This is completely ridiculous.
Finn�s apology is bullshit eh? It�s total tripe? That�s why his Alt has been removed right? That�s why he is banned from making another alt right? That�s why he has taken a steaming pile of heat from his fellow admin right?
I�m going to explain a pile of things here. It goes from admin structure and then on to the roots of what is going on here. I�m going to explain a pile of stuff to you all so that your misconceptions and false perceptions will fully and completely vanish. Where to start.
Admin structure.
There is a definite structure to the admin side of things. On the MOO you have a leader, generals, lieutenants, and foot soldiers. The leader is the Archwiz. The Generals are the Justices. The lieutenants are the creators and coders, the foot soldiers are the GMs.
The Archwiz is the final say. The Archwiz is the boss. The leader. The one in charge. I can not emphasize this point enough, because not enough people seem to understand this, current and past admin included. In all matters, the Archwiz has the definitive and final say. He is the C.E.O. Of the board. He is the President. He is the Tribal leader.
HE IS THE BOSS.
That being said, the archwiz listens to his soldiers. He listens to those under his authority, and takes what they say under consideration when he makes decisions.
Johnny. Is. The. Archwiz.
Below the Archwiz are the Justices. A Justice is typically a high level coder or admin. They are the eyes and ears, they are the advisors to the Archwiz. They are the ones who make and communicate the important things, who talk to and deal with the Archwiz the most. They are the ones who control Thematic directions and Game Balance Issues.
The Creators and other high level GM�s/Admins, which include the Head GM usually, are the front lines. They are the meat and potatoes. They are the ones with the authority to say yay or nay to plot decisions and have been given trust to manage NPC�s and whatnot.
GM�s are the ones who come up with a lot of the plots, who do the NPC grunt work, who are the hands and fingers to a lot of things.
This is simplified of course, duties over-lap and blend. The key point here is this: Johnny is Archwiz. Archwiz is the boss.
Now that you all understand this, I�ll move on. This bit is my opinion, it is what I saw on the other side of the curtain, this is how I see things.
How to tackle this…okay. Lets put it simple. Ross (aka Rastus.) was a good admin for the most part. So was John (aka Damon). So was Mike (aka FireStorm). Here is the problem, they could not work together well. Especially with Johnny. I began as an admin in September last year, and in that time I saw near constant bickering and infighting between the Justices and between the Justices and the Archwiz. It was...insane to say the least. Why any of them stayed on to sit through the abuse thrown at them is beyond me. I on the fringes almost quit. They would argue over the most inane things, half the time forgetting what it was they were fighting over, and just fighting to fight. Nothing was getting done. Code ground to a standstill, plots were shallow and poorly implemented. Projects stalled and stagnated.
People were not getting shit done. They were so BUSY trying to be RIGHT that things stalled and fell apart. Yes code was written, yes plots were run, YES stuff happened in the game. But it wasn�t in the quality or quantity it could have or should have been. We had a crack staff of good people and they were unable to function.
Why? One simple reason. They could not, would not, and at times DID NOT follow the final decisions of the Archwiz. They would NOT BEND. There were times where entire blocks of code would be implemented -AFTER THE ARCHWIZ HAD SPECIFICALLY SAID NOT TO DO IT-
It was an environment of total and utter bullshit. Rather than act as advisors, the Justices were acting as adversary.
You players did NOT SEE THIS. It was admin things, admin dealt with it. All you players knew was that combat was wonky and then fixed. That projects were slow in coming. That plots were at times few and far between.
Things moved slow, code was lagging, so the Archwiz did what he thought would help. He brought in new blood. He brought in Kevlar, a VERY GOOD CODER, do not let ANYONE tell you otherwise. He is also VERY well versed as a GM in Shadowrun and Cyberpunk theme games, both table top and online. He was full of bright ideas, full of spark, and made a GOOD ADDITION TO THE ADMIN TEAM. A lot of people will say that Kevlar was fast-tracked through the admin process. I�d say he was. I�d also say it was worth it. He�s got faults like everyone else, he�s as pig headed as anyone else on the admin side is. He is also a personal friend and colleague of Johnny. If I had my say, he would have spent another 2 months as a player before getting a bit. But at the time I WAS A LOWLY GREEN GM. I accepted the addition, it wasn�t my job to worry about it.
