Why Isn't There a Combat Section in the Forums?

[Rhonda Huntress]

4 hours ago, Ghost Menjou said:

It is rather disappointing to see people try and derail this conversation

That was not a derail attempt at all. It was an attempt to point out my opinion that trying to get too fine of scope for individual forums is ... well, comedic.  Combat in SL is a topic and needs its own threads but not sub-forum since an appropriate forum for those threads already exists. 

However you seem to have succeeded in your derail endeavor. Kudos for that.

[Zeta Vandyke]

There is no special sub forum for furries, or for bloodlines, or sex with tentacled aliens, and they are probably equally big and old communities as combat. If you like to discus a certain detail of combat, make a topic. A forum dedicated to such a singular subject would bleed dry.

[Ghost Menjou]

Combat != RP

Hell, I think there's only a single parcel in a single sim in the 40+ sims big gulf that caters to RP folk and that's the coast guard and they don't even do combat.

Also, putting it in the game forum which currently contains: Skill gaming, Experiences, hunting for l$ etc etc. Would it be so much to ask to make a subforum for skill gaming, for questions about LL run games/experiences like Glytches, Puzzles and PvE/PvP combat?

There is no net loss, it doesn't clog up the main page either.

This is what sub forums look like:

[Parx Oran]

9 hours ago, Tari Landar said:

Again, failing to address most of what was said...lmao.

But, nope, you're wrong, that's not what happened at all, clearly you don't even bother reading anything you respond to, at all. I wasn't rp-ing, I MENTIONED the word roleplay, from a safe area, and both I and the dude that asked me what I was getting ready to go do (my words were "I'm gonna go rp kill these dudes")-got booted. I didn't die, I wasn't busy typing, or roleplaying, I was in the area at *landing*, a place it's safe to stand and chat as per the sim's rules. The boot came about two mins after I typed that-along with some angry local about "IT'S NOT RP", a tad more proof that some of combat folks get pretty uppity about it, and you're not doing much to dispel that. The dude that booted us was with his cronies all trigger happy. It happens, no biggie, we simply went somewhere else to shoot folks. Their sim, their rules, even if mentioning rp being boot-worthy might sound ridiculous, I don't get butthurt over stupid things..especially when there's plenty of places to have fun.  

Quit trying to pretend you're the be all end all when it comes to all knowledge of combat in sl, you're starting to sound like a petulant child that isn't getting enough attention. Maybe people will take your request a bit more seriously.

most sims don't have safe areas ^^

alot of combat places that use llcs keep the spawns open with damage on just in case some brutal administration needs to occur. A movement called "bombs not bans" started this where instead of banning or kicking individuals, we started either nuking spawnpoints and blackscreening.

Education can start in combat section ^^

Edited November 27, 2017 by Parx Oran

[Rhonda Huntress]

1 hour ago, Ghost Menjou said:

Combat != RP

Obviously other people (including the Lindens that be) do not agree with that opinion.

[Ghost Menjou]

Just now, Rhonda Huntress said:

Obviously other people (including the Lindens that be) do not agree with that opinion.

I don't think the lindens do, considering there's combat sims in the destination guide under at least 5 different places. Even they know it's not all about the RP

Tell me, do you consider Call Of Duty a role playing game? Titanfall 2? Battlefield 1? 

 

[Zeta Vandyke]

10 minutes ago, Ghost Menjou said:

I don't think the lindens do, considering there's combat sims in the destination guide under at least 5 different places. Even they know it's not all about the RP

Tell me, do you consider Call Of Duty a role playing game? Titanfall 2? Battlefield 1? 

 

Single player mode of such games is definitely story based so falls in Action RPG. Looking at multiplayer when you are in a clan, you get team strategies, scouts, snipers, medic, engineers and so on, each has their role to play.

SL is not a FPS though, comparing a game you play in what essentially is a massive virtual roleplaying environment with FPS action games makes no sense.

[Parx Oran]

8 minutes ago, Zeta Vandyke said:

Single player mode of such games is definitely story based so falls in Action RPG. Looking at multiplayer when you are in a clan, you get team strategies, scouts, snipers, medic, engineers and so on, each has their role to play.

SL is not a FPS though, comparing a game you play in what essentially is a massive virtual roleplaying environment with FPS action games makes no sense.

