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.
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"
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:
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
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 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.
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
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.
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