Gm ****

[Tazar]

But ... we cant post certain things that EA might not like. Such as the existance of freeshards. Or Script programs. Or GM names. And why? Because as stated above, Stratics is cowed by EA and wont post these things because EA does not allow them to, ergo.. EA calls the shots here.

Regarding freeshards or scriping sites, the answer is very simple. We are a fan-site. We do what we do to support the community that plays the games we play. We support those games with our account fees just as you do.

Because we support the games and the community, we also support the rules of those games. We personally might not agree with those rules, but we do support them.

Freeshards and scripting sites are against the TOS of the game and as such are not supporting the game - but instead are leaching from it. We do not support them. It's that simple and it's not going to change.

 

[Harb]

There is no reason to ever "blame" an individual GM, or for that matter the support staff in general, for failure to take action on something we report, no matter how certain we are that we're reporting is true/ correct. I know that sounds "dumb," let me elaborate.

When the hammer dupes began, I set about to report as often and accurately as possible to prompt support into finally ridding our shard of players known to the rest of us as cheaters. It didn't work. There was a lot of player speculation at the time as to why action wasn't being taken, but from what I could piece together from many conversations with a lot of folks, my best guess is that 1) support could only action a TOS or policy violation when observed or validated, 2) warnings tend to be issued before action, and 3) the TOS and internal policies were such that deviation outside set parameters would not occur based on EA legal (not part of our team or for that matter Mythic) review and policy. So an unseen dupe, an unseen script, an unseen anything really, would not be actioned. This despite the obvious in many cases.

I have no experience with IDOCs, but do not doubt in any way that Jack is absolutely correct, as these are higher payoff circumstances, unscrupulous players will cheat to take advantage. I can tell you it was evident at the Luna burn sites that folks there were cheating, despite any proof and regardless of no GM intervention. I checked several shards for Garth, and did check ours on Chessie with characters who track, and can say with high confidence that as higher payoff circumstances, we had inappropriate player behavior running rampant.

Today on Chessie, one of the characters previously monitoring our Luna burn 24/ 7, continues to wait at the Doom painting, scripting away, 24/ 7. Probably has done so for years, but my knowledge "only" goes back to April 20, 2009, when we began monitoring and observing. And again, support won't action the player. The problem is twofold, 1) TOS/ policy, and 2) lack of decisiveness in policy by the highest leadership on our team (in other words, don't blame the "team" either, this is one man). In this case specifically, the only action/ input the player will ever make is to steal the paiting, so unless for that brief moment in a four month span, support can observe and determine an invalid input (unlikely), this player will be rewarded and face no adverse action.

The bottom line is that our "problem" as players is behavior that shouldn't be tolerated but is, and leadership that accepts it. With a change at the top of our team, or even a change of view by current leadership, I'm not sure they can get major changes through EA legal. But there is no excuse for not trying. Just please bear in mind, this is in no way the fault of the GMs or support staff - at least as best I can determine, for what thats worth!

 

[Salivern_Diago]

EA Legal may be the one at fault but GM's are the ones on the front line. Customer Service for ANY company should be priority but alas it is widely known EA's stance on thier paying customers is.. MUG!

Its happened time and time again, not only on UO but on virtually every online game they have. I'm not going to go into my work history etc but needless to say I have more than just a customer experiance of Customer Services. With that, I'm horrified at what passes as Customer Serivce by the GM's but not only that I've sacked people for the ignorance shown.

The fact EA accepts this (And most likely encourages it) is appalling. It may be that the UK as a whole demands more from Customer Services than the US, I dont know for sure. The GM's are the ones on the front line and I've had some amazing experiances (Just search my name on Stratics and you'll see) but also I've had some damn right useless CSR's/GM's.

But here's the kicker... EA as a corporate entity dosnt care what you or I want, it wont allow its employee's to post on any site in an offical sense though fear of termination of employment. EA's stance (as is popular with the bigger software houses) is minimal input/maximum profit. If they can get away without doing then they will becuase it means less training costs, less running costs and less manpower for x profit.

What can we do about it? Well... Unless we want the game cancelled (In which case, stop paying for it) we have to basically (and to be blunt) bend over and take it!

Kinda makes those freeshards appealling and using 3rd party programs though sheer ignorance to EA tbh.

 

[kelmo]

Knock yourself out. We in the mean time, will play UO. If playing with pirates appeals to you... Watch your back.

 

[Harb]

EA Legal may be the one at fault but GM's are the ones on the front line...

Sorry that's not what I'm trying to say, didn't mean to be confusing! EA Legal as a department, and the individuals comprising it, likely know nothing about our little world and are not chartered with customer service. That's a guess, but again one I make with high confidence. Our teams senior producer is the guy whom I believe bears full responsibility. You might be able to stretch the blame a little and include the senior developer if you believe there's a code issue involved - something I don't believe is the case though it could be. To me, it's leadership, knowledge, and direction, all of which orient me toward the same job position.

