A Land Far Away

If anyone has any questions, please post here. I'll answer them as best I can.

The downside of a broad platform would be many things voters could potentially disagree with. I only ask that you weigh you votes on how much you agree with versus how much you do not.

Thanks for running MShady.. your platform is top notch and you have obviously put a lot of work into it.

I have a question for you after reading it -:

C) Standards will be simplified. We have strayed too far from the DMG.

Does this mean you intend to review standards yet again if you are elected? I dont know about the rest of the community but we have only just got a handle on this after about 2 years of discussion and implementation. Do you want to reform these again?

I'll also ask you the same things I asked the other candidates -:

1. What do you believe is an acceptable amount of time each week to do an effective job as DMA?

2. What do you see as the priority projects of the role and percentage of your time as DMA would you spend on those priorities? I'm interested in project outcomes here not answers like "Talking to DMs", "Meeting with other Admin".

3. You've focussed on a couple of pertinent issues in your platform. I wonder what your vision for ALFA is in terms of module builds, servers, players, population distribution? What's your perfect ALFA look like?

Thanks Mick..

- Dez

Thank you, Thangorn.

Quick response (watch for edits)...

Standards is also 15-18 pages and gets alot of the TL;DR response from people. There will be no throwing out the baby with the bath water, but it needs to be shortened and summarized and that's not just a promise to edit it down a little. That it took 2 years to get a handle on these is part of the problem. That they are hard to find and difficult for most people to understand or follow is a problem. We're better off with good standards that are easily followed versus great standards that read like tax law.

I'm not going to get into posting alternative standards or anything at this point, but I feel we tend to restrict too much. Any actual changes I want to do I'll put to the HDMs first.

If y'all don't like the changes, the DMA will not make them anyways.

Acceptable amount of time to work as DMA? With only 2 months, I'll probably be working at every day in all honesty. That's not going to be shotgunning things through all the time for 2 months, though. That's going to alot of working with people, talking and finding ways to help out.
That's the acceptable amount of time for me.

I'll catch your last one later, Dez...

Thangorn wrote:Thanks for running MShady.. your platform is top notch and you have obviously put a lot of work into it.

I have a question for you after reading it -:

C) Standards will be simplified. We have strayed too far from the DMG.

Does this mean you intend to review standards yet again if you are elected? I dont know about the rest of the community but we have only just got a handle on this after about 2 years of discussion and implementation. Do you want to reform these again?

I'll also ask you the same things I asked the other candidates -:

1. What do you believe is an acceptable amount of time each week to do an effective job as DMA?

2. What do you see as the priority projects of the role and percentage of your time as DMA would you spend on those priorities? I'm interested in project outcomes here not answers like "Talking to DMs", "Meeting with other Admin".

3. You've focussed on a couple of pertinent issues in your platform. I wonder what your vision for ALFA is in terms of module builds, servers, players, population distribution? What's your perfect ALFA look like?

Thanks Mick..

- Dez

Thanks for stepping up and taking a shot at this Mike. Here's my questions:

1. The Pillars of the DMA Role

Shouldn't there be a "pillar" to help with the recuitment of DMs? HDMs get final approval on who DMs on the server their responsible for but generating interest in becoming a DM, trying to recruit, keeping DMs active and helping them avoid burnout that causes them to quit are tremendously time consuming and never-ending tasks for HDMs. Shouldn't the DMA be involved in helping servers attract DMs?

2. DMs United

Considering the time and energy that goes into finding anyone willing to DM at all, I would sincerely hope that a DMA veto over a HDMs choice is beyond rare. Wait a year to reapply? No. 6 Months max maybe but chances are that person won't bother reapplying to DM or step up in any other capacity going forward. A DMA veto over a HDM over recruitment might require something more palattable than waiting out a year or term in office.

4. Standards: Wealth guidelines will focus on player equipment, not overall wealth.

Can you please expand upon this? Do you believe the cap limiting the overall "value" of a character should be removed? If so, I would strongly support it as it primarily targets players who've simply managed to survive the longest or got lucky finding a dead PC.

Now that there is far better control over loot drops and static rewards in NWN2 the two areas of potential "leaks" are items being snuck into the game via the DM client without HDM knowledge (Happened far too much in NWN1) or by HDMs themselves (Happened enough to be very distruptive) who felt they could do whatever they wanted. What would you as DMA do to prevent these two areas of weakness in the system from unbalancing the wealth system all over again?

5. Standards Outlook and Enforcement: Players found to be in violation of wealth or item Standards would have the case handled by the Player Admin.

You seem to contradict yourself with your statement in item 4. What wealth violations are you referring to?

Thanks for the well thought out & detailed platform Mike.

