Request Tool Changes

[Halaster]

We have made the following changes to the Request Tool that are now live:


We have added character limits to some request, you should see a counter at the bottom as you type.  The following requests have these limits applied:

- Bug / Typo / Idea - 2500
- Character Report - Leader - 5000
- Clan Documentation Request - 2500
- Complaint or Appeal - 2500
- Email Change - 2500
- IP Sharing Notification - 2500
- Item Orders - 2500
- Join a Clan Forum - 2500
- Leave a Clan Forum - 2500
- Player Complaint - 5000
- Player Kudos - 2500
- Game Related | Question - 2500
- Clan Related | Question / Request - 2500
- Reimbursement - 2500
- Staff Complaint - 5000
- Staff Kudos - 2500
- Stat Change - 2500
- Storage - 2500
- Suggestion or Idea - 2500



The following categories have been added:

• Player Feedback (5000 characters) - When you want to get feedback to a player but it is doesn't rise to the level of complaint.
• Staff Feedback (5000 characters) - When you want to get feedback to staff but it is doesn't rise to the level of complaint.  Note that these will not go to the Player Committee
• Out-of-Character (OOC) Request (2500 characters) - for anything OOC that you need to talk with staff about in regards to your character.  This can be used to talk to staff about specific projects or goals your character is attempting.  It is the closest thing to replacing the Character Report, but is not intended for recurring check-ins.

The following categories have been removed.

• Ext. Subguild / Skill Bump Spec. App - We don't have extended subguilds anymore, and skill bumps are part of Special Applications.  There is no longer a need for 2 categories
• Character Report - Non-Leader/non-sponsored characters do not need to send in regular reports to staff.  If you want to keep up with what your character has been doing, we highly encourage you to use the bio command (see help biography).  If you are a non-leader/non-sponsored role and you need to communicate something with staff, just use other requests such as Question or Out-of-Character Request.  If you are playing a sponsored role who isn't a leader (such as a sorcerer), you will just go ahead and use the Character Report - Leader category.

[Halaster]

Important Changes to Using the Request Tool

I want to follow this up with explaining what our new method and expectations are for the request tool.

We are doing away with "Play By Request".  What we mean when we say that is actual In-Character conversations and events.  It has become fairly common for people to use the request tool in place of in-character interactions when dealing with NPC's.  While staff have enabled and encourage this.  This ends up causing staff to spend more time in the request tool than animating in game, and it even robs potential spies from overhearing things.

Players and staff alike are used to doing this, so we understand it will be a bit of a transition as we all adjust together.

The guiding principle here is that In-Character should stay in the game in the form of animations and biography entries, as much as possible.  For example, if a player leader sends in a report with things like "Amos's goals are to do XYZ", or "When Amos said such-and-such to his NPC boss, he was lying and what I really am thinking is blah blah", that's all fine.

What we want to stop are things like:

"My character would tell her boss 'blah blah blah'", and then staff responding with "Your bosses would respond with 'blah blah".  So here are the expectations:

- No replication of In-Character conversations in the request tool.  They must happen in the game.
- Any letters/scrolls/notes should have an actual item in game with the same text.  So if Amos sends a scroll to his bosses, Amos must have one in-game somewhere.  You'll work with your clan staff to figure out where and how to do this


In regards to timezones and not being able to sync up with staff:

There will be issues with being able to figure out times that work for you and your staff for animations and in-game reports, particularly with players outside of the US primetime. For these situations, here are the steps we'd like everyone to go through:

1. Make a good-faith effort by both staff and players to find a time that works for both so they can have in-game animations/repots.  If the primary staffer can't seem to find a time, then the secondary staffer of that clan can step in. Other staff who might be familiar with that clan can also assist in this if needed.  If everyone can't make this work then...
2. If your character can read and write and it's normal behavior to send messages, then do that.  Write a note on a scroll to send to NPC contact, and arrange with staff where to leave it.  They can have NPC's respond in kind.  If that doesn't work out, or you're a leader in a clan who doesn't read and write (like a Byn sergeant), then...
3. You can use the request tool to handle IC reporting.  This should just be your last resort after good faith attempts at previous steps have been made.



Together, as a community, we can change our habits from relying so much on the Request Tool for in-game exchanges.  We're a role-playing game, let's keep the role-playing IN the game!