 

[Xalan Dementia]

Why would you want to be able to talk about freeshards and name script programs here? So the subscription rate to them would raise? Think about it, theres lots of people that post/read here that dont know the name of certain script/freeshard programs, if they found the name they would most likely look into them and we'd have another cheat to deal with. Freeshards are the most idiotic thing you could involve yourself with, seeings how once you log onto one the door to all your computers info is open to anyone running the shard that has basic hacking knowledge. As for naming gms, think about it, would you want someone on here ranting and dragging your name through the dirt and not be able to respond? Theres maybe 5 gms total (at least of all the calls ive had, only 5 different gm names seem to come up, on multi shards) the small gm staff has to deal with alot of nonsense calls on all the shards so I can understand them seemingly brushing players reports off. if you report a scripter, all the gm can do is interact with the person you think is scripting and see if they are unattended macroing, thats it, they cant take action on attended scripting because they cant prove it 100% and EA doesnt want to lose any accounts that are paying. Im sure all the good gms would like to be able to ban and humiliate scripters but daddy wont let em.

 

[Bobar]

I can understand them seemingly brushing players reports off. if you report a scripter, all the gm can do is interact with the person you think is scripting and see if they are unattended macroing, thats it, they cant take action on attended scripting because they cant prove it 100% and EA doesnt want to lose any accounts that are paying. Im sure all the good gms would like to be able to ban and humiliate scripters but daddy wont let em.

If they seriously wanted to take some action consider this :-

When a report is made of a possible scripter at an Idoc if a GM were to attend the player should be able to respond to the GM if spoken to.

Now I know we all leave the computer at various times and might not respond immediately however at idocs there is usually NO activity going on so unless the player returns within the usual time he would time out. If he still does not respond to a GM standing next to him after a few minutes you will as near as dammit have the proof you want. If he does NOT time out he is either present and refusing to respond or he has a script running which is keeping him logged in. I know which option my money would be on. At the very least if the GM got no response he could remove the character to jail which might be enough to deter future scripting.

I know EA supposedly has a policy of removing cheats from the game but having a policy and the will to do something are two different things entirely.

 

[Petra Fyde]

I won't be changing the Stratics rules because I understand and agree with the reason for those rules. Xalan Dementia is exactly right on the reason freeshards and script programs may not be discussed.
Xalan is also exactly right on the no naming policy.
It will not be changing.

 

[Harb]

...if a GM were to attend the player should be able to respond to the GM if spoken to...

I don't know anything about the scripts or how they perform, but from direct observations not only of the cases mentioned above but several others as well, whatever it is the GMs seem to do in terms of a query, seem to be addressed by the scripts themselves. Take resource scripters as an example. I've reported them often also, and every single time, the GMs do effectively action the offending players. I assume it's because an input is made without the player present, is detected as such, and IAW with guidelines and proceedures, poof, this type scripter is gone. An IDOC scripter or artifact scripter does not suffer the same fate, though they are as obvious to other players as the resource scripter is.

... unless the player returns within the usual time he would time out...

Again, I'm a victim of my own ignorance, but feel certain the time out issue is also addressed by the scripts themselves. The characters are also able to relog if the server goes down, and during routine maintenance. It may sound paranoid, but these folks seem far more advanced in technical competence and determination than many of us credit them with. The character I referred to above is either the most attentive character ever created, or a scumbag using a complex script or set of scripts is behind the curtain. I do suspect that with focused effort, and the direction and authority to pursue fully, support could do something about it. A little legal leeway may be required, again I'm ignorant. Maybe nothing more than saying "lets take a walk" compared to "are you there" might get the job done, who knows.

 

[Bobar]

Again, I'm a victim of my own ignorance, but feel certain the time out issue is also addressed by the scripts themselves. The characters are also able to relog if the server goes down, and during routine maintenance..

This is the point I am making. I believe the scripts do indeed do these things and the fact that they do keep the scripter logged in is what should give them away. In proper gameplay a character HAS to be present at sometime to take an action to stop timing out.

During this period the presence of a GM would certainly be noticed by a player returning to the keyboard. He could then respond to him. Failure to respond would then be a certain indicator that failure to time out was negated by a script.

 

[Busters]

All i can say about this, is yes it does suck for the people who work for what they got and not use bots/scripts/etc. But, why complain about it? I mean honestly, do you think it will matter?? If it is that terrible and ea and everyone associated with ea is doing such a terrible job and make this game so bad then why play it?? If you went to a restaurant and got bad service and the food was terrible would you keep going back just to complain to everyone?? NO! So either deal with the fact that every game will have its flaws or just quit, tis as simple as that. To me this is not a huge deal, there are much bigger things that need to be taken care of before worrying about someone placing a house.

 

[Viper09]

Well, assuming it truly is an unattended ghost cam, this would give good cause to allowing the exorcism spell to work everywhere To make it so it doesn't affect those who are attended, make it so when it is casted a gump shows up giving you an option to not get teleported unless you click the button within 2 mins.

But really...it shouldn't really matter if it's just a rush to loot. If it's in fel, just kill them. In tram, tough luck unless you can block them somehow.

