EVE-Online RP Discussion and Resources > The Summit (IG Channel Discussion)

What is The Summit? (The archived thread)

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Graelyn:
Some random Q & A.

WHAT IS THE SUMMIT?
'The Summit' is a heavily augmented and fortified node on a dedicated fluidcomm router system specifically optimized for capsuleer interfacing. Built by the CONCORD/Communications Relay Commision, the channel was built to the highest specifications and with the most state-of-the-art and sometimes even experimental fluidcomm technologies. It was eventually seen as a failure by CONCORD and was allowed to be purchased by the public sector. Due to it's origins, there are still aspects of the core code within The Summit that are not fully understood by it's operations staff...
It is not a physical place, but rather a virtual environment that can be distributed and accessed in several forms and versions. 'The Summit' can be linked into from the capsule, from any cam/vid interface out of a pod, or even in pure audio format while you wander around a station/planetside on business. Pilots without a visual feed can be represented by static images to those who are visually interfacing, and live feeds can be established from anyone just perusing the node from their desk somewhere.
Though baseliners can post data to The Summit (with some difficulty and tweaking), they are generally treated as outsiders by the node's users and operators, as they are not the intended demographic. Listening in to the channel however, seems to be a lucrative business for someone; millions of people from across the factions of EVE are apparenly aware of the channel's goings-on, if not listening in directly. The sources for such data leaks are unknown; certain invalidID node sessions have been trapped and closed, but more seem to appear. It is not certain if this flaw is the result of the node matrix's transition from CONCORD router hardware to a civilian shell.

What is OOC?
OOC actually pre-dates The Summit, but over time has been under the same moderators and ownership, and has eventually become the sister channel for The Summit. For the most part, Backstage/Inspiracy is seen as the behavior standard for the channel, with some allowed lenience. OOC also ends up being the 'staging point' for a lot of activity in other RP channels who don't have dedicated places for such activity. It's also the general hangout for a lot of players who are either interested in learning more about the RP community in EVE, and the old burnouts who no longer RP, but want to stay in touch with the pulse of things. As such it is often the first place aspiring RPers experience in EVE, and the last as well.

Where did it come from?
The Summit started back in 2005, started by a group of alts of die-hard RPers, called the CRC Auxiliary. IC-wise, it was to have been setup by CONCORD's Communications Relay Commission as a way to facilitate the interactions of factional loyalist capsuleers (and thus keep tabs on their business). During the administrations of Ashar Kor-Azor and myself, we have been slowly purging the code in the channel software to completely eliminate all CONCORD spying measures and packet tracing of logged-in users (we hope).

So Graelyn didn't found it?
Heck no. While I did eventually have an alt in the CRC Auxiliary to become a mod, I was not one of the founding members. PIE members are thought to have formed the core of the CRC Auxiliary.

Was it always so heavily moderated?
No. Different folks who have run the place have had different standards of conduct, but there have been long stretches (years even) where no one was really maintaining the place. This will hopefully never be the case again. Moderation standards on The Summit began to solidify at about the same time as Backstage/Inspiracy gained prominence, and The Chatsubo Project was being abandoned by the majority of the community, and for many of the same reasons as well.

What ARE the rules?
Sekrit.

WTF!
Every single time that a solid do/don't regulation has ever been uttered, a flood of mails have come to the current Operators from players who just don't like specific other players, with snippets of chatlogs that show said hated player toeing over the line, along with a demand that we operators 'deal' with that player permanently.
We would actually rather let certain incidents go unpunished than let The Summit become a tool for OOC grudges. As such, we moderators talk amongst each other, hash out a common sense 'standard' of behavior without a lot of specifics, warn folks when they are playing too long beyond that line, and discuss things after the fact when action becomes necessary, as we know that the moderators here at Backstage/Inspiracy also do; the two groups have a lot in common with our approaches, actually.
We put effort into not being too strict, and only punishing patterns of behavior (I don't consider a short muting as much of a punishment, although some folks get hilariously offended by it), instead of specific incidents which can be attributed to a number of temporary lapses in judgement. Also, over-applications of standards would make the place a bit boring...
However, as a result of these things, we do not put out a list of absolute rules. 99% of people know damn well when they're being a pain in everyone's ass, and assertions of "Well, the rules don't say I can't!" are a wonderful barometer to use in culling the problems before they cause other folks to not enjoy the channel.

I think a moderator has it in for me!
Shoot me a message, and I'll deal with it. The fact that a mod doesn't like you isn't grounds for dismissal, however, nor is them using a dirty word, or anything as banal (yes, I DO have a mailbox full of the smallest, most quibbling sort of complaints). I do receive valid complaints as well, and discussions are had to keep certain situations from repeating. Your feedback DOES make a difference.

Is The Summit run as a democracy?
Fuck No. I am a TrueBlood Holder and I treat the place as such. Still, the moderators I appoint are considered due to their ability to adjudicate responsibly, and as such they enjoy a great deal of trust from myself and each other.

Louella Dougans:
could you clarify something about teh "what is the summit?"

was some kind of kerfuffle about the nature of video/cameras.

Some people said that a camera shows the pilot. Other people were all doing weird stuff with appearing as virtual 3d rabbits and stuff.

Nothing in the MOTD suggests virtual stuff is possible, only cameras and such.

Saede Riordan:
What I'd established Lou, was that Saede wasn't using a direct video line in, she was using a Simulacra. Very simply put, instead of generating a video feed from a camera, the video feed was a generated rendered video. It has nothing to do with the summit software itself, simply the source of the image the summit displayed was modified. This is something that has long been established as possible in canon and I can't see any reason why there would be an issue with this happening. If your character has a problem with it, call the behaviour out as immature but there is no OOC reason for it to be impossible.

Also what actually started the kerfuffle was Synthia saying this in the summit:

--- Quote ---[ 2012.09.15 21:17:33 ] Synthetic Cultist > the summit is a text channel, and does not show any simulacra.
--- End quote ---

Lyn Farel:
How does synthia knows that ?  Graelyn told him ? :eek:

Streya:
To be fair, it was me who started doing more surreal emotes. I mostly did them for humor's sake, and also because my character is a complete troll and target paints the fourth wall whenever possible. That being said, given that people emote actions which would require a video aspect to the channel, Synthetic Cultist's statement simply cannot be correct. Additionally, since most people RP in the Summit while in a ship (and thus in pod), a physical video camera pointing at their face just doesn't make sense. How many people roleplay it such that you see a half-naked pilot surrounded in goop?

As the chronicle Xenocracy supports, capsuleers are damn well able to display a likeness of their choosing, regardless of how silly it may be. Of course in a moderated channel like The Summit one still has to keep their display-likeness decent and rated PG/PG-13, but changing it into a glasses-donning hipster fedo smoking on a corn pipe should be fine, if just silly. Moderators are of course the ones to decide at the end of the day, but the very act of having a virtual representation is supported by PF.

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