There has been some very understandable concern in the wake of some of the server’s weekend events that something fishy is happening, when people get raided, and they then find caches of loot listing 100% ownership from me. I’ve gotten some questions on the topic, so I wanted to take a moment to address the concerns with the group, rather than waiting for them to roll in periodically.
I’m sure if you’ve been here for very long, you’ve already noticed, and if you haven’t, or if you’re a new player I’ll offer it directly: We do things kind of differently here at Serenity Valley. My administration philosophy involves a very fair, light touch, with periods of direct intervention. I try each week to present different events that have 3 objectives:
- Give players an interactive distraction outside of the normal sandbox play of Rust with which to engage.
- Create opportunities for spontaneous player interaction.
- Provide increasing availability of higher-valued items as the server wipe cycle progresses in order to raise the stakes and create tension as we march closer and closer to the wipe.
As a part of many of these events, there is a loot component, either given out as prizes in the case of the Caveman Arena, or as part of the participation in the event, such as the Labyrinth or Airdrop Mayhem. We even have smaller, more low-key events during the week to offer something for players that don’t want to get into all the hub-bub of the bigger events, such as Giina’s brilliant offline raid bases, or some of the little sniper hunt events we’ve done.
The benefit to the players of the admins doing these events is that you can all completely let loose, and we aren’t losing anything. The materials and the prizes for these things are spawned in by the server, so that we can give you all something different and hopefully fun and exciting to do, without having to worry about other players getting salty. If you raid your neighbor, they might get pissed and come back with a rocket launcher or worse. If you raid one of the bases Giina’s built for us, or you come and shoot up an admin that’s sniping as part of an airdrop event, that’s AWESOME. We’re there as game content–Doom has AI demons that run around and try to burn you. Terraria and minecraft have zombies that try to eat their way into your house. Serenity Valley has a couple of people who get out there and make themselves available for the hunting and killing so that you can be a bloodthirsty murderhobo without the repercussion of your fellow players getting salty and coming after you.
The exchange for this is that the prizes for those events–the reward side of the risk vs. reward equation–are going to reflect as having been our personal stuff during the event, or looking like something that admin spawned for another player if it’s after the event and it leaves us with the question of how best to address those issues. Do we risk creating a situation that appears to be an admin abusing Rust’s systems or forego carrying out events for the server altogether? In order to create the server experience that I’m hoping to create for our players, it means having some gear in circulation that appears a little bit fishy. I would much rather have to remind people that we host little narrative-driven events here and deal with the occasional cries of unfairness from those who have chosen not to read up on the server’s activities than to just have any other rust server.
I recognize and respect that this may well rub some folks the wrong way. You want a 100% pure environment where we just turn on the server and let it run, and whatever happens, happens. That’s not the server I’m running. There’s nothing wrong with someone having a different vision or looking for another product. In fact, if there’s something that you’re looking for in particular in a Rust server, let me know and I’ll gladly direct you toward some great communities that have what you’re looking for. If however, you’re looking for a community with some action, admins that you can play directly with and who are easy to approach, play, and deal with, where everyone gets a voice and a say in how we conduct the server’s activities, and where the community is held to a standard of maturity and mutual respect–you’ve found the right place. Let us know what you like and dislike. Offer your say on what you feel could be being done better. Without that feedback, Giina and I cannot work to make your server better, but you can be damned sure that we’ll always try our very best to give you one of the most unique and interactive Rust experiences ever.
I definitely want to hear your thoughts on the matter. Please drop any comments on the forum thread, at: