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[Darkshinobi]

Shinobi Legends is a wonderful website; the forests are fun for awhile, and hanging in the garden is a great pastime.
However, the majority of activity comes from the role-play.
Most of us with a public voice are or have been "mainstream" role-players in the past; it's what most of us who remain here are here for.
However, there's almost no organization, no mediation. Nobody's in charge.
We, the community have taken matters into our own hands for a long time; when a serious problem arises, the community discusses it and tries to come to the best possible solution.
And, overall, that's how it should be. A community of writers should work together to build the world they're in.
But occasionally mediation is needed. We need Game Masters to help when solutions simply can't be found, to help stimulate role-play where it's lacking -- to serve the community, not simply control it.

At the moment, there are several "mainstream" plots going on: Konohagakure just beat back an attempted coup; Kirigakure is locked in mortal combat with the Akatsuki, who have taken over Iwagakure as their base of operations. The Tsuchikage and his few loyal forces bide their time in an attempt to wait for the appropriate moment to reclaim their village, but in the meantime Iwa's functionally dead. Kumogakure waits in silence, holding their considerable force at bay and staying out of any fray that doesn't come to them. Sunagakure and Otogakure have both been attacked heavily in the past; the current Kazekage is heavily wounded and being healed by a previous one.
There are also other villages, organizations, and solo shinobi with their own private agendas, carving their own paths throughout the world.
No, we don't need Game Masters to rule with an iron fist -- but we do need them to step in on occasion.
At last count, I believe there were either twenty-two or twenty-four people involved in the Kirigakure/Akatsuki conflict; it's become a fiasco that can't simply come to a proper resolution due to conflicting sides. It's at a time like this that a mediating Game Master could be helpful.
And as mentioned, Iwagakure is functionally dead unless something changes. Active Game Masters could change that, help write plots that the community at large enjoys.
We currently have two semi-active or active Game Masters in role-play: Kamui and Nathan. Kyu is around and I'm sure he's willing to help if called on, but I haven't seen him involved much of late.

So this is my request: allow the community at large to choose a Game Master(s). We overall know each-other and can determine those best to help us.

And to the community, I request that you acknowledge the Game Masters we have; they're here to help us, and from what I know of each of them they're more than willing. Kamui said it best:

As for everything else, I can really agree that perhaps some collaboration amongst users will improve some activity on the site.

This community can do amazing things when they work together; we just need organization.

[Hono Uzumaki]

All I can really say on this is,

'One Ring Ruled Them All'

We need a GM who doesn't care if people like them.
*cough*

[Bocchiere]

All I can really say on this is,

'One Ring Ruled Them All'

We need a GM who doesn't care if people like them.
*cough*

I vote me, people already don't like me.

[Ѕhadow]

Well now. Comes in Shadow. Over the course of what seems shorter than what it really has been....

I have been talking to Neji over several weeks about various aspects of the game that I thought needed to be fixed. SST/CS, minor typos, ect. At this point I'm surprised I didn't annoy the hell out of the poor guy...or I did and he tolerates me. xD

Anywho game master(s) has came up more than a few times. So has (recently) how mods are picked.


Neji's basic response (Neji correct me where my memory fails if you do see this); He doesn't want more game masters. That being, Kyu and Zenaku who are the two 'official' ones. I told them about their inactiveness overall and how I really don't seem them upholding their title as that. yadayada. He doesn't want to appoint people as GM. One of the few reasons is that he didn't want them to become bombarded with rp situations. As more than giving their time to help, it would become more like a job. Another point was the zones and the newly added feature of the /game command to help set up situations and other things of rp manner. Directed us to use those if we wanted to set up a complex scenario where someone had to emote the weather or what have you. (Eliminating the need for GM's in the zones as everyone is now) Still outside of zones and that kind of situation I didn't go further into as talk of adding the /game command in other places was touched on and he has a job outside of sl....so I stopped after that and am currently waiting a few weeks to see how it progresses overall.

As for how mods are picked. This came up when Nathan suddenly appeared as a mod without much talk outside of the staff group and while others may think this info should be private; it shouldn't. Nathan was seemingly picked out of two players...himself and some other person that I have no idea who was. I heard from others and Nathan himself that he basically asked for mod and got it from Neji. Of course this isn't what really happened. But that is what caused me to go around asking more. I didn't want moderator status to be given upon asking. I was a little oblivious when asking if that was the truth cause Neji and staff are far more intelligent than to give permissions to someone just for asking. He was picked and decided upon like 3-4 staff members and Neji.

Those are the things that I was told. After the Nathan incident I kinda went around and sent a mass message to everyone asking which mods have helped and which ones were bad, ect. Except to the mods and players who I didn't think would know or care. For the most part; Kamui, Rinoa, and Tracey were regarded positive the most. And those are the currently most active mods. Besides the now assigned Nathan. I poked at Neji to upgrade the inactive list to add more of the staff to there as people like Xaos and others have been highly inactive and weren't really known by the community nowadays as helping. (Maybe in the past, but not longer) Like said he has a job outside of sl and take that into consideration when you ask of things.


