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EclipseZwolf's Mastermind Rant
Mar 3, 2014 17:24:38 GMT -8
Post by The City [EclipseZwolf] on Mar 3, 2014 17:24:38 GMT -8
Hello to whoever decides to read this. I need to just post my feelings about current events before I end up taking it out on one of the players.
I have played in the DRMMO games since S2 and have participated, at least to some extent, in every season since then as a player. I have done some things as a player that I myself did not see as a big deal, but being a mastermind for my own game has really opened my eyes to some of the things the people running the show are dealing with. I just wanted to mention some of them here to relieve stress, teach players what is difficult to deal with as the mastermind, and also give some heads up to the players who are considering making their own seasons and running them. So without further ado lets go through my rant list.
1. Knockout Backlash: Considering I know the person who started the whole idea of knockouts IRL, this seems slightly hypocritical to complain about. Although its not strictly the action of knockouts that make this a pain to deal with. The issue is how players respond to being told they have been knocked out, which I am calling knockout backlash. I have yet to find a single player who is happy when they get knocked out, especially when they think they know who did it and are worried about getting robbed or killed. Generally the player responds with anger, which is totally acceptable, if someone hit me I would be angry and respond. The problem is that this anger leaves the bounds of the game and affects multiple people. The problem as mastermind is that some of that anger gets directed at us. Player respond with curses and repeated questions to the mastermind. I understand being worried, but when I tell you that you have been knocked out you don't need to flip out at me. Remember that at the same time you are flipping out I am trying to deal with whoever did the knockout and figure out how long you are out cold. I hope the additional rule about unintentional killing during knockouts helps alleviate this as less knockouts will occur, but when they do, please try not to get angry at the mastermind. It only makes the bad feeling of having to tell someone that they were knocked out worse.
2. But I Was...!: This response to the masterminds alerts tend to happen alot when you tell someone they were knockout or murdered. They start proclaiming they were somewhere else and that it should not have worked. They then tend to bring this to the attention of the main chat and the only thing it accomplishes is make the mastermind, in this case me, feel bad about it. When I tell someone they have been knocked out its only after I verify locations when I received the PM. I have told several people of failed knockouts because when I check to verify the locations, the target had already moved. Sometimes we get called out for simply being slow and etc in that situation. The simple reality is that refreshing and keeping track of an army of players is difficult and time consuming, ESPECIALLY if someone is doing something big. Knockouts and actions are based on when I check the locations, just because you say they were there doesn't mean I can just let you perform the action, because it leads to the other player going "But I Was..!" The simple fact is that for the sake of fairness I have to go by when I see it. If I say you were KO'ed in such and such room, that is it. Please don't get angry at me for trying to keep it fair, it only makes me angrier and more likely to ignore you.
3. I am Not a Rocket Scientist: This issue involves when players attempt to use something they know as explanation for an action and the Mastermind has a different interpretation. I don't know the exact chemical affects of making someone chug a bottle of windex or some cleaning supply. I don't know how bruises exactly form from impacts. I don't know exactly how much blood would pour out of different kinds of wounds. I don't know what level of pain would wake someone up. I don't know a lot and several times players have tried to tell me after I do something with my limited knowledge how it really is and how I was being unfair or mean to them. This is one of the most frustrating things and primarily because you guys should realize that I don't know everything. When you enter a game hosted by some GM, you adhere to their rules and their knowledge or imagination of how something would work. If I say that an injury spills a ton of blood then it spills a ton of blood. In the game the mastermind's word is law, when you go against that and try to bend it for your own gain all it does is put stress on the mastermind and if they allow the change, piss off any players who already had theories based on the old set of events. I apologize for not knowing exactly how many shards that thing breaks into when it you stop it on the ground, but I am not going to make anything impossible for you. If I say its a bunch of shards then its a bunch of shards and the exact number is unimportant.
