If you read nothing else, read the part in red at the bottom.

Alright, this has gone on long enough. I've delayed making this post for months hoping shit would get better, but it's not.

I am Bob. I am also a player. For those who know who i am, good for you, stfu. For those who don't, don't find out.

I have been on this shard a long time, and have turned down staff positions a LOT. I never wanted to be staff, i enjoyed playing the game and helping staff as i could with bugs and such. I never asked for special treatment, and usually got the exact opposite, with newer staff following me around because they didn't trust me.

A few years ago, Admin Blinkers banned my account. It was a time when everything was falling to hell, and it was a random act of adminness, but that's what blinkers does best, and he does understand the shard for those who think he doesn't.
He banned my account and gave me a new one in return. With 1 character on it, named Bob Dole.

And that is where Gm Bob came from. I still told him that i refuse to staff openly, because i did NOT want the shitstorm that would come with it. I already got accused of being every new staff in existence, and of doing all this different stuff to cheat. The last thing i wanted to do was to give people reason to put out more bullshit about me.

Well this made me get ahold of broadband, and a few days later i was able to get him in talks. Unfortunately for me instead of getting on to blinkers, he agreed. So i struck a deal with broadband. I would staff in secret if my player account was returned and the rules about them were changed. He agreed, and so for the next 15 months, i continued playing as normal, and would staff as i could, permanently invisible, using other staff's names and colors to get stuff done. I also started doing patches for broadband, and while i did not have script access, i was able to email them and they'd get installed a week or few later when broadband had time.

Unfortunately stuff kept getting worse, and eventually i had to vis. We lost more staff so i didn't have almost anyone to impersonate, and problems
required visible help. So the first time people saw GM Bob, i had already been around for a year. Immediately the shitstorms started, and they've been going pretty nonstop ever since.

Since that time i've been the first staff in years to get direct code access, something that even Blinkers was never given, though he deserved it. And i've been working my ass off to make life better for ya'll, even with the bullshit i put up with, and with that big ugly ass bug in t3a that forced us to migrate to t4a. Do ya think i wnated to waste 2 years fixing shit that was broke because of that change? Nope. I'd rather be working on the new shit like armies that i've had waiting for 3 years on hold.

Anyway, basically what it comes down to it this. I was forced into this, didn't chose it. I put up with enough bullshit from people who claim I cheat or i hack or whatever bull they wanna pull against me at the time, and it's not just because i'm staff. I put up with that shit well before i got staff.
Stop it.
If you have an issue with me, don't slander my name just to give you an excuse. If you think i cheat, point out why and given reasons. If you think i abuse powers, bring it up in forums and debate it.
But from now on, these are the new public rules. Staff rules were changed years ago to allow for this, but i was hoping people would be honest enough not to give our staff shit.

GM's Bill of Rights:
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1. Any gm who is trusted enough by the administrators of the shard and has a proven record of conduct beyond reproach, is allowed their player account to be reactivated, and put under high-alert status, meaning it gets the same log requirements as any known bug abuser.
2. Any player who knowingly discloses the identity of a staff's player account, faces jail time.
3. All players are expected to be respectful of staff who take time out of their lives to make the shard better, and as such do not bring up staff issues to them when they are playing. Doing so is a violation of rule 2. This INCLUDES using instant messengers to contact them as staff if they have not EXPRESSLY told you that you may contact them. This means if they haven't given you their messenger info as staff, then you should not contact them as staff. If they have messneger info on the forums for their player, you can only use that for player stuff, anything else is a violation of rule 2.
4. Any accusation of cheating against staff is to be handled by an admin or a different staff, minimum level GM. Any accusation of cheating also will result in a full inquiry, with penalties for the guilty party. All documents regarding the inquiry are going to be publicly posted to the website/forums. THIS MEANS: If you falsly accuse staff, you will be punished. Because any investigation will reveal a LOT about a staff's player, and so is VERY damaging to them. If a staff hears it leave your lips, then it can be considered an accusation. So watch your tounges unless you really mean it.


This applies to every staff that has been allowed a player account, there are currently 7 non-deleted Staff with player accounts.
Ignorance of this is NOT AN EXCUSE.

Understood.

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Euroman
Doppleganger

I'm glad you and other staff still play Bob. I would be disappointed if you didn't. If you guys were not trustworthy enough to have both I doubt you would have staff accounts to begin with

I have not been around much over the last few weeks, but I'm guessing the accusations your post relates to were made be the usual over-opinionated little snots. Hope they didn't annoy & piss you off too much dude.

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Miner/Smith/Lumberjack/Carpenter/Cartographer
Alchemist/Fisherman/Tamer/Warrior/Daemon

dude, you do enough for the shard, if you want to log on and play without the bullshit, you should dam well be able to. Whoever cried foul needs be strung up.

Thats your opinion. Others have their own. You might like the idea, but others might not.

But Im not going to get into that subject in this thread.

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Euroman
Doppleganger

I agree with Tax....if your trusted enough to be staff then you should be able to play the game as well.... I would hate to be made staff and loose all rights as a player....its like getting home from work to go to work that's awful. But I do appreciate all your hard work all of you. Personally as a player playing a free game where the staff get nothing but grief for their hard work I see absolutely no problem with the staff still being able to play.

