[Poll] Do Staff Support You?

[Kinaed]

I want to get an idea of the degree to which players feel supported by staff in their RP, the ideas they have, etc.

Please answer honestly, this poll is fully anonymous and the question is very important to me.

Also, comments are welcome if anyone's willing to share.

[Leech]

I've yet to give a vote, and I think I'll ponder it a while loner, but I did want to leave a comment! Staff have, very surprisingly, been very lenient with me on the Rexus/Casimir plot. Letting a player make a demon could go wrong in a lot of ways. Mostly, I think it's been approved because it's been (so far) a very confined plot line (not to mention postponed). On the flip side, I feel really... lost? doing any sort of demon RP, because that's staff territory. Also, I'm really bummed that rum explosion and robbing other guild's banks have been repeatedly taken off the table!

In the end I think staff support comes down to what is described as kosher in help files, and what work load Temi is willing/able to take. I wish both those things were 'more', but so far it's worked alright for me.

Edit: As we have a mostly hands-off staff, it seems like players are encouraged to make their own RP without staff support.

[Geras]

I can't say I've always gotten my way, but that's probably a good thing lol. :3 <3

[Giftherz]

IF you had gotten your way Geras we all know who would be King of Lithmore.

[Kinaed]

Sadly, the profile above (thus far), looks pretty grim to me.

What can we do to improve this? Like I said, I believe staff should be, wherever possible, enablers of player RP. Can anyone speculate as to what the cause of lower votes might be?

[Dice]

I'll bite: I feel like I struggle because things are often not well-defined in many cases, which creates frustrating rather than constructive ambiguity, and attempts to better-define them are often met with a lack of success. Casimir's example of demon RP is a good one; I've helped several players contemplating demon STs, and the kind of things they do are not remotely informed by the real cosmology of demons because they have no idea what it is. Secrets should persist, but having a few basic rules accessible to players so everything's consistent would be nice!

Or the Royal Council. I wanted to change its composition, and that was veto'd for tradition's sake - which I understand, but it left things really awkward when I need to run new laws by a body that is half PC and half NPC but OOCly exists to serve as staff's check on things. If I don't consult the PCs on the Royal Council, they get no vote, but their votes don't matter because they'd be outnumbered by the NPCs anyway, but... etc. etc. I don't really know how to handle it ICly and I'd be a little loathe to try and change a law again.

So really a big, big way to improve things in my eyes would be firming up how basic institutions work, ensuring the helpfiles are very clear, and making sure all these institutions designed in a way that works well for RP. (This involves the oft-repeated idea of defining guilds with set ranks, promotion requirements, and manifestos that set their core purpose/principles in stone instead of letting GLs change everything.)

I'm not against ambiguity! But I think you can write things up and still build ambiguity in, rather than ensuring ambiguity by the lack of definition.

[Kinaed]

I've just had an interesting conversation with a player that said:

I think the staff are often unhelpful because they need to be fair to everyone involved. There seems to be a trend right now that the minute things get to be a little difficult to do yourself or accomplishing something requires trusting other players, people run to staff. People would rather trust a dice roll than doing things by interacting with one another, which is sad because the best RP comes from trusting other people, even if you shouldn't.

What do you think?

[Kinaed]

Hmm, I take some action items from Dice's post, but I have to admit that I'm not sure the answer is as black and white as that. In my mind, too much detail is detrimental, as is not enough. The needs of various players for concrete direction is variable. That said, I have to acknowledge some real issues there.

[Leech]

The whole Knight's thread comes from not having enough detail. We've already hashed out that there are inconsistencies caused by alternating GLs every month. We refer to it as 'reinventing the wheel'. Something each GL has to do when they come into power, basically.

It's kind of like that. Too much structure is detrimental, but IMO (and several voiceless others who never back me up when I post this stuff on the forums, but have talked about it on OOC chat - I swear!) we have a little too little.

If you take a look at all the really great fantasy worlds, they were created mostly by a single author. Continuity is incredible because of it. However, MUDs persist in this idea that each player has to have a say in what goes on, has to have their mark made in history, etc.

I wouldn't have been miffed at all if I -didn't- get to write HELP HOUSE AZADAR. If it was already there, I would have been ecstatic! It would have accounted for all the inconsistencies of a Queen randomly kicking out a noble house from their familial lands, and I could have spent my time doing something else.

Virtually, it's the same with everything I write on the MUD. I don't make these suggestions to guilds, helpfiles, histories, etc because I want to 'leave my mark' but because most of the time there are holes that I need to fill so that I can go on having even the least bit of 'suspension of disbelief'.

This isn't me saying I wish staff would take over. Far from it - I do like being able to give my opinion on things in the form of editing, suggesting, etc. I only bring this up because it has been a problem before, and will continue being a problem. The examples that Dice brings up are only a few.

In any case when you give players as much freedom to affect the world as staff here do, that world needs to be a concrete, realistic thing - as much as possible.

That, however, might be a different subject - and one that's currently, hopefully being slowly toppled. The Knight's thread, I hope, is just the first of a list of threads clarifying gray areas in guilds. We've had those threads before with the Order, with the Brotherhood, etc, but nothing really seems to stick.

So in answer, I kind of wish that's where staff would give their support. Giving us concrete structure to play around in, and a little less of this sandbox stuff. I can build a castle in sand but it won't be very believable.

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As for not voting - if that's what brought this on! - don't take it personally! I should be voting, but I have very little faith in MUD sites to effectively bring in crowds. I've been meaning to put up posters to local gaming groups and make some for others to put up at their comic/gaming stores as well, but... you know. Meaning to and doing are entirely different.

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I had something else to put here, but currently distracted by Arrow and popcorn. >.>

Edit: Also just wanted to say, Kinky, that you've had players stay here for 5+ years. For me, my three year anniversary just passed, I think. I've never, ever stayed at any other MUD for a consistent three years. Just uh... don't get too down about all the suggestions and constructive negativity! Because I wouldn't be here if it wasn't already a pretty decent MUD.

[Geras]

I've been meaning to make a post for a while about brainstorming ways for player conflict to be better supported by code and policy. I think that's the issue here that others are highlighting - when players interests come into conflict, there aren't always good guidelines for resolutions by code or policy, which puts Imms in a tough position.