[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon I

[Nivel]

No! don't close it I'll grade some more, I've been slacking because I accumulated too many threads but I should be grading like a mad man soon. I'll also Guest story tell even, maybe even assist in lore just don't close this place, I need my RP fix and this site is with out a doubt the BEST. O___O THE BEST!

[Shane Wallsly]

I'm a but late to the party here but I'll be your friend.

[Jeremy Casing]

People will rally. Mizahar is too important to too many people for them to allow it to close down. They'll fight, as the posts above this proves.

That said, I'm gonna go ahead and throw my two pennies' worth into the pot of storyteller absences/lack of. I apologise for the wordiness of it all.

I'd love to be a storyteller. I've toyed with the idea for the past three or four months. But obviously, I'm not one. And sentiment is all well and good, but why haven't I bothered to apply for the actual post, to actually step up and help?

It sounds ridiculous, but I'm scared. I imagine that once your name becomes that bluey-greeney colour, a whole world of new pressures ensues. Development, storytelling, PMs, questions, job threads, job applications... All that kinda stuff. At this current point in my life, I don't think I could dedicate the time such a role deserves, and I'd simply become one of those storytellers that appears and disappears all within six months. I don't want to do that.

It sounds meek, and the usual 'can't, too busy with RL' excuse that I'm sure everyone on this website would muster should they were asked why they hadn't applied to be an ST. And of course, it's a valid reason, we all got stuff and life to deal with. Also I, like others I'm sure, regard it as a privilege to be part of this website, and being a staff member would be even more of one. To put it simply: I don't want to balls it all up.

Which brings about the only suggestion I can think of. It's probably been said before, and may not work in reality , but what about PC Storytellers? We have PC graders, who's 'job' is to grade threads to ease the load from staff. And when I say 'PC Storytellers', what I mean is something different to guest storytellers, and more along the lines of PCs who work together to develop calendars for domains, events, deal with job requests, etc.

So, taking Sunberth as an example (as one of my alts is currently there), a group of PC storytellers (or even just one, with the coordination and suggestions from other PCs), develops a calendar. This is limited to the realms of reality, of course, and is checked over by an approved member of staff (at the HD, perhaps?) before being posted and becoming official. As long as there are rules in place (e.g. Gods don't start randomly walking the streets, there's no event that inherently benefits or impairs a certain PC), it might work. Of course, it still requires the ultimate approval of a staff member, but maybe it would ease their workload as they won't necessarily have to the legwork of thinking up events bit and instead just make sure that the suggested events/calendar works and is suitable.

Job/wage requests would be more difficult to deal with due to the limitations of the SS thread. But maybe PC storytellers could have the role of checking job/wage applications, ensuring that (as far as they can tell), they fall in line with the requirements of said job/wage, and again posting a list of 'pre-approved' applications to the HD. Then staff wouldn't need to read all those threads from all those PCs, and instead only check one or two to make sure the PC storyteller isn't just handing out wages/jobs willy-nilly.

Neither of these ideas suddenly creates a load of STs to help out on Miz, and nor does it fully release the current staff of their large world load, but perhaps it could help a bit. I'm sure there are plenty of PCs, like me, who would love to help out more but can't quite muster up the balls or time to dedicate to being a fully-fledged staff member.

It's an idea. Feel free for anyone to be as blunt as possible. I admit I probably haven't fully considered 100% of the variables there, but I do hope it's of some worth

-Jeremy

[Gossamer]

I'm going to respond to some of the posts in here and the massive amount of PMs I've gotten since last night later today when I'm not on my phone and not at work. Thank you for all the feedback both good and bad. I'm thinking on all of it. There is a lot to process. If you haven't weighed in but feel like you should, I wish you would in the end. I might not adopt your ideas, but I sure do think there are some good ones flying around.

One thing I do want to say is this. It's easy to blame leadership for things like atmosphere or even attitude. But ultimately your actions are your own. You live in the bubble you create around yourself... good bad ugly or absolutely fucking fantastic. I choose to fill my bubble with animals, art, love, and Mizahar. This is really sometimes the only dark spot that is beyond my ultimate finite control - unless you count politics, finances, and religion. And Miz is that way because it's big. Even then, my domain is my bubble. My thread partners are my bubble. I control what's in it. Everything else is what I choose for me. And your life is what you choose for you.