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[email protected]

Ankhesenamun
Dedo Serenity
Fisherwmn
Ruby Estella
Enchantress

I second that. =)

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Phishy - Fisherman / Cook
BloodshyRose - Warrior
Black Amethyst - Alchemist / Item ID
Fabron - Blacksmith

The last thing we need is our only coder (and best coder I can remember) being discouraged from Obsidian because someone wants to cry.

And this does not only apply to Bob. The staff we have now are good at what they do, and we don't need them getting so fed up with crappy players that they don't want to be staff anymore.

We all know this shard belongs to BB, but Bob is the closest thing to a live-in landlord we have had in a long time. BB makes ultimate decisions on larger things, but the day to day operations of the shard, as well as bringing it into the future, is almost entirely in Bobs hands. If Bob were gone, I'm positive there would be no Obsidian. Show a little dam respect, because if he gets too discouraged we're all screwed.

While i appreciate the comments, ireally just want you guys to understnad that i don't want special treatment.
That's why i kept turning down staff. I could help the shard as i was a player without the special treatment/rules that went with it.

Now i'm stuck with it, and i understand i get put under a lot more restrictions. But i run under a just system(inmy mind, if ya disagree feel free to bring it up in general for debate), and as such if people wanna raise issues with me, it'll get investigated to hopefully everyone's satisfaction.

I'm not saying staff are now beyond accusation. I'm just saying from now on, if ya really think there's an honest issue, make accusations and let them be judged. IF you're just throwing shit, i'd rather not hear it, because people do believe it.
Players keep staff honest just as much as staff keep players honest.

I'm not gonna quit or stop workign because of the crap people pull, i've stuck around too logn to do that. So don't feel this is a threat. The only "threat" is that if people keep accusing staff of being unfair, there will be investigations into it, and if the investigation was just a waste of staff time and privacy then the offending party who started it will be dealt with in some fashion(probably public vote and shaming, i'm all about public shaming for better behavior).

I say....ROCK ON BOB!!!

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Falin(ROT)-Bully
Galen Soulhunter(Deamons)-Money maker
Cutler-Worker Bee
Hook(Daemons)-Mild mannered reporter/Tamer
Mr.Obvious-SUPER Crafter

dont worry no one is gonna give u special treatment your work is appreciated and ill always respect ur staff and you as a person. and hope my guild mates kill ur player every time they see you like we always used to.

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LOV FOR LIFE

Fully agreed

Irony is, I got the whole cheating thing backwards when I became staff. Instead of benefitting my player, I gave all my good items from my player to my counselor to give away as event prizes, lol!

I would love to say my player ever benefitted in some way from being staff, but I'm afraid it was always the opposite for me. I don't really have the heart to actively 'play' anymore, but it's nice to know that my player account still exists as a relic to remind me of good times past.

I have to add, though, that no player should ever publicly accuse a member of staff of cheating - but not just to protect staff. To protect the players!

The reasoning for this is very simple. Experienced staff see, hear, and anticipate infinitely more than most players realise. If you spot a member of staff who you believe is cheating/abusing (which is extremely rare, particularly for GM's, but has been known to happen), then the worst possible thing you can do is make a fuss about it in public.

This will instantly make the staff member aware of your suspicions, leading them to stop / reduce this behaviour, and making it more difficult to catch them at it - meaning time consuming trawling of the logs to gather evidence.

Even paging ingame is not a great idea - because all staff see this, and if you are wrong it is embarassing, and if you are right it is counterproductive for the reasons above.

As an example, as a player a (now-banned-so-will-remain-unnamed) member of staff abused their staff account in order to PK me. I had suspicions but did not understand, so I paged and paged. Eventually, GM Hydro spotted my pages and banned the staff member in question, but for the rest of the day my pages had just been deleted by the corrupt member of staff.

So, in short:

If you have ANY suspicion of a staff member cheating/abusing your powers then often there is a simple misunderstanding, however we will ALWAYS take it seriously and investigate. You should:

• PM one of us directly on the forums. Either myself, Bob, or Echo. Bob is the best placed for detailed investigation, but he has enough to do, so myself or Echo would be your best bet. If we are unable to resolve the issue then we will raise it to Bob.

Throughout Obsidian's history, we've all made the odd mistake, but true staff abuse including 'cheating' has been taken VERY seriously; I've personally banned more than one member of staff due to severe misconduct, so rest assured action will be taken if there is guilt. All we are asking is that you are mature and diplomatic and raise your complaint via the relevant channels i.e. directly to a GM on the forums.

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Thassius
"Blessed are the noobs, for they shall inherit Obsidian" - Thassius

Oh, like the time you accidentally slayed all of us at the bank with chain lightning as a GM? LOL! Lots of mad players that evening...

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Ultima avatar: The Famed JIZABOZ,GWAR Guildmeister

lol....something tells me that was not a mistake

LOL I started to make that joke myself but refrained

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Ultima avatar: The Famed JIZABOZ,GWAR Guildmeister