Ending Corruption: Ideas to help Graal

Tyhm · #1 10-12-2006, 12:45 AM

My ideas are getting buried in the Lifetime Classic thread, so I'll start a few new ones.

Ending Corruption
Purpose: to stop scaring off customers by establishing the old system of checks and balances.
Options: Well, the main missing piece is the General Manager, and that could be anybody. If I had a secretary, I've already volunteered to come back and kick some butts.
Expansion: Maybe a definitive system for reporting corruption and organizing reports instead of a living and fallable secretary, but that's of questionable import.
Requires: A good enough place on which to post the law and expect it to be read.

The flow chart's really simple.

Stefan and Unixmad are the co-managers of Graal, and probably Cyberjouers and a bunch of other things. They take a lot of crap from a lot of people and have finite time and energy to deal with everything.
The Global General Manager is supposed to take care of everything for Stefan and Unixmad. You only go directly to Stefan and Unixmad if the Global General Manager is corrupt, and that should never happen. Otherwise, you trust your Global General Manager to pass on the requests, and he (or she I suppose) either handles it themselves or trusts Stefan and Unixmad to give it due consideration.
The PWAs, the Global Account Admin, and other Globals (I suppose including Forum Mods) are subject to the GGM's rulings. If they go corrupt, you tell the GGM and they handle it.
The PW Owners report directly to the PWAs. If an Owner's doing something rotten, it's up to the PWAs to stop them.
The Admins of a PW report directly to the Owner. A historical example, if Peach the GP Admin of Classic goes corrupt, it's the Owner's responsibility to stop him.
The staff of a PW report directly to their Admins. If a GP has wrongly jailed you, the GP Admin should be told first (before you decide the GPAdmin's corrupt and tell the PW Owner, etc.); if a LAT is placing pornography on a server, the LAT Admin's supposed to fire them.
The players are subject to the will of the GP Staff. If someone's hacking, a GP should be notified to jail them.

It's very nicely striated. In a worst-case scenario, if player A sees player B walking through walls, player A tells a GP. If the GP laughs at him, player A tells the GP Admin. If the GP Admin laughs at him, player A tells that PW's owner "hey, you've got a corrupt GP Admin!". If the PW's owner tells him to get bent, player A should then tell a friendly local PWA. If the PWA ignores him outright, player A should tell the GGM. In the abysmal case that the GGM blows off player A, only then should Stefan be called upon - certainly not first.

Why has this flowchart never been implemented? A handfull of reasons...one, if it was posted in the Rules section of the website, I doubt anyone would even notice. Two, it assumes everyone's online and responsive all at the same time, and that's never happened - we'd have to work out an acceptable wait time, if no GP responds within an hour it's time to email the GP Admin that his police are corrupt. Three, the staff have been in hiding for years - I defy you to name three staffers' email addresses, and if you can do it, I defy you to explain how a newbie's supposed to be able to.

So - do we need a GGM? Do we need an automated website for reporting violations? Do we need to start posting all staffers' AIM and ICQ again for each server? What do you guys think?

Sam · #2 10-12-2006, 12:48 AM

The Global General Manger is called Game Master and his name is Ibonic

nikomi946 · #3 10-12-2006, 01:05 AM

Except for the fact that rules aren't posted in an obvious place for every server that system is already in place. Problem is the people often prefer to skip a few levels at a time. Nothing will ever change in that regard. I can only speak for Classic of course but I have yet to find a new player that didn't find their way to me in record time when they have had a problem whether I'm on graal or off.

Tyhm · #4 10-12-2006, 01:18 AM

Ah, embarassing, I thought he quit a few years ago.

; And here I am volunteering...

So then we should have an automated system? Like Graal.net, and you are physically prohibited from bumping it up a step until a set time has elapsed?

Report: Problem with local GP - GP Admin has 24 hours to respond before it goes to Local Owner, etc?
I suppose people would lie in the subject line, "Problem with GGM: Stefaaaan, I was on Classic and Nikomi946 said I was walking through walls just because I had clipping turned off and they totally jailed me for no reason and it's so not fair, you should ban them and give me their job!", but then such abuses can be ignored fairly easily. Can't necessarily eliminate the option, of course - if the GGM IS corrupt, fair bet he'll delete any complaints that bubble up from Local GP...

Rufus · #5 10-12-2006, 01:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyhm

Ah, embarassing, I thought he quit a few years ago.

; And here I am volunteering...

So then we should have an automated system? Like Graal.net, and you are physically prohibited from bumping it up a step until a set time has elapsed?

Report: Problem with local GP - GP Admin has 24 hours to respond before it goes to Local Owner, etc?
I suppose people would lie in the subject line, "Problem with GGM: Stefaaaan, I was on Classic and Nikomi946 said I was walking through walls just because I had clipping turned off and they totally jailed me for no reason and it's so not fair, you should ban them and give me their job!", but then such abuses can be ignored fairly easily. Can't necessarily eliminate the option, of course - if the GGM IS corrupt, fair bet he'll delete any complaints that bubble up from Local GP...

Tyhm, have you played the game at all recently? Complaints about higher staff to outside of the server staff, and can be made via the Support Center, where we have Stefan, Ibonic and Unixmad.

Ibonic is not corrupt, far from it, infact I personally believe if he and Lyndzey left, it would be very hard to replace them.

Andy0687 · #6 10-12-2006, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyhm

Ah, embarassing, I thought he quit a few years ago.

