PA Questions for AnalogKid

[Zelknolf]

Y'all punks be runnin' for office and not postin' platforms, so I'm starting threads.

I hope no one wants to vote on people when they have no idea what the candidates want to do with the office, so let's start there.

1. If elected as PA, what do you expect to accomplish?

2. What makes you better qualified than that other person?

3. Is there any process/ policy/ whatnot you want to reform?

4. Which (if any) processes/ policies/ whatnot do you think are working well (and you'd want to keep the same)?

[danielmn]

Would you be in support of initiatives to bring back online OAS2, as well as RP101?

[Analogkid]

1. If elected as PA, what do you expect to accomplish?

I won't make any promises of faerun shattering importance, nor will I promise things which I won't be able to push through or implement. But what I can promise is that I would devote the needed time and effort to make sure everything under the P.A.'s purview is handled with competency and fairness. Furthermore, I see the P.A. as speaking on behalf of the players amongst the admin. So to that effect I fully plan to beef up the ALFA reps, work to re-instate RP101, and the open application server.

2. What makes you better qualified than that other person?

I have been part of ALFA for well over a decade now. Mostly as a player but also as a DM and HDM. I have seen ALFA through the hard times, good times and every time in between. I've seen players come and go and ive seen or heard about nearly every critique or gripe both players and DMs have felt.
Outside of ALFA, i've worked in the financial/banking industry over the past decade, and have had ample experience in being in positions of leadership within my field. I also have served as a trainer within the banking field, and I hold teaching credentials to teach history and the social sciences in general.

What does that all mean? I know enough at this point in my life to be able to get along and work with people with whom I may have disagreements with.

3. Is there any process/ policy/ whatnot you want to reform?

Yes, I would like the player base to be kept in greater awareness of what is going on behind the scenes, especially in regards to decision making that may affect everyone or major blocks of players. often times it seems like only a handful of people get to have input on major decisions. I would like to push for greater participation by the player base into the decisions ALFA makes as a whole.
Part of this is having our Reps be clearly known and assigned by either server or time zone. My goal would be to have these reps also assist new players in gaining an understanding and introduction to ALFA as a whole.
I also would seek to refine the temp retirement policy based on discussions amongst players and admin.

4. Which (if any) processes/ policies/ whatnot do you think are working well (and you'd want to keep the same)?

I think we need to make a better transition from the application stage to the proper ALFA player stage. A big chunk of that involves re-introducing RP 101 and the OAS to be honest.

[Analogkid]

Would you be in support of initiatives to bring back online OAS2, as well as RP101?

YES

In fact, that would be a big part of my platform in running. I think we can do better in getting new players acclimated to ALFA that way. I myself am willing to DM on any renewed OAS and shift them over to ALFA proper as seen fit.

[Zelknolf]

So the questions I should've asked in the first place, what with it being the stuff I would have to do work for:
How good are you with the technical side of PA work? When it comes to investigations, for example, how many of your own queries will you be writing and how much will you be leaning on others for help when, for example, trying to place an order of events from logs after getting conflicting reports from players?

And do you believe there is a reward system (specifically static XP and wealth) that can make the benefits of farming trivial enough that you wouldn't bother to enforce? Related to as much, do you believe that opportunity cost can be implemented well enough that the benefits of powergaming would be triival enough that you wouldn't bother to enforce? If either is a yes, what would that look like?

[Sandermann]

1. As player admin, what would be your view of the role of the HDM's and DM's. What responsibilities do you think server DM teams have (within the purview of the PA of course)

2.What do you think of "Player density". Is it too high, too low, does it even matter?

3.A player sends you a PM complaining in emphatic terms that a DM has killed them because the player believes that the DM doesn't like them and they would like a res and be moved to another server. What would you do?

[Analogkid]

So the questions I should've asked in the first place, what with it being the stuff I would have to do work for:
How good are you with the technical side of PA work? When it comes to investigations, for example, how many of your own queries will you be writing and how much will you be leaning on others for help when, for example, trying to place an order of events from logs after getting conflicting reports from players?

Obviously there's going to be a bit of a learning curve involved as I try to get as much help as possible at the get go on working through investigations. Again this will be where I think the PA/AR team would work in tandem.

And do you believe there is a reward system (specifically static XP and wealth) that can make the benefits of farming trivial enough that you wouldn't bother to enforce? Related to as much, do you believe that opportunity cost can be implemented well enough that the benefits of powergaming would be triival enough that you wouldn't bother to enforce? If either is a yes, what would that look like?

