Doubtful Character Names

[Seytra]

AFAIK, GMs tend to be invisible most of the time these days.

[bilbous]

It also wouldn't suprise me thatthey have alt characters on the gm accounts that are not marked as GM but still have access to the same information with a policy that any action taken must be with the marked character.

[Kezzik]

GM's come up as online on the who list and on the buddy list when they are online, invisible or not, they may have alts on their GM account but then that would go against the point of people being familiar with who was doing what, and near impossible for someone to contact the GM that was working with thim if a problem arises

[Hadfael]

Of course in a perfect PS-World, there would be online GMs 24/7. But well, it's not a perfect PS-World yet.
So, here is a reminder of the possible ways to solve an ingame problem when /who doesn't return any GM and when the online ones are busy/AFK:
If you can keep playing knowing a problem exists, /petition it. Even when not ingame, we have access to petitions.
If you can't actualy play (crashing due to a bad position ingame) you can jump to IRC on freenode and poke the voiced pple in #planeshift-gmtalk

This thread being about bad names you see unchanged ingame, /petition is the best way.
It allows you to keep playing without having to hear the too well known "I do what I want. You're not a GM."
it's even good to use a petition when there is one or more ingame GM. Why? Because not all GMs can change names. Because the GM can be online dealing with other issues. It takes time for a GM to change a name when he can contact the player.
Even for obviously bad names we seen before they are petitioned, we wheck to see if the player is online. Thus, we can explain what was wrong and ensure he won't create another one with an even worse name.
When you make a petition, when we change the name you reported, we will also try to contact you. So you know if the name was changed or not. And at least GMs will thank you for helping the PS immersive feeling (no, there is no bounty for reporting bad names Your reward is to play without seeing stupid names all around).

And yes, GMs can have RPing char they play. Those chars are unaware about what the GM can know about people, but nonetheless such a char won't ignore bad behaviours he sees ingame. And the RP char doesn't always need to write a petition for the GM to deal with next time he connects

[Kezzik]

last time I did the ol' name changing routine it didnt take long at all, even talking to the player, perhaps you;re a bit rusty xP

and im going to be mean now and say the following;

I haven't been thanked for the names i've reported, let alone the names I'd changed
I haven't gotten my 'reward' because theres always more names running about, though I'm not expecting a reward anyway.

it's not all peaches and cream, don't try to put it out as that... and i'm done with this topic ^^

Language.

[Seytra]

I haven't been thanked for the names i've reported, let alone the names I'd changed

Honestly, I don't usually expect to be contacted by the GMs, at least not if a submitted name was changed. They've got sufficient other things to do than to (IMO unnecessarily) thank everyone who submits a name. If a conversation with a GM arises and ends up in a "thanks", that is fine. It's my policy to not /tell GMs or devs unless it's at least somewhat urgent, even less should one expect to be contacted unless necessary.

I haven't gotten my 'reward' because theres always more names running about, though I'm not expecting a reward anyway.

Well, I, for one, have gotten my reward. Each time I look at the player list, I see that the vast majority of names is throughly acceptable, a few aguably acceptable, and only a handful are unacceptable. Now, if I look at any other MMO"RP"G, the percentage of unacceptable names that show up in the viewport ingame exceed these at any time. (IOW, even though one sees only about 20 characters, there are more inappropriate names in immediate view than in the entirety of PS.)
Granted, there still are some names ingame that seemingly are GM-approved while I'd have changed them on the spot, but overall our collaborative effort definitely pays off. I'm inclined to say that RP-supportive GMs from other MMO"RP"Gs would be envious of PS.

[Akaye]

GM's come up as online on the who list and on the buddy list when they are online, invisible or not, they may have alts on their GM account but then that would go against the point of people being familiar with who was doing what ........

Ummmmm ..... No. Gm's have only the one Gm character. We have no reason to have two or three or four. Gm's do not roleplay or play the game. We are there to help people so there is no need for more then one identity. I myself have the character "Zorbels" if I want to go into game and roleplay. If I see someone breaking the rules I will not use zorbels, I will log off and log back on with Akaye.

I haven't been thanked for the names i've reported, let alone the names I'd changed
I haven't gotten my 'reward' because theres always more names running about, though I'm not expecting a reward anyway.

