Shark

Name is in use. 

Topic resolved

No, That will clog up the database and slow down the site.

I have been giving them tasks to do. Thus far, there is a player guide in the reworks and etiquette under current discussion. They are supposed to be the ones you all go to and voice your opinions for them to discuss. 

Hello there SAO-RPG members,

It has been a while since the new Decision Committee has been formed and they are already working on addressing your concerns and issues. I would like to take the time to collect you feedback on the current committee. Please answer the above poll about the committee. If you like it but want some changes to be made, please PM me or comment below. I want to fix this site and make it one of the best Forum Text-Based RP's on the internet. Please give me your feedback so I can accomplish that task. Take the time to voice your opinion and help get this site on the right path. 

This poll is OPEN for ALL. Staff and Players alike.

I need to know who the true supporters are of the site and who will stay and wants to see this site through to the end. 

Thanks for your time and support,

Shark the Admin

Are you using a different email than your primary account?

23 hours ago, Shark said:

If you have voted for calrex, Message me with your choice to replace him

 

Read the post people -_-

If you have voted for calrex, Message me with your choice to replace him

PLEASE DO NOT VOTE WITH ALT ACCOUNTS!

 I can check IP's so don't test me. 

ANY PLAYER CAUGHT VOTING WITH ALT ACCOUNTS WILL BE PLACED UNDER A TEMP BAN FROM THE SITE! 

This is supposed to be a fair vote so do not rig the pools

With the nominations closed, it is time to vote for you SAO-RPG Player Representatives!

The players with the top 3 votes will be chosen for the Committee. (Only pick 3)

Details on the length a person can stay on the committee as well as other powers the committee has, will be discussed and released at a later date. 

Any questions should be sent to me as well as issues and concerns that the committee should discuss. 

I have taken notes on the Staff feedback thread and will be used in the 1st committee discussion.

Voting will be closed Monday 4/11 at 10pm CST

I do hope that you are all aware that this is only for nominations and not vote. 

3 Players will be chosen to be player reps.

1 hour ago, Takneil said:

I thought I would throw my bit in here since it seems to be what all the cool kids are doing these days. 

Now I have read through all of these and one thing I've been noticing is that we are focusing on errors in rules, staff, balancing and mechanics. While all concerns and complaints are warranted to some degree most of what is being said should be kept away from this topic. The question was... "What are your thoughts about the current team". This would entail subjects such as staff and the mistakes they have made, but everything else mentioned should really be made in a different place as it strays from what Shark is asking. 

My personal thoughts on the current staff team?

They are Human.

The title Staff does not make a member of the community a god and as far my memory serves it has never meant such on SAO-RP, now I have only been here off and on for little over a year. so that leaves plenty of time for when I wasn't around, but for the time that I was. Staff was always generous and kind to me when I had extremely noobish/repetitive questions. Sure, it took them a while to get back to me. But don't say they ignore you, remember that staff not only have to help you. they have to help the entire site while dealing with Real Life and In Character issues as well. From what I recall many people tend to assume members of staff have all the time in the world, I'll be the first to tell you that is completely untrue. Tristan and Zero, these two names of Staff you keep throwing out as if they are the sole problem. Excluding a select few... Tristan and Zero are the kindest members of site I know, when I completely forgot to log my energy in one of my quests. Tristan swiftly gave me a response on how to manage it and Zero guided me so i wouldn't have to restart from scratch. No rule bending, no special treatment. They helped me, as staff apparently are too lazy to do?. 

As for chat. I only recently joined the sao skype chat, of course I left it but that was due to community issues. not staff. (Yeah that's right, you guys aren't little angels either. :P ) When I was among chat there were many, many. Times where there were people who spoke very crudely and un PG-13 like, though most of the time that was kept in call. While it didn't happen from time to time in chat People who weren't staff rushed to shush them and barrage them with 'Language!' or of the like before staff could even notice it's there. 

To get to the point because I've already dug my self a perfectly snug hole to die in for defending the current staff, what I'm saying is They are Human. Not beings who were made to completely dedicate their entire life to SAO-RP, Tristan has a job, Zero has college and a perfectly Broken laptop so he has a phone. Now I would love to defend other staff but it seems right now the current complaints are focused at these two, again among the kindest people I know who do their best when they have little time to do anything. 

