PA Questions for FoamBats4All

[FoamBats4All]

I'll keep it simple, and answer questions as they come up. My platform revolves around:

Public and Open Operation: Transparency & Documentation
All Player Admin-related decisions shall be posted in the Player Admin Decisions thread, not just punishments. I will do my very best to make all player-needed information easy to find, even if I need to PM it to them each individually upon joining.

The ALFA Charter
We use it, even if we don't always like it. The Player Admin has his role, and it is not the same role as the DMA, LA, or TA. I will do everything related to my position, and seek to work with others when there is a proposed change not under my jurisdiction.

Player Accumulation and Retention
This is perhaps the area that I know the least about, and will need to consult the player base on. NWN2 isn't getting any bigger, but there is much that the administration -- and the players -- can do to help retain and accumulate new players. The first goal will be to clarify rules to new players in a way that does not present itself as a legal document. I would like to implement some journal rule displays initially, as the journal is an often looked at interface for new players, even if they do not live on the forums.

Farming
Farming is an issue that I believe can be better tracked, documented, and curbed. I know that Zelknolf has been in talks with Daniel and other admins to implement curved XP gains. There is much we can do to prevent farming before it even gets to the punishment stage. I would like to discuss, explore, and implement these changes.

Timely Manner
I'm a college student who spends most of their time at the computer. As my play times indicate, I can dedicate a good amount of time to ALFA, and there will never be a Player Admin decision that goes on for months without any update or resolution. As with transparency, I will be keeping people informed of any decisions related to them.

Refreshing Representatives
CloudDancer wrote it well enough:

Every six months, the volunteer staff should be making room for new staff and shifting roles. For example an AR need to be shifted every six months or so and their availability assessed.

I like the idea, and will be implementing it myself.

[FoamBats4All]

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

Aside from I wrote in my first post, I'd sure like to see the player base happier. Also, world peace.

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

At the time of answering, note that only AnalogKid and Zilvai have entered the race. I've certainly gotten in less trouble than AnalogKid, and I don't know much about how Zilvai will run. But I believe my relationship with at least two other admins and willingness to get things done in a (hopefully) friendly manner should be what makes me an appealing candidate.

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

Yes, as outlined in my first post.

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

For the most part, I don't think I'll be changing anything other than what I posted above. If it's not broken, don't fix it. Policies just need to be made more user-friendly and available, and crime-prevention should be just as important (if not more so) than crime punishment.

[FoamBats4All]

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

Roleplay 101
I am for the return of Roleplay 101.

The main issue I see is getting people to actually teach it. In my most ideal world, I would like to see one or two DMs on each server be 'instructor' DMs, who would take people into events that encourage roleplay, and help them learn. I believe this would be the least insulting and most enjoyable way for someone to get more in line with the community.

However, I see the problem of finding volunteers has been a problem in the past, let alone DM volunteers.

Failing volunteers, it gets pretty difficult to do this kind of thing, short of teaching it myself. RP101 is not the main focus of my campaign, but yes, I'd be in support of initiatives to bring back RP 101.

Open Application Server
I am for the return of Open Application Server.

Even with (lightweight) hak content, it should be simpler to implement current NWN2, in comparison to how it was on NWN1. Assuming we do not run into design or hosting issues, I would like for OAS to function as a public ALFA server, where we put on our best face and show our best content. The hope would be that this helps to attract new players.

I would need to see the individual initiatives before granting/withholding support, but the overall idea of the OAS I would support.


(Original reply: I know nothing about how either of these functioned, being a rather new member myself. I would need to look into them (doing so at the moment) and get back to you.

From what I know of RP 101, however, I would very much like to bring it back. How it functioned just needs to be studied, so that it comes back in a way that is useful and doesn't fade or get canceled again.)

[Ronan]

There is much we can do to prevent farming before it even gets to the punishment stage. I would like to discuss, explore, and implement these changes.

What sort of changes are you talking about, and how do you intend to implement them?

[FoamBats4All]

There is much we can do to prevent farming before it even gets to the punishment stage. I would like to discuss, explore, and implement these changes.

What sort of changes are you talking about, and how do you intend to implement them?

Three main changes should be done, in my opinion, resulting in clearer punishment.

Step 1: Informing
It's easy to get a farming strike without even knowing that you're farming. The rules are vague, and in some cases non-public. The rules on farming should be further expanded in a public manner. Additionally, clearer and less bureaucratic-sounding rules should be available in-game, via an often-used UI (journal system makes sense).

