IoF DM Performance Review

[Makzimia]

Hi All, please respond to this poll, and add reasons, especially if you reply Needs improvement, why? and in what way?

Regardless of your responses, I personally want to thank ALL of my in Game DM's for the work they put into being here for you all, and interacting at the various levels they do.

Thanks.

Makz.

[Lumix]

I think all the DM's are excellent!... well... theres that Mr. Hald character and his "red quill" I find slightly disterbing

Nah... you guys rock my world! ;D
'nough said.

-Lumix

[Silentus]

Probably not a big surprise that I voted excellent, however if I were to make a suggestion it would probably be by the way of events... I've noticed that generally a DM gets interested in doing events for a while, then the thrill goes away and hopefully another picks it up and runs...

I like the fly-by-knight events the best (and those ae quite frequent indeed) however there is little way of knowing for sure when they are going on unless you stumble across them. Sometimes a shout occurs at the beginning which is helpfull, but its still difficult to konw if youlog in 1 minute after the shout.

Perhaps a notice board in game could be worked out for this kind of thing - Ive seen them in other PWs but I dont claim to know if the code is clean.

In any case, the DMing is excellent - both from an IC npc standpoint, development & plot concepts, as well as from a big brother / disciplinary situation perspective as well. Keep up the good work.

[Tomar Angatle]

Excellent!

Keep up the Excellent work!

;D

[ElithReliner]

All the DM's have done wonderful jobs. The only critique I would have is stop having battles in W. Styne, have a baddie lead the involved players into another nearby area. I've seen this a couple of times lately & it confuses the crap out of new players or gets them dead. Also please continue improving, as I'm sure you all want to.

Much Applause & Thanks for all the great work.

[serpitus]

Love it all
And Thanks.
One suggestion I have noticed, some DM's tend to go to the same group of people for the ad-hoc events. NP I just had to learn to be around the right people.

[clark625]

Overall, I think the dms do a very good job. I would give them much praise for their volunteering to work for free dealing with some rather absurd things that seem to occur daily. While I think the dms overall are excellent, I didn't vote in this poll because I really do think there are some places for real improvement:

First, as Serpitus pointed out, several dms seem to spend their time not dealt with the typical BS by doing ad-hoc things with characters they already know and enjoy. It's not quite cliquish, but it is starting to feel that way. If you don't believe this, log in under a different account and play a new character. See how long it takes for a dm to even recognize that you're around (without sending dm messages, and don't just sit in West Styne and wait). Even if you do things like hang out in West Styne occassionally or do the Friday-Night Fight thing with r1de, it could take weeks before a dm ever really notices you. Makz sending a "welcome back" tell to players is probably the best thing going, as it makes the newer players feel as though those overseeing things really care. If Makz isn't on, though, such tells rarely, if ever, occur. Most newbies probably don't even know a dm is around half the time until a shout comes along (Yes, shouts are great--they just aren't personal, and most of us know how well people read the shouts since only a pause seems to get people's attention).

Second, dms mostly do ad-hoc things in West Styne, likely because there's a campfire and (mostly the same) people tend to congregate there. That's not a bad thing, necessarily, but it means if you want to have some ad-hoc rp fun, you have to go to West Styne and wait. And maybe wait a while, if there's problems going on with certain players. While it's awesome that Fredian is a place where hardcore rp'ers, critter fighters, and crafters can all exist together; the reality is that only the hardcore rp'ers get in on most of the ad-hoc action. The other folks are out playing on the island. Ever seen six to ten people crafting simultaneously in the desert crafting hall? I have. What an awesome place and time to have some ad-hoc fun (Yes--I know it's happened a few times--it's just very uncommon, and I've never seen it personally). Or, why can't a team or even a newbie gaining levels run into a dm with a bit of a quest/mission? Maybe a guy got lost and injured in the mines and needs an escort out. Mostly, I wish that players wouldn't have to sit and wait in West Styne to have a dm come play with them. That's an okay solution for some, but I think many miss out because they just don't want to sit around waiting--and I don't feel as though dms go looking for new people to play with (although there are some exceptions I know of, without giving names).

