As some of you may have noticed, a member of the player committee was removed and deleted last week. I would like to share with you the reason why.
As a game which is constantly updated, we need a team to test and tweak these updates to ensure they work, and work well. This team comes in the form of not only the player committee but also staff. We put a lot of trust in these two teams and there are usually no issues at all. However, when someone does take advantage of this to further their game, or their friends', we feel disappointed and this leads to the rest of the staff/committee team quite annoyed as well as the wider public.
During discussions of the recent update to Duke's contract list, Chedburn had mentioned very clearly not to sell particular items until the update was released. This player was given one of these items and chose to ignore this instruction and send it to a friend (whilst telling them explicitly to auction the item) who then proceeded to list the item in the auction house. They would have benefited by gaining $300m.
When all staff and committee members join the team, they are informed that if they abuse their position in any way, they will instantly be punished, usually by deletion.
Whilst everyone has their own opinion on this, we believe we have taken the right action.
I would like to thank those in the staff team and committee who have tested many updates with integrity.
We want to assure everyone that being friends with admins (or otherwise) has no bearing on the punishments we apply to players accounts, they are always applied equally regardless of your donator status.
Our game rules have done us proud for the past 10 years, and we always resolve any issues when they crop up. We will of course be evaluating the response to this thread but cannot guarantee anything will be changed.
I will keep this thread open for all to read and have an open, sensible dialogue. Remember this thread is not about the player in question but about us being open in the way we want Torn to run, fairly and transparently.
So, I see a few new staffers which is obviously all great. For reasons which are an internal staff matter, one of them shouldn't have been made staff.
That person has had their account noted with the reasons of why they were destaffed before and Chedburn was made personally aware about this. When I hired my round of staff members, I personally checked each player's account history (notes, mails, chats, etc) to make sure they were suitable and had no past account issues. A group of secretaries also vetted the account for any multis.
I have absolutely no idea where this game is going, but it's not in a good direction... If the above is not happening to the players which are being made staff, then this is deeply concerning, probably even more so than any rule changes. It would appear the next move is to allow complete "freedom" for everything.
What, as a minimum, checks do you think should be in place for staff to be selected?
Do you feel happy about someone who was staff before being staff again where they were destaffed previously?
Absolutely genuinely gobsmacked by this. There was no grey area at all. The rule was "If you abuse your position for personal/friends gain, you get deleted." That's exactly what happened, and what should continue to happen. He agreed to that rule.
There's no point in me discussing this further, I've spent upwards of 30 hours talking to Ched about this and some more to Clansy. This is my only comment I'll make in this thread because there's no point in talking about it, he's made up his mind and has no-one to answer to now.
I'd love to see the following crimes added: Graffiti, Shop Lifting, Pick Pocketing, Card Skimming, Burglary, Hustling, Disposal, and Cracking Don't know about the other two yet though...
Update #2: I've made a further attack, and gained a treat this time, which has now triggered the basket to level up. So just the two attacks with reduced percentage chance of gaining treats.
14:40:17 - 27/10/21 You gained 1 treat for your Halloween basket (Trick or Treat) 14:40:17 - 27/10/21 Your Halloween basket evolved to Petrifying status
Well, it's been a little while since I've posted in here...
I've just spent 1k treats on the Shadow of Doubt upgrade, which seems to have levelled up the basket somewhat.
My progress bar seems to be correct for having a Petrifying basket (431 / 2500 Treats Collected), however the basket still remains at Horrifying level with the lower percentage chance of gaining a treat: 13:03:13 - 27/10/21 You spent 1,000 treats on the 'Shadow of Doubt' upgrade for your Halloween basket 13:03:13 - 27/10/21 You gained 1,100 treats for your Halloween basket (Shadow of Doubt)
Out of curiosity, I did store it in my display case and take it out again, with no level change. 13:09:35 - 27/10/21 You added 1x Halloween Basket : Horrifying to your display cabinet 13:09:58 - 27/10/21 You removed 1x Halloween Basket : Horrifying from your display cabinet
My understanding is that it does contribute to basket level progress, and a faction member has confirmed this: 01:20:03 - 27/10/21 You spent 1,000 treats on the 'Shadow of Doubt' upgrade for your Halloween basket 01:34:14 - 27/10/21 Your Halloween basket evolved to Petrifying status
The 14 minute gap leads us to believe that an attack is required to trigger the upgrade, and the level check isn't being done when an exchange is made.
This is a little bit confusing so a check on the basket upgrade be ideal - and also it means the next attack will have the correct 70% chance of gaining a treat, rather than 65% for Horrifying level.
![[image: i.imgur.com]](http://i.imgur.com/EQ9PQzB.jpg){kind=link}
![[image: i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/Adl0txZ.png){kind=link}