Temporary Sysop

[LF]

LF, some of the problem is guys like yourself who have staff experience and would be decent candidates to fill in to important positions in staff keep adopting the position that you could be part of the solution to help the zone/game, but won't do so unless things improve already. The issue here; if you're the solution or part of it surely we need you now at the conception of change rather than leaving the zone out in the dark and only returning if things are already half resolved.

This is exactly like so many other old players who say they would return to play ss IF or WHEN the zone becomes more active again, if these people all returned now then the zone WOULD be more active, problem half solved.

Difference is I HAVE tried, several times in fact. I'm not so narcissistic to think that I'm the know-all be-all savior of subspace, because I know I'm not. I do think I'd be way better off running SOME things than some of the people we are stuck with now but unfortunately those decisions lie with the very people that need to be replaced. While I am somewhat bitter at some horrible decisions made about me in the past my loyalty has always been to the zone/game and not any people in particular. My inability to keep my mouth shut when people who 'outrank' me are just flat out wrong has not won me any friends in such positions so I've just been content to sit back and throw in a "I told you so" every once in a while until eventually said people realized that I do actually know what I'm talking about and chances are I am better than most (if not all) of the people currently in place at long term planning (per real world experience). Its not meant to sound like an ultimatum, because if somebody/anybody reached out to me for help I would give it without hesitation just like I always have, but I'm done trying to chase down a clueless leadership until it gets replaced or fixed

[Ricko]

LF, some of the problem is guys like yourself who have staff experience and would be decent candidates to fill in to important positions in staff keep adopting the position that you could be part of the solution to help the zone/game, but won't do so unless things improve already. The issue here; if you're the solution or part of it surely we need you now at the conception of change rather than leaving the zone out in the dark and only returning if things are already half resolved.

This is exactly like so many other old players who say they would return to play ss IF or WHEN the zone becomes more active again, if these people all returned now then the zone WOULD be more active, problem half solved.

[LF]

Well this is a good step in the right direction. I like it. Hopefully you can fulfill your role without taking 2 steps in the wrong direction like every "leader" before you over the past 6-8 years or so. Some of these things you already touched on but I'd like to include a few suggestions on things that can be improved...

Dean of staff: If you must have 2, have at LEAST one from the majority of the playerbase (North American) For years and years and years now we've had 2 euros holding the position, and when 1 euro steps down he is replaced by another euro and thus has been unavailable to the staff and players during MOST peak times. There should almost always be a dean available to approach either by staff or the general public, and by that i mean one is LIKELY to be online within a couple of hours, not only from 4am-11am American/Canadian time where MOST of our players come from. Another thing could be to remove staff applications entirely. That's one thing I would have done when I was being considered for the position in 2012 or whenever it was. If you must have an application for people to show interest, have them emailed directly to the deans email instead of being put up for vote. Do you really want a dean of staff recruiting people that he doesnt even know and must rely on the opinions of everyone else to gauge what kind of person is applying? Or would you rather have a dean that actually knows who the players are? This should stop the popularity contests in staff voting (assuming you find a good dean) and at least slow down the recruitment of total newbies like Fozzcat, Zenabee and theblock. More on staff voting to strengthen my case using my own history as an example... Who the fuck even cares if somebody like "Random Newb <ZH>" thinks that "Staffer from 10 years ago" doesn't have a place in current staff?

Department Heads: I know you kinda touched on this already but I am only emphasizing it. We have tons of the wrong people filling the wrong positions. Partly out of necessity and having total shit in staff to pick from, and partly because the dean(s) we have are entirely clueless and don't know anything about the players or the staff they have to manage. I dont know how accurate my thoughts are about the staff roster TODAY as I havent logged in more than twice for at least 6 months now, but for example..... Up In Ya is a great dude and a fantastic guy to have on staff in a smod position but why on earth is/was he running the TWD department? Mismatch from hell. Some staffers still confide in me and I hear horror stories about how Azov was chosen as the ASST bang op over people much more qualified and respected, which is totally believable because its happened to me when I was smod... "LF you get to pick an assistant for ECT but you don't actually get a say because we're picking turban for you" is essentially the same thing that happened with azov. Im hoping turban exercises more common sense when assigning people to these roles.

I really like the "be nice" rule, as gay of a name as that is for it. We might lose a few people that do nothing but log on to ruin the gaming of others (Primary, Tower, beam, manco, etc) but who cares. Losing them would be a BENEFIT to the zone. Its not hard to exercise discretion and get rid of the shitheads for the greater good. I hope you stick with it and implement this.

I have more suggestions and lots and lots of ideas (and money if needed) but I want to see how this changes things before I continue. If you do what you say you're going to do and make these changes and staff becomes less of a toxic environment I will download the game again and offer my assistance in any way needed. I'm far better equipped and more experienced than 95% of the staff you have now so even as a ZH would be a + for the zone. Good luck turpin and congrats on the promotion, I have faith you are the right guy for the job.

