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ROR DIARY : RESTRUCTURATION.

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Yaliskah
Former Staff
Posts: 1973

ROR DIARY : RESTRUCTURATION.

Post#1 » Fri Sep 14, 2018 10:19 am

[I.INTRODUCTION]
Spoiler:
To begin with, I would like to introduce myself as briefly as possible.

My name is Fred, i'm 44, got 2 kids and a wife. I'm 3d Graphic Designer / Interior Architect. Speaking frenglish and well educated.
Those who know me here can confirm my intentions, and my temperment: I'm a nice person, I hate lies, I'm open minded, placid and social. Until a certain point. I'm human and have my limits and my cracks, but in general, I'm probably much more benevolent than the average.

In the beginning of this adventure, many years ago, I was alone (more or less), collecting packets as fast and as much as possible with the hope to save War. Looking for people able to make this hope a reality, I have crossed Necrosummoner and Max, and with DaScoub (a brother in my heart IRL), we started War-Emu, and later RoR. I'm not looking for recognition for that. I'm not looking for fans. I'm not a hero. Have done it with a selfish purpose : continue to play this game.

Fact is I'm a player. Nothing else.

My abilities to contribute in the project are limited, I can do graphics, I can have ideas and I assume -because I can- all financial expenses this project require without any certitude to be refunded in the end of each year.

Despite my lack of abilities, since the beginning of this journey I'm in the place, like a ghost, whispering here and there my suggestions, my opinions, my disagreements, but never involving directly in the process, never forcing anyone to do anything.

And when things go wrong, when the tempest begins to tear at the roofs, all eyes are turned in my direction, waiting for a sign or a decision, inside and outside the team. Remember what I said earlier? I'm a player. That's a real pain in the ass to do this, so yeah, as much I can, I avoid as much as possible to involve directly. Look my title : King of Nothing.

In fact, I never considered this project "mine". I am maybe the depositary of all this, but in my very honest opinion this project remains to those active volunteers inside the team who spend their time and energy to make it possible.

These last days, many people outside the team, reproached me to avoid my supposed responsibilities, letting a certain inertia spread in the project, and the discontent relinquish itself to the community. So it seems finally I have to do something.
Here we go.
Let's assume and start to be the King of Anything people seem to see in me.

Hereby, I implicitly accept my responsibilities and the Project Owner role.

Doing this leads me to wonder what i'm supposed to be and what I'm supposed to do as Project Owner.

I'm now the image and the authority of this project right? Does it mean I don't need any advice from anyone to take unilateral decision if I want ? And none will have his word to say about it?

I mean I do not expect anyone to dictate my conduct now if it goes against my will. And obviously, unless you expect me to be a puppet, that's what will happen. If you disagree, go complain to those who implicitly appointed me to this place : Everyone in the staff. Past and present.

You start to be afraid? I'm terrified.

I had to do this not so brief introduction -sorry for that- but it had to be done cause most of you don't know me first, and it has a direct implication with recent events.

[II."THE TORQUE'S CASE"]
Spoiler:
Let me tell you who Torquemadra is exactly. The Torquemadra i know since few years. After Azarael, he is probably one of the most involved volunteers in this project. Is he rude? Sure, he is. Has he tact? Absolutely not. Is he useful? Completely. Does he abuse his position for his personal enrichment/interest? Show me how. Is his demeanor borderline? Sometime he goes too far that's true. And it has been tolerated. Question is why? To make people miserable? It doesn't fit with someone spend thousand of hours dedicated to other. Fact is Torque may be an ass, like each of us, and his involvement in this project is beyond passion. Evidences have been produced. We analyzed it and took lessons from it.

When Azarael left some years ago, we have lost an asset and it has been a big loss for RoR. We had to move on, and because someone had to do it, Torquemadra managed balance. I give a try with ORvR. Show must go on right?

Neither of us have any coding abilities that's important to keep in mind.

These 2 parts of the project are in the eyes of players the most important thing in War. It is heart. And any change on it can trigger riots. Can you imagine the pressure and the responsibility?

So Torque tried his best in the limit of his abilities, sometime doing good things, sometime doing bad, depending of a coder here and there when it was possible. And like Aza at the same role before him, he started to collect criticism. time after time, relationships have been degraded bringing us to the situations you know: Source leak, Riot, and so on.

I want to point out that this role (balance) is probably the worst job in the universe. If you don't see it you are blind. And fact is, Torque never wanted to. We had no choice. Someone had to.

[III."THE AZARAEL Q&A"]
Spoiler:
I can't separate Torquemadra from recent events, and his instigator, Azarael.