In real life let's say. you go to work as an accountant, you sit at your desk sh*tposting on he secondlife forums when you're manager comes up behind your cuticle and tells you to get back on task, and begins lecturing you on how everybody in the office "has a role to play"

I feel like you're grasping at straws and bending words for the sake of argument. I appreciate the attention and all, but a better argument than "sl is not an FPS" when SL is what you make of it would be appreciated. Even so, very early on people chose to use their unlimited freedom in this game to shoot each other. As a result, it manifested into an FPS. 

Edited November 27, 2017 by Parx Oran

[Ghost Menjou]

 

1 minute ago, Zeta Vandyke said:

Single player mode of such games is definitely story based so falls in Action RPG. Looking at multiplayer when you are in a clan, you get team strategies, scouts, snipers, medic, engineers and so on, each has their role to play.

SL is not a FPS though, comparing a game you play in what essentially is a massive virtual roleplaying environment with FPS action games makes no sense.

FPS games without RPG elements are not Action RPGs. They are FPSes.

SL is not an FPS, LL doesn't see LL as a game but rather as a platform. 

The point is that combat sims in SL generally are just FPS. I attach a gun, and I go shoot someone. You spawn in Call of Duty multiplayer with a gun and you shoot people. 

If you're expected to be in character, and you play out a story and what not than yeah it's RP. This is not the case in the SLMC, this is not the case with most people that play VICE, There's nobody who RPs in LANCE. 

In a lot of places you don't really even need to be on team one or team two as it's a free for all. We certainly don't care if there's two Yamato's firing at each other in the Jeogeot Gulf.

It's like World Of Warships or World Of Tanks, it's arcade-y combat. It's not meant to be completely historically accurate. SLMC is mostly scifi too. You do pew pew pew and have fun instead of writing long paragraphs about being Captain Kirk or whatever. 

It's a bad idea to have people show up that think it's either LRP, HRP or godforbid ERP. They will get upset when they walk out of the spawn and get shot without having a wall of text first.

In VICE we see these people too at times, they get UPSET when someone fires at them while they have a gun on and they are in the middle of the combat zone. 

In LANCE we had players complain about getting shot because "i just want to run cargo and i don't want to shoot". Which I mean, though luck because it's a combat system.

[Parx Oran]

2 minutes ago, Ghost Menjou said:

 

FPS games without RPG elements are not Action RPGs. They are FPSes.

SL is not an FPS, LL doesn't see LL as a game but rather as a platform. 

The point is that combat sims in SL generally are just FPS. I attach a gun, and I go shoot someone. You spawn in Call of Duty multiplayer with a gun and you shoot people. 

If you're expected to be in character, and you play out a story and what not than yeah it's RP. This is not the case in the SLMC, this is not the case with most people that play VICE, There's nobody who RPs in LANCE. 

In a lot of places you don't really even need to be on team one or team two as it's a free for all. We certainly don't care if there's two Yamato's firing at each other in the Jeogeot Gulf.

It's like World Of Warships or World Of Tanks, it's arcade-y combat. It's not meant to be completely historically accurate. SLMC is mostly scifi too. You do pew pew pew and have fun instead of writing long paragraphs about being Captain Kirk or whatever. 

It's a bad idea to have people show up that think it's either LRP, HRP or godforbid ERP. They will get upset when they walk out of the spawn and get shot without having a wall of text first.

In VICE we see these people too at times, they get UPSET when someone fires at them while they have a gun on and they are in the middle of the combat zone. 

In LANCE we had players complain about getting shot because "i just want to run cargo and i don't want to shoot". Which I mean, though luck because it's a combat system.

see i've never even heard of lance. is there a sim i can visit? if only they had a place to post.

[Ghost Menjou]

Just now, Parx Oran said:

see i've never even heard of lance. is there a sim i can visit? if only they had a place to post.

Sure:

https://astral-tek.com/lance/

https://astral-tek.com/lance/get-started/

These have the slurls and the explanation!

[Zeta Vandyke]

46 minutes ago, Ghost Menjou said:

FPS games without RPG elements are not Action RPGs. They are FPSes.

SL is not an FPS, LL doesn't see LL as a game but rather as a platform.

Indeed, SL is not a FPS, that is why I said it made no sense comparing it to call of Duty or other FPS games.

What is an RPG element in a game? If there is a story and quest givers, and you get into the skin of someone being tasked with those quests, is that an RPG element? And what if these quests are rescuing hostages or killing terrorists and the quest giver is an army officer? Just saying there is a fine line between RPG / Action RPG / FPS genres, they often blend. Mostly though if its all player skill based and not level/character skill based its not considered an RPG, so genre wise SL combat sims are not an RPG. But its not about the genre of the game,  is the question if you as player are roleplaying when participating.

