Some pros and cons of PRO

[Skedra]

After playing this game for over a month here's a few pros and cons I've seen to it. Things I'd change and things I wouldn't. Feel free to submit your own.

 

Pros:

- The game is relatively glitch free, which is rare for a fan-made video game,

- No breeding system is great. Good pokemon are actually rare, and let's be honest, pokemon like milktank laying eggs is a silly and quite frankly anti-educational idea for kids.

- Staff responds quickly to almost everything. To be fair this can be a double edged blade (see cons) but it's nice when justice is server rightfully.

- The game designers have taken some freedom with writing the story, which is better than just copy/pasting one of the pokemon games,

- Some boss fights are challenging, especially early on,

- Game actually starts from Gen I, and moves on from that, and we can chose pikachu,

- The main menu is very nice looking.

 

Cons:

- Excessive anti-profanity rules, and excessive rule enforcment in general. Having a censor is fine (having a censor you can disable even better) but you can still get kicked after the censor has done its job? Really?

- Due to this and due to most moderator's blind faith in the rules, some of them often fill in the Lawful Evil cliché at times (the Dolores Umbridge types).

- An unreasonably large portion of the community is pretty stuckup or uptight. Backseat moderating, condescending attitudes, uncapable of taking any jokes. Possibly a by-product of the excessively strict rules.

- Some of the soundtracks in game are awful and make it feel like we're in circus or something,

- No option to join Team Rocket... we've been waiting for this forever! A fan made video game is the opportunity to make these things happen.

- Some pokemon like Zapdos are unobtainable. This is a crime, everyone loves Zapdos!

[Daeon]

190992 After playing this game for over a month here's a few pros and cons I've seen to it. Things I'd change and things I wouldn't. Feel free to submit your own.

 

Pros:

- The game is relatively glitch free, which is rare for a fan-made video game,

- No breeding system is great. Good pokemon are actually rare, and let's be honest, pokemon like milktank laying eggs is a silly and quite frankly anti-educational idea for kids.

- Staff responds quickly to almost everything. To be fair this can be a double edged blade (see cons) but it's nice when justice is server rightfully.

- The game designers have taken some freedom with writing the story, which is better than just copy/pasting one of the pokemon games,

- Some boss fights are challenging, especially early on,

- Game actually starts from Gen I, and moves on from that, and we can chose pikachu,

- The main menu is very nice looking.

 

Cons:

- Excessive anti-profanity rules, and excessive rule enforcment in general. Having a censor is fine (having a censor you can disable even better) but you can still get kicked after the censor has done its job? Really?

- Due to this and due to most moderator's blind faith in the rules, some of them often fill in the Lawful Evil cliché at times (the Dolores Umbridge types).

- An unreasonably large portion of the community is pretty stuckup or uptight. Backseat moderating, condescending attitudes, uncapable of taking any jokes. Possibly a by-product of the excessively strict rules.

- Some of the soundtracks in game are awful and make it feel like we're in circus or something,

- No option to join Team Rocket... we've been waiting for this forever! A fan made video game is the opportunity to make these things happen.

- Some pokemon like Zapdos are unobtainable. This is a crime, everyone loves Zapdos!

Firstly, thankyou for the praise you have given the game. Feedback is always a positive thing, and it will always make us happy when hard work is recognised.

 

Secondly, let's talk about these cons a little.

I would like to stress that if you ever feel a staff member is out of line in their behaviour and moderates excessively and/or unfairly, make a screenshot and make a report in the Report Center. You have a right to give your opinion, and as you have done here, don't be afraid to share it.

I would like to show you another perspective. As staff it is our jobs to provide the environment we intended, which is an adult-content free game - allowing anyone of any age to be a part of the community without common stresses found on the internet such as foul language, exposure to toxic conversation and/or content, being harassed etc - the list really does go on. The rules are there and enforced to help provide an enjoyable experience.

 

You seem to have a couple pointers about what you'd like to see in the game, such as music changes and extra storyline features such as joining Team Rocket etc. Please post your ideas in the Suggestions sub-forum, constructive criticism and suggestions are always welcome.

You may like to know music changes have been suggested multiple times already, and I feel you might enjoy this thread about a Factions Concept.

[Meiji]

As staff it is our jobs to provide the environment we intended, which is an adult-content free game - allowing anyone of any age to be a part of the community without common stresses found on the internet such as foul language, exposure to toxic conversation and/or content, being harassed etc - the list really does go on. The rules are there and enforced to help provide an enjoyable experience.

