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03-12-2017, 12:22 AM
Hello Helovia,
This PSA is being announced to inform the members of a few issues and the admin team's resolve to fix them. We have been facing talk from our members of bias, cliquishness and other un-fun things that can make RPing a drag for everyone: admins included! The team takes these kinds of concerns seriously, and we encourage you to talk to someone about them. All admins are available through skype and also through email. Some concerns are quickly answered! Sometimes you may bring up an issue we aren't aware of, and then sometimes you bring up issues that just went beneath our notice (we are busy too!). However, with your help and improved communication, we can settle any concerns you may have.
1. A player called roll bias into question in regards to the battle board.
OUR SOLUTION: If you want your rolls to be viewed by another player via livestream or screencapped, please CONTACT AN ADMIN. We will do so at your request but it'd be time consuming to do them for all rolls if some people don't feel it's necessary.
Long term solution: Tamme is working very hard to find a non-flaky coder to handle the dice roller system. The random math has been coded, but integrating it into mybb is the tricky part! The last coder she found disappeared. If anyone knows of coders for hire, please let her know.
2. A player commented on cliques.
OUR SOLUTION: Unfortunately cliques are a tricky subject because on the one hand, it sucks to be excluded, but on the other hand, sometimes threads have to be quick and small to accomplish personal goals. The admin team has come up with a solution we think is fair in that herd related threads should be open to members of that herd. In the case where a herd leader wants to have a closed herd meeting, they must seek the admin for approval or discuss the matter with the herd and explain. ALL ADMIN will be in all skype chats from now on.
3. A player commented on herd promotions not being fair.
OUR SOLUTION: In order to preserve some of the fun of being a herd leader and choosing the direction of your herd, we have to acknowledge this complaint fairly. However, we are enforcing herd rank applications and having a full admin discussion of the ranks. If you feel that you deserve a rank you have not received, please contact any admin. We will get to the bottom of it, and you will be treated fairly.
4. A player commented that rules are in place which help admin.
OUR SOLUTION: Unfortunately without more explanation, we are stuck in a guessing game. I can say that 1. admin are not allowed to enter their own drops, 2. we are not allowed to choose our own presents in the giveaway, 3. we are not allowed to enter our own magic or companions, 4. we are not allowed to participate in some SWP events in which we know the outcome. Gameplay can be limited for the admin! However, most of our rules are designed to try to be as fair as possible. If there is a rule you are concerned about, please contact an admin.
5. Ranks only go to admin.
OUR SOLUTION: While we are stuck in a similar situation where an admin is in a leadership position, most of the positives that make a good leader are also present in the admin. Also, the admin team often chooses herd leaders for our volunteer work based on their ability to run their herds. We follow the same rules as everyone else, and there are instances in which admin have been ousted from their herds for inactivity or otherwise. If you desire a leadership rank, be active, challenge and make it happen! Most of the admin actually encourage challenges to leadership! If you want help becoming a herd leader or a ranked member, please contact a "not involved" admin. If you want to challenge but are worried about OOC fallout, also talk to a "not involved" admin.
The admin team 100% supports ALL IC DRAMA. Nothing is safe! No position is forever!
6. Admin characters have OP magic and/or are favored.
OUR SOLUTION: This is a bit of a strange situation because most of the admin characters are old. For example, tamme's Ophelia was one of the first characters on Helovia (she wasn't born here) and tamme has spent all the years while she was on the site earning stuff for Phi. Sometimes it's easy to point fingers at beefy characters when in reality, time and longevity are what prove to be worthwhile. This is why we have a "love your character" policy. If you stick with a character you love throughout their life, you will earn all that you want to earn.
However, we will be reviewing admin magic, but it would help if we had some guidance. Some of the old character magic still has old-style wording and could use some updating! It's not that it's OP, it's just written from a time when everything was far too wordy.
As for being favored in foal rolls, we have a strict rolling policy on the babies! If you have a hybrid character, you have a 50% chance of having a dead foal. While the foal stats will ensure that your character lives, you will still face health consequences. For transparency, we are posting our foal rolling guide which will be kept in the growth center. http://helovia.net/showthread.php?tid=26243
7. The gods only like admin characters!
OUR SOLUTION: I promise you, it's not that way. tamme's Ophelia has had fireballs thrown at her head, Ulrik has had his magic taken away, and many of them have been given difficult quests. The gods DO often favor current herd leaders who are active! If you want to have a special relationship with a god, our suggestion is to grab a votg pass and enter ICly with some humility. Our Helovia gods are modeled after the gods of Greek mythology - which means that they are supposed to be imperfect and somewhat assholish. They will approve of those who cater to what they want! For example, the moon goddess doesn't care about individuals - she only cares about what they can do for her and she desires their prayers and their fear. If you approach the moon goddess with a character who has an ego, she won't take kindly to him. The gods are supposed to be very real characters with flaws.
