[Discussion] What can improve RP interactions between players and general RP standards?

[Apophis]

We figured out (probably too late) that asking broad ended questions like "how do we fix the economy" and "how do we fix role play" gets you nowhere. If you don't explicitly state what you believe to be a problem and have the conversation centered around potential solutions or anything tangentially related, people immediately see the thread as a soapbox to discuss whatever their most pressing concerns are.  Targeted conversations regarding very specific topics / issues is the only way to make any progress in a community this diverse and of this size. Case in point: my post albeit related to the original topic doesn't answer your question.

 

That's not to say that people aren't bringing up good points, it's just difficult as staff to weed through what's relevant server-wide and what's relevant to an individual player when the thread isn't following a singular, focused topic. The best Wuhtah can do is address individual concerns and forward them but unless you have an open dialogue about it (i.e. your own thread) you won't get anywhere. It's basically passing remarks for something you need a full fledged discussion over.

 

General rule of thumb: the broader the topic post, the more likely the thread will get locked. That being said, these threads are good to let people vent every now and then. 

[Trupiano]

Personally, I think one the biggest problems the server faces is a classification issue. What is GTAW trying to portray? Because in my eyes a lot of these issues stem from that question. For those of us who have been around long enough, GTAW was sold as a heavy RP server with a realism focus. Keeping things as close to real life even if they make the server unenjoyable for some was the guiding principle. Now at some point the "heavy" part of heavy RP server was removed and peoples expectations and what they believe the server should be changed.

 

It creates endless petty arguments because as a community we are not on the same page. Every different player base and to an extent every player expects a slightly different setting from the server and it leaves everyone with a bad taste in their mouth. I think staff needs to come in and say this is what we are portraying, this is the servers lore and as long as someone's RP fits inside that box, it's allowed. Half these threads wouldn't exist because everyone would have the exact same expectations from the start. 

 

At least then we'd have a shared foundation where we can address the servers issues from instead of having 52 different opinions fighting it out over what they personally think the server should be.

[Wuhtah]

1 hour ago, sk8 said:

1) IFM need to actually understand what they’re monitoring and make an active effort to listen to experienced players who actually know what they’re talking about, and not twist it to suit their own narrative and beliefs. If we’re going to portray a realistic rp server, let’s actually encourage realism and the horrors of gang life instead of trying to romanticise it and have everyone sing songs around the camp fire. Half the time IFM are acting like camp counsellors, not admins in charge of enforcing realistic portrayals of concepts and to stop making excuses. 

 

I'm going to chime into your post because it has a lot of great suggestions! For this - I believe it's not just IFM that needs to make an active effort to listen to experienced players or players who do have some sort of sense of what might WORK realistically because they have seen it, experienced it themselves, etc. So, I do think it's quite unfair that IFM falls to this, as every single sub team could do this. I'm not going to bash the sub teams as every single admin works hard in their own, so I'll single out mine which is Property Management.

 

I have developed more of an open mind after acquiring a lead position in the sub team as I now get appeals for the leases I deny whether it's a business or vehicle. I also get some of the property appeals (but usually Lomadias handles properties/houses as that's their realm). However, I do recall a specific player really wanting this vehicle and to be fair, the vehicle itself is not an out of this world vehicle. They felt like they weren't heard and I was part of that - I made them feel that way. That's on me just as much as the other PM members who did the same thing, but more so with me as I'm supposed to be in that position to walk them through it and whatnot. 

 

Making an active effort to listen to players and then to be able to do something about it takes time. We're human, depending on who you talk to, I am the most stubborn person they know. However, part of being an administrator is LEARNING how to listen. Yes, the player could still be giving a really unrealistic justification - but instead of writing them off, we listen we point out flaws, we compromise. That's how it should be. That's what PM is trying to aim for. 

 

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2) Server management actually need to reply to things in a timely manner. The fact that players get their refund requests for 600k over a bug archived because no one bothered to pick it up and then told to “reapply if you still want it” instead of resolving the issue is a key example of the Band-Aid, not solution mentality this servers staff have in certain aspects. 

 

This isn't just server management - like above, don't out just one of branches of admins. Yes, they can get on us about not doing it in a timely fashion (and they have), but what can they really do? If we meet the quota - they can't get mad. They are sort of stuck in a pickle because administrators are not paid. We do receive a monthly lump of world points (between 150-350 I believe) based on how many in game reports, forum reports, refund requests, asset transfers, etc we do each month. If we go above and beyond, we're rewarded the top amount which I believe is 350. 

