Rusty : DMA Q&A

[Mikayla]

fluff is correct about planetouched races not being a dead-horse in ALFA, as this thread can attest too. And as the thread I started some weeks ago about planetouched also evidenced - the majority of responding ALFAns are in favor of adding planetouched races to ALFA for NWN2. I realize you, Rusty, are not in favor of adding planetouched races, but if a majority of the Admin vote to add planetouched races for player-characters, will you work to support that decision once made, or try to sabotage it?

[Rusty]

Fluff is not correct about Planetouched races not being a dead horse in ALFA. Unfortunately, the thread listing dead horses - cunningly titled 'Dead Horses', stickied in this very forum, and containing Planetouched as a PC race - appears to have disappeared in the past few days; regardless, that's a pretty convincing indication of their status. (I've asked Hialmar to try and locate the thread as it may have fallen victim to the forum pruning.)

A simple forum search reveals that, although the idea of Planetouched PCs has occasionally been raised - we're talking a total of thirty-seven returns on 'Planetouched' over the life of these forums (what, forty six months?), many of which do not form anything like a suggestion that we ought to have Planetouched PCs. Now, I happen to term that an unshaken consensus; 'unshaken, if not unchallenged', if more clarity is needed. Either way, the consensus is there, just like there is a consensus that players ought to have only one PC - which is another dead horse, even if occasionally challenged. Now, the key point is that if we want to introduce Planetouched PCs for NWN2, we should do it for a better reason than simply that they are included with the program, and the fact that they exist in the program in no way creates a presumption that they ought to exist in our game world.

[Mikayla]

Labeling it a dead-horse in an old thread does not quell the current discussion - the dead horse thread was for NWN1, and I don't believe there is any question about implementation of plane-touched races for NWN1. On that point, you are correct, but no one is challenging that point - we are talking about NWN2.

Also, you have not answered my other question Rusty - if the majority of Admin decide to include plane-touched PCs in ALFA for NWN2, will you respect the decision and work with it?

As for why to include the plane-touched, there are two answers: 1) Planetouched races are playable character races in Faerun as indicated by the FRCS (see Nyarlathotep's argument in the plane touched thread I just bumped); and 2) the bulk of ALFA seems to want them - this is a game, we play it for fun, and if the majority of our community wants something that can be implemented (and the races come with the new game) then unless we have a strong argument against inclusion, which I've not seen yet, we should include it.

In sum, I think Nyarlathotep's position is correct: we don't need a strong argument for inclusion - the race is already included in both PnP and in NWN2 - we need a strong argument for exclusion if that is the route we take. Otherwise, our default position should be to include them.

[Brokenbone]

Where's the "bulk of ALFA" spoken on wanting planetouched races? I've seen some joke polls like "should drow be relegated to a non playable race" where 50% said YES, but again, those are joke polls.

Anyhow, Rusty, any comment on how this ought be figured out prior to NWN2? I'd figure NWN2 build teams definitely need a voice. May even have different races they care to support. I'm not on any of those teams, but Waterdeep you can imagine being cosmopolitan enough to support anyone, Zhentil Keep might give some races a hard time (and maybe fiendish ones an easier time!), Cormanthor, you could end up with your tiefling or drow KOS'd by super duper Elven guardians in Myth Drannor, whatever. I'd figure all of those teams might care to weigh in on whether they want "race X" starting there.

Probably not a DMA topic, but at least Drow had the option of a Drow 101 taught by people who dug drow. I'm not sure there's a general "Freakish Mutant 101" for all the rest of the races that'd work, but having some common understanding on what the races are or aren't, couldn't hurt. No fire genasi believing mom was a campfire, or tieflings who can trace out Asmodeus as their grandpa. Maybe at least a DMA topic to suggest what resources should be highlighted for DMs who end up dealing with unusual races... many of which only get 2 lines in FRCS, and no sourcebooks outside of the Planescape 2nd edition stuff. Again, not the case for Drow, they have a huge amount of source material, but some of the other races, they're pretty under-resourced.

[Marklos]

I would like to call to attention Zelknolf's repeated attacks against *MY* server, Luskan, that Rusty is EADM of. The reason that *I* am shutting Luskan down is because *I* do not have the time now to guide the team or the server. I am in school full-time and also working full-time, with wife and kids.

