* Kerol sighs and settles down to write a long post
First of: I haven't seen that thread since Karyuu poked me in the eye yesterday to read and post here.
I'm sorry to hear Proglin stopping the tournaments, but I think it's understandable. And that not only because of the lack of support by the GMs but also by many little disturbances accumulating. I think it's the best thing for Proglin to do. He also said that he won't stop playing, so nothing to worry
Everyone needs a pause from time to time, that's only natural. Especially after all the trouble he needed to go through, the huge efforts he put in organising the events, the RP.
Proglin, thank you. You have my respect.
Now to all the other stuff.
1. There was a seperated RM/GM team till the restructuring in january this year.
I was pretty new GM back then, but as far as I got it, the seperation sucked for multiple reasons.
It made organisation unnecessary complex. You often need GM commands when running an Event (to mute a spoiler for instance), but you don't need RP commands when GMing.
That means, RMs needed more powers than GMs, but yet they weren't involved in the regular GM stuff. Also, all the GMs who have the commands also can go on bughunting. The lack of communication between the teams was also a reason to abandon the idea.
Actually we still have the distinction, but not that obviously for outsiders anymore, yet less complex and more communication between the "teams".
The pure GMs have one level with all the necessary commands but without the RP stuff. The RP orientated GMs have the GM commands plus the RP commands.
In theory that would work perfectly well. But as my signature says.. no system can compensate the lack of personal opinion. And with lack of time, dedication or private problems you can screw every social system.
The GM team essentially needs more fresh blood, more regular meetings and a kiss by the fairy of inspiration and dedication. I'm happy to see Zorbels on the team now and I don't think it shouldn't take too much time now till most of the things get back to normal.
2. The problem with the "don't help player events" rule.
Everyone on the team had concerns about that rule set by Talad in the first place and still have. To understand that rule, you need to know that GM made events
should fit 100% into the settings. I think the hope was that we GMs become more familiar with the settings and can estimate ourselves what is ok and what is not, after having run a dozens of events.
He planned on abandonning this rule after seeing those events. However, there were too little events so far, thus no experience, thus no help for players.
This could change in no time.. if we showed that the official events fit perfectly into the settings.
3. /deputize.
The problem is that we still lack a clear guideline on how to use that command. Till then we try to avoid using it.
I, myself, find it very ok to deputize someone who showed that he/she is reliable and unlikely will abuse the powers given.
Although all GM commands are being logged, I find it necessary to report the usage of /deputize seperately.
If favouritism is a problem there, it isn't hidden, but can be seen by everyone and also being controlled by the other players.
Power abuse by a deputized player won't be a big problem this way, I think. The only problem that actually is one is that players (and thus deputized players) don't know the GM guideline.
4. GM rules
That leads to the problem of the non public GM rules and decisions.
Actually I regard all the decisions we take in the GM team regarding behaviour ingame as interpretations of public rules - the player guide.
We need to decide what is being regarded as bug abuse, what to do against disturbing behaviour, naming policy.. all that. We don't make new rules, we clearify existing ones.
If one read the players guide very carefully, one could logically deduce from that in 95% of all cases what is being regarded by the GMs as OK and what is not.
If a guideline that was decided by the GMs doesn't meet the general ruleset in the players guide, the guideline needs to be overworked, not the general rules.
It is a system that uses precedence cases and fundamental decisions, however it works out best. We can change the way how to judge and how to interprete the law, but we can't change the laws.
The main idea behind that system is that, as I said, players can deduce in 95% of all cases what is OK and what is not. The rest can be discussed in #planeshift-gmtalk for instance, not ingame. If players aren't sure about a rule and do wrong, we never punish them as first step if there is the slightest chance that a player may have misunderstood something and hasn't done, whatever he has done, intentionally. If people actually would listen (as it stands in the player guide) to GMs and trust that what a GM says is according to the rules, there would be no big problem.
But I think some players think that GMs just make up new rules out of the blue, giving the feeling of uncertainty.
I think it would make people more sure about what is being allowed and what not if they had the guidelines at hand we decided on. I also think it doesn't hurt to have the GM guide being published. Most of the rules and guidelines have proven themselves as reliable, and the main reason for not publishing ("we need to discuss and fix them") isn't valid anymore.
5. @ thomphoenix
Talad is project leader. Uyaem is GM leader. I am GM4, not leader.
Talad fixes the rules and laws and systems. Uyaem handles the personal concerns inside the GM team. I do my GM job.
[06 Aug 06 02:05] * Talad * ThomPhoenix is asking so many questions
[06 Aug 06 02:05] * Talad * questions on GM team
[06 Aug 06 02:05] * Talad * I redirected it to Uyaem or Ker_lap
It was about answering questions. He could have said any name, but he said Uyaem's and my name. Where's the problem with that?
Uyaem and I don't change the GM system, but we are able to discuss stuff with people, work out a proper request and ask Talad for approval. That's how it works.
6. While I see many valid reasons for complains and changes I recently also see a lot of complains that just look like people search for reasons to complain.
I don't think the summer slump has it's name for nothing..
And no, it has nothing to do with PS being "pre-alpha" or "just not finished yet". The community is not in "pre-alpha" state. We have problems that need to be fixed, I agree on that. But please be reminded to behave respectfully to EVERYONE while we discuss on how to fix them.. and not only then, hopefully. And that also counts for Karyuu, Raedin and everyone who thinks that bashing people with comments like "../stfunoob" and "I'm going to go and laugh now." are needed.
* Kerol offers everyone a chill-pill
7. As for the auto-yield, I'm all for that. The winner still could have the chance of "your opponent begs you for mercy, do you really want to kill him? - yes/no".
That could prevent abuse of the system and give duels the right twist in general. Oh, and by the way, please set AUTO-ACCEPT OFF by default! It just sucks getting killed as newbie by somebody who thinks you're a spammer and challenge you right after you only said "hey! yo!".
Ending note:
You guys really need to move the arguement.
It were problems like those that created the situation and caused him to start the thread. If he doesn't post anymore, it doesn't mean that the discussion should stop. It won't work like "please dear Proglin, come back!; we need to change the situation. I'm sure he will come back when he notices that things have changed. Maybe he even will come back to move them by himself. The problems are here. If the solutions are in IRC, it doesn't help.