 

I'm not speaking for the entire staff team. There are months where I am just burnt out from PM work and I simply don't want to do reports. I'm gonna be honest with you. Handling 50-80 requests every 2 weeks takes the crap out of you. So yes, I meet the minimum (usually a bit above) and then refocus back on my sub team. I'm in a position where I CAN do this (lead positions in sub teams do not have a hard quota to meet as they have more on their plate than the average sub team admin or admin without a sub team). 

 

I do know that there are probably some admins who just skate for the minimum amount and call it a day. I've been that admin quite a few times because I've been burnt out. That doesn't make me a horrible admin, that shouldn't make it so I have to retire or leave the staff team - but it's the cold heart truth. 

 

Staff management has been doing good about maintaining an active staff team and nudging those who probably aren't meeting quotas. 

 

So in a nutshell, this is on the entire staff team. I've brought this up because I think some of the TAs that have 'grown up' (to level ones or twos) actually perhaps don't know how to find logs as they were never exposed to it. This will also be brought up in the staff meeting! It's very important for the TAs to learn how to log search (for damage logs, to refund items, etc). 

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3) Goddamn character applications. How do we have a process for ensuring people know the rules, and can RP at a base level and people still get accepted into the server to cause issues? This isn’t the player bases fault, it’s managements. If I took you into a Walmart and you saw a bunch of teenagers running around causing havoc and harassing other patrons, while you’re going to blame the people causing harm, you’re also gonna ask “where the hell is the security team?” 

 

This is also on the entire staff team. Supports are made to do ... 10? (it was 20 when I was a support a year ago, so I'm unsure) applications with 'support trainers'. This is easily showed by discord tags that let them know who is a support trainer. Obviously, they can go to an administrator who ISN'T a support trainer (I don't have the tag) and ask for a 'review' of one of the 10 apps. Basically, they review the app themselves then link it to us to look over. Perhaps increasing this back up to 20 might help - but I also know that sometimes we don't want to 'ping pong' the applicant where a new support member may read over something or misinterpret something (we're human) and not tell the player to correct it. Then the next support, either a senior support or new one, won't like that specific answer and make them redo it. That's ping-ponging and we try hard to make sure that doesn't happen.

 

So, you might ask 'well why not have the same support member on the app the entire time'. Then - apps won't get done in 24 hours or less. It will be like refund requests where (talking about myself) I tend to ask someone to vscrap and then I forget about it and the player doesn't tag me and it just sits there for days. I tend to check for these types of refund requests now (that I've experienced myself) and that if an admin did the same thing I did and forgot - I just quickly handle it through. Teamwork makes the dreamwork, right?

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4) Less gate-keeping. The vast majority of the player base can’t actually influence RP culture because they’re not given an Avenue to do so. Do you know how easy it is to grow a weed plant and start selling 50 bags irl? Not hard. But on this server you have to come up with some grand explanation as to how you’ll do it. Weapon suppliers face the same issue - lack of rp concepts and ways to execute because half the faction concepts people want to make can’t start or be viable because they can’t make the resources required to keep a faction entertained and flooded with RP opportunities. 

 

Gate-keeping is needed to a point, unfortunately. As for drugs/IFM related stuff, I have no comments. I don't know anything about that. As for Property Management, we are constantly called gatekeepers and we are constantly trying to improve the way we handle things, the time it takes it handle things, and the application itself to make it more user friendly. 

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5) Encouraging and being friendly to the community. Sounds simple right? But the amount of staff members who forget we’re dealing with each other over computers but there’s another adult on the other end who deserves to not be talked to like they’re a 11 year old. The amount of staff who come in with the kick the door down and ask questions later mentality is ridiculous and it actually leads to a lot of frustration, which in turn affects roleplay scenarios. Hard to roleplay a calm and collected character in a situation when an admins just come in, insulted you, and then made an active effort to tell you how from their personal life experiences, a human being wouldn’t react like that in this situation. A lot of admins here have taken it upon themselves to tell people how they can and can’t RP a human being. 

 

This I whole heartedly agree with. To be fair, the amount of... I don't want to say it, but 'hissy fits' I get on a RP report is outstanding. At first, it was irritable. Now, after learning the hard way, I understand it's because the player isn't feeling heard or doesn't feel like their side is being addressed or that they feel like they aren't being treated properly. I had an encounter like this a few weeks back where the player did threaten to staff report me mid-report and I was just baffled. I got angry quick, but I talked it out with the player. No idea if they staff reported me, but they told me they felt heard and thanked me anyways!

