In light of all this "drama," I have decided that there may not be a 4th CORP Fest next year. If there is, it won't be open to the public once again since after doing this three years, this is the first time anybody has actually made a big deal over how we run the event.
I wanted to do this event because I thought it would be fun for everyone. I know people enjoyed the PvP Tournament since how can you play favorites in that one? Anyways, fun was the whole point of these events and people have finally sucked the fun out of it. I don't deserve the stress that people cause over this and frankly don't appreciate the BS attitudes from people. I would rather stress over the RL problems that I have going on rather than something over a video game.
After three years of being with this community and being on Champions, this is the most disappointed I have ever been with people.
In my opinion, this has all gone a bit far. Let's not over-dramatise the situation.
I have participated in many CCs, and I have never seen any player win more than one category. I tell a lie, I saw it once....it was a mistake, and the SG who were hosting apologised afterwards.
I honestly don't think that those who hosted, judged, or helped run the CORP cc were deliberately trying to scam anyone.
However, perhaps better protocols and rules put in place beforehand could have prevented certain rumours flying around.
I realise that CORP is a community/channel within the game and not a SG, so the regulations for participating in CCs and choosing winners is not as clear cut as other CCS. This is why clear guidelines should perhaps have been discussed and advertised.
All this being said, if someone hosts a CC it's up to them how to do it . Would-be participants can then decide to turn up, not to turn up or leave during the event.
If the leader/leaders(?) of CORP have decided to never again hold their yearly CC, I'm sure that the rest of us will cope. It's just a video game after all.
Reldin, I'm disappointed in you. I have always liked you, and I think you can do better than completely dropping this. That's the wimpy way out, man.
Take the CORP members you've got. Take the active members of your community and make them CORP staff. Host TWO CC's. A public one (For persons not affiliated with CORP) and one in-house for CORP.
I'm not the best person to make suggestions because certain CORP members and I don't see eye-to-eye, and I will be perfectly honest- not my kind of community. Especially after the rumors of 'blacklisting' and a certain few members of the community telling people who know me that they shouldn't be friends with me because I've said some appalling things (guilty as charged, fux not given).
I honestly am an advocate of people being independent Roleplayers. I advise people to test the waters in any community, CORP or otherwise. The standing rumor/intel on CORP is that it is less like an affiliation of roleplayers and more like a clique, and sometimes things give off that appearance. It's often advertised as 'a community of roleplayers', which is sort of accurate- I know several people, including myself, that have a bad taste in their mouth about the group.
I'm not your enemy, but at the same time I didn't show to this event because I didn't want to deal with some of the people. Not being mean, not being dramatic. But I'll give you the brutality of an opinion and you know it.
If any of the CORP members have concerns with this...
I'm not really bothered with it. I'll still be playing the game with my friends.
Think all you want. Frankly, I don't really care if you think it's the wimpy way out or not. I've been really unhappy with the game and the people in it for over a year now and I can make any decision I damn well please. If there's another event for next year, I most likely will not be running it. I'm tired of being used as a doormat and feeling underappreciated and this entire thing that people decided to bring up is a prime example of why I feel this way. Myself and the other moderators decided to throw an event (one of which we did not even need to) and give back to our community only to have people lash out and foam at the mouth. Suggestions are welcomed and we'll be taking them into consideration. Hell, we had people do that for the PvP Tournament from last year and we made sure to make appropriate changes for this year, but again, I'm tired of the backlash and being treated like dogcrap.
As for the clique thing. I'm so tired of hearing about this. CORP is CORP and that's what it always has been. Are there cliques? Well of course there are, but what community doesn't have this? Not everyone needs to be involved with one another. We have SGs that are apart of the CORP community and they do their own things. Besides, what the hell do you think a SUPERGROUP is in the first place? It's a CLIQUE and you were apart of one. And like you said, you play with your friends. Is that not a clique?
We don't force these groups to do stuff with CORP. The moderators aren't enforcers to make sure people play with one another. If they want to make their own little groups to play with, they are more than welcomed to. CORP is a resource for people to use and hookup with others. If people make friends and decide to make a small RP group, I am happy, because we did our job as a community then.
As for the blacklisting thing...That's between you and the people you've left a lasting impression on. It's rather paranoid to even consider such a thing, because, well, you left a rather bad impression on the community in the first place--one of which I won't be going into here since that is between us. If the blacklisting thing were true, do you really think I would still be talking to you? I've never had a personal problem with you, so if other players do? Well that's on them.
