169 replies to this topic

[Tom]

arnt you staff yet?

just goes to show how slow staff are

[JLH]

I agree to a certain extent with what has been brought up across this thread, that there might possibly be too many staff members. This I might agree with, if all the staff members were constantly active. For instance, I haven't seen Havanor or Medora online for a long time.
Also Oracle mainly just runs the Triplex event (which he does very well), but when this function becomes automated, what purpose will he have on the staff team?

Oracle's staff time is much greater than the other staff, and he does a lot of player relations, such as helping and area development with various players (latest being the new pacifist area by Crane)
I agree with Medora/Havanor being on very little.
Zephie is on now and then to run an event and help people.
Aidon, i don't see much of these days but he is still on a fair bit.
Stotic is not on that much, but when he is, he does a great deal of work.

[BadKitty]

I am not on often but when i am on i would like to see you as staff....lol good luck to you

[Crane]

And I have a lot to thank Oracle for.

Personally, I am not too worried about who is staff and who is not, as long as they are at least willing to help players should they genuinely ask for it. The staff's presence do not usually affect how I play the game (hard to put it any other way), apart from politely bowing to them if I run into them, so a new staff member will probably not change much for me.

[Ryuku]

I could use some staff help with my area, see if I need to improve on it or anything...anyway, I support you as staff Ste.

[Sourcream]

I Support

[sayadin]

support!!

[Oracle]

I typed a fair bit out quoting eternyte’s post but its off topic. I guess you guys just have to take our word for it what we do for the game. It has been stated before. I just really don't like the feeling I get from some people that we log on and perform our -must- duties then go again for the week. There are always people wanting stuff doing that I'd expect could take over any staff members life if they allowed it to. Memos/emails/ims(through the forum and msn type contacts)/yells etc. could keep you busy all night. Unless you are the specific person we've made a difference for, I guess you just have to take our word for that.

I've already said I'd support the return of Ste as he has the potential to do so much for the game.

[Stigmata]

I'd completely agree on that statement wes, as I understand (from previous experience) how much is required of a staff member.

I'd also like to compliment you on the way you address your point (being generally quite young from when I first met you) as it shows that you've learnt and grown alot.

[Pandilex]

After much deliberation, I have decided to turn down this request to become a staff member.

I don't feel that the game can really progress more in its current state, and adding additional staff would do very little to further it. I agree with some points that map development can be done offline, and I think it would be encouraged to adopt an 'open development' kind of strategy, where all new areas are posted on the forum so that discussion and suggestions can commence from the entire public. This should result in a better quality of work.

I believe that in order to progress to a more reliable and smooth system, that staff members be kept to only a select few, and that automation becomes a bigger part of the game, extending to cover further areas and more randomised events to ensure a less repetative gaming experience.

Either way, my life is exceptionally busy right now, and even I am unable to contribute anything at this stage, occasionally idling on a character while performing other tasks just to stay in touch with the various people I know. However I can definately assure you that in the future there will be some changes, whether or not it is improvements to the existing system or an entire overhaul I am unable to determine. Pay to play may or may not be an option in the future, but unfortunately time is the key ingredient and I am busy fighting to secure coursework deadlines, learn Japanese, write a Command & Conquer style 3D Networked game for my Final Year Project at University, as well as a host of other things which unfortunately take precedence at this time.

If things ease up I may be able to dedicate more time to Nightmist, but until then it remains to see what the future has in store.

[PurpleHaze]

Well said, and i hope ste takes your offer of making area's in the offline developer =)

[jurian]

sucks to be you now ste but nice try ^^

[Exor]

that sucks :\.

[Sean]

Better luck next time....and the next....and the next...

[Gaddy]

Well said, and i hope ste takes your offer of making area's in the offline developer =)

-nod-

I do hope that you work on making some new areas for the game without being a staffer Ste....

