Spiral Knights - Curious about employee/player guidelines and possible conflicts of interest

Curious about employee/player guidelines and possible conflicts of interest

22 replies [Last post]

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 18:28

Mayaura

I was just wondering if employees of Three Rings or its parent company, Sega, or family members or close friends of employees, are, or should be, held to higher standards than other players, or if they are, rather, allowed to push the limits of the rules more than typical players could.

Let’s consider a couple of hypothetical situations.

Hypothetical Situation (1)

Conditions (A)

An employee of Three Rings or one of his/her family members or close friends uses his connections to obtain things like free prismatic accessories and guild hall decorations, which he then sells at sometimes exorbitant prices or uses for personal gain and influence. Additionally, he receives inside information that allows him to benefit financially from changes to the game that Three Rings is about to make. With this false wealth he manipulates the CE market or just skews the economy in general.

Is this fair or should it be allowed? Is it alright with the company? with other players? If not, should or can anything be done about it?

Let’s take it a step further.

Conditions (B)

The above player, unfortunately, has something of a dirty imagination and forms a guild of like-minded individuals who defile the SK community with a fairly steady stream of sex jokes and references.

Is it alright with the company? with other players? If not, should or can anything be done about it?

Let’s add one more step

Conditions (C)

The individual, due to his vast falsely-created wealth, doesn’t care a wit about CE revs, and thus, in his attempt to make the game more amusing for himself (but much less amusing for others), looks for ways to troll other players and encourages others to do likewise.

Is it alright with the company? with other players? If not, should or can anything be done about it?

Would it make his bad behavior alright if he gave way some of the hundreds of thousands of CE he’s received or made unfairly in contests? (although it would be great if he did it anyway)

Let’s consider one more Hypothetical Situation (2)

Perhaps an employee of Three Rings or Sega is obsessed with other things more related to his e-peen fixation. He uses his vast wealth, whether bought or received from the company free, to keep his guild atop a mini game leaderboard that measures who plays said mini game the most (granted, a dubious distinction, but one many players seem to care about). He does this with CE revs, rolling triple max gear for himself and his minions, and violating the spirit of the game in other ways as well. Additionally, the employees guild gains a reputation for arrogance, flash mobs harrassments, and other bad behavior, resulting in this guild being rather despised by many in the SK community.

Should the employee be ashamed in any way or embarrassed by this? Or are employees completely free to behave anyway they want even when their drive to make the game more fun for themselves makes it so much less fun for so many others?

Is it alright with the company? with other players? If not, should or can anything be done about it?

Anyway, just a polite inquiry from a curious mind.

*Beware though. Reportedly beneath this polite toffee pudding topping lies a dark-chocolaty, psycho-nutty layer.

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 18:44

Il-Mono-Il

Hi mawa!

I like you Mawa, and understand your logical line of arguments and your point-of-view. I know the knight/guild that you're talking about (and other knights too, for sure) and I agree that there are some actitudes annoying us and other players, (if not great part of the community), but there are somethings that we can't do nothing about, sadly...
Hope OOO have nothing with this/him/they.
*crossing fingers*

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 18:50

Little-Juances

<69?

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 18:55

Klipik

All the hypotheticalism.

I just made up a word.

That's all I have to say about this thread.

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 18:57

Dukeplatypus

(1) (A) Unless specifically

(1)
(A) Unless specifically stated otherwise, OOO likes to give all objects bound. They can send bound items through the mail, I know because I have two sets of the guardian armor on one account, and it came bound, in separate mails. I believe it's some sort of company policy, and it does no harm if the items said person receives are bound.

(B) Sorta like EoS? *cough*
That sort of conduct is against the ToS, and I'm sure the GMs would have no problem banning this guild if it actually becomes a problem.

(C) One person cannot match the overwhelming majority of people who will tell these people otherwise. People have a tendency to be decent folks.

(2) That would be up to OOO to reprimand this person internally. OOO employees wouldn't do that because their livelihood depends a fair amount on the success of their game. Better community, better economy, better profits. The SEGA employees who would even have the power to ask for this wealth wouldn't because they make money off the success of the game.

