Discussion TLOPO Needs to Provide Answers.

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Ceplex1 said:
Agreed completely, a "GM" and a "ALT" are two completely different things, a GM should never drag over his personal feelings from the alt character onto his staff character and vice versa. <-- That's a example.

Staff should be 100% equal no matter how much they hate or like someone, and people who can't do this should never be staff to begin with and should be removed ASAP and replaced with someone who actually do understand the responsibility without any childish thinking.

Fair and Positive staff is the only way to keep it up no matter how much crap gets thrown around, one mistake can bring down the game, one wrong turn can remove 50 players, all for your personal grudge because someone was mean to your alt...

That's me throwing out the truth :D And like mentioned in this post, being staff is a choice and out of free will, if you can't handle it then leave. Unless you're in it for the power.
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"That's me throwing out the truth :D And like mentioned in this post, being staff is a choice and out of free will, if you can't handle it then leave. Unless you're in it for the power."

I'm sorry to correct you, but that's you throwing out your opinions. And I find it an honor that we're allowed our opinions.
 
Prior to POTCO being remade via progress initiated through TLOPO, a great concern of my own was "who is going to moderate the Moderators?" Mates, while not all things are perfect, I feel (in being around this community since 2009) that really...ye have some trustworthy people whom are involved with this particular project; most actually coming and originating from, this forums.

 
I don't even play TLOPO anymore and decided to get on here randomly and saw this thread. I'll say they are upholding what they're talking about here. Surprisingly the team at TLOPO is being open and honest in this thread. I was muted in the game... for reasons unknown to me but after reaching out to John Foulroberts.... (also created a thread... complained a bit... was pretty frustrated with it because I knew what it was already and it wasn't a "bug") but after I reached out I was unmuted. They literally could just shut the switch off yeah.. sure we can complain and be upset about it all we want but it's a gift they are giving to us...
 
Right off the bat I would like to say that tlopo does not need to provide anything to anyone. Second, I have doubt that many of your accusations are true. Third, if there is any truth to some of them, say ban bias, then they should (but certainly don't have to) fix that. Have you contacted support with your concerns? I would expect that if you can provide clear evidence to them that they will correct such issues. In terms of moderation it's not easy to achieve what you want and still keep everyone happy.
 
We have to completely disagree here. We categorically do not discriminate against others or play favorites. If you broke the rules, action will be taken. It doesn’t matter who you are. We understand that you said you won’t be providing any specific examples, but we genuinely, in our time working for TLOPO, cannot think of a single example that fits what you’re talking about.
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I'm going to have to completely disagree here. In my case it unfortunately did matter who I was, and I'm in a charitable enough mood to be willing to provide a specific example of my own case that'll help clear up your confusion and shed light onto what Bart is talking about.

If someone’s bragging on Discord that they “hacked” the game, that won’t cut it. We need to see clear evidence of people doing these things IN-GAME. If that isn’t there, we can’t do anything. And that’s the way it should be. We aren’t going to ban someone because of hearsay on a social media platform.
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On Friday, February 22nd, I grew a bit tiresome and bored of sitting around on Tortuga doing absolutely nothing due to the carelessly implemented update to sailing that recklessly killed loot runs. Amidst my boredom, I thought back to the golden days in POTCO where you could access pvp on land through a carefully executed procedure that always had Disney's stamp of approval throughout the entire lifespan of the original base game. I decided this would be a great way to have life breathed back into the monotonous and robotic-like state I was in due to having no end game what so ever to indulge in anymore. I cooperated with a fellow comrade in-game in an attempt to get pvp accessible on land once again, unfortunately to no avail. The following day on Saturday, February 23rd, the comrade whom I worked with previously went rogue and decided to hack the game to be able to kill other players without their consent at any time said comrade wanted to. Not only did I not help my former comrade hack the game and be able to carry out these maniacal attacks on other innocent bystanders, I have no idea how she pulled it off either. On the day of these vicious attacks I stood by and watched in shock as she struck killing blow after killing blow to individuals standing around in their own monotonous and robotic-like state. I decided this would be a good time to take some rare photos of the scene, since you don't see dozens of people lying around in a revived state on Tortuga very often. Also, I inappropriately thought it would be a good idea to use the /laugh and /flex emote as well because those look cool and you don't ever really get a good chance to use them all that often.

