Monthly GM Update Log - October

[Thomas 3014]

 

Introduction

Greetings everyone! So today we are introducing something new that the community will be seeing from the GM team on a Monthly basis. We want to change the way the team interacts with the community, therefore we will be introducing a monthly post being made by the team to try and be as transparent with the community as possible. In this post it will include New Trials, Promotions, Modreq Data, Projects, Statements and Removals or Resignations from the team. Along with Removals, a reason will be given unless it is due to personal reason of which the person in question wishes to keep confidential.

 

Before we jump right in, we’d like to give a brief preliminary about what it is we’re planning to do here from the viewpoints of the Management of the GM Team;

 

Spoiler

 

Thomas:

My plan for the tenure I hope to serve will be a step by step journey to secure a higher level of transparency between the playerbase, and the staff, through simply using the one thing that so many have neglected to use in the past. Communication. Every month, on the last saturday, I will be hosting an optional meeting for the GMs in which any of the other members of staff can attend where the month was discussed, projects are collectively worked on and trials are introduced, while holding a Community Meeting at least every three months, with feedback meetings randomly held within that timeframe. On the first of each month, I will be releasing these Logs to show the Playerbase the exact status of the GM Team, allowing players to ask questions, or offer suggestions regarding anything the log contains.

 

Harrison:

I want to see the team be much more in tune with the playerbase, and be able to interact with them easily. This would allow GMs to identify and discuss real issues that players have first hand, rather than fix issues that only pertain to them and their friend group. I overall just want a team of people who know what they want to do as a GM before applying, rather than just wanting to apply for GM because they think they might be picked.

 

Beast:

Transparency, transparency, transparency.  My plan for the team is to remove the doubt and rumours that arise when decisions are made. I want the player base to know that no, we are not doing out of our own self interest and that the decisions we made are always being done with good reason. I also want to see consistency when new members are added to the team so that the team works together like a well oiled machine.

 

 

So what is our goal for this team? Well, unity. Unity, Transparency, and Efficacy. We want our team to work well with each other, to be able to joke and banter with one another without the lingering threat of an overbearing dagger. We’ve tried to do business, we’ve tried to be a meme, and as we can all come together and agree on, that hasn’t worked. So why not a good mix of both? A team that can work well together, and with the player-base, while improving communication between each integral part, and having a good time while doing it. We want a good, strong, and unified team who can handle problems head on, who have differing opinions on matters but know how to voice themselves effectively and handle a discussion, and hopefully it will start to show to you all. Ask your nearby GM, I hope and trust they would be able to attest to the goal we have.

 

Centralising what we have, the ideas we have and actually making the GM Team something worthy of the role it has is what we’re looking into doing next. Regioning will find it’s way back to the GMs capabilities in the coming weeks following discussions between myself, HB, Beast and the Administration Team, and more efforts are being put in place to allow for the say and decision making power that the GM Team have to actually make a difference. Every voice matters to this iteration of Management, and we’re going to be improving and working on different areas to ensure a strong and poignant Team.

 

We’re under the firm belief that a GM should not have to wait for an Administrator or GM Manager to come online to complete a modreq, and because of this we are looking into ways to allow for GMs to complete every kind of issue without the dawdling effect of waiting around for someone with the jurisdiction to do so.

 

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Trials

First order of business, we’ll start off by announcing a new group of Trial GM’s that will be joining us this month! Selected for their desire to drive the team forward and engage with the playerbase, the Trials this Month are as follows!

 

With every new batch of trials, an announcement must follow in regards to the status of the Trials of the previous month. So below are the Trials who passed the October Trial, and will be joining us on the Team fully!

 

 

To give a run down. Here is how the trial selection process works:

• The GM Managers look through the current GM Applications and write down all of the names onto a Google Form, which is then linked to the GM Team to vote on who they would like to see interviewed.

• The GM Managers, and Lead, take each and every one of these applicants into an interview room, either Discord or Skype, and ask a few questions regarding who they are, what their desires are and question them verily on both their attitude on the server, and their application.

• Following this, the Management put each of their interviews into google docs, which are then linked in a compiled thread in the GM Forum for the GMs to look over, analyse and provide feedback on each member.

• After taking in the feedback, Management discuss and make their picks from the batch, and submit those names to the GM Team for a final round of feedback.

• The GM Team provide feedback on the final pick, if no one objects, the Trial is taken on and inducted during the Monthly meeting. If objections are made, the trial is placed back into the pending section and a new pick is chosen.