It might be annoying to read, but I have to make a little resume.

Some month ago, Azarael contacted me, feeling bad about rules he put in place and asking me to change them. According to him, these rules gave lattitudes to members of the staff to abuse their rights. I accepted and spend 4 days to rewrite them in my terrible frenglish to do something smoother and less "aggressive" than it was. I submitted him, and he validated.

A month ago, Azarael contacted me again, telling me he was ready to come back to help discreetly, far from lights the staff to fix things here and there. I submitted this request to the leads (Remember? I don't get involved) and they agreed.

Azarael asked to make a post about his return and his need to apologies, feeling he was responsible for bad relationships. We agreed, and let him do. We have been scratched by his post, and in the community reaction, but well, we stored our egos.

Then Azarael worked hard and doing good things. He was very valuable and helped us solved some long standing issues. And everyone has seen some improvements.

Some weeks ago, he suggested to call back some old GM to complete : Asuryan. Wargrimnir agreed. It was actually delayed for a month before he was brought back on to the team.

During all this period Torque was working on what he really wants to, client content. Reducing his involvment in balance.

Then Asuryan suggested to make a 1h15 Q&A. The famous Q&A. None was against this, it was a good idea after all. But no one gave their explicit agreement. Anyway, we discovered suddenly a Q&A was planned, on a discord we didn't know, hosted by non staff people except Asuryan.

Four days before this Q&A; Azarael contacted me, asking me if he could be very honest about Torquemadra and Wargrmnir. I'm not one to force anyone to do anything and I'm not for lies, Aza gave me his opinion about them. I answered him he was free to give his opinion as anyone. Then he disappeared. Literally. To reappear the day of the Q&A some minutes before it starts. I did not imagine consequences of this, even if some waves were expected.

Call me naive, I deserve that.

Then the Q&A started, and quickly related questions about Torquemadra specifically addressed to Azarael happened. 90mins of a long monologue happened. During all this time, all present members were muted, including RoR team members other than Azarael and Asuryan.. And when Wargrimnir finally tried to intervene he has been muted again after 30 seconds. This done, Aza left, letting all us answering and finish the Q&A. Questions related to balance were suspended in the air, letting us dealing with it, and leaving the community waiting answerless.

Call us naive. We deserve it.

20 minutes after the Q&A ended, Asuryan told me that he has resigned from the team. He was not removed, he quit.

And the crisis of trust started, or maybe just entered new level.

The next that happened was Asuryan providing promised evidence, one screenshot at a time (it might be worth noting that several staff members were removed from that discord at the time).

Finally, 24h later, Azarael popped under an alias " Ezekiel", which surprised me. I didn't know who i was speaking about in the begining. Max confirmed me it was Aza, having discussed in vocal with him (i'm not confortable with english speaking). We had a conversation for almost 2 hours. He was agressive, i was angry and very tired. He was probably too. I'm not going to present any transcript of this unless I'm forced to, but point is we have been blackmailed* (you fire Torque and Wargrimnir, then I'll stop all this mess, or else its gonna be worse) putting a knife under my throat, I was insulted ("may your rot for that", "you coward", "no balls"...), and my teammates have been discredited ("if I come back and if they don't want to follow me, they can leave I don't care"). Aza was determined to continu this "war", ready to make collateral damages, droping his "bombs" without any consideration for the non involved community, the non involved people in the team, the project itself. We left on very bad terms, as you can imagine.

This said, I sincerely wish no one here will represent my words, or will imply that I lie or will put anything out of context. Context is everything.

*Post edit yali. Spelling. Threats fits better than Blackmail* according to some people. Both have very similar meaning in french. Sorry about that.

[IV.DOING MY NEW JOB.]
Spoiler:
Now, according we all agree I'm officially the Project Owner, it is my responsibility to take a decision about all this. Considering, reasons, context, motives and mistakes. We reached the point of pure crazyness. All of this terrible crisis must end.

I can't deny Torquemadra's behaviour can be problematic even his interest is project dedicated. Sometimes it is very rude and awkward.

I can't deny that his involvement is totally for the project. He loves RoR and he really wants the best for RoR.

I must keep in mind consequences of his actions. Leaked sources resulting in the creation of Apocalypse and community split. I must keep in mind damages who have been done to the project by his behaviour. But I must keep in mind how much he has been punished in return : defiled his own reputation here and since months on Apocalypse Discord chanel, impersonification on Q&A vocal, public shaming, the insinuation of sexual harassment, defamation, relayed slander and misrepresentation of his purposes.

