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| Democracy; Attention! | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 18 2011, 12:00 PM (2,281 Views) | |
| Leraq | Jul 18 2011, 04:28 PM Post #21 |
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@Fen, The point is; I am going to, and that is what I'm doing here! The democratic election process was something I wanted to push for and this is what I'm doing! I do recruit, but I have other region and RL commitments to see to so numbers are limited. I would spend more time doing it, but I know that I could do the same elsewhere and they might actually say thanks! Alterra never has even recognised the level of work I put in here. In case you hadn't noticed I am 3rd most active here. The one time I got a promotion was to cmte chair, and that was off my hard work and canvassing and all I get is grief about it from people like you. As for the other steps, I will do as much as I can, but in the end our chief has the ultimate power needed to sort it out. |
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| Fenwick | Jul 18 2011, 04:45 PM Post #22 |
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People like me who see you placing your nation in the top tier and not releasing the grading scale to the public (like the point buy system the war committee uses) as god moding? I'd call that being a watchdog. I hope you're not basing activity on post count. If you are then I'm just gonna go do a bunch of +1 post count posts rather than only opening my mouth when I feel the need to contribute or actually have the urge to attempt to put out a decent story in the RP section. Fine, casting aside my opinion that you started this out of a grab for power (you know, since Caesar refused the crown three times), I'll commend your drive to push for a change. I completely disagree with you on its possible effectiveness, but at least you suggested something. As far as recognizing the recruiting, I don't know of any "recruited by" option on account creation, so all a regular member like me can see is that we have a new member unless they say "Hey, Nation X invited me. Nice to meet you all.". Thank you for bringing in any of the active RPers or people who are at least being social. |
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| Leraq | Jul 18 2011, 04:51 PM Post #23 |
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I would be more than happy to explain to you privately via PM the tier system, its just we didn't want new unranked nations to find out; as this would kind of undermine the system. I know what you mean about post-whoring but I would hope you view me better than that! Indeed you see my point, I am an incredibly active member of our community whatever measure you use... |
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| Demoness | Jul 18 2011, 05:45 PM Post #24 |
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Amoratae Dea Augusta
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I don't have a lot of time to address this now as I'm on lunch, but I will address the finer points when I get home. From what I've noticed while skimming: First, Skye has been gone for less than a month. I am not going to assume she's never coming back and immediately start a coup. That's why I was waiting for at least a month to pass before making any drastic changes. She entrusted us to run the region. Second, Leraq, you PMed me two days ago asking to become a mod so you'd recruit. After I said I'd consider it, I find this thread. I find it highly suspect, particularly when you are pointing fingers without looking at what part you may or may not have contributed. Third, regional government is a no. I, like many people, chose to come to this region to ROLE PLAY, not have bullshit OOC politics. If that's what you really want, find another region. I spent a year and a half trying to find a roleplay region. I'm not going to turn it into a carbon copy of every other NS region out there. Fourth, moderators moderate. It's not a popularity contest. Skye appointed the first few and then when she decided she needed more, we discussed them. Orchyre has been replaced, but ELE won't. Why? Because as far as numbers go, it appears we have 2 admin, 4 mods, and a population of 20, including the aforementioned staff. Do you really need that many people? No, and the choice will remain the same. It's chosen based on who we think can handle the responsibility maturely and asking for it is definitely not a way to get it. As for activity, yes, it has been declining and I've been worried about it. You know I've been worried because we've discussed it in the RP committee and I've discussed it with various people around here. Part of it is summer, but part of it, as Yasutomi suggested, an issue with retention. For a RP region, we do relatively little RP. The first decline was around the time the war system was first proposed. The second was around the rest of the committees and the third was I9/I18. These are all OOC committees and politics and really don't do much for the region. I agree with resolving them, especially since most often it's only the chair doing work. The committees were "incentive" and looked what happened. Instead, we have segregation and, again as Yasutomi said, we have a focus on OOC shite instead of RP. There's a plethora of history per plot that isn't written down anywhere except vague areas and there was a huge backlash when the cartography committee starting doing geography. Last, I have again and again said no to OOC incentivizing. Why? Because it's a RP region! It makes no sense for me to reward you for something OOC with something IC. What about the IC roleplayers who do a good job and actually roleplay? It's not fair to them and alienates the RP community further. |
