Paazin's platform / Q&A thread

[paazin]

Honk!

[ThinkTank]

[paazin]

You win, TT - I'll get back to answering real questions now

[ThinkTank]

[NickD]

Just been reading through the election threads now...

If you don't win, Paazin, I will hold you personally responsible for the inevitable destruction of ALFA that will follow.

Just keep that in mind.

[paazin]

Paazin,

First, let me say I am very impressed with your well-considered and mature platform. As you stated above, you have not been as vocal with the various roles you have had within ALFA. As a bit of a 'mystery wrapped in an enigma' I wonder if you would expand a little on your experience and the various positions you've held? Who has had the biggest influence on your development within the community?

Thanks in advance.
Cheers,
Valdimir

Heya Valdimir -

Sure, I'll hopefully clear that up. At various points during my 'career' (using the term in its loosest sense ) I've worked under each of the admins so I've a good knowledge of the real-world responsibilities and
tasks the staff deal with. I'll give a chronological list, filling the details as best I can remember:

• Alfa Rep, for quite a while
• OAS DM
• ADM Baldur's Gate, then eventually EADM of Baldur's Gate
• ADM Daggerdale
• Admissions committee member
• Worked for infra/tech, on the server population project (along with a few random tasks to help out Ronan, a while back)
• Helping out with tech work with ALFA2's coming live recently
• Member of the standards team (also pretty recently)
• Joined the TSM DM team as a PADM about two weeks back

Out of those only the last 3 still apply. As far as specific values drawn from each of the respective positions, it's difficult to say. I feel I have a good knowledge of the day-to-day workings of our community and therefore have the experience to enhance it. I'll think about it some, still, and see if I can get back to you.

As far as my greatest influence, that's a difficult one. There are tons of people I admire here, for all plethora of different reasons. I'd start listing names here (believe me, there are a lot), but I'm afraid I'd forget someone

I'll settle on a single person: Ronan. During his time here he did an amazing amount of work, as a DM, as a scripter and tech guy, infra stuff. A pretty large legacy to live up to, especially for someone I considered a friend. I only regret that I didn't offer a hand when he needed it (which, really, was always); I'm positive that the road to ALFA2 would've been smoother with him around.

[Senor T]

I'm constantly amazed at the number of people who are so deeply involved in ALFA that I just don't know at all.

Honestly, I'm impressed with your responses so far, paazin. Before I'm totally comfortable electing you as my boss, I'd like to just know a little more about your ALFA experiences, rather than just a list. You know, the stuff that matters, like what your favorite server is that you played on, how long you've been playing DnD, your favorite PC or quest you played or something.

As for PR, I'd like to have a concise vision statement from you. You said in your initial post that the LA's vision is what's important, and you couldn't be more right. LA should provide overall direction for ALFA, period. That's what a leader does. But, what precisely is your vision? That's especially important where PR/marketing is concerned. I think I have a general idea of what it is, but I don't recall seeing it specifically laid out in this thread yet, apologies if I'm wrong.

Thanks,
T

[Vendrin]

Do you believe that Rusty, and everything that he has brought with him, good and bad, has been more beneficial, or more detrimental to ALFA?

[Nalo Jade]

When I first joined ALFA, I didn't use the forums for probably the 1st year. A group of my friends had all gotten the game and we were eager to join a PW and be able to play D&D together without any of us having to DM. We set up a schedule and would play whenever we could...very soon though one of us died, and then another, soon the dream of playing PnP D&D vanished for some, I still wanted to try playing that way, so I went to the forums to see if there were any other people wanting to join a once a week game...

When I asked if there were any players that wanted to play exclusively once a week, meaning no soloing just playing like a PnP game...the thread I posted in was slammed. So I tried to start a new thread that wasn't clutter with "Your idea is dumb." comments. The second thread got flamed as well...

This was a bad first impression for me.

I wanted to get a group like this going so bad that I became a DM and went to NWNConnections to find a group of players that were interested in playing a PnP game in Forgotten Realms with me as the DM. I found a group and showed them how to join ALFA...only a few are still members, I was told by some they did not enjoy being treated like a "newb" when they had been playing D&D for as long as some ALFA members have been alive, they did not like the "elitest" attitude.

