With troubled and i being tired after the AURB, the stress on wanting the aurb to be awesome and to go as smoothly as possible, while also juggling work and the fact that gaia is very america centric so we had a huge timezone clash.
12pm PDT is 5am AEST for an example.
There is also a smaller amount of people joining as we dont have the join as open for everyone.
we had just over 100 members in the last planning guild but only 15 people really replying to quotes and annoucement.
we didnt really feel like wanting to talk to a brick wall anymore, a lot of people joined just for info, which is now what the AURB Society will helpfully help with now ^^
Rooms hosts/Mains also get a hell of a lot more PM's during the aurb to deal with, so i defs feel like we shouldnt have such character centric/ plots that need to be pushed by certain charaters to move, so if people do go awol things dont need to change much.
i probably have more to say but soon lmao
Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 10:38 pm
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Mushyung
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Mushyung
Madame Mae
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Mitsuko Yukimura
Smaller number of rooms probably means it'll be better to have to have a more specific theme for the ball this year haha. What do you guys think? Also, It would probably be best to have maybe two changes of scenery, so once every two days if we still have a four day ball this year. I saw that changing the environment was causing confusion for the guests, and a bit of stress for the hosts trying to get the plot going.
((And I got distracted while writing this post and lost my train of though lmao whoops))
That's the thing, in typical rps the scenery changes as the rp goes along. But when you have people coming in and out especially for a short period, things need more structure.
Maybe a haunted house? The people helping will do the haunting and the outside rpers be those we scare through the house. A chainsaw maze in the back?
Or a Monster High fandom mini thing. Have everything take place inside the school to make it simple.
I really liked the idea Main had in the theme thread. It doesn't look like it needs more than two scene changes (main area to do the investigating-> tower), and is easy to figure out. So kudos to them. I hope that gets picked biggrin The whole scene changing seemed to work out alright this year, and hopefully with more warning and time, it'll work out even better next year?
And usually the ball is not so near halloween, so haunted house wouldn't fit, and we've covered a lot of the monster stuff with the supernatural theme, though it does sound interesting! A school full of monsters haha.
Monster High is a tv show/movie series. And hunted houses work any time of year lol.
Yes I do know that monster high is a cartoon thing, but due to copyright, we wouldn't be able to host such a large event backed by the gaia staff based on it. Sorry. :<
And, haunted houses I've been to have always had more than one room, where guests enter, travel through a few different areas, and exit. I don't know what kind of plot we'd be able to push other than a supernatural themed one, and we've already covered that in earlier balls. They are also amost always associated with halloween, so not certain it would be a good fit for a summer event. It could be a fun mini-event to host in the halloween thread if gaia makes another this year! What do you think?
Also, we should probably move this conversation in the themes thread lol
Alright. I'm going to address this properly now. Please excuse my bluntness, I am still very tired. I still need more time to recover, but I feel it is important to address these things now.
Anyone saying they wouldn't get worn out by the Main Host role as it is now is either a bare faced liar or just plain ignorant of human limitations. I too thought I'd be fine in managing the ball, but when it came to the event itself, there was a whole other level of stress that I became aware of. I was under so much stress that I was having heart palpitations and skipped heart beats that were so intense it kept me awake in what little time I did have to sleep during the ball. Someone with a weaker heart could have very well died because of this, and the fact that that isn't even remotely an exaggeration is what scares me. Listen to the people that have gone before you. Pay attention to the trends. It is too much for any one person. End of story.
I flat out refuse to pass the role of Main Host on as it is now. I cannot in good conscience pass this role on knowing what it can do to a person. It will change before any nominations for next year are taken, and it will only be passed on to those nominated who have proven themselves capable of performing well under pressure. This is not just about running a guild or proving how thin you can stretch yourself without snapping. This is about running a guild, organising an event, and then performing well under the pressure of the actual event itself, and seeing it through to completion. It requires a specific type of skillset that has to be learned, and does not come about simply with multi-tasking.
A large number of you have suggested having one person supervising the planning and the event, keeping the ball tied together from year to year and helping with the 'behind the scenes' work, and I agree completely that it is needed. The AURB Society is an excellent step in the right direction in that regard, but we do need someone to manage the discussions with the Gaia User Events Team and the forum thread information itself during the event (i.e. updating contest lists and plot, etc.) and I would like to put myself forward for this role as to my knowledge I am the only one in the guild thus far with any kind of qualification and experience in project management and company management as a profession, which is sorely needed to manage the AURB.
I think the admin team idea is a good one, if executed properly. I believe a structure similar to the one we have now would work, but instead of having a 'secondary' that largely does nothing aside from whatever tasks the room host assigns them (which is often nothing), having a kind of 'admin' role for each room, as well as a role play host, would be ideal. The admins can work in conjunction with the main admin to ensure that information and deadlines are passed on to each room in a timely manner, and can facilitate the flow of communication far better than just one admin sending out announcements. Any more than that is unnecessarily complicating the system.
