Jayde Moon : DMA Platform and Q&A

[JaydeMoon]

As I have announced my intention to run for the position of DMA, I felt it would be appropriate to say a few things.

First of all, hats off to Rusty. He has kicked off several very positive initiatives and has, in many respects, done an excellent job. My platform does not rely on issues where Rusty did not perform up to snuff, because the fact is, he has done a great overall job. I have differences of opinion, sometimes just perceptually and other times actually, than Rusty in some cases, but I have a good amount of respect for the work he's done.

Why am I running for DMA?

I've been a member of ALFA in good standing since before NWN1 even saw release. I participated in Beta testing of the original servers and when we finally kicked off to Live, I immediately jumped in, headfirst, DMing on Waterdeep.

In that time, ALFA has undergone so many changes that to some folks, it may only be recognizable by its mission statement. Some of these changes have been for the better. Others have created inadequacies within the community. In that time, I have often been an active voice, petitioning for change, demanding to be heard, and hoping for the best.

I love this community and I love what it has provided for me over the years. I know that I have friends from this community that I can rely on for things outside the scope of the game we all love.

I look forward to the challenge of stepping up in one of ALFA's biggest leadership roles and doing my part to ensure this community not only survives this current period of change, but thrives.

What follows is my basic platform, the ideas and issues that I am basing my idea of what the DMA must accomplish on. I hope it resonates with all of you, from the DMs Corps to the Admin to the newest ALFA members.

Three Important Points

The biggest issue facing ALFA right now is the development and fielding of NWN2 Servers. This should be the top priority for ALFA's infrastructure. Getting NWN2 servers up and running will strengthen ALFA and draw in members. NWN2 has been out for over a year, with the first expansion hitting the shelves already. While this is not a huge worry (NWN1 servers took some time to reach Live stage several years ago), it still puts pressure on ALFA to get our servers up and running. Addressing this issue on my part will require taking the time to intimately learn the issues facing our NWN2 builders (some are already noted) and addressing those concerns within the framework of ALFA's current policies.

The second item of importance is the maintenance of ALFA's current NWN1 servers. There are a handful of servers committed to carrying on, regardless of NWN2. Some of these servers have a strong current playerbase, and as members of the community, deserve the support of the administration and infrastructure for as long as feasible.

The third thing that I feel is of utmost importance is respect and teamwork among the Admin. Five people running an organization as great as ALFA will never see eye to eye 100% of the time. But each of them should respect each others views and work together to keep ALFA strong. The Admin are not five separate entities overseeing their individual domains, but a team of people ensuring that the community has the best experience they could possibly have. A fractured administration accomplishes far less than a strong, unified team.

DMA Items:

1. The DM Corps - The DMA is the lead for the DM Corps. The DM Corps is, of course, a group of volunteers who put a great amount of time and effort into making sure ALFA is what it is supposed to be. The DMs are the backbone of this organization, without which, there would be no ALFA. This is not stated to raise them above any other group, certainly without a player base the DMs would have big beautiful empty spaces to stare at. My point is that the DM Corps is a group of individuals, and while they each have responsibility over one portion of our game world, each voice is important, individually and collectively. In my mind, the DMA's purpose is not to dictate to the DM Corps what they can and cannot do, but to act on their collective voice. Certainly I have my own opinions, most of you know that. But a DMA who imposes rules and bureaucracy contrary to the desires of the DM Corps as a whole is not performing properly in the role.

2. Standards - Standards has taken a great leap forward, and as the DMA, I intend to maintain the commitment to the Standards Program.

3. Training and Culpability - It is ultimately the responsibility of the DMA to ensure that ALFA's DM Corps understands ALFA's vision and policies. I will be looking into the best methods for training, what it should include and whether it should be mandatory. I intend to continue on the current line of Wealth Training exercises enacted by Rusty. All DMs down the line will be responsible for their activities. With a good training program, ignorance of policies and standards can never be an excuse.