This was a bad first impression for them.

I wanted my wife to play, she was new to D&D but had been playing on another server that had "light roleplay" and she liked it. She refused to go any further after spending 2 hours in an OAS class. She said, "are you serious? you want me to spend hours in a class to play a F-in video game?"

This was a bad first impression for her.

To sum up my little experiance I would say that recruiting was not a problem for ALFA, telling someone they can play PnP D&D in the entire FR campaign setting is a HUGE selling point, MANY MANY people have come to look at ALFA, Few have stayed.

I believe that the first impression is the most important. I am sure others have experiances that are similiar. I think the ones I have seen can be summed up here...

1. Being flamed as a "Njub" does not help the community, it hurts it.

2. Being treated as an "Inferior RPer" right from the start does not help the community, it hurts it.

3. Taking ourselves too seriously does not help the community, it hurts it.

What, as the PR chief, will you do to improve a potential members first impression with regards to these three things?

[Nalo Jade]

If you had to pick one of the ALFA pillar's to destroy, which pillar would you choose as the least important pillar?

[Inaubryn]

I'm posting this because this is a conversation that Paaz and I had in irc about what would bring me back to ALFA and maybe others as well. I deleted his parts and paraphrased and added to mine. Enjoy, kiddies.


Ideally, I'd overhaul the entire Admin system. Council members would be made up of representatives from each server selected by that server's team. They'd sit on a "Council" where each has equal power in all aspects of ALFA. All decisions would be made by a majority rules "Yes" or "No" vote. This would include any NWN server teams as well.

Servers would be built for ALFA, therefore anybody who is an ALFA DM can DM on any server. If you want, you can keep the not DMing on the same server you play on rule. But, as evidenced by the lack of DMs, you may want to rethink that one too.

This gives the place a sense of unity and togetherness instead of the fractious state it exist in now. Things like this would bring me back to ALFA.


Reduce standards back to DM rewards ONLY. In other words, they develop the guidelines that DMs should consult when giving out rewards. Also, simplify those guidelines. People shouldn't have to know pre-calculus to reward their players for a great session.

Any other decisions such as the ones on warlock and favored soul would be made by the council. Yes we want them. No we don't. Or yes, with this caveat. A decision should never take more than 3 days to make... EVER!

There is a prevailing mindset in ALFA. People are so entrenched in what's been that everybody still believes that what IS can work. The newer members don't know any better and the older members are afraid of losing some pseudo-democratic privilege that they don't even have or are continuing to adhere to some archaic overly-bureaucratic document.

Right now there are, as the old cliche goes, too many chiefs, not enough Indians. I'm not sayin' people shouldn't have a say, because they should. What I'm saying is, Too many cooks spoil the broth. There are waaaay too many people with "voting rights". That bogs down the decision making process. This = bad. Why does it take months to make decisions? And I wish I was exaggerating but a lot of you know I'm telling the truth. Seriously, if you're not actually the video game developer, who is getting paid to make the damn thing, you should never spend months deliberating over anything that has to do with said game, unless it's a year or two prior to the game's release and that's all you have to do because you can't play it.

The thing is... NWN2 while not perfect, is what it is. Stop debating for months on end about warlocks and favored souls. They're there.. play 'em. Stop tryin' to get everything perfect before live. Get a basic hub server up so people can play then expand from there. Tridisus, a former ALFAn, along with the help of a few others in some key areas, whipped up the Isle of Skaug server as a beta to the Amn server. People played and had a good time and this was more than a year ago. And, the first thing he built for the Amn server was a small town (12x12 area) called Amnwater. He built a few surrounding locales and Exodus went live about 10 months ago.

A small village or part of a city can be built in very little time. He then built the south gate portion of Keczulla and added that instead of trying to build the whole city at once and then add it. It gave people two options to play. Zulla, and Amnwater. Amn has since expanded to include 2 other towns and two other cities as well as many other adventure locales including a small underdark locale. Also, Esmeltaran, a monster controlled city, and a full player ran underdark settlement are currently under construction.

