Rules/Important Topics Updates
Oct 24, 2012 15:31:33 GMT -6
Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Oct 24, 2012 15:31:33 GMT -6
THE TIME HAS COME FOR A RECKONING no but seriously a lot of the stuff in the Important Topics and Rules subforums is either horribly outdated, wrongfully there, or downright broken in one way or another, and I feel that this offers an unnecessary barrier to newbies trying to join the site as well as anyone who just wants to quickly check a given rule. Quick (>insinuating I'm capable of conciseness HAH) summary of issues:
Starting Out: Primarily broken links. 1a, 1b, 1c, 1e, 1h, 1i, 1j, 1k, 2b, 2c are all busted as hell. 1f isn't even a link, which I don't think it's supposed to be but it looks exactly like one due to color choice - could be confusing. Maybe another color, or just bold+underline it and leave it normal color?. 1g and 2a, same thing. In terms of actual content, I feel that the actual links could use a short (1-3 sentences) summary of the content in the linked topic, ex. 1h. Max Character Limit should give a quick overview of those rules (3 characters hardcap, gotta wait 2-4 weeks (whatever) after first character to make second) then link to the relevant topic for a complete explanation. On the flip side, Character Creation probably doesn't need to clog up Starting Out with half a dozen paragraphs of information when the exact same stuff is also in the linked topic - seems to me like Starting Out should be concise and more about "overviews" and reference links than simply fully restating large chunks of information that are already present in other topics.
Promo Items and Repair Pricing Changes, Personal Plots, and My Class is Gone are currently global announcements - none of them are new and relevant. Personal Plots SHOULD be in the Important Topics subforum as a normal topic, but it's been an announcement for over a year.
"What's gone down in the books..." should be renamed to something more concise (Roleplay History or something) and either updated or moved to General Discussion because in its current form it is incomplete at best - I think it's definitely useful enough to stay in rules, and a GREAT idea in general, but in its current state it doesn't offer much to new members without either a summary -or- anything from the past few years. Also, it doesn't really need to be a global announcement - just a normal Rules topic would do!
Classes - Post Timeskip should be moved to general discussion as well, it's just the discussion topic for the current class setup and therefore really doesn't have much place in the current rules area when we already have an up to date topic for classes in Create a Warrior (Classes Explained). It does seem a little awkward that the information is currently only found in CaW when it offers useful information (promotion stuff) for current members - may I suggest simply moving Classes Explained to Rules to replace the now-missing discussion topic?
NPC Listing seems like it should be sticky'd in General Discussion or just a basic GD topic, it's completely out of date and not in ANY way whatsoever an actual "rule." Given how outdated and incomplete it is, I just don't see how it fits as a Rules topic.
Similarly, Character Roster should I think just be moved to General Discussion - it never picked up in the first place and was underwhelming/pointless at best given that CAW forum already does that by design. I do kinda like the general idea, though - perhaps a new (optional!) profile field where people can just describe their character in a paragraph, or a suggestion somewhere in the registration area that people are welcome to do that?
Custom Titles... uh if it's possible to sticky topics in General Discussion without making them announcements I'd really suggest that. It's more of a discussion/request topic than anything really rules-ey, it might even fit in Shops subforum if you spun great deeds as the "currency" it deals in! Okay, yeah, a bit of a stretch there but whatever DON'T JUDGE ME.
First Time Skip Update is completely outdated now - as best as I can tell, all information contained in the first post has already been added to other major rule topics or is now incorrect
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Rules subforum is a bit less outdated but could use a fair bit of help too.
Max Character Limit topic doesn't fully explain the alt or reincarnation system - I feel like you could just collapse Reincarnation topic from CAW into this one and go into a little detail about how the 2-4 week thing works to save on topic clutter around the site.
Event Rewards was obviously created and written during the time period in which XP was earned for battle posts, not the current system - it should either be archived or updated for the WotW of today. Not that I'd terribly mind Elesia getting 50 free XP, but uh I don't think that the numbers there are exactly... balanced for the current system.