Considering this, I think Torquemadra has been punished more than he has hurt others. Community has done "their job", here and there. No need for me to take action against him. He is still part of the team, and will focus on client content and new content creation.

I can't deny Azarael is probably the one most impressive coder I know. He is brilliant and that's incontestable. His mark is forever affixed to the project. His last contribution and advice during the past weeks inside the team are great and I agree most of them, his love of RoR is absolute too and he really wants the best for RoR.

I must try to remove all the personal part of my last interaction with Azarael to be as unbiased as possible. He planned all this masquerade to make RoR better, many propositions were interesting in last balances. But I can't forget the manipulation against the team and the community in his large portion, and consequences, enlarging the gap and the split of the community. I can't forget the loss of trust and this trap that he coordinated. I can't forget the discredit of all the team and collateral casualties. You don't burn a house with innocents inside. Cause it doesn't make things better. It deletes it completely. "The end justifies the means" as never meant throw the baby with the bath water.

According this, I can't reintroduce Azareal in the project because he has lost the trust and the respect of a majority of team members. After the Q&A it was still an option. It wasn't anymore after our discussion. I hope you will all understand this. More over, at a more personal level I can't have under my lead someone who blackmailed* me forcing me to choose between him and all the rest of the team and insulted me for whatever the reasons he has too. Some days ago, I have lost someone I considered as a friend. He has lost trust. And everything isn't about Ability.

Maybe was it his plan since the beginning. Sacrifice himself, to wake me up. In this case, that's sad. Friendship is priceless. Have said bad things under the influence of anger and tiring in team chans after our private conversation and i regret. Have no hate after all. I wish him the best, as i always did, but i don't want to have anything to do with him anymore. If his concerns were real, and i really hope they were, he has reach his goal, forcing me to react and open my Eyes, to try to make things in a better way. Or thats just me, trying to find a rational reason.

Like I said in the beginning of this too long post, this project remains property to all its active contributors. Since I'm Project Owner, it is mine too. However, he pointed our lack of organisation and structure resulting in the issues we know. I recognize a problem, and I will try my best to put in place as fast as possible something more adapted to community expectations, to avoid as much as possible to fall again in these drifts.

This said, some reserve their stones for Torque, some for Aza. Whatever, both are the wrong targets.

[V.APOLOGIES]
Spoiler:
I have to assume all responsibility for all this mess. Nothing of this would have happened if I had done "my work" many years ago to begin with. By years, i mean since the beginning of this story, before Torque, before Aza. So, put all this on me. Blame Yali. If someone deserves your anger, that's me. I shouldn't have let Aza burn himself out years ago. I shouldn't have let Torque sink alone.

For all this mess and all the pain generated since this project exist, I humbly beg you to accept my flatter excuses. I should have reacted earlier and assume to put on me all the faults past and present. Some won't forgive, many are gone, and I will try my best to show them that RoR is not a lost cause. I can't change the past, but I swear I will put my energy and my honesty to make things better in the relations between the team and the community. It is gonna be hard to reinstall your confidence, it is gonna take time to repair damages and move on. I will try my best to make RoR more professional (in the limit of a voluntary project), starting right now. For some it is probably too late. I'm deeply sorry for that.

[VI.CONCLUSION]
Spoiler:
I could have summarized all this wall of text in few words : RoR is just a game, and must be just that. A pleasant hobby. Nothing important deserving a single atom of drama and the loss of friendship.

Now there is a third actor in this story. And not the least. The community. I would like to make things very clear with you all, as Project Owner.

Be my guest. Eat everything you want. If you don't enjoy let a waiter know. But the kitchen is private. From now on, contact to the will cooks is limited. You are all passionate and involved in this project at some level and we are all glad when you are happy, but some reactions are sometimes overstepped.

Enjoy the project, not the people who make it. There is no fan club. Keep your thanks for your teammates during scenarios and RvR. Keep your insults for yourself.

Please, play. There is no other purpose here. We are not doing this project to be against people. We are doing it to be for everyone.

According all have been said, according you know the what, the why, the how many, i really wish everyone now will let this behind and move on. If not the case, i ask humbly to anyone looking for more dramas to be mature and responsible and not posting on this forum. If you are really concerned with the game, if you really want to make your ingame experience great again and make this community stonger, we all together have lot of work, and no time to lose.

Before I forget:

Guess you all have loved families, irl friends, jobs... and in the end of the day, this is the only important thing.

Now it is time for appeasement and to move on.

Case closed.

