ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS OF THE DEVINITY STAFF TEAM THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS MANDATORY ...And honestly I'm not sure if I can do that, but I just did so you better read this shit -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION If you remember the name Applcore5, my Wiz Khalifa profile pic, or my talking joint signature...chances are you've been here awhile and if you have you'll also remember some other things. Back then Devinity was much more social and i think i have an understanding why. Recently there has seemed to be a diminishing community outside the staff team (I am not referring to our player base just the community aspect) and its because there has been a divide. Less and less staff members reach out to play and interact with members outside of Flood and the first reason for this is slack which brings on the analogy... THE ANALOGY (Que obnoxiously long Leafy transition slide) Imagine social media...it has brought thousands together and lets us communicate worldwide which by all means is a great thing, the known dark side of social media is that it well separates us from the world because we get caught up with it and forget about the world around us from time to time. In this terrible analogy, slack is the social media and the world is Devinity's players and community. Slack has largely helped Devinity and is a lot quicker and easier then previous methods *cough* Teamspeak *cough* in the case of further developing Devinity. And even though we still rarely use teamspeak for conferences it is for the most part been abandoned because of how easy slack is. (For clarification I mean how we no longer use Teampseak to discuss staff promotions or coding, or devstuff) This too is not a bad thing but the thing that ends up being bad is stuff like #general and off topic stuff that staff now use to communicate commonly instead of going onto Teamspeak and communicating with the player base. We're actually pretty close to the point of no return where TEAMSPEAK WILL BE AN ACTUAL TOMBSTONE. Basically we need to get our shit together, hop on teamspeak, and start utilizing it to interact with the community again. Bu thats just the tip of the iceberg... THE BASIS So now that I've bored you all with an overly long intro and an analogy that ended up being more of a rant. (Make Devinity Great Again), we get to the actual overview or basis of the Wolfgang Theorem. Basically its a way to get Staff and Players alike to participate as a community again. And it basically works out like tally or star chart you had as a kid. You know the one I'm talking about right (Ex. 10 good deads gets you a star and 10 stars gets you a toy or so forth). So while you all thought I was on hiatus for the past week I've really been working in the shadows to come up with a way to intricate this into our system. This was an idea SilverMario and I proposed with each other months ago when we were tasked with doing so but he resigned the same day dumping it on me...hence why it took so long and why I am taking full credit. Theres two branches of this system so I'll layout both. STAFF THEOREM There will be four traits of the staff theorem that make this up that work towards WolfPoints (An yes we're calling them that because I'm making sure to leave my mark on Devinity) Number 1: Staff Conference attendance. Attending a staff conference will earn a staff member one WolfPoint but the amount of participation will vary. (This will be determined by either highest ranking staff other than devs or just me if everyone else is too lazy) Number 2: Monthly Gaming Sessions. I am willing to personally undersea any operations and preparations with @CounterCraftz to ensure these actually happen. Playing with fellow staff members and interacting with the community in this way will earn WolfPoints. Number 3: Teamspeak Time: Helping to revive our Teamspeak and being active on it will earn you WolfPoints Number 4: Forum Time: getting active on the forums, creating threads, and proposing ideas will all be weighted by upper staffmen and will be considered when adding a WolfPoint to a player. Obtaining WolfPoints would be heavily weighted in being promoted, and just like in college applications...if there are two jr mods with the same playtime and experience but one has WolfPoints he will almost definitely take the promotion. (Giving junior mods WolfPoints is Mod+, giving Mods WolfPoints is Admin+, and so forth) Not only should a staff member seek to rise through the ranks but he should also utilize WolfPoints because he/she wants to help improve the community. This one is up to @jeffreythe00 but a severe lack of WolfPoints (A mod w/ 0 for example) could actually end up with a demotion. Note: Server Playtime does not count towards WolfPoints because that is your duty and what you signed up for. PLAYER THEOREM Just like the staff theorem there will be four traits and all would lead to WolfPoints. Number 1: Monthly Gaming Sessions: I am willing to personally undersea any operations and preparations with @CounterCraftz to ensure these actually happen. Playing with fellow players and interacting with the community in this way will earn WolfPoints. Number 2: Teamspeak Time: Helping to revive our Teamspeak and being active on it will earn you WolfPoints Number 3: Forum Time: getting active on the forums, creating threads, and proposing ideas will all be weighted by upper staffmen and will be considered when adding a WolfPoint to a player. Number 4***: Server Playtime. Unlike staff, players would be rewarded for exceedingly abundant amounts of playtime. Obtaining WolfPoints in a player's case would be much different and would lead to cash rewards and other perks that can be discussed after implementation..thats right...AFTER. Something that @Bayrock & @Donkie might appreciate is if the Wolfgang Theorem right away because it would take time to get moving, there'd be a lot of time to discuss player awards and no immediate coding would have to go into effect which means after the vote we could start this machine right up. CONFIRMATION OF TERMS Personally I think this is a very good idea that could help make the community flourish. So i would like each staff member to confirm they have read the terms at the very least and if they do like the idea then provide feedback. @jeffreythe00 - Please read and reply for confirmation purposes, provide feedback if you wish @Dawson - Please read and reply for confirmation purposes, provide feedback if you wish @Dr. Pit Lazarus - Please read and reply for confirmation purposes, provide feedback if you wish @CounterCraftz - Please read and reply for confirmation purposes, provide feedback if you wish @Seth - Please read and reply for confirmation purposes, provide feedback if you wish @Kolser - Please read and reply for confirmation purposes, provide feedback if you wish @Nyaaa~ ∑:3 - Please read and reply for confirmation purposes, provide feedback if you wish @Seboo23 - Please read and reply for confirmation purposes, provide feedback if you wish @Viral - Please read and reply for confirmation purposes, provide feedback if you wish @LeafySharp - Please read and reply for confirmation purposes, provide feedback if you wish CONCLUSION I apologize if I stepped out of line but I do not apologize for anything I said, I am very hopeful that this will work out and we can correctly implement it into Devinity. Obviously we could use some additions or refinements but if you blatantly suggest something that I may have covered in the plans then I will blatantly ignore it Spoiler: tl;dr IF YOU'RE REALLY LOOKING FOR A TLDR REGARDING SOMETHING THIS IMPORTANT TO DEVINITY THAN PERHAPS YOU SHOUDLNT BE STAFF THX FOR UR TIME
I'm sure Donkie would want to change WolfPoints but while it's in a beta phase I see no point to actually work in a real name.