I could go on a bunch more over other things I talked with him about, but for this post...


TL;DR

No more GM's due to /game being added | And people would bug them too much | I didn't ask more from Neji to give him a break

GM's and Mods are picked by Neji and Staff. Current community players don't really seem to be considered when picking someone. Even if the community wants them?

[Bocchiere]

So did Neji ask all the inactive mods then? I know Taraka and Rinoa said they weren't told about it and they are actually active, and that's about 80% of the active mods.

[Ѕhadow]

So did Neji ask all the inactive mods then? I know Taraka and Rinoa said they weren't told about it and they are actually active, and that's about 80% of the active mods.

I don't really know...apparently you were lied to by them? If I remember correctly Rinoa WAS part of the small group that decided. I may be wrong, but...let me check to see if I still have the pms.

"""If you get stuff out of context, only parts are seen.

I asked around the mods of suitable new people to hire, two were mentioned and agreed by most.
We had no official "we're hiring" up at this time. When picking one guy, I like it usually faster than skimming through all kinds of applications.

He had the impression he just asked because that's what I wanted him to think. After we already made the decision, he wrote a "make me mod!" mail, and I just wrote "ok".
Now all is in turmoil, and I snicker from time to time about that

I don't regularly monitor activity of mods - giving them a bit more freedom than other sites.
Rather a few more and some inactive, than a few who have a tight schedule and a lot on their shoulders."""

Out of my personal messages cause I feel the community who fund and continue this site should know how things are handled. That was with Neji I had one of two others telling me...

Kamui, Taraka, Rinoa, and Zimzamboo were all in the group that I can recall. May be faulty info, but I doubt it.

[Isaribi]

So did Neji ask all the inactive mods then? I know Taraka and Rinoa said they weren't told about it and they are actually active, and that's about 80% of the active mods.

Kamui, Taraka, Rinoa, and Zimzamboo were all in the group that I can recall. May be faulty info, but I doubt it.

I speak to all four of these people on a (at least somewhat) regular basis, and they, for the most part, relayed it the way you were told by Nathan; he was given his status because he asked for it. I haven't heard anything about a vote for Nathan whatsoever.


As far as the original post goes..
We have game masters who are able to do this. Zimzamboo, Kamui, Rinoa, Nathan... They all CAN do their job. A few bigger problem I am seeing is, when two opposing sides have a serious question, either a) one of the sides doesn't like/respect the moderator called, and therefore doesn't accept their opinion b) the game master's own personal RP impedes the process of unbiased decision making.

Further, the place where most of our RP information is contained (the narutoprofile wiki) is maintained by Yumei, who isn't a mod himself. He pays his $8 a month (estimation) to host all this information. That doesn't seem like a huge problem at first, but as things evolve, things are missed and/or exploited.

Now, solutions to these problems are a bit hairy. To solve the first issue, we'd have to 'elect' game masters who can either enforce their opinion (which isn't something anybody wants), or elect game masters who are proven to be able to remain unbiased, or elect a huge number of moderators and hope and pray that none of them dislike each other enough to go head-to-head and produce a huge headache. What ought to happen, in my honest opinion, is a mixture of these three options. Have a group of game masters, preferably active and odd in number, who are known to be knowledgeable in SL RP, unbiased, and unyielding.

Whether or not a player likes/dislikes a game master is irrelevant. It is their job to settle disputes. With RP having become such a huge part of the game, their opinion needs to be respected and their ability to give unbiased responses needs to be keen. So far, Nathan and Kamui both know what's going on; Rinoa and Zimzamboo, the other two active masters we are talking about, are still trying to catch up from their previous inactivity.

As for the other problem with the wiki, I spoke to Zimzamboo, who said he'd like to create a SL wiki (essentially the same thing) that is moderated by the game masters and plays host to the site's information. I endorse this idea; he was saying it was $8 a month. If that means I have to put up some money every month to help him out in that endeavor, I'd be okay with that. My point is, the current way of hosting information isn't yielding to the game being moderated by the game masters; it yields to the game being moderated by those who are REALLY familiar with it, which is difficult.

If, say, two or three more ACTIVE game masters were to be chosen, they along with who the site already has ought to be able to moderate fights that need it. They should be the go-to, and they should be familiar with the site that hosts the RP information. If the set of game masters are familiar with the information they contain on general RP, and each character is familiar with their OWN set, game masters are able to check their info in problems, validate or deny with ease, and move on. Right now, the info in the wiki is being manipulated each and every way because it is SO inconsistent.

Further, if more game masters are chosen, it is probably best they don't have a history of getting banned for ERP, misconduct, abusive language, etc. Just throwing that out there.

