Server proximity

[Ronan]

Those are fluff's words and options in the poll. In mine, it might read: Should local proximity be valued in the group of servers we select for ALFA2? We aren't asking how much you think proximity should effect server selection, just whether it should effect it in any way.

I voted yes, though my personal thoughts are that proximity should be valued a decent amount, though I wouldn't value physical location as much as connectivity in terms of trade and politics, so that ALFA is more like one PW than isolated ones. Though, I'd also like some servers that are a bit disconnected from the rest of ALFA, as I think thats a nice thing to have as well. Difficult options to word into a poll.

[Spider Jones]

I voted yes, ideally servers would all be adjacent so that travel between them isn't strange, but, I wouldn't says it's absolutely necessary, but it would be nice to have areas connected much like we have in current ALFA (not that they were connected at Live if I understand correctly, Daggerdale and Waterdeep ain't anywhere near each other).

[NickD]

So hard to choose. Voting for proximity means we go some way towards shutting up the people who always complain about others travelling between servers. On the other hand voting against proximity means we go some way towards shutting up the people who demand-to-be-able-to-build-whatever-they-want-and-if-they-can't-will-create-their-own-persistant-world-where-they-can. So hard to choose who is the most annoying.

[Mord]

Yes plz.

[Rusty]

Surely one of the arguments for proximity arises from the current IG situation - with fewer players and DMs there is a motive to travel to find people to play with; come NWN2 this is not likely to be the case, and so the rationale behind proximity's importance is lessened?

[Ronan]

So hard to choose. Voting for proximity means we go some way towards shutting up the people who always complain about others travelling between servers. On the other hand voting against proximity means we go some way towards shutting up the people who demand-to-be-able-to-build-whatever-they-want-and-if-they-can't-will-create-their-own-persistant-world-where-they-can. So hard to choose who is the most annoying.

Heh. People will always find something to bitch about. I think its more about the cohesion you want in between servers, and the realism with FR. The closer the servers, the more cohesion you can have (with plots, PCs, etc) while still maintaining the internal logic of the setting, ie realism. If you don't mind throwing this "realism" to the wind, then of course distance doesn't matter. And if you don't mind making each server isolated, and more like its own PW (sort of how NU is now), then of course distance is less meaningful and realism can be maintained.

[Ronan]

Surely one of the arguments for proximity arises from the current IG situation - with fewer players and DMs there is a motive to travel to find people to play with; come NWN2 this is not likely to be the case, and so the rationale behind proximity's importance is lessened?

Well, I think we'd be kidding ourselves if we thought NWN2 wouldn't eventually end up how NWN1 is now. For me I just prefer a cohensive world to play in, with its own internal logic. If ALFA formed into little isolated servers (and I don't think it will, this is just a more extreme example) I don't think it would be worth the extreme amount of work that gets put into it. There are plenty of smaller FR PWs out there to participate in, or build.

What I'm wondering is, if most people don't care about proximity, why were ALFA1's servers all built near each other?

[Grand Fromage]

What I'm wondering is, if most people don't care about proximity, why were ALFA1's servers all built near each other?

The old admins forced it by limiting the build area to only one part of Faerun. It's remained tradition since, and there are only so many interesting locations in that section of the world.

[NESchampion]

For the beginning stages of building? Yes.

Well, unless people want to have five servers scattered across all of Faerun (NU, Thay, Chult, WD and Damara for example) and have them connected via instant transitions that would normally take weeks or months or more to travel.

Just breaks immersion early on IMO if proximity has no value.

[Mikayla]

I am abstaining - not because I do not care, but because I find the poll does not offer me the choice I wish - which is that server proximity should matter, but I would put it lower on the priority list than server type diversity and a few other factors. I would not disregard it entirely however.

[Ronan]

I am abstaining - not because I do not care, but because I find the poll does not offer me the choice I wish - which is that server proximity should matter, but I would put it lower on the priority list than server type diversity and a few other factors. I would not disregard it entirely however.

Well, that would be a "yes", and thats also the view I take on it. I agree I'd prefer the poll gave a variety of choices with some gradients between each extreme, but this is what fluff wanted, and I'm pretty bad at writing polls.

The old admins forced it by limiting the build area to only one part of Faerun. It's remained tradition since, and there are only so many interesting locations in that section of the world.

Was this before the quake?

[ç i p h é r]

I don't see the need to regulate this or get into a heated debate over it, but I'm simply ambivalent on this point. What I do find intriguing however is the fact that standards are tightening, not loosening (however minor it may seem), which is something I expected the focus of this Admin term to be. Less "Admin" in our affairs, not more.

[Ronan]

What I do find intriguing however is the fact that standards are tightening, not loosening (however minor it may seem), which is something I expected the focus of this Admin term to be. Less "Admin" in our affairs, not more.

Its not tightening or loosening really, its just another factor which may or may not weigh in on which servers are selected for live. There are already countless numbers of things reviewers will look at in a proposal. Such as,

[18:07] <AR> Inclusion of pr0n increases value of proposal

[ayergo]

The old admins forced it by limiting the build area to only one part of Faerun. It's remained tradition since, and there are only so many interesting locations in that section of the world.

Was this before the quake?

It was that way before the quake. But farther before that (in planning for Beta 1) they more or less allowed anyone to pick up and build any area. We had some odd areas crop up every now and then, but mostly those folks didn't stick around.

At the time ALFA went live the first time, i thought it was too soon. Looking back, i still think it would have been better to wait.

My 2 cents: People who are worried about being "first to market" are missing something. There is no market. It is far more important to do things right and technically sound at the beginning than to do things fast. Maybe if we were trying to grab some market share, but we're not.

[Mord]

And you know, the closer the servers are to each other, the less inclined we are to break "immersion" or something like that ;}