It might go against the strong flow here, but i think this idea is not gonna help. In my eyes, it will only "kill" the community. People will strongly rely on this theorem, and that would bring... chaos. Most of the Staff Members have life, problems, other things to do... and they'r activity will be noticed via WolfPoints. Noone will ask "why". Its just demotions from there. Honestly, Im trying to attend "conversations" and talk with everyone, who might end up in game or in TS. I strongly rely on TS to just... talk. I used to it. And Im not trying to appeal to everyone and get my promotion. Im glad with what I have right now. But still, why push people to use it? Its not nessesary. People have a choise, goddamn it! Still, the idea of such "points" system sounds great to show players and Staff activity, but its initial use, that described right now, will work as shackles. I hope you will understnd me.
I'm sorry but I'm completely against this statement. First of all Devinity will soon be experiencing a mass population on its servers due to the new Gmod update and we need to profit off that while we can. These new players flowing into a social and friendly society could help revive the community. As for the demotions and stuff, not at all. We're already doing that and it's mostly been votes in slack barely any voice in the matter at all. This would never take the choice from people, it's just away for people that do a lot for the community to get noticed and they not feel like they're doing it for nothing. this in turn will most likelyget more people too start helping out and could lead to a better community. What we have now is a white dwarf, we're just burning what motion and enthusiasm Devinity has left. We don't have any non-staff members really active on the forums or teamspeak. If this doesn't change slowly staff will give up and it'll burn out unnoticed.
I am against the concept of burdening staff + community operations with additional guidelines/rules. What we have so far is good enough. If we try cramming more obligations/"chores" down others' throats, interest + experience as a whole would more likely tank on the long term. As Nyaa stated, you cannot realistically expect everyone to commit their time to satisfying everything. ...We've got lives to live, and they will not be spent on meticulously nitpicking incoming thread items, attendance + activity quotas, etc. Also, not afraid to personally admit it: The apparent self-entitlement demonstrated in such items as "WolfPoints" brushes off the wrong way as being pompous and obnoxious. Universally speaking, if anyone intends to leave behind their mark on good terms, adhering to modesty is one of several concepts to exercise. Yes, I am being hypercritical, but that's the vibe I got out of screening the above. : P
I'd like to get it out of the way that WolfPoints was a joke and if you couldn't actually get that out of context, I question what kind of sense of humor you even have Again this isn't a burden it's an option, staff can still just commit time to the community and live their own lives on the flippity. But for staff that actually care deep down about the community and want to take a little time out of their lives and give it to the community would be a way to recognize them and boost activity. There is no actual community right now, just a staff team and a playerbase but I guess that's good enough for the average staff member here. And even indulging farther into that statement...it's downright insulting to label it "good enough" Dawson because that sure as hell is not why @Bayrock founded the community. Edit: And no offense, judging by your character it is a tad bit hypocritical to call someone else pompous
Whether the argument went too far or personal is besides the point, there was still a reason for it to take place and that reason still exists. You shouldn't end a critical discussion just because you fear it might make you sacrifice your class...that's just unproductive.
With all due respect Dawson, Im going to stand by my opinion and won't move on because I believe it can help Devinity. If you don't want to stand by yours then move on...and by that I don't mean comment again (because that's doing exactly what you said we shouldn't do.)
@Wolfgang I have tried fruitlessly to get players to interact with the community. The problem is that players aren't really interested in using a forum board. If you really want to know what lengths we have gone to get players to use the forums, PM me and I'll give you a list of things we have tried. Now, I need to point out immediately don't like your wolf points idea at all because staff isn't some kind of reward. It's a job and by giving "points" you're attracting the wrong kind of people. If people want to become a part of the staff team, they'll put the effort in without our help (And if they do need a little help, we can point them in the right direction). It's like saying "Hey, if you are active, we will give you staff" which should NOT be the case at all. Now, as for the rewards aspect, thats something that can definitely be done and I would support this if you can come up with a bunch of ideas. I believe we already have some rewards that you can "in-game" just from using the forums. TS3 is another matter. I should be using ts3 a lot more but I generally stay in my own channel to avoid all the cancer that goes on in the public channels. If people really need to talk to me, I am aways reachable on steam/forums.
