[Discussion] Concerning Future Rares Festivals

[Tomas_Bryce]

[retracting] I am withdrawing my support for Rares Festival as the recent events have made it very clear that the manner in which the hosts are currently chosen leaves much to desire. [/retracting]

Specifically speaking, the practice of holding auctions during the festival makes it important that auction staff are extremely competent and trust-worthy. This may sound quite harsh but I will not be apologetic about it. This is serious business and not everyone is qualified.

Many players are willing to place their trust in the hosts and hand over their items at these things. This is largely because the rares festival has always been actively supported by various well-known and established collectors. While the idea of having the event on multiple shards and multiple hosts is fine on paper, it is bound to cause inconsistency in quality and results. Good intentions alone cannot replace experience.

As such, I am compelled to publicly withdraw my support for this event (in its current format). I do not want anyone to feel that they are in good hands when dealing with the host of a festival simply based on association. The tried and true practice of always being cautious and doing your research when dealing with strangers very much applies.

 

[Derium of ls]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

I have to agree with you. Not only were the items stolen (as we were told) all of them took many hours to figure out what happened? Players demanded their items back that were not stolen and they refused to return those items. I am saddened by how all of this has gone. I'd much rather pay the transfer cost both ways for each item I buy, then to lose like this.

 

[Assia Penryn]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

I'd like to see the rares festival as a whole redone with tighter restrictions in several areas, including allowed items. Low-end rares and even items that still spawn have their place in a festival and that isn't what I am referring to. A true collector has to have that spark ignited in someway if we are to grow as a community and sometimes that spark might be something small or something that just 'looks' cool. When people start taking pride in decorating their home even with items that still spawn and wanting to show it off, they'll gradually get pulled into higher-end market. The festival needs to make a crackdown on items that are going to take advantage of new collectors. Yes, they -should- educate themselves, but as responsible veterans we have a responsibility to help protect and educate them. I'm not suggesting we police pricing on event items or rares, only those items that are 'common' and still obtainable. I saw harvest wine from the cornucopias for over 10m... haven quest items being sold for millions.. that is inexcusable in my opinion. We need to have a plan of action if the festivals are going to continue with steps taken, rules and consequences we follow and support as a community for those who break them repeatedly including them not being allowed to participate in the future.

As far as the auction situation. My hearts go out to those who lost their items. Trust is something many of us have built with each other through trades and experience. It probably would have been a good idea for those that were going to have access to the auction items to have been announced prior to accepting items so if folks didn't know or trust the individuals, they could make a choice. On the other hand, we as collectors should have spoken up and asked. I do believe that the host of the auction needs to do their best to make this right for those who are out, but as a community we need to work on communicating more. I personally had the question cross my mind as to who would have access, but when I decided to not put anything into the auction I didn't pursue it. I should have spoken up and asked, for that I apologize. We all should have been watching each others' backs and we failed miserably.

I'm tired of the greed and the strained sense of community that is festering. We need to change. We need to change and we need to repair our image and bring the festivals back to the reason why we had them to begin with and that's to build our community. I have no problem with vendors being a part of it, but when you have a festival entirely focused on greed and money, than that is what its gonna bring out. Most of you probably don't even know where my house is or my net worth... I'm very, very "comfortable" financially in-game and I've done it entirely without buying it in RL, scamming or cheating folks. Why? I don't tend to flaunt it. I collect rares because its a passion, not a competition. I dress in items I -like-, not force myself into outfits that I don't just because its the latest "thing" like europa gold or two-tone. I collect and display the items that mean something to me and for others to enjoy and perhaps discover their own passion and share that with still other people. It isn't about how much gold I have or how much folks would value my pixels at... its about that goddamn passion.

*takes a deep breath and curtsies*

 

[Derium of ls]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

they should have a few people check vendors for scams, things such as selling spawning/quest items for way more than they are worth.

It annoyed me to no end seeing open books, bloody aids and such with the tag "server birth" on them... grrr! I know that's different, but still really misleading to people who do not know where the item came from.

 

[DVI]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

I will not go into details as I'm not willing to disclose any information or go public with it yet, but I have been working closely with several other collectors whom I will also not name to create something new that will hopefully change the way the rares community does business and potentially reduce the amount of money many players have to spend transferring to buy or sell items.

stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks.

[DVI]

 

[Derium of ls]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

I will not go into details as I'm not willing to disclose any information or go public with it yet, but I have been working closely with several other collectors whom I will also not name to create something new that will hopefully change the way the rares community does business and potentially reduce the amount of money many players have to spend transferring to buy or sell items.

stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks.

[DVI]

good! I wish you luck with that because I'm all for it

 

[DVI]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

There's a few kinks left to work out in the process and some acquisitions to be made, but it will completely change the way that collectors shop, and as I said dramatically reduce transfer costs. There will be a slight down side to the price reduction, but it will be well worth it in my opinion

 

[shalanria]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

I am withdrawing my support for Rares Festival as the recent events have made it very clear that the manner in which the hosts are currently chosen leaves much to desire.