I don't play combat sims, so you probably know better than me and if you say its not roleplaying in any form, I will take your word for that seeing you are the experienced one on that field.

But anyways, this is derailing the actual topic, does it need to have its own sub forum or not. I think not and we disagree, lets leave it at that.

[Ghost Menjou]

Yeah, and arguing about it here is probably moot since there's better outlets for suggestions for anything web related now.

[Parx Oran]

1 hour ago, Zeta Vandyke said:

Indeed, SL is not a FPS, that is why I said it made no sense comparing it to call of Duty or other FPS games.

What is an RPG element in a game? If there is a story and quest givers, and you get into the skin of someone being tasked with those quests, is that an RPG element? And what if these quests are rescuing hostages or killing terrorists and the quest giver is an army officer? Just saying there is a fine line between RPG / Action RPG / FPS genres, they often blend. Mostly though if its all player skill based and not level/character skill based its not considered an RPG, so genre wise SL combat sims are not an RPG. But its not about the genre of the game,  is the question if you as player are roleplaying when participating.

 

8

good thing none of those are in SL combat.

At least in the slmc when an officer asks somebody to do something, it isn't for playing roles ever. It is entirely for the betterment and survival of the group. 

even in VICE, Officers are there primarily to administrate, and make sure everything runs smoothly, and people are following directions

Edited November 27, 2017 by Parx Oran

[SAULGOODiE]

Hmm so I posted a reply to another post of yours, Parx, nearly like 4 days ago asking for some more information... you'd think scoring a new recruit might be more important than feeding the trolls? Just sayin hehe  

[Parx Oran]

sorry, i've been getting notifications out the waazoo recently. musta gotten lost in the ocean. I'm in class right now, but i'm sure somebody is on base that can help you out

[Tari Landar]

I really was just curious why people get so bent out of shape by anyone daring to mention rp and combat in the same sentence, lol. Cuz...it happens, and, frankly, no one's ever given me a good reason, or any, why. Since I still don't actually have one...

I'll just continue calling MY combat whatever the bloody heck I choose....and let others call theirs whatever they choose....as has been my way of...well...most things, since  the very first time I rezzed in sl 13 years ago  

[Parx Oran]

On 11/27/2017 at 6:08 PM, Tari Landar said:

I really was just curious why people get so bent out of shape by anyone daring to mention rp and combat in the same sentence, lol. Cuz...it happens, and, frankly, no one's ever given me a good reason, or any, why. Since I still don't actually have one...

I'll just continue calling MY combat whatever the bloody heck I choose....and let others call theirs whatever they choose....as has been my way of...well...most things, since  the very first time I rezzed in sl 13 years ago  

because we've been not roleplaying for the past decade and a half. If somebody came up to you while you were... idk dancing, or clubbing or something, and told you that you were engaging in some pretty hardcore furry BDSM, and you weren't. You'd, of course, deny it. Now imagine your reaction when not only have you been denying said hardcore furry BDSM accusations for over a decade, but all conversations involving your dancing and clubbing get moved to the hardcore furry BDSM section of the forums.

That is why we get testy. 

Edit:

Now imagine opening your own clubbing and dancing sim, and advertising or talking about how much work you've put into your dancing and clubbing sim, and you sit waiting for some wonderful dancers and clubbers. But instead, you have two pink furries in gimp suits whipping one another on the floor, and in the corner, you have a horse-man wearing a leather police officer outfit burning cigarette butts into a border collie. You do your best to tell them not to do this sort of thing in your club, but then they get annoyed because that's where they found your sim... in the Hardcore furry BDSM subforum.

 

This is how we see the situation, and it for some is just as embarrassing to watch as two schnauzers gangbanging an oiled up dolphin. 

This is why we get testy

Edited November 29, 2017 by Parx Oran

[SAULGOODiE]

6 minutes ago, Parx Oran said:

because we've been not roleplaying for the past decade and a half. If somebody came up to you while you were... idk dancing, or clubbing or something, and told you that you were engaging in some pretty hardcore furry BDSM, and you werent. You'd of course deny it. Now imagine your reaction when not only have you been denying said hardcore furry BDSM accusations for over a decade, but all conversations involving your activities get moved to the hardcore furry BDSM section of the forums.

That is why we get testy. 

Honestly I feel like it's the way your community is being advertised, or at least how the general SL population receives it. 

