Player Dev Team Official Beginning

[Captain Jack]

Ahoy all,

We have the first 5 members for the Player Dev Team. These are:

Banger
Charles Vane
Clockwork
Deznutz
Skyhawk

I want to thank all those who applied. Anyone can still participate in the #dev channel and the development forums.
However, the team members will now be added in a special forum usergroup which will grant them rights to decide on open suggestions.

Anyone interested to join the dev team, can still contact me privately and express his/her interest.
Those who applied and are not already in, will be contacted by me instead if we feel that it is time for them to get into the team. The amount and quality of their feedback will be the judging point.


First Task
The first task for the dev team will be to filter through all existing game suggestions topics from old to new.

The procedure will be carried as following (initial plan):
1.Every topic will be read and then every member will create a post, writing approved or disapproved.
2.The last member reading every topic every time (the 5th in this case) will count the votes (including his own) and then position the suggestion to the relevant tread (Approved or Disapproved).

The available vote options are the following:
-Approved (+1)
-Disapproved (-1)
-Unsure (0)

Every suggestion needs 4 Approved votes to be approved
Every suggestion needs 4 Disapproved votes to be disapproved

*In case multiple members are online, they can discuss at #dev channel at Slack instead and skip the multiple posts. For example, if DezNutz and Banger are online, they can discuss and decide in common and create 1 post (containing their votes).

*If all members all at #dev, then obviously they can all discuss about each topic live and decide in this way. However, we do not want to make this dependent on online times and availability of each member. This is why this is only an optional system.

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Remember, this system is not final. We will use it initially and see how things work. It is a slow system though and we will look to improve speed in the near future.

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Permissions will be given shortly.

I wish you all a good start!

[Dmanwuzhere]

This would be a good reason to quit.
There has been a +1 -1 system unofficially in play for admin to count now you want ideas to be approved or disproved by a select few players.
This serves as nothing more than another course in which things will be delayed further than the current system and that is disappointing at best.

[Most Lee Harmless]

It has always been the case that suggestions can be approved/disapproved by the Admin team with or without regard to players input, be it for or against.
Even suggestions with wide player-base support may not get approved due to other reasons : complexity can mean the present game-code just cant support them without major re-coding. It can also be the case that the game-owners just dont consider the suggested change fits with their vision of the game.
Lets be realistic here : its their child, not ours but this game is notable if not unique for the level of player input given. This development increases that input to a level which should shame other games.
I certainly dont have the time or energy to fully engage with the dozens of threads generated by them. I would guess that CJ and Jess's time and energy are best spent designing and implementing the best ideas and not sheperding them thru the debating process.
So, I am more than happy with this new way of dealing with suggestions and am equally happy to trust the selected mods to fully reflect ALL sides and interests in the player-base. If it comes to a point where it doesnt do that for you then its time to step up and take part yourself beyond posting a simple + or -1.
To end: congrats to those chosen and I wish you patience and wisdom in your discussions. However.. we will be watching!

[Poppy]

It has always been the case that suggestions can be approved/disapproved by the Admin team with or without regard to players input, be it for or against.
Even suggestions with wide player-base support may not get approved due to other reasons : complexity can mean the present game-code just cant support them without major re-coding. It can also be the case that the game-owners just dont consider the suggested change fits with their vision of the game.
Lets be realistic here : its their child, not ours but this game is notable if not unique for the level of player input given. This development increases that input to a level which should shame other games.
I certainly dont have the time or energy to fully engage with the dozens of threads generated by them. I would guess that CJ and Jess's time and energy are best spent designing and implementing the best ideas and not sheperding them thru the debating process.
So, I am more than happy with this new way of dealing with suggestions and am equally happy to trust the selected mods to fully reflect ALL sides and interests in the player-base. If it comes to a point where it doesnt do that for you then its time to step up and take part yourself beyond posting a simple + or -1.
To end: congrats to those chosen and I wish you patience and wisdom in your discussions. However.. we will be watching!

+1

[Dmanwuzhere]

With 2 of the members of this team being in merc I certainly understand your +1.

[Most Lee Harmless]

Ah, well thats a different argument. I looked at the players involved and not their guild tags. I have had my run-ins with some of them and doubt I would see eye-to-eye with them on all matters. But they do represent a good slice of the player-base. As I suggesred above, if anyone thinks their voice is lacking representation then they should step up and add it to the mix.

[Sir frances drake]

It seems to me like this is a bunch of pirates making all these decisions without any representation from the merchant side. I fear this could end up highly biased in what emphasis is put on suggestions...

[Admiral Nelson]

It seems to me like this is a bunch of pirates making all these decisions without any representation from the merchant side. I fear this could end up highly biased in what emphasis is put on suggestions...

Pirates? In Avonmora?

I see one pirate, the rest are privateers/small time merchants

[Sir frances drake]

It seems to me like this is a bunch of pirates making all these decisions without any representation from the merchant side. I fear this could end up highly biased in what emphasis is put on suggestions...

Pirates? In Avonmora?

I see one pirate, the rest are privateers/small time merchants

Fine, a bunch of non-merchants. Just trying to bring up the point that maybe a full-time merchant or two should be added to balance the load

[PFH]

It seems to me like this is a bunch of pirates making all these decisions without any representation from the merchant side. I fear this could end up highly biased in what emphasis is put on suggestions...

We are not pirates nor are we merchants. We dont base our roles on one aspect, we use many aspects and have experience in most to all fields. If we had just pirates and merchants we wouldnt get anywhere, which would slow down the development process.

We were accepted based on veteracy, experience, and general judgement, as well as our activity. The idea is not to bias to one side such as all merchant suggestions or all war suggestions. For us we ignore what we do in-game and look at the playerbase and her personality. This is how we make our decisions, which are not based on what we do to profit in the game.