I've been holding onto this for quite a while and given this new forum I think I now have a reason to post it. Parts taken from other posts by Cz and Kintaii. Feedback is welcome.
Purpose:
The Roleplaying Professionals exists to:
- Inform FunCom and ARK Events Team of the players wishes and feedback on past, present and future events.
- Make sure concerns are well documented and communicated clearly and concisely.
- Maintain threads specific to their roles. This includes updating ‘Next Meeting’ threads.
Purpose – Justification:
- Many players will cite lack of communication as being the biggest gripe with interacting with non-Player elements of roleplaying. This is likely because of the large number of inbound communication verses the limited number of Events ARKs to handle and process these requests. By designating specific players to serve as a buffer this may do two things:
- Lower the number of Inbound Communication by resolving issues that do not require ARK early
- Create higher quality inbound requests by gathering additional information before forwarding requests to ARK.
- This by no means implies that players will be unable to contact ARK directly. The Purpose is to create an additional, optional tool in-between Players and ARKs to both assist the Events Team and the Player Community.
Composition:
The Roleplaying Professionals program consists of:
- The FunCom/ARK Events team.
63 representatives of the players, one of each factionfrom each server, later to expand to two should FunCom/ARK Events deem it necessary.
The player representatives are appointed by Funcom based on applications, requirements for the position, support in the community and evaluation by Funcom.
A potential Roleplaying Professional must:
- Have been a member of the Roleplaying Community for at least six months.
- Have a character of at least
level 150 (title level 5)level 50 (title level 3) in the faction they wish to represent.- Be in fair standing with FunCom both in-game and on the bulletin board.
Activity:
The Roleplaying Professionals will create and update two separate lists for their faction
- Outstanding Concerns for their faction
- Suggestions for future consideration
How these lists are made, their layout, and how often they are updated is entirely up to the Roleplaying Professionals, but one should remember that the players will most likely expect both to be up-to-date and include a prioritization of the bugs and concerns / wishes. Other initiatives than making these lists are also entirely up to the Professionals.
The FunCom and ARK Events team will meet with the Roleplaying Professionals of each server to discuss the top concerns / wishes of their community.
Thread tools:
To manage discussions and keep their Buzz forum in a constructive tone the Roleplaying Professionals are allowed – but not required – to use some moderator abilities.
- Opening and closing threads.
Sticking (rooting) and un-sticking threads- May not be needed with the new Fourth Wall forum.
Visibility:
The Roleplaying Professionals need to be visible to the people they represent. To ensure this each Professional will have "[Faction] Professional" included in their bulletin board title, and a list of all Professionals will be maintained (rooted) in the Community Corner forum.
Recruitment:
The final choice is made by FunCom, but players are encouraged to show their support for eligible candidates through a poll. The process is as follows:
- The open position is announced on the Community Corner and the appropriate Buzz forum, and people are given 7 days to apply for the position.
- FunCom and ARK Events looks through the applications and makes a list of those who meet the requirements given above. The list is posted in the appropriate Buzz forum, in a thread open for discussion. The candidates are asked to present themselves (max 100 words) in the thread.
- A poll is posted three days after the list, and is open for seven days. This poll is to see whether each candidate has support, and is only a guide for FunCom in choosing a new Roleplaying Professionals.
- Based on internal evaluation and show of support from the poll FunCom decides on the most suitable candidate and contacts the candidate. In the unlikely case that an agreement can't be made, the next on the list will be contacted.
- The new Professional is appointed and announced.
Longevity:
Every three months we will hold a vote within the individual Profession forums where the players may choose to vote one (or both) of their Professionals out of the position. Should a Professional be given a "vote of no confidence" by the player base, they will be replaced with the next-highest runner-up from the previous election (IE: whomever came in third place in the last election).
Every nine months, the process will restart with a new round of nominations and voting - All current Professionals still in good standing (and who wish to have a chance to continue with the program) will automatically be placed into the voting roster with the rest of the nominees.