Event Moderators

[Mesanna]

Hello Everyone,

I want to thank everyone that has sent in their applications and the great stories I have read (and still reading). I would like to answer a few questions that I am being asked alot.

1. Yes you have to be 18 years old to apply.
2. You will not be able to work on the same shard you play on. (Siege and Europe might be an exception)
3. All the questions have to be answered.
4. You do not have to live in the US to apply.
5. I have been asked alot of questions about the tools that will be available to EM's. Lets cross that bridge when we get to it please.
6. We will have a main EM and a back up EM for each shard. The shard rule applies to both the main and the back up EM.

We will be posting the names when the final decision is made so please start thinking of a good EM name.

Mesanna

 

[Salty Pete]

I seriously hope that this doesn't become yet another item factory for rares traders like EMs of the past.

 

[eccentricjules]

I seriously hope that this doesn't become yet another item factory for rares traders like EMs of the past.

Please just give it a chance. I think most of the people applying do it for love of the game and to try and help, not to upset people. I think the direction they want to go in is fair.

They are opening the game up to player ideas more often now than in the past, see this as positive and give it a chance!

 

[Cogniac]

I seriously hope that this doesn't become yet another in-game event system that gets sullied by people claiming that it's just an item factory for rares traders like EMs of the past.

 

[Ikersain]

I seriously hope this doesn't become yet another forum thread that gets sullied by snarky replies that use the basic framework of the post they're ragging on.

 

[Gwendolynne]

I seriously hope that the mouse statue and town criers are working properly during events so that everyone knows when something is happening.

Safe journeys!

 

[sapphirediablo11]

Sometimes the mouse/town cryer does not know what is happening.. :O so you never know :O hrmmm

I applied muhahahahah fear the day that i am an EM LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL that will be funny MUHAHAHHAHAHAH!!! you shall all suffer if it comes down to it MUHAHAH!!!

Anyways best of luck to everyone

 

[_zigzag_]

Thank you Mesanna

 

[Cear Dallben Dragon]

not letting people work on the shards they know is a really bad idea.

 

[Dol'Gorath]

Messana! Good to see you're going to be an EM again! You are one of the good ones. Hope to see [or hear] events from you, if you're not gonna be on Atlantic.
Can't wait for the program to start again. *salute*

 

[Flutter]

not letting people work on the shards they know is a really bad idea.

/disagree
Better that they dont EM on shards where all their friends are.

 

[Petrify]

2. You will not be able to work on the same shard you play on. (Siege and Europe might be an exception)

Mesanna

What about Oceania? I seriously hope we don't get EM's who play on our shard because it's such a small community that they are almost garunteed to be bias, however the last pair didn't play on our shard and were bias anyway.

 

[Fink]

2. You will not be able to work on the same shard you play on. (Siege and Europe might be an exception)

Mesanna

What about Oceania? I seriously hope we don't get EM's who play on our shard because it's such a small community that they are almost garunteed to be bias, however the last pair didn't play on our shard and were bias anyway.

Is #2 due to lag issues? Or language / ruleset?

Re: Oceania, I think there are more than a few likely candidates that aren't biased.

 

[Dol'Gorath]

The time difference to Oceania may be a massive problem. I know from the US east coast that's like a 10 hour difference.

 

[Fink]

The time difference to Oceania may be a massive problem. I know from the US east coast that's like a 10 hour difference.

Ahh, good point.. then there's the dateline thing where it becomes 'tomorrow' in Oz 14 hours ahead of the USA.

 

[Cear Dallben Dragon]

not letting people work on the shards they know is a really bad idea.

/disagree
Better that they dont EM on shards where all their friends are.

good judgment in hiring would help this. It really doesnt matter were your friends are, lots of people play lots of shards. even if they dont play there. then its time to make a char there, make all sorts of awesome rares, and transfer it back to home shard.

If i were an EM, i would rather help out my friends, which would be the entire population of my shard that Ive been playing for 11 years, learning the culture, specifics, and most of all the rp history and lore from previous players seer and EMs.

I can see what your saying ofcourse, its just like taking some scrawny kid from scotland and throing him in japan and saying, Run community events!


btw love your site

 

[Kiminality]

not letting people work on the shards they know is a really bad idea.

