OOC: Staff-Alliance Announcement
This will be an OOC meeting for staff to discuss a future incoming change regarding Guilds and Alliances. This will be logged/posted to announcements when completed so that those not in the matching time-zone will be able to see the details of upcoming changes.
The main topics will be:
- Changes to Guild/Alliance structure.
- Clarification on Representatives (OOC/IC Expectations)
Please note: This will be a relatively short meeting focusing on these two topics. In the future, we will be scheduling specific OOC Alliance meetings/touch-bases regularly to better help the Alliances meet their IC and OOC goals.
Reminisce
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Welcome everyone.
A few housekeeping items:
- Join the scene if you have questions and ask them via say/@emit please, so that all questions and answers are logged. Questions must be 10 words or more. Because scenesys is silly like that.
- Questions/Answers will be logged/posted so that people who could not atend will be able to see everything discussed.
- Keep non-question commentary to OOC.
We appreciate you coming out tonight.
A few housekeeping items:
- Join the scene if you have questions and ask them via say/@emit please, so that all questions and answers are logged. Questions must be 10 words or more. Because scenesys is silly like that.
- Questions/Answers will be logged/posted so that people who could not atend will be able to see everything discussed.
- Keep non-question commentary to OOC.
We appreciate you coming out tonight.
Reminisce
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To make this as simple and clear as possible, we have created a document with all the details of the upcoming change. Please take a moment and navigate to the document, read it, and then we will open the floor to questions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZeY3TUvcuGSdWZughHnCHv7JKUJJWtKTOamyUyA4pfQ/edit?usp=sharing
Shiruba
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Shiruba hms. "I'm asking mostly for clarity because I didn't see it on the document - Is each Player limited to only having one Character being an Alliance Representative?"
Reminisce
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Answer: I believe it says on the Alliance Representative page, that yes. Only one alt per applicant may be an Alliance Representative.
Baroness Wake
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Wake asks, "How do we establish leaders if a bunch of people want to be a representative in an alliance?"
Reminisce
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Answer: Staff will consider all interested parties who volunteer to take on a representative role. We generally want to see an even spread of representation so that no one Alliance gets all of them. Even if you rae not chosen as a representative, that does not mean you cannot act as a 'leader' within your Alliance. Nothing restricts people from being proactive.
Yuuki
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Yuuki asks, "For the IC resources being rolled up to Alliance ownership, is this going to be a retroactive change or are all the guilds in an alliance going to one day ICly say 'Okay now X resources are being donated to the alliance.'"
Reminisce
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Answer: This is not really an IC change. It's basically just that we aren't tracking 'ownership' at a Guild level anymore. It will be tracked at the Alliance Level.
Setsuna
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Question: With the guilds removed from the groups, are the alliances fairly balanced in terms of population ?
Reminisce
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Answer: As of my last count, New World was at 28, Olympus and Scale were around 21-23. So they are not currently equal. Staff will be evaluating and updating our 'characters wanted' to reflect this. That is why the object was taken down recently from the OOC application area, so we can revamp it.
Fukaziroh
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Fukaziroh raises hand. "Is it possible to join a guild that's 'from another alliance'? Like, for example, joining Sleeping Knights as NWA?"
Reminisce
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To add on to that answer: Prominent guilds such as the ones that previously were in +group, will be listed under the Alliance theme pages, so people know what major guilds are part of what Alliances from an IC perspective.
Yuuki
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Yuuki wonders, "So presumably a character could be in a guild on their own? I assume that's going to be discouraged?"
Baroness Wake
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Wake asks, "For those who do not want to continue as guild reps (or cannot maintain activity).. what should they do?"
Reminisce
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Answer: Our intention is to allow people more freedom in that regard. So yes, if they wanted to be in a guild on their own, they could very well do so. People could also form their own guilds ICly as well. Staff just doesn't intend to track these or make use of +groups with them. The main thing to consider from an IC perspective, is a guild leader of a guild of one, likely won't have the influence/resources of one of the major guilds.
Reminisce
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Answer: If a person no longer wishes to be a representative, they can submit a request to 'character' to decline the role going forward.
Schneider
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Schneider Question: if NWA is overpopulated, is it possible to change alliances out of NWA to Olympus or Scale?
Reminisce
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Answer: It has always been possible to change Alliances if that fits the character to do so. We do not intend to move characters just to maintain balance. People should play into the Alliance that best suits the characters they have.
Reminisce
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To add on to that, and a previous question: We aren't going to force a balance between Alliances. There really has never been a perfect balance of players in the Alliances, and we don't want to artificially try to enforce/force there to be. However, we will put 'characters wanted' notices for those Alliances which need more members into the OOC area so new players know which places need more attention.
Soujiro Seta
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Soujiro Seta asks, "When does this change go into effect?" -adding more words so this gets logged properly-
Reminisce
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Answer: It will take a little bit to do the code/wiki updates to reflect this change. So I do not have an exact time as that depends on Liminality's availability to modify code. Within the week, I imagine, things will be completed.
Gwen
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I do have a question I think should be asked re reps. Some mushes I have been on in the past barred staff from holding that role to prevent burnout. What will the policy here be?
Baroness Wake
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Wake says, "With that in mind, can we RP as if this has occurred? I.e., we can be whatever guild we want, etc?"
Reminisce
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Answer @ Gwen: Currently there is no rule against a staff-bit having an Alliance Representative. That is not to say it always will be that way, but that is the current function and we do not currently have plans to change that at the moment.
Reminisce
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Answer @ Wake: Yes. We hope this allows people more freedom of choice with their characters.
Reminisce
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To follow up on that: Your +finger and +group will obviously still display current guild selections until code changes are rolled out.