Kate

Indio's been one of the biggest assets to alfa2.

Can you work with him?

Congrats on running! And from a guy that's lost twice don't worry of you don't win



Now on to the important controversial questions.


Is it true that you only plan on hiring DM's that DM dorfs? That, in fact, you only plan on hiring staff and DM's that are dorfs. And is it true that you are in fact a dorf?

Rick7475 wrote:Congrats on running! And from a guy that's lost twice don't worry of you don't win



Now on to the important controversial questions.


Is it true that you only plan on hiring DM's that DM dorfs? That, in fact, you only plan on hiring staff and DM's that are dorfs. And is it true that you are in fact a dorf?

The Muffin Man* told me it's true.









*The Muffin Man, the Muffin Man, who lives in Drury Lane.

Mshady, thank you for running.

A few questions to ask:

1) You have had run ins with past DMs over issues regarding your high level toon Hignar. Do you think you can work with HDMs and DMs who were involved in the issues surrounding your previous toon? I know there is a lot of bad blood there, but the past is past and sometimes its best to move on. ALFA likes to bring up the past and never let people live it down, but do you think time heals wounds enough to have a decent working relationship with those individuals?

2) Currently, the DMA can screw a DM over forever if they have been banned from DMing. In my case I was not banned because of anything I ever did in game it was because of forums behavior and Ive seen worse from previous DMAs, DMs, and others here. Yet, Im still banned and everytime Ive asked to have it lifted Ive been given no recourse to follow to lift the ban except to have it be the will of a DMA who may or may not either like me or be in a bad mood that day. I saw you want to allow Dms to be able to reinstated after a period of time. Is it just a 6month issue or do you want to see certain criteria happen also during this time before their allowed to reapply if banned. I have had people say they would instantly reinstate me and others want me to jump perverbial hoops for them to get this done.

The current way of this being done is wrong and a fixed set of rules need to be adhered too for DMs to apply for reinstatement. Not just the will of someone who holds grudges or likes to toy with peoples heads.

3) DMs are short in supply. What can you do to get more DMs active when we have more servers avaliable. I know from speaking with players now the current DMs for TSM arent on much and if their not on then why have a live server? We use to have rules in place that servers had to have active DM teams etc for them to stay afloat. I know this is our first NWN2 server, but what will you do to nudge more folks into DMing so short supply of DMs will not continue.

Do we need to allow Dms to play on servers they DM on? Do we need to enforce Dms to show up so many times a week or they are removed from the DM core? People like to have things be "easy" for them but is having a DM show up once a week acceptable or having a DM required to show up X number of times a week a better idea? Ive heard the arguments that people should be happy that people DM X amount of time per week. I dont agree this should be a job but I think that folks who are Dms should have to agree to DM X amount of time or they shouldnt be Dms.

Dorn wrote:Indio's been one of the biggest assets to alfa2.

Can you work with him?

That's entirely up to Indio, really. I'll work with him like anyone else and react to him like anyone else. I'm not going to ban him from DMing or restrict him in any way. If there's no problem, there's no problem. If there is, it'll be treated like any other problem. I would go to great lengths to treat him in a completely neutral fashion. Ball's in Indio's court on that one.

I actually have no plans to hire DMs. I will help recruit them. Hiring should really be up to the HDMs.

It is true I'm a dwarf. A tall one, but a dwarf none the less. And no, you can't see the paternity test.

All DMs that I recruit will either be dwarves or they will become so. Dwarves are noted for their hard work, steadfastness and strength. These are values worth emulating. And so are the beards.

In fact, the motto of the DMA will be "dwarves ho! fun from below!"

With an all dwarf DM staff, ALFA will become gender neutral as well. Because you really DON'T want to know...

Mike

Rick7475 wrote:Congrats on running! And from a guy that's lost twice don't worry of you don't win

Now on to the important controversial questions.


Is it true that you only plan on hiring DM's that DM dorfs? That, in fact, you only plan on hiring staff and DM's that are dorfs. And is it true that you are in fact a dorf?

Thangorn wrote:
3. You've focussed on a couple of pertinent issues in your platform. I wonder what your vision for ALFA is in terms of module builds, servers, players, population distribution? What's your perfect ALFA look like?

Thanks Mick..

- Dez

The vision question.

My vision for ALFA is fully supporting the NWN2 community and support the NWN1 side of the house for as long as they want to continue.

For NWN2, I think 3-5 servers is probably ideal with the current interest level. TSM will probably be the "hub" server for the forseeable future and I'd like to foster coordination between the existing server and future servers. Start global DMing early and often, but an HDM has final say on who accesses their server.