/disagree
Better that they dont EM on shards where all their friends are.

I don't entirely disagree, but I think there's some counterpoints.
1.) Not everyone is going to be biased towards their friends.
2.) People are often more dedicated to their home shard, and would be more dedicated to giving that shard something unique (shard history, and the like).
3.) People can have friends on many shards.
4.) There's nothing to stop the EM's friends X-sharding to the shard they EM on, getting loots, and X-sharding back.


For Siege, I think it's the unique ruleset. It would be better for someone who understands things "natively", rather than someone muddling through, and messing things up.
For Europe, I'm guessing it's a combination of:
1.) Lag
2.) Timezone
3.) As I understand it, Drachenfels is largely understood to be a german shard. It's not, but naming it after a mountain in Germany (?) led to it being perceived as such. So your EM on there would be best to be able to understand German.

Additional: I think Oceania has the problems with a non-Oceanian EM in spades.
In the UK, I can never get a remotely decent (read: playable) ping there, and they're 12 hours ahead of us.

 

[Lady Mana]

Messana! Good to see you're going to be an EM again! You are one of the good ones. Hope to see [or hear] events from you, if you're not gonna be on Atlantic.
Can't wait for the program to start again. *salute*

I think you're thinking of Masara... xD

 

[siyeng0]

The Australians are invading!

I am not normally one to call for an exception, but I think that Oceania does need to be reconsidered when it comes to not hiring EMs to moderate the local shard. A twelve-hour time difference means that an EM playing from Oceania would have to be awake at ridiculous hours in order to conduct events on English-speaking shards (of course, if you want to get around this problem by only hiring multilingual Oceanian EMs who can moderate on the Asian shards, then that is a very ingenious idea and you have my full support.)

Event moderation would require an especially robust connection, and even those with fast wireless would find themselves lagging if forced to play somewhere across the equator. I personally have absolutely no problem with lag on Oceania - even now that there are apparently lag issues plaguing the game - but I am simply unable to play on Europa or any of the American shards.

I'm adding my plea for Australian EMs for Oceania here. (Or New Zealanders, if you can find one that knows how to use a keyboard. ) Find somebody who is interested in designing events for the fun of it and wishes to instigate participatory rewards, rather than a single player being designated "winner." That will solve your problems with favouritism.

In my experience, also, when it comes to Oceania, there are a handful of people who know how to play the game so well that they win every event regardless of whom is moderating it... (I am not one of them. *curses quietly*)

 

[Petrify]

The Australians are invading!

I am not normally one to call for an exception, but I think that Oceania does need to be reconsidered when it comes to not hiring EMs to moderate the local shard. A twelve-hour time difference means that an EM playing from Oceania would have to be awake at ridiculous hours in order to conduct events on English-speaking shards (of course, if you want to get around this problem by only hiring multilingual Oceanian EMs who can moderate on the Asian shards, then that is a very ingenious idea and you have my full support.)

Event moderation would require an especially robust connection, and even those with fast wireless would find themselves lagging if forced to play somewhere across the equator. I personally have absolutely no problem with lag on Oceania - even now that there are apparently lag issues plaguing the game - but I am simply unable to play on Europa or any of the American shards.

I retract my statement and agree that we should get Oceanic EM's, however they must prove that they are completely 100% unbiased.

In my experience, also, when it comes to Oceania, there are a handful of people who know how to play the game so well that they win every event regardless of whom is moderating it... (I am not one of them. *curses quietly*)

This is also true, and I happen to be one of them *coughs*. However in my experience I would "win" an event and recieve a sash that was uniquely named (not coloured), while other people who were far less "notoriously outspoken" as me would receive things like Gold horse statues or a statue of themselves that talks... useful things. Another example is my guild (which is notoriously hated) won an event which required a group of 10 to go and kill certain monsters, we recieved the ONLY "No-drop No-trade" item ever.

 

[eccentricjules]

not letting people work on the shards they know is a really bad idea.

This is a MUST. EM's should have no personal attachment to that shard. If I were an EM on my own shard I would never ever give friends an advantage but I might be more inclined to think things like "he's a jerk he didn't deserve that"... if you are unattached to the shard it makes it much easier to think "yay for you"! no matter what happens. And much easier to be creative in my opinion.