[VII.AND NOW?]
Spoiler:
As sketched previously, we have to restructure the project at many level to fit in a better way to your expectations. The word "professionalism" and "corporate" have been said. In the limit of our little dream factory, we are gonna try our best to get there.

A. I'm more than happy to reintroduce officially Max Hayman as Project Leader. No one here will be able to challenge his neutrality and technical capabilities. He will take important decisions about the general direction of the project. I will second him as much as possible for all non technical parts.

B. The private server part and the production part is gonna be separated; introducing a layer of forum moderators. Their mission will be -ofc- to take care of the forum, but make the interface between production and community. They will be your privileged interlocutors, collecting feedbacks and specific questions and giving suitable answers and information. They will be informed as much as possible about the development of the project. Purpose is to limit sensitive answers and the dramas that flow from it.
Of course, we gonna open a large wave of recruitment. In case of infractions they will try their best to quote the related rule.

C. GMs. This the other part of moderation. But in-game. They will have all powers in-game. In case of infractions they will try their best to point the infraction. Their role is extended on forum for obvious reasons as moderators and more specifically the ban appeal section. In case of infractions they will try their best to quote the related rule.

Only GM and Moderators will be allowed to apply sanctions. I would like with their agreement, they extend their role to animate sometime the server (short mini events).

D. Balance. Dan and Peter will be organizing, structuring and processing balance discussion with the community.

Image

This may take some time to be organized and we will keep you informed and publish in the next days more infos about what is in the pipes with much more fun info in a Dev Diary this time.
Have a nice day.

Yali.

SIDENOTE. Writing this very long wall of text (again sorry for that) took time. Many people helped me to avoid as much as possible my awkward "frenglish" and fix typos. I learned something probably obvious for many of you. During all the process some people have been "uncomfortable" with some of my sentences. Sometimes the meaning was the opposite of what i has in mind due to my poor english. Sometime, words themself were the problem. i write in english what i think in french. It appear sometime, depending the origin, the age, the culture and the target some words endue particular meanings more or less politically correct. I'm from the old world, before the internet and his social media, before globalization. I know the power of words and their dangerosity but i didn't know, that a "Cat" was not necessarily a "Cat". So, if sometime my words are scratching you, i sincerely apologize, thats generally not my purpose unless there is a very obvious reason.

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Dajciekrwi
Posts: 700

Re: ROR DIARY : RESTRUCTURATION.

Post#2 » Fri Sep 14, 2018 10:40 am

Hello, im Adam, im 42 years old have wife and two daughters 16 and 13 years old. 4 stupid cats too.
I even dont remember how long im playing evening after evening in AoR and RoR, for my friends Grobbok, Kayfynn, Hertia, Acidic, Wachlarz and many more. Permanently looking to give a miserable death of Simtex, Kajtarn, Skepta, Althii Borliss and many more.

Mostly all moment when we write on forum we have completly different opinion about future this project. Im too old for this changes

Still strongly respect all works of You and rets of DEVS.
So just be carefull for your kids, wife, and your own health.
Best luck and good job.

User avatar
live4treasure
Posts: 270

Re: ROR DIARY : RESTRUCTURATION.

Post#3 » Fri Sep 14, 2018 10:47 am

I'll bite the bullet and risk stating a controversial opinion in this public thread. I feel there's a need to.
______________

First off, it's nice to see this restructuring happening. This means this whole debacle was not in vain. We have results and there's progress, which means the server is certainly moving forward. At least my hope is that what I've read is the truth. It would be very sad if it were otherwise.
______________

Secondly, you state that you have attempted to be as impartial as possible when you made a decision on whether or not to reintroduce Azarael back to the team. However, in that very same paragraph you instantly say subjective things like lack of trust and personal insults influencing your decision.

You say he betrayed the team, but at the same time, I would like to point out that from the perspective of most of the community that is actively involved with the project, the team and etc. Torque has done the same to us. He has also betrayed our trust and not once, but multiple times. He has also dolled out personal insults to people, likewise not once, but multiple times. Because of Torque, we have a whole new server that leeches part of the RoR community away slowly but steadily. Because of Torque, we lost many members of staff before and you could say that this whole drama is also entirely his own fault as it is a consequence of his own actions.

Considering you are not going to let Azarael back onto the team for the reasons you have stated, why are you keeping Torque on the team when he is just as, if not even more guilty than Azarael for the very same sins you claim are holding you back from inviting him back in?

I'm sorry, I've read your message twice now and it simply feels like I as a player am being cheated and misdirected away from the fact of the matter by framing things in a different, subjective light. I won't speak for anyone else, but my conclusion is that this result is still... disappointing, I guess. I'm not sure if I'll quit RoR, but I can certainly say that a lot of my hopes for the future of this project have been dashed.