 

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Resignations/Removals

Every few months, we unfortunately must say goodbye to some of our members. Be this through voluntary resignation, or removal, the people who have contributed to the server are still held with high regard and are thanked for their service. To aid in transparency, the GM Team hope to keep the player-base up to date with just who is a member of the Team, and who no longer is.

 

AerialKebab:

Aerial has been removed from the team. This was not a decision through the GM Management, so should you have any further questions, please contact administration.

 

Also, this picture has caused a lot of grief on the server and should be addressed.

Admins and the GM Lead all have access to a command called /pugsy. When this command is executed, it bans the player as well as removes any staff pex they may have. Making it the simplest way to remove the pex when banning someone. Aerial’s ban message has since been changed, but the original ban message, “You having a giggle mate” was not one written by the Admins of anyone on the team at the time of the ban.

 

i_am_Ricky:

Due to reports arisen and the behavior displayed on the Teamspeak medium, the player i_am_Ricky has failed his trial. This was not  just due to the post on the forums, the state of his trial it was up for discussion before we were even aware of the creation of that post. This concerns multiple scenarios over the course of his trial, and this simply allowed for the tipping point. This decision was made by the Managers, Lead  and Administration collectively.  Ricky is welcome to reapply at any time.

 

Zarsies/Begotten:

Earlier this month Zarsies announced his retirement from the Game Moderator team. Going on 4 years of service, we are grateful for having him part of the team. He will be missed, though he continues to contribute to the server through his position within the Event Team. [*]

 

Harold/Demographic:

This month Harold announced his Resignation from the team. He did a lot of work gathering community feedback and his shoes will be difficult to fill. All the best Harold [*]

 

CosmicWhaleShark:

Cosmic was another one of the GM's to announce his resignation this month. Cosmic was easy to get along with and a valued member of the team. Good luck with all your future endeavors Cosmic. [*]

 

ski_king3:

Although not part of the GM team, Ski recently resigned from all staff positions and is returning to be a valued member of the community. We wish you all the best Ski and thank you for your time with the staff. [*]

 

Dizzy771

From fellow GM, to Admin, to GM team lead, Dizzy put countless hours into the betterment of the server. Eventually all of us move on. We thank Dizzy for his time with us and the contribution he made to the community. To put in league of legends terms, Godlike. [*]

 

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Modreq Data

Something we’re pleased to bring to the public is the Data we record every month regarding the amount of modreqs the members of the GM Team have done. Due to this being easily acquired through the use of the “/reportrts stats” command, we figured we may as well kill two birds with one stone and simply release the data to the public on a monthly basis. There is no reason this data should not be public.

 

This month, we had a total of 2452 Modreqs. With our quota set at 3%, the total number of modreqs a GM would require to reach quota this month would have been 76., which a margin of error being 74-76. So, quite a lot of Modreqs and quite a lot of GMs passing quota.. So what about the ones that didn’t? Well, in the past these questions were simply ignored and disregarded as irrelevant information, but I do not believe that to be the case. So why did the people who did not meet quota fail to meet the aforementioned?

• TauFirewarrior: Narrowly failed to reach quota due to a brief hiatus he took in the middle of the month which arose due to private matters.

• _Leric_: Due to matters outside of his control, Leric was unfortunately without a computer for quite some time, and only saw his return to the GM Team within the latter parts of this month. He was excluded from meeting Quota for this reason, though he continued to contribute.

• Tahmas: While Administrators, Devs and the GM Lead is excluded from the necessity of meeting quota, Tahmas was occupied in the beginnings of the month due to the lack of Team Lead, and because of his  he failed to meet quota.

• Aerialkebab: Aerial was not required to meet quota due to his removal in the middle of the month.

• Finalhazard: Declared himself on a few week hiatus from the server, Final was off on a nice vacation experiencing the League of Legends World Championship.

• Demographic: Harold was not required to meet quota due to his resignation during the Month.

• CosmicWhaleShark: Cosmic was not required to meet quota due to his resignation during the Month.

 

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Projects

Something often kept behind closed doors is the projects that we’ve been working on as a Team, and while certain projects may not be fully described due to the nature of not wanting to talk about a project which could possibly not come through, we will go into as much detail as we feel comfortable doing at this time, as well as giving names to contact to find out more, ask questions or even offer assistance to.

 

1. Make Axios Pretty Again.

A project started by i_am_Ricky, The basis of the project is to have GMs and ETs (eventually) build nice little roadside attractions for people to look at when they're walking the roads. The premise is that roads should be linear. They should be outlined in such a way that you can only move in one direction and all the space around you is occupied by other things (trees, ponds, rocks, hills, etc). In other words, Make Axios Pretty Again intends to give people something to look at in all directions while on the roads. This project is now being led by ShadowedOblivion.