I'm not the techie here, but having a system of diminishing returns is one solution. The other is having enough DMs around, spread around or whose presence is at least felt. Sometimes cases of see no DM/hear no DM can directly lead to the problems of static abuse, farming and a whole host of related issues.

[Analogkid]

1. As player admin, what would be your view of the role of the HDM's and DM's. What responsibilities do you think server DM teams have (within the purview of the PA of course)

HDMs, Maintain the stability and integrity of the server, both in terms of technical side and DM team. Serve as final arbiter of decision making for the server.

DMs, two things...help in making alfa a fun and enjoyable place, free of pettiness and bias in their roles, followed by assisting the HDM is making sure the server and ALFA has a whole is run with integrity....by that I mean, who you know and who you're friends with shouldn't impact what you can get away with among other things...as an example.

Where does the PA fit in this scheme here? Well to me, the PA works hand in hand with each server team, and with our players, to make sure the integrity of ALFA is paramount. This may often trying to weave through a dozen different versions of the same story...but thats how I see it.

2.What do you think of "Player density". Is it too high, too low, does it even matter?

Should we force a change? no....should we try to spread out the enjoyment, yes. I already suggested we have various server events at regular intervals in the past.

3.A player sends you a PM complaining in emphatic terms that a DM has killed them because the player believes that the DM doesn't like them and they would like a res and be moved to another server. What would you do?

It will take WAY more then a PM to push for the res. There would need to be some kind of known and reported pattern of behavior, some kind of proof or evidence of some kind of over the top behavior that could show up in the logs and that doesn't make sense RP wise. So...what would I do, investigate and see if theres anything to back up the PM

[t-ice]

Sorry if this is blunt, but:

Not long ago you were given a 30-day ban from the MS server for abusing power and responsibility to have your PC kill another PC yours had a IC conflict with. This play was rewinded and the death revoked. Given that a major part of a PA's work is to mediate such occurances, how do you reconcile the notion that your record suggests your idea of playing PC vs PC conflict is not in accordance to ALFA's prevailing rules and culture?

Or generalized, how would you describe your notion of running PC vs PC conflict fairly? Also, what is the DM's role in it.

[CloudDancing]

Sorry if this is blunt, but:

Not long ago you were given a 30-day ban from the MS server for abusing power and responsibility to have your PC kill another PC yours had a IC conflict with. This play was rewinded and the death revoked. Given that a major part of a PA's work is to mediate such occurances, how do you reconcile the notion that your record suggests your idea of playing PC vs PC conflict is not in accordance to ALFA's prevailing rules and culture?

Or generalized, how would you describe your notion of running PC vs PC conflict fairly? Also, what is the DM's role in it.

As the presiding Dm for this event, this was merely a case of the player not interpreting the HDM's guidelines correctly. AK did not understand what the HDM meant and I, presiding DM, should have stopped him but I misunderstood too.

AK was a sport and took the punishment with complete respect and understanding from the HDM and the DMA.

Seriously, nobody is perfect in Alfa. I'd look more to his ability to arbitrate and understand Alfa rules as well has his past work as HDM of NWN1 Arabel City and a DM.

[Dorn]

((this in NO way refers to the two posts above which i only noticed after writing this and posting in the others threads))

hey mate,

1)
I am sometimes concerned that we are beginning to lean on tech systems to prevent cheating. These systems add complexity, take time to design and implement (time that could be used for new DM/player-fun-features), and are sometimes hard to implement to target a minority of cheaters without impacting on a few good souls who's RL circumstances may mean they are penalised by a one size fits all 'automated PC regulation' systems.

We have a system of prevention for cheating in ALFA. You cheat you get punished (if it's an honest mistake, you dont). We elect PAs to interpret the rules properly to ensure ALFA remains the game we love.
Except I feel that the punishment's currently do not establish enough of a disincentive to cheat and so we look for alternatives like system approaches.

I would like to see major exp/level losses, permanent attribute penalties, major item/gold losses, and premptive rejection of PrC/EO char approvals in the toolbox for the PA. I believe these more 'close to home' measures may be more of a disincentive (at least from mid-level on) than a strike and can always be IC played out in a world of random events.

What's your view on this?

2
Dan started picking people up on stuff that previously has been let go. I applaud Dan for this and think those that got away with it previously...'got away with it'.

Do you think the standard Dan implemeted was too lenient, too harsh, or about right.