[Ѕhadow]

I don't like the idea of a Wiki that is controlled by moderators and not the players themselves. Seems 'prying' (for lack of better wording) to me.

I like game masters and the idea of them, but I don't agree to give them power over ever rp aspect which your posts seems to be pushing towards.

As for GM - Mod those are two separate jobs. Aj/Kamui is not a GM nor is Rinoa nor is even Zim to my knowing. Nathan isn't.

The GM's are Zenaku and Kyu. Both non mods. Kamui and Nathan have been called to act as GMs, Kamui countless times. Nathan not so much, but I've seen where he's been called. Zim/Levi has been inactive up until recently and even before then I didn't notice him being into rp that much. At this current time I wouldn't pose him as a fit GM due to his | lack of | inactiveness. Rinoa is the same. I know she does some rp, but I don't see her fit to be a GM. Taraka although not mentioned by you also was called as a judge in the Kiri fight as you know a few weeks back.

Mods and GM's are different things. Mods are acting like GMs cause the players want them to due to none being assigned as official GM's. That does not mean, however, that each mod is fit to act as a GM as stated.

Nathan, Kamui, and Taraka are the only ones I'd personally accept. Until I see more from Zimzamboo and Rinoa as far as mainstream rp goes they would not be my pick. I'd pick nonmods like Darkshinobi (A great choice), Trev, and a few others to be GM before those two. I am NOT trying to put those two down in any way. They very well could be GMs and be the best at doing that. Currently I don't see any info to back up they would be fit. I don't see them on ANY of these forums. How are they supposed to be a GM if they don't even try to interact with the ongoing rp situations?

[Isaribi]

I only mentioned those four because those were the four who were mentioned to have voted on Nathan.

As I also said, Rinoa and Zim both need caught up from their inactivity. They are both old though, and both RPed heavily way back when. I remember it; I've been around a time or two.

I think it is premature to talk about who would make suitable GMs. Now should be the time where we talk about whether or not we need more, how the jobs are defined and what they can do, and how the realm should proceed. Then, we can talk about who. Right now, what and how are more important.

Zenaku and Kyu, plain as day, don't do their job. Nothing against either of them, but they simply aren't active enough period, much less active enough in the ongoing RP. I get asked all the time to look at RP stuff and settle things; so do many others, I'm sure. But we aren't all fit to be mods.

We need to first decide what it is we are doing; then, draw the lines. Then we can color it in.

So, let's talk about it. I am of the opinion that the game needs at least five active Game Masters to be called upon to moderate RP. And that's it; existing moderators, who answer petitions and solve other issues, shouldn't be recycled. It is already a big job to handle this site's RP, and people are busy. If existing mod's jobs get moved around, fine. But we need at least five.

Further, I still support the wiki. I don't think it should be "controlled" by moderators, but I do think the game masters should be familiar with it, and they should be the ones through which new information that is pertinent to everyone is added. It would provide much needed organization. "Control", I'm finding, is a word people don't like; moderated is the one I think we should be using. There is a difference, it is just kinda fine.

[Ѕhadow]

Layout incoming...

5 Game Masters

1 for each village

All known in rp and well vetted, unbiased.

Active and helpful.

Basically that? ^

As for the wiki idea you brought up I wouldn't mind having it be a bit more regulated. That'd be nice.

[Isaribi]

Layout incoming...

5 Game Masters

1 for each village

All known in rp and well vetted, unbiased.

Active and helpful.

Basically that? ^

As for the wiki idea you brought up I wouldn't mind having it be a bit more regulated. That'd be nice.

One for each village? Not my words, but not an entirely bad idea, assuming each village can put up an equally competent person.

And not necessarily from that village; essentially, someone who is familiar with that village and can moderate for them. For example, someone from another village might have to be appointed for Iwa. Other than those snags, yeah, basically.

[Bocchiere]

Between me and Kay I think we have Iwa under control.

[Isaribi]

Between me and Kay I think we have Iwa under control.

That is laughable. Also, I point to my above statement , stating, "Further, if more game masters are chosen, it is probably best they don't have a history of getting banned for ERP, misconduct, abusive language, etc. Just throwing that out there."

It is clear why I'd say something like that; to prevent jerks from being game masters.

[Ѕhadow]

Well damn, there goes my chance. Cussing. Really isn't that much of a big deal to me. I can see your point though.

Well no, doesn't have to be from each village, but it'd be nice since the 5 major ones have rp active. Minus Kumo is dead. Oto would replace them maybe. Kusa? I dunno.

5 competent people.

[Isaribi]

Well damn, there goes my chance. Cussing. Really isn't that much of a big deal to me. I can see your point though.

Well no, doesn't have to be from each village, but it'd be nice since the 5 major ones have rp active. Minus Kumo is dead. Oto would replace them maybe. Kusa? I dunno.

5 competent people.

Cussing is different from being abusive.

Thank you. 5 competent people, preferably each familiar with some different section of the major RPs going on.