It's not hard.

[MattKan]

Originally Posted by Starfire2001

Events would still work! ;-)

Really?! Well kudos to you !

[Sword]

I'm also pretty shocked that ther isn't a single server so far that has developed an automated events system. The only drawback would be if players began to cheat more frequently (although hacking on Graal is probably at an all-time low), and there are several solutions to that problem:

• Make it a new responsibility of GPs to monitor events when they can and to take care of player complaints in automated events
• Create a player-managed reporting system (which could obviously also be abused, but abuse would be easy to pinpoint and punish for)

Either could work.

I know that there are a lot of events that it'd be difficult to automate. Race events would not be hard though. Most PK events, like PPK, wouldn't be hard either. A system like this seems far overdue on Graal. I remember in either 2005 or 2006 when I was the Head Admin on Babylon, we began discussing the development of this but it was never followed through on for whatever reason.

Have the system automate events if the playercount is above 15 or so, have the event automatically cancel or 4 players aren't in the event warper, etc. It'd probably be a ton of work and I'm not undermining it, but after having run through the temple quest for the HatTap NPC last night, I can see that UN staff apparently don't mind doing a lot of work because that thing was extensive.

[cbk1994]

Originally Posted by Sword

I'm also pretty shocked that ther isn't a single server so far that has developed an automated events system. The only drawback would be if players began to cheat more frequently (although hacking on Graal is probably at an all-time low), and there are several solutions to that problem

Don't know what you're talking about, Era has an automated event system ("EventBot", developed by Sales) that does a lot of the things you mentioned.

[Sword]

Originally Posted by cbk1994

Don't know what you're talking about, Era has an automated event system ("EventBot", developed by Sales) that does a lot of the things you mentioned.

Oh, that's neat. How long has it been around? Haven't played Era in a little while and I mentioned it a few times on UN and never heard that Era had something like that. As we speak right now, there are nearly 30 players on UN, several massing asking for someone to host events.

[cbk1994]

Originally Posted by Sword

Oh, that's neat. How long has it been around? Haven't played Era in a little while and I mentioned it a few times on UN and never heard that Era had something like that. As we speak right now, there are nearly 30 players on UN, several massing asking for someone to host events.

About three years, not sure on the exact date though. It was on hiatus for a few months at a time at one point, but I think it's been running consistently for a while now.

[ffcmike]

Originally Posted by Sword

I'm also pretty shocked that ther isn't a single server so far that has developed an automated events system. The only drawback would be if players began to cheat more frequently (although hacking on Graal is probably at an all-time low), and there are several solutions to that problem:

• Make it a new responsibility of GPs to monitor events when they can and to take care of player complaints in automated events
• Create a player-managed reporting system (which could obviously also be abused, but abuse would be easy to pinpoint and punish for)

Either could work.

I know that there are a lot of events that it'd be difficult to automate. Race events would not be hard though. Most PK events, like PPK, wouldn't be hard either. A system like this seems far overdue on Graal. I remember in either 2005 or 2006 when I was the Head Admin on Babylon, we began discussing the development of this but it was never followed through on for whatever reason.

Have the system automate events if the playercount is above 15 or so, have the event automatically cancel or 4 players aren't in the event warper, etc. It'd probably be a ton of work and I'm not undermining it, but after having run through the temple quest for the HatTap NPC last night, I can see that UN staff apparently don't mind doing a lot of work because that thing was extensive.

Classic's Team Event system (think of it as the games console, and something like CTF as the game disk, means we can rapidly develop team events and not completely re-write the system each time) could very easily be made to host completely automatically, but I think players going AFK or modem tapping etc has been such a problem in the past it probably would be better for events to be overseen by a person. However it could be possible to make it publicly hostable by a volunteer player.

[Sword]

kb (ET Admin) and Ph8 (ET Development Admin) apparently stepped down yesterday. I don't know either of them personally and neither of them seem to like me very much but the two seemed to do their jobs pretty well and at least contributed to the progression of the server.
I was told they left because of some sort of issue with management. Just speculating that it probably had a lot to do with Crono only being online at obscure hours, times like 4 AM EST, 9 AM EST, etc.

Despite his weird hours, I feel as if he's been a fair manager and pretty respectable so far. From there and trickling down, there are plenty of problems.

It's 2011 and people have realized that cooperate internet has practically killed in-game creativity on Graal. No one wants to contribute because, well, why? They aren't getting paid for it and it's sort of nonsensical. Graal kind of has a slave operation going on here, where they release an engine and the players handle the development and social growth of the game. It's weird how that works.

More and more players are beginning to realize that and staff are beginning to use their time in power more and more to their advantage because they really have no reason not to.


I haven't seen a developer (other than Lloyd and Ph8) on in forever. Does UN have specific LATs and NATs, or just developers? I don't even know anymore.

The Events Team is generally pretty quality.

The GP spot is pretty much riddled with ridiculousness and seems to be a poison to the server. They recently hired 4 GP Cadets, that's on top of the existing 3 or 4, which now puts the GP-to-player ratio at about 1:5 at any given time. It's pretty unnecessary.
Okilian has played forever and contributed to UN in many ways. You'd expect him to carry the team as he should as the GP Chief. He does a pretty awful job. Red is a decent GP. Infamous is a quality GP. Kea (a Cadet) is a quality GP. The rest seem to pretty much go out of their way to do everything they can to favor themselves and their friends.

When this server's playercount continues to dwindle, just know it's because you guys are neglecting the basics and you're letting the wrong crowd run your server and ban off anyone they seem to dislike.

[Fulg0reSama]

Originally Posted by ffcmike

However it could be possible to make it publicly hostable by a volunteer player.

This system usually ends up being rather hazardous, just commenting from my own experience.

[PerfectDark]

The GP spot is pretty much riddled with ridiculousness and seems to be a poison to the server. They recently hired 4 GP Cadets, that's on top of the existing 3 or 4, which now puts the GP-to-player ratio at about 1:5 at any given time. It's pretty unnecessary.

this is nessary because not all gp cadets go on to full status. lets think about it this way:
it is 3pm EST and there is 18-20 players online. 2 of them are GP's, 1 is a Dev, and 1 is a ET. There is a problem at town center and the two gps (out of 6-8) handle the situation and leave the others to their work. what if those gps weren't on because of your views on unnessarity? the 1 ET and Dev would get pmed about the situation, and they wouldn't have any power to stop the problem.
point is that the GPA said he needed more people and he hired more people. No point in complaining

[papajchris]

Who cares how many GP's there are? Does it hurt the game play to have more GP's? No. Does it hurt the game play to have little to no GP's? Yes.

[NicoX]

Originally Posted by papajchris

Who cares how many GP's there are? Does it hurt the game play to have more GP's? No. Does it hurt the game play to have little to no GP's? Yes.

Agreed.
Better having 100 Polices in a Village than 0. =)

[LordSquirt]

Ph8 and KB quit?

That's not a good sign at all

[MattKan]

Originally Posted by LordSquirt

Ph8 and KB quit?

That's not a good sign at all

No!