Eralam
Character
Okay, so the title's something of a lie. This isn't a comprehensive plan, or at least it won't be by the time I've finished. I'm in a race between liquor and words to see which one runs out first, and so far it's about neck and neck.
That said, I have been putting a great deal of thought into this as of late. Being all cynical and whiny isn't going to fix anything, so it seemed like a good idea to cook up something like a feasible plan. At the very least, I hope this gets people talking and discussing ways to fix the issue, rather than the many and varied ways things have gone wrong over the last year or so.
Step 1- As soon as the last invasion currently in progress finishes, institute a site-wide 3 month moratorium on new ones. The purpose of this is twofold: firstly, to let everyone take a step back and get their houses in order. There's been a lot of upheaval in the leadership structures of quite a few major factions as of late, and giving them time to get everything straight without the pressure of having to fight a war should do a lot to smooth things out. The fact that giving the factions a breather might also help them get rid of the bad blood between themselves is a plus, but that's not the second reason for this moratorium.
The second reason is to let everyone get the hang of rebellions. They're still shiny and new and will probably need some tweaking, and letting folks figure them out will make it easier to integrate them into the long term planning of factions. Plus, they let minor factions get on the map, and the more players you have in the map game, the more varied and interesting it becomes.
Step 2- Overhaul the negotiation process. It's widely acknowledged that negotiations are where things first start to go wrong in an invasion. The FAs start bickering about the terms, they get agitated with one another, and that animosity has a way of leaking back into the general population. Most invasions that I've seen follow a set format: you have a PVP objective, a fleeting objective, and then an NPC objective. There's a 2-3 week time limit. Each side is allowed between 5-10 allies. If that's the way things usually play out, why not make it the standard with a template?
My suggested template, which is almost certainly woefully inadequate, is enclosed in the spoiler. Ideally, the template would be the default state, but if both sides can agree to it, then it can be modified or ignored outright.
Step 3- Introduce a neutral arbiter. By the time an RPJ is brought in, the situation has almost certainly devolved past the point where it's possible to avoid further drama. However, the mere presence of a third party with the authority to penalize folks for getting unnecessarily salty should go a long ways towards making sure everyone stays polite. Bottom line, people, including FAs and FOs, need to be held accountable for their actions in an invasion, and so far, the faction leadership just hasn't been cutting it.
In my perfect dreamworld, this neutral arbiter would be an admin or RPJ whose sole job is to handle invasions. I get that this would be a huge burden to place on a single person, so in order to help with the workload, this dreamworld person would be given the power to deputize writers of good standing and with no stake in the invasion to help them out. This would function something like the Factory and Codex, where a single admin controls a team, with everyone working towards a common goal: to make the invasion as pain free as possible. Unlike the others, however, the team wouldn't be a permanent roster. As time goes on, it will become necessary to rotate people out so they can participate in their own faction's events.
In the meantime, I've spoken with a few other judges in the Galactic Battle Arena, and we've decided to offer our services when it comes to judging duels in invasions. Regardless of whether or not the whole neutral arbiter thing flies, we're willing to help out wherever people are willing to have us. One of our goals is to improve the overall PVP experience on the site for everyone. To that end, we're willing to donate our time to help take some of the burden off of faction leadership. Specifically, the part where they have to cooperate with people they've been arguing with for months on end in order to figure out who won a duel. Since we're not impressed by things like refusing to take damage or browbeating folks into making unnecessary edits, we hope we can steer dueling back towards something fun, rather than something to be dreaded.
Step 4- Increased accountability. Whether or not the neutral arbiter suggestion flies, if we're going to fix invasions, we have to hold people accountable for their actions. Poor sportsmanship, passive aggressive remarks, and outright saltiness need to be cracked down on, and hard. The impetus should originate from faction leadership rather than site staff, but if the faction leadership isn't cutting the mustard, staff needs to be able to pick up the slack. That's part of the reasoning behind Step 3.
On the flip side, positive behavior needs to be rewarded, and this definitely needs to come from faction leadership. Encourage your writers to have fun, rather than castigating them for taking damage or losing a duel. Y'all make bling for just about everything else, why not cook up a badge for the person who goes in and makes things awesome for everyone? There's nothing wrong with being competitive, but there's not a single definition of the word that I've found that says competition and fun are mutually exclusive. This is ordinarily the point where I'd use a colorful metaphor to emphasize what's already been said, but I promised not to use any in this, so insert your own. Something along the lines of "it's a game, don't take it too seriously."
At any rate, I'm out of words and liquor. Hope this helps. If not, well, I tried and I'm drunk, so that's a win-win. Excuse me while I find a lampshade and a table to dance on.
That said, I have been putting a great deal of thought into this as of late. Being all cynical and whiny isn't going to fix anything, so it seemed like a good idea to cook up something like a feasible plan. At the very least, I hope this gets people talking and discussing ways to fix the issue, rather than the many and varied ways things have gone wrong over the last year or so.
Step 1- As soon as the last invasion currently in progress finishes, institute a site-wide 3 month moratorium on new ones. The purpose of this is twofold: firstly, to let everyone take a step back and get their houses in order. There's been a lot of upheaval in the leadership structures of quite a few major factions as of late, and giving them time to get everything straight without the pressure of having to fight a war should do a lot to smooth things out. The fact that giving the factions a breather might also help them get rid of the bad blood between themselves is a plus, but that's not the second reason for this moratorium.
