4/25/2012 - LS Leader Meeting Minutes

[Yssen]

Hi guys. This took me a little longer than I thought it would to fully compile and make organized than I had planned. Sorry for the slight delay. What follows are the minutes of the LS Leader Meeting that took place last night. Lots of interesting stuff. I recommend everyone take a peek at what is here and give it all some thought. Fair warning, it did end up being a lot lengthier than I thought it would be. Enjoy!

 

 

4/25/2012 LS Leader Skype Meeting Minutes

 

1. Largest challenge facing the link shells involved in the RPC.

 

- General consensus that communication between RPC members and RPC link shells is the largest problem. Several solutions to the issue were made, most are detailed below.

 

2. RPC link shell listings.

 

- The current thinking is to abolish the way link shells are currently listed in the RPC in favor of a different listing method that offered more details to those looking for link shells to join. The reasons for change included;

- To provide more information to role players on the specifics of each link shell.

- To solve issues of confusion generated by the current role play style metric(light, medium, heavy), and implement something that gives more detailed information of the styles, themes, concepts, and level of role play immersion that are inherent to each individual link shell.

 

- Ideas for new listing method included bullet points, brief descriptions, or a mixture of the two. General consensus was that a mixture of the two would offer a proper amount of information.

 

- Ideas concerning what a new standard metric for the information of given about each link shell should include were discussed. General consensus was that a forum topic should be raised on the RPC forums to include input from individual players as far as what information they would like to see included in the new metric/ format. This topic will be posted up soon, and all players are encouraged to post their individual opinions in it.

- The idea was put forward that this should be thought of in terms of a general questionnaire for link shells. Specific questions to be determined by the information gathered in the RPC forum topic described above.

 

3. Involvement of link shell leaders and officers in the RPC.

- General consensus is that link shell leaders and officers should be more involved in the RPC and on the RPC forums. Several ideas for what level of involvement and what form of involvement where put forward. These included;

- Link shell leaders and officers providing moderators to the RPC forums.

- The creation of a forum section for link shell leaders and officers to discuss issues facing the RPC and stay in communication with each other. Most seemed to agree that while only leaders and officers would have the right to post in this forum section, the forum section should be viewable by the general public. Having it remain secret was viewed as a doing more harm the good to the community.

 

- Consensus was that it would be up to each individual link shell to determine the method by which they would become more involved in the RPC and its forums, but that involvement should be encouraged in the interest of continued communication and sense of community.

 

4. General discussion of promotion of the RPC and having more of a direct presence in the game.

- The idea of bringing role playing out into the public eye more was discussed. Possible solutions included;

- Encouraging more public IC interaction by role playing in /say more consistently.

- Being more open and inclusive in public character interactions.

- Encouraging IC interaction to take place in more public areas/ events in game.

- It should be noted that while the idea of having to deal with interruptions and distractions from non-role players that can best be described as "jerks" was brought up. There was a general consensus that having to deal with/ ignore said actions was a small price to pay when weighed against the potential to have others become interested in role playing by encountering it in a more open setting.

- It should also be noted that the key word here is "encouraged" individual role players are of course free to determine there own comfort level and involvement in such activity.

 

5. The issue of having more IC interaction and communication between link shells.

- The idea was brought up that more cross link shell events and story lines should be encouraged. (example - the current House Mavanix story line and events.)

- It was generally agreed on that more open/ collaborative content should be encouraged, but only take place in a manner that makes sense ICly.

- Several proposals for cross link shell story lines were brought up. The general idea being that each individual or link shell was free to come up with their own content and story lines.

- The idea of an epic user generated meta plot was brought forward. General consensus was that such a thing should develop organically, growing out of the seeds generated by less large scale cross link shell story lines. It should be noted that this will also require a large level of planning, commitment and collaboration between link shells.

- While those attending were generally interested in seeing the above come about, it was determined that other cross link shell events should be encouraged and played out before more solid attempts toward the epic meta plot idea could be implemented.

- Individual link shells are to be encouraged to find their own methods for figuring out how to implement cross link shell content (polling their player base, leaders coming up with content, etc.), and that while participation was encouraged it should by no means be considered mandatory.

- The issue was raised that no one really wants to be the villain in a story, and PvE options at this time were considered to be limited. General consensus was that while this is an issue, it is by no means considered to be an insurmountable one.

