The Allanak Problem

[Spiderman]

I understand and agree with Friday, Spiderman, and staff here as this wasn't the point I was making. Separate point, but yes, I agree, some roles have playtime requirements.

But a lot of us simply do not have the minimum 10 hours a week needed for leadership roles. Other players mentioned that we should have more roles that can accept less than 10 hours a week and still be meaningful and they are completely right as well.

I think what you're looking for is some sort of staff queue "role call" where they put out a call for random, short term flavor pcs that are designed with a shelf life.  Two weeks worth of antagonistic former Legion Sarge, looking to go out guns blazing, a dwarf who's focus is counting down and must be accomplished, a bastard of an npc Noble who has to make contacts to confront dear old dad and has to foster communications.

Just a bunch of weird, random story-focused and short term concepts that can be checked off for low availability players who would otherwise be great clan leaders, with the intention of just giving weird and immersive interactions to whomever they cross paths with.

[triste]

But a lot of us simply do not have the minimum 10 hours a week needed for leadership roles. Other players mentioned that we should have more roles that can accept less than 10 hours a week and still be meaningful and they are completely right as well.

Now I don't mean to speak for all leader players (past or present) but if I have a minion that I can count on for 5 hours a week -- that's a good minion to me. Just let me know when you'll be available and I'm going to put your PC to work -- productive goals that contribute to the overall plots.

IMO if you're playing a leader and you can't "use" low playtime PCs, you need to re-evaluate how you're leading your clan.

Another good reply, but it implies that if you have low playtimes you can only play minions and I am tired of that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=friTOL7FlIo

I liked the assistant Sergeant idea someone had. I am grateful for roles like gicking as well where you can have low playtimes or off-peak playtimes and have impact.

[Is Friday]

Assistant Sergeant = Corporal/First Trooper.

[Is Friday]

I understand and agree with Friday, Spiderman, and staff here as this wasn't the point I was making. Separate point, but yes, I agree, some roles have playtime requirements.

But a lot of us simply do not have the minimum 10 hours a week needed for leadership roles. Other players mentioned that we should have more roles that can accept less than 10 hours a week and still be meaningful and they are completely right as well.

I think what you're looking for is some sort of staff queue "role call" where they put out a call for random, short term flavor pcs that are designed with a shelf life.  Two weeks worth of antagonistic former Legion Sarge, looking to go out guns blazing, a dwarf who's focus is counting down and must be accomplished, a bastard of an npc Noble who has to make contacts to confront dear old dad and has to foster communications.

Just a bunch of weird, random story-focused and short term concepts that can be checked off for low availability players who would otherwise be great clan leaders, with the intention of just giving weird and immersive interactions to whomever they cross paths with.

Staff do make role calls like this semi-regularly.

[Spiderman]

I understand and agree with Friday, Spiderman, and staff here as this wasn't the point I was making. Separate point, but yes, I agree, some roles have playtime requirements.

But a lot of us simply do not have the minimum 10 hours a week needed for leadership roles. Other players mentioned that we should have more roles that can accept less than 10 hours a week and still be meaningful and they are completely right as well.

I think what you're looking for is some sort of staff queue "role call" where they put out a call for random, short term flavor pcs that are designed with a shelf life.  Two weeks worth of antagonistic former Legion Sarge, looking to go out guns blazing, a dwarf who's focus is counting down and must be accomplished, a bastard of an npc Noble who has to make contacts to confront dear old dad and has to foster communications.

Just a bunch of weird, random story-focused and short term concepts that can be checked off for low availability players who would otherwise be great clan leaders, with the intention of just giving weird and immersive interactions to whomever they cross paths with.

Staff do make role calls like this semi-regularly.

I mean beyond the mystery role calls, I mean an actual sign up queue that staff puts a few players on, where they reach out to the player, not the other way around.

[Is Friday]

Again, I've done that. Two way street, there. I have reached out to clan staff and asked "Hey I was wanting to play X role in the future. Can you let me know when that becomes available?"