We've had the guidelines posted for WEEKS in advance and we even spent about 15-20 minutes before judging even started to go over the guidelines. So, you can't say we never discussed or advertised these guidelines. Just look at the original date for this thread and look where it's placed (it's even STICKIED). People knew what they would be getting into, so it is not our fault. CORPers have known for 3 years now what this event was about and have never caused this much unnecessary drama about it.
All I would suggest is having CORP events be for CORP only. Mainly because this was all started by a non-CORP person who got mad because they didn't win. I even stated my concerns about holding it in such a publically used place before the event started, because I know how people are.. It's an event to celebrate the community after all, if someone isn't even a part of the community, why would they want to celebrate it.. If it's someone who's on the fence about joining the community, well then I'm sure they'll at least look at the site at some point during the 3-4 weeks before the event when all this info is on the main page.
And like I said in my previous post, I won 5 times (all for different characters/costumes), probably the most, and I don't really KNOW any CORP people on any meaningful level (Yet, anyway), aside from however much you get to know people via casually chatting in the OOC channel. How the balls is it a political move to give a practically unknown background guy a bunch of wins? What clique does that put me in exactly?
This isn't about politics, this is about butthurt, don't let it fudge up what is a perfectly open, welcoming, and friendly community, at least 99% of the time from what I've seen.
Think all you want. Frankly, I don't really care if you think it's the wimpy way out or not. I've been really unhappy with the game and the people in it for over a year now and I can make any decision I damn well please. If there's another event for next year, I most likely will not be running it. I'm tired of being used as a doormat and feeling underappreciated
Given your comments above, I think you should probably take a break from CO. You may not realise it but most people in CO don't know who you are, just as they don't know who I am (and why should they).
I don't know who you are accusing of using you "as a doormat", but you should maybe work out your issues with them.
And as for your "I can make any decision I damn well please", well...........look, take a break man.
Originally posted by veiran2
And like I said in my previous post, I won 5 times (all for different characters/costumes), probably the most, and I don't really KNOW any CORP people on any meaningful level (Yet, anyway), aside from however much you get to know people via casually chatting in the OOC channel. How the balls is it a political move to give a practically unknown background guy a bunch of wins? What clique does that put me in exactly?
This isn't about politics, this is about butthurt, don't let it fudge up what is a perfectly open, welcoming, and friendly community, at least 99% of the time from what I've seen.
Yeah, we've moved on from that part of the thread. I'm certainly not accusing CORP of that and neither was Cybersoldier I think. As you said, you've already mentioned the above in a previous post in this thread. No need to bring it up again.
Ignoring rx9chaos in the first place may have been a better idea. He loves trolling and the bait was taken.
Likely because he runs a community in the game, AKA CORP, and I'm assuming you don't run a community (I may be wrong).
Of course most people from outside said community wouldn't know that. But odds are he isn't referring to them.
-Edit- Also 4 posts above you is a post about the CC, I was just trying to clarify because most people wouldn't read every post in all 6 pages of this mess.
-Edit- Also 4 posts above you is a post about the CC, I was just trying to clarify because most people wouldn't read every post in all 6 pages of this mess.
Don't underestimate the general population.
Maybe you should let Reldin speak for himself , he's a very articulate guy and more than capable.
I'm on semi-break right now, playing GW2, so taking a full break is most likely going to happen at some point. I also should've reworded some of my post, but I was just angry/frustrated to revise it. The only real reason why I keep playing CO in the first place is because I love my community and without it, I may have never made the friends I have now. There have just been a few things that just recently cropped up that built this frustration. And to clarify the doormat thing...myself and a few other moderators run RP events for the community and it sucks when we have people backlash and suddenly feel it's a good time to bring up X amount of issues after everything we have done for them. I should also mention that it's been happening elsewhere, not on here.
I'm on semi-break right now, playing GW2, so taking a full break is most likely going to happen at some point. I also should've reworded some of my post, but I was just angry/frustrated to revise it. The only real reason why I keep playing CO in the first place is because I love my community and without it, I may have never made the friends I have now. There have just been a few things that just recently cropped up that built this frustration. And to clarify the doormat thing...myself and a few other moderators run RP events for the community and it sucks when we have people backlash and suddenly feel it's a good time to bring up X amount of issues after everything we have done for them. I should also mention that it's been happening elsewhere, not on here.
