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Obduction Backer |
Joined: Tue May 09, 2006 1:17 am Posts: 1702 Location: Spokane, WA
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To put my personal 25 cents in, since I'm part of this, however directly or indirectly...
I get the feeling that the guild system is trying to emulate the ResEng setup, with separate avatars and special prefixes and designated on-duty hours and regimens of behavior and dress... there's a good deal of exclusivity inherent in this concept, and if there's one thing in this community that breeds some degree of contempt, it's exclusivity...
I think that any guilds that get formed should follow the example of the Greeters, not the ResEngs... the ResEngs aren't just Cyan-sanctioned, they're Cyan-employed, and that's a huge difference between them and the GoG. The Greeters are an official in-game Guild, but their organization is, for the very most part, a very lax one. Members have (or at least, had, I dunno how it works exactly these days) set times during which they are expected to be in-uniform and in the GoG 'hood, but outside of those times, they can wear their own clothes and socialize as any other explorer would. There is a level of familiarity with the Greeters that this system fosters, rather than the exclusivity inherent in the "PreFix AvatarName" notion.
Winding my way back around to the Archivists thing... I think that the duties should be constrained to the duties that the Archivists performed in D'ni, if we're going to be emulating that system. So, while I certainly agree that there should be cooperation between the Linguists, the Cartographers, the Learners, the DZS, etc., I don't think that the Archivists should act as an "umbrella organization" for all of these various groups. The Archivists should be focused on recording history and information, but they should also not be the sole point of access for all of this information.
For example, let's take the Pod Ages. The Archivists would take photos of the Pods, record information about the environments and the events that took place both within and outside the Age (for example, Sharper's expedition happened in Negilahn, so obviously that should be recorded in Negilahn's information, but so should the circumstances and events surrounding the release of the Pod Book to explorers), and put it all in an "entry" on a website. For the sake of argument, I'm currently talking with Montgomery and his team about using DPWR, since that's what it's there for. This entry on DPWR might reference other entries on the site, like a more general one about the Pod Age itself - which in turn might refer to the Linguists' website for translations of the Pod Age map - or to the Cartographers' website for explorer-made maps of the Pods. There is, then, a network of information and resources at the disposal of explorers, and this fosters cooperation rather than competition between groups.
Now, on the subject of membership, as I said, I'm not a fan of the "PreFix Avatarname" setup... it feels way too officious, and on top of that, it's a pain to keep two avatars up-to-date when one will suffice. I think membership in the guilds should be open to everyone, as seems to be the intention. New explorers just getting started who are interested in participating as just as valuable as long-time explorers who have walked through Delin's snowstorms up-hill both ways. The challenge here comes in transitioning what has always been a purely OOC construct (DPWR's Archive) into an IC organization. A one-to-one conversion would have the Archivists simply being the DPWR staff members, and membership in the Guild would carry some form of additional control on the OOC-side of things. In this case, membership isn't really completely open, though participation certainly is... anyone can contribute to the Archive, but the Archivists are the ones who are tasked with making sure the information is accurate and up-to-date. It's a fine hair to split, but it's there to be split, and I've split it, so there .
I suppose that setup carries with it a certain amount of exclusivity in membership, but as I said, participation is always open to everyone, whether it's IC telling an Archivist about something they've seen/heard, or OOC putting more information into an entry in the Archive. I don't see how having these groups set up automatically crushes the hopes of newcomers... if participation remains open as an avenue to membership (I've "promoted" people in the past who have shown themselves to be knowledgeable enough to help manage the Archive, to continue the example), then newcomers have as much chance to join a guild as long-standing players... though obviously with a group like the Archivists, the longer you're involved, the more you know and the more you can contribute (an "in" could be joining Montgomery's Guild of Inspectors... you learn the ropes of the Archive and get a quick feel for D'ni and its history). The objectives and purposes of some groups is simply more "exclusive" than others by design... I don't think that means we shouldn't pursue these goals (I obviously think recording the information and history of the game is a valid and important goal), but rather that we need to foster participation, especially with newcomers, so that the guild doesn't become an elitist group of old-timers.
[quick edit] All that said, I don't think the guilds should be some incredibly infrastructured thing with lots of rules, regulations, and requirements... it should be fun, because this is ultimately a game and the point of any game is to have fun. When a game becomes work because of the requirements it imposes, it's not fun anymore. Wherever this goes, I think the primary focus should be on having fun, not on establishing rules and regulations.
_________________ Grand Master
Guild of Archivists
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