Player Review of AdventRO
This is my first really; really long review of a server, so please excuse me if I start rambling or something. For my review, I will be sectioning it into; “Good”, “Mediocre”, “Bad”, and “Ugly”. There will be numerous subsections in the main sections where I will address things in a more organized manner. It will end with an “Etc” section where random things that don’t fit in the other categories will be addressed. Anyway, let’s start with the “Good”.
Please keep in mind that I am not trying to directly insult anyone with this review, but I am merely doing a small duty as a long time player of the server for future players. I feel that the changes that were made over the time I spent on this server needed to be put out there, since new players wouldn’t know anything about them.
You may think I’m making some things up, but I’m not. Yes, I have little proof behind some things, since they’re in the past and hard to prove, but I would not lie about this server and hurt its reputation if it didn’t deserve it. I had a lot of fun here while it lasted; I just want people to know about how it used to be and how it is now.
Misc FactsType of Server: Role Playing Server (RP Server)
GMs: Davven (Owner of AdventRO and Technical Staff), Audrey-Tifa (Co-Owner and Story Teller aka ST) – Both are friends irl.
Average Players Online: 2 – 15, it varies on the day of the week/time/if there’s an event or not.
The GoodCustom Maps• The custom maps are amazing. Davven is very creative when it comes to custom maps and executes them without having any second thoughts about the designs. The main town (Shyden) was recently redone to clean up the size and positioning of the buildings, and there was vast improvement from the original.
• Two other custom maps include the Cemetery and a city called Harmonia. I personally had never seen a cemetery before in Ragnarok Online so I was blown away by it. The map looks very serene and calm, and fitting for such a place. He spares nothing to make it feel like a real cemetery by including NPCs that sell flowers and can even have the graves have character names with their death dates on them, making it possible to role play the visiting of lost love ones or friends and even acting out funerals. The city Harmonia leaves a lasting impression. There are flowers everywhere making the city very light hearted, and the buildings are set up like there are short streets, which to me seems more realistic than a lot of the official client’s cities. I found the layout a bit confusing at first, but eventually found the city’s center where the NPCs are held. A very beautiful city.
• There’s also a few custom maps in between Shyden, Harmonia and the Cemetery, just nice little fields with a few monsters in it. Nothing complicated, just sweet and simple.
20 Sided Dice Item• Before this item was introduced, we would be using /dice and saying the number we rolled “Out Of Character” (which is in double brackets) and it would clog up the chat making us lose track of the real RP. It was increasingly becoming a pain in the butt. A few weeks ago, the 20 Sided Dice Item was introduced. It was sold by the Tool NPC in town and was put in the usable item category. To use, it was double clicked on and a menu would come up, asking if you wanted to roll the dice or not. When you did select that you wanted to roll it, the person who rolled it and the number rolled showed up in yellow, like the GM’s talking would on the map. That way, there was no scrutiny over what was rolled and there would be little to no “Out Of Character” talking during the RP, thus making things go by a bit quicker. A very useful item.
Custom Sprites• The owner of the server also does a lot of custom spriting, and all of it is very impressive. Professors, Priests and Gunslingers have custom mounts here. Professors ride flying books, Priests get a cloud to ride on and Gunslingers have 3-wheeled motorcycles. I have never seen this before anywhere else, it amazed me… especially the motorcycles. He also has done quests for these mounts, as well as for the other official mounts. I have been told as well that Davven has sprited some of the headgears, though I am unaware of which ones they are. None the less, there are no huge, poorly sprited headgears in this server. Thank goodness!
Headgear Choices• Being an RP server, headgear choices are important. There is no lack of choices here. There’s many upper headgears and numerous headgears are done in multiple colours. Some of those include ties, hair extensions and even eye colours. The only qualm I have with the headgears is that too many of them are set up to be mid headgears, and it’s hard to get good headgear combinations when it’s like this.
Mediocre Community (Ingame and in the IRC)• The community is okay at best. For a while, there’d usually be at least one person sitting around in the main town to try and RP with, but the last few times I myself logged in, there was zero. That’s not to say that there was no one on, but they were all off doing their own things. Yeah, that’s a good thing, but it’s hard for others who don’t have a circle of friends to play with to jump into an RP with anyone. The people behind the characters are pretty friendly, for the most part. I’ve had problems with a few, but that’s just me. One small thing to touch on. Recently there has been too much OOC talking ((Out of Character)). It’s discouraged, but people, including the GMs, seem to be doing it a lot recently.