[the block]

Good luck turban. I agree there is some inactivity amongst staff that could probably be dealt with, as well as more transparency about the zone. I've always thought the news.txt could be updated a lot more frequently then it is, and could be used as both a place to get out TW news, and also serve as a changelog of sorts for the zone (settings/rule changes, that type of thing). Far too often things just change and I have no idea until I go to do something and it doesn't work anymore, or at least not the same way, which is frustrating. At the very least it would be a good way to get out timely info to everyone who plays (not everyone checks the website and forum), and would a visible way to show the TW community that the staff are actively working to improve the quality of their zone. I think that would be more apparent if they were given an update every week or every other week about what's new/changed. I also agree that putting staff applications up to vote is just asking for it to become a popularity contest, and doesn't do anything to ensure the quality of the candidate. I'm not sure who suggested it, but I agree that having a new recruiting department (or TW HR Dept I suppose?) could be a good solution. Back when I originally joined staff in my first stint here, there was no asking to join, you were just observed by members of the staff, and if they liked how you carried yourself and thought you could do a good job, you could be asked about joining. Especially if we're going to be expecting an influx of population at some point, that could be a good way of getting ready for it with our existing players that know the game and have stuck around this long. I would think we're not going to be wanting to hire noobs for that.

I think this next year is probably going to be one of the most defining eras in TW history, all resting on whether this Steam Greenlight project can actually move forward. The way I see it, it's about the only way to breathe life into this game at this point, other than the zone's proverbial rich aunt milly dropping dead and leaving us a ton of cash to advertise with, and even then who knows how far that can go. I think being part of a such a populated gaming community like Steam will give us great exposure to new players, and a fighting chance. This is a good, proven (and free) game. It just has to be made available to a new audience.

[Jerome Scuggs]

thanks,

in my opinion having an open election of some sorts is an interesting idea to toy with, but in truth it would not be the perfect solution to our problem(s) as the votes would simply end up being a popularity contest among all the applicants which is not much different from our current staff structure. however, if there was a preliminary round of some sorts to eliminate the poor candidates from the final list of applicants with the help of experts then it could work.

it sucks because this is where the logic becomes circular, because half the problem is simply a lack of players. without a solid core of active, TWD-level players you basically have to recruit staff from either 1) overly casual pubbers who aren't familiar with how alot of the rest of TW works or 2) overly tryhard types who have been around for ages and have too many biases and opinions.

i've noticed a definite increase in TWD activity because of the hype surrounding the Greenlight, i hope we can keep it going through TWDT. but this is why i keep harping on y'all as far as actually reaching out to PriitK goes, idc if he's personally involved but we need him at least to hit y'all back and be like "here's the copyrights, here's the source code, i dont have time for this, have fun".

and i know this isn't something to dump squarely on tw's shoulders. is the "subspace council" working on this? is there even a subspace council? who runs the SSC servers? have we even confirmed these people are alive?

[roxxkatt]

We have had about talks implementing a new rule which doesn't have an official name as of yet, but it will be basically a "be nice" rule of some sorts where excessive verbal abuse, harrasment, personal attacks and such should not be tolerated in the public (or any other arena, in truth) to improve the chat experience of the players. This is especially critical if we get on Steam to improve our chances of actually keeping our players. There will be attempts to promote healthy competition (bragging over insults) through various means, such as giving recognition to the players who deserve it for their contributions, and possibly adding a few incentives for public squads to become a reality.

could also create a temporary rule (month/yearlong) that grants staff the power to remove the 13 year olds that think they are being edgy by pushing the envelope with racism/etc from zone and forums

[roxxkatt]

A be nice rule? I mean.. what can I really say to that. It goes against everything this zone stands for, being an asshole is much more fun.

because dumb people like you are fully qualified to state "everything this zone stands for" amirite

in b4 dumb cthx post foolishly trying to argue that you are

[roxxkatt]

-remove head of staff and just have staff applications go to a broad vote. or, keep head of staff and remove staff application, making HoS a 'headhunter' for prospective staffers

.

"staff recruiter"

[kthx]

A be nice rule? I mean.. what can I really say to that. It goes against everything this zone stands for, being an asshole is much more fun.

[Jerome Scuggs]

Flared, you even active enough for that?

im sry but i cant allow u 2 speak to my flared like that. kindly bite your fkn tongue

[parson]

Flared, you even active enough for that?

[fLaReD]

m rdy to be zh

[parson]

This feeling is comparable to an ichigo x rukia moment!The tears are flowing ahhhhhhhhh I live you senpai

[parson]

Best news I have read since steam greenlight. I will continue supporting the zone the best I can, and with turban leading the charge, it really gives Me a boost of confidence in how this zone will turnout in the coming months.

[Fork]

Ok, so improving staff is on the agenda. Not exactly a sweeping epiphany. And I understand that you do not want to commit to Steam and even seem to be rather soft on saying that you will/can change much with the current development situation since they are ‘out of your hands’. </SPAN>
But isn’t this lack of resources the real root of the problem? Shaking up staff is like putting lipstick on a pig; at the end of the day the key is still new player retention and I see nothing in your plan/vision that speaks to this. We certainly want to give you a chance to implement your vision so perhaps it is just an oversight on your part. </SPAN>
Would you mind throwing a few things out that you intent to change that might impact this critical issue?</SPAN>
Eph</SPAN></SPAN>

Gl turban but it would be ideal if eph teams up perhaps\ becomes another temp systop (he seems to know what he's talking about).

I think a good idea would be to gather as many developers (retired\ ones from dif zones), not to boss them around but see if they can help in any way to make pub more fun\ improve twd in preparation for stream (if miricles happen)... Gather talented people for what they are good at like worm hole surfer\ jabjabjab and work on improving the appearance of pub\twd\ elim. Make it a fun project because if its not then the project will be abandoned.

Perhaps such projects should be included on forums and people can see exactly where u are up to\ what you want to achieve and perhaps a retired coder could come on forums- see what your working on and where your stuck at and they can help out (community effort instead of staff).