It's been no secret that we've had a stressful week. The Gartagens have been inactive for some time now, and in the interim they were adopted by Kyle and we'd planned to merge them into the Neshaten faction for cleanup, the way that abandoned/dead factions are often handled. But on the eve of this happening, their creator, Ira, has returned after a lengthy custody battle over his daughter, only to find himself in a new custody battle over his faction, and I've tried to mediate this with mixed results. Faction manager rights and creator rights are at odds and it's been frustrating for everyone involved as we try to figure it out.
Now, this topic isn't about the Gartagen situation, so let's not talk about that in this thread (use the Gartagen GM/FM planning thread). This topic is on how we avoid this from happening again. We need some sort of clear policy on handling factions whose creators have left, the same way we have a straightforward procedure for adoption of abandoned characters. So I'd like to get member feedback before I start writing one.
Here's some thoughts I had:
Now, this topic isn't about the Gartagen situation, so let's not talk about that in this thread (use the Gartagen GM/FM planning thread). This topic is on how we avoid this from happening again. We need some sort of clear policy on handling factions whose creators have left, the same way we have a straightforward procedure for adoption of abandoned characters. So I'd like to get member feedback before I start writing one.
Here's some thoughts I had:
- To be clear, my definition of a dead faction is a playable faction which previously hosted RP plots, but has not hosted any RP in at least 30 days. If RP in the faction has ceased, I consider it a dead faction.
- The primary responsibility of a faction manager is to keep their faction alive (meaning to promote RP in their faction). The best way to do this is running an RP for their faction.
- When a dead playable faction gets a new faction manager, or when an NPC faction becomes playable, there should be some set amount of time they have to get the faction into RP (maybe six months). By this I mean there should be some legitimate RP thread for that faction where multiple people are RPing in it. Open RP is fine.
- Faction managers should not be able to just sit on the faction. Sitting on it means you have the title of manager but no actual RP is happening. If the faction is assigned to someone for a long time and little to no RP happens, the faction should be turned into an NPC faction or handled/disposed according to the creator's wishes (see next item).
- Playable Factions should have some sort of "will" on file with the staff. The will should say who owns the faction, what should happen if the owners disappear (merge it with an active faction, destroy it, give it to another player, etc), and what happens if the owners come back. Any FM adopting a faction should know clearly whether or not they will keep it if the owner comes back. Less surprises = less drama. In most cases the owner is the author (although in theory factions could be given from one member to another or commissioned from a ghost writer).
Example: Imagine author Larry Niven shows up on SARP and roleplays his Kzinti species on Star Army occasionally when he's not writing novels. Sometimes he disappears for months to go write a book, but he doesn't want someone else to run his creations. Larry writes a faction will that says he's the owner of the Kzinti and that no one else can adopt them, and that he gets them back when he returns from hiatus.
- In the absence of a will, the site staff will convene and make a decision to who gets the faction when its control is in dispute. Generally it should be given to whoever:
- is active on the forums
- is willing to run an RP for it.
- put the most overall work into it
- is active on the forums
- For site stability purposes, I don't think any one person should run more than one playable faction (as primary FM), although you can be non-primary FM (co-FM, assistant FM) to more than one faction.
Example: Nashoba can FM the Hidden Sun Clan and co-FM Yamatai, but he can't be the main FM of both factions at the same time.
- I think we should remove the 3 month restriction on creating or running factions. This causes immense frustration to eager new players who want to build stuff. If they want to build stuff, let them -- the staff will filter the good from the bad in the Setting Submissions forum.
- Waiting periods: Waiting periods to become a GM/FM/staffer only apply to people who left the site for discipline issues (banning), flounced out, rage quit, or left the site without notice for arbitrary reasons (random poof). But they shouldn't be applied to members who left because of sudden major life events life being hospitalized or arrested, particularly if the member had no control over them.
- "How to use this faction as NPCs" pages should be required for all factions, or at least for NPC ones.
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