 

2. The Player Retention Data Project

A project being lead by Thatpyrodude. The purpose of it is to gather up player Retention  Data, seeing how active they are for their first month on a weekly basis as well as seeing if they stick to the same character or create a new one. This is to see how well we are doing on the server in terms of new player retention.

 

3. Roadside Tavern

A project started by SteelTemplar, i_am_Ricky, Big_Sexy_Beast and Tahmas. The main focus around this project will be multiple (total of probably around 4 to start) Road Side taverns that will be spotted around the map. Currently, Event Team members are being conferred with to alter the way the taverns will interact with the community.

 

4. Settlement Guides

A project being lead by HB_. Getting whatever settlements who wish to participate to fill out a quick little bit about what their settlement has to offer and who they should message for help on getting situated with the server.

 

5. Rule Rewrite

A project lead by the Management, and the entire GM Team, every single Rule page is currently undergoing intense rewrites, to flesh out and ensure everything that can be thought of is ironed out and placed upon the thread. Alongside this, we’ll be writing up standardised punishments for reach break of the rules to ensure the GM team are on the same page with their punishments.

 

6. LC Cost and Data

A project being lead by BrokenHelix and Tahmas, the cost for different materials via LC is being ironed out and properly detailed. As it stands, not all blocks are equated for, and some of the numbers may seem off. A spreadsheet is also being designed to simply punch out the calculations to make LC purchasing easier on the GM’s side, which should allow for the GMs to actually handle these kinds of modreqs, as opposed to waiting for a Manager or Admin.

 

These are just some things that have been worked on internally in the past month or two, and there’s no reason for the projects people are working on to be hidden.

 

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Additional Mentions

Following the dishonourary obliteration our great Modreq King suffered at the behest of his Mother, the abhorrent torture our fallen friend had once felt has since been lifted, and we find our brother returning to the fold. Welcome Leric back!

 

Current Member List:

Lead:

• Tahmas

Managers:

• Beast720

• HBrules

Members:

• Ambduscias

• ShadowedOblivion

• Cruzazul8

• FinalHazard

• Freema5

• Josh3738

• Lego_XBOX

• _Leric_

• Spoduminister

• SteelTemplar

• ThatPyroDude

• FlamboyantUsopp

• TauFirewarrior

• Wrynn

• Tsuyose

Trials:

• BrokenHelix

• GusanoArentonio

• Nekkore

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Following that, we urge you to contact us with ideas, feedback or any kind of ideas. We will be listening to it all, and we hope that you are in agreement with the ideas we’ve put forward.

 

-As a final comment, following next month's batch of Trials, where we will be taking only 2, applications to the GM Team will be closing until we deem it necessary to recruit more. We have a fairly large team right now, and we don’t plan on making it any bigger than it currently is.-

 

-Thomas.

[Weabootrash 412]

nice job thomas 

[Harri 4815]

now i cant plot my anti dreadlandic schemes behind closed doors ://

[GodEmperorFlam 3447]

Nice

[wytch 870]

Congrats, nerds. @Spodumpster @Thatpyrodude

[garentoft 9265]

 

[Brokenhelix 145]

My name looks weird in blue, doesn't it? But hey, nice.

[Textarea 719]

2 minutes ago, Tahmas said:

• The GM Managers, and Lead, take each and every one of these applicants into an interview room, either Discord or Skype

ayyyyy i don't have a mic 

[Angmarzku 1251]

More GMs, projects and some taking off their blue capes. Fun. Fun.

[Reckless Banzai Screamer 15456]

Good to see Harrison Barnes has a fellow weaboo to manage the gm team with him!

 

Also good to see more of Zhulik's concerns being addressed. Too bad Zhulik wasn't accepted so he could help his dreams come true!!!!

 

¡-.- -.- ! ¡consider urself an enemy!

[Leric 1097]

Hello I'm Leric.

[Harri 4815]

Just now, Good Guy Shady said:

Good to see Harrison Barnes has a fellow weaboo to manage the gm team with him!

 

Also good to see more of Zhulik's concerns being addressed. Too bad Zhulik wasn't accepted so he could help his dreams come true!!!!

 

¡-.- -.- ! ¡consider urself an enemy!

please stop doxxing me

[Thomas 3014]

Just now, Omar Grimmer'Lak said:

ayyyyy i don't have a mic 

It can be done over text too.

[Daisy 9736]

nice!

[Nekkore 641]

I wish it had my current profile pic instead