Third, I think being a dm gets boring. I don't know this for sure, but it sure seems to be the case. New dms seem to be very energetic, and spend lots of time thinking of events, quests, and other amusements for the players. They go out of their way to connect to players, and it really shows. As time goes on, that energy fades, probably because being a dm isn't as much fun as it is work, and there's lots of BS that comes along and makes things downright annoying. The "older" dms also probably see lots of players come and go, and so it gets tougher to connect individually. What I don't think dms realize is that even though a particular scenario/mini-quest/event seems boring and old to them, it isn't necessarily true for the players. I could go through a dozen iterations of the same dm quest and enjoy it every time. If the players are different, it's all new and exciting to them.


In the end, I would bet that most (at least 80%) of players would love more (noticable and personal) dm interaction; but only a few actually get it routinely. Yes, I do know that dms spend time taking over for the AIs on creatures to help the players be better--it's just the players typically don't know about it unless the creature starts to speak (hint, hint...).


Okay--this wasn't meant as a post to bash the dms on Fredian. I really do think the dms here are by far the best I've ever seen. I only want to suggest ways that Fredian can improve. Obviously, there's likely exceptions to some of my comments--so please don't nitpick my post to show how I'm obviously completely wrong. These are just things I've noticed, and genuinely feel could be improved. I'd rather not start a flame-war.

[JoScMa]

Question: What is ad-hoc?

[Makzimia]

ad-hoc = spur of the moment, unplanned. Thanks clark, that would actually come under the heading of needs improvement. Noted, and I am sure that all DM's involved will read this.

Makz.

[Lilith Novarri]

Clark625, I would usually agree with you, unfortunately, after a curst monk started talking back to me as I fought it, well... I'm of the opinion the DM's do a great job with spreading around the fun.

I was in the Styne Village crypts before they were "magiclaly transformed" (that's how my character sees it, it really intrigued her for awhile), fighting curst enemies, and unfortunately wasn't doing too well. so she ran. A monk followed her, nothing strange yet. But after a few moments of fighting, the monk started to taunt her, he even went so far as to run away to get potions when he started to lose.

I thought it was the best thing I'd ever seen on a NWN server, even without the 200 XP bonus I got for the rping afterwards, I really had fun.

I've only been on this server for about 2 months, but absent a lot of the time because of work, I've participated in 1 event, and yet a DM still took the time to make a battle I most likely would have run away from into something really fun.

Things like that, I think, should happen a lot more often. It breaks the tedium of trying to gain a level, and adds flare to a character. It was really fitting with the rp in my case because I was playing my Necromancer, soon to be Palemaster. So her dealing with undead and talking to them as she trains is inline with who and what she is.

Edit: That'll teach me to read ALL of a person's post before responding. I didn't see the last paragraph there. Carry on! I guess my post could be me chiming in on my opinion, obviously.

[anomalylone]

i would have to say that ...i have no ever seen a lack of dm interaction with my pc. i have had dragons pop in , dm's show up for a chat , random spawns , tons of rp and plenty of " oh my god run for your life " action . these dm's should be givin cash for the things they do wile still getting a battery of tells and dealing with tech issues ... i dont know who said they need more personal time with a dm ..thos i would think sitting in w.styne may not be the way to do such ..get out there , explore and they will find you .. they always seem to find me .. as for the new pc thing ...i can understand where that comes from, but i also see another side , when i came here i didnt see too much dm interaction with my pc , now i believe its this , everyday we see new pc's..... some only play for 10 mins others will stay ,
it seems to be more aimed at our long term player base,
to me that makes a lot more sence , then having a dm be right on a new player , if when i first got here and a dm was right there i might not have felt soo free to explore , for me anyway.. being alone and truly feeling that way made it very personal..when i did ask for help ... i got the red carpet ...what more can you ask for . i have personally spoken to most dms , good people that work hard and are there for all of us . perhaps insted of standing there waiting send a tell. fredian is a lot of land to cover.
and is very busy ..... once again they should be geting tons of " thanx" much more then what i think they hear. soo fine i'll do it ... thank you all for making this place complete, wonderious and alive in ways that only a crew as fine as this could do. really something quite special , and thank you makzimia for having made a place that should go down in the history books and will always be remembered by my friends and everyone who has lived out so meny lives here ... i wouldnt want to be any place else .....ever.

