Critical Feedback...Discord, Bans and Feelings.

[Dalek Caan]

Good day viewers of this post.

Yadda Yadda.

The answer is Death

I can't be the only one who finds this insanely amusing.

This is a game. How bored and out of other things to do do you have to be to go to such a length to get what you want?



Yours truly,

A legacy player™.

[MineTurtle]

I mean seriously. Attempting to mock DM Titania?
You'll get no credibility for that.

You're not wanted here. Run along home.

[Ramza]

I think you might be going a bit extreme with the stuff at the end, kinda unnecessary. But for the remarks of bans over PvP? As one of the most vocal advocates of PvP and someone who does it quite often. I can't say I've seen much in regards to that becoming more of a cause to ban people, as I think I would be quite literally one of the first to get booted. Though I may be wrong as I have not been paying too much attention to the bans going around, as i'm not in any of the general discords and the like.

[Queen Titania]

...

Death, really?

First, you should have never done a "test return" and circumvented your ban. That you were banned twice from the server on this run without us having the knowledge you were circumventing coming until afterwards is a testament that you've not learned or listened to the DM Team, which is rule #5. Turn the mirror on yourself and reflect. Maybe it's not everyone else in the world, maybe it's you.

Secondly, this is exactly what not to do if you want to change things. Problem with me? Talk to Boss Spyre. Problem with Boss Spyre too? Talk to Boss Irongron.

Thirdly: "Players being told to delete their now, level 20s and make new characters at the cost of their own time." is false. You were actually strongly advised to make new characters to resolve the "metagaming problem", you decided to not take the advice, and were unable to fix the behavior you promised, resulting in a third ban. There were no bugs or glitches, only RPed or Mechanical consequences. This isn't getting into the other false statements or dubious claims.

I spent exhausting amounts of time trying to improve your behavior that I could have spent elsewhere and persuading other team members to give you a chance and delay the ban on more than one instance. The only thing you've done is show yourself as a jerk, upset people and cause regret over all the effort to try to help your behavior so you could experience the server better.

[BegoneThoth]

This is all over a pvp ban?

yikes

[Queen Titania]

This is all over a pvp ban?

yikes

Not at all:

Logging to avoid PvP
Circumventing a Ban
OOC talk IC
Not Listening to DMs
Lying to DMs
Threatening DMs
Breaking of Be Nice in multiple instances of insulting tells
Killing NPCs
Inappropiate Language
Threatening the Server.

[Tarkus the dog]

Killing NPCs? Now that's where I draw the line.

[Sintarius]

I discourage all IG/IC meetings, metagaming and such as "Royal_Blood" mention in her post, i truly believe that is the way it all should be played aswell, i really dislike such plays, and it should be discouraged. I fully support this.

I also fully supports all the decision the DM team comes up with, i believe their are here to make sure everyone is having a good time, and we can be better policing our self somemore.

There is not much to tell else, be true to your character, and never let it get to you OOC.

//Tabitha

[Party in the forest at midnight]

If someone disagrees with the team and hates them that much, why not just leave? Why spend all the effort doing this? The time could be spent on making a new NWN server. I've seen people banned from servers take their thoughts and create something new with it, out of their belief they can do it better than the place they left.

[BegoneThoth]

This is all over a pvp ban?

yikes

Not at all:

Logging to avoid PvP
Circumventing a Ban
OOC talk IC
Not Listening to DMs
Lying to DMs
Threatening DMs
Breaking of Be Nice in multiple instances of insulting tells
Killing NPCs
Inappropiate Language
Threatening the Server.

That's quite a list of things.

Were better off w/o them.

[Liareth]

If someone disagrees with the team and hates them that much, why not just leave? Why spend all the effort doing this? The time could be spent on making a new NWN server. I've seen people banned from servers take their thoughts and create something new with it, out of their belief they can do it better than the place they left.

Creating something requires you to put yourself and your ideas out there. It's much safer to sling mud anonymously from the sidelines at people instead.

