GFC Review?

[Raytheon]

Now since the beginning of the forums there were powers and items permitted easily that wouldn't be permitted today. Now many could argue that people have earned it because they have older characters so in an attempt to be fair to old and common players alike I would propose something this is merely to get an idea of what everyone thinks, staff, new members, vets alike.

1. The removal of the GFC, all new players and old players alike are subjected to the same rule set. With the GFC removed all charries rest on the same plane of playing rules. As it sits the forums feels like an Oligarchy with old player having great preference over new players whom due to the GFC will never have the opportunity to gain nor compete on the same level.

2. A re..review? Of profiles that are reactivated that were created prior to the GFC should be subjected to the same scrutiny that is published today. While people say "Why they deserve their charries."

Exhibit A: swrponline2.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=daraccept&action=display&thread=1551

No offense to Necro, but today which mod can honestly say he would approve this app if it came through today? The character while a Dark Lord of the Sith has the ability to "without" force powers or a lightsaber to kill wookiees (yes plural) with his bare hands.

Exhibit B: swrponline2.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=darinact&action=display&thread=5201

While this one uses a very old antiquated template it still makes this individual one greatest duelist on the site. Not to mention the strength to rip a wookiee's arm off and beat it to death with the wet end.

These profiles and many more are protected from change accord to the rules of the GFC.

Opinions, Statements?

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Frankly I've always thought that the GFC is a bad idea. It's complacency as always, with the idea that if they earned at one point they earned it for all time. Most of the apps who 'earned it' however would be laughed at behind the scenes now. The only reasons anyone likely has for not updating them is either: A. Keeping their overpowered stats B. Laziness.

Frankly I think we should hold every active character to the same set of standards.

[0bserver]

I have read up on GFC around here, and I was encountering it on many sites that are older than a couple of years. And everywhere the problem seemed to be one and the same. Personally, I believe making 'improvements' to balance out the site and keeping GFC kinda defeats the purpose of those improvements. It's like stopping other people from making (considering latest rule update) broken characters, while keeping the broken ones that were made beforehand around. There won't be balance to the system with such elements in place, and it would breed envy and a lot of 'why's from other players.

[Rugs]

There's already a policy in place to handle GFC issues as old characters are revived or as issues arise with characters that are protected come up. It's been invoked several times, and will continue to be so. If a mod sees a character that they believe needs attention, they get report their concern to the admin and the issue is dealt with quietly with the member, if needed. We don't make a big fuss about it publicly, but we do take care of it.

Veratos, for example, would have to have some changes made. But J/K, though he logs in every blue moon, hasn't done anything on the site since 2009, well before I arrived here even, so we don't worry about him or other old inactive apps from years and years ago, because there's no need to. If someone comes back and they need to be addressed, they will.

Old characters that are updated lose GFC protection. Any modification of a character voids that protection.

Removing the GFC in its totality removes some protection from characters that can also account for some slight differences in how one mod views stats as opposed to another. If I've newly taken over a section and I see one character that I personally think is overpowered--and while we all work on a similar level, ever mod has their own personal little quirks and ways of doing things that can make little differences like this possible--that was recently approved, there's nothing stopping me from forcing a change. Because my standards for the section are the 'current standards' and if I wouldn't do that, well might as well make a change. It helps prevent things like that for minor differences in mod view.

Also, while there are a few older character that are still active--not nearly as many as you'd think, to tell the truth--many of them are played without any real trouble, so there's no need to worry about it. It shows a degree of trust from staff to the members that they'll handle things fairly, even as some things have changed over time. And if they don't, we address the problems.

Calling the site an oligarchy implies that we have some vested interest in making sure old characters are forever favored against the new. That's not really the case. We even have a listed policy that was announced at the time and is included in the Unallowed Aspects Thread (which everyone is supposed to read on registering, yes?) so I'm not certain why there's the thought that we don't have a policy in place to deal with this.