Here is where the shit hit the fan.
Ross didn�t like Kevlar. At all. Personally, Professionally, and Unprofessionally. They are two strong personalities, they both have strong inter-personal skills (Though VASTLY DIFFERENT STYLES). They clashed. Ross set his mind not to like the man, and so it was set in stone. Every nuance of Kevlar was taken, evaluated, and piled or discarded as needed. Kevlar was on Ross� chopping block. Plain and simple.
Kevlar sided with the Archwiz. Went with his decisions. He advised, He argued, he bitched. But in the end, he went with the Archwiz decisions. Kevlar also was drawn into the fighting. He was drawn into the back bitting, the games, and the bullshit.
John could not side with the Archwiz. Would not. John grabbed the bit and ran like a pissed off horse, implemented a PILE of code that Johnny asked not to be added, and Johnny did what he had to do. He deleted the code. Johnny was within every right as Archwiz to do this. EVERY RIGHT. John went against the commanding officer, and for that he was expelled from the SD team. He was given a copy of the Data Base, with players and bits removed.
Things fell like a stack of cards after this. Mike started monitoring Kevlar, his bit, and anything he touched. He gathered evidence, and apparently presented it to Johnny. Ross did as well. To this day I have yet to see this evidence. I have seen NOTHING. From where I sit, it�s word against word, and you take that into court and it isn�t gonna do shit.
In the end, it was all a pile of conspiracies, fighting, yelling, and it ended with nasty comments all around. Kevlar let Ross manipulate him, and Ross let Kevlar manipulate him, and it turned into one fucking messy divorce that ended with Ross off the team. Part of the reason Kevlar stayed was he followed what the Archwiz said. Part was that he was a friend of Johnny.
Ross was a friend as well. But Ross decided to be a dick and worked himself right on out of the picture by being a stubborn ass.
The environment was not good. Not good at all. You players have absolutely NO IDEA what it was like. NONE. I lived through it. I was witness to fights that didn�t just last hours, not just days, but WEEKS. It was ridiculous to say the least. Some where in all this mess Wren came on as an admin. The fact he stayed through it all is amazing. The kids got heart and a pair, he just needs to grow up. Gives me a bit of hope for the future in general. He�s a frustrating bitch at times though. But he�ll make it.
So, unable to listen to the Archwiz, unable to work with members of the team, Mike, John, and Ross left, were asked to leave, or forced to leave.
I was not happy to see them go. They had been here for a long time, they had put in a lot of time, effort, and soul into the MOO. Without them, SD would not be what it is. They are the legacy. They are the ones who helped bring it together.
After they left, after all the shit cooled down for the most part, things were...blessedly quiet admin side. The arguments were done. The back bitting was done. The shit that made life difficult was done. I swear in two months we did almost as much work as we had in the year before that. We worked as a team, new blood was about, and we chugged along, understaffed and under appreciated, but what else was new?
Wasn�t golden, but it was working. We�d talk with Jman about things, he�d listen for the most part, and then decide what to do. We�d go with it. He�s the Archwiz, I can not emphasize this enough. He�s the director of this volunteer run ship, for good or for ill. Yes he can be intolerable at times. Yes he can be a total fucking cunt. But over all, he does a good job at being an Archwiz.
Time goes by. Finn is brought on as GM. More time passes.
Lets fast forward to Shadow�s witty quips about the staff. We�ll start with Kevlar, he�s chronologically the first to be dealt with.
There is something you all do not know. Gunnar had been planned for removal from the game since I�d say late May. I can�t pinpoint when exactly we hashed out the way we planned it to go down, but that seems about the time it happened. Details of the plot are now irrelevant. He was planned for removal. There was one reason for this.
