2015 - New Year, New Us

[Beatty]

2015

---

We're gonna slam right into the new year here folks, changes will be real and fast. Don't expect much leniency, we're trying to push through everything fast since there's a lot changing. The biggest and most notable one a lot of questions will go towards is probably the donation perks: we've removed most of them. This is no longer a pay-2-win situation, adapt and adapt fast.

Major Donation Changes
- Speed mods are gone, you will no longer be able to buy or transfer them among vehicles. Those which are In-Game, are In-Game. Refunds can be given if you report and request them to be removed, that is the only way.

- An updated list of perks can be found here. If it's not on the list, it's gone. This means buying admin, factions, everything.

Faction Changes
- The Faction Review Team will be revamped and rebuilt to help improve the quality of not only the existing factions, but the nonexistent ability to become official without paying (which you can no longer do).

Administration
- Direct and unseeable changes will be made toward the administration. This includes how we promote, delegate and assign tasks to those assisting in the administration of the server. These changes will be some of the more severe.

- Beatty has been promoted to Co-Owner with Ello, Bunny to Head of Admins.

---

Further changes are still in planning and being made, including multiple community discussions regarding server changes.

 

[Luka]

Congrats Beatty and Bunny!

 

[NamE]

Congratulations to all who got promoted, but speedmod removal sucks tbh

 

[Gundi]

All this seems positive, you have my full support! Good luck for the future

 

[admbot]

Refunds? Yea give me my IRL money back please, then you can remove all of my V12's

 

[Luka]

Aaaaand here it comes! ^

 

[Bunny]

Refunds? Yea give me my IRL money back please, then you can remove all of my V12's

Something that wasn't clear here, ALL V12s' will be kept currently ingame if you have one. If you somehow loose it, it's gone, FOREVER.

 

[Cali4Life]

Congrats to Bunny, always knew he was going to make it to become a Head admin. And also congrats to Beatty, keep up the good work and these changes are going to be great in the long run.

 

[Driga]

Gratz to Beatty and especially to Bunny

 

[Anthony_Trinh]

Gratz to Beatty and bunny, overload, great choices.

Yay, no more speedmod, hopefully people rply drive now.

 

[Chase]

oh how exciting

 

[Beatty]

oh how exciting

luv

 

[strawberryhero]

How I imagine Beatty convinced Ello to do this:

Matthew Ello: "Okay guys, so the next subject on the list..."
*Matthew Ello opens his eyes widely in surprise.
Matthew Ello: "Who brought up removing donation perks to limit the, quote on quote, 'win to win' situation on the server?"
*Brian Beatty raises his hand.
Matthew Ello: "Alright, explain to me why we should ever consider this."
*Brian Beatty checks down his character sheet, looking for Persuasion.
*Brian Beatty rolls a D20...
* The D20 rolls and lands on a natural 20! *
*Brian Beatty jumps up from his chair.
Brian Beatty: "Aww, yeah! A natural 20, my persuasion succeeds! Suck that, Ello!"
*The Game Master facepalms.

 

[MichaelNL]

Congratulations Bunny

 

[Mr.H]

Good work..the pay-2-win thingie is now gone.

 

[maramizo]

2015

---

Faction Changes
- The Faction Review Team will be revamped and rebuilt to help improve the quality of not only the existing factions, but the nonexistent ability to become official without paying (which you can no longer do).

Administration
- Direct and unseeable changes will be made toward the administration. This includes how we promote, delegate and assign tasks to those assisting in the administration of the server. These changes will be some of the more severe.

- Beatty has been promoted to Co-Owner with Ello, Bunny to Head of Admins.

---

Further changes are still in planning and being made, including multiple community discussions regarding server changes.

(P.S: This is a somewhat long reply and has many points towards how - IN MY OPINION - the new revamped administrator team and the FRT team should operate; please do not reply without completely reading my whole post, and if you are unwilling to read, then stop right now. However, I would love a response so I can improve my ideas which may be mistaken. Also keep note that all of the following points are completely based on my experience and ideology of how a professional FRT and administrator team should operate, I in no way argue that I am correct, I simply argue that this is how I believe it should become.)


