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Implemented Community is Present!

RaWolfe

Retired Staff
So this is a collective idea out of the experience that I gained over the last 20 years of my RP writing career and it might be downvoted, it might be upvoted. But in my personal opinion, it needs to be heard, it needs to be seen by players. That being said, stay open-minded and think out of the box ;)

When we think of SARP, we think of how great this community is in what it has produced for the last 20+ years...yes 20+ years that is impressive on its own. The soul directive is that players' stories have an impact in the direction it goes, we just finished a long war and we are now starting to feel and roleplay the content out of what the hell just happened to our Kikyo sector. But while Wes is doing his best to profile us out there and taking care of us in the best possible way...we also need to contribute ourselves to our loving community. So I started thinking, how can I contribute to this community, what are things I need to avoid and what are things that I need to do. I notice in that thought train that there are things that SARP also needs as a community factor.

1) Welcome package for new players/returning members

So I am not saying we need to make a gift package, but basically we need to make an introduction page (Which is present on the wiki) and expand that. With clear and up to date information that is important for a player to know.
  • Welcoming a person and inform the basic steps (It's in the new player's guide)
  • How to create a character (is in the player guide, but needs to be expanded, what characters guides are there, where can a person ask a question, who are the contact points for certain factions, etc)
  • Account setup (It's in the new player's guide)
  • Latest factional news or site-wide events that are currently happening be placed in this guide. This means that players are updated (old or new) about events that are currently happening within Star Army. This can be news articles, this can be an event log of things that have happened. But also a soft link to our website timeline.
  • Questions and assistance (It's in the new player's guide) but needs more direction to who to contact in the context of content on the site, community questions (staff?). Wes is pointed out as a contact person, awesome but we have a big staff that should be on that list as well so that not everything would fall on the shoulders of Wes :) (well not saying that it is, but this page makes it clear that it might be the case).
The trick is to not overload the new players with a 10-page new player guide, but one page of straight to the point information that would benefit the new player. We need to go from "What...where am I and this is so overwhelming" to "Ah there I need to go"

The additional idea to add is to have a "Welcome back Guide" It is not going to be long but to a point that an old player can say "Oh this happened while I was gone"
  • Give them a nice welcome back and state if they have questions who to contact these days.
  • Having recent news and site announcement up to 1 year in there and a reference link to the older timeline that an old player can quickly scan. (Struct idea?)
  • Having an up to date list of faction manager and game managers with plots attached to it (Struct idea?)
  • A filter list of recent articles (1 year?) that are produced by members of Star Army.
2) Community days

We got worldbuilding Wednesday, we got our monthly community meeting. But we also should have some monthly community game night (cards against humanity if I remember correctly from the last voice call was upper) and maybe movie night (well with movies that are not fully copyright stamps over it lol). Think about it, a community that has fun is a fun community to be in ;) Or come together on voice to brainstorm about ideas, you might get the drift where I am going with this.

3) Awards OOC

While the idea has not been upvoted (no idea why, but can be me) the Awards OOC has a positive view and feedback towards our community members. We should put people on the podium that deserve to be there. I have seen Krimson working tirelessly on Neps articles, I have seen Whisper and Alex working on ideas to construct the NDC culture, I have seen Kore creating some amazing art, and so on. Just some examples that caught my eyes that should or even deserve to get some attention and the Award OOC helps with that. People will feel appreciated and recognized for their contribution to what they are doing for us as a whole.

4) One Community, not one Faction

What I noticed is that we are primarily concerned about our own factions and not as a community in the bigger picture. and I think this approach is wrong. Hear me out before I get a Babylon book of all sins I just committed with suggested this (that is a joke). We currently have various wonderful factions, great backstories that still need help here and there. We are facing problems that .... well it's overloading the people that are actually trying to keep things up to date. So we need to approach this differently. Let me say this, things are in control of Faction Managers, they are the boss period....but a Faction Manager should basically try to be open-minded and accept the help that could lift the weight that is called the to-do list. Trust me when I say that Skully and I are working on the Neshaten pages, if a player comes to me from Yamatai, Neps, NDC, or even Freespacers to offer help I sincerely going to say "Go for it...but make a WIP page first and keep me in the loop and if you need help...just DM me" because I can use the help I can get and I think this counts for everyone in our community. I am currently helping where I potentially can help and I believe that the community should be open to help each other rather than saying "No I don't want to help Neshaten, because I don't like foxes" that might be...but that doesn't help the community in a grand picture. So if people want to help, guide them and I see more people do this...but I feel it should be done more?