Kevlar was enjoying the game too much. He was spending too much time as Gunnar, not enough doing what he was brought onto the MOO to do. Code. So it was decided with his input to remove Gunnar. In fact, the initial idea came from Kevlar. So we planned Gunnar�s removal. Probably long before many of you had a character. Long before many of you knew who Gunnar was, he was pretty much fated to vanish.
To set the record crystal clear: It was NOT done because of any Admin/Alt infraction. It was NOT done because of cheating.
It was done so that the man could focus on code and adminship. It would have been done within a few weeks of the decision, but I couldn�t be around, then Johnny and Kevlar found themselves unemployed as the company they worked for died, then I went back to school for the summer, and started a part time job, and in all the Real Life Shit, Gunnar�s death and removal was back-burnered and delayed.
Time goes by. The MOO spins as it spins.
Wren was spending a lot of time with Lucifer. Lucifer is a -VERY- old character. VERY OLD. There is not another character on the MOO that has been as actively played that I know of. Never in the history of the MOO. Wren has absolutely no life. I swear it. The kid spent so much time on the MOO with Lucifer it is disgusting. Frankly, I consider a lot of the time bullshit UE idling and UE whoring. That is a personal opinion. Frankly, I consider almost all of the players UE whores. I at times have been a UE whore. All in all, Lucifer has earned his stripes. You don�t play the amount he�s played and not. He knows the MOO. Back of his hand, it�s in his head and heart. He knows his character inside out.
He plays his character well. He plays his character FAR TOO MUCH.
He got a bit. He kept playing Lucifer as he always had. Instantly there is suspicion. Instantly there is doubt and accusations. Instantly players start calling out cheat and foul. I�m just as guilty.
That said, I HAVE SEEN ABSOLUTELY NO LOGS OR EVIDENCE OF ANY KIND TO SUPPORT THE FACT THAT WREN CHEATED WITH LUCIFER.
NONE.
I REPEAT. NONE.
The kid powerplayed like a mofo. That much anyone with 2 brain cells could see. It was what he�d been doing for TWO YEARS. Lucifer was into everything, he was top dog, he was the boogieman that scared you at night, and he always will be. He was the bad-ass that went toe to toe with Devon. Regularly. He was the bad ass who was totally ass-over-tea kettle insane. Bonkers. Nuts. He was what he was, and Wren played him that way.
Trust me. I�ve seen Lucifer in action longer than most of you have been on SD. For over TWO YEARS. Trust me, Lucifer is played as Lucifer always was.
Wren�s problem was that he forgot to take into account that the Admin side comes before the Player side. That is the legacy he gave up to become a GM. That is the legacy I GAVE UP TO BECOME AN ADMIN. I gave up plans and power and a whole lot else with my Alt to sit up top and listen to your xhelps. To puppet NPC�s. To deny your histories till I see a decent effort out of you. To plot, and puppet, and work. I GAVE UP MY ALT.
Wren didn�t really get this.
So we had his alt dealt with. He was basically removed. He may appear later. He may not. We don�t know yet. Lucifer may be an NPC in the future. He may be a dead body some player finds. He may be nothing. This is for us to know and you to find out some day.
Wren lost his alt because he played him like he�d always played, and people used his adminship as an easy way to blame failing. I�ve seen no proof to say other wise. I�ve heard all the opinions. You find proof, send it to me, and I�ll flip out on Wren like you wouldn�t believe.
Lucifer was pulled in a way that made Wren very upset. He was close to the character, far too close. He took a pile of heat from me many times over Lucifer, and in the end, I gave him a real bitching over the entire fiasco. He�s young, he�s learnt a valuable lesson.
Moot point that it would be. Wren has no alt, this is why.
Now...on to the latest one. Finn.
Finn fucked up so bad that he almost lost his admin privileges. It came down to this: He was not the only admin in SD�s history to have done what he did. But he was the only one to admit he fucked up, take the repercussions, and face it like a man.
That is why he wasn�t banned from the MOO completely. That is why he still has his admin bit. I was close to giving him the boot. VERY close. I didn�t. He is a good admin. He�s getting the grasp of code. He fucked up.
He paid the price. Rigby is no more. Finn is banned from alts.