There was no "Exodus" from Luskan as you put it, and I find the very term offensive. TT's quests are finished and Rusty barely DMed to begin with, because of his duties to the DMA position. Jodyhamilton is wrapping up his quests. Ravin has gone AWOL for RL reasons. That is 3rd party opinion from an uneducated and biased source.

I can honestly say that I could not have brought Luskan live by myself. Rusty has been supremely supportive and has spent uncounted hours in the toolset organizing and building with TT and myself.

No DMs = no players. It's simple.

Get your facts straight before you start bashing *my* team.

*Edit* Had to fix a spelling error.

[Mikayla]

BB:

Where's the "bulk of ALFA" spoken on wanting planetouched races?

I counted up the posts in the plane-touched thread I bumped and there were approximately 17 people in favor of allowing plane-touched races (though some had conditions, like requiring backgrounds to be approved, or adjusting all ECL to 1, etc) and there were 4 people who were clearly against allowing plane touched races, and there were a number of people who did not clearly say one way or the other. Included in the list of folks who agreed that plane touched should be allowed were 3 of the Admin, Rotku, Cipher and myself. Rusty, of course, was one of the 4 folks opposed to the idea.

Now, I will not say that is a scientific investigation or analysis, but then, we are never going to get that here. It may also not represent the bulk of ALFA in the sense that we have about 21 people declaring one way or the other, but, those are the people who cared enough to voice an opinion - and by a margin of around 4 to 1, they are in favor of allowing plane touched races.

So, the question to Rusty I still have is whether, assuming Rotku, Cipher and I vote to allow plane touched races in ALFA for NWN2, will you support that decision?

[indio]

But Mikayla, shouldn't the question be who as DMA can actually get us to the point where your planetouched question becomes relevant?

I really think we need to keep our eye focused on the realities of getting NWN2 servers Live. We've had NWN1 servers up for 5 years, and planetouched races in NWN2 ought to be about as low a priority for the DMA as can be, so can we please focus on getting NWN2 on the field?

[Rusty]

ALFA would be much better served if, instead of the Player Admin adopting a deliberately confrontational Admin vs Admin stance, or attempting to turn every last topic into a question about jurisdiction, a constructive, reasoned approach was adopted to problem-solving. For instance, our consideration of including Planetouched races would be much better if some agreed criteria were used to assess the case for and against, rather than a rather meaningless straw poll of people who could be bothered to post in one thread at one point in time. Even if there was remotely compelling evidence to support the claim that the 'bulk' of ALFA did support Planetouched PCs - this is a game, we play it for fun, and the majority of the hard work that supports that fun is done by the DM corps. Whenever we consider changes to our game world (and adding Planetouched is a change; a change that needs explicitly justifying), the likely impact on DMs has to be considered - and considered by every Admin, not just DMA. If the impact of a particular policy is to place excessive demands on our DMs, then we ought not to implement that policy, not even if every player in a Discussion thread thinks that it would be a really neat idea.

[Mulu]

But Mikayla, shouldn't the question be who as DMA can actually get us to the point where your planetouched question becomes relevant?

I really think we need to keep our eye focused on the realities of getting NWN2 servers Live.

This is becoming a rather cryptic conversation. I try not to post in election threads since I can't vote anyway, but I'm trying hard to understand how Rusty > Jayde for bringing NWN2 live. Isn't it really about the build teams? Maybe hosting?

And no this isn't tangential or off topic, since I doubt I'm the only one curious to understand this point and what it has to do with Rusty's electability. Indio is a big voice here, so when he has an opinion it gets listened to.

[Rusty]

I'll take that as a question for me, Mulu, and try and answer it.