I understand Reldin, I think I get it. Hope you're having a good time on GW2.
All I would suggest is having CORP events be for CORP only.
I understand this is a tangent. But seeing as how it seems relevant. I feel the need to ask anyhow.
What makes someone a CORP member? There is no SG to join. Is it simply access to the website? Is posting required? Is it access to the chat channel? I believe its currently been made public. So that is a pretty wide door to leave open. Is it having access to the private RP channel?
The rules dont really explain what makes someone a member or not. Only how one should behave. So im honestly curious.
What makes someone a CORP member? There is no SG to join. Is it simply access to the website? Is posting required? Is it access to the chat channel? I believe its currently been made public. So that is a pretty wide door to leave open. Is it having access to the private RP channel?
The rules dont really explain what makes someone a member or not. Only how one should behave. So im honestly curious.
This is a valid question. As it stands, anyone can slap 'CORP' in their bio, and pretty much people take it for what it's worth.
If it were mine to do, and I was running something like this- I'd use PRIMUS's lore model as a basis. Members would have registered characters in PRIMUS, and players would be able to check the credentials. Even now, 'Champions Online Role Players' encompasses anyone who does roleplay. It may be in need of a revamp.
Reldin, between my time of hosting/judging spear ccs for like 2 years, mixed with my own private ccs, I've seen a lot of this too. Not nearly this public (again, where are the mods? I feel like this is exactly why we have em, personal attacks aren't ok) but still. It's a thing that happens, please don't let it get you down. You know the whiners are the minority, most of us really appreciate what you guys did.
Between this and the flare constantly getting muted for advertising thing, I think someone actively has it out for event organizers in this game. It frankly disturbs me, since the community stuff is part of what makes the game so great.
In game, I am @EvilTaco. Happily killing purple gang members since May 2008. RIP Caine
CORP is an open RP community. There isn't a rigidly defined identity or set of criteria to adhere to, as that's counter to the whole point. It's not an umbrella term and folks are honestly thinking about it way too hard if you have to ponder the identity of being a CORP member.
If you use anything CORP Related, then you can probably safely consider yourself a CORP member. If you don't and you have no interest, then for the sake of avoiding confusion, you might not want to say that. We don't care, provided that when you use CORP channels or the CORP website or attend something like CORPfest, you adhere to the rules supplied there.
It's an open community. You can go there and check it out. That's your prerogative. So when you see the "Brand name" being bandied about, safe to assume that whatever it is will fall under the auspices of the rules that are applied to other CORP related things.
I've always thought that was rather obvious. Same with the whole open community thing. If you check out the website where all that stuff is posted, you'll find the same phrases put together, and the dots aren't spread that much further apart. Needing CORP creds or any crap like that would be ridiculous and taking things to a silly degree. Overthinking it, even.
CORPfest probably isn't going to happen again. It's a strenuous undertaking on a good year, I'm sure you can imagine what it's like on a bad one. Considering it isn't a fundamental right of any of the involved parties, and that this is a videogame, I'm sure we can all come to the cordial agreement that, oh well, these things happen.
So going over that again, open RP community. When you step in the door, leave your shoes there and respect the rules. When you leave, feel free to put them back on, that's not our business. We don't need to play around with anything more precise or fancy than that. It's like searching for some big mystery when there is none, and I'm sure those few, tiny enclaves of people outside of CORP who care and those people in CORP who care can understand that there isn't a mystery to uncover here. Nothing complicated. We're not going to act on you for your RP or any of that dumb crap. We moderate behavior in channels and on a freakin' website.
CORP members don't receive "preferred" status versus those not in CORP because what on Earth are we judging you for if it doesn't involve actually being involved with CORP? If you're random joe schmoe going to a costume contest we're hosting, we're not going to sit there and cackle in our chairs, taking glee in mistreating the "filthy, subhuman nonCORPer."
We're going to judge your costume, and if it places, it places. If it doesn't, it doesn't. Such is life. Relax, people. Running a community where you hit a hump every now and then is definitely a frustrating thing, but I'm getting this vibe from a lot of the talk here that this is being perceived as something bigger than it actually is. Since we all know that isn't the case, let's just take a breather and chill out a bit. Back to the 9 to 5. Life goes on, etcetera.
I understand this is a tangent. But seeing as how it seems relevant. I feel the need to ask anyhow.