HOWEVER, if you think that the admin playing the god is being biased, you can request for someone else to take over your threads - however, we all have our duties and therefore, you may have to wait a little longer.
8. Admin only consider suggestions that help them.
OUR SOLUTION: I guarantee you this doesn't happen because we discuss things together! If an idea gets implemented, it's because it's easy to accomplish. Most of the ideas, no matter how good or awesome they are, are not implemented because it would either 1) cause issues with other groups or is unfair, 2) would cost money to implement, 3) would involve more admin work, or 4) would complicate the game further. If you go compare Helovia to other RPGs, we are pretty complex and our rules are dense! Our biggest complaint from newbies is how complicated Helovia is. We are firmly against anything that would add another layer of complexity to Helovia. This is why a complex economy system (which Blu drafted) has not been implemented and also why we don't have achievement systems for the other ranks. Maybe in the future if we can get more automated, we can include some of these new features! However, that involves money and coding time which we do not have at the moment. Besides! We want to keep Helovia as open to interpretation as possible.
If you have any more questions or concerns, please email or skype an admin. We are committed to doing whatever we can to prove that the admin team cares more about you than us. Remember, we are all adults here and we are just volunteers. There is nothing for us to gain if we treat you poorly. If you feel that one admin hasn't solved your issue, please go to another!
Tamme's email: elisethechemist@yahoo.com
Odd's email: ae.delamont@hotmail.com
Blu's email: haysen@gmail.com
Please remember too, you can always PM Official!
If you PM Official from the NPC account, we cannot respond to you! However, that is an anonymous option.
- The admin team.
NEW THINGS!
1. To help with promotions and demotions, we are implementing a system where every 2 seasons (4 months), ALL of the herds will have ALL of the applications for rank-magic positions to be applied. Anyone in the herd can apply to any of these positions (except leads) and there will be choices made by the entire admin team as an oversight committee. You will be encouraged to post threads, awards and accomplishments to either keep or earn a new rank!
2. THE SWP is moving along - please keep posting!
3. PM "Official" if you want a topic opened in the comments board! We will not open a topic on something that has been previously decided, but we look forward to new ideas and discussions!
This PSA is being announced to inform the members of a few issues and the admin team's resolve to fix them. We have been facing talk from our members of bias, cliquishness and other un-fun things that can make RPing a drag for everyone: admins included! The team takes these kinds of concerns seriously, and we encourage you to talk to someone about them. All admins are available through skype and also through email. Some concerns are quickly answered! Sometimes you may bring up an issue we aren't aware of, and then sometimes you bring up issues that just went beneath our notice (we are busy too!). However, with your help and improved communication, we can settle any concerns you may have.
1. A player called roll bias into question in regards to the battle board.
OUR SOLUTION: If you want your rolls to be viewed by another player via livestream or screencapped, please CONTACT AN ADMIN. We will do so at your request but it'd be time consuming to do them for all rolls if some people don't feel it's necessary.
Long term solution: Tamme is working very hard to find a non-flaky coder to handle the dice roller system. The random math has been coded, but integrating it into mybb is the tricky part! The last coder she found disappeared. If anyone knows of coders for hire, please let her know.
2. A player commented on cliques.
OUR SOLUTION: Unfortunately cliques are a tricky subject because on the one hand, it sucks to be excluded, but on the other hand, sometimes threads have to be quick and small to accomplish personal goals. The admin team has come up with a solution we think is fair in that herd related threads should be open to members of that herd. In the case where a herd leader wants to have a closed herd meeting, they must seek the admin for approval or discuss the matter with the herd and explain. ALL ADMIN will be in all skype chats from now on.
3. A player commented on herd promotions not being fair.
OUR SOLUTION: In order to preserve some of the fun of being a herd leader and choosing the direction of your herd, we have to acknowledge this complaint fairly. However, we are enforcing herd rank applications and having a full admin discussion of the ranks. If you feel that you deserve a rank you have not received, please contact any admin. We will get to the bottom of it, and you will be treated fairly.
4. A player commented that rules are in place which help admin.
OUR SOLUTION: Unfortunately without more explanation, we are stuck in a guessing game. I can say that 1. admin are not allowed to enter their own drops, 2. we are not allowed to choose our own presents in the giveaway, 3. we are not allowed to enter our own magic or companions, 4. we are not allowed to participate in some SWP events in which we know the outcome. Gameplay can be limited for the admin! However, most of our rules are designed to try to be as fair as possible. If there is a rule you are concerned about, please contact an admin.
