Staff Feedback: January 2018

[Brandon Rhea]

I'm not continuing a back and forth with you, but you are completely off base with your assumption. You couldn't be more wrong, so don't speak for me or my motivations. Thanks.

Likewise, you shouldn't be taking an attitude and inserting yourself into a feedback thread when you haven't been on the site, have not RPd in the new timeline, are not involved in the community in any way, and told one of the staff point blank a few days ago "Im out of this timeline lol"

Be in or be out, but you can't have it both ways.

 

[Green Ranger]

Likewise, you shouldn't be inserting yourself into a feedback thread when you haven't been on the site, have not RPd in the new timeline, are not involved in the community in any way, and told one of the staff point blank a few days ago "Im out of this timeline lol"

Be in or be out, but you can't have it both ways.

Which, for transparency's sake since you omitted the full information, was in response to a request to make a tech profile. Which wouldn't make much sense if I didn't have an active character in the RP at the time.

And FYI, not being on the group discord and not actively RPing =/= not part of the community. I actually touch base with more than a few members on fairly regular bases on my own because I have made friends with people in and around this community. Like, y'know...you. But also others.

In fact, you of all people should know me better than to assume I'm saying this stuff without reason or context. We worked together for a hell of a long time, and have known each other even longer. You've also run this site long enough to know that people speak their true feelings far more readily behind closed doors.

I'm trying to give you guys some insight into the stuff that people might feel too intimidated to say to you guys directly.

 

[Wit]

Even if you are touching base with folks, you're not active enough to give unbiased feedback. You're speaking on second hand info at best, not the best source for information when having such a strong reaction to it.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

User activity is higher than it was a year ago, and in the last year the only time there's been more posts was in the immediate aftermath of the time skip from last timeline.

Looking at things at a quick glance, without being immersed in the site, doesn't show you a complete picture. Nor does secondhand information.

 

[Green Ranger]

Hang on - even if I was active on the site, I wouldn't have access to graphs showing user activity (or if I did I'd never have known where to look for it >.>). I would still only observatiosn and anecdotal evidence to go by, which is where we're at right now.

Which goes back to the point of I can only give feedback based on what I see and hear - whether from my own observations or from commentary from others.

EDIT: Logging out because, while I wanted to get you guys having a serious think about how things are running, this is far too heated and I don't think anything can be gained from this back and forth of arguing how valid my criticism is. Take it or leave it, I guess. All the best.

 

[Mr.BossMan]

After reading some of the Discord chat I saw that a staff member wanted more information regarding this timelines new mechanics. Thus I'm going to go into a more detailed post about the site and more specifically it's new timeline, and how you guys changed some things.

Plots - I like the idea of plots a lot. To me this new way of making stories that effect the timeline as a whole is much greater than any timeline I've previously participated in. Basically it allows every member of the site the opportunity to effect the entire story, or at least help shape the story. This is a good thing in my opinion and I absolutely love this idea, so whoever came up with it should pat themselves on the back. That being said though I do think it has it's faults, as the plot system does appear to be running very slow in terms of actually completing the plot. Now this is a natural thing, as it does take time to write a thread and complete it. So in a way the plot system can stagnate a timeline. For instance the Main Faction plots for the Exile faction didn't seem to be going anywhere. Which is why I took it upon myself to kinda kick start the Dark Roots plot, which, I hope, will run smoothly and get completed in a timely manner.

The plot mods all seem friendly enough and when I submitted my plot I was treated with kindness and a very fair outcome or "Reward" for the completion of my plot. I also like the idea of not being able to see all of the plots that have been approved or submitted. Another thing though is plots do take a lot of work to start, to be fair, they should, but this can also be very time consuming and hard to do. Especially if someone is busy with their real life outside of SWRP. So in a very limited way they could be hard for some members to do, even if they really wanted to do. Now this isn't really a problem that can be fixed by the staff, but it is a problem to some members I'm sure. I haven't seen a plot completed yet and it's been almost a month since the start of the timeline. Because of this I do hope that plots truly are rewarded fairly by the staff. Especially if you have a very long and complicated plot, this should be rewarded generously as it can take upwards of a month of time to complete.

All in all though I love the idea and I hope it is continued in future timelines.

Credits - Credits are something new to the timeline and I must say I like them as well, but to a lesser extent then plots. I think how characters gain credits is fair, PvP, engaging in enriching stories like the trial thread, completing plots. All of this seems fair to me. The only argument I could see is that some members have a tendency to really care about credits. What I mean by this is that I've seen people really fluff the shit out of their post just so they can get more credits. To me this takes away from the roleplay and the story, because now you have to read a thousand word post just because Bobby Joe wanted those ten credits so he could faster level up his character. Like when everyone else is posting a three paragraph post, and some member storms into an open thread with ten paragraphs, what then?

Now I understand this can be a very difficult rule for the Admin team to enforce. Why? Because what others may see as "Fluff" there might be a chance that the member who posted that simply writes that way. If that's true then I don't think that person should be punished, but I do see the argument for him being punished. Anyways I have yet to see an Admin call someone out on this issue, which I take as a good sign that people are being fair when posting.

All in all credits are okay, I like them.

Levels - I honestly ain't got much to say about levels. I think the idea behind them is a very solid one. It really separates the power behind characters. That being said though, It does seem very, mechanical and game like. Especially when writing in a free form roleplay site. I also hate how people tend to depend upon levels to much. Like in an OOC thread when someone says "Well I'm a master and you're only a Knight, so you'll get poned if you fight me." This may be true, but again it makes the site seem very much like a game and not like a writing experience. I hope this makes sense.

All in all though I like levels. I like the idea behind them and I want to see them in future timelines.

Discord - Now before i start rambling on discord I must say this, I like it. But I think people like it to much, if that makes sense.

As a site it isn't hard to see that many members view discord as a much more viable source to get information, speak to one another, ask questions, think up ideas, etc. Now this is great, it's awesome that people can easily do all of these things, but i do think it does take away from the site. If everyone is on discord then there isn't much of a point of being on SWRP when whatever you were gonna do, can be better done faster in the Discord chat channels.

I do think it has become a "Chat Box" of sorts like Boli said. Although I find no negativity on the Discord server, it is, very much so, a friendly place to hang out and talk Star Wars or whatever else.


As a final note, I may be critical of these ideas, but I should say for the most part I like all of these ideas.

 

[Marcus]

This will be short because I have been inactive mostly due to time. I love this site and my past writing. Things have been great. That said, several of the staff have been rather rude and dismissive on Discord and in threads here. It is a game, not everyone has time to read everything (especially on the insanity of Discord), and we all want to have fun. But I’ve found it too abrasive for my tastes. Have I been abrasive? Sure. But the staffs front face (a few of them I should say) is not what a club should show. It has caused me to leave, in addition to time issues, which is a shame because I was looking forward to the new shift.

So until staff attitudes change, less Discord usage is required, and more comments of threads can be summarized in announcement original posts, I will not be here. Oh and I have very little time lol. But my desire to return, regardless of time, is close to zero because of what I’ve shared.

Sorry for the negative reply, but it’s the truth.