What I can do, can't do and won't do.
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Hello everyone,
I've noticed during the fall alpha in particular that I've been getting a lot of requests that are frankly not something I can help you with, or don't want to help with for a good reason. In addition to that, I also want everyone to keep in mind that I'm not a developer. I'm a volunteer moderator who is a fan just like you and spends a lot of his free time to help the devs out to make this game a success, but other than that I generally have no control whatsoever over development, bug fixing priorities, future patches and content, etc. . For this reason, I've decided to make this thread to clarify what I can help you with, can't help with, or for a good reason won't help you with.
I also want to politely request to please respect my time. Especially when a test phase has just started I'm often very busy watching everything. For example at one point I got pinged every few minutes with various requests. When that happens, I really don't have time for chit-chats or joke requests. As I've mentioned above, I'm only a volunteer so I have my own personal life to deal with as well.
WHAT I CAN DO:
Unstuck you.
This one is obvious, if you're stuck, you can contact me on Discord or the forum and I'll help you out once you and I are both online. Please contact me by private message if you're stuck, because I might miss your message if you bring it up in the chat, especially if you don't ping me.
Fix a house that can't be completed due to a bug.
It's a type of bug that has been present in one way or another in multiple tests now, and it's understandably a very annoying bug. Luckily for you, it's pretty trivial for me to remove your unfinished house and help you on your way towards building a new one. So, if you happen to stumble upon this bug, please contact me on Discord or the forum and I'll help you take care of it.
Moderate the chat.
While we don't have proper chat "tools" yet like a reporting system, ignore list, etc, we do have chat logs and we can use those to moderate the chat. If you see someone breaking the rules, make a screenshot of it or tells us when it happened and we'll take care of it.
I can answers questions, but it's getting harder and harder to be a know-it-all.
So bear with me. I understand that some of you might think that I'm a walking Fractured encyclopedia because well, I'm a mod/GM and that's what many players would logically expect of me. With that said, the devs have been adding a lot of content lately and it has become too much for me to keep up with it all. For example I haven't even gotten around to playing with any of the city building stuff yet because I simply don't have the time for it, so I often can't answer questions regarding the various aspects of city management. So while it's fine to ask me questions (obviously), I suggest you check the Wiki and/or one of the latest video updates first.
WHAT I CAN'T DO:
My powers aren't as vast as you might think.
I quite often get requests which I'm simply incapable of doing. For example, I can't kick bugged players out of city rosters or cancel applications, nor do I have the power to fix bugs instantaneously. As an admin, I can only do the following:
- Teleport myself or other players around and thereby unstucking them.
- Spawn items, world objects and monsters.
- Remove any object from the world.
- Quick-build parts of a house or the whole house in one go.
- Ban the evildoers!
This is literally all I can do, so any request which requires more than that is simply something I'm not capable of. If it's really pressing, I can ask Prometheus to do it instead. If it's not gamebreaking however, I would rather not bother Prometheus with it.
Provide you with a clarification on the intention behind a game mechanic or system.
Because I'm not a dev, I do not know what's intended and what isn't intended. For example I can't tell you if the stats on your items are correct, if a farm is supposed to give you as many or as few crops as it does, if a crafting table is behaving correctly, etc. These decisions are made by the devs, and while I do have access to some of the design documents, a lot is done behind the scenes and invisible to me. In addition to that, Prometheus is generally very busy (especially during a test phase) and often doesn't have time to give an answer to every question. So if you're not sure if something is working correctly, I suggest you make a bug report instead just to be sure.
Remove completed buildings or plots.
I'm not allowed to remove buildings that have already been completed, mainly because all buildings grant prestige and that prestige isn't subtracted when a building gets removed by admin commands. Claim spots are hard to remove as well, especially if they're actively being owned by someone as the claim isn't properly removed from the player who owns it if it gets deleted by an admin. The devs are currently working on making it possible to demolish completed buildings and claim spots which should solve this issue.
EDIT: I'm now allowed to remove bugged houses that have the bug where you can't place furniture in your house.
WHAT I WON'T DO:
"Can you come to check this bug to verify it"
If you want to know one of the most requested requests I've been getting, this is it. Someone finds a bug and wants me to come "verify" it which generally just means viewing it. Here's the thing, as I've explained above, I'm not a dev. There's nothing I can do about it (other than provide you with compensation depending on the bug) and there's no point in me verifying it (unless you need my help to test a bug). I also don't have access to whatever program the devs use to keep track of all the bugs so I can't even make a note of it. All I can do is notify Prometheus in Skype if it's a really bad bug, but nothing more than that. So, if you found a bug, just report it on the forum in the bug report section where the devs can see it.
Spawn items for you.
I generally do not spawn items for players unless it's as a compensation for a bug. However, for the past few days I've had multiple people ask me about wooden handles and poles because the recipes for these two are current unavailable due to a bug. Some people have asked me if I could simply spawn these items for them instead. This is something I won't do for a few reasons. First of all, if I spawn these items for one person, I have to do it for everyone and before you know it I'm spending hours just handing out handles and poles. Secondly, if I were to spawn these items for only a few players it would give those players an unfair advantage over everyone else, as technically none of those items are available right now to anyone.
I'm not going to hold your hand.
From time to time I get questions that easily could have been answered by doing some research on the Wiki, the news section of the official website or YouTube, or by simply playing and figuring it out as they progress through the game. Please don't ask me for things like heals, campfires, etc. Also, unless there's a very good reason for it, I'm not your personal taxi driver. While this isn't requested very often, it's something people have asked of me in the past and the answer is always "no". So craft some nets, tame a mount and go for a ride, because that's how you'll be exploring the planets and continents of Fractured most of the time.
Obviously this doesn't cover everything, but these are some of the issues that pop up the most and I just wanted to address it all in one post. If you want to talk about something that isn't mentioned above, don't hesitate to contact me.
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Won't hold my hand? What kind of game is this?! We all need to have our hands held at some point. A quick hug wouldn't hurt either. Being in mom's basement, I don't get the loving affection I deserve.
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Specter you're a beast as always, almost there for us 24/7 since the alpha launch. I just wanted to say: We love you!
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Thank you so very much for all of your hard work Specter; you are truly one of this games most valuable resources!
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I think what we can do for you is to send you much love and hugs.
Thank you for being there in every situation, for calming people down, for caring much, for staying awake 24/7, for having always an open ear.
And thank you too for your Banhammer!
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Can I get a Hallelujah for a volunteer admin with both a sense of humor and a reasonable set of boundaries?
If not, can we get a clone of this guy?
Actually, let's have both.
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Yeah I definitely do not envy you specter
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Thank you specter!
Really glad to have you here
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@Specter ahh, apologies if I have asked of you things. I was under the impression you were a dev team member tasked with the "dirty work"
I remember the days of GMs in Everquest beta and final. Now I understand. Thanks for clarifying. They need to hire you some help, especially as it progresses. Thanks for all you do for us. 
We do appreciate it.
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Let the rabbit invasion begin !!
Thank you for your time and effort