Specifically speaking, the practice of holding auctions during the festival makes it important that hosts are extremely competent and trust-worthy. This may sound quite harsh but I will not be apologetic about it. This is serious business and not everyone is qualified.

Many players are willing to place their trust in the hosts and hand over their items at these things. This is largely because the rares festival has always been actively supported by various well-known and established collectors. While the idea of having the event on multiple shards and multiple hosts is fine on paper, it is bound to cause inconsistency in quality and results. Good intentions alone cannot replace experience.

As such, I am compelled to publicly withdraw my support for this event (in its current format). I do not want anyone to feel that they are in good hands when dealing with the host of a festival simply based on association. The tried and true practice of always being cautious and doing your research when dealing with strangers very much applies.

Agreed Tomas. I am not surprised something like this has happened. It was bound to sooner or later. The old saying goes nothing too good last forever and for this I am sad, but I feel it would never be the same anyway.

 

[shalanria]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

There's a few kinks left to work out in the process and some acquisitions to be made, but it will completely change the way that collectors shop, and as I said dramatically reduce transfer costs. There will be a slight down side to the price reduction, but it will be well worth it in my opinion

You know how I feel but then you usually have great ideas Sometimes change is for the best. Let's bring it forward

 

[yardman]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

I am withdrawing my support for Rares Festival as the recent events have made it very clear that the manner in which the hosts are currently chosen leaves much to desire.

Specifically speaking, the practice of holding auctions during the festival makes it important that hosts are extremely competent and trust-worthy. This may sound quite harsh but I will not be apologetic about it. This is serious business and not everyone is qualified.

Many players are willing to place their trust in the hosts and hand over their items at these things. This is largely because the rares festival has always been actively supported by various well-known and established collectors. While the idea of having the event on multiple shards and multiple hosts is fine on paper, it is bound to cause inconsistency in quality and results. Good intentions alone cannot replace experience.

As such, I am compelled to publicly withdraw my support for this event (in its current format). I do not want anyone to feel that they are in good hands when dealing with the host of a festival simply based on association. The tried and true practice of always being cautious and doing your research when dealing with strangers very much applies.

So what you are saying Tomas is that you did feel that the hosts were extremely trustworthy and competent in the begining of the rares festival and did back them but now that a thief has turned up in the mix somewhere in the highly regaurded greedy rares community (not all members but most) which seems you are god allmighty and you are now going to turn your back. The hosts and the pacific shard as a whole put alot of time and effort into this event trying to make it fun and interesting. So instead of turning your back on one of the most populated shards and some of the best if not THE best rares collectors and collections. You should find out all the facts and try to help the situation, if you are so experienced then add a coaching hand to the hosts and event organizers and give them solid advice rather then shun them. If I was in thier shoes I'de boycott what you call your stratics rares community for turning your back on us and I say us as the Pacific Shard. You set the standards on what is rare hmm i would have to say most replicas are more scarce then 70%(more like 90%) of the dupes you allow to be traded on this forum. For the people that have lost thier items do to the theft I know the hosts are working as hard as they can atm to try to recover the items and or replace or compensate for them, so cut them a little slack it just happened yesterday and wont be resolved over night.

Yardman Pacific Shard

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

No, (what) I am saying is that I am not supporting the concept of rares festivals any longer, unless there is a serious effort made into making sure these type of things do not reoccur. I am not in support of the type of laissez-faire attitude that Assia highlighted in her post. It has very little to do with the present hosts or any specific shard and everything to do with the future.

The timing might seem harsh but seeing how things are already in the planning stages for the next rares festival, I believe that it is necessary. It is not meant to be an attack against anyone as the (innocent) hosts are probably the biggest victims at this point.

 

[Restroom Cowboy]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

Tell you what Thomas, I am not very happy with the way things turned out. However, what displeases me more is when someone makes an issue like this revolve around them. This community does not and will not revolve around one person, and like it or not we all take an interest in an area not many people deal with. If you choose to believe that you hold the golden ticket, have fun with willy wonka dude...I feel like figuring out a better way to make things more enjoyable (and safe) for everyone instead. *waves*

 

[NewThunder]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

The Rares community used to be about getting neat objects to fill your Home/Museum, but I feel it has now become more about arbitrage and investing. Players seem to want rares simply because they hold value, not because they have meaning. No longer is the story behind the item relevant, the only important fact is how many dropped? I have my small display on legends, many of the items I show are not uber rare, but came from dear friends. This game as in life should be more about context then contest.
The situation of this fest should have been avoided. From the start I felt like it was more about the vendors and auction items. The strange issue with the "staff" tunics, making this seem again more about the business side, perhaps they should have read "volunteer". Seeing some members of the team and their reputations, the theft of items should have been expected. Seems like there was far too much "staff" and not enough leadership.

