Results 1 to 8 of 8
  1. #1

    GCEA Discord Concerns

    I've created this thread because there is a growing level of concern about how people are treating each other in the GCEA Discord group. What I've seen in the last couple of weeks is NOT acceptable and it needs to be addressed here on the forum. It is my hope that this thread will finally address some issues that have been causing many minor disagreements and misunderstandings. If these issues can not be handled in a proper fashion then Senior Staff on PXR are going to be called in and punishments are going to be handed out. However, before that happens I am prepared to take steps to get back control over the petty arguments.


    First things first. Jacob was selected by myself to GM platinum. He is the only other person in GCEAs 7 plus years that has ever been trusted to run a story to this extent. When he speaks, he speaks not only for himself but he speaks for me. No one in GCEA is a god mod and Jacob is more than willing to discuss GCEA story to an extent and how and why some things are the way they are. Please understand that he is the one creating the story, npcs and events on his own (I help when and add to the story too but I leave creative control of the story to him). There are currently 10 pcs active in GCEA which is a lot of people to write for. Other GCEAs have been around 5 PCs to keep things in perspective so Jacob should be given some breathing room. I personally couldn't be happier with how he is shaping Platnium in a way that fits his style. If not for him GCEA wouldn't have been revived so please when you are having fun remember that Plat is there because he pushed to bring it back to the forum and force me out of retirement. So that he could share his love for this kind of storytelling with all of you.

    With all of that being said I believe that our biggest issue is the thin line between criticism and questions. GCEA is meant to be a long adventure. We will not be going from point a to b to c like in the game. To keep the story going and entertaining there have been multiple subplots that are added into the story. Some of which will be added based solely on all of you! :) So if a subplot is not to your liking understand that events need to happen to help establish the severity of the story.

    The other issue is a criticism of peoples character choices. I understand some of you come from a more in-depth rp where the sign up is a set thing. However, in GCEA we have always accepted that the characters will morph with the story. If you see something you believe is out of character you must first ask do you understand the context of what happened to the character. If you are new and curious it is okay to ask how a character changed so much. Speaking from personal experience Renny in Plat was meant to be a nice guy with a disability. The character has changed and even I have concerns because I didn't expect the story to push him in this way.

    Finally, the warning and this is the most important aspect of this thread. I created GCEA and I will not allow petty fights to destroy what I and others have worked so hard to create and maintain. Here at GCEA we may not always agree but we welcome suggestions for improving the game we also accept criticism to a point. My staff is very talented and extremely busy. I do not want them engaging in arguments that waste their time. So from this point on. If you have an issue with someone youre encouraged to come to directly to me. If you are curious about my credibility. Please understand that I have maintained one of the most active RPs on this and PE2K for close to 8 years. GCEA has brought in thousands of replies and has helped keep members connected to the forum for as long. I was an admin on this forum and I have worked hard to establish myself here and this brand to be unique to this community. I am available on Discord, FB and through PM. I need Jacob to focus on the story and Noble to focus on her exciting studying abroad and Senior Staff duties. From this point on I will be taking more of an active roll in getting this disrespect back in check. I will be handing out warnings to those who have caused this tension in hopes that they understand we need to be better. If the warnings are not taken seriously you will first be removed from the Discord if you continue after that you will be removed from GCEA, from that point on you will be handed over to the PXR Staff. If you all need someone of authority to look to in GCEA it is me. So those concerns will be addressed by me.


    If this all seems harsh its because the peace of GCEA has been broken and myself and others are tired of logging on to discord chat to find another pointless fight. As a persons whose been involved in them myself I need to do better and I expect my staff and all general members to set a high standard for how we treat each other.


    @Desolate Divine @Noblejanobii @Brettles @Suicune's Fire @AWA1997 @AWA1997 @Lychee @5TailedDemonLizard @Truly





    Proud partner with @Pokemon Trainer Sarah

    Spoiler:

    Gible bite's Comic


    GCEA Trainer Links based on title characters

    ....GCEA Diamond/Platnium/ Blizard Blue/Platnium 2/ Pokemon Prism.......


