@Arkandel said:
However that puts a slight onus on staff to make it clear what's yet to be determined and what's in the brainstorming or design phases, otherwise toes will get stepped on both ways.
You know, I must have edited this out because I can't find my saying this: I consider this code an attempt to have a more honest conversation between Players and Staff.
I don't intend use the word "conversation" lightly. What goes on between Players and Staff, and Staff and Staff, and Players and Players, should be an ongoing conversation. How else are you going to discover, change, and inform people to the game's culture?
The things Staff allows Players to do is just as much part of this discussion to them putting down in a news file. Moreso, even, because so much gets written down that never gets referenced again until someone needs to use it as a weapon against someone they don't like. A rule that isn't enforced isn't a rule.
Game culture is a thing that is constantly changing, so sometimes code becomes a liability or misinforms the intent, in which case it shouldn't be worked around (tons of bbposts), but altered or removed. Again, tool.
Toes will get stepped on. Like people learning a new dance, it will happen, and so we rely on the kindness of strangers, a kindness that should exist all the same. To tangent slightly, I hate it when even an old player to a game tries out a new sphere and is sneered at for not knowing the dance.
So yeah, I'm not afraid to see if I can force open this discussion further. If Staff pushes back against it, shame on them, but it is a feedback you don't get when people are just plain Dark. If Players push back, shame on them, but it informs their expectations. Get Dark out in the light and deal with it.
And no, I do not believe that planning for every eventuality, writing everything down, is ever going to work. No plan survives the first encounter with anyone who isn't thinking exactly like you.
@Rook said:
I'd be interested in a study that sees, of the people who staff somewhere, do they idle more on their staffer alt than their PC alts?
I don't think you need a study. Staff Alts idle to keep in touch. PC Alts idle for the same reason, but the potentially missed information isn't as critical.
Mind you, if anyone who goes out with friends, enjoys their weekend, come back, comes back and can't get back up to speed, something's wrong. Either the staffer isn't suitable for the speed of the game, or the game runs too fast.
In my world, a game that requires you to take its pulse more than once every few days is going too fast. We shouldn't be beholden to the biggest spaz.