4. Documentation - Too often I see it stated in 'Official' ALFA forums that something can or cannot be done because of a 'policy' or 'rule'. Many times there is no rule or policy, merely a precedent that some people remember and others do not. Without bogging the community down with too much additional bureaucracy, the issue of documentation and what constitutes policy vs what constitutes potentially irrelevant precedence should be addressed.

This is my basic stance on what will drive my time as DMA, if I am elected. It is subject to change as issues are brought to my attention. Feel free to post any questions you may have in this thread.

[AcadiusLost]

With respect to your emphasis on getting NWN2-ALFA off the ground and running, I'm interested to hear your thoughts on how best to find a workable play balance in the early stages. Originally we had planned/hoped to have an active and vibrant multiserver beta testing period, with statics, adhoc play, planned DM times and random interactions: in short, an actual model for ALFA's NWN2-based future. The information gleaned from this test period would then hopefully allow us to fine-tune the play balance (gp/xp rewards, combat/spawn challenge level, rest cycle length, spell durations, etc) to find a happy medium before making the jump to Live.

Thus far, it seems few players are motivated to play ALFA-NWN2 until it goes live. Only one of the planned servers is within striking distance of Beta2. This leaves us with something of a conundrum- some other PWs have pushed quickly to live and adopted a "work it out as we go" approach, which has clear advantages as well as major drawbacks.

How do you believe this may best be handled? Should we forge ahead and gamble on our ability to trim out the sails as we go, or try to spark greater interest in Beta testing? In either case, how might it be accomplished?

[JaydeMoon]

This is perhaps one of the most difficult question to field, and you drop it on me first!!!

While any real answers will require a sit down with the current NWN2 team to work out all of the issues, determine where we think we are ready and where we lack, and then come to a consensus that is agreed upon by the community as a whole (herding cats, yes, I know), my limited breadth of knowledge on this subject gives me the following lean:

Determine where we are in terms of getting at least two servers into a strong Beta 2. Create an urgent, but realistic, timeline for when we can get these servers off the ground. If most issues seem resolved and so long as there aren't any glaring holes, we move the servers to a live status.

Being Live has never meant that the server was 100% ready, able to be picked over with a fine toothed comb and certified absolutely bug free. That has always been the aim, but we established criteria that servers absolutely had to have before they were ready for live and then ironed out any kinks after the fact.

I don't feel that this was a problematic approach to the situation then, I don't think it will be one now.

Fine tuning is something I believe ALFA will never finish. There will always be something we didn't think of, some way that a issue becomes unbalanced. Making sure we've got the big stuff handled and then dealing with the small stuff as we go is far more realistic than gunning for perfection before we go Live.

Regardless, greater enthusiasm for beta testing needs to be cultivated among our members. I am not beyond offering tangible post Live in game incentives for people who invest a large amount of time beta testing, in fact for any activity that speeds up NWN2 server fielding. Those benefits would have to be discussed and ratified by the community, but I am willing to consider all constructive ideas.

Hope this at least partially answers your question.

[Vendrin]

Will you cut back on all the rules, say to a return of the rules back when fluff was DMA or previous? So dms can actually worry about DMing, not crosschecking the rules every session.

[JaydeMoon]

I can't promise to 'cut back on all the rules', per se.

There is a lot of stuff that falls under the purview of 'rules'.

I think that standards are a very important part of making sure that we keep things fair across the board, across all servers.

And definitely in a community where many issues get reduced to petty squabbling amongst three or four individuals, the need for checks and balances to ensure that we are addressing these issues fairly is there.

That said, rules should not be arbitrary and placed 'because I said so, and if you didn't want these rules, you should not have voted me into place'. They should be placed because the community as a whole agrees that they are important for whatever reason.

Some rules will be double checked for their actual need. DMs need to have the flexibility to run their sessions without worrying overmuch about crossing some sort of concrete line. So long as the spirit of ALFA and fairness and balance are maintained, DMs should not have to worry about someone crying about rules they may or may not have broken.

