Increasing Euro-based Staff

[Caranthir]

I wanted to submit a quick suggestion with regard to staffing:

let me preface my suggestion by saying that the encounters I have had with staff so far have been delightful. The responses were given quickly, to the point and without resentment for the (sometimes) stupid questions I was asking. Few shards manage to keep their staff clean and free of troublemakers, so kudos to you guys.

At the same time I have noticed a permanent void of staff coverage in, predominantly, European hours of gameplay (12h00 GMT+1 - 20h00 GMT+1). While this might not have a dramatic impact on the quality of gameplay for the majority of the population, it leaves certain situations floating around longer than desirable (shard spammers, etc.).

If I could make the humble suggestion to possibly add one or two staff members from Euro-zones or insomniacs from other parts of the world, I think it would have a very positive impact.

Having staffed on a few servers myself I am aware of the limitations of freeshard staffing, and I am certain that no one expects anywhere near a 24h coverage from you guys, however I believe that a diversification in staff with time-zones in mind would be a step in the right direction.

Just my 0.02

Cara

[Ronk]

Not a bad idea if they have someone in mind, but I doubt they can just put out a wanted ad :-p

On a seperate note...we could just code it so the page system links directly to Derrick's cell phone. That way if you need something at 4am in the morning then you page, it calls and wakes him up, and he takes care of it (or bans you).

[Caranthir]

Not a bad idea if they have someone in mind, but I doubt they can just put out a wanted ad :-p

On a seperate note...we could just code it so the page system links directly to Derrick's cell phone. That way if you need something at 4am in the morning then you page, it calls and wakes him up, and he takes care of it (or bans you).

Give him a Motorola pager from the 90's Those were awesome...not sure if he'd appreciate it much though.

In all seriousness though, I think it's important that there is some flexibility stemming from diversity in the staff. Staffing a freeshard can be fun and rewarding, but if you are stretched thin your staff can burn out pretty quickly; the last thing you want.

Cara

[Batlin]

I totally agree...

But I have no clue where Derrick can/will find a (European?) person interested and who's above all trustworthy.

[Ronk]

I totally agree...

But I have no clue where Derrick can/will find a (European?) person interested and who's above all trustworthy.

1st. Love the sig. Chumbuckets comment kinda makes me want to do my living room in 8-bit. Like a blocky 8-bit lamp, etc. Lol.

Also, the obvious solution is that Derrick has to move to europe...no wait...send the seer...if you send derrick the server will move with him :-p

[Derrick]

I agree that staffing can be light at times, and appreciate the kind words about our team. It's not been easy to find such dedicated, knowledgeable and good natured folks that enjoy working on the shard above playing on the shard. We are indeed extremely blessed to have Maahes, Kaivan, Ezp and Yoda here. The player companions can do a lot as well in regard to answering basic questions at the most bizarre hours of the day and greeting new players, but are limited in their ability to rectify some of the issues you raised.

We've very much been of the mindset since the beginning that a small staff team is very superior to a large one, unfortunately this comes at the expense of good coverage in odd hours.

Spammers at the bank is usually a problem that seems to occur in waves. The best thing to do in a situation like this is to send a Verbal Harassment page. If there is no one on to intervene, the speechlog does get saved so that we can take action later.

It's an unusual case that there is an ingame issue that requires immediate attention though. It's UO, most things can be solved by players. Exceptions like being stuck in the map after having used both stuck help requests in 24 hrs, or stuck in the map as a red are issues that would require staff help, but worse case scenario would be to log on another character and play that one until someone is available to help.

In the event of true crisis however I'm usually reachable via phone, although I don't take it to bed with me.

[Batlin]

or stuck in the map as a red

Can't that be solved by adding a "I'm stuck" option that transfers you to the Buc's Den?
(only available to Reds so newcomers don't click there by accident...)

The player companions...

I didn't even know the player companions thingy was active, shouldn't there be more advertisment about it?
Like on the main page and the FAQ? With some explanations what the player companions can do/cannot do for newcomers.