As it stands now, as a default, the AURB needs to only have one room. If we cannot get the numbers to run multiple rooms it simply won't work and would instead collapse in on itself like the 2k16 AURB was originally going to.
I believe a room host limit is required as well. Having a limit of 10 hosts in any one room, with any more hosts spilling over into a new room (with a minimum of 4 members, or the room cannot form) would be best. I realise in a worst case scenario that means that some people might not be able to have an official character in a room for the ball, but given we had a number of hosts that didn't bother to show up at all for the actual event, there are always opportunities for slots to become available. There is also something to be said for guild members that only bother to put in effort if they get an official character when other guild members who realise they are unable to take on the responsibility still end up contributing, and even end up contributing more.
Regarding art and theme for the ball, this will not be addressed until the actual structure and organisation of the guild itself has been set, so please try to keep the conversation on topic.
NB: As an aside, I realise in the past there has been a significant issue with user behaviour and general politeness in the guild. It is not uncommon for more egotistical or self-serving users to become unpleasant unless they get what they want out of the AURB, and this simply will not fly anymore. I myself was subjected to emotional abuse during the month leading up to the AURB by another guild member, and a number of rude comments were made about the contributions made by other members that weren't part of their 'clique', and I will not tolerate this kind of behaviour again. Ever.
I will write up a guideline for behaviour in the guild, but I do not want to do this right now unless I am forced to, so please, don't force me to. Be polite and courteous to other members in the guild, show them the respect you would want shown to you.
Again, excuse my bluntness. Please understand I mean no offence by anything I have said in this post, there are just things that need to be addressed and I am just not in the mood, nor do I have the energy, to walk on eggshells right now.
Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 11:03 pm
Sir yes sir holy shitcakes sorry gonk
So uh I suggest this format: We need main administrator(ball-wide deadlines, setting theme, helping/deciding on main plot, ball-wide contests and gathering funds), communications manager (all the stuff you said), main room host (setting deadlines for character creation, helping with main plot, making sure character quests are done, all the stuff doing with characters and the plot) and room administrator (distributing funds, art/graphics, organizing prizes orz), splitting the stuff the main host used to do.
So uh I suggest this format: We need main administrator(ball-wide deadlines, setting theme, helping/deciding on main plot, ball-wide contests and gathering funds), communications manager (all the stuff you said), main room host (setting deadlines for character creation, helping with main plot, making sure character quests are done, all the stuff doing with characters and the plot) and room administrator (distributing funds, art/graphics, organizing prizes orz), splitting the stuff the main host used to do.
Um, what do you think?
It's ok friend :> I know you suggested moving the conversation to the appropriate thread before I commented, thank you for that.
I'd say it needs a bit more refinement because I feel like communications manager might be a bit redundant if the Administrator is doing their job correctly (think of the Main Administrator as the people manager that makes sure everyone is on the same page - literally and metaphorically) but yeah, having the roles split between Host and Administrator at both the forum and room level seems like the best way to go about it.
Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 11:58 pm
troubled-pasta
Mushyung
Sir yes sir holy shitcakes sorry gonk
So uh I suggest this format: We need main administrator(ball-wide deadlines, setting theme, helping/deciding on main plot, ball-wide contests and gathering funds), communications manager (all the stuff you said), main room host (setting deadlines for character creation, helping with main plot, making sure character quests are done, all the stuff doing with characters and the plot) and room administrator (distributing funds, art/graphics, organizing prizes orz), splitting the stuff the main host used to do.
Um, what do you think?
It's ok friend :> I know you suggested moving the conversation to the appropriate thread before I commented, thank you for that.
I'd say it needs a bit more refinement because I feel like communications manager might be a bit redundant if the Administrator is doing their job correctly (think of the Main Administrator as the people manager that makes sure everyone is on the same page - literally and metaphorically) but yeah, having the roles split between Host and Administrator at both the forum and room level seems like the best way to go about it.
Ahh i see. But wouldn't that make the main administrator still have the same responsibilities as the main host during the ball itself? I was thinking that the main admin could deal with the management of staff through the entire year, while communications manager would be coming into play later with talking to gaia staff, getting announcements set up, making sure the updates for the ball were on the front page, etc. It looked like you were rather bogged down by having to do all that and host at the same time during the ball.
Ahh i see. But wouldn't that make the main administrator still have the same responsibilities as the main host during the ball itself? I was thinking that the main admin could deal with the management of staff through the entire year, while communications manager would be coming into play later with talking to gaia staff, getting announcements set up, making sure the updates for the ball were on the front page, etc. It looked like you were rather bogged down by having to do all that and host at the same time during the ball.
