How may I help you?

[Reigen]

Before I get into the heart of this post, I'd like to go off on a little tangent. I've been on COTH for a little over two years as of July 23ed and have enjoyed this server a great deal. I've adored most of the community here, have seen friends come and go and have had many great sessions of role-play. I've been to many events and have dipped my toes into running events myself. The first major one I ran didn't have a big turn-out, but I hope those who did show up enjoyed themselves.

For the first year on COTH, I was your typical grunt. Going about and depending on the GMs or those I knew to make events for me to join, approve my profiles and answer my questions when I had them. Not long after my one year COTHversiry, I was promoted to a FH in the first batch of them.

I did my job as a FH, checking profiles, doing introductions and answering questions as they came to be. It was shaky at first, I felt afraid of messing up so I always did research before I'd comment or answer on any thing. There was a set list of things I had to do and I followed that to the T. This went on until just a month ago, where I was given the rank of Trial and now, GMness.

There's no great book of GMship for me to check. There's no set list of things I should do in order to please the players of this server. I have ideas, but I have no idea how well they will be received. Thus, I am pleading to those who read this to help me become the GM that you want to interact with. In short:

How may I help YOU?

Event types

One thing I know is always craved is an event of some sort. That much is obvious to me. However, the type of events everyone likes is vastly different from what another person would want to do. I seek to try to run events that people will want to come too and to run events that they will not find themselves so bored that they alt-tab to browse reddit in-between roll turns. My question to everyone is:

What type of events do you personally enjoy? Why? What about this type of event draws you to it?

I'm not going to post a poll because a poll will not help me judge wholly what it is someone likes. The most popular vote may be combat. Well, that's good and all, but what about combat is it that makes you want to go? Is it a thrill putting your character in possible danger? The more I'm told, the more I can do to help make an event something that people will want to crop up again.

Please, let me know what you enjoy.

Storyline vs Random

On the subject of events, there's also another factor that goes with them. Storylines tend to be multiple events that relate together and in the end, form some sort of climatic conclusion that leaves everyone feeling like a big hero. Random events tend to have no plot to them and you'll likely never see the NPC again after they server their purpose. There's also a happy middle of a light-storyline fueled by random events, where as the NPCs don't matter and you don't form any attachment to a certain area, but there is some sort of big ending. My question in this section is:

What would you rather have, storylines or randoms?

Once more, I request detailed answers if you can give them to me.

My Motives

I'd be silly to say that I didn't have a goal as a GM, and I do have one. I want to bring RP to the many zones that are available for players to go to. The GMs habe built many awesome areas that sadly go unused or unnoticed, and I'd really like to fix that. I will fully admit that most of my self-planned events will have a purpose of bringing RP to these zones so that they can get the exposure that they deserve. I still do want to see if the player-base agrees with this, however, thus I ask:

Do you support events in the unused RP areas of COTH or would you rather them be focused in 'popular hubs'?

In Closing

What does everyone expect out of me as a GM? What can I do as a GM to make sure everyone is happy, be it running events to start RP in an area, holding more open offices or just making myself generally available?

I hope that in the coming months that I can uphold the expectations that everyone has on a GM and that I am someone you're not afraid to come to for help. I'm new at this, so forgive me while I get into the swing of things. I can only improve though your feedback, suggestions and comments and I hope that I get them often.

Thank you for reading, and hopefully answering some of my questions.

[Hawk]

So. I heard you want to do things.

So we put things in your things so you can do thing whilst you do things, GM-thing.

What type of events do you personally enjoy? Why? What about this type of event draws you to it?

See, I love combat/war events. I love beating up NPCs and being the badass, as it's the complete opposite of my real life (escapism! Woo!). The downside? My rolls are always dreadful. Even the most forgiving roll system will chew me up and spit me out.

But Skin Thieves is a very good example of the events I also like. Survival events, like shipwrecks as well. I'm also a great fan of apocalyptic events which is why I'm so excited for Cataclysm - the world is utterly screwed. Not that I'm suggesting you pull off events like Skin Thieves so suddenly, it was just an example of the style of events.

What would you rather have, storylines or randoms?

Personally? I honestly don't mind out of the two. The downside to storylines is that if you miss an event, the next time you attend you can be a bit confused as to what's going on unless detailed summaries are written. But at the same time, storylines are always awesome and what we need more of. That's just my opinion.

