GM Events

[Under the moon]

My point is that the Label colors are a TOOL. As with any tool, they have their place and use. In some events, no, they should not be used. In others, they must be used. The same goes for worldshouts, shouts, invisible, freeze, the event command, and every other tool a GM has.

To say they should not use Labels anymore for any event is like saying a carpenter should not use a hammer because you should not use it while sawing wood. Frankly, those saying to get rid of it are narrow minded and do not have the ability to see the bigger picture.

The problem is not the Yellow label. It is the usage of it.

I give you a simple example of when it is needed. If a player has a green label and shouts "Fire! My house is on fire!", how many people will come running? I tell you right now that it will not be a realistic number. Now, have a Yellow do the same. You will get a much more realistic crowd.

It is a TOOL! You who say to get rid of it are simply wrong.

[neko kyouran]

counterpoint to example given:  if green labels are used and not enough people come to help, the house burns down and the event has an unhappy ending as opposed to a happy one.

but that is how it goes from time to time.  roll with those punches

[Suno_Regin]

counterpoint to example given:  if green labels are used and not enough people come to help, the house burns down and the event has an unhappy ending as opposed to a happy one.

but that is how it goes from time to time.  roll with those punches

That's not a counterpoint, that just means the house burns down. In fact, that helps me more. It's OOC that more people would come because of the label. All events don't have to have a happy ending.

[Under the moon]

No, that just more clearly defines your narrow point of view. It is not realistic for ANYONE to stand by when someone starts yelling that there is a fire. To say so just proves you do not understand basic psychology.

Suno, you are wrong. It would be OOC for people not to go look at the fire in the first place just because the label was green.

[Suno_Regin]

So you're motivating people OOCly by using the label? That's like saying your event is more important than a player one.

[Earl_Listbard]

No, that just more clearly defines your narrow point of view. It is not realistic for ANYONE to stand by when someone starts yelling that there is a fire. To say so just proves you do not understand basic psychology.

Suno, you are wrong. It would be OOC for people not to go look at the fire in the first place just because the label was green.

Thats the players fault for not caring... A ooc response is NOT the way to solve a ooc problem.

[Piker]

Well i personaly love participating in events. Why? well they're fun, and this is a fun game.

I always try to keep true to my char (but my char is a nice guy so it's not that tough usually ) And yes you do see people acting contrary to their chars descriptions. But so what,  really what harm is that doing? everyone is just having a good time.

As for the rewards thing, well i'd say most people involved aren't in it for the great prize at the end, even though it would be a welcome bonus. We just like being turned into clackers

It's probably been said before many times probably, if you don't like them, don't involve yourself.

Yours Truly
Greenback Clacker

[Under the moon]

A: Players ARE OOC. If you have to motivate the PLAYER who is sitting behind a desk to do what their character would do, then it is more than acceptable.

B: YES! GM events are more important than player events. what in your strange world makes you think otherwise?

C: Listbard, that view of things is seriously skewwed. I challenge you to come up with a better system that everyone can use. Perhaps GMs should run around to every single character who hears 'Fire' and /tell them "You should really care about this and react to it"... Oh dear, that is OOC again. I know! We'll just have the GMs take direct control of everyone who would care, and lead them to where they should go. No one could act OOC then.

This is yet another situation where folks come in spouting about a 'problem', yet don't offer any real solutions. The only suggestions made  don't actually deal with the 'problem'.

[Zan]

Alright, I have to agree that labels really aren't the real problem here ... the reputation that the events have currently, that is the problem. Maybe keeping the gold labels away when they're not really necessary won't do all that much but in my eyes it's still a start.  Together with UtM's suggestion of not always awarding rewards and selecting players with certain skills or reputations for some events.

I think the main problem with the current event reputation is that they've become public quests. Many events are simple errands with people running around getting jewelry, mushrooms and what not for people they've never seen. Simply said events have become cheap entertainment and while there is definitely nothing wrong with quests ... I don't want to see the great potential of events and GMs go to that. We have a very nice Settings team that takes care of quests. If people want to run around following the orders of strangers and getting rewards for that, there are more than a hundred quests in-game. These quests are not always IC but neither are Events and unlike the latter quests don't disrupt other people's roleplay so much.

As far as I know GMs use unique rewards that can't be gotten any other way to attract people. Personally I would like to see them use new settings material and interesting plots to attract people. Maybe it's been done and I just haven't noticed .. then I live in the wrong timezone. Anyway I have high hopes for events and GMs to make the world alive and more real and more interactive. My character is much more rewarded by seeing their god(dess) in the 'flesh' than by getting a simple wooden staff that realistically thinking should be widespread and affordable by even a farmer.

Events should be used to give the NPCs, government and gods a face among the players.

For example, Dakkru's appearance in the Death Realm. I won't go into detail here because I'd be providing spoilers but I do know that there were quite some events leading up to that happening, which is now written down in the historybooks. The guildhouse auctions, save for some unfortunate errors due to server lag, were also good event initiatives.

