Somnastra
Good
First off, thank you everyone for being so patient. Transitions like this are never easy, but because everyone was able to keep calm and carry on while we were sorting things, it was a lot less painful than it could have been.
I would like to spend some time to fill you in on what's been going on. A few weeks ago - three, in fact - some issues that had been festering within a certain subsection of staff came to a head. Most of the members of staff were not only uninvolved in this, they were entirely unaware that it was even going on. I do not particularly wish to go into details about it, as I have already given all staff a clean slate in order to facilitate moving forward. What they do from there is what I will be paying attention to. I only mention this to give you a context for what was decided. It is important to know that communication had stagnated on a lot of levels, and this had implications not only for the atmosphere among staff, but also the amount of information that was ultimately communicated to you guys.
When I was given ownership of the server, the most pressing issue that I saw was not anything to do with the players, but rather the relationship that staff had with each other. So I posed the question to them: "How would you like yourselves to be organized?"
There were several who were in favor of a tiered system similar to what we had before (moderator, admin, management). There were those who were in favor of a more flat structure, which some may remember has been tried before with little success. I knew that I would be removing the Admin and Management subforums (which are hidden due to confidentiality concerns) in order to encourage more communication, regardless of the actual structure of staff, and once this was communicated, we really got somewhere!
Right now, we have created different "departments" within staff. These are simply functional, and for organization of projects more than organization of people. This was due to the fact that staff naturally seemed to gravitate towards one or several of these areas, while leaving others largely untouched. It would make it easier for staff to know where to go for information and guidance. These sections are as follows:
Moderation, Lore, and Events are probably self-explanatory, but I will go into each section in detail regardless.
Hardware and Software: What probably becomes very apparent when something breaks is that there is a certain amount of expertise and effort that goes into maintaining the physical server and the software that actually runs it, as well as updating all of the plugins. The forum falls under this, as well.
In-Game Technical: This covers server builds, roads, dockmaster, stablemasters, ports, build contests, and the like. Basically anything that falls somewhere between plugins and moderation will be in this section.
Moderation: You all should be familiar with this, as it's the most visible aspect of what staff does. This includes whitelisting, mediating disputes, and determining if rules governing RP need to be implemented or revisited.
Lore: Fairly self-explanatory, I think. Anything that has to do with the setting, backstory of the world, fantastic physics, or things regarding time-lock (something that's come up several times today and I don't know why) will fall under Lore.
Events: This is stuff such as campaigns and one-off events. Tied closely to Lore, but since there is a lot of cinematics and special effects that go into pulling off a successful event, in addition to storytelling, this is a separate section.
Media: This includes things like the podcast, Facebook, Twitter, and PMC accounts. This will be important to how we advertise ourselves to the rest of the internet.
Each section will have a coordinator. For the time being, each coordinator will be selected by me. These individuals will lead the section, ensuring that projects don't conflict with each other. Projects will largely be led by individual members of staff, encouraging increased participation from that quarter. Projects will be things like a particular event or campaign, or a piece of the lore, or the integration/development of a plugin, or the development of a new RP rule. Eventually I would like this process to be opened up to players, at least with particular sections, but we must take this one step at a time. The persons leading each section are as follows:
You may have noticed that "Admins" are no longer red in-game as well. This is because the distinction between moderators and admins is being phased out. From here on out, permissions will be given on an individual basis depending on the skills and particular project needs of each staff. That means that not everyone is going to be able to do that World Edit job for you. There will be certain things implemented on the forums in order to allow you request World Edits, and all staff will still have the same basic commands allowing them to vanish and teleport when they are needed in a dispute, as well as banning when necessary.
I wanted to make sure that everyone is aware of the current situation within staff. Things are looking up, and we're working out the kinks associate with this system. I'm hoping that it will increase communication on all levels, and to that end, I would like to ask you all to share any concerns that you might have on the current state of things. The only thing that I ask is that you keep things civil. I am not afraid of the handy warn button I have, and will use it if things get out of line.
Thank you for your time, patience, and cooperation.