[dominantdrowess]

@Everyone
I am not a legacy player. I'm a new player as of just before the release of EE.
My full support goes with the staff who run this server on a volunteer basis.
I consider myself personally injured by this hacker's attack on the leaders of this community I love.

@Hacker01
If I ever have complaints about a DM, I send those complaints to the "Active DMs" group or the "Admins" group here on the forums like a grown adult and talk these issues out. If I don't get my way, I don't destroy digital property, make threats and thumb my nose at people who volunteer their own time for the community and potentially make user passwords and e-mails vulnerable by using hasher and password tools and e-mail finding, and inconveniencing people to password changes, irritating everyone you're "going to send an e-mail to" or "fight on behalf of" ... because it sure as hell isn't me. In a word? Write my e-mail off your "list".

No matter how pure you think your intentions are, there's no way ANYONE here can trust you, even if everything you were saying WAS correct and you presented infallible proof. It's immaterial to the damage you've done. Nobody trusts strangers who force vulnerability on them except people with Stockholm syndrome. =/

[Vrass]

(Death is the answer.)

Indeed, death to all hackers.

Make them suffer.

Exterminate the lot of them.

Only good hacker is a dead hacker.

[Aodh Lazuli]

The answer is Death

Theatre is often best left to those who understand the form.

[triaddraykin]

Is this understanding the form?

[Dirac]

This is the spiciest thread I've ever seen.

[Huschpfusch]

A letter to the hacker-person:

The relationship between host and guest of the house are known throughout the history of human society and all across cultures. So your actions cannot be excused by ignorance. And you have brought nothing but universal shame upon yourself and those in whose name you claim to act.

The host invites the guest to the house, and the guest by entering the house must obay and respect the rules of the house.
The host has all the rights to kick the guest out of his home at any time for whatever reason.
It is not the guest's house. It is the host's house.

The host of Arelith is its owner - Irongron.
The daughters and sons of the house are the DMs, Developers, Administors.
If you have problems with them talk to them, talk to the head of the family = the owner of the house.

But to attack the daughters and sons of the house is a clear attack on the owner of the house too.
And to try and force your way into the house when you have been barred from entrance- for whatever reason- is HOME INVASION.
And to try and force your rule over another one's family's affairs is nothing but attempted HOSTILE TAKEOVER.

You have no right to do this.
If you do it, you are nothing but a criminal.
And only fellow uncultured criminals would applaud such a blatant violation of the most basic principles of human society.


Kind regards,
a Confucianist

[Mithreas]

Arelith started because, way back in the early days of NWN, Jjjerm and his friends were playing on someone else's world and were frustrated with it. They saw plenty of things that they thought should be different, and the server staff didn't agree with their vision.

So they decided to build their own world, and Arelith was born. It wasn't born overnight - Jj still talks fondly over the first time they hit the 20 player milestone, and remembers some of the early mistakes they made in figuring out how to build a world and community that lived up to the vision that they had. But it still stands today, on the solid foundation that the original team built.

I specialised in psychology at school, and have spend most of my professional life managing teams and customers, so I have some understanding of the instincts and drives that leads a player rejected by a community they want to be a part of to turn hostile and aggressive towards it. But Arelith will never be what you want it to be - your vision doesn't align with ours. Might I suggest that you take inspiration from the example of our founders, and turn your vision and technical ability towards creating your own world? If a group of you are committed to the project, there is absolutely no reason why you can't make it a success, and there will be plenty of players who prefer your vision to ours. Heck, most of the Arelith engine is available freely online if you want to build around that, and we welcome others making use of our tech.

-Mith

[The Kriv]

The answer is Death

Seriously, the best way to deal with this, Mr. Hacker, is to vote with your feet. This is not the only server out there. Clearly, you are unhappy. Your "I'm outta here" action will be much stronger than the tactics of subterfuge.

Whatever the Admin/Dev/DM team du jour deems important or decides is a priority will always get the lovin. And the things they do not deem worthy, or do not decide is a priority will not get much of any, if at all. Such is the way of the world.

I encourage you the best way to get your point is to use your obviously well developed skills to open up the toolset and build yourself a better world. A world where you can right the Wrongs you feel have been levied against you and players who agree with you.