SO MUCH WIN! SO MUCH YES!

First, the faction revamp is a complete YESSSSSSSSSS, I've seen so much people with extremely low RP quality purchase factions which caused HIDEOUS roleplay among the server, since anyone in the lower ranks of the faction looks up to someone with terrible RP skills, taking the whole server down with them.

The administrator team DID need a revamp, and I - as a player who's been playing this game for 5 years now - have multiple points that need urgent address:

1. Administrators should ALWAYS remember their main point is to ensure everyone knows and plays by the rules; accordingly, multiple actions should be input, including but not limited to:
   
   • Always PM or /b the player who is breaking a rule, even if the player has been warned for it before. The administrator must always ensure that this player is breaking a rule that HE IS AWARE OF and that what he's doing IS against the rules. This has been overruled by multiple administrators and I've seen many people get jailed for rules that they didn't even know existed, and when asking "Why was I jailed? I don't even know why.." They'd end up with "Common sense rule." as a reply, this is INEFFICIENT and WILL cause huge amount of QQ from the players, plus it will raise the tension towards the relationship between administrators and players; which should instead always remain friendly.
     
     
   • The rules list on the forums is extremely outdated, and some rules ARE completely wrong (Take for example rule #10, which I actually did tell you guys that it was completely wrong before and no-one took any action, the rule says "If you are admin Jailed, You are expected to Roleplay with everyone else there. (The jail is for both Admin Jail and PD Jail. If you DM, or fail to RP in that jail, You will be sentenced to a padded cell alone.)", which makes no sense that you should RP in admin jail, which is an OOC jail. These rules should be expanded to all the enforced rules in the server and edited accordingly, so that everyone knows what's right and what's wrong. Take the following for example (which has occurred to myself on many occasions, and I'm more than confident has occurred to multiple others): Sometimes, I'm in an RP in which Admin A is spectating, the admin sees nothing wrong with the RP and continues with it accordingly. Afterwards, in an another event, Admin B is spectating and the SAME RP is going on, which Admin B says is breaking the rules. Many players would blame either/both admins for being unfair, since the SAME RULE was enforced in one event, and not the other.
     
     
   • Explicitly explain on forums and in game the fact that if the admin is performing or enforcing a rule which you see as wrong or unfair, and the admin is not taking your idea into account or that if he still sees you as mistaken, you should never further argue in game and take your opinion to the ticket center with the event's logs; explaining your idea and what has went wrong in your opinion. I have been told this waaaaaaaaay too late by Bunny (may I note that he told me this in our first meeting; Bunny is an extremely good admin, but that's not the point I'm discussing now) and he told me this point, after I had already 5 +1's on my /chk of 'Shitty attitude' because I always thought I should argue my points IG, and never fully understood this point because it was basically non-existent on the forums. (I had always done this on SA:MP and it was how it works there, the whole "Take it to the TC" is something I was NEVER told, not even by a single admin from the 5 administrators who +1'd my /chk.)
     
2. Always ensure that you warn a player before editing his /chk. As a witness to this happening on many cases, multiple players have had their /chk edited without any sort of verbal warning or advice, which does not help them understand any of their mistakes; they are unaware of their mistakes in the first place. Players need admins to tutor them through, since administrators are the ones with more knowledge concerning the rules, this is a point that many administrators I've seen fail to understand and act upon.
   
   
3. Remember! The common rule clearly says: "Use Common Sense! If a rule isn't listed, but you know its a rule.. (Example: Ninjajacking) don't expect to q_q your way out of it.", I've seen administrators jail players WITHOUT telling them about why they jailed them, nor warning them that what they're doing is considered wrong. Players should always be warned especially if it lies under the "Common sense" rule, which in the first place should be expanded to include all the rules that are enforced (as I've already said previously).

Concerning the FRT, in my opinion, the new FRT should consist of the administrators with the highest RP skills; I actually wondered "Why not players as well?", but then that might lead to unfairness since some players might be biased, unlike administrators whom are expected to be the opposite of that. The current server's RP standards are low, and the new revamped FRT should be extremely strict towards RP. It should not hesitate to give warnings/strikes to factions of which's members are doing something NON-RP. Jails of players should add some sort of warning to the faction; in my opinion, accountability is an extremely important fact which should never be forgotten, leaders of any faction ARE accountable for what their members are doing, since they are the ones who added them to the faction in the first place.

