Questions? Ask!

[Kintaii]

Taken from the LTC thread, in hopes of derailing the derail:

Okay this is one of those things that makes me want to scream. See now over the years I've been told differently.
There is so much misinformation, one day it's this and one day it's that. I know I was told by Events that Toog is a Legacy, and both him and Hekkat are listed on the main site with the other Legacies.

Now if you're saying it's not the case, that's fine. But this is one of the main problems with RP in AO. Lack of concrete source martial, or if it's there it's not being shared. It always seems like FC, Events, and players all have different ideas on how things work, what is and what isn't.
Not to derail the thread, but it's like "just what do the clanners do with their notum?" First they could ship if off world, then they couldn't. Too many times does it seem too many people are confused over things that should be well known facts that should be easy to get too.
I'm not going to get started on changes in the timeline.

This is a great point, and something that I'm hoping we can eventually address via the Fourth Wall and our communication in here. Historically, there's been a lack of information to the public about exactly what Events *does*, or how we go about our business, or what we expect from you guys.

So use this thread to ask questions about the Events department, what we do, how we do it, and so on. Naturally there may be some questions we can't answer or are limited in how much we can share, but for the most part we'll try to be open and we'll definitely be honest.

In response to Foosball's question, this is one of those things that apparently even peeps in the team aren't quite clear on. Granted, the difference between "Legacy" and "LTC" really doesn't mean anything from a practical standpoint, but still - Having some clarification on the rules and convention for naming schemes would probably be a good idea.

So, after discussing it with the team for a moment, we came up with the following:

A "Legacy" character is an Events-controlled character which is permanently (or at least until such time as storyline dictates the abdication of their role) in charge of a major faction, side, department or city. This means that characters such as Toog are, in fact, considered a "Legacy Character".

Not that, you know, the word "Legacy" means that much in this context, but still - First explanation taken care of!

Next? =D

[trousers]

Can I have my Org name back? >_>

[Kintaii]

You and I talked about this before privately, Trousers - We can talk some more in PM if you want, but let's keep that sort of thing outta here if you don't mind. ;P Next question!

[Effrit]

Do Events have one of those new ICC/ARK type shoulderpads? if not why not?

How big is the Events dept? I know Devdas, Pheats and Ninanna seem to form its backbone but are there actually others who we dont hear from? Or do they beat,bribe and blackmail other ARKs to help out with events?

[Kintaii]

Events does have one of the new shoulderpads, and it's pretty awesome (if i can say so myself [seeing as how i'm the guy who textured 'em]).

Size of the Events department is pretty small at the moment, but there's a lot more than just Dev/Pheats/Ninanna - Due to restrictions, though, on what ARKs can and cannot do, those are just the ones you end up seeing publicly more often than not. There'll be a couple more ARK Events peeps popping up on the forums soon, though, and the entire roster of troops (including myself) has been given clearance to utilize their new LTC Forums accounts to interact ICly with players here. =)

[Xeenah]

Is there a way to fix the problem of emails getting lost / not read when sent to ARK-Events?

Example: I never contact them just for chit-chatting. When I do, it's usually because something needs to be settled that fall under Events purview or require Events intervention/decision. It's often on topics that we are required to run/enforce/maintain (e.g. the Council Speaker election, yearly membership renewal, etc.)

If I'm expected to make something happen and a problem arises that prevents me from making it happen, and I don't have answers I need to make it happen, well it's likely that it won't happen or it might happen in an inappropriate way :/

[trousers]

This is a good point. I know I E-mailed them twice, a week a half ago, inviting them to attend an 'Introduction to RP' lecture for newbies wanting to learn more about RP and both E-mails went unanswered. Left me wondering if they didn't get them or if they just didn't care.

[Pheats]

Make sure you have the right address events-feedback@ark.anarchy-online.com other than that there's not much can be done, haven't a clue why one or two recent mails went into strange places but usually its good.

We try to get a response out asap, but sometimes it requires discussion and that discussion makes us forget to send a response (which reminds me I need to go bother people about getting an auto response set up)

We will almost always read the mail on the day it arrives however unless its just light chatter about inconsequential things it will take us time to debate an answer, give us a poke when necessary but do be patient before hand.

