If you read nothing else, read the part in red at the bottom.
Alright, this has gone on long enough. I've delayed making this post for months hoping shit would get better, but it's not.
I am Bob. I am also a player. For those who know who i am, good for you, stfu. For those who don't, don't find out.
I have been on this shard a long time, and have turned down staff positions a LOT. I never wanted to be staff, i enjoyed playing the game and helping staff as i could with bugs and such. I never asked for special treatment, and usually got the exact opposite, with newer staff following me around because they didn't trust me.
A few years ago, Admin Blinkers banned my account. It was a time when everything was falling to hell, and it was a random act of adminness, but that's what blinkers does best, and he does understand the shard for those who think he doesn't.
He banned my account and gave me a new one in return. With 1 character on it, named Bob Dole.
And that is where Gm Bob came from. I still told him that i refuse to staff openly, because i did NOT want the shitstorm that would come with it. I already got accused of being every new staff in existence, and of doing all this different stuff to cheat. The last thing i wanted to do was to give people reason to put out more bullshit about me.
Well this made me get ahold of broadband, and a few days later i was able to get him in talks. Unfortunately for me instead of getting on to blinkers, he agreed. So i struck a deal with broadband. I would staff in secret if my player account was returned and the rules about them were changed. He agreed, and so for the next 15 months, i continued playing as normal, and would staff as i could, permanently invisible, using other staff's names and colors to get stuff done. I also started doing patches for broadband, and while i did not have script access, i was able to email them and they'd get installed a week or few later when broadband had time.
Unfortunately stuff kept getting worse, and eventually i had to vis. We lost more staff so i didn't have almost anyone to impersonate, and problems
required visible help. So the first time people saw GM Bob, i had already been around for a year. Immediately the shitstorms started, and they've been going pretty nonstop ever since.
Since that time i've been the first staff in years to get direct code access, something that even Blinkers was never given, though he deserved it. And i've been working my ass off to make life better for ya'll, even with the bullshit i put up with, and with that big ugly ass bug in t3a that forced us to migrate to t4a. Do ya think i wnated to waste 2 years fixing shit that was broke because of that change? Nope. I'd rather be working on the new shit like armies that i've had waiting for 3 years on hold.
Anyway, basically what it comes down to it this. I was forced into this, didn't chose it. I put up with enough bullshit from people who claim I cheat or i hack or whatever bull they wanna pull against me at the time, and it's not just because i'm staff. I put up with that shit well before i got staff.
Stop it.
If you have an issue with me, don't slander my name just to give you an excuse. If you think i cheat, point out why and given reasons. If you think i abuse powers, bring it up in forums and debate it.
But from now on, these are the new public rules. Staff rules were changed years ago to allow for this, but i was hoping people would be honest enough not to give our staff shit.
GM's Bill of Rights:
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1. Any gm who is trusted enough by the administrators of the shard and has a proven record of conduct beyond reproach, is allowed their player account to be reactivated, and put under high-alert status, meaning it gets the same log requirements as any known bug abuser.
2. Any player who knowingly discloses the identity of a staff's player account, faces jail time.
3. All players are expected to be respectful of staff who take time out of their lives to make the shard better, and as such do not bring up staff issues to them when they are playing. Doing so is a violation of rule 2. This INCLUDES using instant messengers to contact them as staff if they have not EXPRESSLY told you that you may contact them. This means if they haven't given you their messenger info as staff, then you should not contact them as staff. If they have messneger info on the forums for their player, you can only use that for player stuff, anything else is a violation of rule 2.
4. Any accusation of cheating against staff is to be handled by an admin or a different staff, minimum level GM. Any accusation of cheating also will result in a full inquiry, with penalties for the guilty party. All documents regarding the inquiry are going to be publicly posted to the website/forums. THIS MEANS: If you falsly accuse staff, you will be punished. Because any investigation will reveal a LOT about a staff's player, and so is VERY damaging to them. If a staff hears it leave your lips, then it can be considered an accusation. So watch your tounges unless you really mean it.
This applies to every staff that has been allowed a player account, there are currently 7 non-deleted Staff with player accounts.
Ignorance of this is NOT AN EXCUSE.
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UPDATE: Got ahold of broadband, looks like he'll be back in town late tonight so it shouldn't be down much past that.
I was on when it froze, it hasn't come out of it yet, which means it's probably somewhat serious. We'll see in a bit if recovery doesn't kick-on and restore the process.
The worse news is that broadband left for a 1 week trip a few days ago. So, i'll post more info when i have it, until then know i'm doing what i can to try to fix it.
GM Bob
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I'd avoid pissing bob off in the next week or two.
Not trying to threaten anyone, but something's happened in life and i am not going to be exactly anywhere near a normal or even non shitty mood for a long time after this. I'm gonna try to keep patches going and stuff, and if i blow up on you for doing something stupid, i'll probably apologize for it later, however that may not even be within a few days with how bad this is.