 

[jack flash uk]

All i can say about this, is yes it does suck for the people who work for what they got and not use bots/scripts/etc. But, why complain about it? I mean honestly, do you think it will matter?? If it is that terrible and ea and everyone associated with ea is doing such a terrible job and make this game so bad then why play it?? If you went to a restaurant and got bad service and the food was terrible would you keep going back just to complain to everyone?? NO! So either deal with the fact that every game will have its flaws or just quit, tis as simple as that. To me this is not a huge deal, there are much bigger things that need to be taken care of before worrying about someone placing a house.

someone pls catch the boomerang, you are way off there



we all have real life issues and we use games, like this to unwind, escape whatever you wish to call it
we do not expect to be exposed to exploitive a**holes here aswell, we see enough of them out there

BUT, as paying customer we DO expect to have the said a**holes dealt with


so you are saying i should play a game like say, fallout 3 that has a predetermined outcome and no 3rd party interaction, and give up a "game" i have played, trained, shared, invested so much time, man hours and MONEY in because i want to address the issue of SCRIPT CHEATS?

sorry cant do that, i do not accept the "sorry more than my jobs worth" attitude, i my profession (firefighter) i cannot, and would not adopt that kind of lifestyle,firstly the taxpayer,who pay my wages (like i contribute to EA staff wages, in a small way) in their moment of dire need will not have to even consider that i cannot be assed, and just as importantly, I cannot operate that way, so, if i choose to unwind here, in EA's care, i EXPECT a level of professionalism that my £23 approx (2 acct) PAYS FOR

it is a matter of pride, which is sadly lacking here

i enjoy this game immensely, when SA came out and the script programs, we all know them, we not "patched" was a real JOY and we CAN have this again, with little IT effort (i am told)

is this in anyway unclear?

or am i being ***ing idiot?

 

[jack flash uk]

Well, assuming it truly is an unattended ghost cam, this would give good cause to allowing the exorcism spell to work everywhere To make it so it doesn't affect those who are attended, make it so when it is casted a gump shows up giving you an option to not get teleported unless you click the button within 2 mins.

But really...it shouldn't really matter if it's just a rush to loot. If it's in fel, just kill them. In tram, tough luck unless you can block them somehow.

on man i wish exocism would work!!!!

its almost as if there system works in the scripters favour, DRACONI do you own the script program we are not allowed to mention

right where is his facebook!
Tim, i am gonna ask you that right now!

 

[Busters]

someone pls catch the boomerang, you are way off there



we all have real life issues and we use games, like this to unwind, escape whatever you wish to call it
we do not expect to be exposed to exploitive a**holes here aswell, we see enough of them out there

BUT, as paying customer we DO expect to have the said a**holes dealt with


so you are saying i should play a game like say, fallout 3 that has a predetermined outcome and no 3rd party interaction, and give up a "game" i have played, trained, shared, invested so much time, man hours and MONEY in because i want to address the issue of SCRIPT CHEATS?

sorry cant do that, i do not accept the "sorry more than my jobs worth" attitude, i my profession (firefighter) i cannot, and would not wish to accept to adopt that kind of lifestyle, so, if i choose to unwind here, in EA's care, i EXPECT a level of professionalism that my £23 approx (2 acct) PAYS FOR

is this in anyway unclear?

The gm's have been this way for how long and it is still being complained about? There are scripters everywhere, and always have been, it will never go away so you have to deal with it. Everyone has been dumped on at some point or another, it is part of playing with other people, there will always be those who take the easy way and those who do things the hard way. What i am saying is it will not change no matter how much you complain about it. The gm level of service has been down for quite some time and i doubt will get back to what it was long ago. My point is exactly what i stated before, i know you come here to unwind from the real world, but it is still just a game, if it is that upsetting that you don't get the level of care you think you should have then just quit.

 

[Viper09]

on man i wish exocism would work!!!!

its almost as if there system works in the scripters favour, DRACONI do you own the script program we are not allowed to mention

right where is his facebook!
Tim, i am gonna ask you that right now!

Well, I'm sure Draconi has a "type" of script program. GM utility tool. Or whatever they call it.

 

[Harb]

All i can say about this, is yes it does suck for the people who work for what they got and not use bots/scripts/etc. But, why complain about it? I mean honestly, do you think it will matter?? ...

I'll tell ya why it matters. I mentioned a scripting artifact thief above, that we've eyed for what, for almost 7 months now? I won't mention the name of the scripting character, but (crossing my fingers and hoping not to violate anything) can tell you that during that time, these legitimate characters have all spent a lot of time/ effort waiting for the spawn: Yale, Axion, Chase, Thizcord, Schump, Dirk Pitt, The Thief Lord, Villian, Jared, Schemp, Tom, Gollum, Hail Thief Hail, Invizable, Turmoil, Bonnie and Verragio. This list does not include folks that pop in/ out, these are characters played by people trying to play the game fairly. I don't know how many of them realize it's a waste of time due to a single cheater, but suspect that based on efforts, some may choose to play no longer if they knew the rest of the story. For EA/M to continue to turn a blind eye to it simply isn't "right."

 

[H2O]

If GM's did their job then it wouldn't be a certain afk,hidden,rabbit/rat/whatever form they choose to be in at that time,watching gloves in doom 24/7 for days on many shards until they spawn to get them. I have been trying to get something done about this going on 3 years now. Emailing who ever the current dev in charge falls on deaf ears,paging the so great GM's we have falls on deaf ears,and emailing anyone that will listen falls on deaf ears.

They just don't care and it shows. It is like they are supporting cheaters. I have been trying to get something done over this junk for going on 3 years and yet the cheaters keep on getting what they want due to the lack of GM support. Seems like after GM review after GM review and page after page and email after email they would at least look into it but, they don't care. Never have never will.

