Player Killer (PK)

[Warrior]

I think I'm gonna be able to replace most of CrApHeR's gear, allthough I don't have any +6 wis amu's lying around. I might have a +5 though. As for Kaladorn's gear I'll replace everything major allthough I'm not sure if you mean a cloak of Aman or a cloak of Teleri. And I guess you mean an xbow of extra shots?


- Warrior

[Fink]

Hi Warrior,

Yes, cloak of Aman was what I had.  I'm working off of memory and I didn't remember the specific name.  And yes,  it was a crossbow of extra shots.  I don't recall the specs.  But I just wanted to throw those things into the list in case you ran accross them after you killed grez.

How might I be able to hook up with you and collect any gear of mine you might have found?

Thanks again!

Jeremy

[CrApHeR]

Kaladorn... i recover part of your stuff but u dont enter in the game..
i have your:
- Ball and chain of westernesse +9 +12 +2
- Full plate armour of resist lightning 25 +8
when u enter i give both

Regards
CrApHeR

[Fink]

I'm glad you've decided to stick with the game despite the recent turmoil Kaladorn.  Perhaps the scope of this instance of the problem will finally prompt Crimson to spend a little time on this our beloved code base.

Also, it was great to see the batch of current players all come together to sort eachother out while we put up with a wierdo with mental problems who presumably doesn't  actually like MAngband enough to want people to play it.

[sanjuro]

The lack of administrative response to this issue is highly disconcerting.  It's one thing to allow it, if it's balanced and people have the power to fight back consistently... but to allow one person to cause so much damage and create some seriously unfun play for so many people is just lame.

I have enough trouble with the game as it is... and I'll attribute that to not being able to find any artifacts but it's really because I suck.  Of course, the DDO beta hasn't helped my attendance any

[Murdin]

Finding artifacts is going to be increasingly harder the more people are on and the deeper people go. The current artifacts that you're likely to find at the moment will be of low calibur, perhaps best sold in favor of a good ego weapon. The other ones available are pretty high end and unlikely to be found unless you're rather deep or in a serious greater vault at a reasonable depth. If you're ever curious, Sanjuro, use ~ to check the list of claimed arts, or refer to my thread in the server-specific general discussion to get a fair idea of what's still floating around (though I haven't updated recently)

Anyway, keep looking, but don't think you absolutely HAVE to have an art to do well. There are some very good ego items out there that will serve you well.

[Warrior]

I think everyone who plays MAngband these days have noticed the absence of the MAngband maintainer who is also the server admin of the official server, mangband.org.

Crimson - allthough a competent programmer with the right thoughts and visions for the game... He is also a very busy man unable and/or unwilling to find the time to work on the game or even spend a minimum of time as a server admin.

Many of you new people noticed this in the way the pk'ing situation was handled, or rather - not handled at all.

As far as I know, (and it would surprise me if I'm wrong) Crimson doesn't read the forums anymore. He did, after lots of nagging and insisting get slightly involved in the Ironman competition, even updating the news section of http://www.mangband.org with some details about it.

Allthough I'm not a programmer I still consider myself a part of the mangband community, (beyond being a player), I created most of the new item types and ego items, like avari/mirkwood/terken in order to make the game playable even when most/all the artifacts are busy.

Because of this I also feel a lot of responsibility to make the game experience as enjoyable as possible for new players, (enjoyable doesn't mean easy though). So when a PK'er enters the game and chaos begins I want there to be a server admin ready to take immidate action, not a distant figure who just leaves it to the players to deal with.

So, sanjuro, I think most people share your worries about this but I hope you'll all stay around because if MAngband gets a big, steady player base it will become harder and harder for Crimson to ignore it.

The real danger is if people give up, like John did, I don't blame him, but this is a very imporant time in MAngband's history. I've played since early 1997 and I don't think there's ever been a larger and more steady stream of new players than what we see these days. I am currently rewriting my FAQ and I have some ideas that I think might send MAngband in the right directions.

So again, I hope that all you new players, as well as many of you old-timers - see that this game still has the potential to be great and that this time is the right time to keep playing.

