Well, we basically have a gradient between two poles. I am fine as is currently (because, I think, it is what ayergo & co. find most helpful to run their servers), which is "no compliance on standards, but compliance on community conduct rules". It works and gives a big amount of freedom, the biggest drawback being that it offers no true community integration, and that it only works as long as we have good guys in charge of the NWN 1 servers. Obviously, this works relatively well for IA and PA, but TA & DMA may have some issues here where default rights as "official" ALFA DMs/builders are concerned (and reasonably so: no representation without taxation).jmecha wrote:What are your ideas on the matter?
The extreme other pole, as offered by DMA, was full compliance to ALFA (read: NWN 2) standards, to be demonstrated by the prospective HDMs. This I believe is an unrealistic option - it would place an undue burden either on DMA (& staff) or on the NWN 1 module captains, and does not seem the best fit for the purpose that standard compliance should achieve - i.e. a comparable, moderated, fair and considered playing experience for everyone.
Perhaps not unsurprisingly I think the golden road should lie somewhere in the middle. We are already agreed on full community codes of conduct (you grief somebody on ayergo's Waterdeep, you are in danger of not only losing your privileges with ayergo, but also with "official" ALFA - i.e. NWN 2, forums, chat, discord). I think it would behoove us to have a separate set of "NWN 1 standards", applicable to both EE and vanilla servers, ideally developed by the NWN 1 builders / captains in conjunction with DMA (standards team). A starting point would naturally be the "old" NWN 1 standards (which I think have been mostly used anyway). Compliance would be demonstrated by taking the NWN 1 captains' word for it (after all, they will have had a major input in developing/tweaking the system). This means we could easily expand and give new interested builders a set of guidelines to start from, and it also means we would get to full community integration, which I think preferable to an NWN1/2 "split" - after all, I have very frequently stated that I think ALFA should be more a "brand" that purveys a certain kind of roleplaying experience, rather than to be a single-platform offering (as it officially is now). Obviously, player status would then also carry between both "branches" (as is basically the reality now, as most people playing in NWN 1 ALFA are official ALFA members with player rights).
Of course, the pressure to do anything seems low at this point, but I would hate the people who still congregate here to drift apart further, slowly or otherwise. Thus, I actually like Rick's idea of cross-platform stuff in its spirit - though it is of course a nightmare in implementation and a genuine Pandora's box.
I hope you regret having asked for my ideas already
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