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In AA, for months I listened to complaints about how "Calcite has the most boring content of all the expansions," how it's not fun there, how I'm unfairly favoring Loken (and it doesn't matter that he got all the "good stuff" through excellent roleplaying and attention to NPCs), how my NPCs are somehow "wrong" and how I'm unfairly "not giving enough rewards," plus I was told that the principles I use to run the expansions are ***, that I'm a jerk, and I was told to go f*** myself twice.
In Sakuramoria, I heard complaints about how unfairly Futyabe gets cool gifts, and of course, it doesn't matter that this was due to the plot.
In Serberia, I listened to hysterics about a missed event with abilities that the players skipped, plus I heard about how the GM's female character is a terrible person for stealing the players' spotlight, even though she wasn't making any decisions and was basically just existing. The GM allowed herself to roleplay the character, what a scumbag.
Lungvort didn't start well – "nerf the ability, GM" – I'm told, and I reply that I won't. This answer turns out to be insufficient, and a debate ensues for hours about how this ability still needs to be nerfed. Later, I realized that I had overdone it with the starting quest, and to save the situation, I decided to spawn an NPC to help – and again, I heard a lot of negativity.
And so it is every time. Now, even with player immortality and everything, the GM is still favoring someone, deliberately ruining things for someone else, he's doing a bad job, but another GM is having fun, that's bad, it's stupid, you shouldn't do that, etc., etc. Everyone, of course, has the right to their opinion, but sometimes it's better to keep it to themselves, especially if it's speculation (and even more so, don't try to pass it off as fact).
I've had cases where I really wanted to roleplay a certain character, I put effort into the quest and everything, and after a week or two, the expansion was closed. And now what? Should I bash the GM for baiting and dropping? No, it's just bad luck – nothing can be done about it. But it turns out that baiting and dropping is normal, but running an expansion that isn't "perfect" (so that everyone has the same stats and gear, so that NPCs treat everyone the same regardless of roleplaying, etc.) is not. This means that you're a jerk and you need to be harassed, because there's no other way to describe it, since there's no constructiveness in these comments. Especially if you're just sitting on the sidelines, eating popcorn, and just stirring the pot for fun.
I see something like Asmidul's diary, and reading it brings a smile because of how cool the text is and the realization of how much this character has become a part of the world I created, not to mention the colossal effort that was put into it. And here's what's interesting – even if you take away all his stats and gear, or even kill him, the charm of this character won't disappear, because the life he lived and the actions he took are interesting in themselves. I encounter something unexpected for myself, and that's also very cool. For example, few people know that I didn't plan on having a war with Calcite (in Barsina, I just had to sail there on a ship). Success in the quest guaranteed Calcite's help in the war against the undead, and failure didn't have major consequences for the plot, and yet, the players' actions smoothly created a completely different storyline. Both examples are what motivates me to run expansions. Counting battles (and especially failing due to your own inattention) or listening to complaints as if you were a video game developer on a crowdfunding platform is the opposite – but the first, unlike the second, is inevitable.
The artists' popular saying, "I'm the author, I see it this way," is quite applicable here.
Added 43 minutes ago
Yashur, it all boils down to roleplaying and actions. Astral is a good example. In the past, he did all sorts of crazy things that even forced me to introduce an artificial limit on the number of characters that one player can create. In this one, his character is much "more successful." What has changed in the meantime? Maybe we've become very close friends, or maybe he secretly donated and I decided to favor him, right? Or maybe it's all explained by the fact that this time he played his character wonderfully, made the right connections, and so on?
Okay, I'll explain the quest for the waterproof case ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. This will be the last thing I ever explain – practice shows that it's a completely pointless exercise.
You wondered about the existence of a waterproof bag for books and scrolls. I hadn't thought about such an item, but I had to decide – could it exist or not? I decided that yes, someone like a traveling journalist who works in different weather conditions could have one. That is, this item is specialized and not just a can, so I categorized it as an "elite" item and set the cost at 100 rem. An NPC from the journalists' guild offered it to you for 500. Why? Because he doesn't need it, your character is nobody to him, and there's no reason for him to give it away cheaper or for free. If you want it, pay for it, if you don't, then don't. Adventurers, as I decided, could also have such a bag, but the leader of this guild has a bad temper (which everyone already knew at that point), so I roleplayed it that way (but before giving the bag, he planned to ask them to come up with some nasty things about Naria or Akonia as additional payment, but I don't remember for sure anymore). Well, the third one is a custom order, so the price is higher than the market price. There was no trickery, the craftsman takes the order + money and then starts working on it. His reputation is at stake, but again, it's your choice whether to agree or not. But since your reliable sources in the database told you that the GM decided to mess with you, then, of course, that's probably what happened, and he just enjoys trolling (and then cooling his own ass instead of continuing to run the expansion).
