TallBlondeDude
Librarian
Minecraft IGN:
TallBlondeDude
Auralock
Dark Follower
Phoenix
Serpent
Vampire
Werewolf
“We prefer to change what we have added instead of removing content”. These words were spoken during the Revelius Q&A by FLiiiPENDO in response to a question about players not liking a change. This is fine design philosophy, one without glaring issues. The issues do not start occurring until this philosophy is breached. One example of this is professions prefixes. The community as a whole quite clearly has expressed a desire to keep them. The arguments for removing them include “It is confusing for new players.” (This was followed up with a statement that FLiiiPENDO was confused by a Phoenix prefix) and “It would be unfair to new players.”, and “it will reduce chat clutter.” Upon closer examination, those arguments hold little weight in comparison to the counter-argument of “Players spent long hours grinding on a task for a set of rewards, so logically they would expect to keep that set of rewards.” The prefix tags should remain due to the weight of the arguments supporting keeping them in opposition to the arguments to remove them.
To begin, let's address the complaint that “It is confusing to new people.” This is the strongest argument against keeping them, but it could easily be fixed. The solution is easy: have a part of the tutorial address chat prefixes and tags, or create a simple quest (would be a starting quest). This is both useful as players would know how to use the commands, as well as increase understanding for who is staff, a stated goal of removing the tags! This is clearly a better solution for reducing confusion, as well as promoting inclusivity into the Potterworld community.
The next point being it would be unfair to new players. This is a true argument as it stands now, but what if there was a quest added to earn the tags? It could involve gathering the professions items from every level and turning them in. This could be an interesting long term goal for players and increase the long term draw of Potterworld via motivation. It could be capped that you can only turn in profession ingredients of levels twenty higher than your own, so that level 60+ (experienced players) would be the ones able to complete this, but not without higher-level help. If done with greater than 10, that would allow all grads to complete the quest, a great endgame goal! This is in line with the design philosophy and quote from FLiiiPENDO: “We prefer to change what we have added instead of removing content.” As it is clear to see, this is a more desirable choice for improving Potterworld than the removal of tags.
The final counter-argument is that it clutters chat. This is where FLiiiPENDO said something confusing, that “He was confused by a Phoenix tag.” This argument makes no sense, as that relates nothing to professions, so it can be discarded. The next is that it clutters up chat due to it adding unnecessary characters. I have never heard of this complaint before the prefixes were being removed, so it is not that severe of an issue if one at all. The main issue comes from the 30+ staff prefixes, so if the goal is to declutter chat I would suggest a streamlining of those prefixes. I would find it highly hypocritical to ask the playerbase to give up their 1 character prefix tags if the staff doesn't also give up their much longer, more confusing prefixes.
The argument for keeping the tags revolves around two critical details. These are exemplified in the design philosophy as stated by the Head of Game Design, FLiiiPENDO, and that players deserve to keep the rewards that they spent hours grinding professions for. The players felt like they had worked hard, and their hard work paid off by letting them join a community of other determined players who accomplished the same goal. People feel as if they are getting their work removed, a violation of the game design policy stated in the Revelius Q&A. Obviously, the cost-benefit analysis of removing the professions prefixes falls in favor of them remaining.
Sticking strongly to a game design philosophy is commendable, and the recent changes after the Q&A deserve applause, and for them, I am thankful for. It is good to have the playerbase’s voice heard, and I hope that it is taken to the logical conclusion. Professions prefixes were a marking of hardware and dedication to the server, one which provides a deeper layer to the dynamics of professions by existing. The spirit of the prefix can still be gotten through quests, so there is no reason to put it to the grave.
To begin, let's address the complaint that “It is confusing to new people.” This is the strongest argument against keeping them, but it could easily be fixed. The solution is easy: have a part of the tutorial address chat prefixes and tags, or create a simple quest (would be a starting quest). This is both useful as players would know how to use the commands, as well as increase understanding for who is staff, a stated goal of removing the tags! This is clearly a better solution for reducing confusion, as well as promoting inclusivity into the Potterworld community.
The next point being it would be unfair to new players. This is a true argument as it stands now, but what if there was a quest added to earn the tags? It could involve gathering the professions items from every level and turning them in. This could be an interesting long term goal for players and increase the long term draw of Potterworld via motivation. It could be capped that you can only turn in profession ingredients of levels twenty higher than your own, so that level 60+ (experienced players) would be the ones able to complete this, but not without higher-level help. If done with greater than 10, that would allow all grads to complete the quest, a great endgame goal! This is in line with the design philosophy and quote from FLiiiPENDO: “We prefer to change what we have added instead of removing content.” As it is clear to see, this is a more desirable choice for improving Potterworld than the removal of tags.
The final counter-argument is that it clutters chat. This is where FLiiiPENDO said something confusing, that “He was confused by a Phoenix tag.” This argument makes no sense, as that relates nothing to professions, so it can be discarded. The next is that it clutters up chat due to it adding unnecessary characters. I have never heard of this complaint before the prefixes were being removed, so it is not that severe of an issue if one at all. The main issue comes from the 30+ staff prefixes, so if the goal is to declutter chat I would suggest a streamlining of those prefixes. I would find it highly hypocritical to ask the playerbase to give up their 1 character prefix tags if the staff doesn't also give up their much longer, more confusing prefixes.
The argument for keeping the tags revolves around two critical details. These are exemplified in the design philosophy as stated by the Head of Game Design, FLiiiPENDO, and that players deserve to keep the rewards that they spent hours grinding professions for. The players felt like they had worked hard, and their hard work paid off by letting them join a community of other determined players who accomplished the same goal. People feel as if they are getting their work removed, a violation of the game design policy stated in the Revelius Q&A. Obviously, the cost-benefit analysis of removing the professions prefixes falls in favor of them remaining.
Sticking strongly to a game design philosophy is commendable, and the recent changes after the Q&A deserve applause, and for them, I am thankful for. It is good to have the playerbase’s voice heard, and I hope that it is taken to the logical conclusion. Professions prefixes were a marking of hardware and dedication to the server, one which provides a deeper layer to the dynamics of professions by existing. The spirit of the prefix can still be gotten through quests, so there is no reason to put it to the grave.
