Suggestion/Idea for clanned PC temporary storage

[Lizzie]

Situation:
Clans do have caps. I'm okay with that, it makes sense to me. However, if you're allowed 3 employees, and 2 of them have to take a temporary haitus, you are not allowed to hire anyone else in the interim, because those PCs virtually still exist and are taking up the 3 allowed slots.

My suggestion:
Allow for a "haitus" storage. If the player knows she'll be gone at least a month (like military duty, or moving, or suddenly inheriting a girl-scout troop and just no time until he can sort things out), her PC goes into "Hiatus" status and the clan leader can now hire a replacement. That replacement *cannot* be "lifesworn" until there are only 3 minions on the payroll including the guy on haitus.

Chances are, by the time PC 1 returns from haitus, PC 2 will be dead, and you'll be back down to the max cap of 3 anyway. And if not, clan leader now gets the added RP of having to decide which of the four leaves the house. If the new guy is any good, they can even let them go on good terms, send them off unofficially as a spy for some adversary, and when one of the other people in your clan dies, snatch that spy back into the fold.

So basically - allow for all clans with caps to have one "floater" whenever someone goes on haitus.

[Zenith]

I've found that if you discuss this sort of situation with your staff, that they are quite reasonable in helping you find work arounds that leave the clan moving forward while not screwing the infrequent or on-hiatus players.

[Lizzie]

I've found that if you discuss this sort of situation with your staff, that they are quite reasonable in helping you find work arounds that leave the clan moving forward while not screwing the infrequent or on-hiatus players.

I've seen this as well; I just wish it were more "official," like an actual policy. This way, the player who goes on haitus isn't put in the awkward position of not knowing whether he should just store, or not mention that he'll be away, or feel bad about taking a month or two off. The clan leader doesn't need any lengthy discussion with the staff, the staff doesn't need to make judgment calls about the situation. It'd be a click on the request tool: On haitus. And maybe a window of time - minimum 1 month, maximum 3 months, "until further notice," or whatever so everyone has some general idea.

Then the staff (or even the system) could generate a notice to the clan leader PC: the player of your Senior Aide Doofus is on haitus until further notice. You may replace Doofus on a temporary basis; when Doofus returns you may choose to make the replacement permanent, or retain Doofus and let the replacement go.

[seidhr]

We don't need a "system" for everything.  If you feel there is a problem with your clan's population, then send in a request to discuss it with your Storyteller and Admin.  Every situation is different.

[MeTekillot]

Isn't the request tool our system for everything?

[Armaddict]

Eh.

Anything that trims down request tool usage (whether through different means, or something that can be scripted -into- the request tool) is good.  That thing gets so loaded up, I can't imagine it being anything but a burnout.  Maybe that's just me though, and you guys still love the hell out of it, I just imagine it's like an endless tide of 'GIMME GIMME GIMME'.

I dunno if that's possible with this idea, making it like a scripted leave of absence that leaves a printed record to those it's important to...but if it is, I'm in favor.  Otherwise, yeah...request tool it is.

[Lizzie]

I don't know if my clan has this problem or not. I just know that it's been a problem in the past. The problem isn't that some people are gone for a long time. The problem is that some people are gone for a long time and don't tell anyone they're planning on going for a long time. So you don't know that you need a replacement til they've already been gone a month (or longer). THEN you can send a request, and wait until someone on staff is available to address it. And if the player never told THEM that they'd be gone for a long time, they might ask you to wait even longer. In the meantime, you REALLY want to hire this one guy who's awesome, but you can't - because you can't fire the guy who isn't logging in, and you don't know IF he's coming back, let alone WHEN he's coming back.

This happens often, I've experienced it in the past. My suggestion was to REDUCE the frequency of this, not eliminate it.

And yeah I'm fine with it being a request tool option. But at the moment, it isn't. There's no request tool>current character>temporary leave of absence option.

[Nergal]

Moved some off-topic posts to moderation. Stay on-topic. Thanks.

And yeah I'm fine with it being a request tool option. But at the moment, it isn't. There's no request tool>current character>temporary leave of absence option.

There's a lot of reasons for communicating that we don't have a specific request type for. This is by design, though. If we had a request type for every little thing it would make things pretty confusing for players. In situations like these it's best to check in with a quick report saying you're going to be gone, or a post on your clan forum's absence thread (we look at those). It's also pretty easy for us to tell who is inactive with a little bit of searching.

Ultimately, clan caps are soft and we don't count inactive players against a clan leader. We also don't count it against a clan leader if they hire people after someone goes inactive, and that inactive person comes back, taking the clan over the cap again. Generally speaking, as a clan leader, your clan's capacity isn't a problem unless a staff member tells you it is, so you'll know for sure when to stop hiring. (Note: we rarely tell people to stop hiring, so this problem is not nearly as bad as some make it out to be).

[Lizzie]

Awesome, thanks Nergal for piping in. I'm not currently experiencing any kind of fallout from clan caps but I had in the past. It was just something I'd been thinking about. Now I don't have to consider it a concern anymore!