 

[Zalan]

Item problem is easy to fix. Don`t let EM create items with Properties.

 

[Xenobia]

Oh for Pete's sake people...this is a game lol I am sure they are going to be very selective in who they choose. If you think that everyone else in the world is a criminal but you ...then apply yourself, but don't assume that everyone who gets chosen will do the wrong thing. yeesh

 

[Fink]

Item problem is easy to fix. Don`t let EM create items with Properties.

Even so, items without properties sell for quite a lot, especially if they're few in number. But honestly, I can't see someone risking their RL job by trying to profit a few gp in ill-gotten event items.

I think the items issue is separate to the EM's shard of origin.

 

[Farsight]

good judgment in hiring would help this. It really doesnt matter were your friends are, lots of people play lots of shards. even if they dont play there. then its time to make a char there, make all sorts of awesome rares, and transfer it back to home shard.

If i were an EM, i would rather help out my friends, which would be the entire population of my shard that Ive been playing for 11 years, learning the culture, specifics, and most of all the rp history and lore from previous players seer and EMs.

I can see what your saying ofcourse, its just like taking some scrawny kid from scotland and throing him in japan and saying, Run community events!

This is a lesson they learned the hard way. Back in the start, seers and councillors could play on their own shard, and it led to rampant favoritism, shutting out of others, using their position to gain favor among the more wealthy/powerful of players on the shard (even for real life goodies), personal attacks, harassment etc. I can give dozens of examples on Napa alone (the shard I played back then).

Not everyone is so easily corruptable by playing where they work, but there is literally no way of knowing who will break those rules and who won't. Some of the most problematic of the Seers and Councillors were the ones whom I thought were uncorruptable before they got the job.

 

[Nexus]

The Australians are invading!

I am not normally one to call for an exception, but I think that Oceania does need to be reconsidered when it comes to not hiring EMs to moderate the local shard. A twelve-hour time difference means that an EM playing from Oceania would have to be awake at ridiculous hours in order to conduct events on English-speaking shards (of course, if you want to get around this problem by only hiring multilingual Oceanian EMs who can moderate on the Asian shards, then that is a very ingenious idea and you have my full support.)

Event moderation would require an especially robust connection, and even those with fast wireless would find themselves lagging if forced to play somewhere across the equator. I personally have absolutely no problem with lag on Oceania - even now that there are apparently lag issues plaguing the game - but I am simply unable to play on Europa or any of the American shards.

I'm adding my plea for Australian EMs for Oceania here. (Or New Zealanders, if you can find one that knows how to use a keyboard. ) Find somebody who is interested in designing events for the fun of it and wishes to instigate participatory rewards, rather than a single player being designated "winner." That will solve your problems with favouritism.

In my experience, also, when it comes to Oceania, there are a handful of people who know how to play the game so well that they win every event regardless of whom is moderating it... (I am not one of them. *curses quietly*)

You probably won't find a New Zealander, they probably don't want to cut out their shee...I mean Sleep time....

 

[Cear Dallben Dragon]

counselors couldnt even do anything.

thanks to seers on atlantic we have established player towns. a rich past that makes us unique. if we had that problem here, which i dont remember us having. it worked out to be an awesome problem.

 

[siyeng0]

I fully understand the rules and how they apply to EM favouritism. For the larger, more central shards, I think they're necessary. However, Like I said, when it comes to Oceania... like I said, I rarely complain about rules and think that hunting for loopholes is a cop-out, but in this case, the server is just so far away from the rest of the world that having a foreign EM would be troublesome.

I mean that, mind you, both for them and for us. In the past, whenever somebody from another shard - mostly American shards - has tried to organise a UO-wide event that encompasses Oceania, the event has invariably been scheduled to either occur in the early morning or late at night. This is because of the widely different timezones. An event that is conveniently timed for an American EM will be impossible to attend for Oceanians, whether it be because they are at work, in bed, or simply sleeping in on Sunday morning. Nobody wants to get up at 3am to entertain a group of people in another country. (Unless they're being paid an exorbitant amount for it.) Apart from that, there is the problem of lag. It takes an absolutely stellar connection for somebody in the Northern Hemisphere to play effectively on Oceania. A laggy EM is no fun for anybody.