 

[Siteswap]

I won't be changing the Stratics rules because I understand and agree with the reason for those rules. Xalan Dementia is exactly right on the reason freeshards and script programs may not be discussed.
Xalan is also exactly right on the no naming policy.
It will not be changing.

Of course you wont be changing them! Your lord and masters at EA wouldnt approve.

 

[GarthGrey]

I'll tell ya why it matters. I mentioned a scripting artifact thief above, that we've eyed for what, for almost 7 months now? I won't mention the name of the scripting character, but (crossing my fingers and hoping not to violate anything) can tell you that during that time, these legitimate characters have all spent a lot of time/ effort waiting for the spawn: Yale, Axion, Chase, Thizcord, Schump, Dirk Pitt, The Thief Lord, Villian, Jared, Schemp, Tom, Gollum, Hail Thief Hail, Invizable, Turmoil, Bonnie and Verragio. This list does not include folks that pop in/ out, these are characters played by people trying to play the game fairly. I don't know how many of them realize it's a waste of time due to a single cheater, but suspect that based on efforts, some may choose to play no longer if they knew the rest of the story. For EA/M to continue to turn a blind eye to it simply isn't "right."

I paged on the same thief scripter on LA for months at a time. It never did any good. Paging never does any good, talking about scripters on Stratics doesn't do any good.The people that are the guiltiest simply come here and post something ridiculous like "We don't script, we're just very good at doing this and doing that,and anyone can do it with a little bit of work and blah blah blah blah blah blah"...and they do it because they know the Devs/EA will read it and simply move on...it's a lost cause people. If you're not scripting, you might as well Join EM, cause you ain't gonna Beat Em....

 

[jack flash uk]

The gm's have been this way for how long and it is still being complained about? There are scripters everywhere, and always have been, it will never go away so you have to deal with it. Everyone has been dumped on at some point or another, it is part of playing with other people, there will always be those who take the easy way and those who do things the hard way. What i am saying is it will not change no matter how much you complain about it. The gm level of service has been down for quite some time and i doubt will get back to what it was long ago. My point is exactly what i stated before, i know you come here to unwind from the real world, but it is still just a game, if it is that upsetting that you don't get the level of care you think you should have then just quit.

i wont quit, but there are other aspects of this game i have not played which i will pursue, but is that acceptable? to let sctipers win

what is the point of having GM's then

i must say i would love to take up the role to help players that are stuck. from experiance i can say with some qualification that a friendly face is so comforting, and i just love the GM robes. i wouls love and would take pride is answering the call for help, if canned replies are all thats left what is the point of having a help options?

 

[Harb]

... I have been trying to get something done about this going on 3 years now...

Doh, might as well pass on another true event, as it does show they action when they can. Same location, Doom painting, a thief running what appeared to be a UOA macro aided by a loop program. Whatever the guy (not mentioned in the list of 17 folks above) was doing, it wasn't particularly sophisticated. He'd attempt to steal targeting a spot, then hide, then repeat in identical time intervals. Went on one night from midnight until about 3 when I called it a night, then again the next night. 3d night consecutively, I paged a GM, and they were there literally in seconds. The guy stopped, and departed, never returning. So they will action what they can, I've seen it here and in several other events. As per the lenghty thread above, this is not a GM issue from what I can see - if they can, they do!

And Garth, yes this seems the same clown I saw on LA when checking it during the previous debacle.

 

[H2O]

... I have been trying to get something done about this going on 3 years now...

Doh, might as well pass on another true event, as it does show they action when they can. Same location, Doom painting, a thief running what appeared to be a UOA macro aided by a loop program. Whatever the guy (not mentioned in the list of 17 folks above) was doing, it wasn't particularly sophisticated. He'd attempt to steal targeting a spot, then hide, then repeat in identical time intervals. Went on one night from midnight until about 3 when I called it a night, then again the next night. 3d night consecutively, I paged a GM, and they were there literally in seconds. The guy stopped, and departed, never returning. So they will action what they can, I've seen it here and in several other events. As per the lenghty thread above, this is not a GM issue from what I can see - if they can, they do!

And Garth, yes this seems the same clown I saw on LA when checking it during the previous debacle.

If you really want to know what they do is they will bow every few mins to stay connected to the game with a alarm running to alert them when gloves spawn but, yet the untrained GM's we have can not/will not trace it. How I know this is they can get revealed by a dev of soul and killed and they will bow for hours on end until server goes down but, like I said the great GM's we have are too untrained to see this.

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

I will remind everyone - Naming GM's in this way is not allowed. They can not post here to defend themselves.
Use the 'gm review' form and/or the email address Chrissay posted in the sticky at the top ( [email protected] )

Just like to say, the GM's could post here IF EA allowed them too. But becuase of EA's stupid terms of employment (and overdeveloped sense of commericalism (sp)) they are prohibitied. I always thought Stratics was independant of the software houses but here time and time again Stratics and its staff prohibit naming and shaming useless EA staff members. So, when did Stratics get paid from the houses to enforce thier rules? Just a shame stratics is the unoffical offical forums for UO, somewhere with a bit of guts and dedication to the game would have been nice.

[/rant]

I am not going to get into an argument with a person that has an axe to grind for what ever their reason.....

Lets do the History Leason on UO Boards.

