phantasmemes | How's the Game? #3

Your current modteam consists of headmod Nai and helpermod Claire!

Do you have any feedback for the mod team specifically? Anything you'd like to let us know? Do you just want to tell us how beautiful and amazing we are? Feel free to tell us right here!

With regards to last session's feedback, we've been taking steps to make sure questions aren't left hanging on the heymods channel – though there's sometimes still inconsistencies in how quickly we get back to people. We're hoping to get even MORE on top of that, so if you guys have any more feedback for us, please let us know!

If you're at all uncomfortable with hitting us up on a public post like this, you can always hit one or both of us up on Discord or PM us!

I want to start off by saying I love the plot and the setting, and I'm heavily invested in both.

That's what makes the rest of this so distressing. A while ago, a player apped in who a friend had a history with that made me uncomfortable engaging. When we first went to the mods about it, I felt confident that the situation would be handled and that this player would be kept solidly away from us and dealt with appropriately if they refused. This has not been my actual experience.

Consistently, this player has been allowed to join in on my conversations, and even multiple times post things that were clearly responding to things I had said or done. The only time they were even so much as warned was when the conversation was directly relevant to my character. Furthermore, when we brought up concerns that this other player was being difficult to avoid, our boundaries were treated as if they were self-imposed restrictions that we were trying to blame on the mods. Even a comment that clearly implied intent to tag someone on the no-contact list was ignored, and we were punished for our discomfort with them constantly pushing the limit of what counted as contact by having our right to report behavior that bothered us revoked. Though it's been asserted that the mods haven't restricted us in any way, telling us not to report behavior that makes us uncomfortable and to simply count on the mods to see it and realize it bothered us is a restriction, and a dangerous one at that. Particularly as the mods have already broken a promise to keep us updated on who was involved in the no-contact order, leading to me very nearly tagging a new character of the other player. It was only because I mentioned them to someone who was paying more attention to the server that I didn't.

On that note, I've become increasingly scarce in the main game server, and this is why. I can't participate in, or even start my own, conversations without high odds of this other player interjecting. Since they seem to be free to respond to my comments as long as they don't directly address me, the only way I've been able to avoid them is to not participate at all. Similarly, with participation in the same groupwatch or group bonding activity as me being preemptively approved, and my desire to not have our characters be in the same room for an extended period dismissed, I've had to bow out of things like truth-or-dare. Overall, it's seemed as if the mods care more about letting the other player act freely than about making sure their presence doesn't impact me.

As it is, I'm no longer having fun in this game. I've been left feeling as if I can only engage with the Discord server at certain times, and as though the only small scale mingles I can participate in are ones I, or someone else on the no-contact list, started. Even worse, I've been left feeling as if the mods are treating me as the problem here, to the point that I fear repercussions if I try to defend the boundaries I'm comfortable with.

Since you've made this issue public now, we're going to assume you are comfortable with it being addressed publicly in turn. Please also consider this a response to all three comments left here -- we didn't want to fragment our response across three replies or end up repeating ourselves, as we're addressing the same issue in all three.

When you (that is, you and Alex) approached us regarding this issue, the main point of your complaint seemed to be that you suspected the player of having a lack of IC/OOC divide re: Akechi and that you were worried their dislike of him on an OOC level would result in their characters(s) spreading negative opinions of him on an IC level, thus resulting in unwarranted negative CR. You also claimed (but provided no evidence) that this was the case at a previous game, that Alex and this player shared and that this had made you feel uncomfortable around the player in question.

After a mod team discussion, we presented you with a suggested solution, which was essentially a mod-enforced opt out of IC and OOC contact between the player in question and your group, with a ban on the line if they violated it. You were agreeable to it, at the time, and so we went forward with implementing it. As far as we know, you have not been tagged by the player in question at any point (in fact, they have gone out of their way to avoid you and clarify with us what behaviour would break the no-contact policy) nor have they discussed your character and their actions ICly. This, as far as we are aware, is the core of what the no-contact was made to address.

Since then, you have mentioned this player to the mod team with such frequency that, had your behaviour been directed to another player and not the mod team, we would have considered it to be harassment. Often as twice or three times a week, before the player had even officially apped into the game, you accused the player of trying to bait you into responding, as you felt "obligated" to respond to them if they said something in the chat or otherwise that you had to somehow change your behaviour to avoid them. This, despite our assurances that you weren't, and that there were no restrictions placed on you or your behaviour. When the mods addressed these issues at the time, you claimed to be satisfied with our responses. When we suggested you block the player in question, you refused and, as far as I am aware, you still have not blocked them to this day.

When you did eventually request an alteration to the no-contact policy, you stated it was because your perspective on the player's previous behaviour had changed and that you had been assuming malicious intent where there was none. In fact, you specifically requested an alteration that would allow the player in question to address you without repercussions if you took the first step and initiated contact with them. When you asked to speak to the player directly about this and to clear up the issue, we agreed but requested we be allowed to see the discussion as well as see some evidence regarding the player's behaviour at your previous game. No evidence was ever shown to us and to my knowledge, you have never followed up on this request. I'm also not sure what you mean by "we were punished for our discomfort [...] having our right to report behavior that bothered us revoked" -- to my knowledge, nothing of the sort has ever happened or been so much as suggested to you in communications I have seen.

While we have done our best to manage this situation for you, the requests you have made of us since them have been, frankly, unreasonable. When you asked us if the player participating in game-wide group mingle logs at all counts as violating the no-contact policy, even when they explicitly did not tag you, your response to us telling you "no" was to claim the only way to avoid a person who was going out of their way to avoid tagging you was to not involve yourself in game-wide logs they might post toplevels in. That was the restriction you placed on yourself and as we said at the time, it was out of our hands. It seemed that the only resolution you would view as favorable would be to ban this player entirely from group logs which is unfair and unreasonable and not a solution we are inclined to consider. And when we said this at the time, you claimed that you accepted this.

Any good game thrives on feedback and any good mod team knows that feedback is essential to keeping the game running smoothly. This is why our HTG sessions exist. However, this does not feel like good faith criticism. With the way you have misrepresented our responses and communications, it feels like a calculated attempt to pressure us via public shaming into giving you what you want. Given the context of our previous discussions, at this point we have to assume that what you want is for the mod team to eject this player from the game.

We will not be doing that. We have neither seen or heard about any issues to do with this player's conduct that you have not brought to us. We have advised you multiple times on how to handle the situation and to my knowledge you have not taken any of the steps that were suggested to you.

For starters, I have not seen nor heard anything about anyone wanting this player outright ejected from the game, to the best of my memory. In fact, nobody on the list had any complaints when I had another player post my event idea, just so the person in question could feel free to tag into it.

Nobody saw this as a risk that could potentially lead to unwanted handwaved IC interaction, unlike a Game of Truth or Dare, which involves everyone in the room taking turns focusing on one another, individually.

The fact that the reports were given to the two of you (the people who asked us to report any discomfort), and not to any player, takes away it being harassment. Thus, the drop of that term feels a bit like an excuse to throw out the word, for the sake of deflection. I feel that's what a lot of things have started coming across as: an attempt to get us to drop something, rather than a show of desire towards helping us resolve anything.

"As a mod team, we feel concerned that you are pushing to find ways in which [they] *has8 violated it, and we're extremely uncomfortable with that. It's our job as mods to be fair to all players, and this aggressive sort of nitpicking is extremely unfair to do to anyone, regardless of your personal feelings on them. If something happens that we feel violates the no-contact order, as originally outlined, in text or in spirit, we will take action. Until that time, we ask again that you trust us as your mod team to pursue a resolution that best suits all involved parties."

This was said to us less than two weeks in - nowhere near far enough in to declare the pattern of "often" twice or three times a week; that reads as exaggeration.

The first approach (edit: before that point, less than two weeks in) involved asking for advice (and it was admitted by the mod that they didn't even notice that part of the discussion that was brought up). The second time was an incident that ended with a mod apology (due to realizing it was a valid concern, after we were told, with emphasis, that it was not a big deal). The third concern we brought up was outright ignored by you guys altogether (there was absolutely no response, even three days later; edit: and this was our biggest concern, yet, and had actual proof of possible intent to tag one of us!). Finally, the fourth issue was simply given: "We're keeping an eye out for that and will handle it if it comes up."

So, yes, it's been implied, as well as proven, more than once that it should just be left to you guys, and that bringing up concerns does not warrant mod concern.

Furthermore, the evidence you asked for is delayed for more than one reason:

The first is that there was static silence after it was requested that we wait until an appropriate time. The other being that none of us had direct access to everything from what's now one year ago. Lastly, I think I've made it clear how just going into the chat makes me feel. But, I'm the one who's responsible for saving the screenshots and then posting them into the DM, given the original incident is related to me. I'm unsure of how much clearer I can be on how badly this stuff upsets me, even these days.

But, while I will be posting them to you soon, we aren't seeing it as anything that could make much of a difference - just based on a pattern of mod behavior towards everything, in general. Which, yes, I can admit has likely been a case of me allowing emotions to cloud motivation on this matter. PTSD does terrible things to a person's mind, regardless of what the person wants.

In any case, this is where my crit rests: it's in how the team approached the situation, and then did/didn't (such as in the case of going quiet on us for an entire month) handle it. So, this is not an attempt to bash mods or shame anyone. Because I am hoping you guys can learn from this, and possibly do better at helping players, should anything else ever come to you guys. It was specifically said that you guys want "everyone to have fun and feel safe in PhanRift so as long as that's the case, then we're doing our jobs".

That's why this is all being presented with a use of examples, as well as a heavy mention of how they made me, as a player, feel.

Lastly, since this is something that was not addressed, at all, in your comment up there, there's the matter of you guys not upholding your end of things: again, none of us were even informed of this player's second character choice, when said character's design would hinder IC avoidance in a way that threatens the line on IC/OOC. Two of us nearly tagged that second character, and were barely told in time who that character is being played by.

I'm not emphasizing this for the sake of shaming; I'm emphasizing this because it did not help keep trust in the mod team.

Edit: Also, I did block the person on Discord (as was said in the DM), but it was proven that Discord does not block the other person from seeing the blocker's messages. Thus, that suggestion was never ignored; it was simply proven to not be something to stave off nerves.

Edited 2018-10-04 05:41 (UTC)

Acknowledging receipt here also – since you have moved this discussion to a private venue, we're assuming you would like the conversation to be continued there and will be responding in kind.

Actually, it was that giving you the evidence in a private setting seemed most appropriate.

The conflict that I've been watching my friends go through, to say the least, is incredibly concerning.

At the beginning it seemed that their concerns were being taken into consideration and that the mods were actively working with them to come to a satisfactory conclusion for all parties involved. Yet this has somehow escalated to something where none of my friends feel even remotely comfortable even daring to bring up a concern related to this matter.

What's more is that the party that my friends were concerned about apped another character and they were never notified, as was per an earlier agreement. All the actions I've seen point towards a bias for said other party.

Ultimately, our morale as an entire group has been affected. Only a few of our friends were affected directly, but most of us no longer feel comfortable in the general server, period. Nor I feel like I can approach the mods with my concerns and be responded to in an open-minded and welcoming manner. Instead, my friends have been all but forced to silence themselves and remove themselves from a significant part of the game.

This has been an incredibly stressful time for them, and for all of us. Even though I am only tangentially involved, I certainly do not feel like this is a safe environment or that I could come to the mods with my concerns in any other way besides this.

To be honest, even writing this much is incredibly nerve-wracking. I feel... very helpless in this situation, and it's echoing a similar situation in real life where I'm feeling my discomfort is disregarded by authority. At the beginning I was really, truly hoping for a resolution where both parties could coexist peacefully in the game but I'm really rapidly losing hope with that. It's honestly incredibly disheartening, considering how much fun and how involved we all were when we first arrived.

Hi there! We've addressed these comments with one response as it covers the same issues raised here.

When I first joined this game, I was incredibly excited over it. I told countless people that this was a game I was more than ready to turn into my "home game" due to how fun it was.

"Was" being the key word.

At this point, I'm sticking around here for the CR and the plot. After it was demonstrated to me, on a firsthand basis, how you guys will handle player conflicts, my love of the game dwindled. I don't feel safe in the game server, at all. I have had panic attacks just from being in there; being in close digital quarters with a person I have bad history with is not okay, especially with you guys doing seemingly nothing to even try helping, at this point.

I feel, based on your actions, that you are allowing both personal feelings and bias affect your decision-making process when it comes to player conflict. We were repeatedly promised that there would be a focus on player comfort... But, when it reached a point where anxiety spikes were increasing, we were simply told that it was getting to be uncomfortable for you (when, in the end, we were doing what we were encouraged to do; we were reporting where we saw lines getting crossed re: our comfort levels). And that there's only so much you can do. We were asked, with emphasis, to trust you guys, but... Frankly? I haven't been shown nor given any reason to.

I've lost a lot of trust in and comfort towards you guys, as mods. It is not your job to create/decide our comfort levels for us, nor is it your job to micromanage players. It is your job, however, to protect all of your players - I feel completely disregarded and brushed aside as one. And I wish I felt safe enough to just handle this via the DM, but I don't feel remotely secure talking to either of you, one-on-one.

On a mostly different note, I don't like the bias that has been demonstrated countless times when it comes to updating lists. Jumping to update lists when a player of close CR or another mod has put in a request, while letting others sit for up to two weeks is not cool, honestly. I wish I had screencapped it, but I outright deleted my request after it had sat there for that long. Because my request was no longer wanted/needed by that point.

Either way, in a game that revolves around power and item requests, due to it being a game that is made for characters getting stronger, this page is something that should have more focus on it. And, in my opinion, a mod should be checking/updating it at least every 72 hours.

Hi there! We've addressed these comments with one response as it covers the same issues raised here.

Regarding slip-ups on point requests and timeliness on grants: This is absolutely our bad! Thanks for bringing it to our attention. We're taking steps to ensure the points page is more closely monitored and will be implementing a deadline for getting things approved.

As a reminder, players can always give us a quick nudge if they need something approved quickly or if something has been hanging! But of course, this isn't something you guys should have to do, so we'll be taking steps to ensure that doesn't happen with any kind of regularity.

i'mma get a little gay up in here, because hey? hey

did you know you guys are great and I appreciate all the work you put in this game? seriously kudos because it's amazing. the game's got such a good atmosphere and I feel really comfortable here. A+ game, would yell at all my friends to app here.

stay amazing ♡

That's right! We're talking about bumping the number of characters you can have in-game up to four!

This was originally planned as a surprise for the end of our future planned fourth wall event. However, with the way our (admittedly nebulous) schedule for next year is lining up, this wouldn't leave very long for new characters to get settled before the final phase of the game. And that would suck!

So with that, we're planning to open fourth character slots for the upcoming app round, if all of our players are agreeable to it. Let us know what you think!

THIS IS THE BIG ONE, LADS

Something that has been in discussion between the mods for a while has been ways of expanding on the current point system that will give players more to spend points on during downtime. We've also been looking to expand on the mission system and make it more engaging. And with this, we think we've tapped on a solution for both issues!

The first one is world changes. These are an addition to the existing points system that will allow players to spend points on permanent changes to the game world! These could be things like new buildings for the Station, or even new additions to the map!

The second – and something we're pretty excited to announce – is micro dungeons! These are a revamp of the mission system that were inspired by the Palace raids we've seen a few players go on. In short, they function as player plots, where players spend points to open up miniature dungeons within areas we've already cleared. These dungeons are unique in that players will be free to populate them with effects, hazards and loot as they please! These micro dungeons can be either totally original or based on your character's canons with effects and hazards to match.

These are some pretty big changes and we're still in the process of hashing out the system and working out point costs to ensure everything is balanced. So because of that, we're not quite ready to pull back the curtains. But we do want to see what you guys think and hear any feedback you have about these ideas!

Micro-dungeons sound amazing, since there's probably not going to be enough full dungeons to get through anything players want to do - plus opportunities to revisit missed opportunities in ones that have already happened...

Microdungeons do sound awesome. Especially ones based on various characters' canons. Thank you so much for keeping it interesting!

...This sounds amazing ~~and I cannot wait to inflict my character's traumas on other characters~~, not gonna lie.

Because of the holidays, we're considering slightly skewing the timeline on the December dungeon and having it run for an extra long time, OOCly. This would extend the dungeon into probably January to ensure that everyone gets a chance to tag.

Let us know what you think!

That works for me. I know I will have some down time during the holidays - yay for staycations - but I will definitely be spending a lot of that time with my family.

While we're not currently shopping for a third mod, we're interested to see if there are any players in the game right now who would be open to stepping up and joining the mod team if the position opened!

Please let us know below if this would be something you're interested in.

Here's some smaller things to consider, that don't warrant their own toplevels.

How's the Game Schedule Change: HTG sessions will now be held once every two months, on the 1st of the month they fall on. Don't miss 'em!
Loot Pool Change: The loot pool no longer contains a slot for unique artifacts. The remaining pool of unique loot drops has been added to the general loot pool, and unique artifacts that have already dropped will be slowly added back into rotation.

That's all!

How's the Game? #3

How's The Game?

MOD FEEDBACK

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ADDITIONAL CHARACTER SLOTS

MICRO DUNGEONS & WORLD CHANGES

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Re: MICRO DUNGEONS & WORLD CHANGES

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DECEMBER DUNGEON EXTENSION

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MOD INTEREST CHECK

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