[Malavon]

Alone

Uhh... kinda off topic here, but can someone direct me to some posts by alone that actually show him having good writing skills (by that I mean skills that are above average)? I don't mean to be rude but I don't recall seeing anything written by him that's good enough for him to be considered to be one of the best writers on nm (otherwise you wouldn't have mentioned him in that very small list (5 or 6 people out of hundreds is quite small)).

Also, they aren't necessarily the best writers. Id say about 90% of the people on the NM forum don't bother writing in complex sentences etc, they just write what comes to mind and throw in enough punctuation for it to be readable.

(i'm not trying to insult alone here, i'm just asking a question. i would send deval a pm with this but i wanna see other peoples responses coz they might have better examples of his writing skills than deval does. and it also gives those sad individuals a chance to attack me because ive flamed them in the past for being moronic)

Edited by Malavon, 19 October 2004 - 08:35 PM.

[Stigmata]

I'm assuming alot of you will be waiting for me to reply to this, so here goes.

Firstly, the post you just made Pandilex doesn't give me a good enough reason not to continue to try and win you over. Half of it was going on about reasons why you have left/leaving, which is all well and good but doesn't justify why I should not be allowed to rejoin.

I feel I have answered every single doubt on this forum post, and it is completely clear that I have the majority of support from the playerbase. If the players were really part of your initial concerns (the reason why you suggested I post) then why has my request been denied?

To me, in all honesty, it seems like you were hoping I would get a lot of critism so you wouldn't have to think up an excuse yourself, although thats just my opinion obviously, and I don't know your true intentions.

As you said, you want to try and progress the game further using automation. But this is not a new concept, this was well known before I even posted - JLH had made that perfectly clear. Yet that seems to be your only point...am I missing something?

Obviously not getting at the current staff members, who have lives and live in different time zones - but it's clear to me that i'm able to log on at more suitable times to run the events that often get missed.

You already posted before on this thread - here's a quote.

'We've not had any new staff for a long time, and I'm completely disregarding anything to do with new area creation and focusing on events and entertainment, and trying to weigh up if this would be more hassle than it's worth to me. ' - Pandilex

I'd like to know why you think i'd cause you hassle? If you remember the only reason I was pressured into leaving originally was down to false accusations, already cleared up on this post. I'm older, wiser, and more experienced today but that doesn't seem to count for anything.

As for developing areas offline, I doubt it. Simply because i'm not willing to waste my time. I have no problems working hard on the game when i'm doing it myself but there is no chance that i'm going to sit around posting ideas when atleast 99% of them will either go unoticed, or ignored. I have always tried to help develop the game, whether it be areas or ideas but it's getting to the stage where i feel like it is all in vain.

[alone]

No insult taken at all, Malavon.
I don't think Deval was implying I was good at writing, but more towards my suggestions and improvements towards the game.

Sure, I'd love to be given a shot at staff, but I also understand there are much better, more qualified (and liked) people out there who I wouldn't stand a chance against.. So, I may as well support them when and where I can, and offer my suggestions to current staff.
(sorry to continue the drag off-topic)

I'm sorry Pandilex turned you down, Stigmata. But I'm pleased to see you're not too dishearten and still fighting strong! ;p

[Simulation]

pandilex r nub

[Gaddy]

I agree with Ste. The more most players try to do stuff to work out things in game and problems in game, the more it seems like most are ignored. Though investigations may go on without us getting to know about it, simply making them appear not to go on, I really feel like many things are simply being overlooked.

As for this applied to area creations...no joke. Players do not have areas put in. The paci only area is the only one I can speak of tbh, and that was changed a great ammount to make it far more difficult, which I understand.


Basically, I think to have much pull on an area you have to be a staff member or able to convince a staffer to allow you to work with them on an area. Many good areas have been suggested, but simply would take too much work to put in is what it seems like most of the time.

[Thunderja]

Game needs more new areas and that is a fact! Not every player wants to sit around and talk all day.

I agree with some of the stuff Pandilex said in his post but the feeling was one of "The game atm sux" which I strongly disagree with.

Too tired to go into depth yet, bbl lol.

