OOC Seminar: Q&A Session, Jan 1st, 2005
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When: January 1st, 2005
Where: OOC Meeting Room
Who: Everyone who came
Summary: Questions and Answers from the crowd
Logger: Pixie
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[Note: Any 'You say' is Pixie]

You say "Okay. So, this is a Q&A session. So feel free to just say your
questions out loud, or page them to me if you'd rather not ask in public,
and... we'll answer."

Renata says "I'll just ask what everyone seems to want to know - when will the
schools be rejoining?"

You say "Good question. I think the first misconception to clear up is the
fact that yes, they are going to be rejoining. Of course they are. This was
never intended to be a permanent split. Now, I'm sure you'll understand that
I don't want to say -exactly- when. I will say that as of right now, it's
not planned to be before school starts again this year. But we do not
anticipate the split continuing for the whole year through."

You say "ICly, of course, people would probably be speculating by now that
with all the trouble Lucius appears to be in -- will the laws his
administration has enacted manage to last."

Renata says "Yay. :) Thanks!"

Sargas says "I have a question, I guess. How is a good way for characters to
get involved with what's going on?"

You say "That's a good question. There's not really any one good answer, but
here are some thing that will help. 1) Keep up to date on what's going on.
Read the bbposts. Read logs. RP with people and talk about current IC
events, because you may learn something new. The more your character knows,
the better equipped they are to make an important contribution. 2) If
there's a +event, make every effort to show up. Sometimes the events are
just for fun, but almost always we'll try to make sure there's /something/
that happens there or some information that's revealed that will make it
extra worthwhile to go. It may not be as obvious as a Dementor attack or an
assassination attempt, but it will probably be there. 3) Submit your logs.
We always say this, but I cannot emphasize it enough. Logs are often the
only way the admins have to know what your character is doing and talking
about. If we don't know this, it's virtually /impossible/ for us to think
'Hey, Joe would be perfect for this occurance, why don't we ask him to do
it!'. So instead we go with Jack, and Joe feels ignored because he /knows/
he was perfect for what happened. But the fact remains that Joe didn't
proactively show us that he was perfect for it."

You say "4) If someone bbposts looking for minions or friends, take them up on
the offer! Work on your inter character connections."

You say "Now, that said, not every character is going to be able to have a
starring role in every plot. That's just a fact of life. We do our very best
to give people something to RP about with respect to what's going on, and
with a plot that affects everyone on the game, that's certainly going to be
the case."

Tengu says "5) Make an effort to go out in public, especially when there's
other people there."

You say "Yes, absolutely."

Diarmuid says "I have a question. Because of the limited number of PCs that
are on the grid, the points totals for House (or boy/girl division) always
seems really paltry at the end of the year. Especially compared to the
totals that are seen in the books. Could something be done to make them more
comparable? Or is it too much work?"

You say "I'll answer that when I'm done with this question, Diar."

Diarmuid says "Okay. :)"

You say "Back to what I was saying though. Say, for example, there's a
political election. We need a 20-year old pureblood Slytherin to do
something -- their background is what makes the action have weight. Your 14
year old halfblood Gryffindor is just not going to work to fill that spot.
So what do you do when you find out your character, because of their age or
gender or political views, is going to be relegated to a peripheral role in
what's going on? You have a few choices. You can get depressed and whine and
moan and feel excluded, or, which we highly recommend, you can try to work
with what's going on. Figure out how it makes your character feel, and
figure out something else for them to do. That new thing may well turn into
a larger something in which they can have the starring role."

You say "Okay. Now, Diar's question. The actual point values don't really seem
very important; the important part is the differences between the houses,
since that determines the rankings."

You say "So... if people really /care/ about that, we could do something like
add 20 points to each house at the beginning of every IC month. But I'm not
sure that artificial inflation is what we should do. Because given the rate
at which certain houses /lose/ points, it might put the other ones even more
ridiculously ahead if we give them essentially 200 free points. :)"

You say "The only reason those houses are not as far behind as they could be
ist hat once they hit 0 they can't lose anything more."

You say "So... general poll of the people here. Does it matter?"

Sargas doesn't much care, but Slytherin always wins anyway. :)

Renata says "No. I'd rather we earn all the points than have some thrown at
us."

Renata says "And what Sargas said. :)"

Tengu says "With enough activity (show up to class!), the point totals come
close to matching the books anyway."

Diarmuid says "I hadn't considered the part about the artificial inflation.
You're probably right in that some people seem to live to lose points. :)"

You say "It's a shame that they do that. There were real consequences for
Harry in the books when he lost all those points; he was basically shunned
by the entire house for the rest of the year."

You say "So, any other questions?"

Chimaera pipes up to remind people that you -can- ask us questions at other
times. We hold these sessions specifically for that purpose, but we'd much
rather you talk to us right away about any concerns you might have, rather
than waiting for something like this.

You say "Definitely. But I'll also request that people remember to be polite.
A snotty, condescending or confrontational attitude is going to make it hard
for us to talk to you about anything at all. Just remember that we do have
reasons for decisions that we make -- you may not agree with how we come
down on a particular issue, but you should respect our position."

Vanya says "Respect is a good thing to remember when dealing with anyone, not
just admins. :)"

Diarmuid awws, and tosses the lecture he was writing.

Vanya snickers.

You say "Anyone with other questions? Yes, no?"

Diarmuid says "Not me. Too bad so few people came."

Renata says "None here."

You say "Well, it's the 1st... they may be out. Or nursing hangovers. Or
something. Anyhow, if that's all, we can end. Page or +mail if you all think
of something else, and thanks for coming!"