As for Bunny, I've been waiting for this, I really have. You are WITHOUT DOUBT one of the most professional, friendly, honest and trustworthy administrators in this server, NEVER have I seen Bunny take sides of ANYONE, he has taken the sides of players versus head admins and lead admins just because he honestly believed they were correct. Bunny, you are a jewel among the administrators and I, as a member of MTA:RP, am proud to have you represent the administrator team. Great job, definitely deserved that promotion.

As for Beatty, I have never really been in touch with you IG, but from the ticket center I've seen more than enough to EASILY state that you are without doubt one of the most unbiased administrators on the server, you maintain the same perspective of Bunny when dealing with players: which is to always be as professional and as unbiased as possible, something many administrators fail to provide. I am more than positive that you maintain the former perspective IG as well in handling player reports, and it is good to know that you've been promoted accordingly. Great job.

And one small P.S: P2W is not gone, since stat transfers are now only purchasable with real life money only; think about that, people.

 

[BboyEnzo]

bout fucking time
who knows i might even come back

 

[Anthony_Trinh]

(P.S: This is a somewhat long reply and has many points towards how - IN MY OPINION - the new revamped administrator team and the FRT team should operate; please do not reply without completely reading my whole post, and if you are unwilling to read, then stop right now. However, I would love a response so I can improve my ideas which may be mistaken. Also keep note that all of the following points are completely based on my experience and ideology of how a professional FRT and administrator team should operate, I in no way argue that I am correct, I simply argue that this is how I believe it should become.)


SO MUCH WIN! SO MUCH YES!

First, the faction revamp is a complete YESSSSSSSSSS, I've seen so much people with extremely low RP quality purchase factions which caused HIDEOUS roleplay among the server, since anyone in the lower ranks of the faction looks up to someone with terrible RP skills, taking the whole server down with them.

The administrator team DID need a revamp, and I - as a player who's been playing this game for 5 years now - have multiple points that need urgent address:

1. Administrators should ALWAYS remember their main point is to ensure everyone knows and plays by the rules; accordingly, multiple actions should be input, including but not limited to:
   
   • Always PM or /b the player who is breaking a rule, even if the player has been warned for it before. The administrator must always ensure that this player is breaking a rule that HE IS AWARE OF and that what he's doing IS against the rules. This has been overruled by multiple administrators and I've seen many people get jailed for rules that they didn't even know existed, and when asking "Why was I jailed? I don't even know why.." They'd end up with "Common sense rule." as a reply, this is INEFFICIENT and WILL cause huge amount of QQ from the players, plus it will raise the tension towards the relationship between administrators and players; which should instead always remain friendly.
     
     
   • The rules list on the forums is extremely outdated, and some rules ARE completely wrong (Take for example rule #10, which I actually did tell you guys that it was completely wrong before and no-one took any action, the rule says "If you are admin Jailed, You are expected to Roleplay with everyone else there. (The jail is for both Admin Jail and PD Jail. If you DM, or fail to RP in that jail, You will be sentenced to a padded cell alone.)", which makes no sense that you should RP in admin jail, which is an OOC jail. These rules should be expanded to all the enforced rules in the server and edited accordingly, so that everyone knows what's right and what's wrong. Take the following for example (which has occurred to myself on many occasions, and I'm more than confident has occurred to multiple others): Sometimes, I'm in an RP in which Admin A is spectating, the admin sees nothing wrong with the RP and continues with it accordingly. Afterwards, in an another event, Admin B is spectating and the SAME RP is going on, which Admin B says is breaking the rules. Many players would blame either/both admins for being unfair, since the SAME RULE was enforced in one event, and not the other.
     
