Dev Journal / Fireside Chats with Coty & Archin: Vol. II

Announcements, updates and news concerning the Requiem project.
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Sic
Aeolian Staff
Posts: 368
Character: Isidor Abendroth

Dev Journal / Fireside Chats with Coty & Archin: Vol. II

Post by Sic » January 29th, 2021, 8:44 pm

Community Management

...Brought to you by Coty and Archin!

Hello friends! Tonight’s Fireside Chat will be addressing a tough cookie, Community and Community Management. Anyone who’s played UO RP, or any RP, long enough knows that community is the most important aspect of any Roleplay server. Whether it be Rust RP, GTA or our poison of choice Ultima Online, it’s the community that makes the experience memorable and fun! And oftentimes not fun. It’s been a problem across multiple shards (Requiem included) as far back as any of us on staff can remember and it’s something that’s extremely difficult to take on and mediate. Because of how important this aspect is to the server’s health and community’s well being we’ve taken it very seriously and made it a priority going into this act.

We want to give the players a place where they can feel welcome regardless of experience or history with past servers. We’ve had lengthy discussions on how we might make this act different and how we can both prevent these problems and deal with them as they arise. We are also aware this is not an issue that lies solely with players. Staff has partaken in and fueled community issues and ‘drama’ in the past. Whether it be intentionally through favoritism or unintentionally through negligence the results are the same. An unfun, toxic environment where players feel they aren’t listened to or treated unfairly.

After many lengthy discussions on how to best address this issue we’ve come up with a whole new community model and policy we will be implementing with the launch of Act VI. With a focus on clear and transparent staffing, provocative mediation and productive communication between players and staff.

Let’s start with how we as staff are changing our behavior and internal protocols.

New Staff Mindset for Act VI

The biggest change that can not be understated is the change of mindset by all of the Staff going into this act. In previous acts, Community Management was more of a byproduct of running a server than a thing proactively sought out and engaged in. I think everyone on Staff believes this act is going to be something special and we’re all committed to see it being a fun experience for everyone. We’ve all talked at length about how we can do better as mediators and feel it’s our responsibility to create a fun and friendly atmosphere for everyone.

We’re not without faults of our own and are far from perfect which is why we’ve implemented internal policies going forward to prevent bias mediation, favoritism and miscommunication between opinions of Staff as a whole and the opinions of a single Staff member.

All staff members will have Discord PMs set to friends only. Problems should be reported through official channels where they might be better reviewed by the whole of staff and acted on quickly. This is mainly an internal policing policy to keep everyone on our end unbiased and prevent miscommunication between staff and players.

Furthermore, staff PMs are considered personal PMs and are subject to community guidelines as any other. They reflect that Staff’s personal views and not the view of Staff Team as a whole unless otherwise explicitly stated.

So what does a player do if they’ve a problem and need staff assistance? Currently we’ve seven tools players can use to find the assistance they need. In game pages, ask the staff bot, #player_help, forums, Petition the Songmaker, OOC Tickets and Staff Liaisons!

In Game Pages

The simplest way to contact staff is to Page IG. Paging alerts us immediately of your request and we’ll come to help as soon as possible. Generally this is used for mechanical bugs or simple issues that can be addressed quickly. With the launch of Act IV we’ll be introducing a new type of page as well, Story Teller ping.

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Ping a Story Teller


While IG pages for mechanical issues will remain the same we’re introducing the ability for players to ping a Story Teller to their location. Pinging a Story Teller will alert our Story Tellers and provide them with your location. Please use this tool sparingly and only when you think it is truly needed. Trying to get through a gate with explosives? Found an ancient magical cave and want to mess with the clearly dangerous arcane runes? Having a Faction Meeting that you might want staff eyes on? This is when you may want to Ping a Story Teller.

Pinging a Story Teller in no way means you will get a response or a certain role-play outcome; it simply alerts us to your request and location as a "heads up" to the staff that something cool might be happening. We may look at the situation and see it doesn’t actually need our attention, or we may be preoccupied, or the role-play you are doing may not have any effect on the situation where a Story Teller would step in or it could be unclear to that Story Teller where the RP should go and it needs to be discussed with Staff before progressing the story-line. This is just a tool to help us be more involved in the day-to-day role-play and player stories, and in the situations that it can be used, to help breathe life into the server in a clear-cut way that is available to all players, at all times; not just the people that would reach out to us in DMs on Discord! We also know that not everyone is on Discord, or in a the main server 24/7 like our staff members, thus this new method of handling things helps to create a field of equality for all of our players.

#ask_the_staff Bot


For non-urgent questions you can use ea!apply ask to submit a question for the next round of #ask_the_staff Q&A. Submitting this way keeps your questions anonymous and allows us to answer it publicly so any players with the same question can find the answer as well.