Sorry if I didn't explain myself properly. ;w;
Ahh yeah no it's me that didn't explain properly, I got a bit confused (like I said, I still need to recover lmao).
I think we're both on the same page, it's just the terms that are getting mixed up. I think you're right about having a main admin and another person to handle people management from a roleplay perspective, but I also think it's best if we don't call them something like 'communication manager' because that term does overlap with the role the main admin plays.
For me it wasn't the admin stuff as a whole that got me, it was the need to handle admin stuff like talking to gaia staff and updating things for the ball, while also managing the roleplay and people actively participating in the event. There's a lot that needs to be discussed when i'm in a better position to do so, so that we have a clear idea of who will do what, so don't take anything I'm saying about the roles now as gospel, but it's a good step in the right direction.
Think of it in terms of the way the Main Host and Secondary should work, except it'd be the 'Secondary' (or rather, Main Host) handling the roleplay stuff while the Main Host (or rather, Main Admin) handles the behind the scenes stuff.
Hopefully that makes a bit more sense.
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 1:40 am
How about we get a list of what needs to be done for the ball ... then we sort out which of those responsibilities should fall to which person.
I.E: I can't help decided if person A should be doing z,y,&x if I don't know what z,y,&x are because for all I know person B could be the better person to assign them to
I know we have these: - Communications with Gaia - to set up the event page - Communications with Each Other - to keep us on schedule - Main Story Plotting - Off Shoot Room Plotting - Character Creation - Fundraising - Distribution of Funds/Prizes - Character Art - Room Art - Thread Coding
then we've also always had committees for art and plotting
How about we get a list of what needs to be done for the ball ... then we sort out which of those responsibilities should fall to which person.
I.E: I can't help decided if person A should be doing z,y,&x if I don't know what z,y,&x are because for all I know person B could be the better person to assign them to
I know we have these: - Communications with Gaia - to set up the event page - Communications with Each Other - to keep us on schedule - Main Story Plotting - Off Shoot Room Plotting - Character Creation - Fundraising - Distribution of Funds/Prizes - Character Art - Room Art - Thread Coding
then we've also always had committees for art and plotting
Yeah I absolutely agree that's necessary. I fully intend to write up something for people to approve/veto when I'm feeling a bit better.
I would like to wait until I'm properly back from my break before getting stuck into that if that's alright though.
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 7:41 am
troubled-pasta
I will try to be as supportive as I can. I fully understand what you have said, and I'll always keep it in mind. Take some more rest. Like you said, the way it was before was too stressful to the Main Host individual. -gentle nuzzles- But I thank you for taking up the challenge and made 2k16's ball happen.
Ahh i see. But wouldn't that make the main administrator still have the same responsibilities as the main host during the ball itself? I was thinking that the main admin could deal with the management of staff through the entire year, while communications manager would be coming into play later with talking to gaia staff, getting announcements set up, making sure the updates for the ball were on the front page, etc. It looked like you were rather bogged down by having to do all that and host at the same time during the ball.
Sorry if I didn't explain myself properly. ;w;
Ahh yeah no it's me that didn't explain properly, I got a bit confused (like I said, I still need to recover lmao).
I think we're both on the same page, it's just the terms that are getting mixed up. I think you're right about having a main admin and another person to handle people management from a roleplay perspective, but I also think it's best if we don't call them something like 'communication manager' because that term does overlap with the role the main admin plays.
For me it wasn't the admin stuff as a whole that got me, it was the need to handle admin stuff like talking to gaia staff and updating things for the ball, while also managing the roleplay and people actively participating in the event. There's a lot that needs to be discussed when i'm in a better position to do so, so that we have a clear idea of who will do what, so don't take anything I'm saying about the roles now as gospel, but it's a good step in the right direction.
Think of it in terms of the way the Main Host and Secondary should work, except it'd be the 'Secondary' (or rather, Main Host) handling the roleplay stuff while the Main Host (or rather, Main Admin) handles the behind the scenes stuff.
Hopefully that makes a bit more sense.
Oooh that makes much more sense now, thank you! emotion_facepalm Have a nice break!~
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 10:29 am
troubled-pasta
Take a break and please take care of yourself. No event is worth that much stress. So yes it needs to change. And once you're well rested we can find a good way to solve these problems. But you need rest first.
Thank you for the amazing ball your hosted this year!
AugureyRiddle
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 11:07 am
troubled-pasta
Anyone saying they wouldn't get worn out by the Main Host role as it is now is either a bare faced liar or just plain ignorant of human limitations.