I believe that I am the better candidate to take ALFA through to NWN2 Live because I am already deeply involved in that process. For the past six months I have been working with our building teams and scripters to co-ordinate our efforts and make sure that, when we go Live, we have an ALFA that is grounded on consistent and well thought-out policy, fit to continue for many years. I have been the one holding regular NWN2 Team meetings, publishing minutes and updates to the community, and encouraging our builders to work together to get our servers Live. I have built up a very good working relationship with our builders and scripters, and I have a detailed knowledge of the hurdles that stand between us and Live - and have spent six months on preparing the methods we need to clear them. I don't pretend that my contribution is as critical as that of our builders or scripters, for whom I have immense amounts of respect, but I do believe that I have made some contribution to our progress towards NWN2 - something indio has been kind enough to comment on in this thread. I am also extremely concerned about the consequences of handing oversight of this progress to someone who has had absolutely no involvement in this progress to date, and who has been unable to outline for us either the details of what problems he believes we face in heading for NWN2, or what he would do about them (beyond offering rewards for the Live PCs of Beta testers). DMA has a critical role in managing how servers approach Live status, and in ensuring that our game world has the balance and consistency that we all recognise as a mission-critical goal; I believe that I am the best person to fulfil that role.

[indio]

It's the central issue for DMA to be able to handle and has been since NWN1 servers were on the cusp of going Live.

Firstly, please understand that I've actually got respect for Jayde stemming as far back as early Loudwater days, which is 5 years ago. I'm confident he can be bought up to speed and lead from there.

But therein lies the problem, in my view. Getting Jayde up to speed on the complex issues involved will take time I don't think we can afford. Getting a server Live for the DMA is a role Rusty has gone large part of the way toward perfecting. He's got a thorough understanding of Standards and works hand in glove with T`Dawg in both their development and monitoring. I've got his 10 page excel sheet that I'm in the process of filling out so he has a copy of how closely our server theorically matches those standards.

Rusty has negotiated pretty much every staff change to our server, bringing in people at just the right time, and doing so in a professional and subtle manner. The importance of this simply cannot be understated. Rusty is funneling DMs to the projects that he has determined can realistically push for Live. The awareness of where servers are at is much more than a quick PM survey of relevant DMs. It's an understanding that evolves over time.

There's a synergy, from my perspective, between the Tech and DM departments, that undergirds the builders confidence in how well their server is being supported. 003 is being used as a platform for testing the ACR, which is fundamentally tied to ALFA Standards. I *need* for Tech and DM departments to have a high level understanding of the objectives and the low level intricacies to solve problems as they arise.

And that's what I get from Rusty. He's got effective loops of communication sewn throughout all critical areas of module development and deployment. In all my time at ALFA I've never had greater confidence in the abilities of the DMA (or admin counterpart), and that includes myself back when I was overseeing NWN1 servers going Live.

When I developed the first set of standards and then tried overseeing their implementation I was also getting Loudwater Live, negotiating new regions for DMs to build, testing Trismuss' database tracking, working with Romal on the first ACR and testing inter-server connectivity with Ranoulf. Many people here will remember how innefectively implemented those standards were, and how full of holes it was. This is just part of the DMA's role when a community is trying to get Live, and we're too close (I'm looking to go Live at the end of this year) for someone to learn all that Rusty has put into motion.

So I care currently that the DMA role is given continuity. If anyone does the job as well as Rusty then that's who I'd be advocating at this time. I just don't think ALFA can afford to politicise the DMA role at this juncture, not after 12 months of back breaking effort getting a NWN2 server ready for ALFA on the shoulders of cipher, AL and Rusty. I need them to help me get this job finished. So this can be thought of as political if you like, but in my mind it's a genuine need.

[AcadiusLost]

Mulu: I can see where your confusion is coming from- certainly getting hosting and build teams bringing modules up to snuff are critical steps in the move to live. There is no way we can make the transition without them.

However, what is less clear to those not directly involved in the process, is the tremendous amount of work that goes into the "behind the scenes" of central resources and policy- to set up systems that will give ALFA it's game balance and help it to realize it's potential. We need to make essential decisions on things like scripted XP and gold/loot rewards, which skills should be available to PCs, and how to handle nonengine skills- then once these decisions are made, there is a great deal of actual technical work that goes into making these a part of the game- through editing 2das, testing, scripting, and following logs of beta play. Rusty has been in the middle of this throughout his last term, and his decisive calls on important issues have been invaluable in making the progress we've had up till now, as well as his time and skills in assisting with the actual work of implementation.