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 19:57

Troupe-Forums

This is golden

Although you are quite naive to think that OOO would give anyone free rare accessories or guild hall furnishings.

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 19:21

Korakc

I totally support this

I totally support this thread.

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 19:50

Jackaline

If this hypothetical employee

If this hypothetical employee trolls so much, I would seriously consider the possibility that he is trolling about being an employee as well.

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 19:51

Dragneel-Wiki

I would call this thread a shame-and-name one, but unfortunately, there is no clear evidence. Although you are clearly referring to them, still, no one can say something.

Let me ask you something : Why now? Yeah, why now your honorific senses have been tickled and not before? The said guild has been here since the beta, and I am sure that you are an ol' player, so why didn't you make this thread before? Is it because of a personal conflict with someone there? Or just a temporary or eternal hate? You know what? If OOO is a company that respects itself and its customers, it wouldn't do such an act that would ruin its popularity or the most important thing :Respect.

Please answer the previous question with complete honesty. Thanks.
.
.
~Dragneel ( Not Infernus! )

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 20:19

Rating

It sounds like whoever the

It sounds like whoever the subject of this thread is is seriously winning <69

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fo-Jckl_MU

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 20:32

#10

Luguiru

I can understand giving the linked players early heads up on upcoming stuff, but when it starts involving unfair cash ins or any form of freebies which they would not do the same for all other players indiscriminately it goes from friends to bias.

Going back to giving freebies for a herp, that should never happen. The company for a game should never give free anything to a specific player/group of players which they are biased towards unless they would be willing to do the exact same for everyone else in the entire game unless the player(s) have made significant contributions to the game. Say I log in for a derp to snort my mist as usual and I get a letter from Nick saying he likes how I compliment his hair style and with the letter was ten triple UV tickets. What did I do to make Nick think I should get those tickets for free? What if everyone else in the world said the same thing about his hair, would he give everyone the same thing? Second version of the scenario, this time I fully designed and programmed whatever from this behemoth and sent it to Nick and friends in a pretty red box with a cute little pink bow on top. Both of these scenarios are exaggerated obviously. In this second scenario after a while of poking at it with sticks since they know me well enough to check for any shenanigans I may have included, when the update goes live to the public, Nick and friends have a parade in my honor. There are elephants and fire dancers and everything. All the gudd stoof. There are even elephants dancing with fire.

My liquids that became a lard tanker of text. Go on a diet, words. Last thing before I go back to the basement where all the rats and vampire bats want to play spin the bottle. If the company or certain people in team Throbbing Roosters (these abridged versions of their name are getting ridiculous) support the biased player(s) with giving them free stuff from the fatty above, the recipients should not be allowed to use those gifts to stand on top of everyone else. Because those people getting their noggins stomped are not only more likely to go to a different fruit vendor, but tell their friends not to try the scam artist who messed up their crazily styled hair that took derpbillion days. The original vendor and their favorite customer might be standing on top of the tower but with no one beneath them they both fall face first in the mud. Mud which is not actually mud and has a little green in it.

I think all us foorimers and anyone who wants to watch should have a massive meeting somewhere to talk about stuff in the world of Cradle. I promise not to urinate on any of the walls, plants, beds, or birds. But I never said anything about the chairs. Did you hear something? Must be the wind, that window twenty feet up is dreadfully difficult for the orderlies to close. Whenever they try to herd me into another room so they can close it I start dancing like a wet noodle and it scares them enough to not care about the window anymore but not enough to make them bring zappy zaps.

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 20:39

#11

Dragneel-Wiki

@Luguiru :

Lug, you never cease to amaze me everytime you post.

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 20:41

#12

Retequizzle

This thread sounds like Aunt

This thread sounds like Aunt Flo's in town for someone. I say this completely ironically, by the way.

Passive aggressive gets you this. Have fun.

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 20:42

#13

Tailstailss

Lionheart Honor Blade

This is about that guild who got a sword named after them, right? That one that all the 5* people got, so we can always be reminded of their "re-skinned, useless" (not my words, but what all the rage on the forums was. I personally love the Leviathan and hope to get it one day) existance...

