Post by Morreion on May 4, 2012 15:08:48 GMT -5
Storyboard: Police state (Massively)
...Policing a server is a spectrum, that's all. On the far end of the spectrum is a place where GMs run rampant and tell players what is and is not roleplaying, and people are getting kicked off of the server for not roleplaying well enough to appease the official sources. This is ridiculously unworkable and not what anyone expects.
At the other end of the spectrum, of course, is where GMs simply investigate players who are reported for naming violations. It's telling that this end of the spectrum of policing is the best that most anyone actually expects to happen, and even then, some games don't bother with this level of regulation.
I get the impression that back in the day there were more RPers when MMOs had more of a cult following, and games catered more to them- for instance, most games had RP servers- unlike now. Mainstream popularity swamped the RP population and lost was the context of what RP was and why it should be encouraged.
Ultimately, it's a matter of how many roleplayers there are versus how much effort it takes to provide this sort of attention. Extra effort spent policing a server means extra money spent on customer service, probably without a lot of extra player retention. (We roleplayers are kind of fickle.) It just makes more sense to do the bare minimum... or frequently nothing at all. But it would certainly be nice to see a little more support, and I don't think it's such a bad thing.
...Policing a server is a spectrum, that's all. On the far end of the spectrum is a place where GMs run rampant and tell players what is and is not roleplaying, and people are getting kicked off of the server for not roleplaying well enough to appease the official sources. This is ridiculously unworkable and not what anyone expects.
At the other end of the spectrum, of course, is where GMs simply investigate players who are reported for naming violations. It's telling that this end of the spectrum of policing is the best that most anyone actually expects to happen, and even then, some games don't bother with this level of regulation.
I get the impression that back in the day there were more RPers when MMOs had more of a cult following, and games catered more to them- for instance, most games had RP servers- unlike now. Mainstream popularity swamped the RP population and lost was the context of what RP was and why it should be encouraged.
Ultimately, it's a matter of how many roleplayers there are versus how much effort it takes to provide this sort of attention. Extra effort spent policing a server means extra money spent on customer service, probably without a lot of extra player retention. (We roleplayers are kind of fickle.) It just makes more sense to do the bare minimum... or frequently nothing at all. But it would certainly be nice to see a little more support, and I don't think it's such a bad thing.
