Veilan's LA Q&A

[Veilan]

Okay, guys. Go ahead.

[Rotku]

How far has the documentation process gone? Do you think you'll be able to get it complete in the next 6 months?

[Veilan]

How far has the documentation process gone? Do you think you'll be able to get it complete in the next 6 months?

We're at a point where it's not so much about documenting, but about consolidating. NESChampion is flagging and looking at redundant or conflicting rules, and I've gotten him the permissions to edit as necessary, with Curm and Vendrin in on the loop for any actual alterations that are being done.

Whether it will be finished in six months, I have no idea. It's possible, but I'm not going to lean so far out of the window to say "But yes, of course good sir!" .

Cheers,

[Ksiel]

A few questions:

1 - What is your stance on allowing the option for new pc's to start at level 2?

2 - What is your stance on allowing one of the active servers to have the password removed to be used as a recruiting tool? (I understand there are other issues to be worked out, like capping non-ALFA member at level 3, but the basic idea is what I am after.)

[Veilan]

Hey Ksiel,

thanks for your questions.

A few questions:

1 - What is your stance on allowing the option for new pc's to start at level 2?

I guess firstly, I'm required to point out that that is not something for the Lead Admin to decide, heh.

Now, my personal preference is for a level 1 start. I am fully aware of the hardships that a level 1 character faces in ALFA and I also agree that 3.5 is terribly designed on low levels. But, it is the game we play, and we have made many accommodations to make level 1 less lethal (using slings instead of bows, cheapening healing potions, designing areas with clear danger indications, capping single hit damage to -6 to name just a few), and it is usually not a long time that you spend on it. Cutting out one level from the overall ALFA journey is not something I would personally prefer, and I think it offers a great opportunity for roleplaying growth and character development. It just makes the story of the character so much more worthwhile and thrilling if they had to overcome not being a hero from the get-go, and helps add depth and immersion to the characters around us.

That said, if it were something optional, and DMA, PA and the majority of members truly wanted it to happen, I'd not stand in the way while being Lead Admin.

2 - What is your stance on allowing one of the active servers to have the password removed to be used as a recruiting tool? (I understand there are other issues to be worked out, like capping non-ALFA member at level 3, but the basic idea is what I am after.)

As I've said here, I'm quite in favour of the idea. With some thought and monitoring / systematic setting up, this could be a great trial.

I hope I could help generate the outside interest so that we actually have some people logging in when we do it!

Cheers,

[Heero]

To which historical dictator or despot would you compare yourself?

[Veilan]

To which historical dictator or despot would you compare yourself?

Har!

That's easy. While admitedly building Autobahns, overengineering tanks and annexing Poland is always fun, my heart's choice is Frederick II.

Cheers,

[NESchampion]

How far has the documentation process gone? Do you think you'll be able to get it complete in the next 6 months?

As an aside from the Q&A section here, I'm not certain that Documentation is ever really something that can be considered "complete" given that things change and need to be updated. kmj put in some solid work in helping to get old decisions and information organized and veilan has been quick with responses to requests I've had for improving things and getting me the ability to actually edit the documentation. At present I've been focusing more on pruning the existing information inside the ALFA Player Manual to be more uniform and concise. Redundant information (like specifically saying that players can't become a Warlock just to get access to Leaps & Bounds which is already covered by our rules on Powergaming as an example) makes our information needlessly verbose and complicated.

Things have been a bit busy for me the past couple weeks but I'm hoping to get a better handle on Documentation shortly. My next priority is the ACR page; the information it has is disorganized and the information it doesn't have is highly important (things like the -6 HP Buffer are only mentioned without information).

[Castano]

To which historical dictator or despot would you compare yourself?

Har!

That's easy. While admitedly building Autobahns, overengineering tanks and annexing Poland is always fun, my heart's choice is Frederick II.

Cheers,

you lie. I know who you secretly wanted to pick in your dark heart...a little mustached man from Austria.....

[Ronan]

1. Why'd you change your call-sign from Alara to Veilan?

2. I don't have a lot of time to read the forums and don't want to vote on crap like charter revisions. I just want to do techy stuff. Can you make my vote not count plz? If not, who do I have to kill to make my vote not count?

3. What are your plans to fix the terrible window-regulators on most Volkswagen products?

[Veilan]

Hey Mr. B.

1. Why'd you change your call-sign from Alara to Veilan?

I stopped playing that PnP character (my longest played at that point, from "Das Schwarze Auge"), was getting tired of being confused for a girl (I guess that people even entertained that thought shows I have a softer side <3), and kept playing the "Surveillance Team" in a custom StarCraft map. I guess I was also fond of the consonance with Valen from B5, so from there, it had developed to my most universal handle. Consequentially, I started the Gleichschaltung.

2. I don't have a lot of time to read the forums and don't want to vote on crap like charter revisions. I just want to do techy stuff. Can you make my vote not count plz? If not, who do I have to kill to make my vote not count?

The way the charter is set up an LA can't count or discount votes at whim (and I somehow guess that is a good thing ). However, if you're really serious, I know someone that can: the Admin you are working for. He can always have you work for him without giving you voting rights. It gets trickier if you're a DM, but I guess you can contribute build and tech wise without becoming a "story" DM.

On the broader angle of charter votes being a nuisance: I entirely concur. Hence why I sought to avoid one, among other options, with a compromise keeping the pillar intact yet easing up, but it was not to be.

As for killing people, that would be self-defeating... it would just lead to charter votes to forbid player killing.