[Gimpeline]

I just wonder if there are any eta on fixing the links on this page.
http://ark.int.funcom.com/events/reporters/

[Effrit]

Since you are all there talking it seems and im dodging writing an report.

How do you decide who gets to play which character? Do you each have specific characters which only you log? I guess the "legacys" arent always played by the same person but what about the others?

Also how do you go about creating a new character?

[Pheats]

Well legacys as you can guess get passed along as people leave but tends to only have 1 person playing it at a time (decided via the mystic arts of events debate)

Normal LTC's tend to be that arks personal creation, they come up with the story and background and such and submit it for creation. That said we do check them for certain things (which Im reluctant to go into else get smacked for saying too much). Unless they are story specific LTC's they will only ever get played by their creator. If they leave the LTC fades into obscurity.

And as for the RSS links, I have poked people about a few issues with the RSS and had the response "soonish" will poke again when I can.

[Ninanna]

I dont feel like smacking you Pheats. My teddybear needs repair already. And you'll only give me more work anyway!

[Windguaerd]

Hmm, this is a great opportunity to take out all the stuff I have wondered about the storyline, Events Team and the mixed messages that both FC and ARK has given the RP Community (and anyone interested in even knowing the background story of the game).

However, I think bringing stuff up that has been building up practically for YEARS may add to the confusion between past/present storylines.

I think the best way to work things out is for ARK & FC to be on the SAME PAGE before ANY EVENT is run.

This means having a SOLID list of names which are either Legacy, Long Term Characters (LTC's) and Temporary Characters (which are only used a few times before they "die" or "disappear").

Current Legacy characters should have a bio/history available for the RP Community to know at least the basics. For example.

Legacy Leader: Xeavier Humbold, Level 160 Solitus Bureaucrat
Affiliation: New Dawn Clan
Location: West Athens North

Background:
Xeavier Humbold, as a young man in his early thirties grew up the son of a Successful trader baron. His father, although arriving on RK as a Clan allied man, set up a thriving business trading supplies from off world to supply both Clan and Omni-Tek outpost facilities. Although his dealings with OT supply officers was on the quiet his reputation as a good business man kept him profiting and alive.

Xeavier grew up traveling to these bases and took over many of the supply lines from his father when he grew to his formative years.

Having many contacts among the OT and Clanner outposts whom he called friend he strived to get them to come to terms for their blind hatred for each other.
It was through his actions in this endeavor that got him noticed by Ruth Montezuma leader of New Dawn. His talent and enthusiasm was quickly noticed and he rose in the ranks quickly to stand as one of her trusted advisors. Many speculate that he has also passed through her bed at one point or another as an aside.

Political Views:
New Dawn as a clan has always believed in the diplomatic resolution of the disputes between Omni-Tek and the Clans. Xeavier will be more of an observer and a watcher to gauge the temper and overall design of the developing Council of Truth. He will speak up on behalf of his leader Ruth Montezuma who is still in hiding after the last Council disbanded hurriedly.

It doesn't have to be a long bio, but it should be enough info to know WHO the character, where does he/she hang out usually and their general political view (if applicable), if a businessman or criminal instead of political view maybe business record or criminal record. Adding known associates may also not be a good idea, opening sort of a "branch" of support characters which FC/ARK can use without using a Legacy character which CAN'T really do certain things as per the storyline but a support role COULD do to make an event or a story more interesting.

Would you consider doing this?

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Regarding "disappearing" LTC's or Legacy Characters who obviously change their persona because another ARK takes over the role...

LTC's who build a good rep and people get used to talk to and then vanish without a trace, has happened too often. If you know the LTC is going to go, at least TRY to create a small event as a "send off" for it, make it leave Rubi-Ka, get perma killed, or do something to close the chapter on that toon.

When it comes to another ARK taking over a role of a Legacy character, that of course is more difficult, because for the person to continue the role believable he would have to remember every action and conversation that took place with players from his predecessor. A temporary substitution could be passed by pretending to be occupied with more important business.