 

[SchezwanBeefy]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

I wrote this in another thread but I think this is pretty appropriate here too:
I think what is worst is that PAH/WRR has made no effort to ICQ or make a public apology about this themselves. A lot of my friends had items in this auction and no one will return ICQs or PMs on Stratics.
The point is, WRR makes themselves look worse by not offering any form of communication. I know that they're working on it, but many in game do not, and they want answers or some sort of verification. They've remained silent and screwed themselves over.

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

Tell you what Thomas, I am not very happy with the way things turned out. However, what displeases me more is when someone makes an issue like this revolve around them. This community does not and will not revolve around one person, and like it or not we all take an interest in an area not many people deal with. If you choose to believe that you hold the golden ticket, have fun with willy wonka dude...I feel like figuring out a better way to make things more enjoyable (and safe) for everyone instead. *waves*

The community does not revolve around me nor anyone else. That is not the point of this thread. The rares festival has always been a community effort, despite what some may claim. I had almost zero participation in the past two festivals, for instance.

However, quite a few people, including myself, did heavily promote this event in the past and lent it our support. I simply cannot support it anymore and due to my ties to it in the past feel obliged to make a public statement about it. I hope that some of you guys who have been more active put your heads together and come up with a solution.

It is not about power play or ego or feeling that the world revolves around me. Anyone who knows me knows that I actively shun attention and it is very uncharacteristic of me to make such a post. I humbly apologize if you felt that way as that is not the intention.

 

[Shelleybean]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

This is the first time I've heard of an incident of this magnitude happening at a rares festival. I'm still not even sure of the details of how the items ended up missing and will wait until I know more before passing judgment. I hope this one incident doesn't cause an end to future festivals and I extend my sympathies to the hosts, auction house and the players that have lost their items.

 

[Stewpid]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

I for one still support these rares fests, as it does bring the community together, and the events at this one have been more interesting than at past ones. I'd also like to thank the hosts on Pacific for all the hard work they did, they've spent countless hours I'm sure on this, and it's appreciated, if by no one else than myself.

Hosts organize these events, they do not actually run the auctions. Auctions are a nice event during rares fests as there are sometimes high end items that people are wanting to sell. Hosts look for volunteers, and that would include using a well known auction house to run the auctions. How in the world can the hosts of this event foresee that one person from the auction house would decide to be a jerk and steal all the items? I guess that means that one unscrupulous person is able to destroy something that has been enjoyed, not just by the rares community, but by others on all shards. That's pretty sad.

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

That is actually a very good point, Stewpid. I have no qualms with accepting a good counter-argument. *changes the thread title*

However, my chief concern remains that people trust the hosts and rest of the community when they see that it is an auction being run for the Rares Festival. Based on the few facts I have heard about this incident, some questionable decisions were made that lead to this incident happening.

 

[SchezwanBeefy]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

People were co owned to the house that weren't part of the Auction House Staff, they were just "trusted" friends and could get into the chest. They then removed themselves from co owner after doing it and who knows when the last time was that they looked at that list.
It's really sad it happened, and I feel bad for those involved and hope they get what they're owed. As for the guy who stole them, just remember Karma is a pancake.

 

[Gus of Llanowar]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

Personally with all this happening im forced to bring up an idea that was brought to the table months ago by DVI or someone. Especially now that we see espionage can be created under any circumstances i would like to return the subject of creating a rares committee consitting of a couple people from each shard. with maybe DVI or Manticore heading this committee. when a festival is to be held it will be run by that shards delegated representatives can be assiseted by other shard representatives. Having a Luna based fstival is nice and convient but DVI ran successful events far away from Luna city with no problem. Id like to hear more thoughts on this idea. (excuse my typos my keyboard is a cheap peice of junk)

 

[Assia Penryn]

Re: Withdrawing support for Rares Festival

I will not go into details as I'm not willing to disclose any information or go public with it yet, but I have been working closely with several other collectors whom I will also not name to create something new that will hopefully change the way the rares community does business and potentially reduce the amount of money many players have to spend transferring to buy or sell items.

stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks.

[DVI]

While I respect what you are trying to do, I personally would like such discussion brought forth into the public arena and not being organized behind closed doors with a few of the community. As a community we should all have a say in what the festival is from this point on. If the majority of the community wants a focus on buying/selling and not something else, than it is something that should be said and acknowledged. If that happens to be then those who feel differently can make choices. We can either go along for the ride or begin working on an alternatively named festival with our ideals in mind. Beyond our differences, we are a community... and such discussions should be public. While I respect you as one of those who founded the idea of the rares festival, it needs to be the community's love child at this point.

 

[DVI]

I think I need to clarify....

I do not have any connection to the festival any longer, and what I am working on is not related to the festival in any way, but is a new idea outside of it.

As you said those of us who feel differently need to be able to make choices and work on an alternative to what exists, and thats what I have been doing. In addition it need not be a replacement for the festival but something else in addition to it.

 

[Demonous]

weren't they supposed to develop a public voice chat system via stratics? it would make communicating with other rare collectors so much easier...