The first UO Board was Cross Roads of Brittania (although Stratics has always hosted the hoc's).

Guess what their policies was (as in they are now defunct). No naming of individual players, no naming of GM's.

Then came the Official UO Fourms AS IN THE ONE RAN BY UO.

Guess what their polices was (as in they are now defunct). No naming of individual players, no naming of GM's.

Then more or less Stratics picked up the ball, guess what the policies were then (pre petra). No naming of individual players, no naming of GM's.

Petra's version of uo.stratics is growing more and more as the place for UO. The reasons are her excelent stewardship of the boards (NOT to be confused with the moderation of the boards).

The policy of Not naming the individual player, GM's etc, is a time proven and excellent policy.

You can bank on this, IF GM's could come here and post about actions, CHAOS WOULD RAIN SUPREME.

What do you think they code the programs?

Design the Systems?

Create The ToS/Rules of UO conduct?

You may just want to back up a step or two and gain the perception they are AT MOST the enforcement agency of the ToS/Rules.

Above all, get a clue, Stratics is NOT the bad guy here and Petra is NOT THE ENEMY.

How many times have YOU read or wanted MORE UO DEVELOPER / CODER involvement on this board?

Ask your self this, If you were a Designer/Coder and a Fan Site consistently treated you as a piece of crap, turned everything into a flame war, belittled your employee's etc, would you REALLY GO THERE AND TRY TO POST CONSTRUCTIVELY?

 

[Shotgun]

Knock yourself out. We in the mean time, will play UO. If playing with pirates appeals to you... Watch your back.

i have played on freeshards for years and i am more worried about my EA accounts being hacked. i have had several friends who had their accounts hacked and EA did absolutely nothing. what does that say about your precious EA.


I also play uo (not the worthless EA) and i enjoy it more than ever. it has everything that uo should be and none of the bs that comes from EA. i better stop my rant now cuz im sure this post will ruffle some feathers.

 

[Salivern_Diago]

I am not going to get into an argument with a person that has an axe to grind for what ever their reason.....

Lets do the History Leason on UO Boards.

The first UO Board was Cross Roads of Brittania (although Stratics has always hosted the hoc's).

Guess what their policies was (as in they are now defunct). No naming of individual players, no naming of GM's.

Then came the Official UO Fourms AS IN THE ONE RAN BY UO.

Guess what their polices was (as in they are now defunct). No naming of individual players, no naming of GM's.

Then more or less Stratics picked up the ball, guess what the policies were then (pre petra). No naming of individual players, no naming of GM's.

Petra's version of uo.stratics is growing more and more as the place for UO. The reasons are her excelent stewardship of the boards (NOT to be confused with the moderation of the boards).

The policy of Not naming the individual player, GM's etc, is a time proven and excellent policy.

You can bank on this, IF GM's could come here and post about actions, CHAOS WOULD RAIN SUPREME.

What do you think they code the programs?

Design the Systems?

Create The ToS/Rules of UO conduct?

You may just want to back up a step or two and gain the perception they are AT MOST the enforcement agency of the ToS/Rules.

Above all, get a clue, Stratics is NOT the bad guy here and Petra is NOT THE ENEMY.

How many times have YOU read or wanted MORE UO DEVELOPER / CODER involvement on this board?

Ask your self this, If you were a Designer/Coder and a Fan Site consistently treated you as a piece of crap, turned everything into a flame war, belittled your employee's etc, would you REALLY GO THERE AND TRY TO POST CONSTRUCTIVELY?

Not going to get into an argument? Well bud, you just caused one...

Lets see what you've put here and I'll put some pointers in...

1, Naming the GM's... If its poor customer service.. then NAME THEM. Its called complaining something that EVERYONE has a right to do.
2, GM's used to post on here, they used to interact. Hell I'm in a guild that a GM is a member of... Cept EA stopped it all!
3, Do I think they code the programs? No, thats what a DEV is for. Thats what DEV's do. Not a GM... Figured you would have worked that out if you've been playing for so long.
4, UO ToS/Conduct.. no thats EA's work there.. always has been NOT the GM's. thats kinda the problem is you read though.. EA.. ya know.. Electronic Arts.. the corporate body that dosnt care a toss.
5, GM's just the enforcement agency? No they are the Customer Service agents of EA to aid, assist and enforce. You have a very limited scope on what GM's are...
6, Stratics should be independant, they are not. So for that in my eyes they are as bad as EA. Petra dosnt make the rules, she has to follow though what the bosses say. That I thought was obvious.
7, I dont think I have EVER trash talked the DEV team. In fact I dont think I've ever said a bad word about them. You should look into what people write first before you shoot your mouth off.

Let me clear something up for you shall I? Dev's put up with alot of stick for choices they have to make. They put in alot of work.. and often its above and beyond the call of duty. Do YOU know how it feels when the company you work for belittles YOUR work becuase of lack of training, lack of care and an ignorant attitide towards thier customer service?

Probably not as you havent the foresight to see what was actually posted. Take a look though what I said and then see how much of what you said was meaningless to me in that NONE of it was in reference to my posts.

Now in case its not clear to you I'll repeat in simple terms my gripe...

The lack and care to attention of the Customer Servce of not only the GM's but the CSR's of EA altogether. As I said before... minial input maximum profit is what they go for.