 

I truly don't believe administrators should be insulting players at all - if this happens, please staff report. This isn't okay. It won't ever be okay. 

 

1 hour ago, Apophis said:

We figured out (probably too late) that asking broad ended questions like "how do we fix the economy" and "how do we fix role play" gets you nowhere. If you don't explicitly state what you believe to be a problem and have the conversation centered around potential solutions or anything tangentially related, people immediately see the thread as a soapbox to discuss whatever their most pressing concerns are.  Targeted conversations regarding very specific topics / issues is the only way to make any progress in a community this diverse and of this size. Case in point: my post albeit related to the original topic doesn't answer your question.

 

That's not to say that people aren't bringing up good points, it's just difficult as staff to weed through what's relevant server-wide and what's relevant to an individual player when the thread isn't following a singular, focused topic. The best Wuhtah can do is address individual concerns and forward them but unless you have an open dialogue about it (i.e. your own thread) you won't get anywhere. It's basically passing remarks for something you need a full fledged discussion over.

 

General rule of thumb: the broader the topic post, the more likely the thread will get locked. That being said, these threads are good to let people vent every now and then. 

 

This truly helps! Narrowing down a topic that I can address and then restate to the appropriate sub teams will always help me out! I do know that a lot of the issues here stated within this thread and the other will be addressed in the staff meeting (I did let Pillsbury know), so management does expect sort of a long staff meeting. I hope that I can get most of your opinions/suggestions heard, responded to or given solutions to - but I can't promise anything. I have clinicals IRL, PM work, and admin duties - so getting EVERYONE'S comment quickly and going through every single thread the last 2-3 weeks is exhausting. I will try to get a majority of it and what has been said - A LOT. 

 

These topics are good, even if they slightly derail. It's good to vent as long as it doesn't turn into toxicity or bash anyone. This thread sort of did that, but it's understood with the frustrations. 

 

[Fergie]

A bit off topic, but @Wuhtah - don’t ever change. You give me hope for the future of the server. Keep that attitude and passion.  

[ZaE]

2 minutes ago, Fergie said:

A bit off topic, but @Wuhtah - don’t ever change. You give me hope for the future of the server. Keep that attitude and passion.  

Couldn't agree more. 

[sk8]

 

 

20 minutes ago, Wuhtah said:

I'm going to chime into your post because it has a lot of great suggestions! For this - I believe it's not just IFM that needs to make an active effort to listen to experienced players or players who do have some sort of sense of what might WORK realistically because they have seen it, experienced it themselves, etc. So, I do think it's quite unfair that IFM falls to this, as every single sub team could do this. I'm not going to bash the sub teams as every single admin works hard in their own, so I'll single out mine which is Property Management. 

 

Hi Wuhtah, apologies - I'm not just aiming at IFM here - it's just that we're talking about roleplay quality, and a large portion of the player base falls under IFM for the illegal RPers. Every staff team has it's issues, not just IFM - but it's the team I've definitely seen the worst side of. As for PM etc, I haven't had many dealings, but the ones I have had have been great and helpful.

 

20 minutes ago, Wuhtah said:

 

I have developed more of an open mind after acquiring a lead position in the sub team as I now get appeals for the leases I deny whether it's a business or vehicle. I also get some of the property appeals (but usually Lomadias handles properties/houses as that's their realm). However, I do recall a specific player really wanting this vehicle and to be fair, the vehicle itself is not an out of this world vehicle. They felt like they weren't heard and I was part of that - I made them feel that way. That's on me just as much as the other PM members who did the same thing, but more so with me as I'm supposed to be in that position to walk them through it and whatnot. 

 

I'm glad you've touched on how players feeling unheard can lead to bigger issues. Things certainly compound when you feel you've been treated unfairly and situations keep piling on. 

 

20 minutes ago, Wuhtah said:

I'm not speaking for the entire staff team. There are months where I am just burnt out from PM work and I simply don't want to do reports. I'm gonna be honest with you. Handling 50-80 requests every 2 weeks takes the crap out of you. So yes, I meet the minimum (usually a bit above) and then refocus back on my sub team. I'm in a position where I CAN do this (lead positions in sub teams do not have a hard quota to meet as they have more on their plate than the average sub team admin or admin without a sub team). 

