Cloakofwinter's page

I never claimed to try to help you, to anybody. I also took exactly zero action to spread it. Thod spread that story, presumably based on your story to him, and Thod has caused this to spread further.

And to be clear, I left because I couldn't get anything more without attacking you, and I chose not to.

Excellent. I wanted that to be clear. I am glad to hear that you weren't telling an altered version of what happened.

[QUOTE ="DeciusBrutus"]
I didn't even think that you would consider fighting an option, considering your experience (specifically, that you were carrying lots of stuff when you decided to PvE). I stand behind what I actually said, which was "You didn't want to fight me."

Which is not what Blodwulf said he would say, which was "hey", but apparently that makes all the difference.

It seems like there was a characterization made that you were doing something "wrong," such as griefing or some sort of out of game-related issue. I want to make it clear that I had no problem with your in-game actions at all. Nor did I expect charity or kindness. I think you played your character the way you play your character. It's entirely possible that I didn't want to fight you, but I should note that going 1v1 against a player (even one with more PVP experience) is not the same as stumbling into an overpowering horde of critters.

Also, I also stand behind my characterization of Thod's actions as extortion (or, if you want to be a pedant, possibly blackmail). Across multiple...

It is possible to me that Thod was simply seeking restitution, which seems like a reasonable course of action if he felt that one of his band had been stolen from. His methods or words may have been misconstrued, but I think his heart was in the right place. Something gets taken, you want it back and rather than slaughtering that individual, you ask them for repayment. He wanted justice for one of his people. You don't feel you should pay anything, which is fine. But by not paying, you eliminate that as an end to the matter and thus Thod felt the bounty was a good idea. Certainly, this has gone far beyond anything any of us wanted.

I do think, in many ways, we are dealing with a mechanic that was not foreseen. You suffered no loss of reputation for outright stealing. But it's possible that this type of theft was meant to be more of a victimless crime by the developers. Perhaps they, too, feel that a corpse lying about is just a cache of stuff waiting to be taken. Had there been a game mechanic consequence, I think this whole experience might have been different. Or perhaps not. It's hard to say as we all play a game that's 25 percent completed. Also, I think we are dealing with a PVP ethos that's yet to really be attempted in a game and in many ways, that's exciting because all out PVP often leads to a horrible game.

Alright,

I have been informed of the situation and what happened. No one was bullied, as a matter of fact it sounds like Decius tried to help the guy until he turned into a Jerk and Decius walked away from the situation. So, I am just going to walk away from another Thod propaganda piece, good job in being neutral Thod, and trying to maintain that neutrality, it really really shows.

I truly appreciate you, Cheatle, for all the work you have done for PFO. It's fascinating to me, though, that you made a big deal in another post about "investigating," even citing one investigation over an incident that took more than a week, and yet in your investigations, you didn't speak to the other person involved in the interaction. I assume that by "being informed," you mean that you spoke to one person who was there - Decius - and formed your opinion from that single conversation. Since no one else was present when all of this went down other than Decius and myself, one would think you would reserve judgement until you had questioned both parties. And yet you are blasting Thod for simply trying to defend one of his own, something you, I assume, would do for any one of your TEO members.

Since there were only two players present, it becomes a "he said, he said" situation and you can naturally choose what you want to believe. But for what it's worth, Decius offered no help of any kind. He simply took stuff and ran. I am surprised he would say otherwise because he seemed pretty unashamed of the behavior.

I did call him out, using words like Thief, Coward, and others IN PLAY.

I would like to be careful about calling this "bullying." As the wizard behind the curtain of my character, I'm fine with Decius' actions as a player. He played the game. My character abhors what happened, as would any injured party. But that's where it stops - in game. Unless someone starts spreading rumors of what happened OOC that are untrue.

FROM THE ACTUAL VICTIMIZED PARTY:

So, for those of you speculating about the encounter, I relate both the truth of it and options for how it is handled in roleplay. The merchant in question was Bellows McGurk. I was carrying a rather large shipment of goods from EL to Marchmont which included a nice haul for any thief. There were a couple of +3 items, some T2 resources and other goodies.

I wasn't paying the best of attention to my direction and ended up running directly into a group of monsters. Instead of running, I chose to fight, not noticing the yellow critter in the middle of the fray. I got hosed as the group of monsters was pretty large.

Anyway, upon returning to my corpse, I noticed it being looted by Decius. As I approached, Decius stopped looting and ran. No helping. No conversation. No "I tried to help this character and he was a douche." He just ran.

It was my bad. My fault. He's responsible for his part and I mine, but let's be clear. It was a loot and run. It was not a "Hey, sorry you died and I took your stuff, so let me help you out."

I decided to keep it in play and spoke up over general, assuming that general was still Hex chat. I called Decius out over General and accused him in play of being a thieving coward. He chose to take it out of play and suggested that he petition GW to abate the "whining coming from General." I gave him a couple of more shouts and then engaged him in a direct conversation. We chatted, he was unrepentant. That's fine - that's his choice. He did not see that he did anything wrong, which is a valid viewpoint. That ended our conversation. He did not offer reparations or apology and I didn't expect either.

I don't expect him to face any kind of out of game retribution, nor should Thod for role-playing this through to whatever end. I'm actually glad this came about because it's helping to shore up how settlements will deal with this and why a system of nobles might be a good idea. As a player, I'm not bitter about what Decius did. He made a role-playing choice that fits with his seemingly True Neutral character. I did as well. I should also note that Thod has not called out Phaeros in this, but rather Decius himself.

Bellows McGurk

What I would really like is a persistent radiant AI populated world in a dnd/pathfinder setting combining the procedural generation and evolving world aspects of no mans sky with the graphics and lore of skyrim. I want to play dnd with the server as the dungeon master. I want to be able to do ALL the crazy things I think of doing at a table top session simulated for me and all the other players in the game world. This is what I have dreamed of for 26 years as a PC online rpg. I am still waiting.

We all are. I'm not sure a small shop can do that. I think you would need a WoW-sized development operation and a re-thinking of the MMO in general to even get halfway to that goal.