So tell me... How much in relation to what you said is what I said? hmm?

Well?

 

[Salivern_Diago]

I won't be changing the Stratics rules because I understand and agree with the reason for those rules. Xalan Dementia is exactly right on the reason freeshards and script programs may not be discussed.
Xalan is also exactly right on the no naming policy.
It will not be changing.

Not being funny Petra, but you dont have the authority to do so anyway.

Simularly, where did I say about discussing the Freeshards and script programs? My gripe is about GM's, lack of customer care and the inability to effectively discuss it with others whom have shared the same lack of Customer Service.

 

[GarthGrey]

It's my personal opinion that if you can't post a bad GMs name,you shouldn't be able to praise a good GMs name either. If they can't be here to post, then they can't be here to read....so what's it matter? IBTL btw...

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

....
So tell me... How much in relation to what you said is what I said?....

In a word EVERYTHING but I am confident you CAN NOT agree because you have your head in a place were your unable to see anything but your own blind rage/hatred etc.

You have a good day now ranting about your conspiracy of how everyone is out to get you.

 

[ElRay]

OH LOOKIE GEE!!!

Yet another thread about cheats/hacking that will be ignored by the devs.

Another day in the glorious land of cheating.

What a bunch of :loser:

 

[Harb]

Again, we're not really arguing good v. bad GMs, we're really speaking about policy and enforcement. In the days when we had dedicated full time GMs, yes some did post, and many of us had GMs we liked more than others. Seems to me that's all part of history now, and has been for some time. The ones we have today, IMO, are all "good" within their "limits," which today seem more tightly controlled than ever before!

 

[GarthGrey]

I have 27 canned email responses on my pages regarding the latest LA Resource Factory. This guy(s) is not that good of a scripter, because I can disrupt it rather easily. Which means it more than likely has no GM alarm written in to it, which means that 27 times, a GM has failed to even bother to investigate it. The only time EA has ever done anything publicly, is after a HUGE thread is created here, and where we all practically do the work for them. Or has everyone already forgotten the big thread where we all were giving the coordinates of our shards Factories??

 

[Salivern_Diago]

In a word EVERYTHING but I am confident you CAN NOT agree because you have your head in a place were your unable to see anything but your own blind rage/hatred etc.

You have a good day now ranting about your conspiracy of how everyone is out to get you.

Err yeah alright, shame you cant read what I said but.. whatever you say man... whatever you say...

 

[Tjalle]

The only time EA has ever done anything publicly, is after a HUGE thread is created here, and where we all practically do the work for them. Or has everyone already forgotten the big thread where we all were giving the coordinates of our shards Factories??

I remember the Painted Cave/Ice Fiend gold scripters. Nothing was done until we made threads about them here if I´m not mistaken.

Haven´t seen those chars on Europa since then...

 

[Salivern_Diago]

Aye I remember that lol. Used to be a daily sport to go and annoy them...

Then got the sob story about gold farming so that he could feed his kids... Didnt know weather to feel bad or not :-s

 

[Voluptuous]

Welp. I camp heavily. Have done so for years and years. I'm prob one of the stupid ones that run around manually reading every stupid sign using 6 runebooks to make the job "easier" and mark 2 runes for every one I find.

My friend gets the second runes and if I'm not around to time them, then she does. We both seen every sort of camper there is.

And here's my summing up of finding the fall times...

a) people recall in and out, checking on all their greatlys in rotation (not cheaters)

b) people sit at a greatly invisable (for the most part, not cheating unless they continue to sit there long after fall time has been achieved)

c) invisable rabbits, wolves, etc (why the hell hide as an animal? cheater scripter that doesn't want his name reported continously)

d) ghosts (in Tram, again really no reason to do so, so cheater)
(in Fel...well I'll give em the benefit of a doubt so 50/50)

REALLY, ok sure all you friggin people who cry and moan maybe they were too lazy to rez, really know how to get times, wah wah wah...sure. If i took your maybes into consideration that'd explain away like 2% of these guys.

THE REST ARE SCRIPTERS. THEY ARE. ACCEPT IT. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

 

[Lord Gabriel]

Obviously I am not a moderator, and if this has be posted already please forgive me, but mods have repeated over and over on these boards that this is not the best way to get a response to problems. When there is a problem with a Gm, mod or em, your best course of action is through e-mail or pms to Mods or Chrissy. It has been seen over and over that threads like these either get ignored or locked. I can fully understand your frustration which is why I personally have avoided IDOCS. However to get a proper response and or action, follow through with the proper channels. Just my 2 cents which probably isn't even worth that much.

 

[Widow Maker]

The "proper channels" do NOT work and never have.

Personally, I strongly believe that public outing of bad service GM's..along with names...is going to be the ONLY way to ever get Mythic to increase their customer service parameters.

 

[Viper09]

The "proper channels" do NOT work and never have.

You know this how?

Just because we don't find out how our feedback is received doesn't mean it doesn't affect anything.

 

[G.v.P]

Of course you wont be changing them! Your lord and masters at EA wouldnt approve.

Let me ask you something, Siteswap, say Stratics allowed multiple people to use your unique nickname ID, "Siteswap." They would post under your name, could use the same avatar as you, and other than post count and profile, which could also be copied fairly easy, people would have no way to discern whether the posts were authored by you or the other people using what was once your unique name. Would you be pleased by that?