PS - I hear that guild is full of meanies :(

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 20:45

#14

Doctorspacebar

Node 53120 is credit to team

Unfortunately I don't have the time to visit the asylum. Calculus and all that. That said, I think I'll put "Node 53120 is credit to team" in my signature, just because of the idea of a part of your thread getting implemented. (And thanks again for linking my threads in there.)

Oh, right, the thread is about... hmm. Not sure if I should say anything. May or may not be naming and shaming...

...mods, if you visit this, acknowledge Lug's thread in Node 53120. What? I gotta try. Luguiru's good stuff is there. And links to my good stuff is there. And also my bad stuff. (Ugh, those overpowered wands I suggested. Although the thread had hand cannons too so that balances it out 'cause the hand cannons were awesome.)

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 20:46

#15

Canozo

TL;DR

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 20:57

#16

Rating

Idk what you're complaining

Idk what you're complaining about, The Hempire is one of the greatest guilds ever to exist in all of SK.

/misses The Hempire's incredibly well decorated guild hall... >:(

/is sad that he just realized no screen caps were taken to commemorate The Hempire's amazingness...

/is done posting in this thread (for now)

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 20:54

#17

Iron-Volvametal

TL;DR

Also, did you buy my Drake Scale Mail w/ the Regal Parrying Blade, Ms. Dragon Princess?

Cuz dats cold.

Mon, 03/04/2013 - 21:39

#18

Canozo

"has something of a dirty imagination and forms a guild of like-minded individuals who defile the SK community with a fairly steady stream of sex jokes and references"

"due to his vast falsely-created wealth, doesn’t care a wit about CE revs"

Does indirects couldnt be more direct.

Tue, 03/05/2013 - 03:29

#19

Rich-Tbiscuit

Well, I don't know what the proof is to these accusations is but no, this would not be acceptable.

Though I can't see OOO doing this, or allowing such things to take place, unless they are unaware of it. But who knows... I dont...

Regarding to the trolling bit, I'm assuming you're talking about the thread that was up recently. I don't think that should be taken too seriously. Deliberately abusing players this way isn't cool, but mucking about with friends, knocking blast cubes into them and such can be a bit of fun. I doubt the people suggesting ideas were out to ruin other players days.

>>Any publicity is good publicity.

Tue, 03/05/2013 - 04:05

#20

Icegill

Boom!

Seriously? I understand that some situations grant you the freedom to insult other guilds but to post it on forums? Pathetic. Also it's in violation of the ToS as stated by someone above.

Tue, 03/05/2013 - 04:30

#21

Dragneel-Wiki

Now that I saw what Nozo posted...

I am thinking that there is a dual-insulting to two guilds.

Pitiful...

Tue, 03/05/2013 - 09:19

#22

Eurydice

Community Manager

Mawashimono, I am disappoint.

1) Everyone knows who you mean, and I think you know that very well, so all this "hypothetical" business is simply a ruse to circumvent the forum rules and cause drama instead of doing something useful. If you have a legitimate concern to address, you should be taking it directly to support, or to me, or to some other member of the OOO staff that you do trust. (But you should use support, not only because it's the correct way to go about reporting potential ToS violations, but because they would raise hell in a situation such as the one you describe.)

2) OOO has internal audits in place to detect exactly these sorts of shenanigans. If a staff member were to manipulate the market with ill-gotten gains in the way you're describing, it would be Handled.

3) Really, an off-color sense of humor figures in as a point in your accusation of vast corruption? Very well. Off-color humor, if mild, can be tolerable on the forum. If it gets too explicit, or if it becomes a form of harassment, then it breaks the rules and is reportable. If you're not sure, report it anyway and we'll make a judgment call.

4) If you run across a player claiming (or even strongly implying) that they're a staff member, and/or that they get stuff that way, please report it ASAP. If someone's impersonating a staff member, we want to know that right away.

Graveyarding and locking this thread now. Please make any future reports you have through the appropriate channels.

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Curious about employee/player guidelines and possible conflicts of interest