A New Vouch System?

[Secrettom]

Before I begin, please note that I mean *no* disrespect towards the GM's or Grunts, they do an amazing job, and I am always thankful to how awesome they are.

Anyway, let me begin!


As this server gets more and more popular, the vouch system is slowly becoming more and more unbalanced...There are far more users then there are grunts, and with everyone rushing to RP with the few grunts (or GM's) online, this takes away from the RP fun.

Now, I recall reading that at one time, many moons ago, any user could vouch for another. But (of course) this was abused, so now only "Grunts" can vouch for one another, etc. BUT, as things go on, there are less and less grunts (and willing GM's) to vouch for one another...so why not put the power of vouching back into the hands of other users? Now, I understand that having a 1-vouch-per-user is not going to work, as people will vouch for one another, and things will be crazy. BUUUTTTT, what about this:


Grunt - 1 vouch (Obviously)

Normal user (with initial approved/fully approved profile) - Needs 3 normal users (with good reason) and that counts as a single vouch.


So, this would mean that if a user wanted to have all 3 vouches (from all non-grunts) they would need 9 people to give them a good report, and I assume something like that would show the GM's that the player in question is a competent roleplayer. I know most of the RP troubles come from players trying to level up/get quick money/bothering GM's and Grunts about vouches...so if we have this improved system, this will take off alot of strain from those few high-level users.


As for when a user vouches for another, I was thinking they would need to fill out a simple form explaining why (in detail) this person should be on the wiki/known forever in history.

Your username:
Their username:

Reason for vouch:

IC: (Meaning how they acted while in-character)


OOC: (Meaning how they acted while in /chat or anything else OOC)

And then some random stuff that if you fake-vouch you will get banned and the GM's will eat your soul, yadda yadda, all that jazz.

In theory, this should work well because of the amount of people needed, and if the said user is no good, we just post about how they cause problems and the GM's can ban them (if its that bad, of course)


Please tell me what you think!




(And please dont get mad at me)

[ElvenMistress]

Nice idea...

[smackdown]

In theory , Comunism should have worked, but oh well lets not get phylospohical.I think there should be way more grunts for that.Thats pretty much it, i mean try everything before you change something.But thats my opinion.I think thats a fairly good idea.

[Secrettom]

In theory , Comunism should have worked, but oh well lets not get phylospohical.I think there should be way more grunts for that.Thats pretty much it, i mean try everything before you change something.But thats my opinion.I think thats a fairly good idea.

With this system, there *would* be more grunts, and everything would eventually balance out.

[Grakor456]

To be honest, I'm happy with the system as-is. We're steadily increasing the number of Grunts as time passes already, we're simply dealing with the "summer crowd" that's flooded in in recent months.

A lot of people have been complaining about vouches, but some have been getting them very quickly. So the real question is, why are some getting vouches quickly, and others not?

Edit: So people are aware, the reason we have the system in place is because we've found that bad players tend to travel in large groups, and would vouch for one another. The end result was a clique of undesirables vouching for one another and getting in.

[Secrettom]

So people are aware, the reason we have the system in place is because we've found that bad players tend to travel in large groups, and would vouch for one another. The end result was a clique of undesirables vouching for one another and getting in.

This is what worries me as well, but if people could do the opposite of vouching...

(meaning if you had X amount of people saying that this user only talked OOC about hamburgers and anime, they would get banned, or just ignored by the rest of the community)

[Harmonic]

Eck. The whole 'unvouch' thing, results in people getting pissy OOC and starting to dislike eachother and BLAH. It's not worth it, and the system we have seems to be working quite well.

[Bolshe]

I've wanted to unvouch people, but it's just unnecessary OOC drama, really.

I like the system as it is, with a bunch of new approved profiles there will be much more vouches going round.

*clicks Vouch-Gun*

[MrWeasel]

The system we have in place is working just fine. It's pointless complaining about it or suggesting a new system to replace it because we are not going to change it.

[Grakor456]

There's always the possibility of change, but we'd really have to like the suggestion for it to do so.

