Taking the Game out of the Game

Getting back into a posting flow is turning out to be quite difficult for me. You may or may not have noticed this.

Yesterday it was announced on the Stratics U Hall that the rewards at Event Moderator events were being modified. Many avid MMO players would call this a nerf. They would be 100% right.

In the past few weeks there have been complaints on Stratics about the rewards being given out. I didn't say a lot. I am actually thinking about going back and counting how many there were. It has been posted that one of the EM staff said that Stratics complaints were the main reasoning behind the reward distribution change. Since the announcement there have been at least 200 replies commenting on it. It would be interesting to see how many are for and against this change.

The change itself is as follows. No longer are Event Moderators allowed to give a limited amount of an item they choose. Now they have to give the same item out to everyone. The "winners" of the event get a slightly better item with their name and date attached. Isn't that just grand?

Of course it isn't. Let me relate to you all a past event I had the pleasure of participating in. We had to find these Orge Lords who stole some grapes. They were scattered throughout the land. After defeating them we looted the grapes, of which I can say there were certainly not enough for everyone to have. You had the chance to turn in those grapes and get a bottle of Delucia wine. That was the event. If that event ran today either the grapes would not be lootable or the Event Moderator would have to offer them to everyone. But then why would we go retrieve them if there were plenty left over? It kills the entire story of the event.

These changes in the name of fairness are the same as how there is a push in education/sports to make everyone feel the same. No keeping score are that football game! Everyone gets a gold star on their report, even if the paper only has their name on it! No one is going to have their feelings hurt or might be encouraged to try harder next time.

When those Orge Lords invade Trinsic, no need to slay them. Just come back at the end and get your free shiny items with your name on them.