The Agora = ?

[BB_Azariel]

Hi guys,

Let me try and answer a few of the questions you have talked about here.

"Friendly" Moderator?
The word "friendly" was just to try and make the whole thing more enjoyable. OF COURSE we will consider your application just as much if you've never spoken to a MOD than if you speak to them every day.

How we choose Public Speaker?
We can't let people vote... Can you imagine the amount of work this would take? The amount of spam there would be on the forum as a result? Also, we would then be forced to take on anyone, even people we know to have trolling tendencies, people who are not objective, people who have never contributed in any way or people who clearly dislike some of the moderation team.
... so no, we will not let players vote on it.

"Moderator pets"?
I don't see why they would be. Is this just the word "friendly" that was not understood? I must say that personally I much prefer having a constructive discussion with someone who does not agree with me than with a "pet" who will side with me no matter what.
We do not need pets for this, we need people who have opposite ideas and can positively contribute to the game.

Publicly?
The discussion will be public: they concern the public speakers, the moderators, and any BB_ staff who want to join in (mainly me and BB_Ravel). Any Public Speaker can start a discussion. This discussion will be closed to normal players (they won't be able to write in them), but they will be able to read what is happening.

The point of the Agora?
To have as many links with the community as possible with a few players who can objectively and diplomatically contribute to the long term growth of the game. Why do we not just do this openly with all players? Because it would be impossible to maintain a long-term, logical and interesting discussion.

Feel free to ask more questions if you have them.

Please do not be sarcastic or bashful. This is not necessary and, quite frankly, it's very rude as I put a lot of effort in helping you guys!


Best,

BB_Azariel

[marlock]

why do people always .. always .. have problems with the mods in this game.. or things related to mods...

BB is trying to give us this great opportunity where we can have our direct say about our ideas, and instead of embracing it, you whine about how you have to apply to the mods....

[Qualan]

time will tell how things go. I have already decided i am tired of the countless idiots spamming when there is no mod around (usually early mornings cet for me) so i lurk in global-7. Ofc it is hard to tell if revamped tradesystem will kill global-7 or not etc etc but in general i have no issues with the public speaker concept

If there is disagreements with what they say/post etc, there is still the other forums to discuss those weird positions they might defend or propose in the agora and if too many disagree i presume that will be heared by BB as well, or by other public speakers.

For myself i don;t see a role there as i do not really want to go out and "feel the mood" of the rest of the playerbase and would only voice my opinions in there- for whatever they are worth. Ofc it is hard to see how serious these public speakers will take care of their role.

I am a bit sceptic about the concept though and many times they do exactly the thing why i wouldnt take the role and that is promote their ideas and visions instead of listening to the community and try to bring balanced points to the boards. It would probably take more effort from BB to manage this risk and probably is somethign that can not be delegated to the mods either, esp as moderating has completely different needs and background (maintain order) than public speakers (voice <community> opinions)

I think BB is close enough to the community to be able to select people or approach people for this role at this time )

[Qualan]

why do people always .. always .. have problems with the mods in this game.. or things related to mods...

BB is trying to give us this great opportunity where we can have our direct say about our ideas, and instead of embracing it, you whine about how you have to apply to the mods....

I don;t have an issue with mods- although many people seem to have issues with the concept of mods. The only thing i might have an issue with is having mods being involved in this selection process/application process as i feel mods have a completely different role to public speakers - one being maintaining order and the other discussing state of the game etc. Ofc a mod can also be a good public speaker but imo this is not an automatic given though as many people i see as potential public speakers would be horrible mods

[Scrooge]

Qualan i adressed that very train of thought previously.

Here

"Nuff said"

why do people always .. always .. have problems with the mods in this game.. or things related to mods...

People have issues with moderators because they regulate transgressions, and since when have people enjoyed having to abide by rules they don't normally follow?

[Qualan]

i was just stating my 2 cents ) I still think it is best for BB to select etc, just to avoid additional layers, especially since both Azariel and Ravel are around both server chats enough to have a good idea who is mature/balanced etc.

