Forum membership group idea: Eventers

[Hello=)]

I'm honored to admit at this point of space and time we got group of people who are interested in advanced/coordinated eventing around TMW. It about approx 5 individuals at this point. I believe our recent team level action at viewtopic.php?p=166306 speaks for itself.

So it came to me there could be some forum group, tentatively named Eventers (or TMW Eventers, or so, guess it mostly about TMW at this point). Or perhaps Event Team or so.

Rationale:
Event team can use this forum group to communicate via forums PM sending message to just one recipient - "Eventers" group, making PMs more convenient to use for this purpose.

• Sometimes we need to discuss few things in group - and doing it in public not always good idea to avoid spoilers on details and exact plans. I think creation of such group can facilitate +1 not so bad way of communications - also promoting TMW forums use a bit.

• Perhaps group can get some badges/colors and its representatives can post in Events section and (in perfect world) maybe moderate this subsection - so ppl see whom to bother about TMW eventing and things around - hopefully starting coordination.

[ginosuper]

I’m good with this idea.

Ingame discussions about events… well, people may walk in on our conversations (or anyone on the MT may go @invisible, and eavesdrop that way)… not really ideal.

This approach would prevent that, and would create a sort of group chat as well, of which we can read the message history anytime we want, making sure no detail goes missing. People (me) tend to forget some details after several days of event discussions…

About moderation… I have a lot of moderation experience, and some of you know why. I wouldn’t mind moderating this part of the forums, along with the others of the Eventers team (if they wouldn’t mind doing so as well).

In short, this idea gets my yes vote.

[Reid]

Good idea, plus if any dev request ia needed we will directly be aware of that and be able to help!

Anything that bridge the mana team and the player community is a wonderful idea so I'm all in.

@Hello=): could you create a poll with a 7 days option within that forum thread once you are ready to submit that idea?
I think it will pass without a doubt.

[WildX]

I don't think there's going to be any objections here. I'll just create the group and if anyone objects we can revert to poll etc.

Can I have a list of who should be added to the group? Also, any colour preference?

I'll give this group privs for the Events section so people in it can edit posts, sticky, close, etc.

P.S.
I'm calling the group Event Coordinator because Eventer reminds me too much of horse riding stuff and Event Organiser will elicit requests to spell it with a Z because 'murica.

P.P.S
I'd encourage people who want to be in this group to actually consider being GMs. I think TMW benefits a lot from GMs who enjoy hosting events and I don't want a role like this to make it seem like GMs are only there to act as police. You can be a GM who focuses on events and treat rule enforcement as just part of what you do. Don't be afraid of being a GM. There's no heavy expectation placed upon you.

[ginosuper]

I'd encourage people who want to be in this group to actually consider being GMs.

How would this work? I was always under the assumption that someone had to be recommended by someone to be a GM, and that there would be a poll in which people could vote.

[Hello=)]

Few remarks I got on this, or how I envision eventers (as in persons conducting events) based on my observation how pro MMOs do it + CRC Day.

• Particular eventer may - or may not - be "coordinator" in terms of actually doing coordination/orchestration part. It sometimes makes sense to just have more hands to stage/sequence action in a parallel "multiplayer" manner so more than 1 NPC or impersonation act at once. CRC Day is good example of this idea in action. Whether particular person could/would do "coordination" part is open question. Not all ppl like "coordination" aspect or good at it. That's what I've observed in field. So my idea group better to be named like "Event Team" or "Eventing Team" perhaps? Since e.g. being able to ping "everyone interesting in TMW Eventing" via e.g. PM by adding just one recipient group can be handy.
• Yes, in pefect world at least some of eventers should ideally upgrade to GMs at some point. But once again not all ppl feel good about being GM and as such "do ppl trust this person to act as puppeteer?" and "do ppl trust this person to enforce rules in radical ways?" are 2 different questions it seems. As concrete example: I met at least 2 ppl who would be OK about trying eventing but are not into GMing. Not giving them a try around eventing even if theyt are not into GMing could be a waste of talent and missed opportunity.
• Tentatively based on what I observed in CRC Day initial members list likely: Hello=) Horak-FDF Ginosuper Rill and Raffe. But there may eventually be more members. E.g. I see few more candidates interested in eventing, should they be interested in advanced/coordinated approach they could be also here.