What makes someone a CORP member? There is no SG to join. Is it simply access to the website? Is posting required? Is it access to the chat channel? I believe its currently been made public. So that is a pretty wide door to leave open. Is it having access to the private RP channel?
The rules dont really explain what makes someone a member or not. Only how one should behave. So im honestly curious.
It's pretty much being active in the channel (or channels, since we have both an ooc and ic one) and website, or one of the other, so long as you're being somewhat active, joining RP events (we have some posted on the event calendar for people to view) and even hosting your own RP for others to join. There's no definite definition of how to be a CORP member because it's pretty much up to the person and how active they want to be.
Think of it like how you joined Champions Online. We have the terms of service telling us what we can and can't do. The CORP Code of Conduct is pretty much that, except we don't need to put down what you CAN do since that's a given. You're free to do as you please so long as you don't start drama. That's pretty much the jist of it. We don't use the Conduct as a way to strip away your Freedom of Speech or anything crazy like that. We simply have our guidelines to help keep the channel from going insane and having our members going at each other's throats.
I'll use another example though. You see how you're posting here on the forums? Do you feel like you're apart of the Champions community? It's sort of like that with CORP, except it's for the roleplay audience and such. You basically just take whatever you've been doing with Champions and just be active with a different part of the community.
There is one issue regarding "being a CORP member" that's been brought up a few times. I know some people leave the channel/community because they may not feel like they're apart of the community. This, well this, isn't our fault. Like I said before, it has to do with what YOU put into the community as well. We have a very small amount of GMs/DMs available, most of which are actually the moderators themselves. We can only plot and plan out so many RP scenarios before we get burned out and when there are roughly 50-100 people in the channel at any given time (about 75% of them are lurkers or have the channel off), we can't cater to them all. We've had a lot of new players coming into the channel and so far, I've seen SOME effort being put into them as I see people mention wanting to start up some roleplay and eventually they get a little gathering going in one of the public instances. That is pretty much what WE want to happen and it's a prime example of showing off how to be a CORP member.
And it's been awhile since my last post and I had some time to think and cool off. I appreciate the folks showing support and understanding for what's been happening. CORP only does one costume contest a year and we like to make it a big deal when we do it, so I guess it's tough for us that coordinate and plan it to see this kind of outcome for an event.
I just want to point out that, I see separate opinions on this.
One says, just join. Another says be an active part. Not trying to come off as snarky here. But if the plans are, in fact, to have activities open only to members. Shouldn't there be a better consensus. on what that is? That said, I am grateful for the insight. Thank you.
However, this brings me to something else said. That I feel is in error.
I'll use another example though. You see how you're posting here on the forums? Do you feel like you're apart of the Champions community?
I really don't find this a good example. Anyone can post. Posting is meaningless. Spammers post, trolls post, the angry, the upset, and the like can all post. This whole firestorm started with a post. So posting alone means nothing and does little to bring someone into a community.
It is interaction. It is getting a response, a conversation, a debate or a dialog. That is what makes me feel like i'm part of something.
Its why, I asked my original question. Ive been part of CORP, i'm signed up on the website, i'm on the OOC channel. And I really don't feel a part of it. Now im aware part of this is my own self. I rarely pipe up on the channel. The few times I try to get a conversation going it seems to fizzle...posting without interaction. Ive stopped bothering, and not because the last time I tried I was told directly to shut up. I just would rather spend my time doing other things then to try to force myself into something.
I know, i cant be the only one feeling frustrated by this. So, i'm not offering this for pity or as a slam or to nag. Simply as food for thought.
There's no definite definition of how to be a CORP member because it's pretty much up to the person and how active they want to be.
You're looking in the wrong place for consistency, the point being there isn't an explicit definition. When you use these things, you're agreeing to abide by the rules. Activity is relevant to what you're gonna get. But as we say, it's an open community. You can come and go as you please. And what you put in it will help shape what you get. But that's anything in life, no?
Comments
I wanted to do this event because I thought it would be fun for everyone. I know people enjoyed the PvP Tournament since how can you play favorites in that one? Anyways, fun was the whole point of these events and people have finally sucked the fun out of it. I don't deserve the stress that people cause over this and frankly don't appreciate the BS attitudes from people. I would rather stress over the RL problems that I have going on rather than something over a video game.
After three years of being with this community and being on Champions, this is the most disappointed I have ever been with people.
@Quincy-St-Moth's PRIMUS page
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
that doesn't work as my disgust at people is out in the open.
