Mutual Respect
There have always been certain issues in Miriani that the policies haven't specifically addressed and that is what this is going to attempt to cover.Miriani is an online world designed completely by volunteers. Let me say that again in a different way. None of the hosts are paid. All of the hosts that have ever worked on Miriani have done so out of a desire to make it a better place to be for the players. They've wanted to see it grow and they've wanted to see it improve and become something better as a result of their contributions. From personal experience, I can tell you that normally the most a Host receives as compensation is a player accusing them of cheating or otherwise committing actions that go against the betterment of the game as a whole. Now, normally speaking that'd be pretty easy to shrug off, but combined with the fact that we are volunteers it can make it quite difficult, annoying, and frankly hurtful when we hear about it, especially because we know it's not true.
Recently, the effects of the latest rumor had been seen in Albori feeling like he had no recourse but to walk about from the game he, more or less, built from the ground up. I'd like that to serve as evidence that actions our players take can have very real, hurtful effects on us. We are people just like you and we want to see Miriani succeed. We want you to understand that any cheating on our part would sabotage what we work every day in an attempt to build up. We would, very much so, be shooting ourselves in the foot.
From the host perspective, sometimes the rumors and hurtful things we hear coming from the players we attempt to build this world for, can cause us to become jaded and being jaded is the first step in creating a "them versus us" atmosphere and that isn't what we want by any means. Online games have literally gone from thriving entities, to ghost towns, because of the "them versus us" mentality.
All that said, I was a player in many MOOs and MUDs, and other online games, long before I was a host in Miriani so I can completely understand the play perspective on things sometimes. I understand that sometimes your perception is that you have been cheated. I respect the fact that you, as players, put your valuable time and lots of heart into playing this game. I can respect it because I do it as well, so I know what it's like. I know the other hosts respect it as well, because we are all equally frustrated and hurt when players feel we are cheating them.
Without further ado I'll get to the real meat and potatoes and that is the following: The hosts of Miriani do not cheat to screw over our players. We do not cheat to help our own player characters. We do not cause random lag to players we "don't like." We do not ban players because we don't like them or because we just "feel like it." We don't give special attention to people who donate lots of money. I suspect I speak for the other hosts as well when I say, that you have our personal guarantee this is the truth of the matter.
With that pledge, we are going to also ask this of the players. The rumors and conspiracy theories about hosts need to stop. They do damage to us on a very personal level because of the effort we put into Miriani and quite frankly, are completely disrespectful. So, as of this message that stuff needs to stop. We don't want to see or hear about people talking to each other claiming that we gave them random lag, or that our player characters used host powers to destroy their ship, or any of the other hurtful things that are said. So, that's the deal. We pledge to continue working hard to make Miriani a better place for you to play, and in return we ask you pledge to stop this type of destructive and hurtful behavior.
Thank you for reading this message and I politely ask you to let it sink it and remember it. If you forget it, or would like to reread it at some point, it will be made available as a help file.