I just want to post some of my thoughts regarding staff playing sponsored/special roles, since this doesn't appear to be addressed by staff as of yet, and personally, this is more important to me as a player.
To be honest, I feel that resource PCs played by staff members would have gone over much better if this proposal was offered to the general player base and voted yes by the players, rather than decided on and voted on by staff members behind the scenes - the very same staff players who are going to take up the reins of these roles. I always think that staff makes up the backbone of the game - like a GM in a tabletop - and that they facilitate play for the community, and that's why we have staff at the first place. These are the group of people who act as coordinators of the game and are selected because of their in-depth knowledge of the game, their experience, their ability to separate IC and OOC information, their creativity, as well as their passion. Therefore, a decision of this magnitude, one that further burdens the trust between staff and player, should have this question thoroughly explored: If this controversial proposal is put out to the community, what concerns would arise from it?
The root of the problem is trust, and this has done nothing but further erode the flimsy relationship between staff and players. Every interaction after, including personal interactions between staff and player - such as the request tool or IC animations or wish conversations etc. - is going to be scrutinized by members of this community under a microscope. Every minor detail (unfortunately, especially the ones coming from staff) is going to either convince or discourage people that are just hovering around the sidelines from continuing to be active participants of the game. These minor details tell us whether this is going to be taken seriously, or if we all don't give a fuck, and this is all lights and fireworks.
I do personally hope to see a post where the community might be introduced to how exactly staff communicates with each other, how requests are processed, and how they regulate IC info from OOC info. This is not 'to police staff' per say, but a knowledge of how these things work could serve to help ward off any future misunderstandings between staff and player communications. An official guide of sorts would be a useful reference point if someone feels concerned about a situation but is afraid to mention it because they are not familiar with how it all works. We have rules laid out clearly in the website, GDB, and discord channels for players. It would seem logical to do the same so that we are all on the same page.