 

Fully understandable, however - if there's 2-3 month old requests unanswered, and the fresh ones are - perhaps there should be regulation in place to ensure oldest requests are handled first? It's jarring to look at the reports section and see how many reports admins are relucant to pick up, and it leads to entire storylines and RP scenarios being in limbo for months. Not expecting answers here, I understand the reasoning - no one wants to deal with certain headaches, it's fair but someone has to bite the bullet. 

 

 

20 minutes ago, Wuhtah said:

I do know that there are probably some admins who just skate for the minimum amount and call it a day. I've been that admin quite a few times because I've been burnt out. That doesn't make me a horrible admin, that shouldn't make it so I have to retire or leave the staff team - but it's the cold heart truth. 

 

Trust me, as someone who manages a nationwide company, I can attest to burn out and how by the end of it, something that seems so major to someone else is just something in your rear-view and you can't be assed with it and need to just do what you can make yourself do. Fully sympathise with that. 

 

20 minutes ago, Wuhtah said:

 

Staff management has been doing good about maintaining an active staff team and nudging those who probably aren't meeting quotas. 

 

What I should probably clarify, is that when I say "management" - what I generally mean is the entire staff team as a whole, not just Nervous & Shanks. I look at the actual "management" team like I would a company. They're the directors, under that you have your managers, aka admins, then your assistant managers/office support - testers/player support. 

 

20 minutes ago, Wuhtah said:

This is also on the entire staff team. Supports are made to do ... 10? (it was 20 when I was a support a year ago, so I'm unsure) applications with 'support trainers'. This is easily showed by discord tags that let them know who is a support trainer. Obviously, they can go to an administrator who ISN'T a support trainer (I don't have the tag) and ask for a 'review' of one of the 10 apps. Basically, they review the app themselves then link it to us to look over. Perhaps increasing this back up to 20 might help - but I also know that sometimes we don't want to 'ping pong' the applicant where a new support member may read over something or misinterpret something (we're human) and not tell the player to correct it. Then the next support, either a senior support or new one, won't like that specific answer and make them redo it. That's ping-ponging and we try hard to make sure that doesn't happen.

 

100% Understandable, however if the guidelines aren't clear enough for someone given player support, then maybe those guidelines need to be re-written or an actual dedicated and trained team designated to handle character applications, or an admin to audit each testers application approvals and pull a bulk out at random to inspect and ensure quality control. 

 

 

20 minutes ago, Wuhtah said:

Gate-keeping is needed to a point, unfortunately. As for drugs/IFM related stuff, I have no comments. I don't know anything about that. As for Property Management, we are constantly called gatekeepers and we are constantly trying to improve the way we handle things, the time it takes it handle things, and the application itself to make it more user friendly. 

 

Agree, you can't give everyone what they want - but the culture of weapons/drug dealing in this server is too restrictive and limits roleplay opportunities. But we have a million discussions going on about that and an IFM discord to discuss it, so I won't try get us into a discussion about that here. 

 

20 minutes ago, Wuhtah said:

 

This I whole heartedly agree with. To be fair, the amount of... I don't want to say it, but 'hissy fits' I get on a RP report is outstanding. At first, it was irritable. Now, after learning the hard way, I understand it's because the player isn't feeling heard or doesn't feel like their side is being addressed or that they feel like they aren't being treated properly. I had an encounter like this a few weeks back where the player did threaten to staff report me mid-report and I was just baffled. I got angry quick, but I talked it out with the player. No idea if they staff reported me, but they told me they felt heard and thanked me anyways!

 

I truly don't believe administrators should be insulting players at all - if this happens, please staff report. This isn't okay. It won't ever be okay. 

 

I fully expect you deal with your fair share of mongoloids. (See, I'm not staff so I can just say it!) And they burn out the players involved in the scene the admins involved in, so I fully understand why admins after the 2nd situation in their evening can get a little short about the whole thing. However, as you said - treating them this way and making them feel unheard isn't likely to help anything and just make that player act out more aggressively. How to fix it? I don't know. But some admins attitudes can come across as straight being an ass-hat. But we also have to sympathise that this is text-based, and tone isn't always conveyed, and language barriers don't help - but, when I'm speaking to a western, primarily English speaking admin - I know what "Ok bud" means - and it's patronizing and annoying. Is it technically bullying? No, but it aggravates situations and you can't just staff report an admin for minor things like that, but it does leave a sour taste in peoples mouths. A lot of peoples opinions on an admin will be formed over one interaction, so while the server can't really fix that - I hope clued up admins like yourself are capable of figuring that out and acting accordingly. Obviously you'd need to care about someones opinion, which I imagine staff need to develop a thick skin. 

