Nov Staff Critique

[Tefka]

Your concerns have been noted, @[member="Pandeima"].

 

[Darth Metus]

Staff, as always, has been doing a phenomenal job. My hat is off to each and every one of you who proudly wear the Admistrator or Roleplay Judge tag. Over the past month, I have noticed something that raises concern on my part; and this is a concern partially addressed by the mandatory staff vacations. The issue is Dedication, and I'm not saying there's a lack of it. I'm saying there's an abundance of it.

You guys worked yourselves to the bone with Dark Harvest. Time and time again, there are Factory purges (special shout out to @[member="Ashin Varanin"], @[member="Darron Wraith"], and @[member="Fabula Cavataio"] for Zerg Rushing the Factory), events, and other things that I know you put tremendous sums of hours into. To top it off, I know Tef personally went two days without sleep in order to fix the site situation.

So, simply put, you guys are doing an amazing job. My only concern is that you may potentially burn yourselves out doing said amazing job. If a staff draft is the solution to this, or whatever you guys come up with; I'm game. Until then, I'm going to help out in any way I can, because you guys are the best and make writing here a joy.

So, that's my piece. Love ya'll.

 

[Gregor Gideon]

I think you should hire additional RPJs and dedicate them to authorizing character biographies, and then put an approval system in place before people can begin RPing.

 

[Fabula Caromed]

I think you should hire additional RPJs and dedicate them to authorizing character biographies, and then put an approval system in place before people can begin RPing.

This is something Tef has been relentlessly opposed to, and I agree with him wholeheartedly. We will never do this, and I'll explain why.

Whatever slightly higher quality an approval system on profiles would create, it would do much more harm than good. We allow people to play any character they wish, within reason and power limits. Imposing someone else's will and ideas over the character creation process is the quickest way to scare people off. There are some very interesting characters (HK-36, Jacen Cavill, an Jack Sparrow come to mind) that would never, ever make it past a basic screening for various reasons. Any attempt to regulate a new player's imagination is the quickest way to inspire loathing and cut down on new member recruitment. We like fresh blood, so we're not going to do anything to hurt that.

The quality approval, likewise, could be directed at the most frequently ignored and exploited aspect of a character: strengths and weaknesses. We do police these, very lightly and very rarely. An RPJ who has an issue with a character's power balance might sometimes request that the writer review it, and any glaring logical inconsistencies like height/weight, timeline problems, or truly ridiculous power claims are often addressed right out. These characters require no more approval than any other characters, and almost without exception the writer will acquiesce. Thus, an approval system wouldn't be much of a change from the current practice.

This is, of course, just my take on it. Tef's reasoning might differ. The point is, it's never going to happen. This is not a point that he will budge on, and I can't think of a single staffer who disagrees with him on it.

 

[Gregor Gideon]

This is something Tef has been relentlessly opposed to, and I agree with him wholeheartedly. We will never do this, and I'll explain why.

Whatever slightly higher quality an approval system on profiles would create, it would do much more harm than good. We allow people to play any character they wish, within reason and power limits. Imposing someone else's will and ideas over the character creation process is the quickest way to scare people off. There are some very interesting characters (HK-36, Jacen Cavill, an Jack Sparrow come to mind) that would never, ever make it past a basic screening for various reasons. Any attempt to regulate a new player's imagination is the quickest way to inspire loathing and cut down on new member recruitment. We like fresh blood, so we're not going to do anything to hurt that.

The quality approval, likewise, could be directed at the most frequently ignored and exploited aspect of a character: strengths and weaknesses. We do police these, very lightly and very rarely. An RPJ who has an issue with a character's power balance might sometimes request that the writer review it, and any glaring logical inconsistencies like height/weight, timeline problems, or truly ridiculous power claims are often addressed right out. These characters require no more approval than any other characters, and almost without exception the writer will acquiesce. Thus, an approval system wouldn't be much of a change from the current practice.

This is, of course, just my take on it. Tef's reasoning might differ. The point is, it's never going to happen. This is not a point that he will budge on, and I can't think of a single staffer who disagrees with him on it.

Fair enough, thank you for the response.

 

[Jak Sandrow]

u guys suk.


But srsly tho, thanks for getting it back up after... *shudder* 8/11/13... You are all awesome, and I am grateful to be RPing with you all.

 

[Matreya]

I have an update on my critique.

Though the staff as a whole work hard, I see many of the subs in the factory remaining for days. I know the 8th was a problem, and so will slow the site down, and as such I feel at least for the moment @[member="Tefraxis"] should implement the previously spoken of 'volunteer factory RPJ' idea. Or something similar. It could help that a LOT.

Other than that, everything else is coming together splendidly as normal.