Mr. Hacker, you claim your numbers are many? That is the true makings of a new server community. Where you can be the DM's and the Admins.

You can even go to the NWN Vault and download the Gigasmatch (or whatever it's called) which is the same base that Arelith uses, and litterally make yourself a better Arelith.

You will do SO much more for the community offering an alternative place, than to act in malicious and threatening manner. This is not the grand arena.

[Revelations]

I wasn't going to comment, but I think it has to be said that you can't win anything here.

Let's assume for a minute you have any means to do substantial damage to the server or the management.

What isn't going to happen

Irongron: "Guess I'll kick out long-standing, respected and proven team members and lift the ban on a person that threatened the entire community. I'll also just continue putting more time and hard work into a volunteer project, but only with the team members some coward is okay with."

What might happen

Players leave, admins abandon the project. Arelith, your Arelith you seem to be pathologically obsessed with will cease to exist.

There's nothing you would have achieved in that, other than destroying something for others, just because you couldn't have it. Which you brought on yourself. Outside of mentally ill people, only children sometimes show that sort of mentality.

Let's face the truth, though, none of that is happening. It’s all cringy and unimpressive.

This is so, so embarrassing.

[The Incredulous Bulk]

I don’t know the exact circumstances leading up to this person’s ban, but judging from his malicious behavior I have every confidence it was justified. I’m glad this person is no longer among us and thank the staff for their dedication and good judgment.

[MalKalz]

I was going to stay away from this topic as I had already provided a wall of text on the subject the OP presented and the DM Team provided excellent responses; however, the "hacker" decided to piggy back the same thread and I wished to provide some further clarification.

Firstly, the OP of the thread is not the same person as Hacker01. I wish to make this clear as I do not wish people to get the wrong impression of the OP and make the focus of the security breach on them. They are not the same; however, just opened this subject during the whole charade.

Secondly, Hacker01.

The reasons of your ban are present on this topic. You've decided to make a point of violating the community that you so wish to be a part of and continued to hurt your opportunity to remain here. If someone truly enjoyed and cared for Arelith, they would not have gone through the trouble that you did to hurt it. And, I am not speaking about revealing identities of the DM team - I'm speaking about violating the privacy of accounts, accessing information that was not yours, and attempting to hurt individuals of the community. And, that is something that no one on this staff will ever tolerate. The players of Arelith make what Arelith is, and the DM team works to preserve their best interest while upholding the best interest of the server.

Thirdly, identities.

This is where full transparency comes into play. I am not so much concerned about my identity being revealed, but more concerned that the identities of the other DMs were presented. The DMs should be allowed their anonymous nature among themselves and the community so that they can play the game. They, like the rest of the community, are players first and foremost. Players that come to Arelith to tell a narrative, to enjoy and interact with the server and to mingle with the community. However, they have been selected to also represent the communities best interest and ensure that your fun is had.

I am aware that individuals of the community are sharing the list that they captured with friends and other community members. Curiosity can get the better of us, and I cannot be mad. However, that does not mean that I am not disappointed. The DMs work on providing a safe and enjoyable atmosphere for players, yourself included. While you may not agree with everyone and are entitled to your opinion, you should not be attempting to actively belittle or make the DMs free time more difficult. The DMs sacrifice hours in their day answering private messages, dealing with cases and reports, entertaining IG requests, spending time in discussions and hosting events. They should be entitled to enjoy their time on their player without extra judgement, bother and shunning. Because people do treat a DMs character differently once they know, they will interact less, they will treat them in a different light or re-analyze past experiences in attempt to find an abuse of power.

To provide a little insight:

DMs and their player identities are separate. The two are not to interact where one influences the other, or take cases that involves themselves or close friends. This removes any bias or what can be seen as unfair treatment and enables another set of eyes to analyze the impact for what it is. As well, the DMs are held at these higher standards when playing as a player. They have their own rules that extend beyond a player that apply to many facets of the game. And, no. A DM cannot abuse mechanical systems such as elections, settlement powers, and drops to benefit themselves. Elections are completely inaccessible for a DM to influence. And, any concern that involves a DM is not handled by the team, but by myself with the admin team fully aware and in discussion. Where we will take whatever action necessary for any offenses. Not even a DM is immune to rules and systems in place.