I think it's fair to say no one would like to experience identity theft much like no one would want their copyrighted game engine to be emulated and reverse engineered by unsigned third parties.

 

[G.v.P]

why do GMs do literally nothing as opposed to years ago? i remember when they would suspend people for scamming and would just come down to talk sometimes and stick around a bit, they actually used to help people, now not only do they never show themselves but 90% of the time they send an automated response

I remember back in the day when you saw a GM it was like seeing Santa Claus, people formed a line and began wishing. Beta testing is still sort of familiar to the old way, since you are in contact with the game makers and GMs in game, although I don't think I've seen that classic red death robe since long before ML, when a GM came to help place a forge at Delucia although with a character that had short gray hair and a blue t-shirt rather than the old garb.

GMs have helped me a lot over the years without showing up, from silly things like picking up a bag that fell through my old small marble (before object handles, if you dropped an item the wrong way it would go under the house, haha) to most recently helping me delete some slime hunter quest basins that serve no function now. There are definitely good GMs left out there, and as others have said, use the reporting tool when you encounter bad service.

 

[jack flash uk]

Welp. I camp heavily. Have done so for years and years. I'm prob one of the stupid ones that run around manually reading every stupid sign using 6 runebooks to make the job "easier" and mark 2 runes for every one I find.

My friend gets the second runes and if I'm not around to time them, then she does. We both seen every sort of camper there is.

And here's my summing up of finding the fall times...

a) people recall in and out, checking on all their greatlys in rotation (not cheaters)

b) people sit at a greatly invisable (for the most part, not cheating unless they continue to sit there long after fall time has been achieved)

c) invisable rabbits, wolves, etc (why the hell hide as an animal? cheater scripter that doesn't want his name reported continously)

d) ghosts (in Tram, again really no reason to do so, so cheater)
(in Fel...well I'll give em the benefit of a doubt so 50/50)

REALLY, ok sure all you friggin people who cry and moan maybe they were too lazy to rez, really know how to get times, wah wah wah...sure. If i took your maybes into consideration that'd explain away like 2% of these guys.

THE REST ARE SCRIPTERS. THEY ARE. ACCEPT IT. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

thank you , i was hoping you would stop by and add something, and i was not disappointed

 

[Petra Fyde]

Let me ask you something, Siteswap, say Stratics allowed multiple people to use your unique nickname ID, "Siteswap." They would post under your name, could use the same avatar as you, and other than post count and profile, which could also be copied fairly easy, people would have no way to discern whether the posts were authored by you or the other people using what was once your unique name. Would you be pleased by that?

I think it's fair to say no one would like to experience identity theft much like no one would want their copyrighted game engine to be emulated and reverse engineered by unsigned third parties.

Oh, they don't have to go that far, they just have to post 'Siteswap is a scammer, he scammed me out of a castle'. By the 'rule' ammendment advocated here that should be allowed, totally regardless of whether there's any truth in it, or whether the 'Siteswap' who may, in fact, be guilty of the offence, is a character of another player on a totally different shard who just happens to have the same name.

There are good reasons for the rule as it stands, it doesn't just apply to naming GM's it applies to posters too - naming them and accusing them of wrong doing or incompetence is a personal attack.

And contrary to the belief of some posters, as Managing Editor of UO.Stratics I can, and have, change a rule or introduce a new one if the team as a whole agree that it is necessary - please read the announcement at the head of the board.

 

[Salivern_Diago]

Ok ok, in short my time in this thread is almost done.

However I stil dont see why Stratics will not allow us the chance to post the name of a GM so we know that they are a 'bad apple'. Personal attacks is one thing, but as I said working in the customer service industry puts you in the limelight and yes if your a crap CSR then it should be known. Then at lest others have the liberty to say "Hang on, I dont want to go via this guy" and ask for someone else.

Maybe its just the way we do things in the UK, I dont know but I do find it limiting in not knowing who to avoid.

@ Widow Maker -

Mythic dosnt have direct (or any) control over the CSR department. Its an EA Department that Mythic have to use. I'm sure that the DEV's are frustrated with the CSR's at times as I posted earlier. There is nothing worse than working your ass off to produce something great but then have the customer service dept screw it up.

And to those who dont get what I'm trying to say... I dont like the fact we cant find out publically who's a crap CSR on here and I dont like the fact that the CSR's/GM's are not as good a they used to be. Its something that needs to be addressed but its also soething the EA Corporate Machine will NOT look at cos its not 'cost effective' and people will just lump it with what they've got.

 

[Siteswap]

Oh, they don't have to go that far, they just have to post 'Siteswap is a scammer, he scammed me out of a castle'. By the 'rule' ammendment advocated here that should be allowed, totally regardless of whether there's any truth in it, or whether the 'Siteswap' who may, in fact, be guilty of the offence, is a character of another player on a totally different shard who just happens to have the same name.

Post it. I couldnt care lerss. I'll just reply with "prove it".

On a similar note, if EA only allowed unique in game names then this wouldnt really be a problem. But they are too lazy to even do that.

 

[Bobar]

Welp. I camp heavily. Have done so for years and years. I'm prob one of the stupid ones that run around manually reading every stupid sign using 6 runebooks to make the job "easier" and mark 2 runes for every one I find.