5) Community Step-Out

So in my years in writing in Star Trek, I have learned, hosted, and be part of events that are once a year. The point of these events is to create insight, to create bounds, and to make possibilities to learn. But also was a boost to publicity towards getting new members and being present. Here are some prime examples of events that are successfully run for a few years:
  • Tournament of Simulations : A great way to boost the Star Army is to send in your RP story, not only Staff, FM, GMs but also players can make suggestions to players that basically say "Go check this RP story out because is freaking awesome" For example, Wes has sent in some nominations and I send in one also, but if more people do it then we are basically saying "Hey this is awesome and it looks great...it should be reviewed for a good award" What basically happens when we, for example, win something...not only that RP is featured but also Star Army as a grand total! A good publicity boost and we gain potentially some new members!
  • SciWorld (yearly event): It doesn't matter what kind of series you like, we all like SciFi! This yearly event makes you think, there are panels about worldbuilding, character development, and more! If SARP members are present then we show our experience in creating characters, plots, ships, world, and so on in a unique setting that was created by players!
  • FallFest (yearly event): Basically where SciWorld is in April(ish?), FallFest is the repeat of this lovely event but hosted by different communities :) Again if more SARP members would be present at such or heck even host a panel then we can get some attention. I know for a fact that Wes was there, Ame was there and I was there for some of these editions.
There are also other events that are there, but honestly, I am out of the loop of those events that are happening. But again it would be awesome to do such things regular :D It's fun, educative and you get to know new people.

Now I hope and I sincerely hope...that people don't see this as a negative thing. I wrote this give or take a good two hours on to try to view SARP as a player, as a returning member, as a GM (Coming back), and as a CO-FM with good and well-meant intend. So rather than potentially approaching this with "These are the worst ideas I ever saw" just let it sink in and think about it :)
 
This suggestion has been implemented. Votes are no longer accepted.
These are all helpful concepts, but it’s kind of hard to vote for them as a package. Point 1 seems like something that can be voted up or down for implementation. Cool. But 2 and 5 already occur and don’t need implementation, 3 has its own thread, and 4 is a matter of player choice that can’t really be implemented so much as encouraged.

Maybe this post would make more sense as a discussion on another one of our subforums.
 
I can't really vote for this all in one thing, especially given that one of the elements is already a suggestion that should be voted for on its own merit. Raz is right in that 4 isn't really a thing that can be implemented in any way, and we already do 2 and 5.
 
So while I understand this reaction, it was not intended for it to be present as a package but as a food of a thought to think about. Pointing out that something is already implanted while the original text points that out and adds other features on improvements to the same already implanted piece is in my eyes a miss. So do look at that :)

4, ah Yes 4 is a tricky one because i’m not asking some software to add to it but something difficult. A process of thinking that needs a positive change to allow a community wide improvement. Over the past few weeks I have seen situations come to life where input of a (new) player is being made difficult to only end up in a solid no. So basically i’m asking there that FM stay open minded as the workload gets bigger if we don’t help each other.
 
I'm not sure how this could not be presented as a package, since it's in the suggestion forum, where you vote on the whole post. I think this might have worked better as just a discussion thread if it was meant to be food for thought.
 
So while I understand this reaction, it was not intended for it to be present as a package but as a food of a thought to think about. Pointing out that something is already implanted while the original text points that out and adds other features on improvements to the same already implanted piece is in my eyes a miss. So do look at that :)

4, ah Yes 4 is a tricky one because i’m not asking some software to add to it but something difficult. A process of thinking that needs a positive change to allow a community wide improvement. Over the past few weeks I have seen situations come to life where input of a (new) player is being made difficult to only end up in a solid no. So basically i’m asking there that FM stay open minded as the workload gets bigger if we don’t help each other.

In terms of the last part, I noticed this too. It seems every time a new player is suggesting something (ie. someone was discussing an NPC species they wanted to make) they were essentially jumped on and told "No". See while we do have regulations and restrictions in the settings submissions, people are insensitively shutting people's new ideas down without a care for how these new players receive them. Regardless of the nature of the idea, new players need to be encouraged and accepted then guided with mentoring not jumped/shutdown in public chats. The player who was shutdown, their activity has significantly dropped off since it happened. Sadly there isn't a lot of "regulation" making that can fix this. It is more of a needed attitude adjustment.
 