However if someone takes over the role permanently then I think some sort of hint MUST be given to the roleplayers so we are aware that some things which may appear out of sync can be accepted or people will think "wth is up with this dude, first he was cool with me for months, friendly and now he treats me like a stranger and acts all weird, this is bs".

It may sound weird for a roleplayer to be made himself aware OOC of a change in who is behind a character, but I think it would be more negative to have a bunch of confused roleplayers at an event trying to figure out if an ARK is roleplaying being drunk or having memory loss without any hints whatsoever that there is something completely different happening behind the curtains.

================================================

Regarding emails to events, there has been so much trouble over the years that most don't bother. Sending an email about an event players have planned for weeks/months asking for Events to show up even for a short period of time and given more than enough time to respond (sometimes weeks in advance) without a reply, it's just not something anyone wants to deal with, myself included.

It is understood if you need to discuss a reply if it's something which would affect the storyline, but making an appearance at an event where you can make yourself practically immortal with the ability to warp out at any time if something happens that may affect the character, how long you need to discuss the presence of... say Simon Silverstone at a yalm race, or Radiman at the wedding of two clan leaders, etc. If an ARK knows the role of the character, he should be able to act accordingly.

Neutrals and omnis at the yalm race would most likely make Silverstone walk away from it cursing them and anyone who supported the event, Radiman would have smiled and probably blessed the union of the couple, etc.

The bottom line should be "is anyone available at that day and time to spend 10-15mins there?", not much of a discussion there.

"Yes" or "No".

"We are sorry to inform you that at the date and time given, we won't have anyone available to make an appearance, we wish you good luck on your event". People will accept that answer, but no answer or an answer given DAYS after the event takes place.... is just not something roleplayers want to deal with.

Maybe a form should be made at the ARK website, categorizing the type of contact someone wants to have with ARK Events Team.

Here is my suggestion.

"Request the presence of ARK Events Team at a player-run event. Please include the name of the ONE character you would like at your event, day and time (GMT) of the event".

"Send a personal grid-mail to a storyline character in your own behalf ."

"Send a grid-mail in behalf of your organization to a storyline character".

"Send feedback to the ARK Events Team".

A simple disclaimer should also help people understand any delay on a reply "Please be aware that due to the amount of grid-mail and security filters that an answer may take up to a week".

Could you consider this please, it may help categorize emails and maybe respond to them within a more acceptable amount of time.

================================================

One of the problems for the past 5 years or so, is that the Events Team remains small, rarely able to pull off a decent size event which a good amount of the RP community can get involved with. But, Tchu had a small team and he pulled off a LOT of public RP events, he is the LAST Events Director I know of that was able to get things going at a decent pace and good enough scale to make a mark in the RP Community.

He would appear to us and talk to us as players, asking us what we liked, asking us for feedback BEFORE he would decide on a large event.

Is it too much to ask to get the same kind of attention these days? maybe. But I guess there is no harm in asking, will we?

================================================

The Green Cloaks are a group of roleplayers in the Atlantean Server who meet every month usually at the beginning of every month. Any chance for ARK Events to be at that meeting once a month to get a feel from the RP Community?

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Zigball Tournaments, any chances you can make the complete rules of the game public, how it is played, etc?

All the info I have on Zigball in at this AO Universe topic.

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Any chance of a sticky thread here regarding on-going ARK storylines?

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Player-ARK Events Meeting, way overdue, any eta?

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The old CoT had military personnel, for example old Commander Pendion who disappeared after the fall of the CoT, does the current CoT has any sort of formal militia/military personnel? I never consider the Sentinels under the influence of the CoT 'cause Simon Silverstone would never give any council member the authority to command any of his troops.

================================================

Too many many questions?

[Kintaii]

I just wonder if there are any eta on fixing the links on this page.
http://ark.int.funcom.com/events/reporters/

At the moment there's no estimation as to when this can get fixed. The person responsible for maintaining that sort of thing is a member of our Operations team, meaning he's shared among the other projects in the building - With everything happening around here at the moment he's a bit backed up, and this is a rather low-priority task. I'll do what I can to get it looked into whenever they have the time to spare. =)

Also, on the topic of emails: I'm hoping that in the near future we can get a document up here in the 4thW explaining the emailing system and what to expect from it. Likewise, I'm hoping that we can also move around some internal policies to ensure that the email system becomes a bit more focused, letting people get the feedback they need in a more timely manner. =)

And now, the main event:

Too many many questions?

No such thing. =) I hate doing multi-quote responses, though, so I'll be going through your post and replying as I read. Glad to see you here, by the way - Always nice to see the older guard of RPers popping in. =)

First and foremost, as noted elsewhere, getting a current list of Legacy/LTCs up here on the forums is one of my current priorities - I just got the full list from Ninanna yesterday and will be posting it sometime in the next few days at the latest.

Most of the Legacy characters *do* have biographical information posted about them somewhere, but I do agree that it's time to get that sort of thing updated. Due to machinations happening behind the scenes this isn't something I'm going to say we'll be getting up and ready in the immediate future, but once a few of our plans actually hit the ground we can look into creating a small section for bios of the major Legacy-style characters. LTCs will most likely not receive the same treatment, as they're viewed as a bit more 'temporary' and live or die based on whether or not the person who created/plays them is still in Events.

As far as the change-over in character players goes, that might be something we would be willing to outline here in the 4th Wall, but as a rule LTC/Legacy characters themselves are strictly *not* allowed to go out-of-character for any reason. Speaking to the character themselves in an OOC fashion will not (or at least should never) elicit a response, and that's one of those rules I'm not willing to bend or break; storyline characters should remain IC at all times, regardless of what's happening.

As I said, though, I might be willing to look into a "credits page" of sorts here in the 4th Wall, letting people know exactly who's playing what role at any given moment. It'd be up to the players to check this page if they feel something's different, as I doubt we'd make a big announcement out of it in any way, but it would help people keep track of who's doing what and why there might be a sudden change-over in personality for a Legacy character.

For LTCs disappearing... Honestly, I'd like to be able to sit here and say that we'd be able to tie up all loose ends, but often times its just not the case. I've been guilty of it myself in the past and most others have as well - Sometimes things just slip through the cracks. Often when we lose an LTC its because we've lost an Events member, and usually this means that there are other things which take priority over finishing off any storyline the person might have been working on - Namely finding a replacement for the person that left. With such a small team and limited manpower, losing even one individual often cuts our capabilities down by a large percentage, and finding someone to take over their role/job is usually priority number one. Typically if something is a larger storyline (been running a long time, effected a sizable group of people, ect. ect.) we'll do what we can to toss a book-end on the character/event, but without the original team member there it's hard (if not impossible) to do it justice. Unfortunately loose ends are just a part of the job and something that's going to happen regardless of how hard we work to eliminate them.

Pheats already touched on the email bit, but I want to say that I'm also hoping we can increase email communication in the future, particularly now that we have the 4th Wall area to handle other concerns/questions/comments. I'm also hoping that we can increase visibility of the Legacy characters by getting them out and about to other smaller events whenever possible, but this does often rely on the ability of the Events team member to play the role - Remember, the Events team is a volunteer organization, and will never be straight-up "forced" to work at any point. If someone can't make an event... that's just the way it goes. But hopefully some clearer communication on that sort of thing can happen in the future; just need to sort out some old internal policies first to get the Events team in a place where they're able to handle the increased communication flow.

Far as Tchu goes... well, Tchu isn't in ARK any more, and hasn't been for a long time. Things are run differently from director to director, and things are run differently on our end these days as well. I think for anyone hoping for a return to whatever they consider "the glory days" of AO roleplaying? You're probably in for a disappointment. Not only have the numbers for ARK Events dwindled but so has the roleplaying population and official support from FC. That isn't to say we won't give it our all, because we will, but just look at the numbers so far in this very forum - Granted, I haven't started my big publicity push for the 4thW yet, but even so its been two days now and we've had just around fifteen or so total players posting in here. Not exactly the same as the old days would have been, is it? Now, all of that said, it doesn't mean that I feel there isn't potential there to draw a crowd - Far from it. As time goes on and more people become aware of what we're doing here I'm hoping to see more and more new blood popping up. But things will be very different from how stuff was "back in the day".

