Senglent
08-12-2009, 01:33 PM
Blue Clues · on 8/12/2009 11:24:57 AM 2045
We know quite well that we have many players who would have made amazing CE GMs, but who also would never apply because they didn't want to stop playing. We also figured out that many of these players were already doing some of what CE GMs are doing. Namely, they are Community Leaders who initiate and maintain positive and constructive forum discussions, help out players who need the information, either by supplying that information, or by pointing them in the right direction if they didn't know the answer themselves, and are able to provide useful, high-quality feedback to the development staff (from both personal opinions and those of the community as a whole) about existing systems, things being tested, and proposed future development. Some of these players are already Mentors, but some of them, for whatever reason, aren't part of that In-Game program, rather they're sort of "Forum Mentors". So that we can both acknowledge these folks and so that they can be more easily recognizable by the community as a whole, we are forming a Community Leader Team for GemStone IV.
Many of these new Community Leaders already post in multiple guild topics, in addition to topics and categories devoted to the Races, Events, Combat, Magic, and basically every other topic on our boards. Since it's unreasonable to assume that these players are going to post in a rational, constructive manner in their guild topics and then post like raving, rabid lunatics in others, we feel that by officially recognizing these individuals, we will be doing nothing but improving our degree of communication and coverage with everyone.
Most of these individuals practically appointed themselves into positions of respect, having already exhibited the qualities we were looking for for months (if not years) without any kind of prompting or nudging from us at all. The fact of the matter is, they were already leaders in the community long before we created this Team and nothing is really changing about them, nor are they really getting anything special or significant for their involvement, aside from one soon-to-be obvious change: As the GMs and Staff Members appear on the forums with Red Names, the members of the Community Leader team will be designated with Blue Names.
The Community Leader Team will have no time requirements or specific obligations to fulfill. New ones will be added as they are identified and sometimes, existing ones may step down, as necessary. This team, in other words, is always in a state of flux, so just because you are not on it now, doesn't mean you are not eligible/invited in the future. Having said that, this team isn't really one you can "apply" for, nor is it one that we will be accepting nominations for. The best people for this job will draw attention to themselves naturally. I also want to mention that we are not just going to consider/look for/invite "lackies" and "yes-man". We don't want people who will just automatically go along with everything we say, but rather we are more interested in people who can present their opinions in a constructive manner, even if/when they disagree with us. The choices we made were pretty much common sense and I think an overwhelming majority of people will agree with them.
After lots of discussion with Sirina, the new Forum Queen Izzea will be contacting the first batch of individuals and inviting them to the Team and hopefully, you'll start seeing the Blue Names show up shortly.
Solomon
"The probability of someone making a mathematical formulation on a non-mathematical subject is inversely proportional to its usefulness."
- Brust's Law of Mathematical Formulations
Like the title says just thought I would share this as I know a good few don't bother with the officials anymore, then again not sure I buy the whole no yes-men/lackies bit.
We know quite well that we have many players who would have made amazing CE GMs, but who also would never apply because they didn't want to stop playing. We also figured out that many of these players were already doing some of what CE GMs are doing. Namely, they are Community Leaders who initiate and maintain positive and constructive forum discussions, help out players who need the information, either by supplying that information, or by pointing them in the right direction if they didn't know the answer themselves, and are able to provide useful, high-quality feedback to the development staff (from both personal opinions and those of the community as a whole) about existing systems, things being tested, and proposed future development. Some of these players are already Mentors, but some of them, for whatever reason, aren't part of that In-Game program, rather they're sort of "Forum Mentors". So that we can both acknowledge these folks and so that they can be more easily recognizable by the community as a whole, we are forming a Community Leader Team for GemStone IV.
Many of these new Community Leaders already post in multiple guild topics, in addition to topics and categories devoted to the Races, Events, Combat, Magic, and basically every other topic on our boards. Since it's unreasonable to assume that these players are going to post in a rational, constructive manner in their guild topics and then post like raving, rabid lunatics in others, we feel that by officially recognizing these individuals, we will be doing nothing but improving our degree of communication and coverage with everyone.
Most of these individuals practically appointed themselves into positions of respect, having already exhibited the qualities we were looking for for months (if not years) without any kind of prompting or nudging from us at all. The fact of the matter is, they were already leaders in the community long before we created this Team and nothing is really changing about them, nor are they really getting anything special or significant for their involvement, aside from one soon-to-be obvious change: As the GMs and Staff Members appear on the forums with Red Names, the members of the Community Leader team will be designated with Blue Names.
The Community Leader Team will have no time requirements or specific obligations to fulfill. New ones will be added as they are identified and sometimes, existing ones may step down, as necessary. This team, in other words, is always in a state of flux, so just because you are not on it now, doesn't mean you are not eligible/invited in the future. Having said that, this team isn't really one you can "apply" for, nor is it one that we will be accepting nominations for. The best people for this job will draw attention to themselves naturally. I also want to mention that we are not just going to consider/look for/invite "lackies" and "yes-man". We don't want people who will just automatically go along with everything we say, but rather we are more interested in people who can present their opinions in a constructive manner, even if/when they disagree with us. The choices we made were pretty much common sense and I think an overwhelming majority of people will agree with them.
After lots of discussion with Sirina, the new Forum Queen Izzea will be contacting the first batch of individuals and inviting them to the Team and hopefully, you'll start seeing the Blue Names show up shortly.
Solomon
"The probability of someone making a mathematical formulation on a non-mathematical subject is inversely proportional to its usefulness."
- Brust's Law of Mathematical Formulations
Like the title says just thought I would share this as I know a good few don't bother with the officials anymore, then again not sure I buy the whole no yes-men/lackies bit.