I have participated in many CCs, and I have never seen any player win more than one category. I tell a lie, I saw it once....it was a mistake, and the SG who were hosting apologised afterwards.
I honestly don't think that those who hosted, judged, or helped run the CORP cc were deliberately trying to scam anyone.
However, perhaps better protocols and rules put in place beforehand could have prevented certain rumours flying around.
I realise that CORP is a community/channel within the game and not a SG, so the regulations for participating in CCs and choosing winners is not as clear cut as other CCS. This is why clear guidelines should perhaps have been discussed and advertised.
All this being said, if someone hosts a CC it's up to them how to do it . Would-be participants can then decide to turn up, not to turn up or leave during the event.
If the leader/leaders(?) of CORP have decided to never again hold their yearly CC, I'm sure that the rest of us will cope. It's just a video game after all.
Click here to check out my costumes/milleniumguardian (MG) in-game/We need more tights, stances and moods
Reldin, I'm disappointed in you. I have always liked you, and I think you can do better than completely dropping this. That's the wimpy way out, man.
Take the CORP members you've got. Take the active members of your community and make them CORP staff. Host TWO CC's. A public one (For persons not affiliated with CORP) and one in-house for CORP.
I'm not the best person to make suggestions because certain CORP members and I don't see eye-to-eye, and I will be perfectly honest- not my kind of community. Especially after the rumors of 'blacklisting' and a certain few members of the community telling people who know me that they shouldn't be friends with me because I've said some appalling things (guilty as charged, fux not given).
I honestly am an advocate of people being independent Roleplayers. I advise people to test the waters in any community, CORP or otherwise. The standing rumor/intel on CORP is that it is less like an affiliation of roleplayers and more like a clique, and sometimes things give off that appearance. It's often advertised as 'a community of roleplayers', which is sort of accurate- I know several people, including myself, that have a bad taste in their mouth about the group.
I'm not your enemy, but at the same time I didn't show to this event because I didn't want to deal with some of the people. Not being mean, not being dramatic. But I'll give you the brutality of an opinion and you know it.
If any of the CORP members have concerns with this...
I'm not really bothered with it. I'll still be playing the game with my friends.
Think all you want. Frankly, I don't really care if you think it's the wimpy way out or not. I've been really unhappy with the game and the people in it for over a year now and I can make any decision I damn well please. If there's another event for next year, I most likely will not be running it. I'm tired of being used as a doormat and feeling underappreciated and this entire thing that people decided to bring up is a prime example of why I feel this way. Myself and the other moderators decided to throw an event (one of which we did not even need to) and give back to our community only to have people lash out and foam at the mouth. Suggestions are welcomed and we'll be taking them into consideration. Hell, we had people do that for the PvP Tournament from last year and we made sure to make appropriate changes for this year, but again, I'm tired of the backlash and being treated like dogcrap.
As for the clique thing. I'm so tired of hearing about this. CORP is CORP and that's what it always has been. Are there cliques? Well of course there are, but what community doesn't have this? Not everyone needs to be involved with one another. We have SGs that are apart of the CORP community and they do their own things. Besides, what the hell do you think a SUPERGROUP is in the first place? It's a CLIQUE and you were apart of one. And like you said, you play with your friends. Is that not a clique?
We don't force these groups to do stuff with CORP. The moderators aren't enforcers to make sure people play with one another. If they want to make their own little groups to play with, they are more than welcomed to. CORP is a resource for people to use and hookup with others. If people make friends and decide to make a small RP group, I am happy, because we did our job as a community then.
As for the blacklisting thing...That's between you and the people you've left a lasting impression on. It's rather paranoid to even consider such a thing, because, well, you left a rather bad impression on the community in the first place--one of which I won't be going into here since that is between us. If the blacklisting thing were true, do you really think I would still be talking to you? I've never had a personal problem with you, so if other players do? Well that's on them.
@mightyzenith
We've had the guidelines posted for WEEKS in advance and we even spent about 15-20 minutes before judging even started to go over the guidelines. So, you can't say we never discussed or advertised these guidelines. Just look at the original date for this thread and look where it's placed (it's even STICKIED). People knew what they would be getting into, so it is not our fault. CORPers have known for 3 years now what this event was about and have never caused this much unnecessary drama about it.
