Reducing Staff Labor

[Riev]

I believe the issue cropped up from the suggestion that we players are not allowed to bring stuff up without there being a staff thread asking for our opinion.

I agree its not quite hitting the intentions, but we've had these discussions over the years and there is a lot of work for a volunteer crew to do.



But I would suggest a way to be a pest in a discussion is to suggest we shouldn't have the discussion at all. If you don't like whats on TV, change the channel.

[CirclelessBard]

I'm going to request that this thread get back on track of the original post, bearing in mind that the staff have commented on what they do, and what they need (or don't need). Please read the questions asked in the OP and staff's posts and tailor future replies with that in mind.

[Valkyrja]

Based on what @Usiku opened for discussion earlier in the thread, I will chime in to say that a majority of "wasted time" for me (and not to speak for other staff members) is spent focusing on negative community issues. This can be in the Discord, this board, another board, request tool, etc. I'm trying to reduce my involvement in such things - but frankly, I'm used to running a community for myself, so it is hard to disconnect from what players are discussing or doing. I am very used to being personable with all of my players and knowing about their life, etc. Obviously, a personal relationship like that is not appropriate here and breaks a ton of community rules. Still - that desire to be a member of the community (if in a different role) is there for me. Therefore, it is hard for me to disconnect from threads, topics, or drama that I recognize as unhealthy for me to engage in. I like to deal with people in a personable way and the staff curtain really makes things suck sometimes.

But in some ways it's better to have that staff curtain, because I'm not expected to carry emotional weight for every player (as I do for my own community). That would be impossible! I cannot get to know everyone personally and still have time to be a storyteller. I might get to know some players more over time professionally, but I have to abide by my staff contract and also be mindful of peoples' privacy.

So with those two realities in mind, that I:

• Have to read about or deal with extreme disapproval about our creative work
• Cannot really interact with people as personably as I'd like to

... it is just exhausting at times. I think all of us can get snappy or fed up, it's not just a matter of "who", more like "when". Staffing is a job and that job has frustrations.

That being said: I really have enjoyed my time on staff thus far and the payoff for the work on Season 1 has been incredible. So thank you, players! I'm trying to stay positive and ride this week's good energy, because we have so much to unveil this Season for everyone. I'm looking forward to meeting and working with new staff later in the Season, too!

[Usiku]

So.. While I appreciate the underlying sentiment here, I do have to say that those best placed to figure out how staff can change their systems in order to reduce workload and so on (if we have a problem to begin with) is people on staff who are intimately familiar with what we actually do, which bits are hard, which bits aren't fun and so on. In shifting to Season's we have already made a bunch of changes in that respect and it's working quite well. We might be down a couple of staff due to personal reasons, but we're actually fine right now!

If you guys genuinely want to help reduce staff work load, staff stress levels and help to reduce overall burnout, what would be very useful from this conversation is for you to explore ways that you can actively help, as players. How can you modify your behaviour, expectations and communications to help us out? To lighten the load? What can players do (without needing anymore from staff in order to do it)?

[Tasemu]

true. my grandfather used to say don't cut a donkey's tail in public. some will say its too short, others that its too long.

[MarshallDFX]

So it feels like the nicest thing we can do in terms of staff enthusiasm and time can be summarised by Donald Sutherland (rest in peace) and his infamous character Oddball:

Why don't you knock it off with those negative waves! Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous, and hopeful, for a change?

[Classclown]

Maybe give GMH access to their non-craftable items, so they don't have to send in requests? Same for tribals and others that have clan-made items. How about a way for clan leaders to approve cc items? That way only unclanned would have to be approved and added by staff. It would add more responsibility to the leader, but take it off the staff.

[Windstorm]

So.. While I appreciate the underlying sentiment here, I do have to say that those best placed to figure out how staff can change their systems in order to reduce workload and so on (if we have a problem to begin with) is people on staff who are intimately familiar with what we actually do, which bits are hard, which bits aren't fun and so on. In shifting to Season's we have already made a bunch of changes in that respect and it's working quite well. We might be down a couple of staff due to personal reasons, but we're actually fine right now!

