Revised AoP Policy for Griefers

[gorboth]

Esteemed Community Members,

Since first becoming a member of the Admin as AoP, I have held to the
notion that pvp is a matter that can and should be handled entirely by
the players. After all, it is your game to enjoy how you wish, and if
the game allows it, then so do I.

Unfortunately, this type of thinking has been, I suspect, naive on my
part, resulting in a rate of attrition that the game can no longer allow
to persist if we are to move forward with a healthy outcome. What has
resulted from my policy is a relatively consequence-free environment to
players in certain guilds who have abilities best suited to pvp mayhem.
Such players, when their stats and tactics have become sufficiently
impregnable, are able to determine the fates of players in the game
who they target for death regardless of the wishes of those players.

To a degree, the game has become a playground best suited for people who
are able to build a career on the grief and loss of their opponents in
pvp, regardless of whether those opponents desire to participate. This
dynamic has, over time, lost us many important and long-standing
community members. It is exacerbated by the fact that one guild in
particular, the Vampire guild, has been designed to have the edge in
pvp situations vs. non-cleric melee guilds (in other worse, vs. most of
the players in the game.)

In an environment as we have, where only half of the guilds in the game
have been brought up to standard, allowing such a situation as this to
persist will no longer stand. I am therefore embarking on a revision of
my previous stance regarding pvp conflicts.

For the forseeable future, I will be acting on behalf of what I consider
to be the "spirit" of our pvp rules. The main idea is that you are not
allowed to ruin the game for other people with your behavior. Some players
stay within the "letter" of the law:

"I have not targetted him for repeat killings without provocation!
He attacked my allies! Thus, I hunt him whenever he logs in!!"

"He isn't a smaller player! He's a myth! He's a big boy, and should
be able to take care of himself. What, did he come crying to you
when I killed him? How typical!!"

... but the above quotes characterize the sort of player who does not
value a game in which we all come to enjoy ourselves. If you are such
a player, and can only find your fun at the expense of others, you have
been officially notified. Some potential responses:

"What are you talking about? Where does the line get drawn? How
am I even supposed to know if I am breaking the rules?"

I guess the best answer is that most people just innately understand
where the line is. Those of you who need it mapped out for you tend to
stick your toe up to the razor's edge of the line (and beyond) once
it has been explained, and continue to evade the "spirit" of the law.

Of course, this sort of subjectivity can become a total mess (which is
why I simply closed my door to it for the last two years.) Often what
happens is that certain players realize that "MY FUN IS BEING RUINED
BY PLAYER X!!!" might become an I-Win button. Don't do this.

I have, tonight, performed the first of what I hope will be very few
such necessary interventions into player affairs. Govern yourselves, so
that I do not have to. You know how to make the game fun. Don't do it
exclusively at eachother's expense.

G.