  2. This post has been liked by:


  3. #2
    I came in like a wrecking ball... [Desolate Divine]'s Avatar
    Senior Moderator

    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Melbourne Australia
    Posts
    3,473
    Additionally to this, and this is what caused things to explode last night. I am open to constructive criticism. However most of the criticism, if not all, that has been raised to me, has been inaccurate based on information that has not yet been made present in the story. Part of any good story is the systematic revelations and the timing of them. The building and release of tension. Which means there are things that the players cannot know without spoiling the story, which most of the group don't want happening anyway.

    All I ask, and this is why last night got to me so much, is that you trust me and trust that the decisions I make as a GM have a purpose for the story.

    Additionally I will not be responding to criticism in the GCEA discord server. I am happy to discuss things privately but unfortunately the sheer amount of people and clashing views in the server make it difficult to prevent things from escalating.

  4. This post has been liked by:


  5. #3
    Is this the place to bring up concerns? I'm not going to bring up past issues, despite still feeling that they're issues. It's been made very clear that those won't be dealt with.

    But does it seem a little unfair to anybody else that Jacob rolls a shiny pokemon for someone who can't catch it, sets his own condition for anybody else to catch it, allegedly,
    Quote Originally Posted by Desolate Divine View Post
    NOTE: After 5 days, the wild Pokemon not caught are fair game. First in best dressed.
    Then times it to the minute to catch it for himself, the Main Character?

    Like, I have several problems with this from a GMing standpoint (give your players a chance to feel good?), a mechanical standpoint (this is the first GM post since it was available, so nobody else had an opportunity to catch it), and honestly just a personal one (you make it publicly available, but then snatch it up for yourself. If you're going to give it to yourself, why even give the other players false hope? If nothing else, it's mean.)

    And I know there's no need for me to write this, you'll come in self-righteous and indignant and make some excuse about why it's the Best Way and If Only I Could See. But I think this is big enough that maybe someone else will see what I'm talking about, and say something.

  6. #4
    I came in like a wrecking ball... [Desolate Divine]'s Avatar
    Senior Moderator

    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Melbourne Australia
    Posts
    3,473
    Quote Originally Posted by Truly View Post
    Is this the place to bring up concerns? I'm not going to bring up past issues, despite still feeling that they're issues. It's been made very clear that those won't be dealt with.

    But does it seem a little unfair to anybody else that Jacob rolls a shiny pokemon for someone who can't catch it, sets his own condition for anybody else to catch it, allegedly,

    Then times it to the minute to catch it for himself, the Main Character?

    Like, I have several problems with this from a GMing standpoint (give your players a chance to feel good?), a mechanical standpoint (this is the first GM post since it was available, so nobody else had an opportunity to catch it), and honestly just a personal one (you make it publicly available, but then snatch it up for yourself. If you're going to give it to yourself, why even give the other players false hope? If nothing else, it's mean.)

    And I know there's no need for me to write this, you'll come in self-righteous and indignant and make some excuse about why it's the Best Way and If Only I Could See. But I think this is big enough that maybe someone else will see what I'm talking about, and say something.
    This is really the way I wanted to spend my afternoon...

    Firstly, I will open with how encounters are decided.

    In alphabetical order of username, a d20 is rolled for each to determine whether they catch a Pokemon (most likely), battle a trainer or find an item. If they roll for Pokemon, a d100 is rolled and each route has a table depending on the roll. If it is a Pokemon that is already owned by the trainer, the dice is rerolled. After that there is a d20 rolled for each Pokemon. If they get a 20, the Pokemon is shiny.

    So no, it's not like I rolled the Pokemon randomly and assigned them, and like the evil mastermind I apparently am, assigned the Psyduck to someone who can't afford it so that I can catch it. The RNG dictated that Pokemon.

    Additionally, the scenario I just mentioned in the line above is also not true because it wasn't impossible for Shruikan to catch it. Psyduck has 16 points, however Pokemon that are part of the Sinnoh Regional Pokedex can be battled and then caught for half price (8 points). Neith has a Grotle with 18 points, which would have a type advantage over the Psyduck and beat it easily.