I know ALFA isn't Exodus and vice versa, but they are related down to their mechanical cores. One may be the goose, the other the gander. But, what works for one will certainly work for the other. Some people would talk about philosphical differences. ALFA is only philosophically different because it wants to be. We/They/It's hung up on thinking it's better, more special and different, than other PWs out there so things have to operate differently here. I don't think so. For a game, simpler is better.

The problem you get when you make the simplicity arguments is people telling you why it has to be complicated to work. Because it has been complicated for soooo long that that has become the norm. If you eat bologna all your life, you never know what steak taste like.

And see, I've railed against the system for so long that many people think I hate ALFA. That is the furthest thing from the truth. People like to throw out, "Stop complaining and help out. Or, "If you build it they will come," or "If you think it's that bad, leave." Well, for all intents and purposes I have left. I don't, play, DM, or build, and I most definitely don't fancy myself as some quasi-politician with make-believe power that revolves around a fantasy world.

I would love to see the vision of ALFA hold true because that's the only common ground that this community stands on and is the only thing that's keeping it up and running. No, I'm not discounting the people who are, because I'm sure somebody will try and throw that out. But, those people too are here because of that vision.

I would love to see four or five servers up and people just playing and having fun. But, that's not going to happen the way things stand. It's just not. You can't have fun in a place where everyone is so damned uptight. Let me propose a scenario before I go.

What if ALFA flipped things up and said, throw out the old admin system. Let's let those that create the world and tell the stories decide what's best for the world as a majority. Let's not snuff ideas and disallow fun gaming options (because they're fun to somebody), before we actually see there's a problem. And, when there's a problem, let's deal with the problem person(s) instead of punishing the entirety of the community. Reminds me of Full Metal Jacket when Pyle had the jelly donut.

"You people have not given Private Pyle the proper motivation! So, from now on, when Private Pyle fucks up... I will not punish him. I will punish all of you! And the way I see it, ladies... you owe me for one jelly donut! Now, get on your faces!"

Anyway, what if standards were simplified and consistent, so that they were actually used? What would happen if all this came to pass? A system where the people who should be making the decisions make the decisions, and everybody else, including them, played. As it stands now, no lead administrator, since the Quake, except Wynna, has pulled more than one term and even she quits and takes off until she decides she wants to come back and be the lead again. The reason this is, is because ALFA admin system is a righteous ass beating. It burns people out. Many former admin are no longer even part of the community because of their tenures as administrators here.

Helping to run a gaming community shouldn't make you feel like your pimp just beat the shit out of you after comin' up short for the night. A decision comes up, somebody post it with a 3 day limit to chime in. People post "Yes" or "No" reasons are optional, the decision is made and you move the hell on. And, YES, it is that damn simple. I've seen it work in Exodus. And, no matter what some argue, Exodus isn't that different from ALFA.

So, Paaz, what's your take on all of this and could you see doing some of this stuff for ALFA?

[paazin]

I'm going to be gone until Monday - sorry to those who I haven't answered yet, I'll do it as soon as I get back.

[ThinkTank]

Do you believe that my opinions, and everything to do with them, good and bad, have been more beneficial, or more detrimental to ALFA?

[MShady]

In terms of platform, I'm not sure exactly what you're actually doing here. It sounds fine for what you've put up, but I'm not sure what the actual meat on the frame is here...

Keep lines of communication open
There will always be 'drama' certainly. That does not mean that we need to succumb to the bile and vitriol that is often seen on the boards and in chat. We need, all of us, to keep an open mind and try to work together. We get nowhere with gross generalizations and shutting ourselves off from one another. Unity is what makes this community was it is and what keeps us together.

Make our systems and methods transparent
A good deal of complaint is given to the lack of transparency, especially with standards. In a way, it is related to my position above - keeping the community speaking to one another, preventing egos from taking hold. It is said 'sunlight is the best disinfectant' and that is a view I hold dear to my heart. People are naturally suspicious of that which they know nothing about - I wish to push for openness and transparency wherever possible.

The first part is a nice mission statement about unity and to a degree the leadership of the person on top is reflected downward. That said, Wynna pretty much said and did the same thing and look where we are. You're not saying anything different, so why are things going to be different?