4. Murder Reports: This is a simple issue that has come back to bite me several times. People make murder reports and they have this great murder set up. I have gotten some murder reports that I would be hard pressed to not call extraordinary. Things that I see repeatedly that need to be fixed though. First is the word "if" and what it actually implicates for the mastermind. Essentially when you say things like "if I see anyone" or "if it won't get me bloody" you are forcing the mastermind to make the tough choices or actions for you. If you want to know who is in the room then look before you send me a report. It kills me because when I see these murder reports I am forced to make the decision or force the player to revise their plan. Both tend to get players angry at me and it ruins my day. I said it in the pregame that I would stop being really forgiving in murders because the reason players get caught is BECAUSE of the simple oversights. Players assume that they automatically avoid blood and are 100% clean after murders or that I will fix certain mistakes. Almost 100% of the time when a player says they do something to avoid the blood, it is only because it is nigh on impossible to not get bloody. If you are cutting someone's throat, then there is going to be a TON of blood and no amount of shielding or acrobatics are going to keep you totally clean. I know I said things like avoiding all blood by being careful in my murder reports in previous games and its only as the mastermind that I see how ridiculous those kinds of things are. I need people to understand that I am being hard on murders and will make bullets on the slightest of mistakes. The problem is that when I do this everyone treats me like the enemy and it only makes me want to just stop masterminding. I apologize for turning murders into "find the one bullet that points to the culprit" but that is what is happening. The killer forgets something simple or takes something for granted and then is caught. If I am forgiving to one person I have to be forgiving to all, but I haven't been forgiving so I am being equally hard on all players. Specifically I want to apologize to Mystio for having some great murder plans that got foiled by typoes and other simple things. Everybody just treats me like Satan when somebody finds that bullet that says whodunnit. I apologize for future people I end up condemning in a similar manner, but please try not to let it get you emotionally, because it hurts me as well.
5. W-W-W-Warp: After having played with the current movement system it seemed perfectly alright to make that movement post, wait 5 seconds and delete it. As the mastermind I have seen how ridiculous this is in trying to keep track of players. I refresh my map and monitor it when I am not working with players, but even then I tend to see posts of people warping 3 or 4 rooms at a time and its simply because they post and delete in a couple seconds. Please wait upwards of 20-30 seconds to even a minute before moving. You guys are not running through these rooms at the speed of sound and if you were I need you to slow down so people see someone fly through the room at that speed. This is especially true for when players are setting up murders or moving items. I don't care how strong you are you can't run through a room in 2 seconds while carrying a body. This makes other issues where people try to interact with you much harder or if I am trying to locate you because players who post and delete immediately spend more time not existing then they actually spend with a movement post. This is EXTREMELY problematic during murder setup when I am tracking you for blood traces or seeing if there are any witnesses. I understand this seems like a simple thing where I could go digging up logs of posts and deleted posts to verify, but that simply doesn't work with 12+ people running around plotting murder. I don't have the time. I understand if you are terrified of someone chasing you or are trying to hide that crucial evidence without being seen, but please be realistic in how long the movement post is visible. I plan to really start crunching on people I see warping, It makes murderers harder to catch and some player can become "immortal" by just spending a lot of time reading the location before posting or deleting their post in 2 seconds. I can't 100% force everyone to be fair and I have to rely on an honor system sometimes since I am not omniscient. If you are going to spend the time to play the game please make an effort to play it right and not ruin it for others.
6. I don't Wanna Win: This is essentially when a player plays the game and performs actions that directly harm their own chances of victory. This has been going on since Season 2 with a huge alliance of players willing to die or follow orders simply because they didn't care they would die in the end. It happened in Season 3 with Sakuya sacrificing himself for me. Players that act without the intention of winning should only do it if that is strictly along the lines of what their character's personality is. If they do it in any other situation then murders become almost impossible to solve and actions become unpredictable. If you have a goal different from winning the game when you join you need to tell me that because it destroys the atmosphere of the game when outside motives are used that should have no impact in the actual game. If you can justify selfless acts in game with your characters personality it adds to the power of the game's story. When someone does bring those outside motives into the game it feels like I am being disrespected. I put a ton of effort into setting up these scenarios and situations for unique murder plots and crazy plot twists. It makes me feel like you didn't care what I put into my game, you don't care what the ending might be and you don't care for what really happens. I understand that you would do things for your IRL buddies that you wouldn't do for anyone else, but for the sake of the game please don't let those IRL relations define the game relations.