So now you all realize there is a member on the other side of the fence, please put me in my coffin so I may prove this final point. The community of SAO RP is ruthless, while it once upon of time was a friendly and warm environment to be in it has only become what we as the community has made of it. A place where players bully staff into altering rules because it doesn't suit them and when staff attempt to change this it suddenly becomes switched all around. So I beg you, send me all the hate in the world. And in return I will respond with a big smile, because I know which side the grass is greener on. The side that is fertilized with all this BS. 

To answer Shark's question: No, Staff team should not be changed.

Love Taki <3

Thank you for the positive feedback. It's nice to see that there are people who views staff like this. I can attest for a fact that everything brought up has been in discussion for quite sometime now. With topics that players complain about, as staff, it's not like we can fix everything at light speed. If we do that, then there is bound to be more mistakes since it would be seen as a band-aid which only brings more complaints. 

I have created a new committee for the very purpose to get player voices heard and problems solved as efficient as possible. I can't wait to see how it pans out.

17 minutes ago, Piera said:

I'm not entirely sure how this voting will work, if we are only allowed to submit one person or not.

If Takao would accept the position, I think that he would be a great representative of SAO-RPG's players.
If for some reason he can't or won't become part of this committee, or if a user can nominate more than one person, then I also think that Opal would be just as capable a representative.

This is just nominating your pick for Player Rep. The actual voting will be held next week

17 minutes ago, Lee said:

So, do the current staff that are not the above mentioned rolls of Admin(s), Head GM, Head PST. Are they taken out of the role and will be put back in if voted or are they still going to be staff and we have to pick other individuals?

Only players will pick the player reps, Staff has their reps (aka heads of said team). All roles remain the same. This will be an entirely separate team to solve the sites issues and various other site decisions. The committee will ONLY  consist Admin(s) mainly myself, who will run the meetings, A rep/head of the GM team, a rep/head of the PST and 2 or 3 players. This will give us a fair number of staff and players to make important decisions so we can better the site as a whole and prevent future mistakes. The committee will have equal say, for the most parts meaning Admins still have final say. 

After the committee members have been chosen, more details on how long players can be on said committee as well as specifics on what they can do will be released.

Again, ONLY PLAYERS will pick the Player reps for the committee. Any questions about the process should be sent to me.

Hello there everyone,

With the recent feedback thread and discussion with Admins, we came up with the idea of a committee of sorts. This committee will consist of Admin(s), Head GM, Head PST and 2-3 player reps that will be voted on by the community. This committee will be tasked with checks and balances of the staff team as well as addressing problems with the site and how to fix them. The GMs will then fix said issues according to how it was decided on by the Committee. 

Any player can be nominated and the nominees will be voted upon by the community in a final poll. The 2-3 most votes will be chosen as player representatives for the community. More details will be discussed when the committee is set.

Please nominate your Player Representatives here. The nominations will be closed Saturday night at 10pm CST.

STAFF: Refrain from nominating. This is for the players of the community to decide since they are "Player Reps"

Current Nominees

3 minutes ago, Baldur said:

That could be, but IPS now has a chat function that they host all the traffic on their side cause they noticed that website hosts were banning the feature.

Good to know, I'll bring that up with Erron

1 minute ago, Baldur said:

How long ago was that? IPS now hosts the chats themselves for this reason.

this was using the phpBB software but it's not the software company but where the website is hosted. I believe the IPS one cost more money though.

1 hour ago, Lee said:

Why is Skype Chat still a thing? Why not just have a quick chat on the site?

to address that, we had one but it is against the hosting company's policy and slowed down the site since it takes up memory and slows down the site to snail speed. 

Skype is free and doesn't take up any memory on the site.

Good day players of Aincrad,

Multiple people have been contacting me about their feelings and concerns of players on the staff team. The Admin's have been discussing ways we can improve the site as well as staff-player relations. We have decided that taking a poll involving the community and gather feedback on the staff team. If you think that changes need to be made, I ask that you send me a PM including your thoughts. 

If you have an idea that doesn't fit either of the choices available, please comment down below. This topic is for Admin's to gather feedback for improvements so please refrain from debating with others in this topic..

Thanks for your feedback 

After I spoke with my thoughts, Mack seemed to have scrambled to fill a last minute issue with the boss raid that was going to start in a week or two. Shortly Mack addressed the last minute issue, Takao rose and spoke his mind saying that guilds just weren't for him. following that, he mentioned how he didn't want to do anything that had a connection with the Azure Brigade. After that was said, Oikawa concurred the same thing but will still aid my guild with recruiting players to help us break from the Brigade. Upon hearing what has been said by the two players, I let out a sight as I moved to a standing position at the table. 