Module builds is more something I want to with Tech on the well... technical side of that. In terms of content, an ideal server is fill with content. The kind that helps you learn about a server through its NPCs and little static quests. This kind of thing adds a lot of character to a server. It is also something much easier for people to do. I'd like to encourage players to build for a server they play on. No access to the module of course, but get involved by fleshing out areas and such.

I'd also like to take advantage of ALFA's more exotic locals. We may not have a server for them, but a quest that is taken to the Planes or far off Calimshan as a locally hosted mod is fine with me. I trust the DMs, but again I will verify.

In a broader sense, I want to simplify or ease Standards for practical purposes. I want to see trust between DMs and players and vice versa by toning down the rhetoric. We need to find ways to help each other more; how and when will present itself but thats the intent. This community needs to maintain its core standards, but we could all relax too.

1. Kate - I completely agree on it being a pillar. Consider that added, although I did touch on that I'd like to reinforce that committment.

I do not see the DMA as someone who should be "approving" or "hiring" DMs. Instead, it should focus on recruiting DMs than supporting and mentoring them. There should be less focus on administrating DMs and more on getting DMs. Getting builders. Keeping things interesting. Publically acknowleding good DMing, etc.

2. The only reason I reserve the right to veto a DM is because there has to be some oversight. If you're a member in good standing, I don't really see a reason to block anyone from becoming a DM. If the HDM wants them, its okay but they ultimately bear the responsability for having that person DMing under them.

Some people, like a Freak/Andrew or a Morgram or someone who acts like an arsehat on the boards or is in it only for forum access or a vote and never plans to be a DM might get blocked. No one gets blocked just because I don't personally like or trust them; thats more the HDMs concern until there is an actual problem to me...

If someone actually is blocked, there will be a very good and documented reason that all of Admin will support. 6 months might be fairer than 1 year before they can reapply. Ideally, I want people to be DMs. I can barely forsee a reason TO block someone. If possible, I'd set an action plan to give them a path to DMing. That's fair and alot further than other candidates or my predeccesors seem to have gone on that particular issue.

ALFA does not run without DMs.

4. I'll get back to you on 4 as it is a more detailed question. Please PM me with some more details on your thoughts on that matter. I'd be interested in hearing them.

5. Any contradiction on 5 is unintentional. A standards/wealth/item case should be handled by the Player Admin. This includes overwealth and that kind of thing. The DMA may help write the rules, but its up to the PA to regulate the players. The DMA regulates the DMs. If a DM did something wrong to cause a Standards issue, I'll look into that. Mistakes happen and so do patterns; I'll determine whichever one was the case and take the PA's recommendations into consideration.

MorbidKate wrote:Thanks for stepping up and taking a shot at this Mike. Here's my questions:

1. The Pillars of the DMA Role

Shouldn't there be a "pillar" to help with the recuitment of DMs? HDMs get final approval on who DMs on the server their responsible for but generating interest in becoming a DM, trying to recruit, keeping DMs active and helping them avoid burnout that causes them to quit are tremendously time consuming and never-ending tasks for HDMs. Shouldn't the DMA be involved in helping servers attract DMs?

2. DMs United

Considering the time and energy that goes into finding anyone willing to DM at all, I would sincerely hope that a DMA veto over a HDMs choice is beyond rare. Wait a year to reapply? No. 6 Months max maybe but chances are that person won't bother reapplying to DM or step up in any other capacity going forward. A DMA veto over a HDM over recruitment might require something more palattable than waiting out a year or term in office.

4. Standards: Wealth guidelines will focus on player equipment, not overall wealth.

Can you please expand upon this? Do you believe the cap limiting the overall "value" of a character should be removed? If so, I would strongly support it as it primarily targets players who've simply managed to survive the longest or got lucky finding a dead PC.

Now that there is far better control over loot drops and static rewards in NWN2 the two areas of potential "leaks" are items being snuck into the game via the DM client without HDM knowledge (Happened far too much in NWN1) or by HDMs themselves (Happened enough to be very distruptive) who felt they could do whatever they wanted. What would you as DMA do to prevent these two areas of weakness in the system from unbalancing the wealth system all over again?

5. Standards Outlook and Enforcement: Players found to be in violation of wealth or item Standards would have the case handled by the Player Admin.

You seem to contradict yourself with your statement in item 4. What wealth violations are you referring to?

Thanks for the well thought out & detailed platform Mike.

Kate

A question I discussed in PMs had to do with what I wanted to see done with the Constitutional Committee. Let me outline where I want to see this go. This will be added to my platform statement as well. As DMA, I can't make these all happen, but I can support them.

Initiating Charter Changes: Currently only the Lead Admin or the head of the CC can initiate charter changes. They're very fine people, of course. That said, why shouldn't the other Admins have an equal right to put Charter changes to a vote?