• As for the IRC community, it’s pretty much dead most of the time. The two Storytellers rarely talk unless they are needed; leaving others to answer any questions anyone happens to have, or they aren’t answered at all. The IRC is generally friendly, but it has had its iffy times, as with all IRCs. Nothing really noteworthy about the IRC recently.
Ease of getting into an RP• Let me tell you right now, it’s not easy. When there’s no one in town, it’s impossible to jump into an RP and it’s not worth the effort to go track someone down to RP with to only not be included. When there are people in the main town though, it’s hard to join in unless you’ve previously RPd with them on that character or they know you (the person behind the character). I have tried to jump into RPs in recent days, but fail. Sometimes I try to sit there and see if anyone approaches me, but that doesn’t work, most of the time. I’ve tried adding myself into the conversation, and it doesn’t work. Unless there’s some special way to get myself into RPs, it’s impossible for me unless I know the person already or have already RPd with them.
The StoryTellers (GMs)• When I log on, I never see them. Yes, I am in a much different timezone than them and I have seen them on before, but still… I’d like to see them on other than for events. I would also like to see more than just them as GMs, as they’re both in the same timezone. Most of the storytelling is seemingly left up to A-T, as seen by the last storyline. I’m hoping to see Davven have more influence in the next storyline. Rules are very vague, not very well enforced, and have been bent when they feel like something seems stupid. One example is that Advent sees Yggdrasil Leaves/Berries as an illegal drug, as shown in the AdventRO Advent Wiki. One day ingame, the Gm Icly “tossed” another character a Yggdrasil Berry. A player spoke up saying that it was illegal, but the GM changed it on the spot, saying only the version processed for use is illegal. NOTE: I have checked the Advent Wiki, these pages no longer exist (Unknown as to why), but it’s still worth mentioning.
• One power the Storytellers have given certain players (who are part of the Shyden Guard guild) is the ability to give characters who have broken rules (like fighting and such) within the main city, “jail time”. The players are not able to actually jail the players, but they tell the Storytellers who needs jailing and for how long and they are then put in jail, making their character inaccessible for that time period. There is ABSOLUTLY NO GUIDELINE on this. Example: Character A broke a minor rule in town and ran away when the guard showed up. He was jailed for 3 weeks. Character B almost murdered someone in town with the guard seeing it and she was only jailed 2 weeks. This makes absolutely no sense what so ever. Sadly, I doubt there will ever be guidelines.
(THIS REVIEW IS TOO LONG FOR ONE POST, I WILL CONTINUE IN THE NEXT POST)Posted on: May 08, 2010, 12:54 pm
(CONTINUATION OF LAST POST)
BadPowergaming• Powergaming is a nightmare in RPs. Yes, it is too in regular games, but it really has a negative impact on an RP. AdventRO is no exception. The Storytellers deny any powergaming, but it’s obviously there, they just don’t want to see it. Now, it’s not all over the place by any means, but there are a few people who powergame everything. These people I’m sure even realize it, but never bothers to change. How does these people powergame? Simple. The characters these people play are PERFECT. No flaws. The characters are never scared of anything, they take deathblows and injuries that could kill them and walk away like it’s nothing (this has happened on at least 3-5 occasions), they think they have full authority over all the characters due to their “positions” (Covered more in Favouritism). These people’s powergaming has ruined a lot of RPs for myself and other people, but many others just accept it because they know they can’t do anything about it. It’s sad, really.
• Now, this seems like a touchy subject. Can Storytellers “powergame”? According to many people I’ve spoken to, yes. This brings me to another point about powergaming. About a month back, a long event was held to start off the new storyline. It took place in Prontera with a character called “Amdis” and “Demian”, and eventually all hell broke loose. The event was very, very long for numerous reasons. There was about 7 people against the two of them, and eventually they were losing. Demian decided to use someone as a meatshield for a turn or two so he could avoid getting hit. They were both able to just fly in the air at will, and tried to just prolong the battle. Eventually, one of them destroyed the orphanage by lifting it into the air and throwing it elsewhere. At the end, all of Prontera was suddenly set on fire (which may I add was suddenly rebuilt days later, somehow). The two villains were also able to destroy weapons and shields whenever they wanted, not even asking the player if it was okay or if they were against it at all. It’s just all too farfetched and over bearing. Setting a whole city on fire is going way too far. No one should be able to do that without commanding an army to set buildings on fire and the like. It’s just very unrealistic.