I'm gonna take a minute here to digress, and this is something I think everyone needs to hear: Things have changed. This ain't yer daddy's Events/Storyline team. I work differently from others in the past, and the team will work differently under my charge. I like openness, I like ensuring that people have the tools needed to make good stories, I like communication. I like knowing what the people think and what we can do to address their desires. I also like being subtle - I don't like straight-up explaining, I like hinting. I like letting people dig for clues. I like tossing out red herrings. I like making people sift through articles in Editor News for story hooks. I like enabling folks to write their own stories. I also like shaking things up in big, big ways.

Part of what I'm doing these days is attempting to 'decentralize' RPing in AO, to an extent, and getting away from the concept that roleplaying only really happens in-game. With the new Legacy/LTC Forum accounts (and the 4thW as well), a LOT more is going to be happening on the official forums and in the form of posted stories/articles; this isn't to say that we won't be doing things in-game as well, because we most certainly will - there's some truely epic **** planned for the next several months. But if you want the full picture you'll need to hunt around for it; read the articles, check out the Buzz forums, dig for clues. You'll also need to get involved - With the new initiatives you'll be able to read the stories as they happen and get an idea of what's going on, but until people actually start playing along, interacting and trying to figure out exactly what's up? The spark - the core *fun* of what makes RPing in AO enjoyable - won't be there. Without people playing along and responding, there's really no point to it all - We live or die based on whether or not people will actually play *with* us. So it's not just on us; it's also on the community to pick up the ball and run with it. Our goal is to give you guys an awesome framework to roleplay around and interact with - What you do with the settings we give you, though, is up to you... and it's up to you to do something with them.

Am I going to sit here and say that everyone will be happy with the way I do things? No. I'm not going to promise that everyone's going to love the way I run stuff, nor will I promise that we can make everyone happy in general. Trying to do that is idiotic - You *cannot* please everyone, and no matter what someone's going to be disappointed. However, for those willing to give us a shot I think you'll be pleasantly surprised; the current ARK Events team comes with one hell of a pedigree, and, if I can say as much, I'm not exactly new to all of this either. If people are willing to relax, let go a little, and try something different? I think there are damn good times ahead.

Anyhoo, digression over. Just some stuff I needed to get out there fairly early into the process.

Green Cloaks meetings: Initially, when the Greencloaks got started, we internally made the decision to stay away from the meetings as the players may not have actually *wanted* us 'peering over their shoulders' as it were. If this isn't the case then I can definitely look into the possibility of getting a representative there - It probably wouldn't be the same person every month, and they would probably only be there in an observational sense, but it would get some of our presence there. If the Greencloak guys wanna discuss the possibility and get back to me via PM that'd be great. =)

Edit: According to Pheats there's actually been an ARK Events representative at the Greencloak meetings for a while now, so that looks like it might have already taken care of itself. =)

Zigball Rules: Nope, not happening. =D Here's why, though: As I said earlier, I'm one of those guys who prefers to have things more open-ended. I like folks drawing their own conclusions about stuff. Zigball is great in that everyone has their own internal idea of what Zigball is, and the instant we come out and say "No, no, *THIS* is Zigball!" we've just crushed the imagined sport for everyone out there. Sometimes things are more fun if you *don't* explain them, and instead let people fill in the blanks themselves. Zigball is great to me *because* we've never explained it; it's kinda like Calvinball in that sense, in that you just kinda have to be creative and come up with the rest on your own. We need more stuff like that, in my opinion. =)

Sticky about storyline threads: Right now the 4th Wall is a little bare (hence me not having done much of a publicity push for it yet) - Over the next few weeks we'll be adding in a lot more information to the stickies and such, and I wouldn't be opposed to seeing a thread devoted to ongoing storylines. We'll see what the team thinks and work more details out later.