I think if I HAD to choose one, I'd say storylines, but I know they're also more work.

Do you support events in the unused RP areas of COTH or would you rather them be focused in 'popular hubs'?

I'm always interested in seeing what can be done in unused areas. Not that I'm bragging, but I think I pulled off a nice event chain in a very unlikely place - Feralas! These areas have a lot of potential if you study the zones.

But I'd also like to point out that I'm impartial to one or the other. I honestly don't mind, but seeing unused areas put to use would be refreshing, and it'd be the one I'd prefer if I had to make a choice.

What does everyone expect out of me as a GM?

I can't quite answer this one, because most GMs have their own way of doing the job, as it were. Some are more player focused, others are more building focused, others are rule enforcement, etc etc. I can only suggest you find what you're good at and stick to it.

[valonforth]

What type of events do you personally enjoy? Why? What about this type of event draws you to it?

I like really personal events that let my character develop and grow or help other people's characters develop. This might be the wrong fandom for it, but I really love character-driven stories and winning personal victories rather than world-changing ones. I think events should take characters out of their comfort zone as often as possible. That's when an RP really comes to life.

What would you rather have, storylines or randoms?

I like storylines over randoms. I can get invested in storylines and be proud of them when they finish. Randoms always make me wonder what could have been if my character had kept in touch.

Do you support events in the unused RP areas of COTH or would you rather them be focused in 'popular hubs'?

I would love to see unused areas get used more! Everybody's done an RP in Org/SW before. WoW is a beautiful setting and we should totally use it

What does everyone expect out of me as a GM? What can I do as a GM to make sure everyone is happy, be it running events to start RP in an area, holding more open offices or just making myself generally available?

I think it's really nice of you to have a thread like this, for one. I'm a little intimidated by GMs in most settings ._.

[Zhaei]

Hopping on the bandwagon!

What type of events do you personally enjoy? Why? What about this type of event draws you to it?[b]

My personal favourite events aren't ones that a GM would run - for the larger ones? I enjoy something that creates character progression. "Here, /roll every 5 minutes for an hour then walk away like nothing happens!" <--- Doesn't interest me. Also, you're a GM. You have the power to get us RPing with more creative things. Sure, I run events a lot - but I can't whip out a nerubian, an ethereal, a Mag'har, a whateveryougettheidea. Try abusing your powers to full effect.

[b]What would you rather have, storylines or randoms?

Depends on the size. I find RP hard to enjoy with large numbers - though that's personal preference - and would ideally prefer random events for the "Hey, everyone can come to this!" events. For the smaller ones, (IC groups or guilds) then I love storylines.

Do you support events in the unused RP areas of COTH or would you rather them be focused in 'popular hubs'?

On one level, I notice that the large majority of my characters are either set in one area (Night Elves, storyline stuff, military Orcs) or there's significance in the area they are in, lorewise. (Night Elves, again, are a good example.) I love new areas - but my main characters and the concepts I enjoy playing are usually ones to be in a particular place.* Thus, my opinion is somewhat invalid on this point - I tend not to influence a character's location for OOC reasons, but IC ones.

*This extends to "Ashenvale" "Northern Kalimdor", etc. Not Astranaar, or X Y coordinate.

[vizkus]

What type of events do you personally enjoy? Why? What about this type of event draws you to it?

Personally, I prefer events that focus on characters and drive their development. World-changing events are cool too, but I think the real reason people roleplay is to see their creations come to life and develop. I love to see my characters change and find things out about themselves.

What would you rather have, storylines or randoms?

Storylines. I feel like random events are more of a filler type of event. They're fun to do every once in a while, but I like my events to have significance in the grand scheme of things. Recurring villains and allies make CotH feel dynamic and alive.

Do you support events in the unused RP areas of COTH or would you rather them be focused in 'popular hubs'?

I would love to get out into Azeroth and RP where no man has before. Popular hubs are cool and all, but they can get stale rather quickly.

What does everyone expect out of me as a GM? What can I do as a GM to make sure everyone is happy, be it running events to start RP in an area, holding more open offices or just making myself generally available?

I remember back when I first joined back in March. My first character was Drogan, the hobo that lived on Reigen's bench. I loved the RP we had, and found interaction with you to be very enjoyable. Thats all I really want out of a GM. Someone that I can turn to in times of need and forget what is happening. You're my friend Reigen. And thats the best GM I can think of.

[Hawk]

I started a trend! 8D