Advent Wiki Changes• AdventRO has an Advent Wiki for all our “in character” and “out of character” information. It includes things such as rules, character pages, history and other important things. It is a very good tool if utilized and written properly. But when a player is unable to do ANYTHING except change their own character pages, it becomes a useless tool. Before the 3 GMs left, the Advent Wiki was free for all, for the most part such as current storyline/religion/background pages. Now, players cannot create any pages other than for their own characters. Why is this bad? Because now information going into the Advent Wiki is very, very controlled and biased. With full control of a Advent Wiki, things cannot be kept up to date fast enough and pages cannot be produced fast enough. Small pages relating to lore and basic info about aspects of the server are no longer created because the players can’t put their own input and ideas into it. The ST says that you can send pages to her to be put into the Advent Wiki… but who wants to go through all that for something that might not be approved?
• Before the current overhaul, there was a reward system in the Advent Wiki. It encouraged people to create pages and write thoughtful, well planned articles about AdventRO and their own characters. Doing this would get the player points toward earning a high up political position within the storyline. This was automatically scrapped when the overhaul happened. It was marked as “retarded” by the owner of the server and people who had positions through this had them taken away. Even if they kept the positions, they wouldn’t be able to use them with the new rule changes in players making storyline ideas. I guess they like doing all the Advent Wiki work for themselves.
Disrespect• Yes, it happens everywhere. It’s part of life, but when you slander someone who helped you for a long time on a server after they’ve left? That’s just low. As mentioned in the above paragraph, one of the old STs had their hard work called retarded. And this quote is visible by anyone who wants to see it; “The reward system was removed from wiki cause it was retarded.” As seen on the server’s review page. I’m sorry, but to disrespect someone like that where she can obviously see it is horribly rude and very immature. It was really disappointing to see.
Favouritism• Favouritism never used to be a very common sight in AdventRO, but that all changed once 3 of the story tellers left. Because they went down to 2 afterward, they were able to do whatever they wanted, mostly what they couldn’t do before because the other three were trying to keep the RP aspects balanced and fair. What does this include? Well, I’ve only noticed one big thing, though I bet there’s been small things that happen with not many people being aware of them. All of the sudden, a character became a race leader. You may say, “Why is this a big deal?” It’s a pretty big deal. For someone to suddenly take on a high up role is just uncalled for. It’s unfair to other players, especially if the general population had absolutely no say in it. And I can tell you, no one did get a say in it. In fact, people have voiced their opinions about this and were just ignored, due to this player’s “veto” for the lack of a better term. This person who got the race leader role had been complaining that the RPing she was doing meant nothing if it wasn’t going to get her characters anywhere, that she RPed for NOTHING. You didn’t RP because you enjoy it? Just crazy. May I add this person knows the two ST’s IRL? Favouritism, even if they don’t realize it. None the less, she got a high up role and started abusing it. Extra powers, the so-called ability to boss players around, “owning maps”, the list just goes on and on. No one owns maps, no one can boss other people around without letting them at least say something in defense and as if this character needs more powers… she’s perfect already. Yeah it sounds like I’m complaining about a particular player, and I am. It’s not easy to ignore when the person is almost always around and always shows off her “power to control people”. It just ruins things for the people who are smart enough to realize that she’s out of control. It was a huge step in the wrong direction for AdventRO.
• Another player was also given a race leader role, but this person is very level headed and plays a good character, the character being played by him for a long time now at the server. I’m happy for this person, he deserves it.
UglyStoryline Related for Players• I wish the players here would step up and say something about this, or maybe they’re too blind. Players make no difference in the storyline. Yes yes, they are RPing the storyline with the STs, but in the end they make no difference. The ST’s characters step up and take the glory. This is shown in the write up of the latest storyline. “Summoning a huge axe, she fought the heroes and fell to her demise, causing great damage to the present party in the process. As Alisha dashed to her and captured back Amdis' essence in a small orb of deteriorating light, the green light faded as it declared itself to be called Avarice”. The players were basically tools for the ST’s character to become the “hero”. I don’t know why the players settled for this, but whatever floats their boats. Full write up of the recent storyline is available to members of the forums. Please read it for yourself before you decide to join.