It would serve 2 good purposes imo, 1) protect mods from possible accusations of mod bashers and 2) it would seem closer to BB for the general community and as such would probably instill (a touch more) confidence that the right people are being heared.

That being said, the current set up will work as well, as would one with community votes imo or a rotation or about 300 other variations on the theme

[Scrooge]

Actually, i applied to Azariel.
I believe the Moderators are taking the applications because the one your more likely to apply to are far more likely to know that your fit for the task.
Less work around each applicant that way i suppose.

And i don't know whether Azariel and Ravel have the intimate knowledge you believe them to have but i still think the moderators are a bonus in this case.
The bigger the jury the better judgement i say.

[Dopey]

I’m not entirely sure I see the point in this whole system. How about making a forum section for everyone to post in. The mods can then just go through them at there leisure and if a number of posts are unhappy about something, happy about something or take issue with something then they could sticky them or consolidate the good posts on that topic into 1 sticked post for BB’s viewing pleasure to see what the hot issues are at the moment. The advantage of this system is despite it still counting on mods to highlight things, everyone’s voice is still heard. If players disagree with a mods take on someone else’s post they can keep posting in it bumping it up to the top all the time. I don’t like the idea of leaving it in the hands of just a select group of people in charge to tell BB what’s wrong or what’s right and not to change. What happens if the speakers disagree with lots of players? What about if the mods don’t choose players to be speakers that have rubbed them the wrong way in the past but actually have something useful to say or would otherwise be a good speaker. I don’t know the mods or the speakers and I don’t trust them. Everyone’s view should be heard when it comes to feedback. The good and the bad. It should not be channelled through ‘representatives’.

In my view no one should be elevated in any way from the player base at all. We should all be equal. No mods, no public speakers, just the public at large. I don’t know how pvp is going to be developed but I believe at some point the mods power to ban players will be an issue. If not for the obvious miss use of it at a crucial pvp’ing moment but just the unfair psychological effect of going up against a player that is also a mod or a guild with a mod in it. Not to mention what ‘speakers’ will say when a pvp system is implemented. What if there all anti-pvp? There not going to want to help make the system better by suggesting ideas for it. Or if there pro pvp then they might only suggest ideas that benefit the top pvpers to help them stay at the top. The little guy gets left out. Being, respectful, calm, controlled and considered in ones thoughts is good but there is no test on how to tell what someone’s thoughts really are. And if were to also think about it from the speaker or mod point of view then i can see a lot of people that take issue with them will do all they can to make sure whatever the pvp system lets them do is done to them with as much ill will as possible.

There should be a system open to all to have there voice heard in my opinion. This thread a case in point. Everyone should be able to have there view and post heard and seen, in reply to an issue they want to say something about. I first tried to reply to posts in the agora section and couldn’t. So the next thing I did was go looking for another place to do so and found this thread.

[Nukar]

As most will have seen I signed up to The Agora and got accepted.

So far just Stalk, BB_azariel and I replied there. So seems we still need more speakers.

As far as i got insight on the selection criteria:
The application is posted in the MOD section of the forums. MODs and BBs can express their oppinion about the player that has applied. When consences has been reached you will get an invite (or not).

As in representing the community.
Its up to BB to make sure all playergroups are somehow represented. I do not plan on representing a specific group. In fact I will think about any given subject and form an oppinion based on how I experience the game. For one subject I could be expressing the oppinion af player A, C, D and the next time it can be A, B, F etc.

With enough speakers this wont cause any problems. It will also prevent to much politics (like with the voting idea).
If you ever see an agora subject where you feel a point of view is missing you got 2 options:
1: Sign up as speaker
2: Contact a speaker explaining your view in a civil matter. And hope he or she agrees.

@dopey
I guess your idea is as good or bad as the agora idea. BB chose The agora because its less work for the MODs to keep it clean and visible.
But all equals would mean selfregulation, this is non existant on the internet (or in real life)

[Nooberix]

I can see both sides of the argument. But let us give this a try and see how it goes before we jump to conclusions