Base Stats and Growth Rates would probably be happier in the Important Topics subforum - given that Rules seems to be more about actual RP rules and stats don't really have much to do with that stuff I'm not sure it qualifies as a Rules topic.
Weapon System topic is vastly outdated - I have no idea what the current rules on selling items are, but the repair prices bit is now outdated by the more recent rules. Not sure on the gem shop repairs bit - can we just handwave-simplify them to be repairable or something? Either way, that information should 100% be in the Repair Shop for easy reference, not hidden away in another topic.
Two Upcoming Issues is awesome and <3 Hal, but that stuff should be in a general site code of conduct rather than a standalone topic. May I suggest that Rules for RPing and Two Upcoming Issues be rolled together into a general site conduct topic covering both OOC and IC conduct - IC role playing etiquette and DON'T BE A FAILBOAT TO OTHER PEOPLE stuff for OOC? Rules for RPing already kinda sorta does that, it has SOME OOC rules, but the topic title could be a little clearer (something like Site Rules, Code of Conduct, IC/OOC Etiquette, whatever).
I'm not sure why Leveling System exists in its current state - there is no need for a graph to explain that trainees promote at 100/300, normal classes at 200, dragons at 500, and that 10 posts = 1 level. I believe that information is already located elsewhere regardless, but I do like the idea of it being located somewhere in Rules - it's just that the current topic is a bit of a washup in terms of actually being useful.
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Thank you for reading! I'd like to volunteer to submit a rough draft of a rewrite of the Starting Out topic for staff to look through, as well as anything else that you guys would like rewritten, but I'll be satisfied to just see the rules be a bit more coherent and easier to navigate for newbies. I know that when I joined this stuff flummoxed the hell out of me and I've had to help a lot of newer folks out in the interim, and I feel that tidying up rules and making it easier to navigate would do a lot to help gain and retain new members.
...On that note, does WotW have any kind of official advertisement for use as a, well, advertisement? Most of the successful sites I've been on had a "stock" advertisement, written by staff or enterprising members (HINT HINT), that was usually sticked in their Advertisements subforum and then pasted to other sites in order to attract new members.
Starting Out: Primarily broken links. 1a, 1b, 1c, 1e, 1h, 1i, 1j, 1k, 2b, 2c are all busted as hell. 1f isn't even a link, which I don't think it's supposed to be but it looks exactly like one due to color choice - could be confusing. Maybe another color, or just bold+underline it and leave it normal color?. 1g and 2a, same thing. In terms of actual content, I feel that the actual links could use a short (1-3 sentences) summary of the content in the linked topic, ex. 1h. Max Character Limit should give a quick overview of those rules (3 characters hardcap, gotta wait 2-4 weeks (whatever) after first character to make second) then link to the relevant topic for a complete explanation. On the flip side, Character Creation probably doesn't need to clog up Starting Out with half a dozen paragraphs of information when the exact same stuff is also in the linked topic - seems to me like Starting Out should be concise and more about "overviews" and reference links than simply fully restating large chunks of information that are already present in other topics.
Promo Items and Repair Pricing Changes, Personal Plots, and My Class is Gone are currently global announcements - none of them are new and relevant. Personal Plots SHOULD be in the Important Topics subforum as a normal topic, but it's been an announcement for over a year.
"What's gone down in the books..." should be renamed to something more concise (Roleplay History or something) and either updated or moved to General Discussion because in its current form it is incomplete at best - I think it's definitely useful enough to stay in rules, and a GREAT idea in general, but in its current state it doesn't offer much to new members without either a summary -or- anything from the past few years. Also, it doesn't really need to be a global announcement - just a normal Rules topic would do!