Aside from those more 'epic' events the rest of the eventing should be done casually in my opinion. Let Harnquist greet a customer and Allellia walk around her tavern cleaning tables from time to time. Make the NPCs come alive and this without rewards or other 'mob-magnets'. NPCs should be the same as players so ideally when an NPC shouts for help there shouldn't be a bigger response than when a player does the same.

Of course all that is my ideal view and probably won't be shared by the majority of players.

[Duraza]

I kinda skimmed this thread just to get the main point so if I repeat something that has already been said don't hit me 

I'd say that I agree with Zan's last post the most. Having a different colored label I've learned is a valuable tool but only if used in the right situation. If there is an epic event going on, like that one with Eldoreth, the Octarch's guard, then the yellow label will help characters with OOC information. The Octarch's guard is someone who would be higher than the average person so other players should have their character notice. In this situation ooc stimulation isn't bad.

In an event when your just being asked of a simple task then I would say stick to normal colored labels. Like for the cleaning kran event, just helping someone find another gm isn't "epic" and shouldn't draw a huge crowd (I was not at this event, just heard about it so correct me if I'm wrong about the plot). Who ever decides to help should help and if no one does then one shouldn't feel the attempt a disappointment. People asking for help on such things like that should occur in an everyday rp world and so having people like that in the background helps stimulate rp in the environment.

Now, my disappointment with gm events isn't actually the event plots or the labels. Its the attention granted to other rpers. Yes I understand that you are one person and that its not easy for you to try and keep up with every person speaking in the channel. However, its evolved beyond simply not being able to deal with all the players at once. In the few events I've participated in recently I always try and stick to my character. Most of my characters are evil and usually only get involved when some kind of intresting item or power is held by the gm. Many times I attempt to stop the gm/event from preceding by attacking the gm etc. Whats the result? I'm ignored completely. In one of the last gm events I and another even tried to double team the gm. I'm not expecting to win. The most I expect being accomplished is being sent to DR on the spot and thats fine with me. However completely ignoring me just to continue on with the event kinda annoys me.

I'm not saying all gms do this or that they even do this purposely, its just what it seems like to me now a days. The only gm event I can really say I appreciated was the Eldoreth event. I played as my character Duraza and for the most part he stuck to petty insults. While not every one was acknowledged the gm role played his character. After insulting the Octarch enough he retaliated back by levitating me. Later on in that event I and two others attempted to attack him and another mage with them. Both retaliated and teleported us away. Did I mind losing? No, I loved the fact that I was not ignored just for the sake of continuing on with the event. It's all I really ask. Strike me dead and I'll be happy 

[ThomPhoenix]

Caarrie, honestly, this should stay open. As far as we know, the GMs may not even have to introduce themselves - they'd be automatically known by everyone. I haven't even heard how they plan to implement the introduction system yet, since right now with the ideas currently posted it seems unlikely that it would work properly.

You are misinformed. Let me recap the Introduction system here:
-All NPCs will be known to the player.
-All players will be unknown to the player.
-All GMs will be known to the player.
-All GM event characters will be unknown to the player.

That's how it is in the latest code right now

[Dajoji]

Ok. My turn...

I joined the GM team mostly to have the opportunity to organize events and I've thrown a good amount of them. In none of them have players been expected to go OOC to join. They are expected to roleplay and allow other players to enjoy the event as well.

We do our best to avoid problems during events but sometimes we can't help them, especially when players have the wrong idea about events to begin with. However, you can help prevent these problems if you take the following tips into account:

This is not the last event ever

• Sometimes it's better to sit this one out. Whether it is because there already are 10+ people involved or because they are half way through the event, sometimes we just need to let go and wait for the next event. There will be more as long as there are GMs. The same applies to events that do not fit your character. If you are criminal and the event is about delivering a love letter, you might want to wait for the next event. But this doesn't mean you cannot find a way to make a profit either. The same applies if your character is the embodiment of niceness and the task they are given is to slaughter 100 yulbars.

Listen and stay In-Character

• Most events nowadays contemplate potential outcomes for both good and evil characters (note that I'm using those terms to simplify). So if you wish to take advantage of the poor feller asking for help instead of doing what they need you to do, by all means go ahead, but that means that you have to listen. At some point of the event, a character or more will often give you a choice or open the door for your characters to take advantage of the situation. It is up to you to react IC and we always appreciate it when a character is consistently played. Of course, if you're the only baddie in a group of goodies, you'll need to outsmart them in order to get what you want.

Slow down

• Your IC entries will be mixed with tons of other entries and sometimes they will be missed. As you may know by experience when 5-10 people are speaking to you, it is hard to react to every single entry. Sudden actions don't work so well in events because the event's course is decided by the decisions made by the majority of the participants. If you try to do it on your own and leave the group behind, chances are the GM won't follow you. This means that, for example, if you decide to go talk to an npc, there won't be a GM impersonating them. Or that if you decide to attack the GM char, you won't be allowed to as long as the other players haven't had a chance to receive all the information that character has to give them so they can fulfill their part in the event. Unfortunately, we cannot help this. We try to please everyone but we must make sure no one is left behind too. Now, if you RP that same aggressiveness at a speed that includes the crowd so they too have time to react, it will succeed. A good example would be the way Semutara and Izzabella roleplayed in the event mentioned by Rennaj. They stayed IC all the way and they got their fight in the end, but they worked for it too and allowed others to react to their intentions.