- The idea of creating an IC link shell to include and foster contact between the leaders and officers of of other IC link shells should be created. This issue is detailed further in another topic below.

 

6. 2.0 and Free Company status.

- The issue was brought up that players would only be able to join one Free Company when the content was released. It was determined that there was insufficient evidence to make a conclusion as to whether this fact was true or not.

 

- It should be noted that it was generally agreed upon that while we do not have enough information on Free Company content, the issue should remain one that is open for discussion. particularly as more details on Free Company content are made public.

 

- The idea of having one over arching RPC Free Company was proposed. It was determined that much like user created epic meta plot, this was an idea best approached organically in a method that makes sense from an IC stand point.

- It was noted that PvP competition between link shells will probably make for interesting story between characters.

- It was noted that no being able to field a large force of players in server wide PvP will result in a disadvantage when engaging non roleplaying Free Companies.

- There are obvious pros and cons to this issue, it was determined (as stated above) that more details on the specifics of PvP and Free Companies needed to be released before a decision can be made. The issue will be discussed further as more details are released.

- There was consensus that the idea of "one IC Free Company to rule them all" would in no way be considered mandatory.

 

- The issue of a dedicated RP server being created upon the release of 2.0.

- While it was generally agreed upon that one will be created as stated by Yoshida and several developers, there is not enough information known as to what form this server will take. The issue remains open for discussion as more information is released regarding this topic.

 

7. Leader and Officer only link shell.

- In an OOC capacity. Not much consensus was given on this idea. It was generally agreed on that the RPC forum section would fill this role.

 

- In and IC capacity. The consensus was that this is a good idea, but should be allowed to come about in a purely IC fashion.

- The general idea was that this would be a method to foster cross link shell interaction in the form of introducing content ICly.

- Several leaders talked about how their characters/ link shells would be engaging in IC interaction and content for this specific purpose. Stay tuned.

 

8. Should there be more meetings like this one?

- General consensus was that there should be.

- Specific details on where, when, and how will be discussed on forums.

 

9. General notes and tidbits.

- No one "owns" role playing on Balmung.

- We are all expected to be polite and respectful to one another.

[Kylin]

- The creation of a forum section for link shell leaders and officers to discuss issues facing the RPC and stay in communication with each other. Most seemed to agree that while only leaders and officers would have the right to post in this forum section, the forum section should be viewable by the general public. Having it remain secret was viewed as a doing more harm the good to the community.

 

This is now in the process of being implemented. Moderators are currently in discussion regarding rules for the new forum section. Once the rules are agreed upon, a sticky will be made with details and the section will be opened up to linkshell leaders. The section is viewable by all, but only individual linkshell leaders will have posting rights to it. More info to come in the near future.

 

On a semi-similar note, three linkshells are currently viewed by the majority of the community as "inactive," though they remain listed in the LS list. Two of these shells appear to have only a single member in each, one of whom has not been active in game for nearly 3 months now. The third doesn't seem to be faring any better and hasn't been heard from since its conception. Prior to the new LS leader section's implementation, these 3 shells will be moved to inactive status unless they step forward and claim otherwise. The shells in question are: Hells Sharks, Equites Cava, and Knights of the Red Rose.

[Kylin]

Linkshell leaders please confirm the following info along with your officer pick (if ready to give one) for posting privileges in the LS leader section. I'm hoping to have the section unlocked and ready to be utilized by this weekend.

 

Blue Skies (still active?):

1--Endemerrin

2--???

 

Corvus Cinis:

1--Alothia

2--Kassandra

 

Crystalline:

1--Eva

2--???

 

Everwatch:

1--Oskar

2--Nel

 

Misericorde:

1--Isaac

2--Beatric

 

Stormguard:

1--Seraphine

2--???

 

Sentinel's Ark:

1--Mtoto

2--Myllor

 

Shimmersong:

1--Sha

2--???

 

Soliliquy:

1--Xenedra

2--???

 

TALE:

1--Aveline

2--Rikitiki

[Smiling River]

I'm going to tag Nel for my second pick.

[Alothia]

I'mma go with Kass, please and Thank You.

[Shuck]

Beatric for my number 2, if you would.

[Mtoto Wamoto]

Myllor for me

[Aveline]

Rikitiki for TALE please.

[Eva]

Kylin, you want to be #2 for Crystalline? It will be like old times again. :cheer:

 

If you'd prefer to keep neutral I can discuss it with one or two of the others.