A Land Far Away

We have dropped a few proposals, should we replace them?

There are people building that aren't on the proposal list (ie Baldur's gate) and there may be others who want to build.

Myth Drannor is dead. Alred confirmed with me he is no longer interested in building and Halrin has been AWOL for more than 6 months.

Let's try and replace these with new blood or builders who are already building for ALFA without permission. The advantages outweigh the politics:

1. We share ideas and new builders may have solved problems or bring in new ideas.

2. If we allow new proposals (hopefully without all the red tape of the first proposals) perhaps builders we pissed off before will come back, or even old ALFA builders that have become familiar with the toolset and felt that their ideas would not be accpeted or felt shut out may return

3. ALFA builders may get a nice shot in the arm

4. The community may feel more motivated to NWN2.




And how about a check in status thread of the projects on a monthly basis.

Aelred's not interested in building any longer? I hope you come back after a long hiatus, Aelred. You are an extraordinary talent, amigo.

Aye, I'd like to see Myth Drannor, but not enough builders. Alred was incredibly gifted. Oh, welll, back to cool forests near Silverymoon

I say we let people build what they want as long as they adhere to standards, whatever that is now. Then they simply fall in line being tested and such, and as long as there aren't any major issues, roll 'em out.

Screw the red, yellow, and duct tape.

All talk of tape aside- if people want to form up and get building on an area that's not already claimed, I'm sure they can work up a proposal as they go- it's a good organizational tool if nothing else. The formal "selection" methodology was mostly just sorting out how to deal with multiple teams vying for the same regions, when it came down to it. Now that we've got far fewer active teams, I'm sure new proposals are welcome.

I'd have to say, effort may be better spent helping out the current advanced teams (TSF, Moonsea, etc) at this stage, but building is a labor of love- if there are folks with a passion for a particular unbuilt area, I'd encourage them to try to get a team organized for it.

I'm not aware of any particular barriers standing in the way of anyone contributing to our NWN2 development. Certainly, I have preferred to encourage people to join one of the more advanced existing teams - TSF, MS, or IK - rather than strike off on their own, but that is simply because I believe it will be to the long-term benefit of ALFA to get those servers up and running before building attention is focussed elsewhere. It is, as I think Aelred's case demonstrates, very difficult to build a server by yourself. It may actually be more rewarding to build an area that is not necessarily one's first choice in combination with a number of others who, after completing that area, can then move on to build areas closer to one's heart. That said, individuals or teams who are hell-bent on bulding some particular area of Faerun and nowhere else face no overwhelming hurdle to doing so; as is so often the case, talk of red tape is little more than a similarly-hued herring.

I agree with all the above statements. Builders are more enthusiastic when they build an area they like, as I have chosen Silverymoon as an area I really want to build.

But if there is a team or a couple builders that want to go ahead and do something else, we should perhaps give the impression that we are open as long as they follow our standards.