PoT's and perception of over power.

Good point. That's something that might happen. But let my clarify: I doubt it will happen.
Non the less it might. That's true.
On the other hand that's part of the meta game. Now imagine you upset BMC. And they decide they aren't going to trade with you and kill you on sight.
To me that would be a much bigger problem.
Still it is totally valid. And nobody bats an eye.

But back to topic: I admit I have no solution for this. As a PoT owner I only know I need the power to ban people. It doesn't have to be permanent but I need it.
Do I need the power to evict people? I guess yes. But that's not as urgent as the power to ban.
Maybe the evicted could get a grace period of x days to pack up his stuff or sort the problem with the pot owner so he doesn't wake up without a house one morning.

 

heh I hear ya, I guess they could...but people literally have to vote someone in, they can't buy their guild. Well, I guess they could outside of Port but not much can be done about that.

 

Great post Kara, but I do want to focus on these two points, especially given recent posts about The Land Rush (TM). If property lots are going to be extremely rare post-launch, where will the residents of a bad POT go? This argument is frequently used in this debate: don't like it, don't live there, go somewhere else.

It's as if that will be so easy to do post-launch. Seriously, where will several hundred residents of a POT go? Property lots are going to be next to non-existent in NPC towns post-launch, especially if they don't put back all those PRTs.

I think using this argument is belittling the plight and genuine concern of players who want a piece of land they can call home. They can't just pick up and move anywhere they want, because there's going to be nowhere to go.

The one thing that is lacking from these ban powers, as they are currently implemented, is due process. There is no responsibility to its community or now, the connected POT. It's judge, jury, and executioner in one person. And yeah, I already hear it in my head: don't like it, don't live there. Sigh.

Let's reverse the situation and say these powers were never granted and there are griefers disrupting events: don't like it, don't hold events. It's the same bad argument and reasoning.

And as Blake said in his post (and I've said countless times), there is the /block command. I really don't see why that can't be extended to give POT owners a scene-wide /block on the accused griefer in his town. POT owners should be screaming at the devs to ask for that.

 

How long of a ban is needed to remove a guy jumping around naked?

For a person who constantly goes into a PoT to cause trouble a long term ban should be able to be placed by Port....that would be a case where TOS is being abused.

Think about it for a second...you ban a guy for an hour, do you think most would sit outside your town waiting to come in again?

And if they did do the same thing, ban him again for an hour and submit a report.

 

But that's what griefers do.
You played UO.
And I was more thinking about a week.
And I was thinking about that every ban should force me as a pot owner to fill a report.
No ban without report. That's what I wanted to say ^^

 

I thought you could 'buy' a guild? Isn't there a guy in town that sells you that right? again... never done it so I have no clue how it works... but this is probably a bit off topic anyways.... sorry. (maybe someone can PM and explain to me how the guild system works so I might have a better comparison?)

 

I was cofounder of a PK guild on Napa Valley in UO called The Love Crusade. We were honorable and only PKed fel residents who chose to play in Fel... and im not speaking of the miners who came for the increased resources.

Aptly named TLC for our love of the game and our desire to see it continue in a specific status quo, despite all kinds of rumors that major change was coming to limit the realistic risk vs reward system we had in place. How is that for passion?...

...then came Trammel and guess what most of us did? We left the game because it was no longer what we wanted in an MMO.

The same situation applies here with you and POTs and to Drocis' point, and what we have been saying all along. You don't have to live in a POT if you don't like the POT owner.

It is really that simple.

 

Heh, you might be right...they can buy it, and then people join...the difference is the guild doesn't hold any powerful item on it that it can snatch away.

I admit I'm not up to the whole guild thing as well...might be my next ethical monster to tackle

 

Not a bad idea... gives Port a chance to review the ban and overturn it??

 

You honestly just said all that and didn't get involved with solutions....UO was full of exploits, which caused it's decline when more things came on the market. There are already more games on the market here. We don't have the luxury of being the only kid in town.

 

That's done quickly:
Guild scroll is 25.000 gold.
You have a leader that can invite and kick people. You can promote officers that can do same. Leader can't be kicked.
You get a guild chat. That's pretty much it.

 

... I think I'll avoid that one like I try to avoid the PvP ones... good luck.

 

Why should anybody be allowed to place more than one House in the NPC Towns when it is so limited. So a POT owner can in theory sell every plot they control in the POT's for real $ to another player they are not paying rent on empty Lots, who may have already paid cash for a land deed.
And also any land speculator with more than one account can take up 3 more lots per account in NPC towns to resell at inflated real money prices.
And all of this is sanctioned by Portalarium now, but after game release you are on your own.

Extract from Portalariums position from Player marketplace:
Once Shroud of the Avatar launches and goods can be exchanged immediately we will remove the current restrictions (except for account transfers which we will continue to not support) and we will take a neutral position on these exchanges. We will not restrict exchange of goods but we will not officially endorse these exchanges due to liability issues and staffing bandwidth required to actively police these exchanges. This means all exchanges of virtual good for real dollars are at the players own risk and governed by the terms of service of whatever third party platform (eBay, PayPal, etc.) that is used. Portalarium reserves the right to restrict any activities around these exchanges if they cause widespread issues for our community or if these activities involve exploits of any kind.

 

Exactly.

 

That IS the solution. You're just not hearing anything anyone is saying.

 

thanks. So in a lot of ways, it's like a POT owner, but without the lots... but with unlimited (?) members... they may have far more clout than any little holdfast...

 

Perhaps the POTs are but, for the most, POT owners will have high pledges too. ALL players at all pledge levels can add to this game and are important to me. It greatly saddens me, however, that there seems to be so much hatred directed at players like me. I had been pretty excited lately about increasing my pledge one last time and/or growing my POT but this thread has really taken the wind out of my sails and depressed me. I really need to thank Kara and folks like her posting for cheering me up a bit.

 

Limit was 500 something a while ago.
And sure, guilds of that size own metros with multiple sub cities. Just look around and you will find them.

 

It takes two seconds to ban a player, so an hour that has to be repeated a offense....then you report to Port and then submit that he keeps doing it. This not only keeps the players from griefing, it also controls the powers that are available. I would also argue that Port has a lot more teeth in their bans then a PoT owner, meaning that a player who gets a TOS violation from griefing could end up with a much bigger ban.

We are discussing it now, feel free to join in.

I don't hate anyone Especially not you, thought I was clear in that sorry if I wasn't.

 

Those lots are worth a ton though.