Codex Review RPG Codex Review: Shroud of the Avatar

[Delterius]

I'm glad people here realized quickly what type of person you are and how quick you are to attack anyone who doesn't jump on the bandwagon.

We did?

I'm mostly just eating popcorn.

 

[Trithne]

Well this turned out to be an amazing thread. I was expecting the usual "Well that's about as expected" posts and more mocking the dance parties, instead I got a soap opera that takes me back to my days being unemployed watching daytime tv.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Balor's tits, wtf men.

 

[Diggfinger]

By the way, I forgot to mention this but this is how desperate they are for monetization : https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...mission-thread-royal-gardeners-wanted.128767/

Lord British is having a birthday party. Please, participate in a gardening contest. Lord British will pick the best garden to have his birthday party.

(And let's fail to mention that the only way to win this gardening stuff and acquire most of the needed items require spending real money on the portalarium shop).

(shh...)

(and yeah most of the entries are pretty ugly, but that was to be expected.)

Will it culminate in a contest to wash the royal penis?

I can't believe it, just look at this garbage:

Looks amazing. Great job. 8^D

wow -nice amphitheater <3

Wait,
so Lord British actually DOES appear in the game? Makes it an instant classic, back to the drawing-board taxalot !!

lol anyway this shit is an abomination
Like what you said about the earlier gaming having good immersion but crappy game-play, guess that's why I was never able to play the damn-things for more than 15 minutes.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

sry guys but I'm siding with Titler here because it rhymes on Hitler which pleases me

 

[Bumvelcrow]

sry guys but I'm siding with Titler here because it rhymes on Hitler which pleases me

I used to think that the Codex was a crazy place, but now it's obvious it's the last sane forum on the internet.

 

[Infinitron]

Looks like the official SotA subreddit isn't what it used to be: https://www.reddit.com/r/shroudoftheavatar/comments/8ut9hg/rpg_codex_review_shroud_of_the_avatar/ ("Portaterrible", lol)

 

[Taxnomore]

Looks like the official SotA subreddit isn't what it used to be: https://www.reddit.com/r/shroudoftheavatar/comments/8ut9hg/rpg_codex_review_shroud_of_the_avatar/

Yeah. That's what I was getting at with my review-followup comment. Things have changed from one day to to the other from the moment Portalarium announced the layoffs and that the game was doing bad. There was the initial "move along, nothing to see here" movements here from the fanboys, but Starr Long actually writing the firings were because they had to "adjust to current revenue" pretty much killed the possibility of pretending this was normal.

And all of a sudden, even on the SOTA forums, you start seeing all kind of posts admitting the game has a lot of problems and suck. What happened ? A change of moderation and now these posts are getting through ? Actual sudden realization of a lot of other players ? I have no idea, but it's anyway way too late to do a 180.

I was also expecting a lot of flack on the official forum thread but it turns out that despite a few minor disagreements from some user, they happened to like it. I will admit this is unexpected.

Shit's so bad they can't deny it any more. Run the fuck away.

Anyways, I'm happy that BritishAccent did all these posts. Because if he's right, it proves I was right in saying that SOTA had an incredibly shitty community. And if he's lying, it proves I was right in saying that SOTA had an incredibly shitty community.

 

[Infinitron]

And all of a sudden, even on the SOTA forums, you start seeing all kind of posts admitting the game has a lot of problems and suck. What happened ? A change of moderation and now these posts are getting through ? Actual sudden realization of a lot of other players ? I have no idea, but it's anyway way too late to do a 180.

Who was in charge of moderation on the forums? Did they fire the community manager too, allowing the moderators to go wild?

 

[Taxnomore]

And all of a sudden, even on the SOTA forums, you start seeing all kind of posts admitting the game has a lot of problems and suck. What happened ? A change of moderation and now these posts are getting through ? Actual sudden realization of a lot of other players ? I have no idea, but it's anyway way too late to do a 180.

Who was in charge of moderation on the forums? Did they fire the community manager too, allowing the moderators to go wild?

Like any forum, it appears the guys in charge are from Portalarium and they appointed a few "trusted members" to help with the moderation. However, I seem to have read that the Portalarium guy/s have been part of the layoffs and now that the community aspect of the game is mostly run by Travian (another hint of an imminent takeover ?)

Take this with a grain salt : this is not something I have investigated a lot about and those last 3 lines might be bullshit. Maybe someone else can confirm or deny.

 

[Eggs is eggs]

The SOTA reddit has always been mostly negative on the game. I assume the official board has been the opposite from the stories of the negative people getting banned and shunned from the community.