I can't dictate your attitude. Only you can.

[Achenar]

I don't know if I'm qualified to leave my two cents here but I thought I would, since I do genuinely like playing here on Miz.

I thought a bit about the situation with staff members and the lack thereof. It really sucks to see awesome awesome cities sit in dust because of an absence of STs to bring people in. I think Jeremy's suggestion could alleviate that, and have people be active in non-staffed areas but still be organized and recorded. It gives people more options to play. (I may be biased because I love Kenash and would looove to play there, but there's no activity aside from two people occasionally.)

And if not roll with that option, maybe have a group goal each month for all STs across the game to meet? It doesn't have to be the same goal, either! Areas that need help could be picked up by other staff. Maybe that's already being done, not sure, I'm just throwing ideas at the wall, haha. But in this sense I also thought of Dravite's suggestion too. Freeing up STs to look at other areas as well instead of just one area that they hole themselves up in. It offers more helping hands to areas that might be stagnate.

If I could help in any way I can I would. I can offer myself up to be a grader and a guest storyteller if anyone is in need of that. I want to see cities thrive and people bustling in them again.

[Ball]

i refuse to see miz close. there is nothing like it out there. i would offer my assistance as an ST, but my track record shows my inability, i want to give this lovely community and myself a second chance as an ST, of any sorts.

I wish there was advice or ideas i could pffer up as a way to assist and alleviate, but i am coming up with nothing beyond offering my assistance and time as an ST.

[Gossamer]

You might bookmark this.

Jen's Guide To Epically Failing On A Storyteller Application

I've had requests for it all day.

[Archailist]

Starting with 'I'm not really sure how to put this' as an excuse for poor writing.

Miz is beautiful. No two ways about it, all the lore already floating around and the 'story so far' built up is beautiful and there's nothing, but nothing else like it. A community has built, whether or not it's givers or takers or a bit of both and they all enjoy it here. I enjoy it here. It'd be a real shame to throw it all away now because we're going through some tough times, though. I've been a pretty bad grader recently and that's changing right now - same goes for guest storytelling and that rubbish in the world development forum. This is what's happening, not what's said is going to happen.

I'm gonna agree with Maddoch to push Jeremy and Dravite's ideas, if that makes any difference. As for my own idea, just thrown in for the sake of it.. why not put more focus on the current volunteers? A target for how many graders and guest storytellers working across a region at any time, then putting out notices when it drops below the target? Maybe it'd be something a little less for the current storytellers to worry about.

[Estrellir Konrath]

.

I'm here to rally as well. Hell no! Mizahar is unique, the best place across the (English and even German) internet, and it's been so much fun to be a part of this. It cannot shut down. Cannot.

After talking to Mirage I realize I didn't do well as an ST before. But I will focus more on grading and I will give guest storytelling a shot. After this week and over the summer, I plan to dedicate time every day to Miz and give back at least a little. I can't jump from 1 to 100, obviously, but I'm working my way up. I can and will happily thread and plot with anyone within my reach.

If there's anything else that needs doing, I'll help too.

.

[Gossamer]

I'm going to be responding to some of the posts in this scrap this weekend. Right now, I've got my hands full responding to the posts in my PM box. The Staff is discussing things and there are some decisions being made. There will be announcements probably Sunday Evening. It's not going to take very long to make some of these decisions. However... I wanted to be absolutely clear about one thing.

I'm not into scare tactics. And when it comes to the fate of this site, I'm not a bullshitter nor am I prone to making idle threats. If I have discussed something in chat, it's being seriously considered. That's the whole point in taking it to some of the chatters to get their opinions.

Some of you may be in denial that I'm serious. If that's the case then you don't know me very well or haven't been here very long. I don't joke and I don't yank your heart strings about this game. I've never done it to solicit funds for donations nor will I do it to manipulate the playerbase into doing something they don't want to do.

What I have talked about in chat are just the facts as I see them. If you can't understand that then you need to take a good long hard look at the site and try to see it from other eyes. We are grinding useless gears here and things need to be fixed or I need to walk away.

That's not a scare tactic. It's the truth. I wouldn't bullshit about something like this.