 

20 minutes ago, Wuhtah said:

 

This truly helps! Narrowing down a topic that I can address and then restate to the appropriate sub teams will always help me out! I do know that a lot of the issues here stated within this thread and the other will be addressed in the staff meeting (I did let Pillsbury know), so management does expect sort of a long staff meeting. I hope that I can get most of your opinions/suggestions heard, responded to or given solutions to - but I can't promise anything. I have clinicals IRL, PM work, and admin duties - so getting EVERYONE'S comment quickly and going through every single thread the last 2-3 weeks is exhausting. I will try to get a majority of it and what has been said - A LOT. 

 

My suggestion here, is that they all simply go back and read the thread themselves. You shouldn't have to be a mouth piece for the community on your own. If the player base has an issue, every staff member should read it over and absorb it, not take it personally, and strive for betterment. It's one thing to have someone read it out or summarize it for you, it's another to go back and see the intent and the vernacular used to fully emphasize peoples views. 

 

Best of luck to you Wuhtah! 

[Wuhtah]

31 minutes ago, sk8 said:

Fully understandable, however - if there's 2-3 month old requests unanswered, and the fresh ones are - perhaps there should be regulation in place to ensure oldest requests are handled first? It's jarring to look at the reports section and see how many reports admins are relucant to pick up, and it leads to entire storylines and RP scenarios being in limbo for months. Not expecting answers here, I understand the reasoning - no one wants to deal with certain headaches, it's fair but someone has to bite the bullet. 

 

For sure, I'm not going to lie - those reports are daunting to look at even for an administrator. Especially when it involves illegal factions and I honestly do not have a clue when it comes to detail, so I feel pretty bad making the faction leaders explain like I'm 5 when I handle them - but hey, at least they are getting handled... right!?

 

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100% Understandable, however if the guidelines aren't clear enough for someone given player support, then maybe those guidelines need to be re-written or an actual dedicated and trained team designated to handle character applications, or an admin to audit each testers application approvals and pull a bulk out at random to inspect and ensure quality control. 

 

When it comes to applications, we actually have a 'preset' of what we look for. I'm not sure how much I can say - but basically there are... 6 sections? Character background, something, knowing metagame/powergame, and the three scenarios. Well, we click a magic button and it brings up questions for us in this little box. How I did it as a support is that I read through the first part, if they mentioned it and talked about it, I removed the specific thing. 

 

However, NOW on the applications there are so much more than before. That's because our rules expanded, of course, and we want to make sure we ARE trying to strain the bad from the good. But just like all strainers, it doesn't always get all the bad out! 

 

However, auditing and pulling a bulk out at random to inspect is actually a great idea. I'm unsure of how much the support side of staff management does (I don't know how much is on their plate) - but I'll definitely bring this suggestion up! 

 

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And they burn out the players involved in the scene the admins involved in, so I fully understand why admins after the 2nd situation in their evening can get a little short about the whole thing. However, as you said - treating them this way and making them feel unheard isn't likely to help anything and just make that player act out more aggressively. How to fix it? I don't know. But some admins attitudes can come across as straight being an ass-hat. But we also have to sympathise that this is text-based, and tone isn't always conveyed, and language barriers don't help - but, when I'm speaking to a western, primarily English speaking admin - I know what "Ok bud" means - and it's patronizing and annoying. Is it technically bullying? No, but it aggravates situations and you can't just staff report an admin for minor things like that, but it does leave a sour taste in peoples mouths. A lot of peoples opinions on an admin will be formed over one interaction, so while the server can't really fix that - I hope clued up admins like yourself are capable of figuring that out and acting accordingly. Obviously you'd need to care about someones opinion, which I imagine staff need to develop a thick skin. 

 

This happens so frequently to me, lol. I deal with a very... problematic player and then one of the sweet ones come to me asking the same Property Management related questions I answer on a daily basis, and in fairness, I am short to them. I don't think I have an attitude, but I do believe that they would call me out (or hope so without the fear of backlash) on it. I know a ton of players on the forums have called me out on my passive aggressive replies, and to be fair, it was needed. I'm not perfect. 

 

I understand completely the "ok bud". I used to say to my best friend all the time "okay kiddo", and it drove him up a wall. I thought it was so hysterical, but then I realized I probably should stop. (I haven't, he got used to it and does the same to me or calls me... a different word). 