As said above, this is very true on PRO. Players of all ages play the game so I can understand the staff's point of view in enforcing these rules (even if perhaps so a bit too strict) if they want a "good" environment for the younger ones.

 

I'm not gonna lie, I get sick of overly-nice-strict communities like this lol. But you can still make/join guilds and other small communities within the game (guild/discord/etc) with the same type of people, I find. So it's not that bad.

[Soulvaki]

190992

- An unreasonably large portion of the community is pretty stuckup or uptight. Backseat moderating, condescending attitudes, uncapable of taking any jokes. Possibly a by-product of the excessively strict rules.

 

While we do have our fair share of stuck up people, most of the community is helpful. [at least on the Red server]. A good community polices itself. When people call you out for not following the rules, they're just trying to help you not get dealt with by the people who DO have the power to force it. This comes off as stuck up, but it's necessary for a community to not have to be policed constantly. If you're on my server, there's always someone available to help on help or all chat for any questions you have. People provide this without being staff - I don't think there's anything too wrong with the community once you realize why it's setup the way it is.

[Skedra]

191135

 

Secondly, let's talk about these cons a little.

I would like to stress that if you ever feel a staff member is out of line in their behaviour and moderates excessively and/or unfairly, make a screenshot and make a report in the Report Center. You have a right to give your opinion, and as you have done here, don't be afraid to share it.

I would like to show you another perspective. As staff it is our jobs to provide the environment we intended, which is an adult-content free game - allowing anyone of any age to be a part of the community without common stresses found on the internet such as foul language, exposure to toxic conversation and/or content, being harassed etc - the list really does go on. The rules are there and enforced to help provide an enjoyable experience.

I've seen staff muting people for just stepping over the border a bit in chat. There is no sense of nuance, not all rule breaking is of the same caliber. But that's the point with the lawful evil, you cannot argue with it, because if you look at the rules the moderators were doing their job and theres nothing you can do to argue with that.

 

In the real world there is argument over what is and isn't adult-content. Not all parents agree, let alone countries. The U.S. seems to be a lot more strict with foul language than Europe for example. Overprotection is also a thing and it's certainly present in this community.

 

It's not a huge deal, but the problem is that you always have Eric Cartmans around who know very well how to exploit these rules and get people into trouble with it. You can confuse a joke for "harassment", and people know this. You can't be in a battle and say anything even remotely off-track to try and joke with your opponent, because you might be playing against someone who will immediately yell "reported!" and possibly get you into trouble. Said person might not even be offended by what you said, but just feels like causing you trouble. It's very toxic for anyone who has a sense of humor and that's too bad.

 

But I do think that when there is a good reason to actually ban people, that's when this system shines, because it's outright ruthless.

[Daeon]

191224

191135

 

Secondly, let's talk about these cons a little.

I would like to stress that if you ever feel a staff member is out of line in their behaviour and moderates excessively and/or unfairly, make a screenshot and make a report in the Report Center. You have a right to give your opinion, and as you have done here, don't be afraid to share it.

I would like to show you another perspective. As staff it is our jobs to provide the environment we intended, which is an adult-content free game - allowing anyone of any age to be a part of the community without common stresses found on the internet such as foul language, exposure to toxic conversation and/or content, being harassed etc - the list really does go on. The rules are there and enforced to help provide an enjoyable experience.

I've seen staff muting people for just stepping over the border a bit in chat. There is no sense of nuance, not all rule breaking is of the same caliber. But that's the point with the lawful evil, you cannot argue with it, because if you look at the rules the moderators were doing their job and theres nothing you can do to argue with that.

 

In the real world there is argument over what is and isn't adult-content. Not all parents agree, let alone countries. The U.S. seems to be a lot more strict with foul language than Europe for example. Overprotection is also a thing and it's certainly present in this community.

 

It's not a huge deal, but the problem is that you always have Eric Cartmans around who know very well how to exploit these rules and get people into trouble with it. You can confuse a joke for "harassment", and people know this. You can't be in a battle and say anything even remotely off-track to try and joke with your opponent, because you might be playing against someone who will immediately yell "reported!" and possibly get you into trouble. Said person might not even be offended by what you said, but just feels like causing you trouble. It's very toxic for anyone who has a sense of humor and that's too bad.