[WildX]

I already created the group and added Hello=) and Rill. Adding the other 3 now.

I'm not forcing any changes on anyone's default group. If you want to use it as your default group you can set that in your own user control panels in the top left menu.

Should the group be visible in the legend below the page?

Not giving them a try around eventing even if theyt are not into GMing could be a waste of talent and missed opportunity.

Yes absolutely, and I can tell even by the numbers of people being added to this new group. It wouldn't make sense to add 4 new GMs. But maybe even just one might consider it if they don't feel like it's a complicated process. It really isn't and I feel like there's a bit of a myth around it.

I'd encourage people who want to be in this group to actually consider being GMs.

How would this work? I was always under the assumption that someone had to be recommended by someone to be a GM, and that there would be a poll in which people could vote.

Two ways really.

First, the traditional polls in GM Community Suggestions. Anyone can nominate anyone except themselves, so it really just takes one person who supports you to get it started. The other rules are in the forum section at the top.

Second, "GM Community Suggestions" are, in fact, suggestions. They're often seen as official nominations but they're not mandatory. If there was a need for a new GM and no one came out of the suggestions, one could be appointed internally from anyone in the community.

Having not seen a new poll in 4 years, if I saw one I would probably push for any candidate who is liked by a lot of people to be voted internally even if the poll numbers were not large enough. It's been years since the last GM election so if there was any spark of interest from anyone I feel like it would be considered seriously.

[ginosuper]

If you want to use it as your default group you can set that in your own user control panels in the top left menu.

I can't seem to change my default group, as I'm not a leader of the group.

Two ways really.

First, the traditional polls in GM Community Suggestions. Anyone can nominate anyone except themselves, so it really just takes one person who supports you to get it started. The other rules are in the forum section at the top.

Second, "GM Community Suggestions" are, in fact, suggestions. They're often seen as official nominations but they're not mandatory. If there was a need for a new GM and no one came out of the suggestions, one could be appointed internally from anyone in the community.

Having not seen a new poll in 4 years, if I saw one I would probably push for any candidate who is liked by a lot of people to be voted internally even if the poll numbers were not large enough. It's been years since the last GM election so if there was any spark of interest from anyone I feel like it would be considered seriously.

Interesting! I will keep that in mind, thanks.

[Hello=)]

• Somehow it seems I can not send PM to Event Coordinator group. Strange. Does it needs something special to do it?
• Seems this group is "open" so "anyone" can pretend to be event coordinator without having anything to do with it? Or I got something wrong?
• I still think "Event Coordinator" not really right name. Would be better to have something like Event Team. Since not everyone in group necessarily "coordinating" event. But members of group are meant to co-op on delivering events. Whether it coordination or just puppeting/backstage activity/etc. As concrete example: some ppl were talking as NPCs or using "backstage controller logic" in right time. But it had nothing to do with "coordinator" part.
• Eh, yellow color on light background? Pretty hard to read. Are there any other colors available?
• Some badge can be nice if someone is into making it primary group.

As for GMs... I would strongly prefer GMs go through community approval. I consider player-voted GMs being one of TMW's best practices TMW had. Based on my observation I think it saved TMW a lot of trouble and saved community a lot of grief and frustration. IMO its really fair that person who's to enforce rules should have enough trust of community. Going over community head would be foolish. As such I would call doing so expensive mistake to make. I strongly advice against this course of action - it can easily and unrecoverably ruin reputation in community (and properly voted GM) eyes.

To make it straight: when I do something I can say there was community behind me who authorized me to go more or less this course of action. Assigned GMs (and roles in general) lack this luxury. It brings a lot of unfortunate implications. Eventers are more lightweight entities who only meant to do event so there's no reason for players to fear or dislike them. Its where difference happens.

P.s. personally I can think at least 2 GM candiates. But I would really prefer them to be screened by community. Just to be sure community is okay with it.