; And here I am volunteering...

Your ideas are great and all and I absolutely respect the job you are trying to do and have done before.

However Id like to say one thing, I think it would benefit graal and Cyberjoueurs as a whole to look outside the ring of staff they have had and the ring of friends of the staff they do have.

Letting staff back who have already tried regardless of what grounds they left on to a position that they were once at (or the same position) is just a formula for disaster.

They need to start trying new people who have new fresh ideas. I would post all mine as you have but I dont think they would be so well recieved because I am not quite as well known as you are. Sad facts but true, its how it works.

The Evil Within · #7 10-12-2006, 01:28 AM

I thought Ibonic was just an accounts Admin? :shrugs:

Anywho there does need to be a new system for getting rid of abuse. I can't tell you how many times I've been abused by staff on servers that are not my "home server" and because I wasn't a known player on the server that I was abused on, my complaints were completely ignored, sometimes I was even insulted by the Admins on the server. I also lay complaints onto PWA's and 90% of the time I am told that it is not a global matter and I should make a complaint with an Admin of the server I was abused on.

Of coarse I have no recent complaints due to the fact that I barely log on any server other than Delteria Dev nowadays, but I'm sure that the same stuff is still going on.

Tyhm · #8 10-12-2006, 01:40 AM

*shrugs* Celebrity's a fickle mistress. I agree, I'm no more qualified to help out than the next guy, but the difference is if I showed up more people would assume I am - "Holy Crap, Tyhm's back! Corruption = ended!" Which is ironic, as there are at least three people who can definitively prove I am easily corrupted given the proper encouragement, but appearances are often more important than the truth.
And no, I haven't played the game (excepting cameos) in years.
Forget I offered it, I'd edit it out but we're moving forwards, not backwards.
Support center exists - does it have the framework posted? Does it enforce it in any way? Should it at least attempt to? Do the appropriate staff have access to it (from local Admin up)? Should they? Do the PWAs have the power to depose corrupt owners? Should They?

Rufus · #9 10-12-2006, 01:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyhm

Does it have the framework posted?

It does.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyhm

Does it enforce it in any way?

Yes, a lot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyhm

Do the appropriate staff have access to it (from local Admin up)?

Yes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyhm

Should they?

If they didn't, this idea would not hold very much substance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyhm

Do the PWAs have the power to depose corrupt owners?

The Playerworld Administration Team is lacking in staff, I don't think I have seen any activity from them since the departure of Spark.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyhm

Should They?

In my opinion, yes, but for Classic hosted playerworlds only.

Tyhm · #10 10-12-2006, 01:48 AM

Fair points. I suppose corruption is ended then. Go team go! :-)

Rufus · #11 10-12-2006, 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyhm

Fair points. I suppose corruption is ended then. Go team go! :-)

It hasn't, by far.

There are certainl Classic servers around with corrupt management, there is no one to complain about it though to due to PWA problems. I hear this is all going to change soon, which is very good news.

Tyhm · #12 10-12-2006, 01:54 AM

So then, the framework's in place, we just need more PWAs. Hey, can we hear from the PWAs currently in power? What's with the turnover rate, too much work and too small a staff? Too little power to too high expectations, are you asked to just politely request PW owners behave because "they're paying customers no matter what", or are you allowed to enforce The Code?

The Evil Within · #13 10-12-2006, 01:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyhm

*shrugs* Celebrity's a fickle mistress. I agree, I'm no more qualified to help out than the next guy, but the difference is if I showed up more people would assume I am - "Holy Crap, Tyhm's back! Corruption = ended!" Which is ironic, as there are at least three people who can definitively prove I am easily corrupted given the proper encouragement, but appearances are often more important than the truth.
And no, I haven't played the game (excepting cameos) in years.
Forget I offered it, I'd edit it out but we're moving forwards, not backwards.
Support center exists - does it have the framework posted? Does it enforce it in any way? Should it at least attempt to? Do the appropriate staff have access to it (from local Admin up)? Should they? Do the PWAs have the power to depose corrupt owners? Should They?

Actually Tyhm I associate your name with corruption. It isn't like you did that much stuff wrong, but you were one of the first staff members I saw abuse their powers way back when, when you warped everybody on Graal into a lake on the southern part of the map. Those were the days.

As for PWA's having power to get rid of corrupt managers/staff, they do have the power to do so, however there are only 2 PWA's that I know of and it is very hard for 2 people to watch over 8 servers. Houdini and Vulcan have both been helpful to me in the passed few weeks, but there is only so much that 2 people can do. I've been debating on trying out for PWA myself, although I don't have much free time and I kind of want to spend the free time I do have helping out Delteria rather than sorting through thousands of GraalDesk support tickets. I also doubt that I would be accepted if I did apply, not only that but I don't even think there is a way to apply for PWA as of right now.

nikomi946 · #14 10-12-2006, 02:43 AM

I think all of us that play agree that there will always be some corruption on graal. There will always be those that will test the limits just to see how far they can get. Ego's run high on graal, there are those that will always say "Its my server, I'll run it my way. If you don't like it you can leave."

Currently there is a shortage of PWA's capable of putting in the time required to handle every complaint that comes through in a time frame suitable to the player. (Which btw is usually 10 minutes or less) but I think you'll find that the general consensus is that ending corruption will not save graal. Income generation will save graal, without it there is nothing to save.

Devil · #15 10-12-2006, 03:03 AM

Lol @ volunteering.