Perhaps these actions I performed could be interpreted as a bit rude, though I figured I wasn’t breaking any rules by displaying my freakishly large muscles and bellowing laugh to illuminate the mood. Meanwhile the unhinged hacker lady continued to mercilessly drop innocent bystanders to a swift fall, unquestionably breaking their pixelated spines in the process. Despite me not actually aiding this girl in hacking the game, she agreed to be merciful with me as long as I scouted for her and allowed her to teleport to me. Seeing as how it was either give in to her demands or die, along with the fact that I wasn’t breaking any rules myself, I selfishly agreed. Now with my safety guaranteed, I concluded this would be a superlative time to go heat a bag of Orville Redenbacher's microwavable popcorn and watch in sympathetic enjoyment.


I immediately received a 3 point ban, which unluckily for me being at 7 points, resulted in a termination of all my accounts. I find the point amount I received to be strikingly odd, considering a friend of mine who is on good terms with the moderators cooperated in a similar fashion with the same hacker and only received 2 points for their ban. If instead I was banned for attempting to access pvp on land by means of a glitch (which I never actually managed to achieve, so it’s not as if I ever did it in the first place), I have several other friends who did at one point in time did achieve accessible pvp on land and only received 2 points for their bans as well. It’s abundantly clear that this was nothing more than an excuse to terminate all my accounts and get me off the game by means of a HWID ban. Not only did I not participate in any hacking, I never even successfully completed the glitch I originally sought out to do. Yet despite all of this, and proof that I am spewing nothing but the truth, I received an amplified point amount and termination for a ban I arguably didn’t even deserve in the first place.

Staff should be 100% equal no matter how much they hate or like someone, and people who can't do this should never be staff to begin with and should be removed ASAP and replaced with someone who actually do understand the responsibility without any childish thinking.
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If the statements you listed in your comment are factual, then maybe this was all just a misunderstanding and can be forgotten about once a proper solution is rightfully implemented. That solution being a removal of the undeserved termination and HWID set in place on my accounts and device. Of course nothing in life is free however, and if you remove a punishment set in place, a new punishment will need to be enforced.
 
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Eric Sailcutter said:
Right off the bat I would like to say that tlopo does not need to provide anything to anyone...
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I would have to respond to this by saying Yes and No, in my opinion. I get what you are saying with the above but POTCO (was) and TLOPO (is now) a online MMO game catering to a massive amount of "people." Each are not land-walkers and each are not an island-unto-themselves (i.e., the revival of the game itself is not meant for just the developers alone, to which I am most thankful)!

I know I've said this before but the fact is, those whom have chose to become involved towards the resurrection of POTCO uphold a responsibility to which the game itself was and is still designed for; people. In other words, without perfect strangers from all around the world playing pirate the POTCO/TLOPO model would not even be able to stand upon it's own two feet. As such, it's extremely important for TLOPO to get this right and in all honesty I do feel they are trying wholeheartedly to achieve this. (Perhaps things are not so perfect to everyone's liking but, ye have to keep in mind as well the tenacity shown by TLOPO and it's community to push ahead despite the overwhelming obstacles and challenges set-forth at their feet). Threads like this could very well help them. ;)

*In closing, it's the Jack Sparrow mindset and mentality towards adjustments made and taken on the whim to which kept Jack afloat and alive. TLOPO is no different (and it should not be approached any differently, I feel, as well)!
 
Shamus The Brute said:
I would have to respond to this by saying Yes and No, in my opinion. I get what you are saying with the above but POTCO (was) and TLOPO (is now) a online MMO game catering to a massive amount of "people." Each are not land-walkers and each are not an island-unto-themselves (i.e., the revival of the game itself is not meant for just the developers alone, to which I am most thankful)!