If you guys genuinely want to help reduce staff work load, staff stress levels and help to reduce overall burnout, what would be very useful from this conversation is for you to explore ways that you can actively help, as players. How can you modify your behaviour, expectations and communications to help us out? To lighten the load? What can players do (without needing anymore from staff in order to do it)?

I agree with all this and I think including my own "ideas" at the start maybe set the wrong tone. Oops. No arms are meant to be twisted here, really! Admittedly, I'm sort of working a mile a minute atm and living in a perpetual state of caffeine overdose for the next week or so.

Another thing in mind was the player moderator team, which was something which came out of what was effectively a group discussion between players and staff about offloading work from staff - in Discord if I recall, though it may have been thought of before. It took something staff had previously stressed out about a lot (negativity, etc) and offloaded it elsewhere. Until the conversation kind of got derailed I'd had it in mind maybe they could do something similar with other things that aren't IC-sensitive, but you guys of course are in a better position to judge that, or the need for it. Staffers enjoy doing character applications more than I thought, at least some of the time and in certain ways.

Either way, I think voicing what troubles you guys is great, and finding ways we can help out ourselves is, too. I think Classclown's idea above is good. Minor tediums that would just feel like busy work is what I was sort of meaning to aim at. But people do just enjoy different things.

[Markku]

From what I've seen from my few weeks here so far as a first time staffer...
Most staff seem to be working on the things we want to when we want to. Halaster and Usiku aren't micromanaging bosses.  When they do have something they need worked on, they as for volunteers.  There is also a log of good communication I see when people are busy and need help or not busy and offering help.
Staff have created a lot of tools recently to make things that use to be very time consuming now a snap!  I got to help set up an advanced start character last night and it was literally a one-line command that would probably take me half an hour to do manually and probably another 5-10 checking to make sure I didn't screw anything up.

My routine:
Prep-work and "Paperwork" 5-15 minutes
Check staff discord to see if anything urgent happens to be going on.
Check the GDB, specifically the clans I am helping with.
Check the Staff Board seeing what all has happened plot/story-wise since I was last on.
Check for player apps in queue, approve/edit/reject any that aren't for other people's clans.
Check for request for players in or needing something from my clans, or that I have had input on.
Check the wish log on discord to see if anyone has wished up recently.

Engagement Until my wife starts yelling
Log into Port, Check to see which of my clannies are online and start monitoring them unless I am planning to hunker down on building stuff on my to-do list.
Reply to stuff on the IDB and Request tool.
Ask a few questions in discord to help me better understand the 100 different stories going on in-game.

I probably spend 75-90% of my time doing exactly what I want to be doing: Spying on y'all, dropping world echos, animating random NPCs for solo/lonely characters and answering wishes and helping people in port. And checking the staff discord, character.

I have a couple different building projects I am helping on, and generally have to tune everything else out if I want to be productive on those (especially the super-exciting one!)

There's not really anything I do here that I don't like doing. Sometimes bad/sad things happen to characters and players, and that can be a bit of an emotional drag. And, for the most part, most folks are very understanding and good-natured about there misfortunes here.  Current staff culture is awesome. I was a little unsure when I first applied for staff, mostly because of horror stories from friends of mine who have been on staff in the past, but I am very happy on this side of the curtain and believe it was the right decision for me! I would have never applied for staff without seeing the effort player side that they were making culture and direction-wise.

I think the biggest things that can be done to reduce staff work load and the burnout issues that Usiku mentioned are more or less relationship based: Be good human beings to each other, help new players when you run into them, communicate with staff when something is bothering you, don't let small, bad feelings fester until they grow into something nasty, understand that every member of the community is a flawed human being and makes mistakes, show mercy and grace when that happens.