reward for people who are interested in the combat aspects of the game, for example?

[Sol]

I do like the roleplaying... I of the best roleplaying games I have seen in the web. Well this game is still in "alpha" mode, not even "beta" yet, so this game has a lot more changes to come. Maybe rewards for combat will come soon ^^ [Isn't heads contest one? Well I don't really like the heads contest though... maybe a bit more variety will be nice like the war mode (without the "dying" that is) ^^]

BTW, I LOVED the festival, it motivated people to make roles (including me too )

[Faraday]

Maggot is entitled to air his or her views just like the rest of us. And please continue as it is good to hear others views whether we agree or not

[dst]

I think that the community will be split in 2: the ones that play roles and the ones that enjoy battling. The good part (or the bad one) is that you cannot play a role without having to fight. So the first category will have a slight advantage. But if the game will continue to encourage role playing (which will do from what I know) then the first half-community will slightly fade away and eventually will disappear. It will be a shame from my point of view since I know many good players which will eventually quit. Anyway....time will tell and I hope I am wrong...

[Udgard]

I agree with dst. That's why I think a 'role' should not only be defined as someone who has a fully-told background story. Some people's role are just.. a simple fighter/adventurer. Some people's stories are made from real events that form who they are. I don't think that they need to make up some kind of background story if they do not wish to. I do think though, that there should be some rewards that is given only to hardcore roleplayers, this perfectly makes sense, as there are heads contests that reward combatants (and don't forget MP6 and their spells! this is a combatant reward too, to a certain degree), so there should be rewards that are given to players that play the other way. I just hope that the game will be able to keep a certain amount of balance (hey! principle of balance =B) on both the role-playing and combat rewards. Mur has already assigned some people on new creature developments (it will come out pretty soon, I think), so at least the combat-lovers will get something in this festival too (okay, not exactly in the festival, but not too long after it).

[Logan Marquis]

I know I am a bit late into this discussion, but you all can blame Hurricane Ike for screwing with my life and internet time and such. I have a TOTALLY different opinion on what dst had to say...and the subsequent posts thereafter.

This game will require some of everything. Solving quests and puzzles, socializing through both roleplaying and non-roleplaying means, and even battling. Everyone, I am sure, has a sense of this in some way, shape or form.

For those that believe there has to be some insanely awesome backstory to have a well-defined role, I challenge you to review my personal comments page that explains my role. It is ENTIRELY within the realm of possibility on MD to play a well-defined role with almost no backstory whatsoever.

I challenge EVERYONE who believes otherwise to take my lesson(shout out to Envy of Endurance for the help and such with it!!) on roleplaying and roles. Ask any individual who participated in the two lessons I conducted(even the second one, as doped up as I was on medicine, said they got something out of it) about the usefulness of having a role.

Your role is not just what you do...it is who you are, what you do, how you do it, what you say, think, etc, etc, etc.

Think of it this way:

Your role in your real life(away from MD) is not just your occupation, your time at school, your time with family, your friends, etc...

Your role is simply YOU. ALL of you goes into your role.

So when I say that you HAVE to have some sort of role, it's not an overstatement. It's simply how it is.

The way you play this game could even be considered your very own unique role.

And in that...we all have already chosen our roles...it is just defining them and learning to utilize them properly that is the hard part.

Again...if you are interested in developing the way you play MD a little more...PM me and I'll try to set up another lesson for a week from now or so. You will NOT be disappointed.

[dst]

I think you misunderstood Logan. MD requires more than "just be yourself" (or "who you are") role. Why? Because this is the path Mur wants to set for this game. A few months back when I met him he said to me and No one: "Find a role for yourselves". Also he told us that this is how he wants to develop the game. In the end IT is a ROLE playing game. What makes it unique is the fact that everyone makes his/her own role and you must agree that Mur was a genius when he thought of that.This way new ideas are brought to the game and everyone is happy cause they have the opportunity to play as they want.
I tried to think of a role for me. I simply cannot find something that fits the game.And I'm fully aware of the fact that if I will not find a solution, after a while I will stop playing. Maybe my big NO to RP points is a way of delaying what in the end is inevitable: MD becoming a game where role player has a really great importance. Don't get me wrong: I enjoy watching all of you playing even if some players overreact but it's not something I can do. And I think there are more players like me.
There will always be quests and puzzles but this is for both types of players. Head contest? After you won it twice it's not that appealing...believe me.... But at least I mess up the contest from time to time
New creatures?I know about them. I helped making the stats for them and I hope they will be implemented soon. This will bring some fresh air into the game.
And returning to our sheep (yes...a romanian saying that sounds awful translated to english): This game will eventually reward more role playing players than the normal ones (like me) so I don't see why those RP points will be necessary. They will just increase the gap between the 2 types of players.The gap is there and will increase in time but why do you want to speed things up? Just for rewards? There are a lot of them without those points. Do you want me to play a role just to get the points? Then I will: I will be the mean, cruel one that will attack everyone and kill them and prevent them for upgrading creatures etc etc(and you all know that I can do it). Because this is a role that suits me and it's easy to play. Or do you want me to play a role as guardian of the clickable tile in Sage's Keep ( some of the players know what I'm talking about ) and show how fake I can be doing it?
I'm stopping cause I have to many ideas and I cannot put them in order....


I was so gone with the wind that I posted this here instead of RP points but just because in the end it went to the "role-playing" issue....