I would like to see a single source for 'rules' so that at least you aren't having to search for some obscure post where Joe Admin made an ad hoc ruling two years ago and now Sam Standards is throwing it in your face.

If reading that single source glazes your eyes over because its fifty bazillion pages long, it needs to be trimmed.

If you have any specific examples of rules you feel hamstrings a DMs ability to run his plots when he isn't otherwise hampering the spirit of the community, I would welcome it if you brought it to my attention.

If I am elected, that is. I see Rusty is running again and I've got my work cut out for me!

Also, not sure what it means for me that my Platform is thread #666. Someone start a new thread!

[Vaelahr]

1.

CvC is allowed in ALFA. However, it should be noted that there are many nonlethal ways to be at odds with another PC, and killing ought to be the last resort.

What does that mean to you? Should DMs encourage these nonlethal ways on thier servers when recieving a CvC notice from a player? If not, why not?



2. As a DM, who do you consider to be the chief storytellers in ALFA - the players or the DMs?


3. Should Library material based on an active PC be considered a means of earning any XP?

[JaydeMoon]

1. I think that the placement of that statement in the APM was to discourage PK behavior as a 'mode of play'.

I do not think that DM should discourage or encourage any sort of lethal CvC. I also believe DMs should be wary of railroading PCs into CvC situations. Each CvC situation is different and to attempt to dictate how DMs should handle it is a prime example of trying to install one of Vendrin's 'rules' (see above). I would encourage DMs to discuss with interested players possible alternate courses of action, but that applies with any sort of player activity (ie. I think my PC would like to kill Joe/join this guild/start a merchant company. What do you think about x?).

2. It is give and take. Neither is the prime storyteller. DMs provide the narrative and backdrop and players provide the heroes and protagonists. One without the other is a pretty shabby tale.

3. No. Library stories based on logs can be sent to receptive DM teams as logs. Library stories based on DMed events should already have been awarded at the conclusion of that DMed event.

[Mikayla]

Jayde, what is your stance on the availability of plane-touched races for players in ALFA in NWN2? If I recall correctly, Rusty has indicated that he opposes allowing players to play plane-touched races, such as tieflings, aasimar, and genasi, even if included in the game engine. Do you also oppose allowing players to play these races? Or would you support allowing players to play these races?

[Veilan]

Okay, some serious questions - I'll try to toss in an occasional kitty-picture-worthy one, though, to maintain some entertainment value .

Topic 1 - NWN 2

Addressing this issue on my part will require taking the time to intimately learn the issues facing our NWN2 builders (some are already noted) and addressing those concerns within the framework of ALFA's current policies.

Could you summarize your current experience with NWN 2, your general perception of the game, it's flaws, opportunities and challenges, as well as your involvement and working relation with current NWN 2 building / scripting / ressource teams?

Topic 2 - some mustachio'd guy



Who's this guy!

Topic 3 - Enforcement

Where do you think should the responsibility for standards enforcement lie, executively? Do you support universal enforcement in NWN 1?

If yes, what if an affected PC would be one of another admin?

What if yours?

Topic 4 - Staff

You mention great respect for the current Administration's work, and also stress continuity (for instance, the standards consolidation started under HEEGZ, or the wealth training programme, which is a first cornerstone in DM training).
Traditionally in ALFA, stewardship of continuity rested upon the staff - cue ATDs invaluable standards work and willingness to assist on it even with big RL workloads, cue the countless manhours of effort devoted to trying to finalize documentation into a single comprehensive source, etc..
It's also a known fact that volunteers are hard to come by and sometimes hard to motivate.

What are the staff positions your DM Administration would entail, and what personnel is going to fill them?

Topic 5 - Candidacy

First of all, hats off to Rusty. He has kicked off several very positive initiatives and has, in many respects, done an excellent job. My platform does not rely on issues where Rusty did not perform up to snuff, because the fact is, he has done a great overall job. I have differences of opinion, sometimes just perceptually and other times actually, than Rusty in some cases, but I have a good amount of respect for the work he's done.