As always, the Ask the Staff Bot should be kept to topics such as:

𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. 𝐈𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧-𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. 𝐇𝐲𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭-𝐈𝐟?” 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 – 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞-𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞-𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 (“𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐭?” 𝐚𝐧𝐝 “𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐏𝐃 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐟 𝐑𝐏𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?”) 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐩. 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐢𝐧-𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞.

We will continue to keep the Ask the Staff bot operational into post-launch production status so long as it remains used and relevant.

#player_help Channel


For general questions that don’t necessarily need staff to answer there will be a #player_help channel open to all community members. Feel free to post any questions you have there so a member of the community might address them for you and feel free to provide answers of your own! Staff will be keeping an eye on the channel as well and will no doubt provide answers when able, but keep in mind this isn’t an official way to contact staff for immediate issues or assistance.

Petition the Song-Maker


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With the introduction of Factions and Staff Liaisons we don’t want solo characters to feel neglected or ignored. After all, Requiem was founded upon the core principles of providing the individual player as much control over personal character development as mechanically possible within the confines of our game engine.

Where players involved in Factions can get often times get support for their role-play via working with their Player Leader, we are aware that a solo player does not have this line of support. This is where Petition the Song-Maker comes in. Players will be able to submit a Petition via the forums for help with events or help progressing their personal story-line once they’ve reached the limits of what they can achieve on their own.

Petitions do not guarantee Staff will assist you in your event/story-line. What it does guarantee is that it is brought to our attention and we will take the time to review it. Players should put in legwork and have done the extent of what they are able to before Petitioning the Song-Maker. The more groundwork role-play done the more likely you will be to have staff assistance in progressing your story-line.

Upon a Petition approval, the staff may utilize the Verse quest system to help a player achieve their own personal goals through a customized quest. Furthermore, while Factions will have dedicated liaisons to be able to bounce ideas off of, Faction Leaders will further be instructed to utilize this new feature on behalf of their Faction as to keep all official requests of staff attention/intervention transparent and documented to all team members.

A Beta version of this program can be found here:

app.php/applicationform


Forums


The Forums have and will always remain a staple of our community. For any non-urgent bugs you find we ask that you use the forums to report them. The bug forum can be found here:

viewforum.php?f=5

Any game-breaking bugs that require urgent attention or are prone to player exploitation if posted publicly can be submitted via a Help Ticket using our OOC Ticket system, explained below.

OCC Tickets


The absolute best and most efficient way to contact staff for any complex issue, be it issues with a fellow player, urgent mechanical issues or critical role-play related concerns is via using the brand new Ticket system. The Ticket system is a real-time system that allows direct, confidential communication with the staff in a means that remains transparent to all staff members. To utilize this new system, simply go to the #ask_the_staff channel in Discord and click on the envelope reaction.

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Utilizing the Ticket system will automatically open a chat with you and every staff member so we might discuss any problems you have. Please ensure you’ve already compiled some initial information for your ticket, such as what your issue is, and simply post it into the newly created room once the ticket is opened. It may sometimes take a while before you get a reply as we could need to discuss the issue amongst staff at large before we are able to address it appropriately with you. So, with that said, please be patient and know that every Ticket immediately notifies all of the staff and it is at the top of our chats. If you’ve submitted a Ticket be assured it has been seen and is being worked on but the resolution may take some time.

There are two types of tickets. Roleplay Tickets and Help Tickets.

Roleplay Tickets

A Roleplay Ticket can only be submitted once a player has Petitioned the Songmaker via the forums, or has been directed by a staff member personally to open one. After your Petition has been reviewed a staff member may reach out to you via the forums to submit this type of ticket in order to help you in real time in whatever you might need. Alternatively, a request page in-game may turn into a larger situation in which we may want to speak with you in more detail.

Please keep in mind that Roleplay Tickets are not meant to be submitted unsolicited. Please Petition the submit a Roleplay Ticket if you are instructed to do so by a staff member. In order to best serve this community with the type of staff interaction we are attempting to accomplish, it is important that we use our time and resources efficiently and appropriately.

Help Tickets

Help Tickets are for any complex issue you might have that needs staff attention. Be it an in-game technical issue that can’t be addressed efficiently with pages, a critical question that can’t be addressed with #ask_the_staff bot, a player complaint concerning meta-gaming or harassment, or simply reporting cheating or anything that you feel needs immediate staff attention. Help Tickets are a last line of resort and we consider them to be time-sensitive and serious. Therefore, please do your best to address issues utilizing our less-severe methods of assistance whenever possible. Ask fellow players for help, talk to players you have issues with to see if it may be worked out and contact your Player Leader. Also please ensure it is something that warrants a Help Ticket and would not be better handled through one of the other tools we have in place.

With this direct link to all of Staff we’re hoping to eliminate miscommunication between the Staff Team and the community, make sure each player can quickly get the help they need and issues may be resolved promptly. Furthermore it will ensure all of Staff remains unbiased in their decisions and are equally held accountable.

