The purpose of these fact and opinion gathering posts is to gauge the atmopshere among ALFA's staff in regards to the admissions process and what ALFA expects of its members. Most of this announcement is identical to the one in the Open Discussion Forum, but there are some changes to note, please read.
ALFA is a roleplaying community with a reputation for having a rather high set of standards when it comes to the way we approach playing D&D with the NWN platforms. This has the benefit of providing an outlet for serious RPers who want as much realism as reaonsably possible within a fantasy world, who expect fair and balanced play, and want to spend their gaming time in a relatively mature community.
However, without balance, the community can fall under the stigma of being 'elite'. We can chase away potential members who may have much to offer the community. We are in danger of becoming a niche community with a small playerbase that grows slowly while losing members who find the atmosphere to be too stifling.
Of course, this may be just fine for some or all of the current membership. It is entirely possible that an arrogant stance is desired and there is no desire to swell the ranks.
The opposite may be true and the current membership may feel that it is time to relax our standards and allow this community to grow quickly and rebuild our numbers.
I will be opening up several topics for discussion as well as putting up polls. Everyone with posting access to this forum is encouraged to chime in here. I would ask that ALFA staff members keep their activity in the open discussion forum to a minimum, however, if you feel that there is something you can offer to the discussion in the open forum that may not have a place here, then please do so. Some of the discussions may overlap in places, that is perfectly fine.
I will be carefully monitoring the discussions. Unlike the open forum, I will be offering my own opinions and observations here.
I will be moderating posts if it seems that anyone is resorting to flaming, trolling, or otherwise acting poorly. This is not the General Discussion Forum nor is it Off-Topic. Please contribute to the discussion but remain courteous and polite and keep to the matter at hand.
Objective vs Subjective Opinions -
Some polls will contain language that is entirely subjective. In those cases, I ask that you please answer the question based on your own subjective viewpoint.
If the word is 'best', go by what you assume is 'best' and do not worry about what everyone else thinks is 'best'.
Subjective views will, with enough participation, give an overall 'average' view that will be useful in analysis even though some people's idea of 'best' may be another person's 'average'.