    In which case Neith would only be two points short, and a Journal Entry or Sketchpad would have easily provided enough points to pay for the Psyduck. Additionally, had I known (as I will admit fault for not realizing Shruikan couldn't afford the Pokemon when I made the post), I would have asked Xanthe or Noble to get the entries graded on the double so that Shruikan could get it. I actually checked the list, and the most expensive wild Pokemon is 30 points, so 15 if battled.

    As for the condition, that is because RNG blessed the two currently most inactive players with a shiny. Had that condition not been there, then as far as I am aware, had those two players either not come back, or come back and not known about it, those Pokemon would have never been caught. I did send Brettles a message via facebook to let him know, and sent Shruikan a message via discord, however it didn't go through because we have no common servers (however Shruikan ended up seeing the post and contacting me anyway, saying;

    "Is it okay if I ignore the Shiny Psyduck, or does Neith have to fight it? (Not planning on catching it, but if I leave it alone maybe someone else can?)"

    )

    I made that condition to allow for Shiny Pokemon to not be wasted due to inactivity.

    As for your problems with this:
    give your players a chance to feel good?
    Will address this under the third problem.
    this is the first GM post since it was available, so nobody else had an opportunity to catch it.
    This is irrelevant as the GCEA rules allow for three posts per player between GM posts, and even then, I tend to let that slide if it is good for story development. Had I not posted until the next morning, anyone else could have still posted between it becoming available and myself posting.
    you make it publicly available, but then snatch it up for yourself. If you're going to give it to yourself, why even give the other players false hope? If nothing else, it's mean.
    I had no unfair advantage in catching that Pokemon. I did what anybody else could have done. The time stamp was publicly visible to all players, as was the 5 day rule. Of the six active players at the point in time I caught the psyduck, three of them (Xanthe, Noble and Shruikan) had let me know they weren't going to catch it, one of them hadn't said anything, though he had just caught a Shiny Wurmple (Brettles) which left it down to myself and Lychee (who has referenced the three post rule in the past, so knew she could post to get it), and I had made it clear in the discord that Lychee would be racing me for it (in good nature), so it came down to who wanted it more enough to act.

    Yes, I wrote the post during the day, and set a timer for when it became available (which was 11:21pm on a Saturday night, which is the same time zone as Lychee, so we were on equal footing there). Lychee could have done the same thing, and $10 says if she did, she would have gotten the Psyduck, as I messed up and didn't reopen the thread, so the token expired and wouldn't post and I wasted thirty seconds trying to close it and reopen it. And before you start saying that was intentional, that I wrote the post when I did so that the five day mark would be when I was available, no it wasn't. I had the day off Monday and Tuesday, so wrote the post then because I had the time. I had no GM advantage in this, nor any advantage over any other player. There was absolutely nothing stopping anyone else doing the same and beating me to it. It came down to who wanted it the most and who was willing to do the most to get it.

    As for that last section, if you're gonna start throwing slander like around about me, don't expect that it will be taken to kindly, by myself or others. I am happy to address concerns, but can see when people just have an axe to grind for the sake of it, and it's been clear you've had a personal problem with me since before you even started playing Platinum. The fact that you brought this up, about a game you aren't even involved in, instead of letting someone such as Lychee or Shruikan speak for themselves (and I am happy to talk this out with them if they feel like they have been ripped off) is evidence enough.

  7. This post has been liked by:


  8. #5
    Ace Trainer Lychee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    553
    Hey!
    I do feel ripped off. I feel a bit sour about this. I said so on discord a few days ago.

    I know I'm not entitled to anything, so I'll explain why I feel icky about it, I guess?
    I did mention in the discord that I intended to try to catch the shiny psyduck. I didn't want to upset anyone or lose a cool rng so seemed like the most considerate thing to do (and fun!) was to ask Shruikan if it was ok to catch the shiny, then trade it back to one of their characters. I even pmed them about it and got the go ahead on my scheme! I mentioned it in the discord too! Yay for making cool plans with people and sharing cool pokemon!

