The Nethernet Community News

About a week ago, mrbubbles started a legendary thread — The Unlikely PMOG Badges Contest. With a sponsored total prize of 12,000 DP thanks to the1joebob, PMOG players have been spending their days creating some amazing and amazingly funny badges that are unlikely to end up in the Codex any time soon.

Some entries include kleefeld’s The Hacker Badge mocked by by czarchron:

For those users who are able to hack into the system from the outside and expose the inner workings of PMOG.  Ironically, upon receiving the Hacker Badge, a user is then promptly banned from the system.

and karmakaze’s Fail Whale badge:

Fail Whale: Won by refreshing the Twitter Is Down notice page eight or more times in one hour…

You can join in on the fun, too! The contest details are laid out in full in the above thread, but you have until 4 Aug 2008 to enter your design and possible win a truck load of datapoints.

If you come across a PMOG-related occurance like the Unlikely Badge Contest, email it to community at pmog dot com to have it considered for the next Community Highlight!

(Cross-posted from here.)

Well met, Passive-ist,

I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to a new group, which will exist as of 16 Jul 2008, outside the realms of Order and Chaos whose members will be making the early lives of Shoats much easier.

These are the Stewards.

Stewards are players who volunteer their time, patience and sanity to assist new players getting acquainted with PMOG, and also help to ensure the Community Standards and Expectations are being upheld. They are entrusted with some abilities above and beyond the normal PMOG citizen, including the ability to close threads, or remove inappropriate comments from missions.

For example, if a Steward comes across an especially helpful post in the forum, they can pin it. Conversely, if they come across an especially unhelpful, hate-filled post in the forum, they can lock it until a Trustee can further address the issue.

Stewards not admins, and should not be viewed as such. Complaints, general help requests, feedback for the developers, reports of abuse, and so forth should still be directed to the normal avenues of communication. Instead, Stewards should be seen as community representatives who have demonstrated a knowledge, dedication and willingness to further better our community.

You will be able to identify someone as a Steward by the designation that will appear on their profile or beneath their name on messages they post on the forums.

For the time being, becoming a Steward is a closed invitation-only process carefully considered by GameLayers. The Stewards report directly to Joe (@burdenday) Wagner, PMOG’s Player Support Liaison. Any/all future concerns regarding a specific Steward should be addressed to @burdenday and will be kept in confidence.

Please join me in welcoming the “first five” Stewards:

pixielo
lehall
chetyre
salmontickler
emberdione

Please use this thread to express your comments, concerns, congratulations or questions. Or, if you’d prefer, you can PMail me directly, or e-mail feedback at pmog dot com.

Welcome, Stewards!

Yours,
Joe
@burdenday

Hello, Passive-ists,

PMOG has been and always will be about giving you the opportunity to share with others how you play the web, in a fun and open manner. There are times though, especially in the recent past, where a few players have chosen to abuse the openness of PMOG through harassing individuals, and disrupting the game as a whole.

During the month of June, I opened a Community Standards discussion, which asked what you as a community hold each other accountable for. A number of you responded with feedback both advising us that you enjoy the freedom PMOG gives its players, but at the same time desiring a clear set of expectations for general conduct.

In counsel with this thread, along with feedback I’ve received personally from players on IRC, PMail, the forums, and e-mail, we at GameLayers have crafted the following policy in order to provide both newer and veteran members of our community with some general standards and expectations.

The policy can be read in full at http://pmog.com/about/community.

Essentially, it asks that all players be conscious that there are other people playing PMOG in addition to themselves. This includes labeling NSFW content, not harassing other players, keeping avatars “clean,” and generally being aware that egregious behavior will not be rewarded.

I would like to point out this policy does not deviate in any way, shape or form from our Terms of Service; it merely serves as further clarification of what the majority of players are already doing and expecting from one another.

This thread on the forums is open for your questions, comments, and opinions about our new Community Standards and Expectations.

If you’d rather contact us directly, please either drop me a PMail (@burdenday) or e-mail feedback at pmog dot com.

Thanks again for making this wonderful community, I am glad to call my virtual home.

Yours,
Joe
@burdenday

The Tubenauts: tonedef, snocrsh, and ethdem, are back with a second installment of the unofficial PMOG podcast.  Just in time, they cover drudge’s Week of Chaos, including a weather report by pixielo explaining the recent shoat shrapnel falling from the PMOGeon skies.

Download your own copy from Zous’s website (above) or subscribe via iTunes to get each week’s episode downloaded directly to your computer.

This edition of Tubenauts also includes further discussion of the Shoppe bug, some speculation revolving around the recent PMOG survey, and my personal favorite another installment of “What Nicks my Mines!” where ethdem discusses the ever crate topic of bad mission making.

New and old players alike, support and stay in sync with your PMOG community by listening to the Tubenauts! These players have put together a professional grade, well thought podcast for your listening pleasure.

Oh, and don’t forget to listen in next week when the Tubenauts cover uselessness’s Week of Order, which starts June 30.

Until then, enjoy the rest of the Week of Chaos.

Armors on to you,
Joe
@burdenday