In terms of the last part, I noticed this too. It seems every time a new player is suggesting something (ie. someone was discussing an NPC species they wanted to make) they were essentially jumped on and told "No". See while we do have regulations and restrictions in the settings submissions, people are insensitively shutting people's new ideas down without a care for how these new players receive them. Regardless of the nature of the idea, new players need to be encouraged and accepted then guided with mentoring not jumped/shutdown in public chats.
My understanding was that 4 is more about FMs and players working across faction borders, not new players, though I can understand how it could possibly apply to encouraging people to accept help from new players.
What I noticed is that we are primarily concerned about our own factions and not as a community in the bigger picture. and I think this approach is wrong. Hear me out before I get a Babylon book of all sins I just committed with suggested this (that is a joke). We currently have various wonderful factions, great backstories that still need help here and there. We are facing problems that .... well it's overloading the people that are actually trying to keep things up to date. So we need to approach this differently. Let me say this, things are in control of Faction Managers, they are the boss period....but a Faction Manager should basically try to be open-minded and accept the help that could lift the weight that is called the to-do list.

Trust me when I say that Skully and I are working on the Neshaten pages, if a player comes to me from Yamatai, Neps, NDC, or even Freespacers to offer help I sincerely going to say "Go for it...but make a WIP page first and keep me in the loop and if you need help...just DM me" because I can use the help I can get and I think this counts for everyone in our community. I am currently helping where I potentially can help and I believe that the community should be open to help each other rather than saying "No I don't want to help Neshaten, because I don't like foxes" that might be...but that doesn't help the community in a grand picture. So if people want to help, guide them and I see more people do this...but I feel it should be done more?
 
I've been thinking, cause I saw Raz mentioned that #2 already happens.

#2 - I think that what @RaWolfe was getting at is that it needs to happen more. Star Army as a community needs to come together more to do things. Things like movie nights don't really take a lot of planning. You put up a suggestion thread, run a quick poll and someone streams the movie over discord (I know because other communities I am in do this frequently). Anyway regardless of the ins and outs of one activity or another. I know that even @Wes has mentioned lately, it would be nice if we could get more people to jump into voice calls and hang out. Socialization is important. It doesn't matter if it is a bunch of people working away on their own thing aka SARPing (posts, wiki stuff) or if t is a conversation about some funny anime thing, coming together more and breaking down social barriers is important.

Overall - I think what Rawolfe really touched on in his entire suggestion here is this;

We are doing a lot of great things on Star Army, but we could be doing more things and do the things we are doing better.

Lately, a lot of suggestions have been made; some good and some bad. Regardless of the specific suggestion, there is a momentum and an effort on some people's behalf to take an active interest in promoting positive change in the community. We need more of that, we need a lot less of things like stomping out people's ideas, complaining about the past (I'm even guilty of it and I know it), and most of all we need a whole lot less of; We've never done it this way before.

Yes, I'm like a broken record about new players, but the fact is the new players that come in are the future of this community and they deserve the absolute best we can offer them.

We also need people who are willing to put in effort, I've heard an awful lot of "Well I used to help out with things, but I don't anymore"
 
Anyway regardless of the ins and outs of one activity or another. I know that even @Wes has mentioned lately, it would be nice if we could get more people to jump into voice calls and hang out. Socialization is important. It doesn't matter if it is a bunch of people working away on their own thing aka SARPing (posts, wiki stuff) or if t is a conversation about some funny anime thing, coming together more and breaking down social barriers is important.
We also need people who are willing to put in effort, I've heard an awful lot of "Well I used to help out with things, but I don't anymore"
I agree with all of this, but I would caution against accidentally falling into the mindset of there being a "right way" or a "wrong way" to be a SARP member, and looking down on those who don't meet the criteria.

Yes, I'm like a broken record about new players, but the fact is the new players that come in are the future of this community and they deserve the absolute best we can offer them.
Regarding this, I'm all for focusing efforts on supporting and helping new players, so long as that doesn't come at the expense of helping and supporting long time members, or making them feel marginalized, and that's an easy line to cross without meaning to.
 
We did a lot of community stuff in 2020 but because of holidays, it slowed down a whole bunch. I'm down to do game nights but I get sick when I am in a VC and watching a movie at the same time (sorry to those who I bailed on when we were watching bubblegum crisis!). I'll be trying to implement a game night the day before or after the community meeting each month.

Otherwise, I think a new player guide would help. Generally the community tries to make sure new players aren't making setting breaking characters and I think that's a good thing. Usually it's done pretty kindly too and people are redirected (this is important to do if you aren't) towards what the setting allows. Alex is right and I've seen it before that new players are given tons of leeway in an effort to retain them but it backfires when they've made a character for a setting that doesn't suit them.
 