     
   • Explicitly explain on forums and in game the fact that if the admin is performing or enforcing a rule which you see as wrong or unfair, and the admin is not taking your idea into account or that if he still sees you as mistaken, you should never further argue in game and take your opinion to the ticket center with the event's logs; explaining your idea and what has went wrong in your opinion. I have been told this waaaaaaaaay too late by Bunny (may I note that he told me this in our first meeting; Bunny is an extremely good admin, but that's not the point I'm discussing now) and he told me this point, after I had already 5 +1's on my /chk of 'Shitty attitude' because I always thought I should argue my points IG, and never fully understood this point because it was basically non-existent on the forums. (I had always done this on SA:MP and it was how it works there, the whole "Take it to the TC" is something I was NEVER told, not even by a single admin from the 5 administrators who +1'd my /chk.)
     
2. Always ensure that you warn a player before editing his /chk. As a witness to this happening on many cases, multiple players have had their /chk edited without any sort of verbal warning or advice, which does not help them understand any of their mistakes; they are unaware of their mistakes in the first place. Players need admins to tutor them through, since administrators are the ones with more knowledge concerning the rules, this is a point that many administrators I've seen fail to understand and act upon.
   
   
3. Remember! The common rule clearly says: "Use Common Sense! If a rule isn't listed, but you know its a rule.. (Example: Ninjajacking) don't expect to q_q your way out of it.", I've seen administrators jail players WITHOUT telling them about why they jailed them, nor warning them that what they're doing is considered wrong. Players should always be warned especially if it lies under the "Common sense" rule, which in the first place should be expanded to include all the rules that are enforced (as I've already said previously).

Concerning the FRT, in my opinion, the new FRT should consist of the administrators with the highest RP skills; I actually wondered "Why not players as well?", but then that might lead to unfairness since some players might be biased, unlike administrators whom are expected to be the opposite of that. The current server's RP standards are low, and the new revamped FRT should be extremely strict towards RP. It should not hesitate to give warnings/strikes to factions of which's members are doing something NON-RP. Jails of players should add some sort of warning to the faction; in my opinion, accountability is an extremely important fact which should never be forgotten, leaders of any faction ARE accountable for what their members are doing, since they are the ones who added them to the faction in the first place.


And one small P.S: P2W is not gone, since stat transfers are now only purchasable with real life money only; think about that, people.

How to detect a troll:
#1: Has no facts placed to argue with.
#2: Generally useless comments, basically nuisance just to gain attention.
#3: Attempts to disregard important statements that are pointed out by others.

Lol, most of this is redundant as that is how admins are supposed to act. The detecting the troll procedure from you ain't always true, what if that was just their opinion as this is not an essay, it's a game and what if their level of education ain't as high as others (not talking about stupidity but am talking about ages on this server and also their knowledge of American/British English). Some admins don't believe in reasoning and yes for small petty crimes, jailling immediately is not the best option but may do it for someones who's been doing it repeatedly (admins do check your history and notes on you to determine punishments, if you suspect that they didn't, report them on the ticket centre).

I kinda agree with your suggestions to the frt after reading it more but the leader should only have SOME accountability as remember, not everyone's rp skills are the best and the faction leader ain't usually gonna do rp schools and all, main focus now, start small, increase the rp in the server little by little. There isn't a server where all players are amazing at rp, there will always be good ones, noobs, lower rp levels, and just intermediate rp levels (and humans are almost never perfect which is the truth; epistemology definition of truth-true, justified belief that'll always be the truth [if proven wrong, it means it was never the truth]).


Before one makes a rebuttal, this is just my opinion on someone else's opinion and always remember that there is going to be bias even if it ain't shown. Bias is a key element in Language and emotion as ways of knowing and there are reasons for it. While you do have some pretty good deductive logic there, keep it up.

 

[Bunny]

How I imagine Beatty convinced Ello to do this:

Matthew Ello: "Okay guys, so the next subject on the list..."
*Matthew Ello opens his eyes widely in surprise.
Matthew Ello: "Who brought up removing donation perks to limit the, quote on quote, 'win to win' situation on the server?"
*Brian Beatty raises his hand.
Matthew Ello: "Alright, explain to me why we should ever consider this."
*Brian Beatty checks down his character sheet, looking for Persuasion.
*Brian Beatty rolls a D20...
* The D20 rolls and lands on a natural 20! *
*Brian Beatty jumps up from his chair.
Brian Beatty: "Aww, yeah! A natural 20, my persuasion succeeds! Suck that, Ello!"
*The Game Master facepalms.