- AnoM
;D

[parwith]

First, let me say that I think the DMs on IoF are excellent and thank them for all the hard work. Sure, I don’t always agree with everything they do, but not a day goes by that I don’t disagree with someone about something.

I understand the point about some of the perception of the clique-like groups – when I was first playing, I felt that way. But I quickly discovered how easy it was to insert myself into plotlines and events (like Serpitus said, learn to be around the right people). DMs and players alike are generally happy to let new participants join and fill in back stories of old plotlines. If a character is too weak to jump in a join in the action, they should wait until it’s over and ask one of the participants how to get involved. It’s a great way to RP your way into an adventure. Just this past weekend, Ameng and Elith got involved in a longstanding plotline just because we happened to be passing through West Styne when a golem showed up. (The golem ran into the Hunting Grounds too, so kudos for keeping the major action out of the busy thoroughfare of West Styne. Too much action there can get really annoying and laggy.)

As my character has been around longer, I’ve seen more and more DM attention. I’ve been fighting in a familiar cave only to be suddenly attacked by a more-powerful-than-usual elemental who suddenly started talking back. Anomaly is probably right – so many characters are around for a couple days then never return, so the DMs concentrate on characters they have seen for more than a week.

The events I’ve been involved with have been lots of fun and very flexible (seems like no matter how many contingencies the DMs plan for, players always come up with a surprise or two). Some have even spawned new continuing plotlines to get involved in.

Overall, excellent job and so much fun I have trouble dragging myself away (so many lost weekends …)

[Makzimia]

Just to clarify something for you all, although allusions to it, shown from previous comments here, point to most of you being smart enough to have figured it out

DM's are under my instructions to generally speaking leave brand new players alone, give them a chance to see if they want to stick around, in my experience if they around a couple of hours, they'll be with us the next day. Then they generally get at least my notice, and then progressively more notice if they are not part of the fly by night server hoppers and or lack any noticeable interest in RP, but even then, they will get attention these days, Getty likes em

Thanks for all comments.

Makz.

[Phoenix]

I love the job that the DMs do.

About ad-hoc events, I really like these, I'm kinda torn between asking for more posted events (which take more time to setup and run) or more ad-hocs. The planned events get people involved that might otherwise miss an ad-hoc event, but if there were more of them, it may not be a problem (wouldn't have to wait long before something happens).

Sometimes there is little notice, these mini-events happen without the DMs planning, as they are just reacting to town events and things get going from there. Like when the Red Wizard shows up... 3 times I entered town just to get attacked by the knights or run out of town. Once I didn't leave nicely and had many people looking for me, after a knight offered some gold for my head.

As for battles in W. Styne, let's not muck this thread up with that discussion. In short I think it's better than the piss poor RP when people abused the noPvP zone.

hehe, fly-by-knight. ;D

[Zhoreb]

Sorry, no longer a 100% score in Excellence. I voted good.
With my (lack of) experiences with DM interaction I cannot vote for Excellent.

The good and excellent stuff:

Stuff that need improvement IMHO:

One suggestion I have noticed, some DM's tend to go to the same group of people for the ad-hoc events. NP I just had to learn to be around the right people.

Whether it is the times I play (IOF +9), or something in my character(s) I don't know. I do know that living in my timezone is a handicap when it comes to quests and DM interaction.