 

But in all fairness, call that admin out, respectively. If you ever feel patronized, just be like "hey man, I know you probably didn't mean it, but when you say this - I do feel a bit patronized and it doesn't really feel good." If they make fun of you for this? Staff report. If they apologize? That's a damn good admin. It puts the ball in their court, and it puts you in control of the situation. In the situation, YOU are the bigger person. You are sharing your feelings. Of course, if you're not doing it properly and you're being a jackass, then yeah, they will shrug you off and nothing will come of it. Respect goes both ways. Admins are just players with green names - we need to respect you guys too.

 

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My suggestion here, is that they all simply go back and read the thread themselves. You shouldn't have to be a mouth piece for the community on your own. If the player base has an issue, every staff member should read it over and absorb it, not take it personally, and strive for betterment. It's one thing to have someone read it out or summarize it for you, it's another to go back and see the intent and the vernacular used to fully emphasize peoples views. 

 

I do believe a handful of staff members DO do this. However, I am still going to compile a small-ish list for at least a couple sub teams to point out 'hey, this is what players are saying' if they haven't seen it yet. Then they can go read the thread themselves as well - I know a lot of admins who aren't too fond of forum work, so not seeing a thread isn't them being a bad admin, it's just them.. not liking forum work!!

 

Thank you for the suggestions and the feedback, it truly does mean a lot. 

[pateuvasiliu]

18 hours ago, goonbagAPPEAL said:

Has taken over 2 months to reply

This is unacceptable. Waiting months on a report is a joke.

I raise you 2.5 years though

 

 

Maybe one day it will be read lmao

Edited July 7, 2022 by pateuvasiliu

[goonbagAPPEAL]

14 hours ago, ZaE said:

man...if only i had the balls to say what i wanna say lol

 

a lot of good discussion here.

find them. 

[Jeroen]

9 hours ago, sk8 said:

I didn’t say that. 
 

what I said was, this server caters to them. Not that by not RPing a criminal or an LEO that you are one. 
 

Dont put words in other peoples mouths in debates. 

The server rules discussed at length in here are often seen as the server catering to 'neutral' characters, so when you turn that around and instead say "mall rats" and "cat ears", it makes it sound like you call every 'neutral' character that.

I actually really disagree on that standpoint, the server is pretty biased against "mall rats" and "cat ears" wearing people.

You can and should RPQM these "mall rats", and one of the reasons why Good Cause when applying for a CCW exists is because of those people.

9 hours ago, Muerta said:

It really does. There are reports that are voided with well conducted planning, but you have Susy the bartender/model acting as an assassin.

You should hit them with an RPQM, because that's just bad roleplay.

6 hours ago, sk8 said:

3) Goddamn character applications. How do we have a process for ensuring people know the rules, and can RP at a base level and people still get accepted into the server to cause issues? This isn’t the player bases fault, it’s managements. If I took you into a Walmart and you saw a bunch of teenagers running around causing havoc and harassing other patrons, while you’re going to blame the people causing harm, you’re also gonna ask “where the hell is the security team?” 
 

4) Less gate-keeping. The vast majority of the player base can’t actually influence RP culture because they’re not given an Avenue to do so. Do you know how easy it is to grow a weed plant and start selling 50 bags irl? Not hard. But on this server you have to come up with some grand explanation as to how you’ll do it. Weapon suppliers face the same issue - lack of rp concepts and ways to execute because half the faction concepts people want to make can’t start or be viable because they can’t make the resources required to keep a faction entertained and flooded with RP opportunities. 
 

Afaik user applications are still a thing, and adding a character application would be just excessive unless it's integrated into the whole application process in general. Other than that, yeah I totally agree that there should be less gatekeeping, but more around required paperwork. There's too much paperwork in general. I get it, this is a roleplay server but most people would rather not write a shitload of paperwork every time they want to do something, or have done something. If the amount of paperwork is a key performance indicator in a scripted environment, then the whole system needs an overhaul. Most commercial MMO developers build KPI's into their systems, this is because they want to get that information yet have it be seamless. All this paperwork detracts from actual roleplay.

3 hours ago, sk8 said:

Fully understandable, however - if there's 2-3 month old requests unanswered, and the fresh ones are - perhaps there should be regulation in place to ensure oldest requests are handled first? It's jarring to look at the reports section and see how many reports admins are relucant to pick up, and it leads to entire storylines and RP scenarios being in limbo for months. Not expecting answers here, I understand the reasoning - no one wants to deal with certain headaches, it's fair but someone has to bite the bullet. 

I think that this is something that everyone here can agree with, priorities need to be set on old and extremely time sensitive reports.