I looked at Takao, "I appreciate you taking the time to think about the offer Takao. I would like you to know that if you change your mind, there is a spot for you in our guild". I then turned and looked at Oikawa, "Same goes for you old friend. There will always be a spot open." I looked around at the members of the Blood Oath and my own guild, as well as the two unaffiliated, "If you are worried about having to deal with the Brigade, I assure you that they will not have anything to do with us. Once we have enough players we will break away from them to be our own guild once again. We would work together with the Knights of the Blood Oath to help the players of Aincrad and beat this game so that we can all go home to our friends and family. After all. that is the main point for this meeting and alliance, so we don't have the Brigade ruin the lives of the players with the so called guild that is currently in shambles due to their higher ups. If you, Oikawa, and you, Takao, join us then together we can work to make sure they don't have a hand in anything this important ever again." I let out a deep breath and sat back down. I thought to myself that if they joined us, then we would have enough strength to rival their guild and change the momentum of this game for the better. "Oh one more thing". I said as I looked at Oikawa and Takao, "If you are feeling something against having to answer to anyone but yourself, I'm sure we could work something out. I have 1 Field commander spot left and a few Guild Council spots as well. Field commanders are responsible for making their own squad so that gives you all some options should you choose to join." I told them as I sat back in my chair and relaxed a bit.

I was walking the 11th floor city when I received a message from Ariel saying that the boss raid meeting was over and that the alliance meeting was about to begin. I then made my way to the recently bought Knights of the Blood Oath's guild. On my way to the guild, I began to think about a course of action I could take in the meeting that could result in the best alliance. I thought to myself that if we break from the Brigade and made the guild its own entity, then made a strong alliance with the KoB, we could shift the entire momentum of Aincrad. I have met Commander Heathcliff once before and we relatively shared the same ideals on helping the players of Aincrad. I was then outside the doors of the guild hall and remembered that the last time I was in this position of creating an alliance was when Ryujin, my best friend at the time, was the Vice-Commander. I walked through the doors as I was prepared to discuss the details of this alliance. 

I opened the doors and saw the players that were still in the room. I noticed Ariel and Hikoru sitting at the table and made my way to the opposite side of Heathcliff. I stood standing as I introduced myself for those that did not know who I was,  "Hello everyone. For those who do not know me, I am Shark, leader of the Azure Knights, formerly known as the Knights of Christ." I said as I gave a nod to those I knew personally and took my seat. I listened to what Vice-Commander Opal had to say about this alliance. She mentioned about having us fall to her command under the Blood Oath and a slight displeased look came across my face. I stayed quite and respectfully listened until she had finished talking. She then asked if Oikawa and Takao would be welcomed to join the guild. Upon hearing that, a smile came back to my face as I was happy to recruit new blood. After that, Opal was finished talking and Ariel began to speak her mind. 

As Ariel spoke, she hit every point that was on my mind after what Opal had said. After Ariel wrapped up what she was saying, I began to speak. Concurring what Ariel has said, The two are welcomed with opened doors. With that said, and if they accept, we will have more than enough power to break from the Brigade and stand alone. As what Ariel said earlier, that is our objective and purpose of this meeting. We do not want to fall under command of the Blood Oath but rather be more like a brother guild where we have strong connections with each other and are on equal footing. The purpose of this alliance was more or so, that we can work together to help beat this game as well as helping the players come together and grow not only as players but as people too. I said as I smiled at my guild mates. "With our two guilds working together, who knows what we can accomplish. The Brigade helped keep the guild alive while we were low on members and would have been wiped from the system for not having the guild minimum. Now that we have enough members, we do not need them. With recent inter-guild disputes, it prompted me that the guild was no longer for us so we needed to break away and reclaim the Knights of Christ and rise once again." I said while looking at the other players and awaiting responses or other words from them. 

Life seemed to be pretty happy when he was given the chance to lead the first adventure for the guild. I looked at him with a smile, "It's a new beginning for the guild and I am happy that you are apart of it" I told him as I could only think about the future of the guild. The man looked at me with the eyes of those who want to adventure the higher floors as well as working hard to clear this game. He asked me if we would make it to the end. "Well, do I think we will make it, yes... Do I know for sure, not really. That depends if we can get everyone to work together instead of trying to do everything alone." I replied to Life. I looked back at the previous times where I was off on my own or heard about others on their own and how everyone was struggling, that was until guilds started becoming more common. Once players started joining guilds, we began clearing floors that much faster and more efficient. 