Please explain the differences of opinion, and I know it's tough because you have to run against an incumbent, but: Why do you believe you are the better choice?

Topic 6 - The 'roos



a) Austria

or

b) Australia

?

You're let off the hook now ... thanks for bearing with me, and the best of luck to you.

[JaydeMoon]

Mikayla:

I see no reason to outright disclude any race or class that is already presented in the original game engine.

Races and classes that we would have to hak in will require more thought and discussion. I am, at first glance, inclined to shy away from including additional races beyond those packaged in the box. You might make a case for one subrace, I might make a case for another. Someone else might make a great case for a third.

So let's include em!!!

Except, the races are gloaming, fey'ri, kobold. Yikes. You and I might agree that's over the top (or we might not) but to someone else, there is no good reason not to include them if we have the ability to do so and we're already including any number of other subraces.

A line has to be drawn somewhere, by someone. The simplest line is the one of using what's provided and disallowing the rest.

To address the fear that EVERYONE is gonna be a TIEFLING ZOMG!!! I think that's just silly.

To say everyone is going to pick the one or two special races is alarmist and unrealistic, in my view.

However, to say that NO ONE is going to be a standard race could be true if players were faced with a ridiculous array of subrace and race choices.

Either of the above examples would be immersion breaking for me, the latter is a realistic possibility if we give in to the urge to overindulge in allowed races.

[JaydeMoon]

Alara:

Topic 1:

I have played the campaign packaged with the game, not to completion, but several chapters in. I built that stupid keep about halfway up and then quit. The packaged campaign just doesn't hold interest to me. An immersive world with PC to PC interactivity does.

I have opened the toolset and poked around. I haven't created anything and certainly the level of intuitiveness is not as good as the intuitiveness of the NWN1 toolset, from my perspective. That said, eventually I will be cracking into the thing with a vengeance.

I have not, to this point, had any working involvement withthe current building teams. As far as I know, I'm on good terms with most of them, individually and I have admired their work, especially given that I am in awe of anyone who can do what they have been doing with that toolset.

However, as for the teams, my stance is to let them be the experts. If I have a question, I'll ask. If I have input, I'll give it. If the community wants to move in a certain direction, I'll try to initiate that move.

I have already stated that it will take some time for me to get any in depth knowledge of what's going on there, but I will take that time, I will learn the issues facing the NWN2 teams, and I will work with them, supportively.

Topic 2:

Yur Mom.

Topic 3:

In practice, responsibility for standards enforcement lies with the DM Corps. Players should not be expected to know the standards that the DMs are expected to abide by. If they notice something screwy, we encourage them to speak up, starting at the lowest level (Erm, ADM Joe, did you MEAN to give me 2500 xp for the tavern RP just now?) and moving on up as needed (to HDM, then AR, DMA, or PA as necessary). However, the player should not be faulted by the ways a DM runs his sessions. Players should expect that their DMs know and are following the standards as they apply to his circumstance (ie DMs in Selgaunt know that they can give a bit more wealth than DMs in Shadowdale because of the wealth level of the environment).

The Admin curry no special favors in game as a result of their position. Standards are just that, standards, and they apply equally. I, on the other hand, am going to PK Aszune and take all of her stuff. Without a horse, she is nothing.

Topic 4:

Unless I find something just totally out of whack, which is doubtful, I don't see a need to reinvent the wheel, just to make sure that it's turning properly.

The personnel filling them will consist of the folks I think are best qualified among the volunteers available.

Topic 5:

I am the better choice if people think I am the better choice. I don't even know who ~I~ am going to vote for yet. Rusty has yet to raise his platform or go into what he wants to do with another 6 months in the position. Could be he has the plan of all plans.

That said, the differences are mainly in approach. Rusty has good ideas. I have good ideas. Rusty has opinions. I have opinions.

