Archive talk:GM Guidelines

Vinks Suggestions

Suggestions for further general guidelines (feedback please):

• Keep the good of the community as a whole in mind
• Proof is to be preferred over witnesses
• Don't give out items as personal favours
• Don't give out any items that are not and have not been available to players
• Don't be influenced by pressure from players unless they are actually right

--Vink 14:22, 6 November 2008 (CET)

Here are some suggestions for the punishments, based on the original post and on our discussions. Do they look reasonable?

1. Do not abuse other players (insults, swearing, and the like directed to a particular person or persons)

Punishment: Temporary or permanent ban, depending on the severity and other relevant circumstances.

2. No bots (and botting means ANY activity while away from keyboard)

Punishment: Permanent ban (full reset can be requested).

3. No spamming / flooding (including trade spam)

Punishment: Temporary ban, relative to the severity.

4. No begging

Punishment: Short (up to a month, depending on severity) temporary ban if warnings do not help.

5. Speak English on public chat

Punishment: Short (up to a week, depending on severity) temporary ban if warnings do not help.

6. Treat others the same way you would like to be treated

Punishment: Not applicable, this rule is not enforcable.

--Vink 00:31, 6 November 2008 (CET)

Crushs Suggestions

I would suggest to use a system were repeat offenders are punished harder than first time offenders. The punishment for misbehavior could be an initial one day ban which doubles with every repeated offence.

I would also encourage these additional GM guidelines to avoid GM power abuse:

1. When a report is filed against or filed by someone the GM knows very well it should be processed by another GM when possible.
2. Any action by a GM has to be documented on the development forum with the reason for doing it.
3. Events were GM powers are used have to be announced on the development forum at least 48 hours in advance including details what the GM is going to do with its powers.

We should also look into if it is possible to log any GM actions server-sided and make it available to server administrators.

I definitely agree with both increasing the punishment for repeated offences and guidelines to avoid GM power abuse.

On point 2, how about a thread in the Court House for each action that didn't originate in the Court House? — Jaxad0127 17:26, 6 November 2008 (CET)

That's how I imagined it too. ^^ --Vink 17:29, 6 November 2008 (CET)

Event planning

I think 48 hours is a long time though. Wouldn't 24 hours be enough? --Vink 15:47, 6 November 2008 (CET)

48 hours is the absolute minimum IMO to settle any disputes which may arise. It should be enough time that someone who visits the forum every 24 hours can post concerns, read the reply to the concerns from everyone and state if he/she is still concerned or not. --15:53, 6 November 2008 (CET)~~

That's all fair, but then if you don't want to risk having to cancel an event at the last minute--Vink 17:12, 6 November 2008 (CET)

The shorter the announcement time the more likely it becomes that an event has to be canceled because someone disagrees and there isn't enough time to solve the dispute (unless you want to start the event anyway when someone disagrees and thus silence critics by deliberately not giving them enough time to stop you from doing things they consider irresponsible).--Crush2 17:32, 6 November 2008 (CET)

As I said, I agree that it's fair.--Vink 17:56, 6 November 2008 (CET)

the details might need to be of the "I might use A or C, but possibly also D, F and B." kind, because for an interesting (creative) event, planning is not always straight-forward and sometimes you need to change something at the last minute for it to work.--Vink 17:12, 6 November 2008 (CET)

A good GM should always plan events well and have a backup plan when things don't work out. Changing the plan on the fly should be possible but the GM should act responsible when doing so and should be ready to justify his decision (and not doing stuff like "my chess game does not work out, free golden platemails for everyone!") --Crush2 17:32, 6 November 2008 (CET)

Indeed, having a backup plan or two should also work if you just want to do an event, but the point was that for more creative events, there's always the risk that something will not work as intended, even if you plan carefully. Maybe this can be solved by explaining that the event in question may require some extra freedom, and asking if that is OK for the particular occasion? Such freedom should of course not include something as irresponsible as the example you gave about free golden platemails.--Vink 17:56, 6 November 2008 (CET)

Also, I assume that such details would not be visible to players, since that may ruin the surprise? ^^ --Vink 17:12, 6 November 2008 (CET)

Of course not. Discussions about future events should be done in the closed development forum or maybe a new hidden forum.--Crush2 17:32, 6 November 2008 (CET)