So I ask that those that are sharing these screenshots to stop and show respect towards your fellow community members. Because that is what the DMs are. Let them enjoy their fun, the same fun that you share in, when they have the opportunity. Let them share their story and narrative, let it influence your characters and create many interesting interactions. I know that now the initial shock and exposure is leading to different responses, but I also know that with time it will slip back into the shadows and return to normal.

Lastly, DM Spyre.

My identity is not well hidden. It has circulated around the community. But, a leak like this does not truly impact me and my ability to do what I feel is in the best interest of the server and its community. I should not have to reveal my identity, but I see no harm in doing so. The accounts that I used in the past were the past and are not reflective of the individual that I am to this date - many years have passed, people mature / characters mature, and we grow up. And, I do admit to playing some horrible characters in the past - looking back, I shake my head at the concepts and representation of RP that I gave to the server in my early years. They were not moments I was proud of, but helped me realize that I could do better. So, yes. I am confirming that my identity was MalKalith. It isn't now though.

A lot of what I do I do because I care. If I did not care, I would never have applied for the DM team. If I did not care, I would not spend countless hours going over cases, sitting through discussions and assisting players with the simplest of questions to assisting players with problems. I appreciate the faith that the admin team has placed in me to represent the community as both a DM and Head DM. And, I will continue to be true to myself and work within the vision of the server. Whatever judgement, and opinion people have, I do respect and take with a grain of salt as its ultimately just a game and I cannot appeal to everyone. But, I do hope to make the server fun and more enjoyable for each person.

As for the position of Head DM? It was a trust placed into me by the admin team, and should I ever fail and break what I have promised to do and fail to uphold the standards of the server, I trust they would do what is necessary. DMs come and go. Even Head DMs.

But the one thing that always sticks on this server is the community. It will always be there for you and always support each other, even if a few bad apples decide not to. But, the family that Arelith has built and has shown each and everyone one us that Arelith is more than a game in some aspects, is what makes this all worthwhile. You manage to find yourself eventually. And, without it? Arelith does not exist.

So, to the players that are concerned. Please do not be. You have a team that is continued to be motivated to support you and answer any questions - this little charade really hasn't rained on anyone's parade except Hacker01's. So if you have any questions, reach out to me: DM Spyre#8042. I will answer them as best as I can on any matter.

Thanks,

Sean

[dominantdrowess]

Well said, Spyre. Though I have no idea who that is ... even I know I am not who I was 10 years ago. Or even 3 years ago. What you said really touched me.

[flower]

....

Blackmail and damaging property (IE server and related things) are against the law in majority of countries.

So you should be aware that unless your "IT experiences" involved being a professional hacker avading state authorieties you can be easily tracked, put on court, and fined.

While my country is not harsh in that regard in USA rules anti Russian anti hacking hysteria and it could not end for you there well, so you better stop what you are doing.

[Loyal To The Bane]

The accounts that I used in the past were the past and are not reflective of the individual that I am to this date - many years have passed, people mature / characters mature, and we grow up. And, I do admit to playing some horrible characters in the past - looking back, I shake my head at the concepts and representation of RP that I gave to the server in my early years. They were not moments I was proud of, but helped me realize that I could do better. So, yes. I am confirming that my identity was MalKalith. It isn't now though.

It takes a lot for someone to be able to admit that.

I haven't been the greatest example of a player on this server for the last decade or so ,and I know that now. But I've made it a point to try to improve myself and be an example of an influencial player and do better. If someone wants to change the community, because they believe it to be detrimental in some way, they should strive to be the leading example. Attacks on the forums, a majority of which are individuals who have nothing to do with the "corrupt" DM team, is a surefire way to prove that they don't have the server's best interests in mind and are moreso hellbent on getting a misguided concept of revenge on those who "wronged" them.