Life had a smirk on his face after I told him that he will be one of my Field Commanders. He agreed that we need to work on recruiting more members so that we can be compared to the stronger and more well known guilds. "Guild questing would be a good idea for everyone to level and improve their skills." I told Life while looking thru the quest page. I looked up from the page and back at life. "Tell ya what, as your first task of Field Commander, why don't you organize the first guild adventure. I would like to see what you can come up with." I said while trying to think of members that would be a good fit for the guild.

Moments later, it seemed as though Life forgot something. "Did you forget something? If its a person, see if they want to join the guild and we can help, if not then if it's anything you need help with let me know." I told him while continuing to search the list of solo players. 

The woman seemed very eager to get to work with the ideas that were discussed. At the moment, the conversation was just about over until the friend request box popped up in front of me. I pressed accept and smiled at Ariel. I watched her as she stood up and put on a gray cloak with her recent guild logos. At that moment an idea came into mind. There may be one other thing you could do. I said as I looked at my cloak. I think we are in need of new attire. I would like to keep the color scheme but we need a new logo to put on the new attire. I trust you can come up with something as well as making sure your shop logo is on the back of the collar so we can publicize your shop a bit. I suggested to the woman as she got ready to leave. I stood up and prepared to leave as well, If you come up with any ideas on what we can do just shoot me a message. I will pass the task on to the others as well so we have more ideas to work with. I told her while beginning to walk away. after saying that, I smiled and made my way to the teleporter. I'll see you around Ariel. Have a great day. I said as I started walking towards the center of the town. 

Thread Complete

1 SP for Shark and Ariel

ID# 53140 LD: 17

17 x 25 = 425 Col + 400 page = 825

413 Col for Ariel and Shark

Ariel described her plan and it sounded like some pretty good ideas. I looked at her with a smile, Well since you seem to have some pretty good ideas, I will put you in charge of figuring out the details and possible locations. Keep in mind that we have a very small budget at the moment, only the money we all personally have. I said as I remembered that I added money to the Brigade a while back for the guild hall. I looked over the quests, I need to go on more adventures so I can add to the guild resources. I turned back to Ariel and smiled, Well if we can get the aid from the KotB, that will be huge in getting our name out there. If we can attract more players in the end then that's all that matters. I told the woman, looking at my current col status. Looks a bit low. I thought. I received a message from a player that asked if I wanted to do some quests with her and I replied yes, hoping I could make some good money from these quests. Well, I think we should start putting these plans into action don't you? I asked the woman, hoping that the guild could improve very soon and help players feel like they can join and not be alone during their time in SAO.

I found a seat across from Ariel and Hikoru and sat down after the introductions have been made. As Hikoru introduced himself, he seemed a little nervous, Don't be so nervous Hikoru. I'm pretty relax with this stuff. I said while sitting back and getting comfortable in the chair. I looked at Ariel who seemed happy that Hik was accepted to the same guild that she is in. I'm glad to see that you two are pretty close. Well, Since Ariel is one of the Field Commanders, I can place you in her squad since you work well together. I said with a smile on my face. I looked at Ariel, Great work with your first task. I hope you can continue to recruit players to the guild. I have no doubt that Hikoru will aid you with this task. I told her. I opened the guild page and made the changes to add Hikoru to the roster. 

I closed the menu and looked up at the two of them, I hope you will be happy in the guild and help us grow so that we may help as many players as we can so that we may work together to clear this game. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to ask anything. I sat back in the chair as I waited to see if Hikoru had anything to address that was going through his mind.

I was finishing up some business with some acquaintances on the 6th floor when I received a message from Ariel. She sent a location with the subject of Guild Member. I knew at that point that she had recruited another member. I looked at the players that were currently with me. If you excuse me, I have some rather important guild stuff to take care of. I will see you guys later. I said, setting my empty glass down and promptly leaving the tavern. I then opened back up the message to find out where I was going. Welp, seems like Ariel made progress on her task. Time to go meet the new recruit. I said as I made my way to the teleporter and called for the 9th floor.

I reached the 9th floor and stepped off the platform and made my way to the location of the two players. I walked through town with my guild attire on. A blue cloak with the Knights of Christ emblem on the back and a small Brigade emblem on the right shoulder. I reached the place that Ariel said they would be and looked for the two players. I finally spotted them and walked over to where they were sitting. Hey there Ariel, Glad to see you are doing well. I said as I looked at the player sitting next to her. You must be the new recruit. My name is Shark and I am the Guild Leader of the Knights. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I said with a slight bow of respect as I introduced myself to the player.