7. Talking with the Mastermind: This is a straightforward problem unlike all the others. If you are trying to do something like investigate or examine make sure to say things like "I am *****" or something that obviously implies action. If you are not sure its perfectly alright and encouraged to ask me if something is possible. Please don't consistently say "may I" or "can I" because I am not sure if you want to do it immediately or later on. Last but not least on this topic is the idea of waiting for examination results or picking up items. If I don't respond immediately I may be busy with other players or something else. I expect you to wait in the room at least for some time before wandering off. Don't do the whole post, pm me you want a knife, and then delete your post and move on. I understand that players like to try and get all the good items fast, but you have to slow down so I can again keep track of people and manage things. It doesn't help that I may reach you and in a span of 5 minutes you have been through 8 rooms and taken items from 4 of them and expect me to go grab them all as if you had just walked in grabbed and walked out without looking at the room. I just need players to be calm, straightforward, and reasonable when talking with me so that things are easier to manage.
There are other things weighing on me as well but these were some of the major things that I was having to deal with consistently. I enjoy making my story and building it up as the game goes on as well as seeing you guys all try to kill each other, but I keep feeling like I am being disrespected as the mastermind. I am trying not to take any of it personally but it all really builds up as we go on. I am going to push through to the end of Blood Shift regardless of whether any of the players read this and adjust their actions. If I don't see people willing to at least show some respect to what I spent a ton of time making and even more time running then I will not ever mastermind again. I want the community of this game to be strong, but right now I just feel like the guy whose house is where the current party is being hosted. I need to get all this **** off my chest or I will end up just breaking and stopping. I am trying my hardest to keep everyone happy and having fun, but whenever I try to keep balance or maintain rules I just get shot.
Thanks for reading my 2.5 thousand word rant and I hope somebody gets something out of this.
I have played in the DRMMO games since S2 and have participated, at least to some extent, in every season since then as a player. I have done some things as a player that I myself did not see as a big deal, but being a mastermind for my own game has really opened my eyes to some of the things the people running the show are dealing with. I just wanted to mention some of them here to relieve stress, teach players what is difficult to deal with as the mastermind, and also give some heads up to the players who are considering making their own seasons and running them. So without further ado lets go through my rant list.
1. Knockout Backlash: Considering I know the person who started the whole idea of knockouts IRL, this seems slightly hypocritical to complain about. Although its not strictly the action of knockouts that make this a pain to deal with. The issue is how players respond to being told they have been knocked out, which I am calling knockout backlash. I have yet to find a single player who is happy when they get knocked out, especially when they think they know who did it and are worried about getting robbed or killed. Generally the player responds with anger, which is totally acceptable, if someone hit me I would be angry and respond. The problem is that this anger leaves the bounds of the game and affects multiple people. The problem as mastermind is that some of that anger gets directed at us. Player respond with curses and repeated questions to the mastermind. I understand being worried, but when I tell you that you have been knocked out you don't need to flip out at me. Remember that at the same time you are flipping out I am trying to deal with whoever did the knockout and figure out how long you are out cold. I hope the additional rule about unintentional killing during knockouts helps alleviate this as less knockouts will occur, but when they do, please try not to get angry at the mastermind. It only makes the bad feeling of having to tell someone that they were knocked out worse.