We have an Admin publically throwing two respected community members under the bus. He than quit than waved the bloody flag of conspiracy to get the job back that he quit, mainly because he's a hot head. We had his fellow Admins rightfully try to recall him, while several prior Admins have quit Admin or even the community because of him. Preaching "unity" is not going to resolve that problem, because that has very obviously been tried. I think everyone recognizes the good things Rusty has done, but the people that have left because of him have cumulatively done a great deal more.

WHEN there is another incident, what are you going to do about it?

In regards to Standards, an open policy on that is a good idea. Heck, most community members don't even know what they are or where to find them for NWN1, let alone 2.

Outside of moving Standards to Lead, do you see any need for the committee to stand forever, constantly tinkering? Or can we settle on something, thank them and wait until something in NWN2 changes that requires it?

After restructuring Standards to a more broadly representative body, would you support a total review of the Standards?

Make the path to DMing easier
One key flaw in our system right now is that there are so few DMs. Another candidate has suggested we grant immediate entry to those who had been past DMs. It is good idea on the face of it, but it would need to be done carefully, and with the cooperation of the DMA. There have been a number of changes over the past months, and DMs have to be certain they are up to speed. No one likes paperwork and reading documentation, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

While you're identifying the flaw, you're hedging on what can be done about it. You're saying basically you want to negotiate it with the DMA who steadfastly does not want to negotiate the issue, which has caused some high profile issues. So outside of a general commitment to look into it, what exactly do you want to do? How do you want this issue to be handled? Nevermind how you implement it, lets start with what you want to do.

Do not over-extend ourselves
This is key. For quite a while with NWN1 we had many too many servers for the player-base, meaning it was difficult for people to meet up with one another and just enjoy ALFA, which only fed into the effect of people becoming disenchanted with ALFA, as a whole. As much as it pains me to say it, we must not devote so many of our resources to creating new servers and regions - more has to be devoted to our existing servers and areas. In a way, our early 'Live' date was a victim of this, pushed out before it was truly ready.

This is the old "density" position again, which isn't without merit. That said, calling our "live date" early when it was a year after the game's release and long after most major communities, confuses me a bit. How much more ready can we get? Frankly I think most people would just prefer to play and interact. If we want to limit the number of servers, fine, but how "perfect" do we have to get them? There seems to be a huge opportunity cost for few servers in terms of recruiting...

Tech is vitally important
Many people, (most notable to me, those within the standards committee) ignore or simply don't always take into consideration the difficulty that those who deal with building and tech deal with to implement their edicts/recommendations/suggestions/etc. What matters, in the end, is our builders and our tech - and their resources are often are stretched quite thin. Communication is key here, and those who are not familiar with the issues taking an active interest in them, to make the lives easier of everyone involved.

I think anyone would generally agree with the statement, but I can't figure out what you are saying you are going to do here. Communication? Get people more involved? Not sure where you are going here...

Don't forget our NWN1 crowd
This is quite popular to do recently, with all the talk of NWN2 that is ever-present. We must never forget that a good many of our players and DMs still log on to the servers we have in NWN1 and make no plans to switch over to NWN2. These serves do require maintenance and DM presence, just like our current and upcoming NWN2 servers, so they cannot be abandoned or forgotten (as in the past it seems some would have it). It is my hope that that they will continue to be there for a good while.

Sounds fine...

[MShady]

Two separate questions...

1. Will you reduce the Admin staff to one vote, much like how an EADM cast a vote for their server team?

As it stands, most votes are basically cast by Admin or Admin staff instead of the server DMs making for a lopsided system.

2. Would you support running the DM and PA Admin elections in one month and the Tech & Infra Admin elections in a separate month, followed by Lead elections to reduce the physical time spent on elections?

3. Someone else said they tried to get a player interested in playing here, but they bolted when they either had to audition or go through a 2 hour RP class to play here. Is this an unnecessary barrier to entry at this point, considering the effectiveness of the PA, DMs and standards regulating activities?

Would a simple application be fine and leave the OAS as a fun alternative, more to show what to expect in ALFA? It seems as much a recruitment barrier as a recruitment tool.

When I DMed on the OAS, the recruiting standard was very high. Unless they were basically superb, we weren't accepting them. Maybe this has changed, but I doubt it.

Would you support using the OAS more as a tool to get people into ALFA and just weed out the hopeless?