SWU Concerns

[Jace]

lololololol Squee said 'cleavage' multiple times in her post.

//srsbsns

[Adobi-Wan Kenobi]

I would like to add, and this is nothing i personally have a problem with; that our standards are very high. This is good but it also scares newer members off, a lot of newer members.

This mainly being that we have a lot of ruels that often ruin a members charater develpoment, some of which are ruels that don't rather have a lot of importance. An example of this is the fact that white and black lightsabers arent alowed on swu when there are white and black ones canonly. Now i understand that ruel logically because White and Black would work with light on a spectrum. On the other hand that has little to do with it because lighsabers aren't made of light. This is one of the few things i both do and don't support. Other ruels such as no shapeshifters, make perfect sense.

I have had the oppertunity to talk with members who joined then left, and where long time members that left. This is the main this that does scare them off, "It's Science fiction, not fiction, why push certain ruels that don't make sense on us?" That's a quote from one member i know whom i have spoken with recently. Another former member said this about the lightsaber subject, "It's just a color crystal, it doesn't affect the power of the blade, why do they ristrict it?" I won't say who those former members where, but even former members have concerns on these subjects and many others. But being as my main subject i raised was lightsaber colors i'll stick with that.

So if this is a concern thread then those are some concers from the actual ones that left. Any way other things that came up in my conversation where: Mod ristrictions, mod arguments (i think that was alrady talked about), inapproprate disscustions in the c-box, etc etc. Anyway perhaps this could be addressed.

[Raytheon]

I remember answering this.. a black lightsaber would in effect be invisible in dark places and a light saber that can't be seen is well problematic for all parties involved.

As for White.. I have no idea.

[Adobi-Wan Kenobi]

The black i completely agree with. White on he other hand have been in canon created with a force pearl, in stead of a crystal.

[Dutch]

Yup, he nailed it with the black color. And we ban white for several reasons. Really though, if the entire reason you quit SWU is because of that, then chances are we don't want those people here anyway, cause that's just silly to quit cause you can't have one of like two colors we ban... but also, they're supposed to be ULTRA rare. Like, only one ever known in the galaxy. We allow them, then before we know it EVERY Force user is rockin a white blade, and that just isn't how the SW galaxy is like. Make sense?

Trust me, SWU has been around so long that if something is banned, there actually IS a good reason for it. We're not some fun spoiling tyrants XD

[Adobi-Wan Kenobi]

That's not exactly the premis of my statment, and i did list other things beside that. Though the main thing i was trying to say isn't exactly my own view, i did think this was a thread for finding out ways to make SWU more home like. I gave some view points from thos who have been here and left. That's it. *shrugs*

[Apillis]

To be honest, if some leaves over the lightsaber issue, while I know this sounds pretty d***ish for me to say--but, still... I don't care. I mean, black lightsabers aren't only rare... but there's only one in existence in canon. So having a bunch of people running around with black lightsabers is not only canon raping (and there's already several things on this site that does that--or I should say has done that in the past), but it's also silly. That's the #1 one reason why personally I'm GLAD that the black lightsabers are banned.

That said however, on restricted items/subjects in general, I feel the word can get out better. Because I can't count how often I learn second that something was suddenly tossed amongst the restricted/banned list. Vast majority of them time I don't care that "such n' such thing" was banned/restricted. But, nevertheless, what's being suddenly banned it would be nice to have an announcement on. Because so often it's, "Oh that. That's not allowed any more." "What? When was that ruled?" "Dunno. Just found out." "Is there an announcement on it?" "No. So-n-so just told me." ""

And when you have people who are around the site daily, and don't know what's being ruled on. That's a communication disconnect.

*shrug* Just a heads up.

BRING ON THE SNARK!

[sparrow]

There was a pretty big announcement when most of the force powers on that list were added as one big batch, and there haven't been many significant changes since then. Most of the tech restrictions were put together by Arh, also as one big patch that was added at one time. Don't remember if that one got a big announcement though...

[Vex]

Every time I've heard of something getting put on a banned list, such as Force Powers, there has always been an accompanying addition in the Announcements about said ban and the reasons behind its restriction. My own characters have had the potential of being effected by these changes, if it weren't for our grandfather clause. I've had discussions with current and former Admins about it in the past. The information is put out and, as Dutch has said: if it's banned, there's a good reason for it. The Admins do make an effort to put the word out there for everyone to see, but it is up to the members to read the rules and announcements in order to keep up. PMs are mass sent every time the announcements are updated. The information is out there. They've done their duty. Ours is to read it and to understand it so we can play within the guidelines provided to ensure everyone can have fun.

As for everything else that's been brought up in this post, I withhold statement or judgement on the matter. While I have my own views and personal opinions, I can see both sides of things. We are, all of us, human. We are, all of us, fallible. The staff deserve more credit than they receive at times. The members deserve to have their concerns heard and dealt with. Neither side is 100% correct. Neither side is completely wrong. There is no easy answer, save for this dialogue to remain open and for us all to work together and forge SWU into what we want it to be.

Together, we can do it.

[Apillis]

Well, it's more in general, like not just whether something is banned/restricted, that was just a generalization. But it's also how a certain power or tech functions. Like, "while in canon this power can do this, and the power is allowed--but just not that particular function of it", or "this piece of tech is allowed, but does not necessarily function in this particular way like in canon". Which I suppose for those situations they're best treated on a case by case basis. But it's in cases like that where I'll concede some restrictions get a bit tedious, despite understanding why they're being put in place to eliminate the potential of GMing and whatnot, but still--it can give a feeling of "Ok, how about dialing it back a little."