2. But I Was...!: This response to the masterminds alerts tend to happen alot when you tell someone they were knockout or murdered. They start proclaiming they were somewhere else and that it should not have worked. They then tend to bring this to the attention of the main chat and the only thing it accomplishes is make the mastermind, in this case me, feel bad about it. When I tell someone they have been knocked out its only after I verify locations when I received the PM. I have told several people of failed knockouts because when I check to verify the locations, the target had already moved. Sometimes we get called out for simply being slow and etc in that situation. The simple reality is that refreshing and keeping track of an army of players is difficult and time consuming, ESPECIALLY if someone is doing something big. Knockouts and actions are based on when I check the locations, just because you say they were there doesn't mean I can just let you perform the action, because it leads to the other player going "But I Was..!" The simple fact is that for the sake of fairness I have to go by when I see it. If I say you were KO'ed in such and such room, that is it. Please don't get angry at me for trying to keep it fair, it only makes me angrier and more likely to ignore you.
3. I am Not a Rocket Scientist: This issue involves when players attempt to use something they know as explanation for an action and the Mastermind has a different interpretation. I don't know the exact chemical affects of making someone chug a bottle of windex or some cleaning supply. I don't know how bruises exactly form from impacts. I don't know exactly how much blood would pour out of different kinds of wounds. I don't know what level of pain would wake someone up. I don't know a lot and several times players have tried to tell me after I do something with my limited knowledge how it really is and how I was being unfair or mean to them. This is one of the most frustrating things and primarily because you guys should realize that I don't know everything. When you enter a game hosted by some GM, you adhere to their rules and their knowledge or imagination of how something would work. If I say that an injury spills a ton of blood then it spills a ton of blood. In the game the mastermind's word is law, when you go against that and try to bend it for your own gain all it does is put stress on the mastermind and if they allow the change, piss off any players who already had theories based on the old set of events. I apologize for not knowing exactly how many shards that thing breaks into when it you stop it on the ground, but I am not going to make anything impossible for you. If I say its a bunch of shards then its a bunch of shards and the exact number is unimportant.
4. Murder Reports: This is a simple issue that has come back to bite me several times. People make murder reports and they have this great murder set up. I have gotten some murder reports that I would be hard pressed to not call extraordinary. Things that I see repeatedly that need to be fixed though. First is the word "if" and what it actually implicates for the mastermind. Essentially when you say things like "if I see anyone" or "if it won't get me bloody" you are forcing the mastermind to make the tough choices or actions for you. If you want to know who is in the room then look before you send me a report. It kills me because when I see these murder reports I am forced to make the decision or force the player to revise their plan. Both tend to get players angry at me and it ruins my day. I said it in the pregame that I would stop being really forgiving in murders because the reason players get caught is BECAUSE of the simple oversights. Players assume that they automatically avoid blood and are 100% clean after murders or that I will fix certain mistakes. Almost 100% of the time when a player says they do something to avoid the blood, it is only because it is nigh on impossible to not get bloody. If you are cutting someone's throat, then there is going to be a TON of blood and no amount of shielding or acrobatics are going to keep you totally clean. I know I said things like avoiding all blood by being careful in my murder reports in previous games and its only as the mastermind that I see how ridiculous those kinds of things are. I need people to understand that I am being hard on murders and will make bullets on the slightest of mistakes. The problem is that when I do this everyone treats me like the enemy and it only makes me want to just stop masterminding. I apologize for turning murders into "find the one bullet that points to the culprit" but that is what is happening. The killer forgets something simple or takes something for granted and then is caught. If I am forgiving to one person I have to be forgiving to all, but I haven't been forgiving so I am being equally hard on all players. Specifically I want to apologize to Mystio for having some great murder plans that got foiled by typoes and other simple things. Everybody just treats me like Satan when somebody finds that bullet that says whodunnit. I apologize for future people I end up condemning in a similar manner, but please try not to let it get you emotionally, because it hurts me as well.