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| Florinthus | Jul 18 2011, 05:54 PM Post #25 |
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Resident Comic Relief
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^=sums it up |
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| DeLux | Jul 18 2011, 06:13 PM Post #26 |
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The Dominion of Lux de Bestias
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*sigh* "Democracy" as you call it would only shift the focus away from what we are really here to do. And having played many forum based RP games I know that the system you propose could have a very negative effect on the boards. Staff positions should be based on merit but recruiting isn't a viable standard to judge by. One could go out and recruit a bunch of new players but that says nothing about retention. And just because someone is good a recruiting does not mean they are mod material. The two skill sets don't automatically go hand in hand. Also, what keeps it from being a popularity contest? Nothing. My position actually is closer to Yasutomi's. We need to focus on RP. Committees are needed but they should perhaps be streamlined in some manner and maybe even not have a special color so it decreases the number of people joining to be red. And yes, our mods need to be a bit more active. I think there might be less finger pointing if mods (other than Dee and DeSchaine) stepped in more often than they do now. A clear standard of realism that the region should adhere to should be set and then left to the moderators to enforce. Any players having issue would then report to the mods rather than creating threads for finger pointing. If someone wants to be staff then they need to lead by example, nothing more nothing less. RP is the reason I joined this region. I joined NS on a whim and didn't actually expect to last long until I discovered Alterra and its possibilities, yet I've seen less and less that I like since I joined. I want to be able to engage with other players without constantly being told I can't do something because so and so is more powerful. In fact, if more RP's were developed, more players could reasonably consider being the "weaker" nations so many seem to want new players to be. There would be more opportunity for them to get involved and create an actual culture and way of life for their nation rather than spending ages on their army and weapons. Honestly, what Alterra needs is for its players to be willing to invest the time and take a step back from OOC politics. This board has more OOC commentary than I am used to and I have to admit even I have gone off track from my usual standards. So I am going to make an effort to get back to what I came here to do, and I suggest everyone else do the same and leave the politics to IC interaction. |
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| Amarek | Jul 18 2011, 07:54 PM Post #27 |
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So this is where everyone is today. I was wondering if something like this would ever get proposed. Leraq, I don't need to tell you that your proposal has pretty effectively been shot down here. Quite frankly, you're probably the only person who enjoys the debates that you take part in. Fen mentioned something about a power grab, but I would hope that you're above that. (btw, @Fen, Raz and I were the ones who suggested we keep criteria for the tiers private, to keep people from shooting to be a certain tier instead of just going out and RPing their nation as they like. The fact that Leraq pushed for himself to be tier 1 is a separate fact in its own right.) I have to agree with a good majority of the other posters here. Our problem (if we have one, because this is the time of year when all of NS sees a slump in activity) is not OOC, but rather IC. This is, has been and always will be an RP region, and that is what lured most of the dedicated people here. To turn the focus away from RP and toward OOC politics would only turn away those who were already here and make Alterra a cookie cutout region just like all of the others. Also, even if this were something acceptable, as a rule you never remove an admin unless they don't do their job right. Shifting the position over and over again will only ensure that people do as much as they can while on the position, for better or worse. Quite frankly, allowing this "democracy" just brings power-hungry people to the region, and then it gets out of control and loses focus. So to keep from making another thread of change, let's discuss solutions for the real problem: a lack of IC activity. Granted, my contributions have been very minor in the IC section, but I do have a reason. I still don't feel like a fully-fledged member, and so for me to just jump right in to an RP based in another nation almost feels like trespassing. So here's my solution: A true Alterra-wide RP, with no only the mods deciding what is right and wrong. It's not something that would be mandatory, naturally, as you can't force someone to RP, but it's a good way for new members of the region to meet experienced veterans in a neutral setting. As an example, Leraq suggested something about an economic recession, something that hits all of Alterra. It's short-term, but it's a start. And I'm sure we can brainstorm plenty of other ideas. |