• Players can no longer make a big difference in storylines or start their own big ones. The main point bothering me is this: “That will endanger a town or an area; major environment impact is completely in the hands of STs and no player-played character is that powerful.” Wow really? So players can’t play villains? That’s basically what it says in my book. How else can someone play a villain without being able to destroy a few buildings, or endanger some people, or even organize a raid or something? How else can players come up with “storylines” when they basically can’t do any damage to anyone or anything? It just baffles me. Unless you can somehow find a way around the rules (full ones listed in the Advent Wiki under Approvals) you’re at complete mercy of the STs.
ST’s Characters Dominating Storyline• With the point above said, GMs now dominate the storylines. They play both the hero and the villain. In the recent storyline, one of the ST’s played both roles, leaving the players to fill the gaps in-between. You could argue that in the old storylines with the other 3 GMs around, they also dominated the storylines. Well, they didn’t. They allowed players to play important roles and gave the players a lot of chances to interact and change things as they were going along. I personally would have been given a pretty big chance in a storyline as a “villain’s” right hand bodyguard, but because they left the storyline was unfulfilled. I was looking forward to it too. I just hope the current STs give players some big chances instead of taking all the important roles for themselves.
Storylines• I can’t really say a whole lot about the storylines right now. Ever since the 3 STs left in early March, there’s only been one story… so it’s hard to say anything. Both the STs are currently too busy to run a storyline, showing they can’t balance their real life dealings with giving the players of their server entertainment... and currently they are the only two people who can do this. It would be so much easier for them if they just allowed the players to start their own plots, but the Co-Owner no longer allows this, according to the guidelines in the Advent Wiki.
The StoryTellers (GMs)• Yes, the STs are in two sections. I already covered a few aspects about them, but I feel the need to cover a few more. This is more related to their RPing more than their ability to enforce the rules. A while ago, back before I had joined, the storylines were like they are now. The events were centered on their characters and no one else’s and they were using the same storylines over and over. The STs that were around when I played changed this, and the events were no longer centered on certain characters and their lives, but instead ones that affected the whole world and everyone’s characters. This helped put the population back up to an average 20 players instead of 2. Now that those STs are gone, the original STs have gone back into a loop. Back to using same storylines and making it so their characters are the center of it all. This happened before, when a previous group of STs left, and it has happened again. The two current STs need to get out of their horrid pattern of re-using storylines and making themselves the center of them all if they really want to keep their population and make it grow again.
• I also question the ability of the “Co-Owner” of the server. Back when I started and the population was low, she took a leave of absence. I didn’t think much of it, because she never hosted events or talked on the IRC. But when the population rose again, she declared herself back and put herself in her high up position again when she didn’t even deserve it. She tried getting the “then head ST now ex ST” to share her position so she could take advantage of the success and try to call it her own. She declared the current storyline to be incompatible with her own, but how were the STs to know that she was even working on a storyline when she never said anything? The STs decided to merge their works, even though this didn’t make the “Co-Owner” happy. Once the group of three STs left, she completely scrapped the old storyline and put in her own with no consideration as to how it would affect the people who currently had roles in the old storyline, leaving us to just ‘deal with it’ and have lingering questions. It’s this kind of behavior that really makes you think, “Why does this kind of person have a high up position?” I doubt it’ll ever change.
Well, that’s the end of my review.
I hope you actually read it, or read the parts that you had interest in. I’m quite aware it’s a “tl;dr” but I felt this was important and decided to write a very, very long review.
Thank you to all the people who read it, and I really do hope this server and the STs change their ways. It’d be a shame to see it die, but with the way things are now, it seems inevitable.
I’ll leave you with this quote from the server owner, as seen on the AdventRO review page:
“As I can see it, it's getting pretty much better, since we got more players then before. I have no idea what power gaming you're talking about so I'll skip that. The story-line is actually better than before, since nothing actually happened in the past few months. The reward system was removed from wiki cause it was retarded. I think because two of your friend left, you just need an excuse to leave. It's sad actually. You'll be missed.” –
Davven, Owner of AdventRO