Maybe try advertising it as more of a game, rather than a community to become involved in (even though I understand that's technically what these groups are). Im no marketing master or anything, but the stuff you post LOOKS like RP combat stuff. Surely there are some things you can do to skew that misconception? Are there any YouTube videos showing off combat? Do you or any of your fellow groups have "Entry Level" systems, or sims, setup where people can come try how you do things? ANYTHING that you can do to make it more user friendly will make it more GAME-LIKE and less like your typical SL Roleplay Situation. So much of your setup mirrors a typical RP in Second Life unfortunately, so the nuances of your argument about why it is NOT needs to be more clear for the average user. 

Even though in here you have clearly explained why things like Training, Officers, etc are all in place in terms of gameplay; but for someone who hasn't read all the details it's VERY easy to mistake what you guys are doing as some sort of Roleplay by just looking at the surface.

[Parx Oran]

2 hours ago, SAULGOODiE said:

Honestly I feel like it's the way your community is being advertised, or at least how the general SL population receives it. 

Maybe try advertising it as more of a game, rather than a community to become involved in (even though I understand that's technically what these groups are). Im no marketing master or anything, but the stuff you post LOOKS like RP combat stuff. Surely there are some things you can do to skew that misconception? Are there any YouTube videos showing off combat? Do you or any of your fellow groups have "Entry Level" systems, or sims, setup where people can come try how you do things? ANYTHING that you can do to make it more user friendly will make it more GAME-LIKE and less like your typical SL Roleplay Situation. So much of your setup mirrors a typical RP in Second Life unfortunately, so the nuances of your argument about why it is NOT needs to be more clear for the average user. 

Even though in here you have clearly explained why things like Training, Officers, etc are all in place in terms of gameplay; but for someone who hasn't read all the details it's VERY easy to mistake what you guys are doing as some sort of Roleplay by just looking at the surface.

Q: "Why not put combat discussion in 'games'?" 

     A:  - Same reason roleplay isn't in 'games'

Q: "Is it possible to make themes look less roleplay-ish"

     A:  - The reason it might look "roleplay-ish" is that each faction's appearance follows a theme. Each theme is an offshoot of the military's previous incarnation (of course not required, but that is what happens almost every time.) Each group's theme and appearance can be dated all the way back to their first instance of being a group. My best and favorite example is the Coercion Combine's (or CC for short) theme. The 'CC' is what came of a small militia call coalition of the order (CO, abbreviations of groups are widely memorized in our community) CO was made as an effort of reliving the glory days from when a group called "Black Talon" (Known only as Black Talon, no abbreviation) was around in 2005. Black Talon was started by a kid named Exuvae Hykova. He wanted to make a space knights group. As a result, every group that splintered off from it has inherited its theme. CC is space knights, CO was space knights, Valix can easily still be space knights, and the less mentioned 7th is space knights. Even groups that Strived to be offshoots of offshoots of Black Talon look like them (All Hallows). The reason it seems "roleplay-ish" is because traditions are followed, and history is kept and told. 

Q: "Why isn't it very user-friendly? Or easy to get into?"

     A:  - Because groups are competitive and only want people who will fit in, and be a good addition to their team against the other factions. This is why we have 'training'. So we can make sure that people know what they're doing, won't break any rules that will make the group look bad, Know how to use our gear and will get along nicely with everybody. Almost all of our administrative staff in CC have met up IRL, and recently we've been doing annual meetups and flying out to see each other to get really really drunk and shoot very big guns. This is how close our members are, and this is how close we want new additions to be. The reason it's difficult to get into a faction is to filter out those who won't fit in.

Q: "Can you make it more Game-Like?"

     A: - Already did, however, the access is only for members of the CC and as far as I know we're the only group that has anything like this in the combat community. We have a table crafting system, many NPCs that drop varying crafting materials and currency, some drop rare weapons, and rare custom armors. There's more and definitely enough to be able to advertise in the 'game' section, however, we're the only combat group that has that capability (unless you want to call zombie shooters combat, then they can too)

Q: "What can you do about the stigma of looking like a roleplay group?"

     A: - Unfortunately the only thing we could do is post in combat subforums to differentiate ourselves. The only thing we can do right now until we get a combat subforum is this:

WE ARE NOT A ROLEPLAY GROUP

If we have a place to post for combat and not roleplay, people won't look at it from the surface as an RP group. It's all context, and the context is implied by what subforum the thread lies in. If I posted combat stuff in the metaphorical "furry BDSM" subforum, people would assume there would be some animalistic sideways virtual hankey-pankey going on in the combat sims, and you can be sure that you'd see marsupials with nipple clamps in our spawn areas the next day.