5. W-W-W-Warp: After having played with the current movement system it seemed perfectly alright to make that movement post, wait 5 seconds and delete it. As the mastermind I have seen how ridiculous this is in trying to keep track of players. I refresh my map and monitor it when I am not working with players, but even then I tend to see posts of people warping 3 or 4 rooms at a time and its simply because they post and delete in a couple seconds. Please wait upwards of 20-30 seconds to even a minute before moving. You guys are not running through these rooms at the speed of sound and if you were I need you to slow down so people see someone fly through the room at that speed. This is especially true for when players are setting up murders or moving items. I don't care how strong you are you can't run through a room in 2 seconds while carrying a body. This makes other issues where people try to interact with you much harder or if I am trying to locate you because players who post and delete immediately spend more time not existing then they actually spend with a movement post. This is EXTREMELY problematic during murder setup when I am tracking you for blood traces or seeing if there are any witnesses. I understand this seems like a simple thing where I could go digging up logs of posts and deleted posts to verify, but that simply doesn't work with 12+ people running around plotting murder. I don't have the time. I understand if you are terrified of someone chasing you or are trying to hide that crucial evidence without being seen, but please be realistic in how long the movement post is visible. I plan to really start crunching on people I see warping, It makes murderers harder to catch and some player can become "immortal" by just spending a lot of time reading the location before posting or deleting their post in 2 seconds. I can't 100% force everyone to be fair and I have to rely on an honor system sometimes since I am not omniscient. If you are going to spend the time to play the game please make an effort to play it right and not ruin it for others.
6. I don't Wanna Win: This is essentially when a player plays the game and performs actions that directly harm their own chances of victory. This has been going on since Season 2 with a huge alliance of players willing to die or follow orders simply because they didn't care they would die in the end. It happened in Season 3 with Sakuya sacrificing himself for me. Players that act without the intention of winning should only do it if that is strictly along the lines of what their character's personality is. If they do it in any other situation then murders become almost impossible to solve and actions become unpredictable. If you have a goal different from winning the game when you join you need to tell me that because it destroys the atmosphere of the game when outside motives are used that should have no impact in the actual game. If you can justify selfless acts in game with your characters personality it adds to the power of the game's story. When someone does bring those outside motives into the game it feels like I am being disrespected. I put a ton of effort into setting up these scenarios and situations for unique murder plots and crazy plot twists. It makes me feel like you didn't care what I put into my game, you don't care what the ending might be and you don't care for what really happens. I understand that you would do things for your IRL buddies that you wouldn't do for anyone else, but for the sake of the game please don't let those IRL relations define the game relations.
7. Talking with the Mastermind: This is a straightforward problem unlike all the others. If you are trying to do something like investigate or examine make sure to say things like "I am *****" or something that obviously implies action. If you are not sure its perfectly alright and encouraged to ask me if something is possible. Please don't consistently say "may I" or "can I" because I am not sure if you want to do it immediately or later on. Last but not least on this topic is the idea of waiting for examination results or picking up items. If I don't respond immediately I may be busy with other players or something else. I expect you to wait in the room at least for some time before wandering off. Don't do the whole post, pm me you want a knife, and then delete your post and move on. I understand that players like to try and get all the good items fast, but you have to slow down so I can again keep track of people and manage things. It doesn't help that I may reach you and in a span of 5 minutes you have been through 8 rooms and taken items from 4 of them and expect me to go grab them all as if you had just walked in grabbed and walked out without looking at the room. I just need players to be calm, straightforward, and reasonable when talking with me so that things are easier to manage.
There are other things weighing on me as well but these were some of the major things that I was having to deal with consistently. I enjoy making my story and building it up as the game goes on as well as seeing you guys all try to kill each other, but I keep feeling like I am being disrespected as the mastermind. I am trying not to take any of it personally but it all really builds up as we go on. I am going to push through to the end of Blood Shift regardless of whether any of the players read this and adjust their actions. If I don't see people willing to at least show some respect to what I spent a ton of time making and even more time running then I will not ever mastermind again. I want the community of this game to be strong, but right now I just feel like the guy whose house is where the current party is being hosted. I need to get all this **** off my chest or I will end up just breaking and stopping. I am trying my hardest to keep everyone happy and having fun, but whenever I try to keep balance or maintain rules I just get shot.
Thanks for reading my 2.5 thousand word rant and I hope somebody gets something out of this.