A non-Oceanian EM may be enthusiastic, they may be creative, they may be perfect - but I assure you that after the second or third occasion that they've had to get up before the sun rises in order to make the Australians happy, the quality of their output will decrease and they will begin to lose interest. We are in a different hemisphere to all the other servers. The people in charge of hiring the EMs have a choice: hire a local, or accept that either the new moderator is not going to work as well as they could because of lack of sleep or Oceania is never going to have an event happen at a time of day when anybody on the shard is actually awake.

You are considering bending the rules a little bit for Europa. I can only imagine that this is because of distance, connectivity and timezone issues. I would like to request that you do the same for Oceania. Find a local somebody who is dedicated to entertaining the whole shard and making the event fun to participate in rather than planning it to only be remotely rewarding for the winners, and it will be worth the change of rules.

(This is my strategy: keep repeating myself until someone says "Yes!")

 

[sapphirediablo11]

two EMs per shard means that there might not always be world wide events but alot of close personal events, (ie, LA gets 5 events from their EM's since they are really gun ho! about it... and GL gets 3 since they are slightly less... ) this might be the case if they take into account different time zones, and since there is 2 EM's a shard they should be able to just make the ociana shard get their event later or earlier but that is entierly up to the EM...

Well still best of luck...

Random Q?
Do you get a response E-Mail after you read the application and get/do not get the position???

Thanks for your time,

 

[siyeng0]

two EMs per shard means that there might not always be world wide events but alot of close personal events, (ie, LA gets 5 events from their EM's since they are really gun ho! about it... and GL gets 3 since they are slightly less... ) this might be the case if they take into account different time zones, and since there is 2 EM's a shard they should be able to just make the ociana shard get their event later or earlier but that is entierly up to the EM...

Well still best of luck...

I do apologise for this, but either you didn't understand what I was saying, or my reading comprehension is failing. I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make. Are you saying that if an EM is really dedicated to their cause, they’ll make an effort to accommodate the different time-zones?

That is a valid point, if it’s the point you intend. However, I think that it’s very unlikely that my shard would get an EM that is sufficiently excited about their job to bother coming online at extremely awkward times just to make things convenient for us. Even if they were enthusiastic at first, I’m telling you that the novelty would wear off. Soon we would be getting uninspired and lacklustre events; I’m sure that they would eventually stop altogether. Whatever EA ends up paying the EMs, it cannot be enough to justify them staying up all night in order to set up an event and start it running at 3am their time. The only people who would be that passionate about Oceania would be the Oceanians themselves.

We deserve to have events that are just as fun and imaginative as those held on other shards. Just because we were silly enough to seclude ourselves down the bottom of the world doesn’t mean that we ought to be punished for it. I don’t like to make direct statements like this, but: as far as time constraints, connection and passion for the shard goes, only somebody with a personal attachment to Oceania can give the shard what it deserves. Nobody on the other side of the planet will have the dedication needed to consistently go against their own biological rhythms and yet perform as an EM should. I know this community well; there are those among it who could be trusted to do their job without bias. I am one of them. *cough*

(I’m sorry about my constant text-dumps! I feel that this is an important issue.)

 

[Rix/\]

Does being an EM actually pay or is it volunteer based. I see the applications and I have interest if it's some thing that'll pay for your time but if it's on a volunteer base then I don't see the stress that players could put on an EM worth it.

 

[Fink]

Does being an EM actually pay or is it volunteer based. I see the applications and I have interest if it's some thing that'll pay for your time but if it's on a volunteer base then I don't see the stress that players could put on an EM worth it.

I believe it's paid, they can't have volunteers for legal reasons.

 

[JC the Builder]

It is impossible for every shard to have the same level of events. The only way to do that would be for the same event to be redone on every shard.

 

[eccentricjules]

I believe it's paid, they can't have volunteers for legal reasons.

Really? I thought it was just a volunteer position. I guess they haven't been clear on that really. Then again maybe letting people think its volunteer will cut out people who would do it to get paid. It's a thankless job.

 

[Mesanna]

I just wanted to clarify that I’ve never been an EM – practically everything else but not an EM. =)

Many of you have asked us if this is a paid position or not, we’ve still got some final documentation to clear up with our legal department and then we will be able to give out a some extra details to everyone.

