Black List

[Aufklarer]

I have browsed the forums during my spare time and was surprised to see a number of posts with reference to individuals that manipulate/abandon/host unethically and also a number of names being posted as alias's of particular known offenders.

That said i didnt see a comprehensive list of people I really should avoid, especially as I am a new player to planetMule with only 10 games under my belt. As you are all aware it is difficult for newcomers to get started as it is without meeting individuals who wish only to stomp n00bs/abandon/kick and play AI.

I propose a Blacklist stickied at the top of the forum in plain view so as to make people aware of who not to play games with. This would have the following benefits:

1) New players will be able to see that there are people playing deliberately trying to derail games and be aware of it.
2) New players will also be able to see that although it is difficult to get started in Planetmules "clicky" community, there is a reason for it.
3) Ease of keeping an up to date and efficient track of known problem accounts.
4) Restore some faith and possibly a little compassion to the veteran players who blatently refuse to play with newer players.
5) Show an invested intrest into the small planetMule community (which would be nothing if not for the people playing the game).
6) Allows moderators to officially name and shame offenders

While i understand that there is nothing to stop someone making a new account and continue causing unrest, it will at least show that this community will not tolerate it. For this reason veterans may still choose to play only known opponents but its a step in the right direction. After all someone has to give someone their first game =D (thanks Mainstream for mine)

[Chuckie Chuck]

Honestly, at current, I only have about 10 to 12 aliases I avoid and this accounts for 4 or 5 people.  Otherwise, it's a pretty good core group here.  I'm not against playing with newbies.  I don't like it when they quit early, but if they do return, I will keep giving them chances until they have a definate pattern set.

(I'd say if they still have an abandon ratio of 50% or greater after 10 games, they probably are not going to be stable players.  Most that are that bad never play 10 games, they stop between 3-5 and never come back.)

Reality is though, when I start a game, usually experienced players will join before any newbies happen along.  I don't turn them away, if they join, it just doesn't happen to me that often, and the trend has been that they do get snagged by one of the more unethical host and never get to experience a real game (because those host are playing more often, and grabbing up one or two newbies and jumping into a game with AIs, which doesn't even allow for the newbie to really learn how we play mule here)  They usually get very little input from the host, and no other players to chat with, or learn from, and the host plays abusively taking advantage of the newbies inexperience and not explaining the tricks he uses or imparting his knowledge.

Mule has thousands of registered users, and maybe 50 to 100 weekly players.  The vast majority have only played one or two games, or never actually got successfully logged in to play at all.

I have tried to document the most obvious offenders on here.  It's honestly very time consuming to track it though.

[Aufklarer]

thanks for your input chuck, I am glad that most of the regular players dont get too many problems. That said i think it would still be a good idea for the community to compile a list of known (lets say) unstable players names. At least that way newer players could be pointed to the forums for a heads up on who to avoid.

It is a hard game to learn from scratch as there isnt really much out there that can compare to mule. I was lucky to have a basis from playing as a child with my father (who relentlessly destroyed me in the auction house) so I have not taken long to pick up the "real" way to play mule. New players could only benefit from a compiled black list.

[Chuckie Chuck]

Here is a compilation I did a while back of the worst of the offenders

http://www.planetmule.com/forum?topic=1189.msg6230#msg6230

Seems like I'm always going back and adding to the list of post about him.

A few others to watch for...

NilacTheGrim
SockMonkey
a few others I can't remember right now, these are the infamous ones.

You'll notice a lot of complaints that in the end don't raise enough concern for me not to play them...

Everyone gets tagged eventually.  A few regulars here just have an off day and go to war on each other and decide they won't play each other anymore, but even they are all right most the time.

You'll notice Death_Mule17, aka MuleSizeMe feuding with Whoosthis, aka CDay.  For the most part they are both ok, maybe one of them is a little bi-polar or something and has a few off days.  I play them both, usually have good games with them.

The following are people I know are usually decent.

Death_Mule17 aka MuleSizeMe
Whoosthis aka Cday
C64 Nostalgia
Kipley
C64
Mt-Wampus
anubis34
Chauncey
Mute
Gunnar
Rhodan
ZX81
mary
leahcim99
dynadan
WhosYourBuddy
GovtMule
DandyDan
Brad1867
Gohar
MainStream
MuleyMan
mogs70
lamprey
htman_2000
wyjung
RogueCat (Who has programmed some very nice tools for use with the game.)
rodz
ChuckieChuck
smithers

Many More, but these are the people I know I see a lot of and have played and believe to be generally cool.

I personally have not had a bad experience with Death_Mule17 or WhoosThis.  They are currently feuding, but hey whatever.  ZX81 likes to start games and then when people join he isn't always there, and so you'll notice they'll all leave and find another guy to be player four in a different game, but when he isn't AFK for to long, he'll give you a good game.  Just keeps you waiting to start sometimes.  I wouldn't say that is all his fault, we are all wanting Admin to change the chat system to it's easier to know when people are waiting to play (the alert system in Planet M.U.L.E. currently sucks)

It's usually easy to spot the really bad players in the forum, the problem is, most noobs don't look at the forum.  There are usually multiple complaints about the serious problem makers.  If everyplayer stopped in at the Website, Scores Forum before they played their first game, I'm sure we'd have fewer bad experiences.

[leahcim99]

Chuckie sums it up nicely - but I think he missed rodz (who is more than willing to teach rookies) on his list of decent players....

We vets are not a bad bunch, however, right or wrong, most of us prefer experienced competition, we have paid our dues in disconnects, quitters, scammers.

Personally, I do not mind new players as long as they are willing to stay the entire game and they are willing to learn (I am more than willing to teach new players so that they become better players).

HOWEVER, as ALL of the vets know - there is nothing as good as a game with 4 good experienced players and that would be my first choice if I came to the lobby and they were available - not because we are "clanish" or "cliquish" BUT because the game is better when all player of similar skill levels.

You are welcome in any of my games.....

Chuckie Chuck also missed himself from that list 

[Chuckie Chuck]

wow, I forgot rodz?

Wow, I did, just looked.  I had to write the whole note twice cause I clicked in the wrong window and lost it all, I put him in the first one, lol.

Guess I should include myself to, well, I'll click the modify button and add that in, lol.

[dynadan]

Thank you chuckie chuck for the excellent summary.  As a whole just about everyone who plays on planet mule that have 5 games or more are trust worthy.  I have tried to help many noobies learn to play, only to have them quit.  I have also tried to help people pretending to be noobies (called smurfs) who let me waste a lot of time giving them hints and tips only to start playing like experts in round 6.  Nowadays I will generally conduct an extensive interview before starting a game with a new player....basically unless you are a c64 or atari veteran or have played several training games i won't start with a new player anymore.  What I hate the most is getting half way through a game and having to read "this game sucks" in the chat window.  THIS GAME RULES!!!!  IF YOU THINK OTHERWISE THEN YOU SUCK!!! hehe