Player/ARK Meeting: Yes, this is overdue, and this is also my fault. Unfortunately, being me means wearing a lotta hats and doing a lotta different things - At the end of the day, though, my design work takes precedence over anything else that I do for Anarchy Online. While I'm always willing to do stuff in my spare, non-working time (and truthfully do spend most of my 'off' hours doing *something* related to AO), doing in-game meetings gets a little trickier as I currently don't have a computer at home capable of running AO (or anything more advanced than Minesweeper, for that matter). Not to say I'd be unwilling to pop into the office on a weekend evening or some such, just that I've been a bit busy otherwise over the last few months and nailing down my schedule can be hard. That said, though, I want to try and get a meeting together soon, and will be talking with Pheats regarding this. Expect more information in the next month.

CoT Military Personnel: Pheats, I'll let you handle this one. =)

And there's that much. Next! =D

[Pheats]

Erk.. Ok currently the CoT has no formal military/militia, working on the basis that should it come down to fighting those attending the council are capable of defending themselves and others relying on the military clans for protection.

If it becomes apparent that a separate combat force is needed we can look into it, but for now the CoT will remain a political rather than military entity.

[trousers]

This issue goes deeper, but I'm only going to address this from an OT perspective.

As myself, and many others, have stated there is, and has been for a long time, a large communication problem between ARK Events and the playerbase. One side effect of this communication problem is a lot of finger pointing occurs.

Here's an Example:

The Omni-Tek Affiliate meetings. They're pointless. And the Reason I feel they're pointless is this:

The ARKs don't assign Missions or give players any reason to go.

Players Stop attending citing pointlessness.

ARK stops putting effort into the meetings citing low player attendance.

A stalemate occurs. Players don't want to attend because there's nothing to do and ARK don't want to make up missions because there will probably be no one to do them.

Since you so generously put the kibosh on the RP Professionals program idea I think you are going to need to encourage (read: force) more communication between ARK Events and the playerbase.

I think a good place to start will be here:

Assign an ARK as a factional lead and allow this ARK to engage the players in meaningful discussions regarding their chosen faction. This includes creating And Executing improvement plans for their factional meetings. Quite a while ago we had a discussion regarding improvements but nothing has ever changed. Other duties would be overseeing factional obligations of the other ARKs who play Legacy Leaders to ensure missions are being created (even if they're not assigned and need to go into a hopper and sat on).

My Question is; would you consider such an appointment?

As a side note: This may no longer be true - but it was at one point. The ARK who is assigned as the factional lead must have some degree of a passion for the faction they're in charge of. I state this because in Pheat's thread Re: LTCs he mentioned his least Favorite LL is Rosuma, which we know he played. This kind of a conflict of interest can only work to doom such a program.

[Kintaii]

First off, I think Pheats post was meant to serve purely as an example, not as an actual designation of what his favourite/least favourite LTCs are. I'll let him clarify further, though, if he wants.

Secondly, on the topic of the OTAM: I'm not sure how many of you guys were there when we first started running them, but initially the first few OTAMs *did* have missions. I remember having an utter blast putting together the Dizzonance "find & jail the hippy" event for the Affiliates. But... well, being honest? After a while it's just really hard to find stuff for everyone to do. After the first few months of the meetings were done we often found ourselves sitting there scratching our heads and asking "Ok, uh... now what?" I mean, you can blame this on a lack of creativity if you want, but it's kinda hard finding some way to give an assignment to, say, an Omni-R&D affiliate when really there isn't anything in-game to support research and development. Same with Omni-Comm or Omni-Trans: What do you give these people to do? How far can you let it roll, particularly given that there's relatively little in-game support for things that would thematically make sense?

As noted above, with part of my desire being to decentralize the roleplaying in AO a bit, I think that sort of thing might get a little easier - We can start taking the assignments out of the game and into the written form, which allows for a bit more flexibility and keeps us from having to rely on game mechanics to tell a good story. Again, I want it to be noted that I'm not talking about removing in-game roleplaying in the slightest, just utilizing the other resources we have to their fullest potential.

I'm not going to say that I'm willing to pick a single ARK and tell them "Hey, you're now the Omni guy" because... well, again, I don't really feel like we have the numbers for that sort of thing. But, getting more communication going between the team and the playerbase? Sure, I'm down. Initiatives like that would probably work best here on the forums, though, where we can ensure that everyone has a chance to openly voice their feedback, as opposed to the rigors of trying to put together a meeting schedule in-game where everyone can attend (which is utterly impossible to do).