The second reason is to let everyone get the hang of rebellions. They're still shiny and new and will probably need some tweaking, and letting folks figure them out will make it easier to integrate them into the long term planning of factions. Plus, they let minor factions get on the map, and the more players you have in the map game, the more varied and interesting it becomes.
Step 2- Overhaul the negotiation process. It's widely acknowledged that negotiations are where things first start to go wrong in an invasion. The FAs start bickering about the terms, they get agitated with one another, and that animosity has a way of leaking back into the general population. Most invasions that I've seen follow a set format: you have a PVP objective, a fleeting objective, and then an NPC objective. There's a 2-3 week time limit. Each side is allowed between 5-10 allies. If that's the way things usually play out, why not make it the standard with a template?
Invasion Template
Location:
Start Date:
End Date: (Two weeks after start date)
Objective 1: PVP Dueling
Point of Contact, Attacker: In order to reduce confusion, it might be a good idea for each side to appoint a designated Point of Contact to handle communication between factions concerning matters of importance. Ideally, this will be an FA with a reputation for levelheadedness.
Point of Contact, Defender: In order to reduce confusion, it might be a good idea for each side to appoint a designated Point of Contact to handle communication between factions concerning matters of importance. Ideally, this will be an FA with a reputation for levelheadedness.
Location:
Start Date:
End Date: (Two weeks after start date)
Objective 1: PVP Dueling
- Location:
- Terrain:
- Conditions for Victory: In the event of a strictly duel oriented objective, the side with the most total wins takes the objective.
- Location:
- Terrain:
- Conditions for Victory: Given that NPC battles have a bad habit of being the least popular and most contentious part of any invasion, I'd recommend that the default is to not have them. Instead, individual characters will work together to accomplish some sort of objective, like attack/defend a facility, or capture an important artifact.
- Total Length Allowed: I'm not real sure what an appropriate number for this one would be, but I want to say I heard someone saying 20km worth of fleet per side.
- Notable Obstacles: Things like asteroid belts, moons, and the like that might affect the outcome.
- Conditions for Victory: Are you trying to destroy or defeat the enemy fleet? Is there an objective that must be attacked/defended? So on and so forth.
Point of Contact, Attacker: In order to reduce confusion, it might be a good idea for each side to appoint a designated Point of Contact to handle communication between factions concerning matters of importance. Ideally, this will be an FA with a reputation for levelheadedness.
Point of Contact, Defender: In order to reduce confusion, it might be a good idea for each side to appoint a designated Point of Contact to handle communication between factions concerning matters of importance. Ideally, this will be an FA with a reputation for levelheadedness.
My suggested template, which is almost certainly woefully inadequate, is enclosed in the spoiler. Ideally, the template would be the default state, but if both sides can agree to it, then it can be modified or ignored outright.
Step 3- Introduce a neutral arbiter. By the time an RPJ is brought in, the situation has almost certainly devolved past the point where it's possible to avoid further drama. However, the mere presence of a third party with the authority to penalize folks for getting unnecessarily salty should go a long ways towards making sure everyone stays polite. Bottom line, people, including FAs and FOs, need to be held accountable for their actions in an invasion, and so far, the faction leadership just hasn't been cutting it.
In my perfect dreamworld, this neutral arbiter would be an admin or RPJ whose sole job is to handle invasions. I get that this would be a huge burden to place on a single person, so in order to help with the workload, this dreamworld person would be given the power to deputize writers of good standing and with no stake in the invasion to help them out. This would function something like the Factory and Codex, where a single admin controls a team, with everyone working towards a common goal: to make the invasion as pain free as possible. Unlike the others, however, the team wouldn't be a permanent roster. As time goes on, it will become necessary to rotate people out so they can participate in their own faction's events.
In the meantime, I've spoken with a few other judges in the Galactic Battle Arena, and we've decided to offer our services when it comes to judging duels in invasions. Regardless of whether or not the whole neutral arbiter thing flies, we're willing to help out wherever people are willing to have us. One of our goals is to improve the overall PVP experience on the site for everyone. To that end, we're willing to donate our time to help take some of the burden off of faction leadership. Specifically, the part where they have to cooperate with people they've been arguing with for months on end in order to figure out who won a duel. Since we're not impressed by things like refusing to take damage or browbeating folks into making unnecessary edits, we hope we can steer dueling back towards something fun, rather than something to be dreaded.
Step 4- Increased accountability. Whether or not the neutral arbiter suggestion flies, if we're going to fix invasions, we have to hold people accountable for their actions. Poor sportsmanship, passive aggressive remarks, and outright saltiness need to be cracked down on, and hard. The impetus should originate from faction leadership rather than site staff, but if the faction leadership isn't cutting the mustard, staff needs to be able to pick up the slack. That's part of the reasoning behind Step 3.
On the flip side, positive behavior needs to be rewarded, and this definitely needs to come from faction leadership. Encourage your writers to have fun, rather than castigating them for taking damage or losing a duel. Y'all make bling for just about everything else, why not cook up a badge for the person who goes in and makes things awesome for everyone? There's nothing wrong with being competitive, but there's not a single definition of the word that I've found that says competition and fun are mutually exclusive. This is ordinarily the point where I'd use a colorful metaphor to emphasize what's already been said, but I promised not to use any in this, so insert your own. Something along the lines of "it's a game, don't take it too seriously."
At any rate, I'm out of words and liquor. Hope this helps. If not, well, I tried and I'm drunk, so that's a win-win. Excuse me while I find a lampshade and a table to dance on.