But just lets try not to piss bob off.
Sorry guys, i am human, and i'm at my limit here. Normally i'd just walk away and take a vacation to not subject you guys to this, but there's too much work to do and ya'll would just get mad at me anyway. So i'm gonna keep getting stuff done, just warning ya my fuse will be nonexistant.
Crafting patch is almost done, it should be out in a week or two, depending. Not promising.
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I was online when it happened a little under a full day ago, and i've been trying to work w/ broadband about it most of today once he woke up. I wanted to delay posting till i knew exactly what was up, but since it's not fixed yet and i'm not getting more replies from broadband, we might have another half day or day of wait on it. We shall see and i'll post more when i know it.
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There is a patch comming up later this week, and i want some input on a feature i've been throwing around the past few weeks or so, and i feel now would be a good time to implement it.
A new tag, [BETA], that can be applied to specific characters. This tag is staff granted and will show up on your character, to tell people you might be weird. This tag will turn on any non-public system currently installed on the shard, for that specific character. This would allow a broader test base, while still restricting who can test and the damage it could cause if something goes wrong. I stress the tag is public visible, so no accusations of unfairness in pvp could come up.
Keep in mind to get this tag it would be a requirement that you be in GOOD STANDING with staff. Before i hear claims of favoritism, this means if you've been in trouble for bug abuse or similar severe rule breaks, chances are you're not getting one. While you will be told why you're rejected, staff still reserves the right to reject you and you don't get to go screaming that we just hate you. This is the shard security at stake, its more important than your politics.
You all have the next day or two at most to discuss it, depending on when i get free time to read up on replies. Go nuts. Keep it productive. I swear if this devolves into namecalling i'm making a special jail just for the 5 forum kiddies who keep starting fights(you know who you are).
If i have a pm waiting from anyone, it'll get dealt with tonight. just taken time to get stuff all back in working order. Have some patience.
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Everyone give a round of applause to the following people, all of who get a 4 day jail sentence for trying to abuse the fixstats bug to gain an unfair advantage over other players:
HemoKnight
Hamada
Naba
and other characters on the same account.
These people purposefully abused a bug to gain around 20-40 in each stat, over their normal stat cap.
I'm sure there were more people who abused this bug, who have since undone the bug once they heard i was going to get them, so you all get warnings, i know who most of you are but i don't jail without proof.
To the rest of you: ANY intentional bug abuse gets you jail time and public humiliation. No exceptions.
I point out the difference is intentional bug abuse.
That's all. actual patches should resume sometime later this week.
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Congratulations to everyone who logs in and is in jail.
This means that you were caught by the rune sweeper because you had an illegal rune.
Feel free to page and plead your case with echo.
All in all 50 accounts were jailed this sweep, as we added three new locations for instant-jailing when caught, which include several old quest dungeons, as well as sherwood.
This, along with several other checks, are ran every month to help detect bug abusers. There are several that are run every week and two that are run daily.
Since there were so many this time, i'm not posting a name. But bug abuse gets public humiliation around here from now on. I will be getting the rest of the stat bug abusers later this week.
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Comp is dead. Will post more later. Anyone who gives echo hell while i'm gone is in for trouble when i get back.
FYI I was in the middle of smiting peopel who are abusing a certain stat bug when it died, so if you are in jail, consider yourself lucky i didn't finish because i'm posting a public list of who abused this bug for ridicule, which is now standard procedure for bug abuse for personal gain on a big level.
If you have pms waiting for me, i'll get them eventually, but nto now.
That's all.
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After much fighting and bloodshed, Lord British has commissioned his arch magi to construct a barrier around buccaneer's den.
This barrier is strong enough that it prevents all access to the isle through it's normal moongate, except via members of the guild who currently controls the nexus, as well as prevent deaths upon the isle.
However, like all great magical artifacts, it comes with a tradeoff. Every two days of time, the nexus will weaken considerably so that it can restructure itself. After a mere few hours of this weakened state, it is recharged.
This leads to an great opportunity, for during those few hours, any being can enter through the portal, and seek to control the nexus, and the isle itself.
Who shall control the riches of the isle, and will they keep it for long?
For technical details of this patch, go check the changelog.
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Alright, well i've spent most of the afternoon finishing the interface for the new crafting system, and I thought i'd post pictures of it as it stands now. It still needs a few finishing touches but all the visible functionality works in terms of things being pretty.
As you can see, it will not only tell you skill levels/resources, but whether you have them.
It also has options for crafting multiple amounts, and for resource replacement, which i will go into more later.
Post your thoughts, and yes i know the shard is still down. I can't fix it, only broadband can, and he unfortunately had prior business this weekend, so i'm hoping i might get ahold of him tonight when he returns.
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