I doubt this post will make anyone reconsider their choices, but I felt it was important to state my view on the matter as part of another voice in the masses.
Last edited by live4treasure on Fri Sep 14, 2018 11:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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BurbsToo
Banned
Posts: 50

Re: ROR DIARY : RESTRUCTURATION.

Post#4 » Fri Sep 14, 2018 10:54 am

TL;DR

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Gravord
Posts: 400
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Re: ROR DIARY : RESTRUCTURATION.

Post#5 » Fri Sep 14, 2018 10:58 am

Yaliskah wrote: Fri Sep 14, 2018 10:19 am Does he abuse his position for his personal enrichment/interest? Show me how
- proven stealth nerfs to classes that killed him
- proven harassment of ppl that killed him

Should be enough to boot anyone out of the project and its barely scratching the surface of his misconducts. No amount of "good work and dedication to the server" can balance that out.


Other than that interesting post to read.

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Hargrim
Developer
Posts: 2465

Re: ROR DIARY : RESTRUCTURATION.

Post#6 » Fri Sep 14, 2018 11:00 am

Gravord wrote: Fri Sep 14, 2018 10:58 am
Yaliskah wrote: Fri Sep 14, 2018 10:19 am Does he abuse his position for his personal enrichment/interest? Show me how
- proven stealth nerfs to classes that killed him
- proven harassment of ppl that killed him

Should be enough to boot anyone out of the project and its barely scratching the surface of his misconducts. No amount of "good work and dedication to the server" can balance that out.


Other than that interesting post to read.

I think that was kind of... Rhetorical question?
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Gravord
Posts: 400
Contact:

Re: ROR DIARY : RESTRUCTURATION.

Post#7 » Fri Sep 14, 2018 11:04 am

Hargrim wrote: Fri Sep 14, 2018 11:00 am
Gravord wrote: Fri Sep 14, 2018 10:58 am
Yaliskah wrote: Fri Sep 14, 2018 10:19 am Does he abuse his position for his personal enrichment/interest? Show me how
- proven stealth nerfs to classes that killed him
- proven harassment of ppl that killed him

Should be enough to boot anyone out of the project and its barely scratching the surface of his misconducts. No amount of "good work and dedication to the server" can balance that out.


Other than that interesting post to read.

I think that was kind of... Rhetorical question?
"Show me how" - didnt look rhetorical to me. More of a disbelief to be proven otherwise.

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daniilpb
Posts: 591

Re: ROR DIARY : RESTRUCTURATION.

Post#8 » Fri Sep 14, 2018 11:04 am

Thank you for your time and passion. It is really good to read some information about devs and their real opinions. Thanks for sharing again. It was really pleasant to read such a piece of revelation.
I should admit I still feel great pain because such a talented coder as Azarael is gone now. I believe, a lot of people will miss him so much. Hopefully, it won’t push all of them to leave the project and even join Apocalypse server which is the worst case. Anyway, let in the day after a dark night! Let’s give a rise to the brightest morning!
Looking forward for future restructures. Wish you luck.
Cheers!

P.S. Hopefully, some more suitable coders would appear. I believe, team need them badly. Let’s summon some crazyass code monkeys ! :mrgreen:
Last edited by daniilpb on Fri Sep 14, 2018 11:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
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lefze
Suspended
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Re: ROR DIARY : RESTRUCTURATION.

Post#9 » Fri Sep 14, 2018 11:12 am

Can only pray there is enough juice left to code whatever is necessary without Aza. I'm glad that the restructure is happening, but it will ultimately mean nothing if there isn't enough power left in the dev departement.
Rip Phalanx

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Aurandilaz
Posts: 1896

Re: ROR DIARY : RESTRUCTURATION.

Post#10 » Fri Sep 14, 2018 11:22 am

The person who pushed away half a dozen staff members and several hundred players to the point where they ended up launching a 2nd server gets to stay on the team...
and the guy who reveals most of the misdeeds of said person gets booted out...

I honestly would have hoped for a better outcome, like retaining one of your most gifted developers who was capable of having discussions with the community without resorting to threats and in-game harassment - but I guess we will just have to wait and see how long RoR continues with a pulse now.
Aza in his few weeks of active balancing efforts achieved much more wanted and positive results than the previous year had given us - maybe due to open dialogue with players but also maybe due to a different designing philosophy where the 6man and 24man scale are not treated as niches or insulted as being "shiitters".

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