 

 

Edited November 29, 2017 by Parx Oran

[SAULGOODiE]

Honesty, I don't think it even matters. 

A very small number of users are on the forums to discover new Sims and Places or things to do. If you just look at the post counts and where the numbers fall, the Forum is essentially a place for people to chit-chat about SL, to get answers to frequently asked questions, and to possibly meet someone or make a connection. Any posts of this nature get tons more interaction than anyone just sharing a Sim, a Roleplay, a game, whatever.

But sheeeet, at this point I am just flapping my gums. The point is...

This Forum is NOT a good for promotion no matter what anyone says.

It might help, but only a fraction of SL users even touch the forum, let alone use it often enough to keep up with new posts and topics. Its miraculous to see a post reach anywhere close to 1,000 views if its not under General Discussion. Ask yourself, is this even a battle worth fighting?   You'd probably have better luck recruiting people outside of SL in my personal opinion, if I were you i'd be posting in other gaming forums lol, not wasting my time trying to change how Linden operates things here 

[Parx Oran]

1 minute ago, SAULGOODiE said:

Honesty, I don't think it even matters. 

A very small number of users are on the forums to discover new Sims and Places or things to do. If you just look at the post counts and where the numbers fall, the Forum is essentially a place for people to chit-chat about SL, to get answers to frequently asked questions, and to possibly meet someone or make a connection. Any posts of this nature get tons more interaction than anyone just sharing a Sim, a Roleplay, a game, whatever.

But sheeeet, at this point I am just flapping my gums. The point is...

This Forum is NOT a good for promotion no matter what anyone says.

It might help, but only a fraction of SL users even touch the forum, let alone use it often enough to keep up with new posts and topics. Its miraculous to see a post reach anywhere close to 1,000 views if its not under General Discussion. Ask yourself, is this even a battle worth fighting?   You'd probably have better luck recruiting people outside of SL in my personal opinion, if I were you i'd be posting in other gaming forums lol, not wasting my time trying to change how Linden operates things here 

We do, however when a large force of people show up at a sim all at once matching armor, we tend to get banned because everybody assumes the worst. plus not everybody in the SLMC knows how to behave outside of our own little bubble (me included) people tend to get offended way easier outside of the SLMC sims, while the people who've been in the SLMC for years on years have already heard everything and been desensitized to things that people would otherwise see as off-colored, see certain things as griefing etc. so having a normal chat isn't always successful. on top of all that, recruiting for another sim in another sim tends to not ever be allowed (never stopped me, but that's why they gave people land powers I'm assuming) At any rate, we take what we can get.

Exposing individual groups isn't the goal, though. Exposing communities and having an administrated forum where people can discuss, compare, and contrast the similarities and differences between how people, where people, what people, and why people choose to fight in SL, as opposed to... clubbing, roleplay or furry BDSM.

[SAULGOODiE]

3 minutes ago, Parx Oran said:

We do, however when a large force of people show up at a sim all at once matching armor, we tend to get banned because everybody assumes the worst. plus not everybody in the SLMC knows how to behave outside of our own little bubble (me included) people tend to get offended way easier outside of the SLMC sims, while the people who've been in the SLMC for years on years have already heard everything and been desensitized to things that people would otherwise see as off-colored, see certain things as griefing etc. so having a normal chat isn't always successful. on top of all that, recruiting for another sim in another sim tends to not ever be allowed (never stopped me, but that's why they gave people land powers I'm assuming) At any rate, we take what we can get.

I am not sure what this is all about. Never suggested recruiting on another sim. Suggested getting out of Second Life and this Forum altogether and go find recruits elsewhere. So many of your tie-ups are regarding how current residents either behave, or perceive your operation, why not just try to sell your idea to some gamers who aren't even Residents. All of the stigmas and assumptions and roadblocks you discuss would be gone if you recruited outside of Second Life. Get some folks who play other games interested enough to sign up and join with you.  Go post on Reddit and other boards. IDK really, but i never even mentioned whatever you're talking about here. 

8 minutes ago, Parx Oran said:

Exposing individual groups isn't the goal, though. Exposing communities and having an administrated forum where people can discuss, compare, and contrast the similarities and differences between how people, where people, what people, and why people choose to fight in SL, as opposed to... clubbing, roleplay or furry BDSM.

