Review Submitted By: Mandor
Author Status: Player
Started on Abandoned Realms: July 2006
Submission Date: Aug 7, 2009
TMC Listing: Abandoned Realms
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Mandor]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
Its a well developed game and has many good points. It takes thought
and some learning to pk well. It has the most balance I've seen.
The classes are interesting and all unique from each other.
I played it on and off, due to other things. I played by the rules,
and people violated the rules on multiple occasions when interacting
with my character in game. I did not whine or threaten to leave. I
saved what happened to logs, showed the admins, and the person deleted
their character because his style coupled with his antics revealed him
to other players. Not due to any staff involvement, which were playing
a hands off approach to him. Multiple occasions, roleplay is enforced,
but it is either silly or one dimensional roleplay. A few really
roleplay deeply.
I came back after some 6 month hiatus to look around. Character
creation screen. Finish the process. Denied with 54 days left on ban.
Now, my thought is, 'that's strange, I haven't played for six
months and last time I played I left. I don't break the rules, and I
maintained my composure in game even when others were blatantly
breaking rules against me.' So, I wait a few days. I log in again. 54
days remaining on what they call a 'siteban'. Note the time is the
same.
Apparently, this means a whole network is banned, of which I am a
part. Great. The same thing apparently happened to AOL. All of AOL is
banned from connecting because of a few players that broke rules.
Estonia as a whole country is banned from connecting for the same
reason, a single player broke rules repeatedly. And now myself. All
because of someone else. Now I'm understanding Martin Niemöller's
poem quite a bit differently.
So, I bring the issue up on the forum. My response from Davarus, a
staff member, is 'I thought you left because I wouldn't ban mico'.
Not a 'I'll look into it', or 'because of this and that', just a
snide comment because, well, that's who Davarus is.
I write about the state of the forums, and what sort of policy it
must be to kill off whole groups players from connecting, due to
individuals. To understand what the forums are, go to 4chan. I see the
exact same thing there. People are rude to each other. They insult
each other and call each other names. Multiple people that continue to
play have cheated and time and again created new characters, and stick
around the forums.
Dispater and Rem have been banned in game for cheating and exploiting
the game. yet they still play and talk to the staff, occasionally
trading insults. Another major contributor is not a cheater, but
simply abuser. Anyone he disagrees with is personally abused, and the
staff allow it because he's their Clifton buddy. When newbies come
in, and make a suggestion for the game, he insults and abuses them.
Davarus and others go on as if nothing happened. They treat it like a
joke, but anyone else who does that has their post removed, is warned,
or banned depending on the mood of the mod.
If you can understand the picture, its like a club. Preferential
treatment to members that are in the 'group', sod everyone else. One
has to think, what would a newcomer see this as, looking at the
forums?
The forums also has many threads devoted to complaining about low
player base. You'd think that a person who didn't do anything would
receive some form of help. I said that I dont think running a mud by
banning whole locations is very good for the game, Davs response is
that my belligerent post caused him not to want to bother to look into
it. Good for him, its his game while the real owner is away, but
that's exactly what children do when they get upset. Oppositional.
And the ban stands at 54 days still, a week later. Consider that all
the imms are aware of the ban in effect, and none of them cared to
help me. They seem to find it much funnier to talk about their
incompetence at performing banning properly in response to my problem.
And then do nothing.
That is the state of the game, how its run, what the community in it
amounts. There are a few good people there, but far between.
