…and why I feel like they are biased (most of the time), unregulated, and sometimes unfair. They do what they want (which they have the right to) and don’t answer to no one (unfortunately). When they are opposed they are quick to lay down the “Hammer” and enforce thier “laws”. The game mods are part of the reason that I didn’t want to join the forums in the first place; not the players, and theyhave a tendency to completely ignore someone when they are expressing thier discontent (quite often). Sometimes its a major reason why people don’t normally play this game…and thier implementations of new “policies” is horrible.
I know it’s the 10,000th mod complain post but, I just wanted to let my feelings be known.
And no, I’m not attacking the mods, I’m just saying.
How many other games are out there where there are community involved mod teams and owners/devs?
Pie allows for way more input and community based decisions than Stefan ever did.
All the recent bans were for cheating, rules are stated in the game rules and there has been a recent post as well as one about a year ago and ongoing discussions about keeping the game and the public community it on a pg13 level, which is usually enforced when things become abusive.
So really, if you aren’t being an asshat, then you have nothing to worry about
Oh ho ho @Random as I said I’m not attacking the mods at all, and I’m very well aware of thier almost unrivaled involvement and openness… I have nothing against them, nor am I an…what you called it? Asshat…yea…I’m just simply stating my opinion.
I understand the frustration about the mods… Come on what does TBO really do? Lol I’m jk I actually really appreciate that the mods take time from their busy life’s to spend time on this game
Before I say anything else I want to thank you for being reasonably cordial about your feedback here. I don’t agree with a few things you’re saying here, but it makes a huge difference when players post in good faith to have a discussion and not just to make personal attacks on the staff.
Regarding you specific concerns, this jumps out at me as the biggest misunderstanding:
bias
We are all biased yeah, which is something we try to acknowledge and account for. Our rules were written with this in mind, amongst other things.
Some of the rules are up for interpretation, which is an unfortunate necessity given that when we had more concrete rules in the past, trolls in the community would find loopholes to sow discontent only to say stuff like “technically i’m not breaking any rules. mod abuse!”.
Needless to say, dealing with that is both tiring for the team and a bad experience for the wider playerbase. Hence the change to more subjective enforcement, which means our enforcement is affected by bias. We are human, after all.
regulated
The good news though, is that your point about that the mods “answer to no one” couldn’t be further from the truth. They all answer to me as the owner, and ultimately I answer to the players. IC is my business now, and if I fail the community then I fail my investment, and at its extreme this would mean I’d eventually have to shut IC down.
Obviously, nobody wants this, which is why we do have guidelines in place for the mods to follow. A lot goes on behind the scenes that the players don’t see before moderators take any action. We have lots of conversations, both between mods and other mods and between all of the mods and me. It is very much regulated and they very much do answer to somebody.
Of course we aren’t perfect, and I’ve openly acknowledged that we always want to improve. This is why, after all, that constructive criticism as yours is not only welcome but encouraged.
The fact that we didn’t delete your post here, and are actively involved in a discussion with you should be evidence enough that we aren’t, as you put it, “quick to lay down the 'Hammer”'and enforce thier ‘laws’” simply because we are “opposed”.
When the mods take action, it is because a rule is violated. That’s the only reason mods ever take any action. Why else would they voluntarily do work in their free time for an unpaid job just so they can often be bashed over it, including personal attacks and sometimes even threats?
The reason is simple: they’re doing their jobs as I’ve directed them to. That’s the only reasons mods do anything. That’s why I hired them.
That doesn’t mean that they won’t ever make a mistake or mishandle an interaction with a player. I myself do that more often than I’d like. We never claim to be perfect, only that we’re doing our best to manage a community.
Do you have specific examples of this?
As far as I can tell we literally have a 100% response rate for any player who contacts us about anything, including discontent, and including when players message us to personally attack us.
If any player ever wants to contact us about anything, they are always free to message @Imperial_Conflict or specifically @game-moderators for game-related issues. We will respond to anybody.
The idea that we actively ignore anybody, including unhappy players, is contrary the systems I’ve set up in the last 2 years specifically to facilitate feedback.
If you have specific instances of something you find to be horribly done, we’re all ears. We can’t fix generalized statements like the one above, but we can address specific issues and aim to improve our processes.
Yeah, ETA is right now, as in we’ve been actively adapting to player feedback for the last 2 years. Despite our most cynical players claiming otherwise, we listen to our players.
I appreciate you expressing your thoughts, and doing so constructively. This thread itself is proof that the system in place is working as designed.
Hey! @I_like_pie
Firstly, id like to thank you for taking the time out to address this. I know that this topic is tiring.
An example, in place of a good one, would be TBO’s very own answer to this forum post. Instead of actually responding he just brushed it off.
I’d have to say this name change thing is a great example. As i have said before, for someone like me who recently returned to IC this year i am not well versed in prior discussions. I do not know how far back names changes was brought up and i learned only after creating this topic that IC was trying to be more appropriate to younger players since last year. The name change thing was, in my opinion, very sudden…and could have been handled better…then again, that is just my opinion.
regarding that I have said: “The Mods of IC have almost unrivaled involvement and openness”. Although that statement you made is true, there is sometimes a feeling that it isn’t.
Although, i wish that TBO could have posted something with substance. I must say i truly appreciate you taking the time to go over and discuss the misunderstandings. Yes this thread is proof of that, and i hope that this continues.