3. What are your plans to fix the terrible window-regulators on most Volkswagen products?

My plan is to fix the terrible window-regulators by replacing the VWs with StuGs.

Cheers,

[thinkpig]

How many boards would the mongols hoard if the mongol hordes got bored?

[Veilan]

How many boards would the mongols hoard if the mongol hordes got bored?

I believe I answered this the last time? The amount still the same*.

*adjusted for inflation

[CloudDancing]

Some of us know where you stand from the last election against me but I wanted to ask even though I have seen some good work toward change happening the short time you replaced kmj.

1. Open servers: Can we make a trial change? Do you want to? Can you convince staunch hold outs to accept change?

2. As the owner of the longest alive PC in Alfa2, who is of a high level, but has not recieved the most DM time, how do you feel about your "world" being more populated with DMs and PCs?

3. What would be your focused plan for Alfa if you became the long term Lead Admin?
Could you lay out some key points?

[Veilan]

Hey Cloud!

Some of us know where you stand from the last election against me

Aww, "against" each other doesn't quite capture it .

but I wanted to ask even though I have seen some good working happening the short time you replaced kmj.

And thanks for the flowers. Questions, in any case, are always welcome - and not only during election time. I think I've made a point of being available in chat (even from university), via PM or even voice-chat if anything is pressing. The only exception is girl time, because she'd strangle me.

1. Open servers: Can we make a trial change? Do you want to? Can you convince staunch hold outs to accept change?

Hey, those are three questions lumped in one! Anyway...

Yes, I certainly think we can do it. We've had HDMs volunteering their servers already, and I've already mulled the idea over with most of our current Admins - who seemed favourable, with some minor reservations here and there - but nothing that can't be overcome. I believe the chance to do a trial is very real.

The biggest challenge I personally see, and pertaining to the LA's portfolio, is how to generate sufficient interest to make it worthwhile - I'm just not convinced there are throngs of people at the gates just itching to get in, but I would want to see some boots on the ground for the trial, or else it will fail to achieve much.

2. As the owner of the longest alive PC in Alfa2, who is of a high level, but has not recieved the most DM time, how do you feel about your "world" being more populated with DMs and PCs?

I'm quite certain I'm not the only survivor from live day, Ven for instance rolled up then too. Though I guess he doesn't count since he didn't play continuously .

Anyway... I can't really complain about my DM time of late, as I've seen a DM every forthnight or so for an awesome session. I'm admittedly in a bad timezone, and can't game euro evenings, so I've always blamed that first before shouting "ALFA is dying!".

As for the prospect of more PCs and DMs, I don't think you'd even need to ask. I would just love it. I think ALFA only "works" with other people and with at least sporadic DM interaction, and it's why I'm quite sympathetic to the concerns of player / DM concentration in regards to building real estate for us. That, of course, is a tricky topic to discuss, with many solid arguments on both sides.

But in short, the more the merrier, if they are not just dead bodies.

3. What would be your focused plan for Alfa if you became the long term Lead Admin? Could you lay out some key points?

And the award for toughest question of this Q&A goes to... CD!

With a longer term, I would definitely try to focus on a more systematic and less personal approach. So far, I've been successful (I think ) by trusting my staff with broad leniency, and by my own relations and channels to our contributors. But, I think people in key positions and members overall will change with time. So, as an example, I would want retentions to work smoothly even if Rotku were to pick up a different hobby horse - therefore we should develop systems that can be easily continued.

One of these systems certainly is a "key goal": the development of an external PR concept, or at least process, on par with the solid system we have started building up internally.

Another thing I quite had on my mind when I started tracking stats is to combat the sometimes surfacing feeling of doom & gloom. This of course is impossible to define as an achievable "goal", but I am just not convinced that we are stagnant or in decline, but a quite vibrant community. I've roleplayed or chatted with a handful of players I never played with before in ALFA over the last few weeks, some old hares and some new members.
We admittedly do have several unique characteristics that just cannot be found elsewhere. Those may at times be inconvenient, but they can be strengths. Hopefully, a more positive outlook may lead to more people caring, and thus perhaps volunteering even more than their playtime.

I would also like to further tease out the potential of the somewhat dormant LA position. I have made some good experiences with simple proactive contacting of the people where they stand - securing among other things the PA's agreement to tracking "how did you hear about ALFA", getting PA and DMA to back my chief rule documenter in his work, got an affirmation of both MS and TSM HDMs to create a direct portal between them to help player concentration, managed to track down an elusive, over-worked and under-appreciated app reviewer, enthused Hialmar for statistics tracking with my staff and me, snatched myself a wild Rotku to head Retentions... I think I've certainly been leading from the front, and this has helped me gather experience about which areas don't work smoothly (dare I say charter votes ) and need improvement. Apart from my own first-hand experience, I will continue to do mood-gauges and other kinds of input-gathering to keep understanding the pressing issues and do my best to remedy them.
While continuing to smooth out our kinks and processes is not a "key goal", it's an ongoing process that I consider quite important; helping the other Admins to make the most use of their actually game-effecting portfolios is a rather worthwhile application of the in that respect handicapped LA office.



So much for the sustance, now the fluff... if I could dream big with one key vision, I would try to get us to consider ourselves as a key provider of quality hardcore roleplaying campaigns as a single brand experience, instead of clinging to the NWN 2 market alone as raison d'être. But that's a dream.



In any case, thanks for your interesting and challenging questions - if my verbosity of lack of command of english was off-putting here or there, do not hesitate to ask for clarifications!

Cheers and hope to catch you in game sometime again ,