A perception arises often with Rusty that he is unnecessarily blunt and makes a number of unilateral decisions, often without respect to differing viewpoints. His thought process is opaque and while his reasons may be great, they are sometimes not readily apparent to others.

I plan to be far more open about my thought process, and offer it not as a final arbitration, but as a viewpoint that should be considered when all involved parties make a decision. If a decision is made, I want it to be abundantly clear where the decision came from and that a majority of those involved are behind it.

A second difference is the working relationship with the other Admin. It is not a secret that Rusty does not get along with Mikayla or Rotku. The result is that, even should we believe he puts his differences with them aside and acts with total disattachment in regards to his personal feelings for them, there is a perception that many times a refusal to consider another point of view or entertain positions contrary to his are a result of his attitude towards the individuals championing them and not a entirely a rational argument against the cases themselves.

I have at least a neutral relationship with all of the current Admin and am, in fact, inclined to work with the others as a team. I think that we will have a greater amount of positive accomplishments than if the Admin are always at odds with one another, which is how it often seems now.

Topic 6:

Wouldn't it be cool to have a pouch?

[Veilan]

The personnel filling them will consist of the folks I think are best qualified among the volunteers available.

I assume you are putting looking for volunteers off until elected?

How are you going to assure a smooth transition and maintain consistency?

It is not a secret that Rusty does not get along with Mikayla or Rotku.

What are you basing this on?

Especially concerning Rotku, I had the feeling from Rotku encouraging Rusty to run again that they had a good, or at least respectful relationship - perhaps Rotku could clarify this.

Anyway, a new point:

Indio, Danubus.

Yay or nay?

[JaydeMoon]

I am putting off looking for volunteers until I need them. If elected, I will look at who is currently on the teams and if they are doing a great job and are inclined to continue, I am inclined to keep them there.

As for clarification, if anyone who has any doubts about Rusty's relationship with Mikayla, they haven't kept abreast of any threads where they've locked horns.

Perhaps the issues with Rotku are less well known and perhaps more recent, but Rusty shows a lack of respect towards the Lead by refusing to communicate with him.

While I cannot lay fault with Rusty, his reasons for choosing to not speak with Rotku may be perfectly valid, for all I know, I think this is crippling the Admin as a team.

As for your next point... please clarify what you're looking for.

[Veilan]

Thanks for clarifying on the team(s).

Hm, well, I cannot comment on what you believe the relationship of two other people to be - my own relationship with Rotku is rather good, and I value and appreciate his input and positive attitude. I haven't particularly noticed him and Rusty not getting along, but in all fairness, I was (and still am) broiled up in quite some work.

Of course, I find it a tricky argument to make to say that Mikayla and Rusty not getting along is a good reason to run for DMA instead - by that same reasoning, I guess you should run for PA next, too, heh.

Anyway don't dodge the last question, it really was the last thing I got for you. And you have to admit the self-policing question was a nice low pass to you .

My question basically is, what is your stance on letting Danubus and indio DM in ALFA? It would mean overturning previous admin decisions - then again indio especially has proven to be a very valuable contributor for NWN 2. Tricky question I admit, and I'm glad I don't have to answer it .

[JaydeMoon]

by that same reasoning, I guess you should run for PA next, too, heh.

Your line of questioning leads me to believe you have some sort of bias against the PA, hrm...?

Anyway, faulty logic. 1. I feel I am otherwise more qualified to run for DMA than PA. 2. Replacing the PA does not improve the relationship between the DMA and LA. It also does not guarantee an improvement in the relationship between the PA and DMA.

Rotku or Rusty can feel free to post here any details of their falling out, or not. But I don't think the why's are important. The fact that it is so hampers the ability of the Admin to work cohesively, and that is the point. Not sure how your relationship with the LA has bearing on this.

I guess I'm glad you like him.

As for Indio and Danubus, I would have to look in to the individual cases and make a determination based on available information.

Next question, please.