The other shards such as Europe and a few others with different time zones, those are all under discussion, We do not want anyone to have to stay up till 1 or 2 in the morning to attend an event on their shard. We know everyone needs their beauty sleep *grins*

This program is not going to be run like the past EM program, there will be plenty of improvements. We will be giving everyone support and there will be strict documentation and approval for all reward items.

I appreciate all of your feedback and yes I will listen to any suggestions about what you think would make the EM program the best it can be.

Take Care!

Mesanna

 

[Gildar]

not letting people work on the shards they know is a really bad idea.

While some people could be unbiased (as unbiased as they would be on a shard where they didn't know anybody until after they started to EM), and would use their knowledge about shard history to make events more rich... most would have a very hard time doing so. It's a wise choice to not let EMs work on their own shard.

Hopefully EMs will all chat with eachother about events so that shard-specific history can be incorporated when appropriate, however.

 

[Trevelyan]

When is the deadline?

 

[sapphirediablo11]

This program is not going to be run like the past EM program, there will be plenty of improvements. We will be giving everyone support

Woo that was my biggest conser really... I became a friend with an EM on my shard once long ago.. and the reason why they stopped working was the poor support that they were given, and the in realistic treatments they were getting nice to hear this will be changed YEA!!!"

I believe it's paid, they can't have volunteers for legal reasons.

Well last time everything stopped because ti was not a payed position, or was that only with seers???

I think would should have a choice, that would make things "interesting" hehe,

Anyways best of luck everyone once again.

V for victory!!!

 

[eccentricjules]

While some people could be unbiased (as unbiased as they would be on a shard where they didn't know anybody until after they started to EM), and would use their knowledge about shard history to make events more rich... most would have a very hard time doing so. It's a wise choice to not let EMs work on their own shard.

Hopefully EMs will all chat with eachother about events so that shard-specific history can be incorporated when appropriate, however.

I really feel that there are a lot of honest people out there. Granted, it’s very hard to tell who they are but I think there are more out there than people give credit for. Then again it’s up to the person to hold true.

First of all, if I were an EM I wouldn’t tell anyone. For some people that might defeat the purpose with loss of notoriety but I feel it should be a personal accomplishment and not something to be bragging about. Not telling anyone would make it much easier I think, I compare it to those people who win the lottery and then everyone they know wants a handout. This is the main reason it should be secret but so far there’s been no mention of it being that way. I really hope they make this a rule. I loved the EM we had on Napa, Theowulf, and by the way he spoke I knew he played the game and as much as I wished I knew who he was I understand that for every “thank you” he would receive he might get 10 complaints. I am glad the EM’s are kept apart from the players they play with in game.

I think that’s a really good idea to have EM’s in contact with eachother based on what shard they play but I feel this should still be anonymous. For example, a player who plays on Pacific is an EM for Napa and a player who plays on Catskills is an EM for Pacific. The EM for Pacific should be able to contact the EM for Napa but they STILL shouldn’t know who each other are. Call them Mr. Y and Ms. X but don’t allow them to know WHICH EM they are contacting.

 

[Mesanna]

Hello Everyone,

The deadline for all applications will be the 17th of November. Please send in your applications before then.

After speaking to our Legal department yesterday I was given the ok to let you guys know, yes this is a paid contract position.

I have received several emails asking if there would be programing involved with this job. There isn't any programing required just creativity and a good personality.

Mesanna

 

[AirmidCecht]

EMs were always paid on a contract basis, I wanna say a 6mo. contract I'll have to look it up.

For shards like Europa and the time difference, I would hate to see them miss out on relative content. Could not a mirror event from another shard be played out for them? I'd had to see it become a copy/paste thing but something is better than nothing when or if someone's schedule makes it hard to host their shard. Also if the events will be closely monitored and the only EM able to run an event was from Europa, I think an allowance should be made in their case.

Just my 2cents and a snapple *grins*

 

[von Beck]

We deserve to have events that are just as fun and imaginative as those held on other shards. Just because we were silly enough to seclude ourselves down the bottom of the world doesn’t mean that we ought to be punished for it. I don’t like to make direct statements like this, but: as far as time constraints, connection and passion for the shard goes, only somebody with a personal attachment to Oceania can give the shard what it deserves. Nobody on the other side of the planet will have the dedication needed to consistently go against their own biological rhythms and yet perform as an EM should.

