3. Staff Meeting Minutes

Staff Meeting Minutes

  • Dev

    Staff Meeting Minutes will be posted here for the community to see.

  • Dev

    Meeting Notes for 12-8-24 Staff Meeting -

    Staff attending:

    • Darkpowder
    • Lence
    • Wolfe

    Agenda Items & notes:

    • Server Direction Workshop
    • Kudos
    • Old Business
    • Retention process for existing staff
    • New AT Voting

    **Before we cover off on the agenda items, the staff wanted to let the community know what we have been spending our time on.

    We are actively working on distilling the input that the community provided re: Server Direction. We hope to have some high-level data points to share soon after the new year, and some action items to work on so we can move forward on a multi-pronged plan to address the server direction moving forward! We appreciate your patience!**

    Kudos:

    • Kudos to the community members who are adventuring away in the server. Also to DM Durandal who is spicing things up for all players on the server with winter shenanigans! The staff is committed to continuing to create an immersive world that changes because of players choices, and those changes will continue to be reflected in the ever-changing world that is Narfell!

    Old Business:

    • Server costs were paid for the Test Server on 12/3 – We appreciate all of you who have donated to help cover server costs, and look forward to continue being transparent about what it takes to keep the server running for the community to enjoy!
      If you want to see who’s contributed or donate yourself, here is the link:
      https://narfell.us/forum/topic/32004/server-costs-donation-tracking

    • The process for staff members to cycle out or continue on staff was discussed. Staff agreed that we would poll current staff members to see if they want to continue on staff, since we do not have a pressing need to turn over staff unless they want to step down. The direct question of "Yes, No, Do something else for the staff will address people wanting a change or wanting to carry on or step back" to all staff members in the new year will address this point. We are always open to folks who want to contribute to the server in any way possible. If that’s you, reach out to anyone on staff so they can inform the rest of the team about your interest!

    New AT Voting:

    • Staff members Darkpowder, Wolfe, and Lence met with AT candidate Araighn on 12/15 to download him on server status and answer any questions he may have about the AT responsibilities should he get voted in. It was a productive meeting and we look forward to what the community’s decision is about adding him to the staff! One of the topics that came up from Araighn was that we should run more Town Halls, and everyone on staff agreed that was a great suggestion, so we can continue to be as transparent as possible.

    As always, if you have questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to ANY of the staff, as they will share your requests with the rest of staff so we can be as responsive as possible!

    Looking forward to seeing you all in Narfell in the New Year!

  • Dev

    Meeting Notes for 9-22-24 staff meeting:

    Staff attending:

    • Darkpowder
    • Jazz
    • Lence
    • Wolfe

    Agenda Items & notes:
    Kudos:

    • Kudos to Maythor for continuing to run great Fight Nights, and expanding them to include more than just fighting and trucidation!
    • Kudos to the community for sticking to making the server a more hospitable place to any players who should wander into our little corner of NWN. This welcoming attitude is going to go a long way toward incentivizing new players to stay.

    Server Hosting:

    • It was agreed upon that Lence should take over ownership of the server hosting account, and that a payment system will be set up for any folks who want to contribute to the costs of hosting the server for the community.
    • ACTION ITEM: Lence will set up an account to oversee the server hosting responsibilities & payment method for community members to contribute.

    AT:

    • A discussion was had about opening up voting for new ATs. This will allow for an odd number of staff so that there can be tie-breakers in terms of team opinions. We will open up applications for AT members with some stipulations: Server Interests need to supersede personal interests, teamwork is a requirement, and open communication is key. Whether the AT is expanded to 3 or 5 will be a decision made based on player applicant interest and voting results.

    • We will also reiterate the call for any community members who are interested in Devving.

    • ACTION ITEM: Open up applications for players interested in being part of the AT/Lence will put out call for Devs

    Server Direction:

    • Server Direction forum will be locked on 9-27-24. DP and Jazz were encouraged to add their thoughts on server direction on top of all the other community members who had submitted posts. Once the window is closed, work will begin on consolidating like-minded proposals, and creating a hierarchy/priority list for the staff to begin addressing
    • ACTION ITEM: Darkpowder will be putting together a worksheet to start distilling all the community suggestions.
  • Dev

    Staff Meeting Notes for 6-23-24:

    Staff attending:
    Dora
    Jazz
    Lence
    Maythor
    Wolfe
    Z

    Agenda Items & notes:

    Kudos

    • Thanks to CB for being a DM for the last 6 months. He's stepped down and we appreciate all the work and effort he's put in
    • Kudos to Maythor for being IG and spicing things up for players and PCs he runs across (he can see everyone on at any time, so dont assume he just accidentally ran into you!)
    • Kudos to the community for sticking with us - summers are slow all around, but we appreciate your involvement!