The apology Finn gave was from Finn and Finn alone. He did it because he KNEW HOW BAD AN ERROR HE MADE. I�ve accepted it. He�s taken enough shit from our side over it. It was a terrible and regretful act. I as head GM should have seen it coming and stopped it before it happened. I didn�t.
Finn has paid for it, and said he is sorry. If you do not think his apology is enough, that is your problem. It is the best he can do. Actions can not be undone, so there is nothing he can do about it.
As an avid player, who has been around as a player LONGER THAN I HAVE ON SINDOME, loosing any and all alt and player privileges for all time is one hell of a big deal. Finn has played with as much dedication and vigour as Wren. As myself. As any of you have, and sometimes more. He can no longer do this. Ever again. He is firmly and irreversibly an admin.
Think about what that means.
Never. Have. A. Player. Again.
Think about it.
The admin without an alt have had them removed for the reasons above. Official statements are above. If anyone else tells you other wise, without coming from my mouth or Johnny�s mouth, without evidence and proof, they are giving you opinion. That is that. This includes Ross. ESPECIALLY ROSS.
Ross has made threats and plans against Sindome since he was dismissed. He is an angry, bitter, obsessed man. He has admitted it to me, and to others. His sole existence was the MOO. It was his everything, when he was on, it was the greatest single defining force that Sindome had ever had. When it was off, it was a living nightmare. As much as he was great to work with and for, as cool as it was for him to put us all up at his house at COTbash, his obsession with Sindome was and is slightly unhealthy. There is dedication, and then there is obsession. Ross is a visionary, he is an amazing coder, he is the man who showed me what it is to GM on the MOO. He has theories and ideas that would melt your minds when it comes to atmospherics and methodology. He IS one of the greats.
He is also a complete asshole. He is angry at his dismissal, he puts the blame onto Johnny, onto Kevlar, onto Damon, onto himself. He is pissed, he�s admitted he wants to see Sindome fail, and will do everything in his power to see it happen. He is as much obsessed with the MOO as he ever was. His word is no longer gospel. He WAS RASTUS. He is now ROSS. Remember that.
I say this because he had the ear of the players. He knew them, and they knew him for the most part. His shoes are big, and I am not near to filling them. I also know he still talks to a lot of you. I hear the rumblings, I feel the thoughts and words even if you aren�t talking to me.
And I am the one you should be talking to. I am the current Head GM. If you have an issue, if you have beef with me, or with an admin, or with code, or with ANYTHING ON THE MOO. Come to me.
I am the liaison between Admin and Players. I am the bridge between the two worlds. If you do not approach me, I CAN�T HELP YOU. I can�t make suggestions, I can�t deal with problems. Half the reason any of this went this far is because the lines between myself as Head GM and you the Players were not apparent. If they would have been, all this shit would have not happened. Things would be different.
The lines are now crystal clear. You have issues, you have suggestions, you have questions, email me. [email protected]. Talk to me on AIM. DaRaddishman.
And trust me. I give you my word, if you bring a complaint about an admin, or an alt, or ANYTHING to me, It will be looked at. I won�t mark you for death. I won�t do anything but honestly look at it. NO MATTER WHO IT IS.
If it is me, it will be passed to the other admin and then dealt with. I am giving my word here. And if you as players could have seen the two times i�ve ever truly been angry on the MOO, you would know I am FIRM by my word on this. The only times I have -EVER- become FURIOUS on the MOO is when my integrity has been challenged. There are only two times I have logged off in total fury, and stayed off, and gone away from the MOO for a period of time, and it was when the Archwiz questioned my integrity as an Admin.
I repeat. IF THERE IS A PROBLEM LET ME KNOW. If you are afraid, if you are SO PARANOID that you think I�ll come down and kill you and boot you and void you and black, red, and blue list you, then send me an anonymous message. I need to hear things, I need to know what is going on so I can make things better. It is that simple. I am offering you everything I can do, the hand is out there, if you need it, grab it.
I hope this settles this once and for all. I know it won�t. It isn�t the nature of the geeks and freaks that make Sindome up. But I�m an idealist. I still hope.