 

But I do think that when there is a good reason to actually ban people, that's when this system shines, because it's outright ruthless.

I understand your points completely, Skedra.


However in regards to your comment “the moderators were doing their job and there’s nothing you can do to argue with that” I would like to disagree. The staff are here to police the community, yes, but we are not here to be dictators.

 

I am going to take the opportunity again to reiterate that if you ever experience and/or witness something that is deemed as unnecessary moderation, or what people like to call “abuse of power” please do report this with proof. Forms of proof are either screenshots (you can use tools such as imgur/lightshot/gyazo etc for this) or a linked youtube video (uploaded as unlisted for your own privacy).

 



We are here for you, we are here to make your gameplay more enjoyable and we are here to help you. However we are human, we may make mistakes - but we will not grow without feedback.
 I’d actually like to thank you for creating this thread, it seems that there is a Player-Staff divide where people are afraid to raise this kind of discussion, and I’d like to also thank you for your maturity and the way you have approached the subject. As staff we should be seen as approachable, and you should feel comfortable to talk about things like this.



 

I’m not sure I understand fully what you mean when you say about overprotection across continents. The staff team are located all around the world, so I would be interested in you discussing this point further.


 

Unfortunately in response to your comments about confusion amongst players, and when players attempt to instigate punishment, like in you example when players will say “Reported!” we are quite limited. We do actually ask in our Rules that players refrain from acting as “mini-mods” as it causes confusion about the rules. However this is not punishable until it reaches the extent of impersonating staff or is genuinely misleading for the purpose of entertainment, as some players do genuinely believe they are helping - and a lot actually do.


We are thankful to have the types of players that do help, and give accurate information, this is an MMO - it is nice to have players who create a welcoming community.



 

I gotta say, I did laugh a little at the comment about the system being ruthless. In an ideal world, it would be nice to never have to punish anyone - because it would mean that we had a solid community in place with a mutual respect for the rules and genuinely content players. Unfortunately, wherever you go, there will always be trouble makers and this is unavoidable, so we simply do the best we can. My overall point here, albeit a bit long-winded, if you see genuine wrong-doing, do not be afraid to call us out on it.

[Bartjanus]

i have to say that i agree with the excessive rules around profanity i'd like to see different channels like in poke mmo where you could have a non pg channel for example and i don't see any young kids playing this game since alot of parents don't allow their kids to use the internet etc (the youngest kid i've seen on the game was 12)

[Toothless]

191492

I am going to take the opportunity again to reiterate that if you ever experience and/or witness something that is deemed as unnecessary moderation, or what people like to call “abuse of power” please do report this with proof. Forms of proof are either screenshots (you can use tools such as imgur/lightshot/gyazo etc for this) or a linked youtube video (uploaded as unlisted for your own privacy).

 

I agree with this completely. As a GM it falls to me to ensure others are following the rules and being respectful towards the community as a whole; however it should be noted that if we as staff are acting outside of accordance with the rules, that the community should not be afraid to call us on it. I hold my staff to a higher standard than I do end-users, because we are charged with protecting the game. If we are not following the rules or being abusive with powers, that shines poorly on all of the staff, not just the staff member acting wrongly.

 

With this in mind, if any member sees a staff member acting poorly or outside of the proscribed https://pokemonrevolution.net/forum/rules, please feel free to report that member of staff (also other rule breakers, we can't forget them!). I take abuse of staff powers very seriously, and I would also appreciate feedback from the community in this area. Thank you all for being awesome members of the community, by the way!

[Xhaj]

191507 i have to say that i agree with the excessive rules around profanity i'd like to see different channels like in poke mmo where you could have a non pg channel for example and i don't see any young kids playing this game since alot of parents don't allow their kids to use the internet etc (the youngest kid i've seen on the game was 12)

 

Every game has its own set of rules of which the community are expected to abide by said rules. The game you mentioned has their own rules and it has shaped their community. PRO is a pg community, it doesn't matter if others within the community hasn't seen children play the game we still want a child friendly environment we will never allow adult content. With that being said you can create your own channels in game that is free from staff moderation.

[Zaugr]

I agree with this analysis, couldn't of put it better. Although I'd add one to the cons list, and that'd be the server issues and all the moves/abilities/items that have been in the game for awhile and don't work. I think these two things should be sorted/the priority before anymore actual new content is added. Just my opinion though.