    Old Business

    • Updates on DM Votes (yes with 50% this one time - Supermajority moving forward), GPS updating (yes with toggle on/off switch), DM entry announcement IG (Dora turned that on - Team wants Discord notification also), RLG (addressed down below)

    New DM recruitment

    • It was agreed by the team that DM apps will be processed in an on-going basis, as the need for DMs is key
    • Darkpower and Kronan have turned in applications, and will answer the AMA questions on Discord before the community can vote on them
    • Whether DMs can be voted in with 50% going forward, and removed with 66% of votes was discussed - the majority agreed that 50% vote in for this one time with a Supermajority going forward

    Charter Updates

    • No updates on the Charter - this is a living document, so feedback is appreciated from the community at large

    Quests

    • Lence seeking input on a better process for Quests lead into a larger discussion about Town Criers, RLG, level-appropriate spawning, IG warnings when PCs enter dangerous areas, and level-specific areas.
    • Quests that ladder off of each other were discussed, and whether this would promote more solo play or not
    • Town Criers - what would their function be?

    RLG

    • It was discussed whether to lower the % rate at which mini-bosses spawn, and whether they drop RLG every time or just a % of the time. Mini bosses proposed spawn rate was either 25 or 50%, and RLG on them was either 25% or 50%
    • Z would like mini-bosses to spawn like 10% of the time... so this will most likely be a vote that is put to the community

    Spawning revamps (scaling outwards from easy to hard)

    • Discussion was had about whether there was some way to categorize what levels areas should be with Wolfe providing an example. This may be part of the info that is given out by town criers to educate players as to the challenges of various areas
    • IG messaging about difficult spawns/bosses were proposed, and is an easy add to maps for the devs

    Voter Registration

    • It was decided that voters who have been identified will not time out as voters - The registered voter requirement remains the same - 6 hours over 3 months
    • Dora proposed running a report to track time IG to check for registered voters

    Parking Lot (to cover off on at a later/next meeting)

    • Dev Best Practices
    • Town Hall
    • Rumor Mill

    Holdover Topics (from previous Staff Meetings):

    Things the charter can address:

    • AT size
    • DM recruitment
    • Donations link

    ACTION ITEMS:

    • Dora will code the GPS toggle on/off
    • Dora will add the DM login to Discord
    • Lence will start implementing IG messaging triggers as early warning system alerting PCs to challenging spawns/bosses ahead
  • Dev

    Staff Meeting Notes for 5-19-24:

    Staff attending:
    Dora
    Gonnar
    Jazz
    Lence
    Maythor
    Z

    Agenda Items & notes:
    AT Election

    • it was decided to keep the AT at 4 members for the time being, and that we would have the community be the tie-breaker vote.
    • There was discussion that the DMs be the tie-breaker, but the historical distrust of the DMs self-interests may cloud any vote they do in the eyes of the community

    DM Recruitment

    • Majority Vote only okay for DM elections? ACTION ITEM: Jazz to handle
    • Expectations for DMs (This may be parking lot after DMs are voted in)

    Linode costs

    • Lence to pay
    • General donation link will be forthcoming?
    • Accounting of monies will be transparent

    Charter

    • Things the charter can address:
    • AT size
    • DM recruitment
    • Donations link

    Server Direction

    • How to foster RP on the server?
    • What do we focus on as ways to foster RP
    • Informal poll on GPS - ACTION ITEM: Jazz
    • What is the most bang for your buck
    • Fairness for everyone
    • ACTION ITEM: Dora to toggle on DM entry annoucements to Discord

    DM guidelines

    • Parking lot for after we get DMs

    RLG

    • ACTION ITEM: Dora to explain in small words
    • Lower drop rate on Mini-bosses

    Exp XP

    • Quarter Exp. XP moving forward on all new maps

    Spawning revamps (scaling outwards from easy to hard) - Not discussed

    Dev Best Practices - Not discussed

    • Get more Devs (Lence to announce)