Though, that reminds me of the topic that was touched upon just a bit ago. Which is, like for example, I remember one player having their padawan who is in their upper-teens possess a 3 in Unarmed, and they were being questioned "why the unarmed stat was so high". Though, that was a long while back now when that particular occurrence happened. But it's at that point, it's a sign to dial things back. But it's not like it's an ancient problem, because still seen it from time to time. Because not all that long ago, the same thing happened with a youngling like around 9 or 10 or so. Now I have niece who is 9 years old now, and she's in Tae Kwon Do, and she blows my mind with what she can do with a bo-staff. So when I see my little niece able to do trippy shiz with a bo-staff or martial arts in general, I think to myself "Why not a supernatural Jedi kid?", I'm not suggesting they'd be able to kick the crap out of a highly trained soldier or some nonsense, but at least enough to where I wouldn't question one having a 3 in Unarmed or Melee and get a "why is that stat so high?"

Albeit, Dutch (or any of the current staff really XD) doesn't sweat over such things, so that concern is pretty much alleviated and relegates me to just ranting at this point. XD But still, felt it was worth mentioning to get it out there.

[Raytheon]

Just a suggestion, I've been i the tech section doing reviews and notice the amount of people putting in tech apps and disappearing.

Would it be possible to disallow tech apps until the person has a minimum post count of say 150, that way the staff isn't stuck with tech apps that regardless of approving or not it just a pp that takes space and is generally unused.

[Squee]

Iiiiiiiiiiiii don't like the sound of that because tech apps are usually requested/ necessary when there's custom armor/weapons, as well as ships, vehicles, et cetera, et cetera. By having a posting limit, that would mean that a person, who may very well be serious about our RP, would not be able to make characters with specifics they may like to have, such as a smuggler with a ship.

Depending on how active and how often that person posts, they may not reach the 150 post limit for a couple of months. Those people who really only post their character apps, a couple of question posts, and then all their other posts are rp would not reach that limit for a while. Not everyone's going to want to come on here, look over bios (which add posts), play the games, or actively participate in threads such as these. So, I worry about losing those people who are serious about RP because there's 150 post limit to put up tech apps, but tech apps are needed for them to have this awesomely creative character they want to make.

I think tech apps made by people who disappear may just have to be a necessary evil. However, I notice there's no "inactive" area like there is in the character apps. Maybe that's something we can do instead? Would just need someone to clean house then. It wouldn't be difficult to move those space eating apps to an inactive area, like we do we charrie apps. someone would just need to clean house.

Talrath? Other NGT? Mods? Admins?

[Adobi-Wan Kenobi]

I also like the idea of a roving mod that someone brought up earlier. At anyrate i think Squee's inactive area was a good idea.Now that Squee says that, I would like to say the same thing about the pets app area. After all it's all one single page, it could use it's own section.

[Vex]

I'm actually surprised we don't have an inactive/incomplete app area for tech and pets like that. It definitely sounds like a good idea to me.

I'm not a fan of the post limit either. Especially with tech. Pets tend to be character specific, but tech can be used by others. Even if the person creates the tech and then disappears, the tech itself may be of use to someone else on the site.

Roving mods are an idea. Active NGTs would help too. If we have enough NGTs that are knowledgeable in the process, players would get timely responses to their apps. It could also help the mods too. If they can rely enough on the NGTs to guide the player in character creation, then all the Mods do is have to complete a final quality control check and bless off on the apps. Eases up the process and makes things less tedious for everyone involved.

[Raytheon]

the 150 post limit isn't a concrete idea, more of a suggestion of post limit rather than the number itself. 25-50 for custom items but no limit for stock?

But as for an inactive slot for the tech section he could call it the junk yard, I've seen plenty of custom tech that is no longer used or it's creator inactive that could go there.

[Adobi-Wan Kenobi]

actually ther is a junk yard, it's in database i think, it just never gets used is all.

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Maybe an inactive section for custom, but stock should stay pinned forever. And we do need a dedicated section for pet apps.

[Dire Wolf]

What lmr said. Stock weapons are just that: stock. Anyone can use it, and their faaar from one of a kind. Custom weapons/ships/tech, however, should go to some form of inactive whenever the player who wields them does. Thats my takethough (pssst.... I'm the tech section's grandpappy ; D). But yeah. I'd like to get Arh in here because, regardless of who created what, he's runnin' the show now.

[Raytheon]

So.... how about them regular announcements?

[sparrow]

Dec 5, 2012 0:06:21 GMT -5 Dire Wolf said:

What lmr said. Stock weapons are just that: stock. Anyone can use it, and their faaar from one of a kind. Custom weapons/ships/tech, however, should go to some form of inactive whenever the player who wields them does. Thats my takethough (pssst.... I'm the tech section's grandpappy ; D). But yeah. I'd like to get Arh in here because, regardless of who created what, he's runnin' the show now.

Problem is, there's just so much stock of everything, and most of it's not really necessary. There's already so many stock pistols, for example. Is another one with an image of someone's favorite gun from their second favorite sci-fi/fantasy franchise really necessary? There's probably half a dozen rifles that are the most popular republic army standard.

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but not by much.

I'm not in favor of a post threshold that needs to be reached in order for someone to start posting tech, although I may be in favor of a limit how much tech can be posted. Techspam was a real problem on the site a while back.