Here's a quick solution. Make a thread in General Discussion. Call it Combat in Second Life. Then you and anyone who is interested can exchange ideas there, especially if its not for advertising groups and is just to stimulate the community. If individual Sims or Groups aren't being advertised, or no Events are being advertised, what is the point of having a sub-forum with multiple threads?? Everything you mentioned wanting to discuss could be done in a single thread under general discussion. And if there were enough interest, you could have threads for each of the intricacies you are discussing, as long as its just discussing. Just post WHY DO PEOPLE PARTICIPATE IN COMBAT IN SL or something similar and there ya go -_____- If it catches peoples interest and theres enough people participating in the discussion, it will stay surfaced, and ba da bing you have your own little chunk of the forum to yourself. Or you can keep praying that your arguments will win Lindens favor?

You keep bringing it up humorously, but you have just about as much chance scoring a sub-forum as the Furry BDSM scene does.

[Parx Oran]

Just now, SAULGOODiE said:

I am not sure what this is all about. Never suggested recruiting on another sim. Suggested getting out of Second Life and this Forum altogether and go find recruits elsewhere. So many of your tie-ups are regarding how current residents either behave, or perceive your operation, why not just try to sell your idea to some gamers who aren't even Residents. All of the stigmas and assumptions and roadblocks you discuss would be gone if you recruited outside of Second Life. Get some folks who play other games interested enough to sign up and join with you.  Go post on Reddit and other boards. IDK really, but i never even mentioned whatever you're talking about here. 

Here's a quick solution. Make a thread in General Discussion. Call it Combat in Second Life. Then you and anyone who is interested can exchange ideas there, especially if its not for advertising groups and is just to stimulate the community. If individual Sims or Groups aren't being advertised, or no Events are being advertised, what is the point of having a sub-forum with multiple threads?? Everything you mentioned wanting to discuss could be done in a single thread under general discussion. And if there were enough interest, you could have threads for each of the intricacies you are discussing, as long as its just discussing. Just post WHY DO PEOPLE PARTICIPATE IN COMBAT IN SL or something similar and there ya go -_____- If it catches peoples interest and theres enough people participating in the discussion, it will stay surfaced, and ba da bing you have your own little chunk of the forum to yourself. Or you can keep praying that your arguments will win Lindens favor?

You keep bringing it up humorously, but you have just about as much chance scoring a sub-forum as the Furry BDSM scene does.

recruit outside of sl

     - "Woah this looks cool, what game is it?" - "S...Second...Life" - "The one where people religiously have dog sex?" - "Yeah... that's the one"

make a general discussion thread

     - I would, and have tried but so far all attempts at it have gotten moved to the roleplay subforum which has attracted some unwanteds.

I've got a group of officers and leaders from varying communities who would be willing to attend one of those friday in-world discussions that happen every other week. I hope it works, as it could mean a lot of change in the coming future positively for the combat communities.

[SAULGOODiE]

6 minutes ago, Parx Oran said:

recruit outside of sl

     - "Woah this looks cool, what game is it?" - "S...Second...Life" - "The one where people religiously have dog sex?" - "Yeah... that's the one"

make a general discussion thread

     - I would, and have tried but so far all attempts at it have gotten moved to the roleplay subforum which has attracted some unwanteds.

I've got a group of officers and leaders from varying communities who would be willing to attend one of those friday in-world discussions that happen every other week. I hope it works, as it could mean a lot of change in the coming future positively for the combat communities.

Try a different sales tactic. You are failing before you begin.

Ive gotten people to sign up for SL to participate in things I do not as regular residents, I dont make a point of mentioning that stuff. And if its brought up, i breeze over it, because it's not the bloody point.

If you made a thread that was focused on discussion and not promoting your own organization, it should not have been moved. If it was moved, you were either pimping your group or funneling people into your sim. Several long threads exist under General Discussion that, by your arguments, would have been moved to Roleplay (Bloodlines Thread), Mainland and Parcel ( do you prefer living on a homestead/mainland sim thread ), the list goes on and on. These threads all share one thing in common, the original post was meant to begin conversation or posit a question, not advertise a community. They didn't say "What is Bloodlines? And by the way join my vampire family and we happen to have a sim and all this custom mesh costumes you can wear if you just come sign up ;-D". They simply asked what it was. I bet I could go start a thread in general, word it the right way, and it would not be moved. Just saying.