Agreed. Oceania EM needs to have a good connection to the Oceania shard. International ping times would make EM'ing from outside New Zealand / Australia impractical. The EM also needs to operate in a timezone that suits New Zealanders (probably Australians too).

 

[Mesanna]

Just to make sure everyone is clear on this point..We would NEVER post anyone's real name.


Mesanna

 

[eccentricjules]

Well I don't know about everyone else but I'm awfully excited that this is going somewhere. The saying “to each his own” is very true, and for me I think the live content is the most exciting part of the game. I love the colorful storylines and the mystery part of it, I love searching for hidden objects and fighting “on of a kind” monsters.

I can’t wait to see what people have come up with once these events go live! I’m grateful that we have so many passionate players in this game. I know we can’t please everyone with live events but I hope the dissenters at least give it a chance. They have said they will do things differently so please give them a try!

I’m glad they received such a good response with this, and so many applications. It’s wonderful. You never know until you try =) So, if anyone reading this has thought about applying but hasn’t I would urge you to do so. These offers don’t come up often!

*smiles*

 

[Dol'Gorath]

Agreed. Wish everyone would put all the negativity aside. There are stricter rules now, they heard all the QQ about the last version of the EM program and have improved on it.
Now let's just wait for the new EM's to be announced and we can start having fun, non-static events again!

 

[sapphirediablo11]

Agreed. Wish everyone would put all the negativity aside. There are stricter rules now, they heard all the QQ about the last version of the EM program and have improved on it.
Now let's just wait for the new EM's to be announced and we can start having fun, non-static events again!

*cheers*

 

[Dragon Slave.]

/disagree
Better that they dont EM on shards where all their friends are.

I wouldn't think it would matter, me personally I have very few friends that play this game, and no one that I know IRL. But based on that assumption, if somebody became an EM, and wanted to create Godly junk on another shard, whats to stop all their friends from xsharding to those shards to get preferred treatment??

I wish to EM, I will except any shard as I don't have friends, but if I could do it on my own shard of Napa, I could atleast continue with the history that our past EM as set before us. At anyrate, I really hope Theo comes back to napa, since nobody that plays there can EM there. Atleast then he could finish our unfinished events..

Secondly, I hope the precious few that are chosen, will be so kind to avoid the temptation to create uber rare crap, and overpowered artis. Another thing I'll give theo credit for is all he created was renamed, or rehued items.

 

[Dol'Gorath]

/disagree
Better that they dont EM on shards where all their friends are.

And this prevents said friends from using shard transfers/alt characters how?

 

[eccentricjules]

Secondly, I hope the precious few that are chosen, will be so kind to avoid the temptation to create uber rare crap, and overpowered artis. Another thing I'll give theo credit for is all he created was renamed, or rehued items.

Dragon Slave! =) Well, Theo was awesome. He didn't give out anything uber and I think that is the direction that the upcoming events will continue in. Without spelling it out word-for-word in black and white I feel that it has been made clear that uber item's aren't going to be awarded. The EM's will have more supervision and nobody is going to go on an item creating rampage. I really think Theo really was a great EM to model after. His events were generally well planned, some were for Tram some in Fel some purposely had conflict. The mix was there for all player types. He never gave out uber loot and not every event had items/rewards and I feel it should continue to be this way. People shouldn't show up expecting a handout. I think some events should have a lot given (like sash's in the past) and some only 1 reward and everywhere in between in terms of rewards. I hope these events really catch on!

 

[Dol'Gorath]

I need to put this rumor to an end about overpowered items...
EM's have NEVER been able to create items with properties. I have spoken to EM's in the past personally and it was part of what I asked. EM's are the same as Seers. Seers/EM's can create items and give them unique names and colors. But not add properties.
Properties can ONLY be added to items by GM's So if you wanna blame someone for overpowered items, blame the GM's that were part of helping the EM program [by decorating areas and making special items with properties]

EM's COULD request certain items for events, but it was always up to the GM to decide whether or not to make them.