Are Roleplay and Gameplay both treated fairly? [Discussion]
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 9:13 am
If I may, I have taken a passive stance observing this situation, but what I have noticed in the previous several situations in which raiders attempted to liberate Haven which has proven to be an egregious attempt to divide the site or drive players off, or drive players at each other into a flamewar. I think that attempts to generate flame wars or completely threaten the balance of NS as is should be extremely discouraged, as the animosity it brings is essentially causing NationStates to be a much less friendly place for everyone. In the resulting conflicts the previous proposals were explicitly done to drive a wedge/divide between roleplayers and gameplay, and it has largely succeeded in what it intended to do, which is destroy any room for compromise in the minds of most players. I think this merely lampshades the problems in the background of NS mechanics and Gameplay Favoritism.
Gameplayers claim all we need to do to keep gameplayers from screwing up our creative work exist in the mechanics of NS gameplay, and yet Gameplayers had the gall to claim that they would use the region of Haven better than the roleplayers who were already using the region in question, which brings forth the question of whether roleplay is actually valued in NS or not? In previous invasions of roleplay regions of Greater Dienestad and Sapphire roleplayers were assured that RP was meant to occupy an equal respect with gameplay, but as we see over and over again, we are not actually given the equal respect that we were so easily assured. Many Gameplayers in the summit promised that Regions would be safe if one had a password, a regional delegate, and an active founder. Greater Dienestad had an active founder and was invaded, Sapphire had a regional delegate and was invaded, and the raiders attempted to liberate Haven and remove the safety of the regional password, which begs the question once more of when will we actually have what we requested as an opt out of the gameplay which we have repeatedly stated is destructive to our written work (which by Max Barry's promise shall be protected as our own original works) and our community which is constantly disrupted by gameplay communities?
Many people are advising roleplay communities to simply move off site because the game moderators, and even Max Barry approve of the destruction of roleplay regions, and is this what it really comes down to? Are Roleplayers and our community ultimately unwelcome in Nationstates? Is our lobby for the fair treatment of roleplayers ultimately in vain and pointless? Is the attempt to ask for fair treatment on behalf of us and asking for the safety and protection of our creative work (which again, Max promised us) also merely lip service? I am seriously concerned with how this continues to over and over again be overlooked. Are we ever going to be treated as equals to gameplayers, in which if we busted into someone else's gameplay threads without welcome and disrupted it with roleplay we would be censured as trolls and punished? So then why are gameplayers allowed to do exactly that without censure? If we look at the previous mentioned material and some of the confessions of moderators, I can see that no, we are not treated fairly and as equals, and I am looking for solutions to this in order to improve the situation in NS. I would rather stay in NS, but if we are ultimately unwelcome here as is proven over and over again by the favoritism of the gameplayers, I am wondering what the next best possible solution is. I am particularly interested in how the moderators feel about this situation, but all players are free to offer their opinions.
Gameplayers claim all we need to do to keep gameplayers from screwing up our creative work exist in the mechanics of NS gameplay, and yet Gameplayers had the gall to claim that they would use the region of Haven better than the roleplayers who were already using the region in question, which brings forth the question of whether roleplay is actually valued in NS or not? In previous invasions of roleplay regions of Greater Dienestad and Sapphire roleplayers were assured that RP was meant to occupy an equal respect with gameplay, but as we see over and over again, we are not actually given the equal respect that we were so easily assured. Many Gameplayers in the summit promised that Regions would be safe if one had a password, a regional delegate, and an active founder. Greater Dienestad had an active founder and was invaded, Sapphire had a regional delegate and was invaded, and the raiders attempted to liberate Haven and remove the safety of the regional password, which begs the question once more of when will we actually have what we requested as an opt out of the gameplay which we have repeatedly stated is destructive to our written work (which by Max Barry's promise shall be protected as our own original works) and our community which is constantly disrupted by gameplay communities?
Many people are advising roleplay communities to simply move off site because the game moderators, and even Max Barry approve of the destruction of roleplay regions, and is this what it really comes down to? Are Roleplayers and our community ultimately unwelcome in Nationstates? Is our lobby for the fair treatment of roleplayers ultimately in vain and pointless? Is the attempt to ask for fair treatment on behalf of us and asking for the safety and protection of our creative work (which again, Max promised us) also merely lip service? I am seriously concerned with how this continues to over and over again be overlooked. Are we ever going to be treated as equals to gameplayers, in which if we busted into someone else's gameplay threads without welcome and disrupted it with roleplay we would be censured as trolls and punished? So then why are gameplayers allowed to do exactly that without censure? If we look at the previous mentioned material and some of the confessions of moderators, I can see that no, we are not treated fairly and as equals, and I am looking for solutions to this in order to improve the situation in NS. I would rather stay in NS, but if we are ultimately unwelcome here as is proven over and over again by the favoritism of the gameplayers, I am wondering what the next best possible solution is. I am particularly interested in how the moderators feel about this situation, but all players are free to offer their opinions.