 

[Thor Kaufman]

Great review taxalot *dibs*

 

[Taxnomore]

I would also like to thanks Infinitron and other Codex staff members for the patience they had with helping me fix my awful grammar.

 

[Kev Inkline]

Who was in charge of moderation on the forums? Did they fire the community manager too, allowing the moderators to go wild?

I encourage you to apply for that position, sounds like a nice place to moderate - by the look of all the healthy and well-adjusted individuals that have graced us with their presence - unlike this despicable forum where herding cats is the norm.

 

[Koss]

Just have to say that the 'titler' guy from all I've read sure seems batshit crazy.

It does provide for a good read.

 

[ebPD8PePfC]

Well, after reading the review I was going to post that MMORPGs are one of the worst genres of games ever invented, and how happy I am they're dying.

But after reading the comments, I just want to remind people to generate their usernames and passwords with a password generator to prevent stalking. Change display name afterwards, just don't use the same user name across different sites.

 

[ClockworkMonkey]

Looks like the official SotA subreddit isn't what it used to be: https://www.reddit.com/r/shroudoftheavatar/comments/8ut9hg/rpg_codex_review_shroud_of_the_avatar/

Yeah. That's what I was getting at with my review-followup comment. Things have changed from one day to to the other from the moment Portalarium announced the layoffs and that the game was doing bad. There was the initial "move along, nothing to see here" movements here from the fanboys, but Starr Long actually writing the firings were because they had to "adjust to current revenue" pretty much killed the possibility of pretending this was normal.

And all of a sudden, even on the SOTA forums, you start seeing all kind of posts admitting the game has a lot of problems and suck. What happened ? A change of moderation and now these posts are getting through ? Actual sudden realization of a lot of other players ? I have no idea, but it's anyway way too late to do a 180.

I was also expecting a lot of flack on the official forum thread but it turns out that despite a few minor disagreements from some user, they happened to like it. I will admit this is unexpected.

Shit's so bad they can't deny it any more. Run the fuck away.

Anyways, I'm happy that BritishAccent did all these posts. Because if he's right, it proves I was right in saying that SOTA had an incredibly shitty community. And if he's lying, it proves I was right in saying that SOTA had an incredibly shitty community.

Read back in the forums. There's never a time when there isn't active criticism of the game. That's how the Heat system got put in last year, due to massive push back against the combat system. It's how the new player areas got put it, the forums saying it then the Trial accounts saying it. It's how a lot of systems went it, constructive criticism.

If you're getting banned from the forums you're probably not being civil, despite the claims to the contrary I have never seen anyone banned for having expressed criticism. It's usually for freaking out and name calling.

 

[Mustawd]

ClockworkMonkey , can we unpack this a bit?

At this point we have multiple ppl from the SOTA community claiming various things.

Very briefly:

1. Why should we believe you over BritishAccentsGetTheGirls ?
2. Should anyone here play SOTA? Why or why not?
3. Did you play UO? If so, what are the biggest similarities and differences between UO and SOTA?
4. What are your opinions on the dance party music? Personally, Inthink most of it is awful (based on the radio station grimace linked me to; one exception being hotel california).

 

[grimace]

ClockworkMonkey , can we unpack this a bit?

At this point we have multiple ppl from the SOTA community claiming various things.

4. What are your opinions on the dance party music? Personally, Inthink most of it is awful (based on the radio station grimace linked me to; one exception being hotel california).

Avatars can own and operate their own Inns. Perhaps they will choose to name their in game Inn Hotel California.

 

[grimace]

Many people who have not experienced player housing in SotA do not understand the need for player housing.

Functional reason for owning the smallest available lot to place a row home: storage.
The reason for storage is: crafting requires items.
Bank space is limited and you will pay gold for additional slots.
Taxes are now 250 gold for the row lot option. (Down from 500).

Carrying too many items weighs you down and you run slower. Avatars go home to drop off junk items.


Banks and homes store items in the scene. There is no universal access to these items across different scenes. This is the basis of the local economy.

 

[Mustawd]

Home ownership is a meme though. Why not just rent? I doubt the value of SOTA real estate is appreciating much.

 

[BritishAccentsGetTheGirls]

Stalker:

Making an aquaponics system for a Turtle Conservation program with help of a 3D printer that your friends and family helped buy? In crazy world it was a scam and that money is stolen.

Me not emailing my stalker to let him know I printed up a little turtle for my Aunt because she helped raise the money? I guess in crazy world that's some of his business, I should be checking in with him regularly.

