You wanna join the staff? [Ramble]

[Omni]

There has been a lot of people putting themselves forward for staff positions lately and that's great. You might have noticed that right now the vast majority of work is being done by an active few and I want to extend a special shout out to those who are keeping the engine oiled. Obviously, we'd like more staffers, but it's no good to add people and then not be able to trust them to do things correctly, or not do things at all. That's one of the reasons I'm asking people to volunteer as Judges. It's one thing to be enthusiastic, another to get your hands dirty.

So that's that. There's another thing I wanted to talk about just to have it out there. In terms of rules and adding new content, we've traditionally always worked as a two-man operation, like Matt Stone and Trey Parker or any other writing duo. Originally Greg and Jeff, now Greg and Alex. I believe in keeping with the creative team very tight for a number of reasons, and I believe it's very important for creative projects to be lead and controlled by a tight vision.

As I say on the Staff Page (which is well worth reading if you're interested in the creative process behind the site) I've thrown away far more ideas than I used. I believe that in any game or creative project, it's important not to get carried away with what sounds cool. If it doesn't add much to the experience -- oo, let's add classes! Character vocations! A non-combat power system! Extra verses! -- you need to seriously consider whether it's worth adding at all. At best, it's rulebook bloat (we have a hard enough time getting people to read the rules as is!), at worst it simply makes the experience worse, like many systems I've seen in both PBP RPGs and videogames, by funnelling people to the wrong kind of experience or rewarding people for things they don't want to do, like being forced to write about a specific kind of thing.

You'll notice that quests didn't show up in this RPG for a long time. That's not because I wasn't bothered, but simply because I would rather people are most rewarded for coming up with stories of their own. It was only later that we began to add quests as a way of better outlining what needs to be done in specific cases, or as special one-off events, but you'll notice I've deliberately kept all the quests I've written very open to interpretation, and I tend to go through quests other people have written and tell them "make this more vague". I'm actually removing content that I see as slowing down the Omniverse animal. You saw the same in systems like D&D going forward - 4e added a lot of systems, but people hated it because it didn't actually make the experience better. 5e removed a lot of systems because they weren't actually making it better. The result is a system that functionally achieves the same with less stuff to wrap your head around.

This turned into a real ramble. Never ask me about RPG systems at a party. Anyway, the point is, if you join staff you're probably not going to get your ideas listened to any moreso. If you have a great idea, it's better to post it right here on Omniverse discussion or PM it to me. But we've probably already considered it and either dismissed it or have it in the pipeline (Space verse - it will happen, but I don't want it to be "lol u can go to space now". I want it to be a progression of the world's story, not something to be thrown out after a couple of years. And I also want it to be done right, which takes time).

This philosophy also extends to the staff team itself. I've seen staff teams or guild staff in MMOs get bloated with people who functionally do nothing, or in the worst case exude an aura of negativity and bossiness that would otherwise be laughed off, but in the case of staff member makes people question what the higher-ups are thinking putting them in a position of power. I'm very sensitive to the fact that this is a community, not just a game. I want people to be able to trust me as a leader and I want things to extend beyond just my opinions - which is why I ended up implementing a more professional OOC code of conduct that protects people from discrimination and bad-taste-jokes. I make TERRIBLE taste jokes. But I am not a great role model for social behaviour. We need to be held to higher standards. So when you see me in the chat box acting like a different person - telling people to not be gross, not to be insensitive - that's me going against my nature, not to be an asshole dictator, but because I value the community's health and diversity over my own sense of humour. The same could be said for clamping down on "huggle times" in the chatbox, although I'm in a different boat there - it makes a lot of people uncomfortable. The chatbox and OOC community is meant to be a middle ground, so that the Omniverse turns into neither a machismo DBZ RPG with a chatbox full of rape jokes and MRA humour (unsurprisingly, you don't get many women on these RPGs), or a Wolf Furry Roleplay you'd be embarrassed to show your family you were a part of. FORGET my opinions. 'Omniverse' means 'all'. I think we're a more interesting place as a result. Hell, the 'middle ground' is a niche these days that's hard to find.

Where the jank was I going with this?

Okay look, we want more people on the staff team, but we want to be sure you know what you're getting into, you know what we stand for, and you know what our processes are.

This was a fun write.

[James Knight]

I'd be willing to help with application approvals, if you needed more people on that, and move approvals as well.

[Omni]

If you're confident enough to want to approve moves, you should be getting most of your own moves approved without any major revisions. Last I checked that wasn't the case, so I would work on that. As I said above, it's no good to add people who don't know what they're doing. That's not a jab at you, I would hope you understand, it would just make more work for us.

[James Knight]

Maybe in the future then.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

I think, after getting my own moves approved of course, I would be willing to help with people's joining forms.

[Tearen Wover]

I absolutely would love to not perform any staff responsibilities as I neither have the patience nor time to devote to getting people such as myself in line, evidenced by my experience trying to even run my own event.

I think people who throw themselves at being Staffers are maybe not aware that even a recreational responsibility can still be onerous over time. I feel the Judging idea is effective in its capacity to slowly immerse hopefulls into the world of nebulous criteria and intuitive assessment associated with such a position. Plus, the Omniverse walks away without a staff infection.


I'm still available for art projects thoughhhhh~

[Omni]

^Hahaha, that's much my attitude to staffing on other sites or MMO guilds now I'm older and have my responsibilities here at the Omniverse. Especially because of that, it's nice to watch other people be responsible and bask in complete lack of it.

[Trixie]

I absolutely would love to not perform any staff responsibilities as I neither have the patience nor time to devote to getting people such as myself in line, evidenced by my experience trying to even run my own event.

I think people who throw themselves at being Staffers are maybe not aware that even a recreational responsibility can still consume your life. I feel the Judging idea is effective in its capacity to slowly immerse hopefulls into the world of nebulous criteria and intuitive assessment associated with such a position. Plus, the Omniverse walks away without a staff infection.


I'm still available for art projects thoughhhhh~

Just gonna fix that there sentence based on my own experience.

[Demetri Malius]

*notices that Cherubs can finally do move approval*

I've been waiting my entire goddamn omniverse life for this. :frog:

~(O3O)~ i want in on them move approvals omniman. Straight to pounding peoples faces with questions so that they can be more specificTO HOW I CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEIR MOVES and flesh out their moves so that it's better understood by others.

[Blink]

I'm always here to help. I've got references.