Question for the candidates

From my Camarilla experience, I have found that a Coordinator position does well in separating the OOC from the IC problems, leaving the ST's free not to care about OOC issues in game.

I would like to hear the candidates views on that prospect.

James

Emeric Belasco wrote:

From my Camarilla experience, I have found that a Coordinator position does well in separating the OOC from the IC problems, leaving the ST's free not to care about OOC issues in game.

I would like to hear the candidates views on that prospect.

James

Sure.

This might not make me the most popular guy around, but I don't really see the function of the 'Coordinator'. I get what they are supposed to do, and I get what they actually do, but mostly I just hear about Staff and Coordinators arguing over who has say over what.

In a game our size, having two bodies making management type decisions doesn't really make much sense. We have what, 20 regular players? Maybe 25? How many Sts will there be? Probably 4-5 on either staff at the end of the day. That means 1/4 or 1/5 of the game is already management. Then you add a separate group of people that make decisions that are separate but equal. How many coordinators do we have? 4-5? That means that the most dramatic look tells us that 1/2 the game would be some sorta management.

Too many chiefs, not enough indians.

Now, don't get me wrong, I like the idea of people having events. I like having people go out there and beat the bushes looking for more peeps. I like the idea of someone running the sites. I like the idea of someone for players to go to that aren't Staff to complain about.

But in a game this size, I find them to be redundant.

That being said, we also decided that we were going to let the committee decide the charter and their role. I'll abide by whatever they decide.

Currently the position of Coordinator is controlled and monitored by the HST. I don't really feel that this needs to change at this time, but if our game grows then we will need to revisit this topic; however, currently there is a group of people that are going to be sitting down to discuss this topic and see what structures we can come up with. They will then present options to the player base and see were the game as a whole wants to go. This is a player run game run for the player base.

The coordinator is a person ideally elected by the players to interface with the players the st staff, site and game issues think of a coordinator like a producer on a tv show, and the ST staff as the writers and directors, or the coordinator as a stage manager, and the ST staff as the writer directors, or what ever analogy you choose.

This elected official ( of which 2-3 is the ideal number for options of players going to them and ultimate checks and balances) arbitrates disputes fairly.

The best uses of a Coordinatorare the following:

Player A is angry he has been treated unfairly in his mind rightly or wrongly by other players or the ST staff. The st staff is upset because this individual may or may not have done something in violation of the rules of the game which calls for possible suspension. The coordinator gets the story from the player and the staff, then reaches a resolution and punishment with the staff and the player. This prevents a situation of us vs them or them vs me, with an arbitration preferablely involving the coordinator staff the players aren't left disenfranchised nor does the ST staff have to worry with enforcement or etc.

Alternately this can apply to a player feeling they are being treated unfairly by staff or a staff member cheating, or any number of scenarios. Unpartial Arbitration is the most effective way of dispute resolution, which is why it is used by the US Government, Fortune 500 companies, and couples getting divorced.

We had a recent situation where the current staff used the input of a group of concerned impartial players to reach a resolution regarding a reprimand of a player, however with a coordinator staff this process would have been much smoother.

These instances for this need are rare, but they are so very important when these situations come up, the current staff mentioned how ooc personality conflicts and missrepresentation of information detracted from their ability to effectively persue a fruitful game. A Coordinator staff used effectively would prevent this, and if it doesn't it could always be voted to be scraped.

In addition to this they retain the duties of site securement, player recruitment, player retainment, xp awards to players if approved by the Story Telling Staff, and other ooc duties as required.

Issues players might have.

1. The use of Coordinators with full powers diminishes the power of the ST Staff.
-The proper use of a Coordinator Staff and a Story Teller Staff working in unison to solve issues creates a healthy atmosphere for players, frees time from ooc concerns for the story tellers, and prevents large scale he said she said disputes before they start.

2. Well if the Story Telling Staff wants to punish a player then they can't.
Not true, per the concept of a Story Telling Staff and a Coordinator Staff, Story Tellers fully retain all power over XP and character life or death. If Player A cheats and the ST Staff believes they did, they may remove that character from the game, or dock xp. They can dock xp at any time of course for disruptive ic actions metagaming etc. Coordinators deal with banning players, or abuses of power by use of impartial views and are elected officials the same as the Story Telling Staff.

Thank you, Clay, that summed up my opinion on the matter exactly.