And like I said in my previous post, I won 5 times (all for different characters/costumes), probably the most, and I don't really KNOW any CORP people on any meaningful level (Yet, anyway), aside from however much you get to know people via casually chatting in the OOC channel. How the balls is it a political move to give a practically unknown background guy a bunch of wins? What clique does that put me in exactly?
This isn't about politics, this is about butthurt, don't let it fudge up what is a perfectly open, welcoming, and friendly community, at least 99% of the time from what I've seen.
Given your comments above, I think you should probably take a break from CO. You may not realise it but most people in CO don't know who you are, just as they don't know who I am (and why should they).
I don't know who you are accusing of using you "as a doormat", but you should maybe work out your issues with them.
And as for your "I can make any decision I damn well please", well...........look, take a break man.
Yeah, we've moved on from that part of the thread. I'm certainly not accusing CORP of that and neither was Cybersoldier I think. As you said, you've already mentioned the above in a previous post in this thread. No need to bring it up again.
Ignoring rx9chaos in the first place may have been a better idea. He loves trolling and the bait was taken.
Click here to check out my costumes/milleniumguardian (MG) in-game/We need more tights, stances and moods
Of course most people from outside said community wouldn't know that. But odds are he isn't referring to them.
-Edit- Also 4 posts above you is a post about the CC, I was just trying to clarify because most people wouldn't read every post in all 6 pages of this mess.
I don't know what this is in reference to, but assumption is often the mother of screw ups.
Then he should take it up with them, perhaps using his very own CORP channel.
Don't underestimate the general population.
Maybe you should let Reldin speak for himself , he's a very articulate guy and more than capable.
Anyway, I'm off to bed, goodnight all.
Click here to check out my costumes/milleniumguardian (MG) in-game/We need more tights, stances and moods
I understand Reldin, I think I get it. Hope you're having a good time on GW2.
Just remember this.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB2Q5H6yM5Y
Click here to check out my costumes/milleniumguardian (MG) in-game/We need more tights, stances and moods
I understand this is a tangent. But seeing as how it seems relevant. I feel the need to ask anyhow.
What makes someone a CORP member? There is no SG to join. Is it simply access to the website? Is posting required? Is it access to the chat channel? I believe its currently been made public. So that is a pretty wide door to leave open. Is it having access to the private RP channel?
The rules dont really explain what makes someone a member or not. Only how one should behave. So im honestly curious.
This is a valid question. As it stands, anyone can slap 'CORP' in their bio, and pretty much people take it for what it's worth.
If it were mine to do, and I was running something like this- I'd use PRIMUS's lore model as a basis. Members would have registered characters in PRIMUS, and players would be able to check the credentials. Even now, 'Champions Online Role Players' encompasses anyone who does roleplay. It may be in need of a revamp.
Reldin, between my time of hosting/judging spear ccs for like 2 years, mixed with my own private ccs, I've seen a lot of this too. Not nearly this public (again, where are the mods? I feel like this is exactly why we have em, personal attacks aren't ok) but still. It's a thing that happens, please don't let it get you down. You know the whiners are the minority, most of us really appreciate what you guys did.
Between this and the flare constantly getting muted for advertising thing, I think someone actively has it out for event organizers in this game. It frankly disturbs me, since the community stuff is part of what makes the game so great.
RIP Caine
If you use anything CORP Related, then you can probably safely consider yourself a CORP member. If you don't and you have no interest, then for the sake of avoiding confusion, you might not want to say that. We don't care, provided that when you use CORP channels or the CORP website or attend something like CORPfest, you adhere to the rules supplied there.
It's an open community. You can go there and check it out. That's your prerogative. So when you see the "Brand name" being bandied about, safe to assume that whatever it is will fall under the auspices of the rules that are applied to other CORP related things.
I've always thought that was rather obvious. Same with the whole open community thing. If you check out the website where all that stuff is posted, you'll find the same phrases put together, and the dots aren't spread that much further apart. Needing CORP creds or any crap like that would be ridiculous and taking things to a silly degree. Overthinking it, even.
CORPfest probably isn't going to happen again. It's a strenuous undertaking on a good year, I'm sure you can imagine what it's like on a bad one. Considering it isn't a fundamental right of any of the involved parties, and that this is a videogame, I'm sure we can all come to the cordial agreement that, oh well, these things happen.