It was much harder then that and it took more then just Beatty. Bunny played a big part.

(P.S: This is a somewhat long reply and has many points towards how - IN MY OPINION - the new revamped administrator team and the FRT team should operate; please do not reply without completely reading my whole post, and if you are unwilling to read, then stop right now. However, I would love a response so I can improve my ideas which may be mistaken. Also keep note that all of the following points are completely based on my experience and ideology of how a professional FRT and administrator team should operate, I in no way argue that I am correct, I simply argue that this is how I believe it should become.)


SO MUCH WIN! SO MUCH YES!

First, the faction revamp is a complete YESSSSSSSSSS, I've seen so much people with extremely low RP quality purchase factions which caused HIDEOUS roleplay among the server, since anyone in the lower ranks of the faction looks up to someone with terrible RP skills, taking the whole server down with them.

The administrator team DID need a revamp, and I - as a player who's been playing this game for 5 years now - have multiple points that need urgent address:

1. Administrators should ALWAYS remember their main point is to ensure everyone knows and plays by the rules; accordingly, multiple actions should be input, including but not limited to:
   
   • Always PM or /b the player who is breaking a rule, even if the player has been warned for it before. The administrator must always ensure that this player is breaking a rule that HE IS AWARE OF and that what he's doing IS against the rules. This has been overruled by multiple administrators and I've seen many people get jailed for rules that they didn't even know existed, and when asking "Why was I jailed? I don't even know why.." They'd end up with "Common sense rule." as a reply, this is INEFFICIENT and WILL cause huge amount of QQ from the players, plus it will raise the tension towards the relationship between administrators and players; which should instead always remain friendly.
     
     
   • The rules list on the forums is extremely outdated, and some rules ARE completely wrong (Take for example rule #10, which I actually did tell you guys that it was completely wrong before and no-one took any action, the rule says "If you are admin Jailed, You are expected to Roleplay with everyone else there. (The jail is for both Admin Jail and PD Jail. If you DM, or fail to RP in that jail, You will be sentenced to a padded cell alone.)", which makes no sense that you should RP in admin jail, which is an OOC jail. These rules should be expanded to all the enforced rules in the server and edited accordingly, so that everyone knows what's right and what's wrong. Take the following for example (which has occurred to myself on many occasions, and I'm more than confident has occurred to multiple others): Sometimes, I'm in an RP in which Admin A is spectating, the admin sees nothing wrong with the RP and continues with it accordingly. Afterwards, in an another event, Admin B is spectating and the SAME RP is going on, which Admin B says is breaking the rules. Many players would blame either/both admins for being unfair, since the SAME RULE was enforced in one event, and not the other.
     
     
   • Explicitly explain on forums and in game the fact that if the admin is performing or enforcing a rule which you see as wrong or unfair, and the admin is not taking your idea into account or that if he still sees you as mistaken, you should never further argue in game and take your opinion to the ticket center with the event's logs; explaining your idea and what has went wrong in your opinion. I have been told this waaaaaaaaay too late by Bunny (may I note that he told me this in our first meeting; Bunny is an extremely good admin, but that's not the point I'm discussing now) and he told me this point, after I had already 5 +1's on my /chk of 'Shitty attitude' because I always thought I should argue my points IG, and never fully understood this point because it was basically non-existent on the forums. (I had always done this on SA:MP and it was how it works there, the whole "Take it to the TC" is something I was NEVER told, not even by a single admin from the 5 administrators who +1'd my /chk.)
     
2. Always ensure that you warn a player before editing his /chk. As a witness to this happening on many cases, multiple players have had their /chk edited without any sort of verbal warning or advice, which does not help them understand any of their mistakes; they are unaware of their mistakes in the first place. Players need admins to tutor them through, since administrators are the ones with more knowledge concerning the rules, this is a point that many administrators I've seen fail to understand and act upon.
   