Showing up is not enough

• A well written event is nothing if the players that get involved with it do not roleplay. I personally never register a player until their character specifically does or says something that shows their interest not only to me but for the entire group. Again, remember that you have to slow down. Being there, watching, is nothing. You're probably not going to be registered, not going to receive any rewards or experience because you did nothing to deserve them. And many events don't even have rewards so don't expect to get one every time. Finally, if you /tell your guildmates and buddies to hurry up and come to the event, don't forget to tell them that they have to roleplay their way in.

Feedback

• You can always let us know if you are frustrated with an event and we'll be open to discuss what went wrong in your case. It is always upsetting to hear someone did not have fun because that is what we are here for: to enhance the players' experience. But keep in mind that events are not there to make you look cool and if you weren't allowed to steal the show or ignored the tips above, then you might want to change your approach because you are responsible for your frustration too. On the other hand if your entries were ignored in the swarm of things being said, using the character's name so your entry shows up in blue is a good idea. But save it for the stuff you *really* need the GM to see. Finally, we always appreciate it when happy customers let us know they enjoyed the event, even if they do criticize some things that could have gone better. It takes time and work to plan and host these events.

So, I hope that this will help you make the most out of  our events. You can always ignore them but you would be missing out on a rich part of this game if you do, especially because we are working to make it so any character can be a part of them.

[CrazyYlian]

Having only been around 2 GM events I can't attest to crowds of non-RPers, both events I witnessed, although there were more people about than usual, they were acting quite IC for the situation. (Can't attest to how IC they were for their normal RP, since I didn't know the characters... but they were playing the situation as I would expect.)  My character is the type who's likely to investigate any crowd or commotion just out of curiosity, so it's easy to fit in.   I certainly wasn't there for the reward, since I don't recall receiving any...  But I suspect that without the label, neither event would have generated much action.

But I am puzzled by some of the responses about events affecting roleplay.  Hydlaa is a city.  Presumably, this city has more inhabitants than the handful actually visible wandering around at any given moment.  In RealLife, I see spontaneous crowds form on a regular basis.  Why?  I don't know.  GM event? Probably not.  Free beer?  One can hope.   Britney Spears?  I try to avoid papparazzi events.   Regardless, the point is, it doesn't matter.   The crowd formed, and no one asked me ahead of time what I thought about it.  Did it ruin my life? No.  I adapted that minor period of my life to deal with the unexpected event and moved on.

Roleplay should be equally flexible.  Especially when the world you are RPing has magic.   So you and your friends were sitting in Kada-El's when a crowd showed up and ruined your roleplay.  Strangely enough, I find that taverns are crowd magnets.  When I'm in a tavern, I EXPECT that to happen.  Does it matter if its a GM event with a bunch of GM groupies running around, or a wedding party with a bunch of drunk obnoxious underaged second cousins running around.   No, the end result is identical.   Is it your tavern? No. The bartender sure isn't objecting!   So if your roleplay is so inflexible as to be "ruined" by a crowd showing up, in a setting where a crowd is certainly not unexpected, I'd say that is a problem with your roleplay, not the crowd.  

[Duraza]

• Your IC entries will be mixed with tons of other entries and sometimes they will be missed. As you may know by experience when 5-10 people are speaking to you, it is hard to react to every single entry. Sudden actions don't work so well in events because the event's course is decided by the decisions made by the majority of the participants. If you try to do it on your own and leave the group behind, chances are the GM won't follow you. This means that, for example, if you decide to go talk to an npc, there won't be a GM impersonating them. Or that if you decide to attack the GM char, you won't be allowed to as long as the other players haven't had a chance to receive all the information that character has to give them so they can fulfill their part in the event. Unfortunately, we cannot help this. We try to please everyone but we must make sure no one is left behind too. Now, if you RP that same aggressiveness at a speed that includes the crowd so they too have time to react, it will succeed.
  

Firstly I want to say I agree and that your rules do sound agreeable for gm events. They make a lot of sense.

The quoted portion above was something that happened to stick out to me though and made me think of a gm event I once participated in. In the event I was trying to kill the gm (not a surprise as it seems my only reason for coming) and found that he or she did not respond. What I did appreciate greatly was that many of the players involved tried to stop me. At first they were not able to but the GM still ignored my attack, though some of the other characters had turned their attention to what I was doing. After a bit my character was stopped by the others. What I'm saying here is not to go of on a rant or to say anyone is neglecting their job. Its to say that I hope these rules are enforced, not just said to quiet the fighting and only partially followed.

[Velh Krome]

Suggestion:
If GMs are emphasizing newbies to get into roleplay (although I read they arent doing so), why arent the rpers, who think GM events lack depths and sense (be it for the sake of newbies get into it more easily), go and sort of unofficially drag advanced newbies into more serious roleplay?
After all.. rewards? Leave them up to the newbies! A bucket can be roleplayed, no? Not that the latter though would encourage newbies to "also" roleplay with "common" chars.