So going over that again, open RP community. When you step in the door, leave your shoes there and respect the rules. When you leave, feel free to put them back on, that's not our business. We don't need to play around with anything more precise or fancy than that. It's like searching for some big mystery when there is none, and I'm sure those few, tiny enclaves of people outside of CORP who care and those people in CORP who care can understand that there isn't a mystery to uncover here. Nothing complicated. We're not going to act on you for your RP or any of that dumb crap. We moderate behavior in channels and on a freakin' website.
CORP members don't receive "preferred" status versus those not in CORP because what on Earth are we judging you for if it doesn't involve actually being involved with CORP? If you're random joe schmoe going to a costume contest we're hosting, we're not going to sit there and cackle in our chairs, taking glee in mistreating the "filthy, subhuman nonCORPer."
We're going to judge your costume, and if it places, it places. If it doesn't, it doesn't. Such is life. Relax, people. Running a community where you hit a hump every now and then is definitely a frustrating thing, but I'm getting this vibe from a lot of the talk here that this is being perceived as something bigger than it actually is. Since we all know that isn't the case, let's just take a breather and chill out a bit. Back to the 9 to 5. Life goes on, etcetera.
It's pretty much being active in the channel (or channels, since we have both an ooc and ic one) and website, or one of the other, so long as you're being somewhat active, joining RP events (we have some posted on the event calendar for people to view) and even hosting your own RP for others to join. There's no definite definition of how to be a CORP member because it's pretty much up to the person and how active they want to be.
Think of it like how you joined Champions Online. We have the terms of service telling us what we can and can't do. The CORP Code of Conduct is pretty much that, except we don't need to put down what you CAN do since that's a given. You're free to do as you please so long as you don't start drama. That's pretty much the jist of it. We don't use the Conduct as a way to strip away your Freedom of Speech or anything crazy like that. We simply have our guidelines to help keep the channel from going insane and having our members going at each other's throats.
I'll use another example though. You see how you're posting here on the forums? Do you feel like you're apart of the Champions community? It's sort of like that with CORP, except it's for the roleplay audience and such. You basically just take whatever you've been doing with Champions and just be active with a different part of the community.
There is one issue regarding "being a CORP member" that's been brought up a few times. I know some people leave the channel/community because they may not feel like they're apart of the community. This, well this, isn't our fault. Like I said before, it has to do with what YOU put into the community as well. We have a very small amount of GMs/DMs available, most of which are actually the moderators themselves. We can only plot and plan out so many RP scenarios before we get burned out and when there are roughly 50-100 people in the channel at any given time (about 75% of them are lurkers or have the channel off), we can't cater to them all. We've had a lot of new players coming into the channel and so far, I've seen SOME effort being put into them as I see people mention wanting to start up some roleplay and eventually they get a little gathering going in one of the public instances. That is pretty much what WE want to happen and it's a prime example of showing off how to be a CORP member.
And it's been awhile since my last post and I had some time to think and cool off. I appreciate the folks showing support and understanding for what's been happening. CORP only does one costume contest a year and we like to make it a big deal when we do it, so I guess it's tough for us that coordinate and plan it to see this kind of outcome for an event.
One says, just join. Another says be an active part. Not trying to come off as snarky here. But if the plans are, in fact, to have activities open only to members. Shouldn't there be a better consensus. on what that is? That said, I am grateful for the insight. Thank you.
However, this brings me to something else said. That I feel is in error.
I really don't find this a good example. Anyone can post. Posting is meaningless. Spammers post, trolls post, the angry, the upset, and the like can all post. This whole firestorm started with a post. So posting alone means nothing and does little to bring someone into a community.
It is interaction. It is getting a response, a conversation, a debate or a dialog. That is what makes me feel like i'm part of something.
Its why, I asked my original question. Ive been part of CORP, i'm signed up on the website, i'm on the OOC channel. And I really don't feel a part of it. Now im aware part of this is my own self. I rarely pipe up on the channel. The few times I try to get a conversation going it seems to fizzle...posting without interaction. Ive stopped bothering, and not because the last time I tried I was told directly to shut up. I just would rather spend my time doing other things then to try to force myself into something.
I know, i cant be the only one feeling frustrated by this. So, i'm not offering this for pity or as a slam or to nag. Simply as food for thought.
You're looking in the wrong place for consistency, the point being there isn't an explicit definition. When you use these things, you're agreeing to abide by the rules. Activity is relevant to what you're gonna get. But as we say, it's an open community. You can come and go as you please. And what you put in it will help shape what you get. But that's anything in life, no?