   
3. Remember! The common rule clearly says: "Use Common Sense! If a rule isn't listed, but you know its a rule.. (Example: Ninjajacking) don't expect to q_q your way out of it.", I've seen administrators jail players WITHOUT telling them about why they jailed them, nor warning them that what they're doing is considered wrong. Players should always be warned especially if it lies under the "Common sense" rule, which in the first place should be expanded to include all the rules that are enforced (as I've already said previously).

Concerning the FRT, in my opinion, the new FRT should consist of the administrators with the highest RP skills; I actually wondered "Why not players as well?", but then that might lead to unfairness since some players might be biased, unlike administrators whom are expected to be the opposite of that. The current server's RP standards are low, and the new revamped FRT should be extremely strict towards RP. It should not hesitate to give warnings/strikes to factions of which's members are doing something NON-RP. Jails of players should add some sort of warning to the faction; in my opinion, accountability is an extremely important fact which should never be forgotten, leaders of any faction ARE accountable for what their members are doing, since they are the ones who added them to the faction in the first place.

As for Bunny, I've been waiting for this, I really have. You are WITHOUT DOUBT one of the most professional, friendly, honest and trustworthy administrators in this server, NEVER have I seen Bunny take sides of ANYONE, he has taken the sides of players versus head admins and lead admins just because he honestly believed they were correct. Bunny, you are a jewel among the administrators and I, as a member of MTA:RP, am proud to have you represent the administrator team. Great job, definitely deserved that promotion.

As for Beatty, I have never really been in touch with you IG, but from the ticket center I've seen more than enough to EASILY state that you are without doubt one of the most unbiased administrators on the server, you maintain the same perspective of Bunny when dealing with players: which is to always be as professional and as unbiased as possible, something many administrators fail to provide. I am more than positive that you maintain the former perspective IG as well in handling player reports, and it is good to know that you've been promoted accordingly. Great job.

And one small P.S: P2W is not gone, since stat transfers are now only purchasable with real life money only; think about that, people.

All of these factors have been taken account of. Please keep in mind that administration changes won't be seen simply because our team is extremely secretive. We have certain ways we function. We promise quality however. Thanks.

bout fucking time
who knows i might even come back

Please do, me miss u

 

[maramizo]

Lol, most of this is redundant as that is how admins are supposed to act. The detecting the troll procedure from you ain't always true, what if that was just their opinion as this is not an essay, it's a game and what if their level of education ain't as high as others (not talking about stupidity but am talking about ages on this server and also their knowledge of American/British English). Some admins don't believe in reasoning and yes for small petty crimes, jailling immediately is not the best option but may do it for someones who's been doing it repeatedly (admins do check your history and notes on you to determine punishments, if you suspect that they didn't, report them on the ticket centre).

I kinda agree with your suggestions to the frt after reading it more but the leader should only have SOME accountability as remember, not everyone's rp skills are the best and the faction leader ain't usually gonna do rp schools and all, main focus now, start small, increase the rp in the server little by little. There isn't a server where all players are amazing at rp, there will always be good ones, noobs, lower rp levels, and just intermediate rp levels (and humans are almost never perfect which is the truth; epistemology definition of truth-true, justified belief that'll always be the truth [if proven wrong, it means it was never the truth]).


Before one makes a rebuttal, this is just my opinion on someone else's opinion and always remember that there is going to be bias even if it ain't shown. Bias is a key element in Language and emotion as ways of knowing and there are reasons for it. While you do have some pretty good deductive logic there, keep it up.

The philosophical bias you're talking about is completely irrelevant of the bias I'm talking of, I'm saying that if you're an administrator, and you got a report from me, a friend per say, and another person, you should always review the situation AS IS and not favor my side because I'm your friend, that's the sort of bias I'm talking of.

And here's what an opinion looks like:
"I disagree with this, this and that because of this, this and that."
Not:
"No, haha"

It is quite obvious one of those two opinions cares about moving the server and ideas offered forwards, while the other does not care.
Also, with stricter FRT rules, faction leaders will ensure that they actually keep the RP level of their members upwards; fearing for a faction strike. I still do stand by the FRT being extremely strict.