My friend gets the second runes and if I'm not around to time them, then she does. We both seen every sort of camper there is.

And here's my summing up of finding the fall times...

a) people recall in and out, checking on all their greatlys in rotation (not cheaters)

b) people sit at a greatly invisable (for the most part, not cheating unless they continue to sit there long after fall time has been achieved)

c) invisable rabbits, wolves, etc (why the hell hide as an animal? cheater scripter that doesn't want his name reported continously)

d) ghosts (in Tram, again really no reason to do so, so cheater)
(in Fel...well I'll give em the benefit of a doubt so 50/50)

REALLY, ok sure all you friggin people who cry and moan maybe they were too lazy to rez, really know how to get times, wah wah wah...sure. If i took your maybes into consideration that'd explain away like 2% of these guys.

THE REST ARE SCRIPTERS. THEY ARE. ACCEPT IT. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

Yep my experiences are the same - I'm with you.

 

[In Flames]

Re: Gm ***

Your right, not everyone is cheating, but we know the tell tale signs, as do pvp speedhackers, or pot throwers etc

Stop.

If you're so savvy, then why do you make your blanket statements about pot throwers. I'm pretty sure there have been atleast 100 threads here on stratics on how to make that macro in UOA.

Srsly.

Carry on.

(For the record, I don't toss em, but I have done so in the past as a PvP Alchy out of sheer boredom. Was a nice change in pace.)

 

[kittykat]

Ok ok, in short my time in this thread is almost done.

However I stil dont see why Stratics will not allow us the chance to post the name of a GM so we know that they are a 'bad apple'. Personal attacks is one thing, but as I said working in the customer service industry puts you in the limelight and yes if your a crap CSR then it should be known. Then at lest others have the liberty to say "Hang on, I dont want to go via this guy" and ask for someone else.

Maybe its just the way we do things in the UK, I dont know but I do find it limiting in not knowing who to avoid.

@ Widow Maker -

Mythic dosnt have direct (or any) control over the CSR department. Its an EA Department that Mythic have to use. I'm sure that the DEV's are frustrated with the CSR's at times as I posted earlier. There is nothing worse than working your ass off to produce something great but then have the customer service dept screw it up.

And to those who dont get what I'm trying to say... I dont like the fact we cant find out publically who's a crap CSR on here and I dont like the fact that the CSR's/GM's are not as good a they used to be. Its something that needs to be addressed but its also soething the EA Corporate Machine will NOT look at cos its not 'cost effective' and people will just lump it with what they've got.

What difference would it make if you knew a GM was bad? Unless I'm mistaken, you can't say to a GM "I don't want to deal with you, send me another GM instead." I guess you could ask for a superior, but honestly, shouldn't you at least give the person a chance to resolve your issue before you assume they won't? If there is a crappy GM, *not* doing his job, and the complaints pour in through the proper channels, where it can be investigated properly, then that GM would be handled - but some random people posting on a random board somewhere isn't going to help to that end. Heck, your posting accounts aren't even tied to your ingame accounts, how in the world can there be any accountabilty for what *you* post about the GM? All it does is open up a way for the person to, most usually, get unduly trashed.

The fact is, many times GMs are labeled terrible, or not doing their job, when in fact they've done their job. Either you just don't see it, or it didn't meet your expectations, but the chances are quite likely that it was the only thing they could do. For example, an item you lost isn't returned to you - you are upset, you say the GM sucked - when the policy is not to return items, a decision made by EA, not the GM just doing his job as he's only allowed to do so. Another example is this thread here. There is no way to know that the GMs *didn't* look into the scripter - but perhaps he had a sophisticated enough script to answer GMs when they talk to him, or he's got some alert that brings him to the computer as soon as someone shows up, etc etc. The GMs have very strict guidelines on exactly when they can ban for scripting, and they can't deviate outside those lines, even on a *feeling*. They probably get just as frustrated as players do because their hands are so tied. So in this case, the GM, if named, would be needlessly trashed when he almost certainly did his job. It's just not right.

You're fighting the wrong fight here. It's not the GMs that are at fault, it's those that make the desicions on what can and can't be done by the GMs - that's who you need to rail to and against.

 

[Tazar]

On a similar note, if EA only allowed unique in game names then this wouldnt really be a problem. But they are too lazy to even do that.

rofl... It's way way way too late for UO to take that route now. That decision would have to have been made 12+ years ago. They can't take established characters that are prominent on many shards and suddenly force a name change because someone on another shard has the same name.

 

[Siteswap]

rofl... It's way way way too late for UO to take that route now. That decision would have to have been made 12+ years ago. They can't take established characters that are prominent on many shards and suddenly force a name change because someone on another shard has the same name.

So ... If you had a sheep pen with 1000 sheep in it and it didnt have a gate on, what would you do when 50 of the sheep escaped? Would you just say "oh well ... "It's way way way too late" to do anything about it ... in which case even more sheep escape. Or would you have a gate fitted?

EA just leaves the gate open on this one im afraid when they could implement this at ANY time they chose ... its not really difficult to do. It doesnt get your sheep back ... but it stops any more slipping out.

Soooo ... your excuse is weak. Yes EA should have done it 8, 10, 12 years ago ... but better late than never.