    I'm pretty new to the game- I didn't realize it was 5 days to the minute. I thought it would be roughly ok to do the next day.
    But yeah, uh, it was caught within 30 seconds window by gm who had no fun scheme to share? I just... it felt inconsiderate. It feels weird! Sophie already can get random pokemon without having to post about why (see, the level 30 in her team?) Why did she need that duck?
    I guess its personal preference?

    Idk. It's not breaking any rules. In that way, things are ok. I've got to swallow my good idea and just let it be. I dont want to whine. I dont need things to change or retcons to happen- I'm accepting of it. But it isn't fun.

  9. #6
    lol you really actually set a timer for it!

    yeah lychee could have done the same thing, but why would anybody race for this -- especially when you just said most of the players didn't want it. I didn't know that, but if lychee did, she'd know she could take her time cause gms don't compete against players.

  10. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Truly View Post
    lol you really actually set a timer for it!

    yeah lychee could have done the same thing, but why would anybody race for this -- especially when you just said most of the players didn't want it. I didn't know that, but if lychee did, she'd know she could take her time cause gms don't compete against players.
    Sit down for a little bit and give it a break, adults are speaking. Truly you need learn the difference between defending a friend and being petty. You arent in plat and Lychee can speak for herself. So from this point no more from you on this topic because you arent helping.
    @Lychee i can emphasize with your frustration on this. I believe that you made a real effort to secure a pokemon and even went beyond to make sure it was clear. However, Jacob who is a fair minded person did give everyone a heads up about the 5 day rule. He stated it multiple times. He even posted 9 hours ahead of his capture about it.

    Now that all being said this 5 day rule will be discussed by staff to see if we can avoid anything like this again. In fact, if you want to help us fix the rule to avoid someone feeling slighted in the future that could help.

    Also everyone in plat needs to understand that Jacob is both the gm and pc. When he is acting as his pc. he will fight to get things like shiny pokemon or items. This is the same as everyone else. Years ago i would post just random pokemon and it was always a race to claim them and people would miss out. His system now ensures everyone has a chance at all the pokemon.





    Proud partner with @Pokemon Trainer Sarah

    Spoiler:

    Gible bite's Comic


    GCEA Trainer Links based on title characters

    ....GCEA Diamond/Platnium/ Blizard Blue/Platnium 2/ Pokemon Prism.......


  11. #8
    Ace Trainer Lychee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    553
    I'm pretty sure Truly was upset of his own accord- though we might have a similar issue. Also, we are all adults here- is there a need to namecall or belittle people?

    I'm glad to have a system where everyone gets a go (unlike the time before I joined- which I didn't know about so I guess I couldn't appreciate before now), and I didn't realize how competitive it can get when its a free for all.
    The most important thing I forgot is that yeah, someone is both a GM and a player character.
    Has this always been the case in gcea games? Its not something I've encountered much in forum or tabletop roleplay (and it seems stigmatised as a negative thing in those, as a dm will often treasure their darling).
    I understand it's perfectly fair of a GM to state the rules, and perfectly fair of a player to follow those rules. I know they weren't built to advantage the GMs player character, and that this *snipe* was all done fairly. In no way am I saying this was unfair! I just feel bad and sour and as if I've been tricked or been an idiot somehow. Like I did my best and was doomed to fail because I was missing context?

    I wanted to express that and feel heard- since nobody responded to it in discord. So here I am, saying it for myself! I'm sour!

    In any case, it seems my problem is structural. I can't think of an improvement on the leftover uncaught pokemon system so perhaps I shouldn't criticise! I'm happy to play. I like playing! I appreciate everyone who posts and wanna go on a big fun adventure together! I want everyone to have as much fun as possible, and I want to work with everyone to achieve that in future.
    Even if my character is a ****, I dont want to be personally competing with other people irl. Let's work as a team next time, and talk it out?

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •