Clarification request from Citan and Srand

[mrwarp]

Okay maybe this is a good time to post this... maybe its not. But I would like to bring up how a certain Admin thinks its funny to spawn snakes on me, I seriously asked him not to, I told the whole chat that day how terrified I was of them. I know … they are just pixels, well that does not help my fear of them.

This is your game and you can put snakes in it as you please, I just don't have to visit the area that has them in it. But when I am standing in Serb waiting for a druid event to kick off and a snake spawns on me, its just not right. Seriously most of you don't know I am disabled because of my back, Let me tell you the back spasms are very real and hurt like hell, and when I get surprised in game by a snake that puts me in a lot of pain. So instead of waiting for the druid event.. I just logged out.

I guess if you want me to log out that is a good way to do it. Some of the events I would like to have fun and join, but when this certain admin is on I either have to log out or stay clear away from where he is so that his showing off does not put me in pain.

I don't have to name a name because you are obviously the only admin that's been logging in lately, so I will ask you again, please don't spawn snakes on me, its not very funny when I have to log out and be in pain the rest of the night because of it.

[Full disclosure: As of this posting, Susie and I have already discussed the issue privately, and it has been put to rest. However, I still feel that I must address this here as well.]

A phobia that will go to the point of causing physical pain is never ok. It is never acceptable. Something that I did caused Susie this pain and distress whether it was directly or indirectly, and therefore is also not acceptable. In knowing this, I have sincerely apologized to Susie.

As for the issue in general, yes, there are going to be creatures in this game that are associated with phobias. Yes, there will be events where these creatures may spawn en masse, like spiders or snakes. I try to put subtle cues in the announcements when I can to give fair warning. For example, the spider invasion in Serbule. The announcement clearly states hundreds of spiders, so anyone with arachnophobia is going to know to stay away. I will also do the same for snakes moving forward. The show must go on no matter what, but we will try to make sure that everyone is taken care of and informed in these respects. We take this very seriously. If anyone has a concern of this nature that doesn't pertain to what has already been mentioned, please do not hesitate to reach out.

[INXS]

For me the issue is all these events constantly in Serbule, wtf happen to having them in Hogan's Keep drop a portal in Serb and be off, quite annoying like let's do the easiest most obnoxious way to do things and disrupt people that go to Serb because they got business to take care not have a kraken spawn on the town.

[zthali]

For me the issue is all these events constantly in Serbule, wtf happen to having them in Hogan's Keep drop a portal in Serb and be off, quite annoying like let's do the easiest most obnoxious way to do things and disrupt people that go to Serb because they got business to take care not have a kraken spawn on the town.

That is a complaint I hear a lot also.

I personally wish the town of serb was spread out a bit more. The area from the player table doorway, past the garden up to the corner where Pennocs house is, is nice and open. Past that I feel like I just entered a major city under construction congestion.

Maybe when/if the player table area is made bigger they can drag and stretch the edge of serb out eastward.

Plus I think the Serb npcs have endured we players long enough that they deserve somewhat roomier buildings.

[Loggy]

I good bot check was on p99 where they would ask you to type in a color they mentions on the pop up, the popup stayed a while until you type it in or failed. This was a pretty good system

[Hayashi]

....snip....

You were flagged as possibly botting. This involves a lot of factors. (None of those factors involved other players.) You then failed a simple "bot check": you ignored private messages from the admins, and when a special popup box appeared on your screen, you logged out. This is behavior we see from common botting programs, so we did the most appropriate thing...

We reminded you that botting is not allowed.

....snip....

Something I have noticed that guides should keep in mind during 'bot tests' is:
1. I have 'quit' the game. But to my spouse's computer (who is looking at me in game), I am still there - sometimes for several minutes after I have quit.
2. When your computer crashes, sometimes your character just stays in game until the 15 minutes are up or the session is forced to clean up by logging in again.

In both cases, the 'character' will not respond to .. well, .. anything. As they are essentially ineffectual zombies until the session clears.

Lastly, I am glad there is that popup message. I have multiple custom tabs, and sometimes when I have a bad migraine, I need to cut down on the 'noise', so I may only see one or two chats (such as guild chat). On those days, I can miss messages. By the same token, it is possible to filter out announcements out of the chat windows, so popups are sometimes the best.

Hope this helps in both the bot hunting AND helping filter out those poor sods that were disconnected (because the stupid computer crashed again!!!) and running into trees, or went on a quick afk while howling at the moon, or just being nice and strumming a tune in the garden.

Cheers!
Hayashi/Kyrindia

[Hayashi]

I good bot check was on p99 where they would ask you to type in a color they mentions on the pop up, the popup stayed a while until you type it in or failed. This was a pretty good system

What happens if the player is color blind?

[Loggy]

Being color blind you still can see the different shades of grey...Very few people are 100 % color blind.

We could easily add a system of simple math for the player to type in the answer instead of the color

[zthali]

Something I have noticed that guides should keep in mind during 'bot tests' is:
1. I have 'quit' the game. But to my spouse's computer (who is looking at me in game), I am still there - sometimes for several minutes after I have quit.
2. When your computer crashes, sometimes your character just stays in game until the 15 minutes are up or the session is forced to clean up by logging in again.

In both cases, the 'character' will not respond to .. well, .. anything. As they are essentially ineffectual zombies until the session clears.

Lastly, I am glad there is that popup message. I have multiple custom tabs, and sometimes when I have a bad migraine, I need to cut down on the 'noise', so I may only see one or two chats (such as guild chat). On those days, I can miss messages. By the same token, it is possible to filter out announcements out of the chat windows, so popups are sometimes the best.

Hope this helps in both the bot hunting AND helping filter out those poor sods that were disconnected (because the stupid computer crashed again!!!) and running into trees, or went on a quick afk while howling at the moon, or just being nice and strumming a tune in the garden.

Cheers!
Hayashi/Kyrindia

Excellent points Hayashi. Unfortunately, there is a history of bias against players who people know have more than one account so this was just a flexing of power.

[Hayashi]

Being color blind you still can see the different shades of grey...Very few people are 100 % color blind.

We could easily add a system of simple math for the player to type in the answer instead of the color

Actually true color blindness (greys) is extremely rare. Color deficiency is far more common. And for people with color deficiency, some colors look like others, and sometimes they can see base colors fully colored people see only as the (expected) blend.

For example, with Red-Green color deficiency (the most common):
- colors from orange to pink to red might all look like the same shade of 'red'.
- green and brown look like 'brown'. But not the same shade, necessarily.
- there is a silver car on the market right now that some folks with Red-Green color deficiency see as pink. (probably the undercoat color).
- Blues and purples can be differentiated to an extreme degree.
- camo looks like bright neon colors.

And that's just examples of one type of color blindness. People who suffer from it have a hard time in games with color puzzles, and color codes (including loot drop rarity). Making it a bot check would lose a lot of color deficient people because they would always fail.

Some of the better bot checks are things like:
- show a picture and ask the user to tell you what is in it. (ex. dog)
- fill in the blank sentences.
Those work well for manned bot checks.