In Sakuramoria, I heard complaints about how unfairly Futyabe gets cool gifts, and of course, it doesn't matter that this was due to the plot.
In Serberia, I listened to hysterics about a missed event with abilities that the players skipped, plus I heard about how the GM's female character is a terrible person for stealing the players' spotlight, even though she wasn't making any decisions and was basically just existing. The GM allowed herself to roleplay the character, what a scumbag.
Lungvort didn't start well – "nerf the ability, GM" – I'm told, and I reply that I won't. This answer turns out to be insufficient, and a debate ensues for hours about how this ability still needs to be nerfed. Later, I realized that I had overdone it with the starting quest, and to save the situation, I decided to spawn an NPC to help – and again, I heard a lot of negativity.
And so it is every time. Now, even with player immortality and everything, the GM is still favoring someone, deliberately ruining things for someone else, he's doing a bad job, but another GM is having fun, that's bad, it's stupid, you shouldn't do that, etc., etc. Everyone, of course, has the right to their opinion, but sometimes it's better to keep it to themselves, especially if it's speculation (and even more so, don't try to pass it off as fact).
I've had cases where I really wanted to roleplay a certain character, I put effort into the quest and everything, and after a week or two, the expansion was closed. And now what? Should I bash the GM for baiting and dropping? No, it's just bad luck – nothing can be done about it. But it turns out that baiting and dropping is normal, but running an expansion that isn't "perfect" (so that everyone has the same stats and gear, so that NPCs treat everyone the same regardless of roleplaying, etc.) is not. This means that you're a jerk and you need to be harassed, because there's no other way to describe it, since there's no constructiveness in these comments. Especially if you're just sitting on the sidelines, eating popcorn, and just stirring the pot for fun.
I see something like Asmidul's diary, and reading it brings a smile because of how cool the text is and the realization of how much this character has become a part of the world I created, not to mention the colossal effort that was put into it. And here's what's interesting – even if you take away all his stats and gear, or even kill him, the charm of this character won't disappear, because the life he lived and the actions he took are interesting in themselves. I encounter something unexpected for myself, and that's also very cool. For example, few people know that I didn't plan on having a war with Calcite (in Barsina, I just had to sail there on a ship). Success in the quest guaranteed Calcite's help in the war against the undead, and failure didn't have major consequences for the plot, and yet, the players' actions smoothly created a completely different storyline. Both examples are what motivates me to run expansions. Counting battles (and especially failing due to your own inattention) or listening to complaints as if you were a video game developer on a crowdfunding platform is the opposite – but the first, unlike the second, is inevitable.
The artists' popular saying, "I'm the author, I see it this way," is quite applicable here.
Added 43 minutes ago
Yashur, it all boils down to roleplaying and actions. Astral is a good example. In the past, he did all sorts of crazy things that even forced me to introduce an artificial limit on the number of characters that one player can create. In this one, his character is much "more successful." What has changed in the meantime? Maybe we've become very close friends, or maybe he secretly donated and I decided to favor him, right? Or maybe it's all explained by the fact that this time he played his character wonderfully, made the right connections, and so on?
Okay, I'll explain the quest for the waterproof case ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. This will be the last thing I ever explain – practice shows that it's a completely pointless exercise.
You wondered about the existence of a waterproof bag for books and scrolls. I hadn't thought about such an item, but I had to decide – could it exist or not? I decided that yes, someone like a traveling journalist who works in different weather conditions could have one. That is, this item is specialized and not just a can, so I categorized it as an "elite" item and set the cost at 100 rem. An NPC from the journalists' guild offered it to you for 500. Why? Because he doesn't need it, your character is nobody to him, and there's no reason for him to give it away cheaper or for free. If you want it, pay for it, if you don't, then don't. Adventurers, as I decided, could also have such a bag, but the leader of this guild has a bad temper (which everyone already knew at that point), so I roleplayed it that way (but before giving the bag, he planned to ask them to come up with some nasty things about Naria or Akonia as additional payment, but I don't remember for sure anymore). Well, the third one is a custom order, so the price is higher than the market price. There was no trickery, the craftsman takes the order + money and then starts working on it. His reputation is at stake, but again, it's your choice whether to agree or not. But since your reliable sources in the database told you that the GM decided to mess with you, then, of course, that's probably what happened, and he just enjoys trolling (and then cooling his own ass instead of continuing to run the expansion).