Reply: "Yeah sure."

*two months later*

Staff to Friday: "Hey you still wanna play this guy?"

OR

Staff gets back to my request in a week or two and says "This doesn't really fit with the game world because Y. How about X role, which is similar and might fit?"


----
Long story short: I think a lot of the headache or feelings of restriction about being limited is really only as limited as a player's ability to communicate with staff. Staff cannot know what you want to play. So ask questions and you might get an okay once in a while.

[HeeBeeGB]

A Clan Leader's Perspective:

1.  Wandering around looking for rp and pcs spam walk to avoid you, or you visibly see them go another direction to not be in your path.
2.  You sit in a tavern, ready to settle in for a session where maybe people seek you out to find some fun, you're spotted from a distance with your npc guard, and they go elsewhere.
3.  Same situation as #2, but you take a knife to the neck within minutes of showing up.
4.  Same situation as #2 but you realize while sitting there, with your guard, you suddenly are light keys, coins, that nice knife and any packages in your belt, as all your containers are open.
5.  Same situation as #2, and people walk through, bow and walk on.  Giving you zero to work with.

Hate to say it but, let's be honest, role play sessions are a two way street.  If leaders are hard to find, it's likely because they are getting beat down by something listed above.  Not just once or twice, but some combination of all of those, literally every single time they log in.  Roleplaying a clan leader, and Friday is right, is a commitment between Staff and the Player chosen, with a time investment that is agreed upon.  It's a two way streets, you can say they suck for not seeking you out and engaging you personally, but there are an awful lot of ways (I just listed five) where the opposite is also true.

I will say I noticed this on my Salarr GMH leader -- If I lingered in public to try to facilitate RP and just be a presence, I would be robbed of anything valuable within about 5-10 minutes. I had two separate instances where Guild PCs contacted me 10 minutes after I noticed things were missing to ransom it back. While it's a nifty plot in a way, it's also...I dunno. Discouraging from just sitting in my compound and dealing with the 10+ PCs demanding my attention there, rather than sitting in public and the PC having a drink and possibly recruiting people, etc.

IMHO, what this draws back to, is Miscreant is BAF (Broken as Fuck). There needs to be a way for people to spot hidden people that isn't just scan. Or some tavern rooms need to be toggled no_hide. Sorry thieves. I know it's rough for y'all, but it's stifling actual plotting and RP.

[Nao]

You should to play a pickpocket/miscreant and learn how easy it is to make your PC theft-proof. The only reason you keep getting your shit stolen is probably because you're the only ones not doing it and nobody else has ANYTHING stealable or worth stealing.

Large/heavy items cannot be stolen. Worn items cannot be stolen. Certain containers are very hard or impossible to peek in. If you're a GMH leader have access to safe storage at your clan compound where you can leave any diamond-encrusted daggers when you go out to someplace that may have filthy miscreants. Show off your diamond-encrusted silk dress instead, or a nice warhammer or whatever.

I can't even remember the last time I stole from a PC because gdb posters overreact and seem to think that there's something wrong with the game if they aren't theft-proof in the Gaj. It sucks.

[Barsook]

[snip]
Long story short: I think a lot of the headache or feelings of restriction about being limited is really only as limited as a player's ability to communicate with staff. Staff cannot know what you want to play. So ask questions and you might get an okay once in a while.

I'm seconding on this. Just happened to me a while back where both the staff and I came to agreement on role that I could play that's insta-clanned from chargen.

[Drone]

Now I don't mean to speak for all leader players (past or present) but if I have a minion that I can count on for 5 hours a week -- that's a good minion to me. Just let me know when you'll be available and I'm going to put your PC to work -- productive goals that contribute to the overall plots.

IMO if you're playing a leader and you can't "use" low playtime PCs, you need to re-evaluate how you're leading your clan.