Of course, my friends, family, and the turtle conservation place don't see it that way, but it makes a good story for someone with a vendetta to repeat everywhere. 90% lie, based on a small amount of fact.

FANTASTIC! So you not only admit you're who I said you were, you give permission to talk about what else you've done? Thank you!

Before we begin folks, consider how "Insane" I must be that from the evidence of THREE posts, I was able to work out exactly who it was.

Now he's confirmed and taken responsibility for what he's done (with some serious lies included, as he always does), let's get into it;

He tried to set it up on MassivelyOP so he could demand they ban me and anyone else there who got in the way of his RMT by using his real name. Go ahead now and check for yourself. He posts as REDACTED there. Because he confirmed himself it's him here, here he is going batshit insane trying to report me for "doxxing" him there, after quoting a post and thus including that user name. I screenshotted it before it got deleted.

We already knew he was a shifty as fuck individual. Here he is as MrAdventur3 getting banned from Wikipedia for trying to sneak links to what is either a personal wedding album or a failed online business into their articles. When he falls foul of moderation, you'll notice they catch him sockpuppeting (but not changing his IP address) to try and continue. If you look at the sweet.tv link he keeps trying to put in, you'll see he continues to use the same photographs online for the next 10 years.

And here's his Barnraiser where he scams $2900. Read it carefully, you'll quickly see what a dishonest weasel he is.

If you've read my link to "Lying for Shroud" you'll have already seen he'd previously stated he lived in Costa Rica on Reddit, because that's what everyone is mocking him for in the comments; he tried to claim people were leaking his use of marijuana for "medical reasons", because A.) no one had ever said that, he made that up. And B.) When I checked, it was legal in Costa Rica anyway.

But let's go into detail.

Firstly, if you look at the Turtle Sanctuary's own facebook page, you can see him sockpuppeting there on a second account called something like "Printer For Turtle Sanctuary" (I can't be arsed to go back and get the exact name, I'm doing this all from memory) that the charity absolutely doesn't respond too. They have nothing to do with him, he's using them to generate revenue for his scamming.

The claim he's just made above? "that your friends and family helped buy"... makes you think they funded it, right? Nope, they simply put their names to his scam. Look at the "Team", now look at the rewards.

• How can you offer the chance to volunteer with the sanctuary he doesn't work at as a reward for a start? You have that right, if they accept you, anyway.
• The meals at nearby restuarants, and the location of the 3d "plaque" he claims later, is the property of one of the Team members. And you'd have to be in Costa Rica to claim it. There is no evidence anyone ever did, nor that he ever made the plaque.
  
• "I printed up a little turtle for my Aunt" It's not just his Aunt. He was supposed to print multiple copies for all the backers of his fundraising. Yes, if you buy him a printer, he'll send you some prints! You can see for yourselves the number of prints he should have honoured. Instead, once the printer arrives at his home, he stops updating entirely. It's not about emailing me; I never asked for that, and would certainly never give him my email. Why REDACTED, do you think you know what it is? But at least now we "know" how many turtles he made. ONE. For his Aunt. Apparently.
  
• The amazing, health-improving Zurvita products? Funnily enough, if you plug "MrAdventure Zurvita" into Google... Yup, he's a failed Pyramid Scheme seller as well. He's using the printer scam to dump his unsold inventory as "rewards" now.
  
• The boxes of fresh fruit and veg? Pick up collection in Washington only, from "REDACTED Orchards." Wait, isn't that... yup, it's his family's farm. Why not post them? Because then he'd have to honour it.
  
• And best of all! "For $5000, REDACTED Will Hypnotise You!"

Guess why he seems to think he can get away with all this deception then? And why he never actually does, because hypnotism relies upon suggestable people, rather than being real. I don't know if he's really printing parts for his families own agri-business, or if he has his own reasons for wanting the printer; But this is who you're really dealing with.

Here's his Shroud profile. He tries to lie again above and say he only does a little trading. Count the feedback for yourself. Once upon a time on Reddit, he tried to claim he'd only ever done 3 Real Money Trades. As also mentioned in a previous post, he tried to claim to user "deadlyhabit" that he doesn't trade, even though he's traded with "deadlyhabit" himself. He's one of the most appallingly dishonest people I've ever met online.

Here's his public blog on Gamasutra. At the time, he was lying on Reddit and claiming he knew nothing about Unity, so he was innocently impressed by how much work Portalarium did. In his profile he asks for donations for "EcoVillage", claiming to actually be a developer. As far as I can tell, he made a few youtube videos and ran off with any money he took.