[Matt]

erm i won't say anything here because John (for some reason) put Simon completely in charge of my ban..

Now I wouldent want to agrovate the person who can unban me now would I?

[Lady_Maha]

Yet again I have to agree with Ste.

Automation of certain things may be fine, but what the game needs is a staffer who is good with player relations and who is on enough to run a variety of events, and personally I think Ste would be a good choice. Not only does he have excellent people skills, but he is on the game a lot, has good ideas to make the game more interesting and has the majority of the players supporting him.

I fail to see how it could be a hassle to re-add him to the staff team to be honest, so why not just do it?

[Despair]

shame . . . real shame, I believe your what NM needed . . . something fresh something new with a bit of enthusiasm . . .

[Bishop]

I don't think a good area can be created without the creator having staff abilites to tweak and troubleshoot it - it's just not possible. The area creator is the only one that understands what details the area should have; having the creator submit it to a staff member for tweaking and troubleshooting only deminishes the area's potential.

It's a nice idea, but some things just can't be replaced with some streamline system.

Edited by Bishop, 20 October 2004 - 05:24 AM.

[Lich]

I agree with Bishop, Making an area and infact alot of other things when automated, take away from the personal interaction and idea. only so many number sets can be placed with in a computer to randomize something before they by nature become repetative.(sp)

[Matt]

Well put Bishop.

It's all in the mind of the person creating it. Handing an area over to a staff takes ages and the area may not come out how you planned..

An area I created in the offline developer is already in the game, unfortunatly every time I tried to personally work with Zephie, Aidon and Oracle (yes, attempted to work with all three) all of them were busy or unable to help.

I fear that if one of the current staff completely finish the area without any of my input it may not turn out like I hoped.

shrugs

[Harky]

I still agree with what I said earlier (I think it was this thread, only read through the last page so it's possible I'm getting it confused) about automation regarding area creation. An offline area creation tool which is the same as the current nightmist, only without the map and with a few added features would really be almost as good as having a staff character, and considering the added advantage of staff member reduction, I see it as being the best option.

Regarding player issues, look at it this way: if nightmist (or one of their other projects) ever becomes successful, to the point where there are for example ten times more people on than there are right now; if the current staff can't cope with the current LOW playerbase (as you all seem to think), then there'd need to be an increase in staff tenfold. That many staff cannot be watched carefully enough by two admins, and -at least- one of the new staff will end up cheating or abusing power in some way, because volunteer staff can't be trusted.

It has nothing to do with how suitable the person applying/reapplying for staff is, it's all to do with the fact that if the game cannot sustain itself for the most part without constant maintenance by staff now with a fairly small playerbase, then it is a failure and added success will only serve to help destroy it.

[Stigmata]

I really fail to see what you mean Harky in your last point - adding success will only help to to destroy it?

And regarding the current staff - I think that they are all very capable of handling things when they are online, but as mentioned before they live in different time zones and are often unable to log on to run the events. As I live in UK, 11 pm for prof and the 10pm for mosh/triplex are perfect times for me to be at home to run these events should the others not be able to log on.

I'd agree with Bishop regarding the map creator - I did reply to your earlier post Harky when you mentioned that point before, so i won't bother re-typing what I said, but it would definately be an unessecary burdon to try and work through someone else.

And ignoring area creation - I see no real disadvantages to having my staff character back to be honest. I thought I proved that i was trustworthy last time (which seems to be the only real concern) because ignoring that, what else can I do except help moderate the game and entertain the players along with the current staff.

[Oracle]

You know I take responsibility for the Triplex and when I've not been available, I've seen that JLH has as much notice as possible and he obviously knows how it works, arguably does a better job than I do, (definitely a quicker one). I think it would be a good idea for the staff running other events to communicate weekly with another member of staff who can cover it for them.

I still pretty much agree with what despair said. I think ste would be something the game needs right now, purely for the entertainment side of it. (Quizzes and friendlier communication with the players etc.). His areas were just a cool bonus too.