5. Ranks only go to admin.
OUR SOLUTION: While we are stuck in a similar situation where an admin is in a leadership position, most of the positives that make a good leader are also present in the admin. Also, the admin team often chooses herd leaders for our volunteer work based on their ability to run their herds. We follow the same rules as everyone else, and there are instances in which admin have been ousted from their herds for inactivity or otherwise. If you desire a leadership rank, be active, challenge and make it happen! Most of the admin actually encourage challenges to leadership! If you want help becoming a herd leader or a ranked member, please contact a "not involved" admin. If you want to challenge but are worried about OOC fallout, also talk to a "not involved" admin.
The admin team 100% supports ALL IC DRAMA. Nothing is safe! No position is forever!
6. Admin characters have OP magic and/or are favored.
OUR SOLUTION: This is a bit of a strange situation because most of the admin characters are old. For example, tamme's Ophelia was one of the first characters on Helovia (she wasn't born here) and tamme has spent all the years while she was on the site earning stuff for Phi. Sometimes it's easy to point fingers at beefy characters when in reality, time and longevity are what prove to be worthwhile. This is why we have a "love your character" policy. If you stick with a character you love throughout their life, you will earn all that you want to earn.
However, we will be reviewing admin magic, but it would help if we had some guidance. Some of the old character magic still has old-style wording and could use some updating! It's not that it's OP, it's just written from a time when everything was far too wordy.
As for being favored in foal rolls, we have a strict rolling policy on the babies! If you have a hybrid character, you have a 50% chance of having a dead foal. While the foal stats will ensure that your character lives, you will still face health consequences. For transparency, we are posting our foal rolling guide which will be kept in the growth center. http://helovia.net/showthread.php?tid=26243
7. The gods only like admin characters!
OUR SOLUTION: I promise you, it's not that way. tamme's Ophelia has had fireballs thrown at her head, Ulrik has had his magic taken away, and many of them have been given difficult quests. The gods DO often favor current herd leaders who are active! If you want to have a special relationship with a god, our suggestion is to grab a votg pass and enter ICly with some humility. Our Helovia gods are modeled after the gods of Greek mythology - which means that they are supposed to be imperfect and somewhat assholish. They will approve of those who cater to what they want! For example, the moon goddess doesn't care about individuals - she only cares about what they can do for her and she desires their prayers and their fear. If you approach the moon goddess with a character who has an ego, she won't take kindly to him. The gods are supposed to be very real characters with flaws.
HOWEVER, if you think that the admin playing the god is being biased, you can request for someone else to take over your threads - however, we all have our duties and therefore, you may have to wait a little longer.
8. Admin only consider suggestions that help them.
OUR SOLUTION: I guarantee you this doesn't happen because we discuss things together! If an idea gets implemented, it's because it's easy to accomplish. Most of the ideas, no matter how good or awesome they are, are not implemented because it would either 1) cause issues with other groups or is unfair, 2) would cost money to implement, 3) would involve more admin work, or 4) would complicate the game further. If you go compare Helovia to other RPGs, we are pretty complex and our rules are dense! Our biggest complaint from newbies is how complicated Helovia is. We are firmly against anything that would add another layer of complexity to Helovia. This is why a complex economy system (which Blu drafted) has not been implemented and also why we don't have achievement systems for the other ranks. Maybe in the future if we can get more automated, we can include some of these new features! However, that involves money and coding time which we do not have at the moment. Besides! We want to keep Helovia as open to interpretation as possible.
If you have any more questions or concerns, please email or skype an admin. We are committed to doing whatever we can to prove that the admin team cares more about you than us. Remember, we are all adults here and we are just volunteers. There is nothing for us to gain if we treat you poorly. If you feel that one admin hasn't solved your issue, please go to another!
Tamme's email: elisethechemist@yahoo.com
Odd's email: ae.delamont@hotmail.com
Blu's email: haysen@gmail.com
Please remember too, you can always PM Official!
If you PM Official from the NPC account, we cannot respond to you! However, that is an anonymous option.
- The admin team.
NEW THINGS!
1. To help with promotions and demotions, we are implementing a system where every 2 seasons (4 months), ALL of the herds will have ALL of the applications for rank-magic positions to be applied. Anyone in the herd can apply to any of these positions (except leads) and there will be choices made by the entire admin team as an oversight committee. You will be encouraged to post threads, awards and accomplishments to either keep or earn a new rank!
2. THE SWP is moving along - please keep posting!
3. PM "Official" if you want a topic opened in the comments board! We will not open a topic on something that has been previously decided, but we look forward to new ideas and discussions!