Well if Ametheliana can't do movie nights i guess it will come down to another Fm or Gm to supervise and host. One person not being able to participate in an event shouldn't determine if the event is held. I don't have adequate wifi so playing actual videogames with others isn't something I can do but id absolutely love to participate in movie nights or phone friendly games like among us, CAH or even trivia nights. It would be fun! Plus i have been wanting to watch star trek since I have never seen it so maybe someone can watch the movies and series with me _nudges Andrew_.

@Andrew
 
Nobody really showed up to the last movie night, which is why it didn't happen. I feel like certain events are better left as impromptu community sessions, honestly. Before the last few months of 2020, we were doing non-meeting community events so regularly that it felt like people were getting burned out by the time Thanksgiving and Christmas rolled around.

One of the cooler things that's happened lately was Wes saying "hey, let's play Among Us!" and then a whole bunch of people hopped on for a nice few games.
 
@Alex Hart , etc - I agree completely, with the sentiment that older established players should not face such treatment either. The actual example being used didn't have anything to do with something that was broken or setting breaking. It has to do with the way that people handle, and present their opposition to ideas and suggestions. If we have time to say no to something, we should have time to help offer alternatives and find ways to make sure the rejection doesn't make the player, regardless of tenure feel rejected or demotivated. We have a lot of people with a great amount of experience here to offer up help.

@Ametheliana I don't think anyone is critiquing the very wonderful year that the site had in 2020, a lot of great things and great events have happened. The survey said the community likes events and that more would be good. It doesn't matter what, so movie nights didn't work and maybe we can get some new suggestions as to what will work.

@raz sounds like fun, to play that with Wes. Wish I would have been back in time for it.

Anyway, regardless all the best, and looking forwards to a great 2021 year too.
 
How are we doing on implementing these suggetions, @RaWolfe ?

What still needs to be done or done better?
 
So based on the feedback, discussion, and ideas that came up here I come to the conclusion to the following points:
  • Point 3 got rejected as too low of interest, might make a new attempt later on :)
  • Point 1 has been greatly implemented by your hard work @Wes thumbs up for that as it was needed <3
  • Point 2 has been given the stamp "Has been tried, but failed", so I can't do much on that motion but only advise that our Community Staff keep trying what is possible, and hey I will do some testing of my own to see what works :D
  • Point 4 is more a motion of behavior change to our current FMs to stay open-minded, with some new FMs maybe it's a good idea to have a guide for it? @Andrew
  • Point 5 is more focused on what the community can do but got to be picked up and be kept in check by the Community staff so that our image outside SARP is good and attracts new recruits.
 
Are these issues more of a thing that needs more staff so that the people managing the community do not feel overwhelmed with what is expected of them or maybe could there be weekly or biweekly staff meeting to check up on how these ideas are being implemented and being able to better distribute responsibilities threw the staff? I know that personal communication between staff on roleplay forums can be difficult and I found that splitting the staff into groups of two or three and giving them items to focus on can be difficult at times but having progress meeting throughout the month can serve as reminders as well as allow staff that are struggling due to real life commitments to seek assistance or even allow for projects to change hands so they do not fall to the wayside.

On the topic of game and movie nights i can understand how too many can cause members and staff to burn out. Where I come from prior to this I over saw a lot of these issues and coordinated a good majority of the events. I missed game night the other night and it does make me a bit sad I will have to wait possibly another month to be able to join everyone in the event. Could I suggest maybe one game night a week or if someone is willing to host a movie night maybe alternate. Like maybe Ra does movie night twice a month and Ame has game night twice a month. I really think these activities can help conquer the ooc factional divide.
 
Well, new staff is not really required, more people that could assist in community stuff would be awesome :D it would be awesome to have your support @KoreHytaria, you have some great community ideas!

Movie nights are not that hard to plan, it is something I can look into :) But not like tomorrow, got quite some to-do list haha
 
I welcome anyone that wants to set up community events. I like CAH a lot and spent a few hours the other day grabbing all the cards and transcribing them to a new site, so I'd like to run those a bit. But there are surely more games to be played. Wes has done Among Us and peeps had fun and even one of those shared canvas sites where everyone draws together would be cute. Don't think it's stepping on my toes to plan these out. Give everyone a few weeks warning and talk to me/other staff beforehand so we can help you post a thread in the announcements forum/discord.
 
Because this suggestion is very broad and the points are hard to measure, it's not easy to clearly state whether or not it's implemented. It looks like we've implemented this as much as we can for now and we've made some progress and updated the new players guide. I'm going to mark this as implemented but if you want to make more specific suggestions for things that need attention still, feel free to open new threads for those.
 
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