I would like to spend some time to fill you in on what's been going on. A few weeks ago - three, in fact - some issues that had been festering within a certain subsection of staff came to a head. Most of the members of staff were not only uninvolved in this, they were entirely unaware that it was even going on. I do not particularly wish to go into details about it, as I have already given all staff a clean slate in order to facilitate moving forward. What they do from there is what I will be paying attention to. I only mention this to give you a context for what was decided. It is important to know that communication had stagnated on a lot of levels, and this had implications not only for the atmosphere among staff, but also the amount of information that was ultimately communicated to you guys.
When I was given ownership of the server, the most pressing issue that I saw was not anything to do with the players, but rather the relationship that staff had with each other. So I posed the question to them: "How would you like yourselves to be organized?"
There were several who were in favor of a tiered system similar to what we had before (moderator, admin, management). There were those who were in favor of a more flat structure, which some may remember has been tried before with little success. I knew that I would be removing the Admin and Management subforums (which are hidden due to confidentiality concerns) in order to encourage more communication, regardless of the actual structure of staff, and once this was communicated, we really got somewhere!
Right now, we have created different "departments" within staff. These are simply functional, and for organization of projects more than organization of people. This was due to the fact that staff naturally seemed to gravitate towards one or several of these areas, while leaving others largely untouched. It would make it easier for staff to know where to go for information and guidance. These sections are as follows:
Hardware and Software
In-Game Technical
Moderation
Lore
Events
Media
In-Game Technical
Moderation
Lore
Events
Media
Moderation, Lore, and Events are probably self-explanatory, but I will go into each section in detail regardless.
Hardware and Software: What probably becomes very apparent when something breaks is that there is a certain amount of expertise and effort that goes into maintaining the physical server and the software that actually runs it, as well as updating all of the plugins. The forum falls under this, as well.
In-Game Technical: This covers server builds, roads, dockmaster, stablemasters, ports, build contests, and the like. Basically anything that falls somewhere between plugins and moderation will be in this section.
Moderation: You all should be familiar with this, as it's the most visible aspect of what staff does. This includes whitelisting, mediating disputes, and determining if rules governing RP need to be implemented or revisited.
Lore: Fairly self-explanatory, I think. Anything that has to do with the setting, backstory of the world, fantastic physics, or things regarding time-lock (something that's come up several times today and I don't know why) will fall under Lore.
Events: This is stuff such as campaigns and one-off events. Tied closely to Lore, but since there is a lot of cinematics and special effects that go into pulling off a successful event, in addition to storytelling, this is a separate section.
Media: This includes things like the podcast, Facebook, Twitter, and PMC accounts. This will be important to how we advertise ourselves to the rest of the internet.
Each section will have a coordinator. For the time being, each coordinator will be selected by me. These individuals will lead the section, ensuring that projects don't conflict with each other. Projects will largely be led by individual members of staff, encouraging increased participation from that quarter. Projects will be things like a particular event or campaign, or a piece of the lore, or the integration/development of a plugin, or the development of a new RP rule. Eventually I would like this process to be opened up to players, at least with particular sections, but we must take this one step at a time. The persons leading each section are as follows:
Hardware and Software: Somnastra
In-Game Technical: Solus
Moderation:
Lore: Cherry
Events: Lannis
Media: IceandFire
In-Game Technical: Solus
Moderation:
Lore: Cherry
Events: Lannis
Media: IceandFire
You may have noticed that "Admins" are no longer red in-game as well. This is because the distinction between moderators and admins is being phased out. From here on out, permissions will be given on an individual basis depending on the skills and particular project needs of each staff. That means that not everyone is going to be able to do that World Edit job for you. There will be certain things implemented on the forums in order to allow you request World Edits, and all staff will still have the same basic commands allowing them to vanish and teleport when they are needed in a dispute, as well as banning when necessary.
I wanted to make sure that everyone is aware of the current situation within staff. Things are looking up, and we're working out the kinks associate with this system. I'm hoping that it will increase communication on all levels, and to that end, I would like to ask you all to share any concerns that you might have on the current state of things. The only thing that I ask is that you keep things civil. I am not afraid of the handy warn button I have, and will use it if things get out of line.
Thank you for your time, patience, and cooperation.
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