As a player who probably has maybe 5 hours a week to play, I really appreciate that there are people out there who are totally fine with that level of commitment. If it means I play characters that are only peripherally involved in larger plots, that's fine, I'm just happy to be involved period.

Random thought from a perma-newbie though: is the game and the RP-enforced nature of the MUD actually detrimental to making sure that everyone is properly aligned on playtime commitments/expectations/schedules? The obvious answer here is "yes of course, that's what the OOC command is there for", but even then the help guide on the OOC command literally says "try to use the ooc command as little as possible, preferably never" (emphasis mine). If I have to spent ten minutes figuring out ICly whether or not the tressily tressed GMH leader is asking me, the real player behind the keyboard, if I'm available weekends for X hours in a specific timezone, and even THEN still not having clarity about whether or not I'm being asked to show up from 1900-2100 GMT every Saturday or whatever, there might be a problem.

[triste]

[snip]
Long story short: I think a lot of the headache or feelings of restriction about being limited is really only as limited as a player's ability to communicate with staff. Staff cannot know what you want to play. So ask questions and you might get an okay once in a while.

I'm seconding on this. Just happened to me a while back where both the staff and I came to agreement on role that I could play that's insta-clanned from chargen.

It is a nice idea, but in the name of facts I will dispassionately and factually report a scenario where this type of request had a different result: I saw certain NPCs in game, asked if I could play the same concept as those NPCs, and staff said they actually made a mistake with those NPCs and retconned the content so that neither NPCs or PCs like that can exist now.

Not saying the staff did a bad thing here or discriminated against me here, just saying that the outcome of this type of request will not always end with your dreams coming true and you being able to play what you asked for -- even if the role in fact existed in game when you asked.

[WarriorPoet]

As a player who probably has maybe 5 hours a week to play, I really appreciate that there are people out there who are totally fine with that level of commitment. If it means I play characters that are only peripherally involved in larger plots, that's fine, I'm just happy to be involved period.

Random thought from a perma-newbie though: is the game and the RP-enforced nature of the MUD actually detrimental to making sure that everyone is properly aligned on playtime commitments/expectations/schedules? The obvious answer here is "yes of course, that's what the OOC command is there for", but even then the help guide on the OOC command literally says "try to use the ooc command as little as possible, preferably never" (emphasis mine). If I have to spent ten minutes figuring out ICly whether or not the tressily tressed GMH leader is asking me, the real player behind the keyboard, if I'm available weekends for X hours in a specific timezone, and even THEN still not having clarity about whether or not I'm being asked to show up from 1900-2100 GMT every Saturday or whatever, there might be a problem.

Forget the bolded part. For my money, if you need to break scene and ask an ooc question about playtimes, do it. We will work it out.

Having played a few leaders, I can say I would rather have you play 5 hours balls to the wall than go into it wary and uncertain you are welcome. YOU ARE WELCOME. HELL YEAH.

[Jihelu]

What WarriorPoet said.

When it comes to real life playtimes, OOC that shit all day. You don't have to tell me your whole schedule but a OOC: I can only be on on X days usually, or something else...is really fucking useful. Especially in a clan role.

In fact, I hope you've OOC'd someone if they are a very important employee to you, Aides/etc, to find out if your playtimes are even somewhat compatible. Ya'll don't both have to live in the same state but if you NEVER see each other you might as well be pen pals.

[zealus]

Hey, yes, I'd like to meet you in.... two half months, three days, two hours and a few moments.

Or:
OOC: Hey, tomorrow, 9PM ST work for you?

I'd rather have the latter. So second WP and Jihelu here. 

[Barsook]

The latter for sure.

[HortaCulture]

Agreed. Tell leaders when to sign in so they can drag you into chaos, minions. *evil laughing*

[Fredd]

this is why clan forums are important. A lot of people don't seem to care about them anymore.

But if I'm your leader, I want to know where my outliers are. Who are my folks not getting scene action? And What can I do in their time bloc that would be fun?

OOC  any pertinent info you need, especially with availability. Your baby sick this week? Ooc me.

Don't know how to do something codedly? OOC me. I will sit there and layman's term a help file for you, and walk you through it until you get it.

My only hangup about it, is that I prefer to do such things in a private setting, so it doesn't interupt other peoples RP.

[Alesan]

Clan forums de-anonymize you. Unless you can make an alt for every character, eventually people will know who you are every time you join a new clan. Some people don't mind this, some people want to be known, but others would rather keep the anonymity that guarantees there are no OOC shifts in interactions, positive or negative, that would not otherwise be there if you remained anonymous.

[triste]

Clan forums de-anonymize you. Unless you can make an alt for every character, eventually people will know who you are every time you join a new clan. Some people don't mind this, some people want to be known, but others would rather keep the anonymity that guarantees there are no OOC shifts in interactions, positive or negative, that would not otherwise be there if you remained anonymous.

Thanks for pointing out this issue; would love a forum system where you can choose to be anonymous or appear as your character name and others have supported similar ideas. Would help engagement / the topic at hand.

[Barsook]

This could be tossed into it's own post. But one of the serious problems I see, is that one character doesn't feel much different from the next anymore.

The new classes and subclasses allow one PC to do everything. An Adventurer/mage Can have solid enough combat skills to hunt, craft, and they can do magick. Change mage to a stealth class, and now you have hunter, crafter and burglar/assassin.

The old classes allowed your next PC to feel different.

+1, they are too jack-of-all-trades.

[X-D]

I normally make an alt account for clan GDB and often will never post even then. I do not like them and only even ask for access because sadly, that is where the docs live now...something else I do not agree with.

I am perfectly happy to use OOC IG for pretty much anything that it is needed for.

[Lizzie]

Clan forums de-anonymize you. Unless you can make an alt for every character, eventually people will know who you are every time you join a new clan. Some people don't mind this, some people want to be known, but others would rather keep the anonymity that guarantees there are no OOC shifts in interactions, positive or negative, that would not otherwise be there if you remained anonymous.

They don't de-anonymize you. You -can- make an alt for every character, it's allowed and even encouraged. Most people don't care one way or another. But if you do care, you do have options. If you don't make use of the options and just don't post your availability, you'll be overlooked more often than not when it comes time to arranging scheduled RPTs.

If an RPT involves just my clan, or if I'm only responsible for my clan in a multi-clan RPT (and other clan leaders deal with their own clans), then I'm going to use the clan GDB to do those arrangements. I won't do it in the game. That's what the clan boards are for. For the OOC arrangements of things that get really clunky and disruptive if you have to go OOC with each player you deal with in-game (especially when they log in at different times of the day).

[Alesan]

Clan forums de-anonymize you. Unless you can make an alt for every character, eventually people will know who you are every time you join a new clan. Some people don't mind this, some people want to be known, but others would rather keep the anonymity that guarantees there are no OOC shifts in interactions, positive or negative, that would not otherwise be there if you remained anonymous.

They don't de-anonymize you. You -can- make an alt for every character, it's allowed and even encouraged. Most people don't care one way or another. But if you do care, you do have options. If you don't make use of the options and just don't post your availability, you'll be overlooked more often than not when it comes time to arranging scheduled RPTs.

If an RPT involves just my clan, or if I'm only responsible for my clan in a multi-clan RPT (and other clan leaders deal with their own clans), then I'm going to use the clan GDB to do those arrangements. I won't do it in the game. That's what the clan boards are for. For the OOC arrangements of things that get really clunky and disruptive if you have to go OOC with each player you deal with in-game (especially when they log in at different times of the day).

For every character? Really? Is it confirmed from staff that we can have literally unlimited GDB accounts?

[mansa]

For every character? Really? Is it confirmed from staff that we can have literally unlimited GDB accounts?

Yes.

[Alesan]

For every character? Really? Is it confirmed from staff that we can have literally unlimited GDB accounts?

Yes.

I will keep that in mind, thank you.