Regarding pkill death and how the immense penalty has affected the current conversation:
Removing the exp loss portion of pkill death is something I've been an advocate of for a long time. That in itself would have alleviated a huge amount of the drama surrounding recent events. An ancient game surviving in 2021 thrives on its uniqueness, but this is one unique aspect we'd be better off without. Players should not need to spend months recovering after dying in a fight that often takes under a minute.
Maybe I should make a different topic, but this is extremely relative to current events. The huge loss of time invested from pkill death is what keeps people afraid of pvp, and leads to highly emotional behaviour afterwards. I understand that loss of gear and humiliation may not be enough of a penalty for pkill death - so instead add in the "recovery cooldown" that many have suggested, where you get a size penalty for a certain amount of active time (1-2 weeks?) rather than a sentence to have to grind for 100 hours. Add rewards/incentives such as titles or cosmetic items for pvp dominance. There are creative ways to bring Genesis into the current century re: pkill death so we can avoid this extremely high level of emotion that surrounds anything related to player deaths.
On the recent drama as a whole:
I'm writing as the leader of a goodie guild that is in direct conflict in-game with the Nils/Cassius squad. Worth noting these guys rub me the wrong way both in and out of game. Typical "scheming schoolyard bully boys club". Then again, being a bully is not against the rules, and good balance requires some villains. I would not play a game without anyone on the other side to brawl with - which, by the way, is how it has often felt in the last month or so with the evil side temporarily diminished.
I'm firmly on the admin's side with the response to the recent discord drama, as well as the series of restores on either side. In fact, as mentioned here it was my party who killed Nils with a movestun after they had allegedly been disabled, and I was the one who came forward instantly in support of a restore for him. I was also one of the ones who supplied Cherek with evidence of Carnak's minor wrongdoings, which I believe have been accounted for.
That said, I think Cherek's doing a good job. I imagine it's not easy to make friends when you're responsible for holding not only players, but fellow wizards accountable for following the rules. Carnak as well, he made a mistake and owned up to it, and left the group chat he was in. I truly believe this sort of thing will not happen between these particular individuals again. Carnak's expressed that he is open to chatting about balance with anyone, and open to considering suggestions from anyone.
I also believe that no actual benefit was gained by these few players knowing about white hit changes 2-3 weeks ahead of time. The "Bloody Sunday" gloat post was just more schoolyard blustering, and not indicative of any actual advantage gained. The kills at VK had little to do with superiority gained through the changes - they could have done that any time, in any one-exit room, with an ogre stomp. Just as a power team of Knights and Neidar could do the same thing to Cassius with Knights block -- this is why he stays in church, unless the boys club is around
It is a fact that good guilds have more pvp tools than evils, a fact that I was slow to come around to (Thanks Nerull), but there's really no denying it. Does this mean there aren't goodie guilds (and evil guilds) that need buffing/nerfing/balancing - Of course not!
Cherek, there has been a lot of disheartening doom and gloom coming from wizards here and on Discord (Yourself and Greneth to name two that come to mind) about how you feel that you're always under attack and that you worry wizards will lose interest as a result. There was also some talk between Greneth and Cotillion about going back to old ways of not discussing any changes with players. I think you guys are listening to a few loud voices a little too much. I hope you and others realize that the majority of players support and respect our active wizards, and in exchange expect your support and respect back. Of course, we will all *hopefully* judge each other as individuals, and not paint the entire Wizhood/Playerbase with a broad brush.
I also think some wizards could be more tactful in how they discuss issues with mortals, especially in Discord. Volunteers or not, they are in a chosen position of responsibility. Dismissiveness or condescension should not be a part of any response to player concerns, whether one agrees or not. Of course, players bear a responsibility towards respectful discourse as well. The relationship dynamic between players and wizards shifts slightly more responsibility to be civil onto the wizards, especially in public channels, in my humble opinion.
Two things I think everyone could reflect on:
Emotions are high in times of distress because Genesis is so dear to us, players and wizzes alike.
Genesis needs more active Wizards. I am hoping this recent drama spurs some of us, who love Genesis and don't want to see it fail, to apply to be a part of the change they want to see in the donut.