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| High Forty | Jul 18 2011, 07:55 PM Post #28 |
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Well, I'm going to go ahead and say something. I'm not the most active here because of other commitments and RL, but back in the day (a decade ago or so), when NS was a lot newer, a lot of the fun came from just making crap up as you went while basing it on realism. we threw together a basic world with basic resource information and started RPing. I thought when I got here that this would be a lot like that and found everyone was really focused on specifying exactly what was where and how much was there. The map is great, but I still have no idea what resources I am allowed and to what extent. OOC debates, of any type, usually drag the game down and more focus on IC RPing is needed. The only OOC committees needed should be small and quick. In my humble opinion, more OOC politics would drag us down. Less detail is a lot of times better when it comes to RP. There is a huge focus here on the back-story and I see a lot of, "I want to be a part of this, and I would like to do this" followed by, "your nation wouldn't do that because of this!" Players who don't know their nation because so much back-story has already been created makes them want to say screw it and go somewhere else. That's why I picked where I picked for my nation, little to no back-story exists and I get to do what I want! It would be more fun to throw together a basic world with basic info and let the players go at it. A small Mod team to make sure there is no God-modding and your done. My thoughts, that's it. HF |
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| Fenwick | Jul 18 2011, 08:58 PM Post #29 |
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What sort of thing did you have in mind for the "all in" rp, Rahu? I'm always hesitant to join big rps because I am notoriously bad about my posting schedule. >.> @Leraq: no, not accusing you of post whoring. Lol I know your posts are more often than not more than one liners. Just saying post count can't be a basis for activity. Look at Lux... I don't think she ever sleeps. Lol I am very interested in knowing the guidelines and I promise that if my concerns are unwarranted that I'll defend it as vehemently as I went after it. Will PM you after I get home from work. As far as the activity goes, there are a lot of you that I'm very interested in interacting with. However, I'm really bad about not posting for DAYS even though I may be on the forum. Dee threatens to murder me regularly over our Rps. I don't want to put anyone else through that. Lol |
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| Yasutomi | Jul 18 2011, 09:52 PM Post #30 |
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I like your idea of an Alterra-wide RP, but if you will allow me to be completely and utterly selfish for a moment, I think I would really struggle with a world-wide economic recession for two reasons: 1. I'm not particularly interested in economic RP, so whilst the idea has a lot of mileage, it doesn't appeal to me. 2. An above average economy is the only thing keeping my nation relevant. As a result of the problems I've been having with my spot, I'm currently trying to make a nation out of a pair of dot colonies: because its population is tiny and its natural resources are negligible, W&M relies on being a tax haven and centre for offshore banking to remain viable. If the world-economy completely crashes, realistically it would find it hard to do anything other than hang on for survival...and that wouldn't be much fun for me as a player! But as I said, this is me being selfish... ![]()
I have to say I agree with HF. Why did I choose to start from scratch in Alterra,when I could be RPing in NSEurope, a much larger and more established RP community? Well the main reason is that I thought a young community like Alterra would be more flexible than one that has been going for many, many years. But if anything, I have found Alterra to be less flexible than other regions I have RPed in over the years. Yes, the geographic map looks amazing, but every time I see my spot, I look at the terrain and I look at my borders and I think to myself 'these just don't fit together'. Let me rephrase that: I DON'T THINK THE SPOT IS REALISTIC. I've tried to raise this issue twice in the Geographic Committee open thread, each time carefully explaining the problem as I see it...and I've been ignored twice. Now what the hell is the point of having a committee if it won't even respond to a player who thinks they've spotted a problem?! The real problem with Alterra is that a group of people have designed a world by committee, and now are looking for people to play in it. I got fed up with trying to play Transxokyyria because it dawned on me that it wasn't really my country at all. Its borders, its terrain, its climate, its history, its resources and its economy...all these things were being decided by someone other than the person whose nation it was supposed to be! If we want to attract (and keep) motivated, high-quality people, then WE NEED TO ALLOW GREATER FLEXIBILITY. Edited by Yasutomi, Jul 18 2011, 09:55 PM.
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