Sometimes we Gm's get thanked and other times we get quite the opposite.  Thanks Kezzik for reporting names. Also bear in mind there a many other players who do the same as you. To give a "reward" to each would be very difficult I would think. I mean keeping track of them all would be hard enough, but then what exactly would you want for a reward? It isn't very difficult to type a few names you see into a petition and have us Gm's change them ..... it is however much harder to be the gm changing the names and dealing with the players. So who really should be getting the thank yous here?   

[Kezzik]

*sigh* you talk to me as if I don't know this process, but I presume you would not knowing who I am.

gm's sometimes need to create another gm character that is outside the Game master guild to go undetected to catch bad players in the act, you see, in the past somep layers have added every gm to their buddy list and stopepd their disruprtive behaviour, even logged out at the first hint of a GM logging in, the lats are there to catch them unaware, it's been done, I've done it. I never once claimed that peopel would use their IC's to GM.

I never claimed to want a physical reward, dimply stated the fact that the 'reward'  that Hadfael claimed players get (being able to play withotu seeing stupid names) is a near impossible feat.

by now you might be able to guess who I am by my ferocity towards renaming and the naming policy hmm?

of which brings me to my final point, it is in no way difficult for a GM to interact with a character, of whom has an unsuitable name, and then with suggestions, or sometimes not, change it, this too I have most likely done a hudnred fold more times then some other GM's, not saying that the GM's dont work, this was just my most avid part of my job.

I know what it's like on both ends of the stick, neither side rarely get a thank you to be honest, to the players, its hard to thank everyone, because there is simply so many, to the GM's you hardly notice the thanks you's, because theres always those people who complain that have a louder voice

if you have trouble dealing with the income of unsuitable names perhaps you should ask 'the boss' to reconsider retaking up that ex-GM he recently rejected. I won't say the terms for which he did, though I don't see why this was the reason, as anything to do with such reasons have to be throoughly 'checked' and 'agreed' upon by theboss himself before they can go into action, or so I've heard, the GM's have and always will be there for the OOC nasty jobs and once in a while pull together a nice RP event, i just find it a shame that I can no longer do somethitng I enjoyed doing and was good at doing because of something i 'lack' yet i do not have any trouble dealign with.

think i'm about done on that... toodles

[Akaye]

if you have trouble dealing with the income of unsuitable names perhaps you should ask 'the boss' to reconsider retaking up that ex-GM he recently rejected.

Sounds to me like your post answering mine was an excuse to vent. No I have no clue who you are and who you are doesn't matter.  I don't claim it is diffcult to change a name. I am however saying the player that you are changing the name to maybe and CAN be difficult about it. You also implied you never got a thank you. Well I thanked you for your efforts, so that should help you feel appreciated some what right? I am not sure why you weren't accepted back as a Gm, but I am sure the "big boss" had his reasons and that being said if you are truly bugged by it I think talking with him about it would be better then bringing it up in a thread to people who have no clue about the situation.

[Kezzik]

it is however much harder to be the gm changing the names and dealing with the players.

uhuu...~

ooh I'm picking stuff out now heh..

anyway, If ;'taking it up' with the big boss would actually get anythign done about it I would have but it's pretty much pointless anyway, and I only brought the point up in the thread in reply to your previous statement towards me, and besides, pepopel may be clueless about the situation, just as some are clueless about the naming policy and other such things, yet they discuss them. i've said i'll stop twice now but i've come back again to post >< to fun to debate.. now i really have to go, that or i'm serving charcoal for dinner :S

[Akaye]

* Akaye waves

Have a good dinner. There isn't really much more to say anyway. 

[Kezzik]

other then "waffley!"

* Kezzik coughs and runs off

[Gyerfry Stoemsaber]

I was someone with the username "sexylady," instant petition.

[zanzibar]

*ahem*





I try to help, I really do.

[Akaye]

other then "waffley!"

* Kezzik coughs and runs off

* Akaye playfully throws a waffley at Kezzik

Darn it! I'll get you next time you fast little bugger.  

@Zanzibar: Ha ha ha sucker! Oh I mean ... that wasn't nice ...