In this particular case, I'm wary because even requiring larger numbers of Users to vouch, it's still allowing potentially bad players to vouch for each other, not to mention the issues that come about having to tally two separate pools when looking over each intro thread now.

[Aeonar]

Personally, I don't think the system needs much changing. Perhaps requiring less vouches, or making more people Grunts would do the trick. Forgive the crappy analogy, but it seems as though any time a Grunt logs on, everyone jumps to RP with them simply to get vouches. It seems like a bunch of children all jumping at the opportunity to play with the "cool toy". Again, sorry for the analogy, didnt mean to disrespect anyone.

[Qaza]

People who are elligable to become grunts still need to -apply- for the position. Complain to them, not the GMs.

[Bolshe]

If I have fun roleplaying with you, I give you a vouch. Perhaps people need to find themselves giving more people their forum name. See, I would love to vouch everyone I RP with but I'll be damned if I have to go, find your name, your introduction thread, then type out my vouch. Sounds lazy, I know. If you have fun RPing with someone and they enjoy it as well, let them know that you're in need of so-and-so vouches and you would really appreciate if they could vouch you. Then tell them your forum name and on what page your introduction is on. If someone tells me atleast that much and I had fun RPing with them, I'd probably even go and type the vouch up right there and then.

This isn't only me, either- there are many Grunts out there to get your three vouches and more and more are popping up each day. Just keep at RPing.

[Lokk]

First off, even though I'm new and thusly do not consider my opinion to be given great weight. The system is, in essence, fine. It has its control and measures, checks and balances. What it takes, and while that may be frustrating to some people, is time.

So the real question is, why are some getting vouches quickly, and others not?

Simply, location/race/RP style/character background is your basic explanation.

To elaborate: (I'm going to generalize here, so don't kill me. I know everyone's different.)

If somebody creates a Kal'Dorei character, there are certain "norms" that go along with that. They are more in tune with light, nature and so forth. The also tend to linger in areas that are friendly and accepting of Kal'Dorei. In addition, Kal'Dorei, Sin'Dorei, Draenei and gnomes tend to be more cerebral than humans and dwarves. Those four races are perfectly happy having a heated debate someplace over some small matter of the applicable use of arcane energies. Dwarves and Orcs on the other hand, have no real idea on the matters of the arcane, and racially, they're more likely to toss a mug of ale at somebody just to start a bar fight for fun. A human or troll could go either way, and most likely will do both.

Granted, there is a tremendous amount of leeway given to change standing with whatever faction you desire on this server, this opens up lines of communication that would previously have been closed. But, there is "realistically" a huge measure of distrust between the former faction lines. After all, we've been shooting, stabbing, hacking and blasting each other for quite some time now, and only recently has a cease fire been called.

In addition, races are going to remain in what's considered "their" territory for the most part. Orcs, tauren and trolls are going to remain in Durotar, Mulgore, The Barrens, etc. because those areas are comfortable, familiar and well known by their family, teachers, and so on.

All this galvanizes people into different directions and unfortunately, wide spread locations. So, there may be several "Alliance" or "Horde" Grunts on, and they're hanging out in Alliance or Horde areas predominantly. I don't blame them, that's what they'd do and where they have their fun.

I feel a great measure of pity for the Grunts who would probably just like to be left alone some days, and woe betide the poor GM's who are pulled this way and that while trying to meet everyone's needs and keep people happy.

[Bolshe]

Perfectly stated, Lokk. I keep my character Elaszun in Darnassus, Auberdine, and may hike her up to Azshara Crater for the teaparty roleplays. She's a racist Night Elf. That's that. She's not going to spend more time than she should in Stormwind, Ironforge- any place that isn't Elven. Why? Because she hates the people. Many people have asked me to roleplay with them but to lead Elaszun out to the middle of Elwynn Forest. I love to roleplay, but no dice. Same with all the other roleplayers around- their characters may just not want to exist outside of IC comfort zones.

Either get ready to commute or find another Grunt. If you roleplay your character like he or she should be roleplayed and remain a good person OOC, you will get your vouches in no time.