It's neither actually. As I said there are people who can handle it. Whether you believe it or not. And it's not that i'm being optimistic. I do this very thing frequently. And have for many years, not just on Gaia. It simply takes the right kind of personality and time. What stresses out one person can energize another. This kind of stuff I thrive off of.
I did the entire Guild's Fair two year's in a row- gathering guilds, thread set up, coding, advertising, games, pms, graphics, etc. While doing everything else I do. I help run The Daffodil Movement and last year ran it alone. That came with a lot of set up too and getting a Gaia Blog. We are why there's an email now and the staff alert about an email for stuff like that. Before we had a staff contact. Staff which I still talk to. Mostly for a magazine though. I also have done rp events before with B/C shops. Doing almost exactly what you had to do for this. Only with less nice people.
Pasta, you also have to remember that you have a job. Some of us don't. I can't work. Gaia is how I deal with pain management. For you, you had juggling Gaia with that job. And fitting in time. Plus your timezone. It was at odds with the majority. Having staff in the US could be beneficial, with one out of US to rp with those like yourself who are on while the US sleeps.
I support the suggestion of one person to talk to staff and handle the other communications and one to do the rps though. Providing they work well together. Because there's that risk of two hosts having a disconnect and miscommunication. But with a good flow of communication, it would be awesome.
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 11:11 am
I agree with having an administration team. I remember when I was Pinkie's secondary for the 12th how much stress it was, and I only did not go insane because I asked for help. It even got to the point that I had to beg for help from my Hogwarts guild because otherwise the main room was going to completely collapse in on itself, as well as several other things in the guild.
I think there's already a bit of an administration team built into how the AURB has been run before with the committees. The difference is changing the responsibilities up, or even making them more concrete and maintaining communication among everyone. I know that's been an issue in being a committee head in years past. I've put my thoughts on responsibilities for each committee under the spoiler. Each committee would continue to have a main and a secondary head who would have people join and take on different responsibilities.
Advertising - Create affiliations with various guilds, shops, and threads - Create events for holidays - Work with fundraising committee as needed to create events - Put out a monthly newsletter Art/Graphics - Maintain a list of artists available for various guild functions - Assign artists as needed - Oversee room/character art - Oversee thread coding Fundraising - Create Fundraisers - Oversee Fundraising Mule - Determine room need - Distribution of Funds/Prizes Information - Communications with Gaia (set up event page, deal with anything extra Gaia may wish to give us such as kickstarters and items) - Communications with each other - Create information thread for event - Plotting - Main Story Plotting - Off-Shoot Room Plotting - Oversee room plot progress - Oversee Character Creation
Another suggestion I have is using Google docs to organize everything. I've used it before when I've hosted rooms to keep track of the plot, as well as who gets what prize, and even contact info.
I think we should shoot for three or four rooms. From what I've heard, people were bored with only one room, and 15 people is enough for three or four. Also, we should stay open to new people!
a porg
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 11:25 am
Violet the Maestro
I agree with having an administration team. I remember when I was Pinkie's secondary for the 12th how much stress it was, and I only did not go insane because I asked for help. It even got to the point that I had to beg for help from my Hogwarts guild because otherwise the main room was going to completely collapse in on itself, as well as several other things in the guild.
I think there's already a bit of an administration team built into how the AURB has been run before with the committees. The difference is changing the responsibilities up, or even making them more concrete and maintaining communication among everyone. I know that's been an issue in being a committee head in years past. I've put my thoughts on responsibilities for each committee under the spoiler. Each committee would continue to have a main and a secondary head who would have people join and take on different responsibilities.
Advertising - Create affiliations with various guilds, shops, and threads - Create events for holidays - Work with fundraising committee as needed to create events - Put out a monthly newsletter Art/Graphics - Maintain a list of artists available for various guild functions - Assign artists as needed - Oversee room/character art - Oversee thread coding Fundraising - Create Fundraisers - Oversee Fundraising Mule - Determine room need - Distribution of Funds/Prizes Information - Communications with Gaia (set up event page, deal with anything extra Gaia may wish to give us such as kickstarters and items) - Communications with each other - Create information thread for event - Plotting - Main Story Plotting - Off-Shoot Room Plotting - Oversee room plot progress - Oversee Character Creation
Another suggestion I have is using Google docs to organize everything. I've used it before when I've hosted rooms to keep track of the plot, as well as who gets what prize, and even contact info.
I think we should shoot for three or four rooms. From what I've heard, people were bored with only one room, and 15 people is enough for three or four. Also, we should stay open to new people!
Yes! I use very similar structure's in my guilds. And they work out well, when you have crew that actually show up lol.
You're not the first to mention google lol. I have over 40 docs at this current time. Guild information, job information, rp information, prizes, events, old stuff, graphics, affiliates, codes; it works for everything.
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