All of this is public knowledge. He continually gives it out, then tries to get people banned to silence them, out of maliciousness and an attempt to stop them interfering in his scams. Congratulations though REDACTED, I told you on Reddit if you tried to gaslight me once more, I would add your name to the police reports. And you didn't have the sense to stop, did you? So in you go. And I do know which authorities to report it too, because unlike "Jammaplaya", your operational security is terrible. You've been using the same user name openly, and linking your personal life in to your scams to try and bully people into silence for more than a decade.

Oh, and final point; selling my account? I didn't set a price, I put it up on limited timed auction. I wanted out withdraw my consent at any price. But because the community is batshit insane, and greedy, they ended up bidding each other up far beyond the price I paid. I never lied and said I hadn't done it though, or that I ever wanted that shit in the game in the first place.

And now onto the next madness, this will be nice and easy to handle though... he couldn't even get past the first paragraph without showing what an insecure arsehole he was!

 

[BritishAccentsGetTheGirls]

BritishAccentsGetTheGirls You may want to consider using archive.is for pertinent websites rather than rely on the Wayback Machine.

I notice you've put up a thread on Reddit now. One thing you need to understand is that Raw and everything else has only ever been a tool for getting vital information out about Shroud to innocent people who might suffer if they make the mistake of getting involved with it. That doesn't mean all the people on the critical side are likeable, or hell could even tie their own shoelaces. Just tools to get the information out there.

I'd like to provide some corrections from the rant about me here. Because titler is too much of a coward to actually engage me anymore and prefers to talk about me in places like here where he thinks I won't come and answer him. He did this on reddit too before he was site-wide banned, where he would accuse me of things in his comments in other subs that i don't read and not tag me, hoping i wouldn't see it and come to dispute his lies. He does this because every time he has actually argued with me it devolves into the usual flinging of insults because I disagree with him rather than any actual basis to his claims against me.

*SNIP*

Well I think that's all I need to quote to show what a shithead AdamZax is, eh? Remember, he's the moderator of /r/shroudoftheavatar. I'd gladly go and debate him on his own subreddit, except he pre-emptively bans me, then claims I'm a coward. Because he's just that much of an honest, brave individual, ahahah! When I linked him multiple times to every comment I'd ever made about his brother to prove him completely wrong that I'd ever said he was a sockpuppet, he reported it as spam, and then crowed he'd got me banned on a thread he knew I couldn't respond too. Soooo brave!

And then he throws a childish sulk because he can't control where else I post, and gets freaked out because for some reason, I don't inform him of every detail if I do. And if I did, he'd claim I was sending him unsolicited PMs of course! Except that never happened either, because I don't want vile scum like him in my life. He sent them to me though. You've seen the screenshots included. Would you all like the full PMs?

But I will warn others of where the scum is so they don't step in it. Maybe change your behaviour if you don't want people commenting on it Adam?

I could so easily sockpuppet onto his subreddit too if I wanted; you've seen the screenshots of how quickly jamma gets back and does it time and time again; but the game and community now is so dead there's very little point. I just make sure that if I become aware of anywhere new still unsure of how toxic everything around Shroud became, they get advanced warning. And sorry Zax, you chose to be part of that.

My main, openly acknowledged account on Reddit is "NemoHerringwary", my name in Shroud by the way. And funnily enough, that isn't banned yet, despite all his reports since. Funny that, eh?

I didn't even bother reading the rest of his claims; does he continue to get enraged about the address in Manitoba thing? Because at some level he knows he's screwed up, which is why he went back and deleted it, and he hates the fact something he can't lie about is out there and out of his control. I just hope it really is his address, so if jamma ever escalates to actually following through with his threats, no one innocent has to suffer the consequences.

So again folks... THIS is Shroud's community. Aren't you glad I warned you about it!

 

[BritishAccentsGetTheGirls]

Many people who have not experienced player housing in SotA do not understand the need for player housing.

Functional reason for owning the smallest available lot to place a row home: storage.
The reason for storage is: crafting requires items.
Bank space is limited and you will pay gold for additional slots.
Taxes are now 250 gold for the row lot option. (Down from 500).

Carrying too many items weighs you down and you run slower. Avatars go home to drop off junk items.


Banks and homes store items in the scene. There is no universal access to these items across different scenes. This is the basis of the local economy.

Also as far as I can recall, it's still the only way to grow any crops.

And you can earn real money by charging rent.

All the deco of course cannot be displayed without a home to place it in.

And frankly, it's the only part of the game that ever received any true polish. The rest of it is largely bobbins.

It's basically Ultimate Garage Collector V2.0

 

[ERYFKRAD]