In addition to getting the core resources ready, NWN2 servers will need to be rigorously tested for bugs and wealth/xp leaks, or the game balance will be damaged as soon as it begins. I think everyone is looking forward to the clean slate NWN2 will bring- but a wealth of experience in server development, testing, and approval serves Rusty well in this regard.

While it is quite possible Jayde would perform these tasks ably were he to be elected, he has openly acknowledged that he hasn't really worked with NWN2 before. As far as I know, he's not been through the process of balancing or testing a server for Live status either. So, while I believe both have an excellent perspective and would serve the community well- I have to agree with Indio on the matter of Rusty's advantage in terms of bringing the community successfully to NWN2.

If the DM community decides that a change is needed in the DM Administrator seat, I'll work with Jayde to try to bring him up to speed with where we're at- but the transition to NWN2 rests heavily on the DMA and Tech positions, and experience is a definite plus there.

Though the community has a strong democratic flavor and everyone would like to be heard out on issues, at the end of the day we need someone to make the decisions that allow us to move on as a community. We can hope those decisions will come with enough explanation that they don't seem whimsical, shortsighted, reactionary, or punitive- but we also don't want endless rounds of discussion delaying decisions that need weeks or months of work to implement, nor "second thoughts" on those decisions that could render that work useless. In my view, issues of game balance, rewards, class availablility, all fall in the DMA's lap.

I have strong respect for both of the candidates, and will continue to work closely with the DMA on the above matters regardless of the result of the election- but I hope this explanation helps fill in the NWN2 builder concern over the challenges of having a relative "outsider" DMA candidate during this critical transition time.

[JaydeMoon]

Rusty:

It is abundantly clear that your working relationship with your peers and some members of your team is damaged.

The extent of that damage and who is to blame for it, ultimately, is all debatable and rather meaningless to the purpose of my question:

If reelected to the position of DMA, will you recognize and address the 'relatively' poor working relationship you have with your peers and some of your team members?

How will you do so?

What steps will you take to show ALFA without question that for example not only are planetouched races immersion breaking, but that more people are vehemently opposed to their inclusion than are enthusiastically for?

The perception of arrogance and unilateral action can be nearly as problematic as the reality. What will you do to repair that perception?

[EDIT] Spelling errors.

[Brimsar the Wanderer]

Not much to do with DMA election... but please do not make the assumption that just because someone didn't type "plane-touch PCs suck" does not mean they are in favor of them. Before the "bulk of ALFA" is defined by people with personal agenda's, maybe a vote... for "The Bulk of ALFA" to vote in, would be a good idea.

My apologies that this is only half on subject.

Good luck to both of candidates.

[Rusty]

I count two people, Jayde - and Rotku and I don't get on quite so terribly as all that. I daresay there's very little between us that couldn't be resolved over a friendly chat - like the two we've had in recent days, perhaps. Weighed against the quality of my relationship with my own Staff, large numbers of other NWN1 PADMs, ADMs, EADMs, and HDMs, the Tech Admin and our scripters, and pretty much every one of our NWN2 Team, I think you're running a real risk of blowing things out of proportion. In fact, 'relatively', I'd say I have a pretty good working relationship with most of my peers and team members - as a couple of the posts above tend to suggest. If I really don't play well with others, why does indio think I have 'effective loops of communication sewn throughout all critical areas of module development and deployment'? If I really can't work with Admin, how is it that Cipher and I get along so well, and how have we worked together to cover so many NWN2 issues?

It's very rare that we're in a position where we couldn't possible improve on our actions, and clearly all kinds of improvement are an advantage - be it in clarity of communication or anything else. If you find any decision of mine puzzling, and don't find the explanation sufficient, just ask. If you have a reasoned objection to anything I'm doing, send it my way. I will read it, and I will pay attention, and I may change my mind, or at least open a new discussion on the topic. But I'm a results-oriented guy; we're not going to spend weeks circling around point after point trying to be all things to all men.

I commented above on how I think Admin would be better off approaching problems: through constructive dialogue and consultation using defined criteria and goals rather than trying to make every issue an Admin vs Admin vote or a question of jurisdiction. That, however, is not something I can do just by myself.