Step 2: Notifying
We already track XP gains and quest activity. I would support, push, and if necessary, develop scripts that would notify players if they have gained too much XP in a span of time. This warning (ideally a notification with Zelk's new UI) would let players know that they should probably cool down and remove any doubt that they do not know what they are doing.

Step 3: Prevention & Curving
Once they have reached that warning stage, I would like to see experience gains curve downwards, making farming less appealing and less grievous a crime.

Step 4: Punishment
This stage really doesn't need any altering, though light strikes would be far rarer given that people would without a doubt know that they are causing an offense when they choose to.

---

I know Zelknolf has a proposal she is floating. I would like to see the details she suggests, as she's more familiar with the technical aspects of our database and how things are presently tracked. It would be my interest to discuss this with her and the other admins, to find a solution that is satisfying for the players.

[Rotku]

The ALFA Charter
We use it, even if we don't always like it. The Player Admin has his role, and it is not the same role as the DMA, LA, or TA. I will do everything related to my position, and seek to work with others when there is a proposed change not under my jurisdiction.

So... what do you see this role as? What's the PA responsible for? (other than what you listed)

[FoamBats4All]

The ALFA Charter
We use it, even if we don't always like it. The Player Admin has his role, and it is not the same role as the DMA, LA, or TA. I will do everything related to my position, and seek to work with others when there is a proposed change not under my jurisdiction.

So... what do you see this role as? What's the PA responsible for? (other than what you listed)

The charter explicitly states the following roles for the player administrator: Applications, Guilds, ALFA Player’s Manual, ALFA Representatives, Player Discipline, and Player Acceptance.

ALFA has quite a few positions, some of which overlap. I'll be the first to point out that I'm an ALFA noob, having been here only around 6 months, and my position on this may change as I speak with the other administrators.

As I see it, ALFA has two categories of administrators: infrastructure administrators and gameplay administrators. To handle the running of ALFA as a system and body, we have our Infrastructure Administrator and Technical Administrator. The Lead Admin sort of fits in there as well. From there we have the two administrators focused on the gameplay of ALFA: the Dungeon Master Administrator and Player Administrator, to police our (H)DM team and the players respectively.

So it's just that: the administrator who concerns himself with player activity, with the above examples.

[Rumple C]

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

Aside from I wrote in my first post, I'd sure like to see the player base happier. Also, world peace.

How many weeks until we can implement world peace into the real world? The lack of it has been concerning me for a while.

[FoamBats4All]

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

Aside from I wrote in my first post, I'd sure like to see the player base happier. Also, world peace.

How many weeks until we can implement world peace into the real world? The lack of it has been concerning me for a while.

That was a typo; I meant to type, "Harsher punishment for parole violators."

[Swift]

Refreshing Representatives
CloudDancer wrote it well enough:

Every six months, the volunteer staff should be making room for new staff and shifting roles. For example an AR need to be shifted every six months or so and their availability assessed.

I like the idea, and will be implementing it myself.

Is this going to be implemented for the sake of implementing it or do you genuinely believe the current ARs are not up to scratch and need to be replaced with fresh blood? Why do you believe they should not serve any longer than 6 months?

[FoamBats4All]

Refreshing Representatives
CloudDancer wrote it well enough:

Every six months, the volunteer staff should be making room for new staff and shifting roles. For example an AR need to be shifted every six months or so and their availability assessed.

I like the idea, and will be implementing it myself.

Is this going to be implemented for the sake of implementing it or do you genuinely believe the current ARs are not up to scratch and need to be replaced with fresh blood? Why do you believe they should not serve any longer than 6 months?

Serving no longer than 6 months wouldn't be my intention. However, clearing out ineffective or inactive representatives should be a goal.

I'm not presently a PA, and don't have any insight into the current administration in this regard. What I do know is that I have heard of a couple of inactive or ineffectual ARs, and I would like to see new blood when old blood is not presently active or could use a break.

The shift in ARs would require study and researching (hopefully documented) happenings and listening to player concerns. I expect a vast majority of the ARs to remain.

[Adanu]

Refreshing Representatives
CloudDancer wrote it well enough:

Every six months, the volunteer staff should be making room for new staff and shifting roles. For example an AR need to be shifted every six months or so and their availability assessed.

I like the idea, and will be implementing it myself.

Is this going to be implemented for the sake of implementing it or do you genuinely believe the current ARs are not up to scratch and need to be replaced with fresh blood? Why do you believe they should not serve any longer than 6 months?

The way Foam is describing it, it would have nothing to do with 'insulting' people who aren't around as much as people like, say, me. People who have a lot of time to devote to this should they choose. It's more about giving people who have the time and energy a chance when another burns out.

[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?

[Cast_No_Shadow]

When do I get my foam bats?