Play you all soon,

Warrior

[sanjuro]

The game does have a lot of potential but, although it is fairly stable, it does feel like a pre 1.0 game.  From a development aspect, I would like to see some work done on the network code because, as it is, it seems like the client and servers communicate for every energy step.  Most games get around this kind of constant communication with prediction, which is why things sometimes jump around a bit in other online games.  You'd think, Angband being so deterministic, the client could take over some prediction responsibilities and update things on its own, notifying the server of any major actions and updating the client side state.

As it is, my friend on a 600ms latency satellite connection simply cannot play, yet we can play Diablo2 and GuildWars and D&D Online no problem.

PKing is something that has always bothered me.  Healthy competition is one thing but blatant griefing is entirely unwelcome--punishable by banishment, IMHO.  It plagued Diablo2 and still does, it is a major factor in my eventual lack of interest in the game.  GuildWars is perfect, no PKing unless you sign up for it and say, yeah, I want to go pwn those noobs with my m4d sk!llz.  D&D Online is perfect in the sense that it doesn't even exist.  It is simply not a part of the game.

It doesn't seem like it would be that hard to axe a malevolent character from time to time.  If the maintainer doesn't take the time to read the forums or make any appearance on the server then I think it's time for a new maintainer.  No offense intended, but if a person doesn't have enough time to do it, pass the torch.  The problem is finding someone willing to take it up.  I am a software developer and the though has occured to me but I have little faith I could do much better when it comes right down to it.  People get busy.

The reason I started playing MAngband was for research on my own projects.  And of course I've been a Roguelike game fan for over a decade.  Maybe I should start up a MAngband variant

Sorry for such a long winded and mostly off topic post.  I do love the idea of MAngband and hope it succeeds.  I'm planning on sticking around but D&D Online and Elder Scrolls: Oblivion are going to take a ton of my gaming time.  But the beauty of Roguelikes... big graphics games come and go, some are good and some are bad, but Roguelikes are always around and always will be.

[CrApHeR]

BE CAREFUL with "Bael of Murder" he is "Grez the Cruel"'s brother.
He is Level 21.  He doesn't attack me, but we need to pay attention.
This is the dialog

[Bael of Murder] So I hear you all will slauhter my brother
[CrApHeR] ?
[Bael of Murder] This is most pleaseing to me
[Bael of Murder] Would you like my assistance?
[Bael of Murder] Or perhaps you would rather make me an enemy
[Bael of Murder] I just logged back in
[CrApHeR] who is ur brother?
[Bael of Murder] Kull the Insane..... obviusly

.....

Next, Gandalf (Dungeon Master) a.k.a. as crimson enter in the game and ban Grez network )
We r safe for a months

[CrApHeR]

Grez is back as Kuzra the Vain
Level 28..... be careful

[MunkYBoY]

already?!?!? jeeze some people are persistant

[Big_Juan_Teh_Furby]

This makes me giggle.

People like Kull are easily dealt with, just kill it EVERY chance you get.  Everyone.  Every time.  You see Kull log on, you run to town and wade through him.  You see his ghost moving towards 4, you hostile him and you SIT on the 4.

I know there's rules against killing in town, and while I'm not Crimson and don't make the rules, I suspect that if people simply ganged up on someone like Kull and ran him out of town, he wouldn't be that upset.  If I still played, I'd do it in a heartbeat without thinking twice...even with the threat of my character's deletion/killing/banning hanging over my head.  Anyone else, no, but Kull...I'll make an exception or 50 for.

Hmmm...maybe I should come back.  Muwhahahahahaha!

[Fink]

AMEN BROTHER!

I've been trying to get this point accross to people as well - Kull is a bacterial growth that you need to erradicate as completely as possible. If you dont, you'll have a nasty suprise a month later.

-fink



roll on back Juan! It ain't the same without you!

[Jinx]

Im agree, but how u can I realize that 'xxx' is Grez/Kull/etc,etc? :-/

Maybe the software needs a mayor modification. ( Perhaps show the IP address, i don't know, or same kind of client id ). But if a make a mistake, i kill other than the pk. The same for me. I don't want to be killed by mistake too. :'(

I can't imagine how this could be done, but is a must for the safety of the players...

The only thing that the server knows ( show me ) about a player is his nick and the machine name, and both can be easily changed.

(sorry for my english)

[MunkYBoY]

well if it were going to show the ip address it would put everyone at risk. all a hacker needs is an ip and youre screwed.....