Quest Giver Positions

[Kaghuros]

Ah, but what makes forum helpers different is that their purview is only over a handful of areas of the forums. They can only moderate Character Profiles, Introductions, and the Wiki (which anyone can modify actually) as far as I'm aware. Forum GMs were all-forum moderators, which actually is better served by Enforcer GMs anyway but it was mostly an excuse for Rensin and I to be mostly inactive and still help out sometimes.

My point being this would give non-GM players ingame powers, which means little to no material difference from the functions of Trial GMs or content GMs. There might as well be more Content GMs doing that stuff and just skip the middle man.

Also why do people need GMs for events anyway? In my day we just played pretend *shakes cane*

(Though I'll admit that being a GM and RPing as an NPC was always fun and rewarding.)

[FlyingSquirrel]

Also why do people need GMs for events anyway? In my day we just played pretend *shakes cane*

I kind of agree with this. However, there was an event I did where the people were playing Chess. As you can guess, it would've been incredibly challenging to imagine and stay on the same page as to where all the units were. I, in real life, had a chess board next to me that I kept updated, but I had Kril (who did an epic job handling helping me and Kidnapped) spawn some Dragons and stuff and move them accordingly.

So yea, they can be needed at times, but most of the time it's fine.

[Psychyn]

The reason that isn't in place anymore is because it failed epicly. Just saying.

Well. And we had a smaller staff. /shrug.

Just because something failed once, does not mean it can't be achieved with better guidelines and monitoring. Let the past be the past, live it, learn from it but do not expect a constant doom scenario on every change that may have been there in it.

I still stick to the thing it can be a really fun idea if done properly. Mostly for random small based events or loose comments in the world to create more immersion.

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. - Thomas Edison, failed over thousand times just to improve (not create) one light-bulb. Because of his persistence, we now take it for granted. If he hadn't, we would all still be stuck in the dark.

[Cressy]

I am for the idea, Psychyn. I am just stating what happened before. We had too small of a staff, with inactive members. It was put in place so that we would work together instead of doing things alone.

[Hawk]

Psychyn, not to be rude, but back when the category system was up? We had even -more- GMs at the time, and it still failed. A lot of times people needed to help a player, it was always "Wait, I need to see if they're online". or "Sorry, the building GM is busy." And heck, even in the present you get the "GMS DON'T DO ANYTHING" argument coming up. I'm not even sure if you were around to witness it.

Whilst it was a nice idea in theory, it actually made doing our job even much more of a hassle, and it got way less work done. There's not really much that could be done about it. Sure, there's sense in trying something again if it doesn't work at first, but recognising when something is flawed from the beginning can save you a lot of time and effort, which in my opinion is more valuable. I actually wish I was considering this back when I was pushing for the Prestige system to be remade. It would've saved mountains of work and frustration, but that's a different story entirely.

[Psychyn]

Psychyn, not to be rude, but back when the category system was up? We had even -more- GMs at the time, and it still failed. A lot of times people needed to help a player, it was always "Wait, I need to see if they're online". or "Sorry, the building GM is busy." And heck, even in the present you get the "GMS DON'T DO ANYTHING" argument coming up. I'm not even sure if you were around to witness it.

Whilst it was a nice idea in theory, it actually made doing our job even much more of a hassle, and it got way less work done. There's not really much that could be done about it. Sure, there's sense in trying something again if it doesn't work at first, but recognising when something is flawed from the beginning can save you a lot of time and effort, which in my opinion is more valuable. I actually wish I was considering this back when I was pushing for the Prestige system to be remade. It would've saved mountains of work and frustration, but that's a different story entirely.

Rudeness? Where? I CAN NOT SEE IT. *cough*

Eherm, that aside. ^^ (Your post is perfectly fine in my book). It without a doubt is flawed to a degree in the current form, but that's why it's not implemented, right? I do believe that if we discuss on the abilities, how the people would be picked, and what they actually can and can not do (aka a set of rules written in stone) then it actually has a chance at being a great RP addition.

Do we truly need it? Well no, as pointed out earlier a lot of people use TRP and TRP offers likewise functions but despite that, I do think it increases the chance of 'random' events and additions to your RP you've never expected. (Which can be good, but also bad. If it's entirely unwanted however, I'm sure solutions can be found.)