I know I've said this before but the fact is, those whom have chose to become involved towards the resurrection of POTCO uphold a responsibility to which the game itself was and is still designed for; people. In other words, without perfect strangers from all around the world playing pirate the POTCO/TLOPO model would not even be able to stand upon it's own two feet. As such, it's extremely important for TLOPO to get this right and in all honesty I do feel they are trying wholeheartedly to achieve this. (Perhaps things are not so perfect to everyone's liking but, ye have to keep in mind as well the tenacity shown by TLOPO and it's community to push ahead despite the overwhelming obstacles and challenges set-forth at their feet). Threads like this could very well help them. ;)

*In closing, it's the Jack Sparrow mindset and mentality towards adjustments made and taken on the whim to which kept Jack afloat and alive. TLOPO is no different (and it should not be approached any differently, I feel, as well)!
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Are you saying that tlopo has assumed responsibility for the greater potco community and so now owes the playing public some undefined gifts and support? I certainly don't agree with that. Should the developers decide to take the game private or shut down completely it is their prerogative, just as it was Disney's to shut the whole thing down in 2013. The developers do not owe anything to the players. We are, and should be, grateful for what they have done and be glad that their plans include the public playing their game. It is also certain that they should try to make access and moderation fair to all so long as they are allowing the public to play, you should note that I didn't say they are required to do any such thing, I only say it should be that way.
 
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Baabaa Booey said:
here's my opinion on hacking and cheating in a game if you feel like you have to hack and cheat in a game you just basically
suck at playing a game and maybe should just take up quilting as a hobby to pass your time
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But what if you have to hack your quilts?
 
The tools developers use may be proprietary, or as was stated, they may be used in the background because once people know about them, they can start trying to bypass them. I do agree that users should know WHY their account was banned, but not how. All it takes nowadays is a reddit thread and people will start finding ways to undo any tool in use.
 
Let's all cut the Developers and Staff of TLOPO some slack. I thank Bart for pointing out some things but the game still needs work. As long as we support the game and what the developers are doing then over time things will get better.
 
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I'd like to thank everyone for carrying out a civil discussion on this matter.

As director of the moderation department, I strive for transparency and make every effort to ensure that interactions with end-users are carried out with professionalism and fairness. Our official response earlier in this thread is a great exemplar of this.

It's true though that we won't be able to please everyone. It's just the nature of the beast - when you have a department that primarily concerns enforcing a set of rules and doling out punishments based on the infringement of said rules, there will be backlash and unrest. It's inevitable. I'm glad folks understand the predicament we sometimes find ourselves in - your support means a lot to me and my staff.

Our overall goal is only to ensure that our players feel safe and can enjoy their time online, free of disruption. The large majority of our playerbase has never had any interaction with our moderation team (which is a good thing - not that we're bad people, but that it shows that we only take action when absolutely necessary, and that the majority do support our Terms of Service).

Thanks everyone for being supportive. We've come a long way since the restructuring of the moderation department last March. Much like the project as a whole, our policies and practices will continue to evolve and develop based on the community and the state of the game.
 
Eric Sailcutter said:
Are you saying that tlopo has assumed responsibility for the greater potco community and so now owes the playing public some undefined gifts and support? I certainly don't agree with that. Should the developers decide to take the game private or shut down completely it is their prerogative, just as it was Disney's to shut the whole thing down in 2013. The developers do not owe anything to the players. We are and should be grateful for what they have done and be glad that their plans include the public playing their game. It is also certain that they should try to make access and moderation fair to all so long as they are allowing the public to play, you should note that I didn't say they are required to do any such thing, I only say it should be that way.
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I'm saying only that responsibility towards the public is owed, given how the nature of TLOPO functions upon the fact that developers "promoted" the game (they wanted to play again) to include not only themselves/their own playing-time alone but also the general public's.

When any promotion and expectation of a MMO (remake) enters the public domain, the public's own (online) safety, gaming experience, and overall confidence towards the development of that remake is at stake regardless of whether developer's desire this or not. In other words, these things come with the territory so-to-speak of promoting a remake (publicly). *I personally feel TLOPO understands this and is striving to do what it can to achieve this responsibility. (The challenge becomes, with any project, correcting things which occasionally get 'out-of-whack').

If any of the above is confusing or does not make sense (because sometimes I do write 'a little funny'), just pm me or message me on my profile here. :)
 
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