Why is there a lack of GMs?

[rwuser]

Exactly why is there a lack of GM's/Seers to provide an added level of experience to the shard, again?

There must be atleast 70 or so viable players on UOSA atm who could easily fill those roles.

I don't see what the problem is, really.

[Hicha]

Because Nevermore, that's why.

[rwuser]

I don't understand, explain, please.

[DarkWing]

need help? just log onto IRC and join #secondage ... plenty of knowledgeable players there. as well as the Game Admins!

[WiseOne]

I don't understand, explain, please.

With great power comes great responsibility. Too great for mere mortals this responsibility is!

[Pirul]

This is a tough issue to tackle, and one Derrick is really the only one fully capable of answering.

My take on the issue is:

1.- Admins are not allowed to play the game, thus "players" can't be admins.
2.- Admins have to be people that Derrick "knows" and trusts completely, as if they are seen benefitting a certain group of players over others, the shard would loose credibility and pretty much die (see: any other free shard). This also eliminates any player who has had a guild affiliation, pretty much.
3.- There was a "Counselor" or "Companion" program in place, where players of good standing held those positions, however there was some issues with abuse (or a perception of abuse) of these powers, so that was also scratched.

So in a nutshell, it comes down to having a legitimate and impartial shard vs. having more staff members on a potentially impartial shard.

Also, as Darkwing said, if the issue is one of asking for help, IRC has a fair number of helpful players that will gladly answer any question as best they can, or lend help when/where help can be lended.

[the bazookas]

With great power comes great responsibility. Too great for mere mortals this responsibility is!

+1. Giving somebody GM powers is extremely dangerous, even if they appear very trustworthy (especially given the anonymity provided by the internet). One renegade GM can ruin the experience for everybody (and do it in a way that it is very difficult to catch until long after the fact, when it wouldn't be an option to do a server revert).

Fun events without GM powers are difficult to pull off, though, it is true. I believe that some form of automated events would be beneficial (even if they are random), but they are also difficult to ensure that no exploits exist that are game breaking (debugging, of course, takes more staff time). I believe some possible solutions may be forthcoming, but in the meantime, it's up to the players to provide the fun (unless a GM becomes available)

Regardless, if you are creative, you can make some fun stuff happen on this shard. If you have a neat idea, share it, and perhaps people can help you get it up and running.

[son]

I will consider becoming a GM

[Braden]

There are several reasons why our staffing levels are what they are:

• The less amount of GMs, the less chance for corruption

• We are currently able to get to /most all/ pages within a reasonable time with some exceptions

• The current staff members have been around for at least a minimum of two years (e.g. staff has not been added in that time) - This lessens the likelihood of corruption

• We are a sandbox community, which should be self-sustaining. The less GM intervention, the better

• We have a great community that is really good at supporting new players or helping players (even veterans) when they encounter a problem

I am sure there are more things to add, but thats the gist of it. The current staff members have been around for a minimum of two years. Our primary mission remains to provide you with the best gaming experience possible with the UO T2A game mechanics and feel that you would have experienced had you played in '98.

[the bazookas]

My few experiences with paging a GM on UOSA have always been 100x better than on OSI (not only in speed of response but also in quality).

It would be nice to have more GM sponsored events though (even if they just play a role in setting things up) . Being creative with an event, however, takes far longer than showing up and pumping out a bunch of spawn (although I agree that I would still be happy with a simple event involving a ton of spawn, even if there is only a single GM super-boss involved). Regardless, lots of people want to see more events, but not many of them sit down and think about what would make a great event, and then submit a well thought-out plan to the GM's, especially with specifics on how they can help with it. I was impressed with the Urk events and the UWL event, and I think they are good examples of what CAN happen when players do their part.

If your plan is well thought-out (especially such that it requires as little staff intervention as possible), I believe they would be happy to assist in it if at all possible.

I suppose what I'm saying is that if the Players can supply the creativity and do as much as they can, perhaps the GM's are more likely to supply their power to fill in the gaps where a player just can't make it happen by themselves.

Just a thought...

[Brules]

There are several reasons why our staffing levels are what they are:

• The less amount of GMs, the less chance for corruption

• We are currently able to get to /most all/ pages within a reasonable time with some exceptions

• The current staff members have been around for at least a minimum of two years (e.g. staff has not been added in that time) - This lessens the likelihood of corruption

• We are a sandbox community, which should be self-sustaining. The less GM intervention, the better

• We have a great community that is really good at supporting new players or helping players (even veterans) when they encounter a problem

I am sure there are more things to add, but thats the gist of it. The current staff members have been around for a minimum of two years. Our primary mission remains to provide you with the best gaming experience possible with the UO T2A game mechanics and feel that you would have experienced had you played in '98.

LoL - essentially that is a nice way to say they have had a bad run of corrupt staff members in the recent past.....

[Braden]

LoL - essentially that is a nice way to say they have had a bad run of corrupt staff members in the recent past.....

Not at all. It simply outlines how serious we are to protecting the users and ensuring that they have a delightful experience with the staff.

[Blaise]

Aye, no offense, but we don't need any more GMs.
I'm in IRC all the damn time, and so are a lot of others who are VERY knowledgeable about UO and/or UOSA in particular.

The small handful of those in power is sufficient for the player base (roughly %1). We just have to be patient sometimes when it comes to things like account related issues (which Derrick handles on the daily if you email derrick@uosecondage.com) or forum/IRC problems.

In over 15 months of play here, I have paged GMs once for what I thought was a problem. Turns out it was just a pain in the ass that was perfectly within the rules and I was just being a newbie. The other times were for reporting AFK resource gathering or having christmas trees or guild stones removed when they're blocking house placement.

Granted, we all wish there were more GM run events/happenings on the shard, but if you pay attention to what they're saying, they are busy fixing bugs. I'd be willing to wager they are toiling away getting the event system back but are loathe to leak details so they don't get hassled for them all the time (more than usual).

GMs should be there for significant problems, sure. However, like Derrick said, the less interaction, the better. I find the variables involved with pure player interaction with no godlike figure getting involved, is much more pure an RP/gaming experience, in my rarely humble opinion.

-Blaise

[son]

My offer stands. You wont find someone as incorruptable as me.

[BlackFoot]

josh lee