This will be last my post in this thread unless something drastic happens. Please excuse me if I am slightly less restrained than in other posts, but I feel the need to address some issues Verrllit has raised and the matter of Verrliit herself. And yes Verrliit, I may insult you a bit, though I say only what I perceive to be true.
Does anyone who reads the words that you and I have written agree with you, more than they do with me?
Verrliit: You are deluded. I will tell you now that I could name at least five prominent community members here who not only agree with the gist of what I have been saying, but also strongly disagree with what you are saying (I will not extend that agreement to this post, however, as it is a bit more radical than my usual). I will not name them here now, for doing so without their permission would be disloyal and unkind. However, I assure you that they are people that you claim to respect because they have put a lot of time into Planeshift (FYI, they have a high post-count, since you seem to think this is important).
Your attitude on these forums bothers me more than the attitude of anyone else I have ever met here, mainly because you seem to be an intelligent person, at least one well-accomplished in writing. What bothers me is that you refuse to consider anything that anyone else says. I am not talking just about this thread, but on any thread that you have a strong opinion on, you refuse to give an inch, regardless of anyone else\'s arguments; you may agree with something that\'s similar to what you think, but on further queries it is revealed that you were only agreeing with the parts you liked. You further imply (don\'t ask me to point to where, this is an impression only) that the arguments of others are substandard, in fact, beneath you. And you quite blatantly attack people for using dishonest tactics that you yourself use. Regardless of whether or not you agree with people, deprecating their arguments and libeling their persons like this is not acceptable and I
assure you I am not alone when I say this.
You also have the habit of twisting peoples\' words to mean what you want them to mean, or to mean something that is intended to insult you. Believe it or not, most people try to be civil most of the time. After putting up with your twisted logic for so long, however, I feel I will be unable to do this much longer; you can tell that I\'m already slipping a bit. That is why this will probably be my last response to you in this thread.
Finally, the greatest reason that I am bothered by your posts is not their content, but their intent and the methods you use in writing them. You manipulate people and manipulate their words so that you win, so that you get what
you want, which is rarely what is best for the community. I have nothing to gain from this argument. You have quite a lot to gain and you are doing your best to make sure you succeed. Again, you have never said these things; these are only the impressions that I get from reading your posts. I am quite disappointed in general, as my initial impression of you was a progressive and intelligent woman, if a bit stubborn. I now find myself to have erred greatly in this assumption.
Having addressed these issues, I will move on to replying to your main post body.
You provided a wonderful example of a little boy who puts in hours of play-time and who would be heartbroken if all this time came to nothing. It\'s quite touching (there is no sarcasm here), but I don\'t think it matters. He may be trying to contribute, but failing miserably. Does this mean he should be punished? No, but it does not mean he deserves a reward either.
I could try to put an 8-year old boy to work as a professional programmer. He would fail miserably and get fired in seconds. However, once he grew up a bit, he might learn some programming, come back, and do just fine. The same goes for role-playing. If he can role-play when he\'s young, then great, I\'d love to see him in-game. But if he can\'t, the same rules apply to him as to everyone else. As for his time being meaningless, I\'d like to note that the point of the game is to have fun. If he wasn\'t having fun during those hours, then, yes, his time was meaningless and it\'s his own fault for playing a game that didn\'t make him happy. The stats and wealth are just a method through which fun is promoted. If you need them to have fun, you\'re missing the point of the game.
On a side-note, I am very disappointed with you for trying to use this image of a little foreign boy as your main example in that post. You and I both know that regardless of its authenticity, you chose that example purely for its value as propaganda; or perhaps you don\'t know: it may have been subconcious; it seems quite clear to me, however. This web forum does not need propaganda and I\'d request that you stop trying to influence people by appealing to emotions that are not an issue in the discussion (i.e. \"empathy for children\" is not being discussed).
So, just because the Devs of WoW did not care about you, and appreciate your efforts, you think it is Ok for the Devs of PS not to care about their players, or reward their dedication either.
My statement about WoW was merely an example; you can not expect the devs to reward you for playing the game. This is a tech demo; the devs say all the time, You are a tester; when you play, you acknowledge that there will be bugs and that you may lose everything.
So, only rewarding the players you approve of, would be fair, but since you can\'t see them all, no one should get anything.
I was using myself as a scaled down example of what the devs would have to deal with. I did not mean it literally. I\'m pretty sure you are aware of this, or you\'re a lot less intelligent than I pegged you to be (please don\'t go and take this as an insult; I\'ve already discussed how you twist peoples\' words. I don\'t need more examples).
You say that what is carried through from the wipe must represent effort. I\'ve already said I disagree. What I want is for what is carried through to be a representation of role-playing \"talent\" as you call it (which is in large part effort). However, as I have said, this is impossible to judge.
The talented storytellers need nothing extra for having talent. They have fans, they are popular, they get presents from other players. They get to create art, and they get applause.
This statement alone shows how you misunderstand role-playing. The role-players do not tell stories, they are the story. Everyone in the world should be a part of this story (Talad discussed this: read his article, all of it). Those who are a part of the story deserve to be rewarded for playing the game as it should be played. As for the \"fans,\" \"popular,\" and \"presents\" comments, I will only shake my head. Role-players are normal people who you see in-game all the time. They are nothing special. Maybe there are a few shining stars, but they\'re not the only ones who deserve to be rewarded. Again, though, you can\'t really judge.
I have argued everything out to the best of my ability, but I doubt that you will change your opinions or your posting methods the least bit. This saddens me, but I felt that I needed to say this. Now, I\'m done. Respond to this how you will; you will receive no more responses from me.