Staff Liaisons


A Staff Liaison is a GM assigned to a player faction to help oversee and manage the well being of that faction. Their main intention is to help support the faction’s RP, quest progression and be a direct link to staff. If, however, issues occur amongst players, OOC or IG, Player Leaders may contact them directly to get immediate clarification. Ideally, if you are part of a faction and have issues IG or issue regarding your faction you would go to your Player Leader who would then message the faction’s Staff Liaison to handle the issue.

We recommend if your faction decides to have it’s own Discord to add your Staff Liaison so they can be present for faction discussions and help assist you the best they can. Once again, their main purpose is not to police players but to assist in faction role-play and make sure a faction has all the tools it needs to succeed. That being said, Player Leaders can contact their Staff Liaison to help address community issues they, their players or their faction is experiencing.

Please note, we lean heavily on our Player Leaders to help police and shepherd their players. By helping the staff out by taking on such a responsibility, Player Leaders in turn free up the staff to be able to run events, develop new shard content, and make the community a better place.

Fireside Chats: This time with Voice!


Another feature we’re considering implementing in the interest of building community involvement is voice meetings where players may listen in as we meet and discuss different ideas for new features and changes coming to the server. Come, have a drink, listen to us geek out about features for the server and ideas for it going forward. The topics of these will vary depending on what needs to be addressed and will range from casual chatting to more serious dev talk. Players are welcome to chat via text in the discord and give comments which may or may not be read and afterwards participate in a live Q/A where you can ask questions. Most staff meetings will still be private as many contain sensitive information or non-public topics but we will try to do one each month!

What Players Can Do


So how can you as a player assist in maintaining a healthy and fun community, you ask? (Or I hope you do, at least.) Good question!

Read and abide by the community guidelines and treat players as fellow humans rather than names on a screen.

Try to address any problems you can yourself. Whether it be role-play or OOC issues. Our goal as Staff is to support player agency and help keep things running smoothly so that everyone can have a fun time. If, however, you feel you’ve already done everything you can to resolve an issue do not hesitate to reach out using the appropriate means. WE WANT TO HELP! We want to know what problems there are that need fixing. So please don't hesitate when contacting Staff but do ensure it’s appropriate when you do so.

Make sure players you may be in conflict with in game know that that conflict does not extend outside of the game. Reaching out to them to make sure there are no hard feelings is a great way to ensure things don’t spill over into OOC. Many issues can be resolved without any staff involvement if the offending party can quickly clarify their intentions with the offended. If it’s clear that their intentions are to bully you, or harass you, and repeated attempts to sort it out between adults isn’t working, take some screenshots and send it our way via the ticket system.

Be patient when waiting for a resolution and respect staff decisions once they are made. It is possible an issue may be resolved in a way that certain players are unhappy with. Know that we have a lot more resources and information available to us than the players. Everything said or done in game is logged for us to view and we will be reviewing all information and evidence over the period of the ticket. Know when we make a decision we are doing it in the best interest of the server and what we think is fair considering the information we are given. During the review process and after the issue has been resolved we ask you do your best to not spread the issue to outside parties who may not be involved. This can exacerbate the issue further and cause a simple misunderstanding with a simple resolution to quickly turn toxic.

Failure to respect staff decisions, and continuing to perpetuate narratives surrounding settled disputes amongst the community can be considered a violation of community rules. Be respectful to your fellow player and Staff members.

Please encourage anyone with an irreconcilable issue or evidence of rule breaking to come directly to staff using the appropriate channels outlined above rather than coming to you the player. (With the occasional exception of Player Leaders.) Handling player issues can be taxing, we as staff have the resources to ensure any issues are handled fairly and objectively. To put it bluntly - let us deal with it, so you can continue to play the game and focus on progressing your character’s story!

In the coming weeks we’ll also be unveiling new mechanics to help keep agency over your story and mitigate any actions by other players that could be interpreted as “griefing”.

Closing Sentiment


In the end we’re all just people who are trying to have some fun and create interesting roleplay. It’s important to keep perspective and all do our best, Staff not excluded, to try and empathize and understand the dynamic community we’re all building. We on Staff have spent a lot of time discussing and working on these tools for you so that we can help maintain a healthy community for everyone. Even still we know things will not be completely smooth. There will be hiccups, we will be learning and adapting as we go. We ask for your patience and understanding as we work through problems as they arise and maturity when dealing with your fellow players.

We appreciate you taking the time to read through all the Community changes coming with Act VI. We on Staff have poured countless hours into this act and to ensure it’s something special for everyone. We’re excited to show you what else is in store over the coming weeks and even more excited to see you all again in the world of Requiem!


...Sincerely, Coty and Archin, newest 13 Thrones Staff Members and Community Managers

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