For that matter, why not let the HDMs do so with a majority vote?

Election Committee: The Constitutional Committee becomes the Election Committee. They MUST remain independent of Admin. To clarify, I do not support abolishing this group. Running elections is a vital function here. Their must important role will be maintaining the Voter List in my eyes.

The Voter List The Election Committee should maintain the Voter List. The problem is... its hard to do. Why? The DMA runs the ADM access group from my understanding. From that list, the pool of voters is determined. What seems to happen is people aren't added to that list and anyone with Admin access can meddle with it and this isn't an unknown issue. It's not nefarious, but its confusing.

As DMA, to help make it easier to maintain the Voter List, I'll turn over the keys to that Access Group to the head of the Election Committee. If a change on the forum needs to be made, they can handle it. A quick PM would suffice.

Who Votes? To reiterate, anyone who DMs should vote. In the past, there have been problems with beta servers being stood up to create more voters, DMs being added to vote, etc. It was awhile ago, but it happened.

Anyone who becomes a DM will have a 1 month waiting period before they can vote. No gamesmanship, no dependence on a HDM to promote someone out of PADM status or whatever. The Election Committee runs that list. Its a far more elegant solution.

This issues of when a DM should vote or not, as raised recently, would not have been an issue if we were using this system in combination with the removal the PADM status.

DM Apprenticeship

Someone who is a new DM would have to complete an application, sent to the HDM and DMA. I have no intent of denying a DM, its just a matter of getting to know who they are.

A new DM would be considered an apprentice. Returning DMs of limited or no recent experience COULD also be at the discretion of their HDM.

The HDM or delegate therof would report on that DM's progress. It's not to be overbearing, it's about knowing their progress to help the DMA fulfill their long neglected role as a mentor.

The Apprenticeship stage is what PADM status should have been about, to me. Teaching a new DM how to use the client, how to use Standards and such is a given.

An apprentice should watch several sessions with an existing DM, followed by being observed by that same existing DM. Any player fatalities during a DM's learning period should be reviewed however. For a new DM, its very easy to be too heavy on the spawn hammer. If the situation could have been handled better, retconning the situation should be encouraged.

People, when they are learning, make mistakes.

An apprentice would not be able to drop significant loot without running it by their DM counterpart. That is purely for calibration.

It's ultimately up to the HDM in my eyes, but I would like to see an apprenticeship last for a month of active DMing. Whenever the DM has it all under control, the HDM promotes them to a full DM.

Apprentice status has no connection to voting rights.

DM Side by Sides As DMA, I intend to find the best DM willing to serve as a staffer. That person's role would be to occasionally DM with newer DMs for calibration purposes and support. I would occassionally do the same.

Why? What's the harm in having another DM watch a session now and than to provide constructive criticism. The idea is to share best practices. A great DM can teach an awful lot.

The title of this position would be Magister, in keeping with the FR theme. Others seeking the position are strongly encouraged not to kill the present occupant, however.


[/b]

Thank you for the thoughtful question, Kate.

My view is that wealth guidelines only focus on player equipment. The point of the guidelines are PLAY balance. If it's not going to help you get the power up and win the game, I do not think it should be counted.

Kit a player holds on to for sentimental or RP purposes to remember something but have no practical use for should not count. Gold, trade bars, strongholds or other investments should not either.

I believe in setting up a fair system and generally letting it run. If a player finds a way to become a millionaire by running a guild of thieves on BG, more power to him. DMs should work with them on how that wealth is used, of course... This happened with Mashan and Jarlen de Rose. That worked out to be some great RP.

That does not mean things will go off the rails, but I think it creates a fearful environment when we micromanage wealth. I want to avoid situations where people think about "optimizing" their equipment to stay under a wealth gap. In the past, the DMA dept has helped do this.
To me, if you can reshuffle things to get under a gap, just say its an equivalent to being like that and spare everyone the actual reshuffling.

I hope that answers everything for ya, Kate

Mike

4. Standards: Wealth guidelines will focus on player equipment, not overall wealth.


Can you please expand upon this? Do you believe the cap limiting the overall "value" of a character should be removed? If so, I would strongly support it as it primarily targets players who've simply managed to survive the longest or got lucky finding a dead PC.

Now that there is far better control over loot drops and static rewards in NWN2 the two areas of potential "leaks" are items being snuck into the game via the DM client without HDM knowledge (Happened far too much in NWN1) or by HDMs themselves (Happened enough to be very distruptive) who felt they could do whatever they wanted. What would you as DMA do to prevent these two areas of weakness in the system from unbalancing the wealth system all over again?