As for the GMs don't do anything argument.. Some people just can't be pleased. They really, can not be pleased no matter what you do and if the GMs believe they've done everything within their capabilities to help said player out with whatever it was, I can only suggest to just ignore it and give yourself that pat on the back. (Because hey, who doesn't want a compliment for something?)

I don't know personally if it is going to be such a huge drama, but I do believe it's worth a try out. If people keep a mature and respectful attitude, and after trying it just shrug their shoulders and go "Oh well, we tried at least!" then I do believe everyone can just agree and move on. But not trying something entirely because it has flaws, stops the whole place from advancing no? Everything has flaws. <3

I do get your point, I do understand the hassle it may require and the drama it may give in the end, but all in all, I think it has the possibility to become something incredibly fun. It just needs monitoring, maturity of the people and some time to both work out the flaws and for it to settle in.

[Brutalskars]

GM help is useful, but hardly a requirement to hold events. I plan and handle my own stuff, and on occasion ask for some help. But most of the time I have been perfectly fine and content just doing things myself. Less hassle if I just handle it.

Sincerely,
The Corrosive Creepy Crawler
(Can't think of something more ominous to call myself right now)

[DaveM]

STOP

Necro-time!

I'd say a few things.

Before anything else, I think it's of little relevance whether we're talking about is defined as Quest Givers, DMs, Pseudo-GMs, more-Contents or Spider-Pigs. The question, I feel, is (was) if an expansion of the "Story"-function would be desirable.

First of all, on ideals. I think in an utopic context we'd all be GMs since we could all, by default, be trusted with it. Since we're not and therefore are not (which is oh so for the best), I do however believe that where there is a chance to spread this power to more and more people, that is a good thing. If there are people that -might- be trusted, I'd love an application, vetting and initiation system to check that as many of these people are legit. I'd love a time when so much of the playerbase was Gm-empowered so that most RP taking place would usually pick one or two "empowerds" up withour asking.


Second of all, on legitimacy. When one considers hosting events for the sake of others, they often feel weary with regards to what is and isn't too much. Another worry might simply be to not end up getting in trouble as a consequence of your initial good intention. I feel that even without the NPC/Phase stuffs, the authority of being granted the role would in itself go a long way. Someone tasked feels more motivated.

Third of all, on awkwardness. People that have been around a while will find that RP-ers are typically not, in fact, socially expansive communicators. Most often, they're socially awkward and would rather perma-death their main than have to step out of confort-zone and chat to some GM they percieve as a stranger with authority. Light forbid the moment when they actually turn out to be busy, that moment might just make awkward RP-er take a 2 week leave. A wider web of these peeps would increase the odds that these dudes find an actual friend they have holding this function. The truth is some people RP in rather small rather specific groups - Why not provide even to them if one or two of them proves competent?

Number four - Comfort. For some people the added cost of having to plan through a GM would be the deal-breaker to hosting content or not. Some are just not comfortable having to run their vision through a GM, or simply might feel uncomfy "using" them. And this is one of those "Well-eff-them-if-they're-too-comfortable-to-reach-out.". Then again saying that means less fun content. If some of these guys are competent to do it on their own, I say find out.

And in closing, number five, which is sort of what I started off saying I won't talk about - The difference to Content GMs. While the above four points apply regardless of the definition, this Quest-Giver idea, as outlined, has several big differences to CGMs people don't notice. QG-s can't forum, QG-s aren't involved in the important business behind the scenes - exectutive decisions, major stuffs, etc. No leveling, T10 gearz spawning, etc. either. Not least, it's a means for looking for potential CGMs.

So many awesome peeps I'd love to see host at full-speed with full powah.

[Zenethen]

DaveM, you're speaking the words of the CotH gospel, bro.

Personally, I feel the position is just for the people (Like me) who devote most of their RPing time thinking of and executing awesome events. Most of my problems with the running of my events is finding a GM that isn't currently busy with executive/RP things. Due to the spontaneous times and places of my events, I'm usually unable to find a GM for anything more than phasing the party, and as such I have to call on their imaginations

This is not a diss on GMs, and it's not one of those 'I forgive you for being busy nubs', no, I state my point with the utmost caution, truly.

Good day.