TMC Player Reviews: Lensmoor

(The following review comment is the opinion of the comment's author [Azengard] and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff).

Let me start this by saying that I have been playing Lensmoor for 6
years, have never had an immortal character, and believe I have had a
pretty typical game experience over that time. I have had dozens of
no name characters over the years, as well as two very
well-established, and very different characters. Clearly, as I've
been playing for 6 years, I do enjoy the game greatly.

A few things this reviewer stated were rather unfair or poorly
explained, so I offer the following clarifications:

1) If you just want to hack and slash, you don't have to RP. As this
reviewer stated, you'll find it more difficult, but it -is- doable.
Piles of folks have remorted without a smidge of RP, it may just take
you longer to figure out how, as they are typically established
players. Like anything else, you choose to limit your character
yourself by the interaction (RP) you're willing to partake in, and
the time you put into a character, and if you don't want to RP, you
don't get all the benefits of the game. It's very simple.

2) Arawn may very well change things if the urge strikes, as he is
entitled to do. However, what this reviewer failed to mention is that
the vast majority of changes have been made due to player demand.
Arawn implemented a system by which any player can post an idea
anonymously, and others can vote on it, again anonymously, to see
whether it's worth consideration and the time to code. So, even if
Arawn himself makes a change, he's made it clear that he's willing
to change things based on player input, which is STRONGLY encouraged.
Many changes have been flat out reversed or altered based on this
player input.

3) That's life, and just as in life, you quickly learn who to avoid
with minimal interference in your play. Yes, the cliques exist in
Lensmoor/Antrippa, but the majority of people who play are fabulous,
friendly, and very willing to help. If people are truly being that
horrid, they are often spoken to by staff. If it continues, more
severe consequences follow.

4) Imms are -required- to get your permission to 'snoop', i.e. see
your screen. Arawn is very clear about this, and there's absolutely
no tolerance when it comes to imms overstepping their bounds. Also,
there is no possible way 40% of the playerbase are immortals. That's
a vast overestimation. I'd estimate the number to be more on the
lines of 10% of players have -ever- had an immortal. Also, it's
stated time and time again that public channels, including all chat
channels, are able to be seen by immortals. If you want to trash talk,
use a chat program.

5) If an immortal is specifically picking on someone, or being
'corrupt' so to speak, their tenure as an immortal is going to be
short lived, as this is not tolerated. Sharing the alts of others is
severely frowned upon, so much so that most immortals don't even use
the ability of looking at player's ip addresses to figure this out.
Realistically, if an immortal peeks at someone's ip address, it's
likely because that person has been causing trouble and they're
looking to see if they have a history of such behavior, or are player
who has been banned for similar reasons. Troublemakers take great joy
in coming back to cause a ruckus.

It takes all kinds to make the game work. Some players (imms are
players, too!) are wonderful, while others leave much to be desired.
That's life. Play for yourself, let other people's opinions and
issues stay their own, come to the game with a good attitude, and
you'll have a blast.

(The following review comment is the opinion of the comment's author [Teon] and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff).

First of all, thank you for the good things you've said about
Lensmoor. The game is not without its faults (and this is true of
any), but we (the staff and players) are constantly striving to
improve these. I'd like to respond to some of your comments from the
perspective of both a staff member and player.

1. I'll refer to Azengard's comment here. 

2. Sometimes, changes are supposed to be a surprise. On the other
hand, Arawn does often talk to the players or have staff investigate
and run polls before making changes. And recently, 95% of his changes
have been as a result of player submitted ideas which are publicly
submitted and voted upon.

3. Again, will refer to Azengard. 

4. I feel you have an incredible amount of privacy on Lensmoor. I've
played several MUDs and have never felt so respected by staff in terms
of privacy as I have on Lensmoor. And I maintain this opinion, before
and since I've had a staff character. And if your secret RP or trash
talk gets out, it's because people gossip, not because of what staff
sees or doesn't see. We don't see your notes or private chats to
each other, or conversations you have in private rooms. And the game
is certainly not 40% staff. We have about 20 active staff, and a lot
more than 50 players.

5. We are strictly forbidden from sharing ALTs. And Arawn certainly
does care. In fact, he cares about the professional attitude of his
staff more than pretty much anything else in the game.

(The following review comment is the opinion of the comment's author [Final Gate Sympathizer] and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff).

This review has some merit.

1. Yes, Roleplaying is encouraged and is required to access some
aspects of the game. If you are looking for a solely hack and slash
game, look elsewhere. That should be common sense.

2. This is not only true that Arawn changes as he sees fit but it is
worse than reviewer describes. Arawn has no problem in removing 
things from players and staff without warning and frequently does not
take players into consideration in making changes. Some small 
concessions are done from time to time as Teon has described, but 
make no mistake that Arawn often dismisses considerations for players 
and has no clue how the game actually plays out for most of the 
playerbase.

3. Drama is very much a problem. It was not something I personally 
incurred until later years when I actually tried interacting with 
more of the playerbase. You are best off if you stick with only a few 
people and/or have a healthy dose of reality to shake off the 
nonsense that will continually plague you and threaten to suck you in 
to the drama vortex.

4. While imms are 'expected' to be respectful of your privacy and 
there ARE means of private communications, I think many people become 
confused about two things. 
 1) Saying something where it is not private is, well, not private.
  If you have something private to say, use some common sense and be 
  careful where you are talking and who you are talking to. 
 2) Imms are not very ethical. They are people, some of whom like 
  the power trip and think they never make mistakes. It will only take
  a very large and egregious example of disrespecting privacy for any 
  consequences to be given to an imm, and even that is questionable.

5. In addition to corruption there is also flagrant favoritism. Arawn
does not actually do much at all to combat this and actually plays 
favorites himself. I am not convinced that Arawn cares about 
corruption among the staff, having not properly dealt with cheating
staff or staff breaking the rules more than once. He has also not 
bothered to give consequences to cheating players. Those who are not
favored by Arawn or by his favorites can be repeated targets of their 
dislike, directly and indirectly, as well as incur borderline 
harassment. For this last reason alone, I do not recommend playing.

If under better direction, it is entirely possible for this game to 
be great. It had a lot of potential to be very rewarding but the 
people of the game make it difficult to appreciate the good things 
about it. There are also very good people you can find here but those
have dwindled in number over time and are not enough to warrant the 
misery of dealing with everyone else. 

Your time is better spent elsewhere.