Game Moderation Survey

[LigH]

Yes, I did...

[screwballl]

After multiple attempts to contact a GM ingame last night for an hour because I was stuck in the dungeon IN a rock... I got the "all GMs are busy" message over and over until it went to "please try again later"... I would try again... my only recourse was to kill myself after an hour of trying to get a GM.. and lost a few items I would have liked to have kept due to being over weight... After reading these forums, I learned to use specific terminology "Please help I am stuck inside a rock in the dungeon and unstick does not work"
Granted, they are mostly volunteers but the availability of GMs (and lack of actual help/response) is pretty poor. It should take 30 seconds to unstick someone from the GM perspective, and even with hundreds of people online, there should not be more than a 10 minute wait for a GM to at least respond to say "give me your coordinates and I will be there shortly".
Lately I have tried during the daytime (around noon, -6GMT) and there are never any GM on at this time of day...

Hopefully this will help the team see where there are some weak points that need improving.

[Lanarel]

The weak points may be in explaining to players how to contact GMs, and in educating them in the amount of work the few GMs are doing besides unsticking players.
From your 'all ... are busy' and 'please try again later' messages I get the feeling that you were not contacting GMs at all, but asking for help in the help channel. This channel is occupied by normal players who spend some time helping others. If 1% of all players does this, there will be one player in this channel when there are a hundred on line. It is not surprising that sometimes there are none. And if there are, they are normal players, so they cannot unstick you anyway.
Did you try '/who game' to find if there are gms online (again, not 10% of players are gms) to send them a /tell?
Did you use the /petition function to ask for GM help
DId you try on IRC if there really are no GMs online?

Hopefully this will help you see that a lot is done to make this game fun for all, that many weak points are known and do not need pointing out, and that demanding a 30 second response time makes all of us laugh

[screwballl]

No demands... but there needs to be a better clarification of the difference between "help" and "GM"... this is the first time I have heard that Help does not go to GMs and I have been playing for a few weeks now (had recent issues with a reinstallaion which was when I joined these forums)...

[Aiwendil]

Aiwendil giggles. "Oh, it's stated in the in-game help somehow. Have a look at user commands -> /advisormode. Without that command I guess nobody would allow me to advice other players" 

[screwballl]

This is part of the point I try to make elsewhere, that the lack of clarification 1) does not tell people HOW to ask for help properly and 2) is buried under 10 different clicks just to find one command...

[Pizik]

Hi, sorry for this delayed response (but hey, I am a GM ;op).

Sometimes we have coverage issues, your example of 12:00 -6 GMT would be rather bad on a weekday, US GMs are probably at work/college, and it is 6~am for European GMs. We do our best to present the best coverage we can with our limited numbers and the timezone differences but sometimes we are not around when someone particularly needs help. The best ways to contact us are exactly as Lanarel suggested, especially IRC as we may well be around, but doing something that makes idleing in PS difficult.

A MOTD saying that the help channel is staffed by players (and GMs when they are online, who will respond in /tell to you if they had seen your message) may be a good idea.

I offer appologies on behalf of the GM Team that we were not around to assist you when you needed us.

[Garris Shrike]

Get some more U.S. GMs to cover the time zones not already had.

I think they are doing a great job though for the number.

[Edig]

I offer appologies on behalf of the GM Team that we were not around to assist you when you needed us.

Pizik,

There is no need to apologize.  The last time I checked you all were doing an awesome job with the debugging, testing, writing, drawing, rule enforcing, and everything else you all do.  I think most people forget that 90% of the time (or more in some cases) you all don't even get to play the game due to the overwhelming need by some player somewhere.

I have always found someone somewhere able to help at a moments notice.  It is we who should be apologizing to you all for overloading you all.

* Edig bows deeply and with great respect to the GM team! (too bad he doesn't see the sword aimed at his neck.)

[verden]

I have asked for help 3 times in the last month, and recieved prompt and courteous help within a short time. The GMs are overloaded, but I like the attitude of the GMs I have spoken with recently. Thought it was worth mentioning, there have been changes for the better there.