Classes - Post Timeskip should be moved to general discussion as well, it's just the discussion topic for the current class setup and therefore really doesn't have much place in the current rules area when we already have an up to date topic for classes in Create a Warrior (Classes Explained). It does seem a little awkward that the information is currently only found in CaW when it offers useful information (promotion stuff) for current members - may I suggest simply moving Classes Explained to Rules to replace the now-missing discussion topic?
NPC Listing seems like it should be sticky'd in General Discussion or just a basic GD topic, it's completely out of date and not in ANY way whatsoever an actual "rule." Given how outdated and incomplete it is, I just don't see how it fits as a Rules topic.
Similarly, Character Roster should I think just be moved to General Discussion - it never picked up in the first place and was underwhelming/pointless at best given that CAW forum already does that by design. I do kinda like the general idea, though - perhaps a new (optional!) profile field where people can just describe their character in a paragraph, or a suggestion somewhere in the registration area that people are welcome to do that?
Custom Titles... uh if it's possible to sticky topics in General Discussion without making them announcements I'd really suggest that. It's more of a discussion/request topic than anything really rules-ey, it might even fit in Shops subforum if you spun great deeds as the "currency" it deals in! Okay, yeah, a bit of a stretch there but whatever DON'T JUDGE ME.
First Time Skip Update is completely outdated now - as best as I can tell, all information contained in the first post has already been added to other major rule topics or is now incorrect
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Rules subforum is a bit less outdated but could use a fair bit of help too.
Max Character Limit topic doesn't fully explain the alt or reincarnation system - I feel like you could just collapse Reincarnation topic from CAW into this one and go into a little detail about how the 2-4 week thing works to save on topic clutter around the site.
Event Rewards was obviously created and written during the time period in which XP was earned for battle posts, not the current system - it should either be archived or updated for the WotW of today. Not that I'd terribly mind Elesia getting 50 free XP, but uh I don't think that the numbers there are exactly... balanced for the current system.
Base Stats and Growth Rates would probably be happier in the Important Topics subforum - given that Rules seems to be more about actual RP rules and stats don't really have much to do with that stuff I'm not sure it qualifies as a Rules topic.
Weapon System topic is vastly outdated - I have no idea what the current rules on selling items are, but the repair prices bit is now outdated by the more recent rules. Not sure on the gem shop repairs bit - can we just handwave-simplify them to be repairable or something? Either way, that information should 100% be in the Repair Shop for easy reference, not hidden away in another topic.
Two Upcoming Issues is awesome and <3 Hal, but that stuff should be in a general site code of conduct rather than a standalone topic. May I suggest that Rules for RPing and Two Upcoming Issues be rolled together into a general site conduct topic covering both OOC and IC conduct - IC role playing etiquette and DON'T BE A FAILBOAT TO OTHER PEOPLE stuff for OOC? Rules for RPing already kinda sorta does that, it has SOME OOC rules, but the topic title could be a little clearer (something like Site Rules, Code of Conduct, IC/OOC Etiquette, whatever).
I'm not sure why Leveling System exists in its current state - there is no need for a graph to explain that trainees promote at 100/300, normal classes at 200, dragons at 500, and that 10 posts = 1 level. I believe that information is already located elsewhere regardless, but I do like the idea of it being located somewhere in Rules - it's just that the current topic is a bit of a washup in terms of actually being useful.
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Thank you for reading! I'd like to volunteer to submit a rough draft of a rewrite of the Starting Out topic for staff to look through, as well as anything else that you guys would like rewritten, but I'll be satisfied to just see the rules be a bit more coherent and easier to navigate for newbies. I know that when I joined this stuff flummoxed the hell out of me and I've had to help a lot of newer folks out in the interim, and I feel that tidying up rules and making it easier to navigate would do a lot to help gain and retain new members.
...On that note, does WotW have any kind of official advertisement for use as a, well, advertisement? Most of the successful sites I've been on had a "stock" advertisement, written by staff or enterprising members (HINT HINT), that was usually sticked in their Advertisements subforum and then pasted to other sites in order to attract new members.