[trousers]

Please don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to say you guys are not creative. However, the problem is that RP is a lot like PvP in the sense that it is an activity we're engaging in without the purpose of leveling. Where PvP has been given A LOT of love and purpose in doing it, RP - not so much.

We do not have RP Rewards. We don't gain anything from RP. The only thing that we've ever been given was special attention in the form of missions. And you're correct - At the start there were a lot of missions and a lot of people attending. ( I recall a line at the Omni-1 Entertainment Grid where we would line up to enter the meeting).

The problem was that when the missions stopped every incentive to attend the meetings did also. I can speak from experience. When the OAM started my Org, Omni-Trans, was given one mission and that was because there were no Omni-Engineering affiliates. And for over a year after that we received no assignments, nor even had a Legacy Leader to report to. Given I am a man of great patience and road it out until I was forbidden to do so any longer, but many, many others simply cut and ran when there was no point to being there.

And I also don't think you should be assigning people as "You're the Omni Guy" unless you absolutely have to. These people don't necessarily have to be 3 different people assuming the person chosen has the time and the drive to do what needs to be done. But as it stands right now, we're completely cut off and by and large feel our suggestions and ideas fall of deaf ears.

This may be resolved by having this person have a special factional meeting to discuss factional issues outside of the general ARK - Player OOC meeting. Or at least putting a name out there which we can contact and chat to In-Game to go over different topics and issues.

We players love to chat, believe me, we chat among ourselves a lot, and I'm sure many would love to chat it up with an ARK or even you or Means if given the opportunity which we don't really have now.

[Kintaii]

No, no, sorry - Didn't mean to come across as me taking it like that. I mean it *is* an issue of a lack of creativity... I'm just not sure that there's any amount of creativity in the world that *could* fix the issue. So no, no worries on that front.

But yes - I know you guys love to chat, and I'm right there with you. It's just kinda hard sometimes to find enough hours in the day to do that *and* manage the rest of the stuff that we have on our plates. Which, as I said, makes it a little difficult sometimes to get things like meetings and such together. But that's one of the main reasons why I created the 4th Wall area (outside of the fact that I was sick and tired of seeing OOC posts in Editor News ;P) - This gives *everyone* a place where they can find and discuss things with either myself or the Events team higher-ups. Makes communication a *lot* easier on our end. Which isn't to say we'll be dropping the idea of in-game meetings at all, but having a place like this does make it a lot easier on us all in the long run. =)

[Ukblizzard]

But there are LOADS of things that could be set as missions. Especially R&D based!!

You want to know how much fun we had as an organisation collecting sets of armour, designating a specific person to get shot at and then collecting a range of guns for someone to shoot them with to collect information on the armours -- it was really fun. But we presented our data and then NOTHING happened. That was frustrating. There could be viable ways to make research projects end with something. If you work with ARK Events 6months to a year in advance of when you are planning on a new set of RK armour for something they could then build it into missions and assignments via the Board or whatever to give the community a chance to be involved in its development process via RP. You could use the same guideline for garbage removal, grass mowing or new shoes in Miiir.

Do you know how much fun we have had scouting and patrolling areas for our wonderful Directors and creating reports of our findings. It's fantastic. When we actively had missions each month to fulfill it gave a non raid, non pvp.. significant social reason for us to go explore something and figure something out. When it dried up with missions being given, we started writing them ourselves.. however completing missions you set yourself wears thin over time.

It isn't just creativity thats needed to keep things going, its a huge amount of energy and determination to do it and then being able to sustain it. Like Trousers said though, once it reaches the stalemate of people not wanting to attend because they feel they get nothing but their hour of quality time with the LTCs or that ARK Events cannot provide the missions for whatever reason it takes some cooperation to kick things back off again and a huge about of will to make it happen.

There is obviously a significant number of RPers in the community who want things to happen -- you have had a really great response to this forum area so far. Give us ideas on what we can do together to help things along. Target those who are able to lead groups of people amongst the players so everyone can help make things happen. Talking / forum posting is all good.. but it needs the action afterwards, which unfortunately quite often is the sticking point.