Post by Webmonkey on Mar 30, 2014 23:38:50 GMT -8
Player Advocates: An Introduction
Live Action Role-Play often requires a wall of mystery between the Player Character’s actions and the Storyteller’s deliberations on plot and consequence: just as in real life, sometimes things happen, and there is no easily discernible answer as to “how” or “why.” In an ideal world, the actions of both Players and Staff relating to all game activities would be wholly trustworthy, transparent, and without conflict or disagreement. However, this is not an ideal world: mistakes occur, misunderstandings can snowball, and sometimes someone might really act in an unjust or unfair manner.
As large and as disparate our gaming groups can be, oftentimes solid relationships of trust and understanding between participants does not exist; it’s no one’s fault, just the circumstances of having a once-a-week interaction with people you might only be passingly acquainted with. But both Players and Staff should always be provided the benefit of the doubt when disagreements or conflicts arise; we are all participating with the presumed intent of having a good time, after all. The persons most in charge of benefiting this doubt are the ‘Player Advocates.’
Our job is, essentially, to ‘trust but verify’ rules calls in question; plot events and consequences without a clear or understood progression; and in general to arbitrate when disagreements or conflicts cannot be otherwise or easily settled between players, or between players and staff. Ahead of recruiting a Player Advocate to a situation, however, there are several steps you can take ahead of time to mitigate any fallout or escalated arguments. Here are just a few tips and pieces of advice to consider for most problems arising from play at game.
During A Contested Scene
The above guidelines aren't just for resolving issues with role-play that takes place at game, though the majority of PA involvement arises from them. Maybe you have a dispute about XP costs, or a role-playing choice an NPC made. Maybe we can help be a go-between for a player vs. player dispute. We are here to help resolve conflict and restore some functional harmony to the game’s community, when we can.
Know that PAs work toward resolving conflict. If you contact a PA, please have the same goal.
There may come a point at which the consequences of issues occurring at game, or disputes between participants, exceed the scope of a PA’s responsibilities or comfort of involvement. If anything you bring to us threatens to hit any ‘hard limits’ for us as individuals or as PAs in general, we will let you know. If we do hit those hard limits, The EC Charter will be our guide as to how to react and handle the situation. Please treat us with courtesy, because you can expect the same from us.
Above all: Ask for help now.
Whatever you choose to do to have your concern addressed, be it by contacting an ST or a PA, do it sooner rather than later. Do not wait for weeks or months to have passed, memories to have faded, and in-character circumstances to have altered.
Thanks for reading.
Your ECC Player Advocates
Live Action Role-Play often requires a wall of mystery between the Player Character’s actions and the Storyteller’s deliberations on plot and consequence: just as in real life, sometimes things happen, and there is no easily discernible answer as to “how” or “why.” In an ideal world, the actions of both Players and Staff relating to all game activities would be wholly trustworthy, transparent, and without conflict or disagreement. However, this is not an ideal world: mistakes occur, misunderstandings can snowball, and sometimes someone might really act in an unjust or unfair manner.
As large and as disparate our gaming groups can be, oftentimes solid relationships of trust and understanding between participants does not exist; it’s no one’s fault, just the circumstances of having a once-a-week interaction with people you might only be passingly acquainted with. But both Players and Staff should always be provided the benefit of the doubt when disagreements or conflicts arise; we are all participating with the presumed intent of having a good time, after all. The persons most in charge of benefiting this doubt are the ‘Player Advocates.’
Our job is, essentially, to ‘trust but verify’ rules calls in question; plot events and consequences without a clear or understood progression; and in general to arbitrate when disagreements or conflicts cannot be otherwise or easily settled between players, or between players and staff. Ahead of recruiting a Player Advocate to a situation, however, there are several steps you can take ahead of time to mitigate any fallout or escalated arguments. Here are just a few tips and pieces of advice to consider for most problems arising from play at game.
During A Contested Scene
Ask for a Storyteller or Rules Advocate. When a power is getting used on your character, especially if you've never had it used on them before; if it's one character attacking your character and it's a concern for you and no Staff member is directly involved in running the scene, take time out to ask for an official call. It's ok to agree on the effects of something if you want to, but if you are feeling uncomfortable or are uncertain of the effects of a power or roll result as pertains to your character, you have every right to call for a pause in order to get a staffer or RA to help interpret the rules fairly. If it *is* a staffer or CA making the call already, and you still don't think it seems fair, move on in this list.After the Contested Scene:
Read the Rules from the Book & Website. Getting Presence'd, Dominated, Dementated, etc. may seem terribly unfair at first and may even make your character seem unplayable. Your first impulse may be to cry foul, but wait to do so until you read the power. More than one person in the past has become very frustrated about the prospect of a power’s effect before reading the full description, only to go 'Oh. I guess that's not as bad as I thought.'
Directly approach an ST with your concern. If the above steps did not address the issue by the time the scene or the game session concluded, consider (re)approaching the Staff about it. Give them the opportunity to handle or review the issue if available. If you would rather not directly consult the Staff, for any number of possible reasons, the PAs are here to help.Know that PAs are available for more than just scenes at game
Get a PA. We will drop what we're doing and help you. Here's generally what you can expect from us:
- We'll listen. We know sometimes all you need to do is vent for a minute and it's cool. Many times someone has come to us with an issue and talked the entire thing through from start to finish, and resolved it only because they had a sounding board. Sometimes just walking through the events with another pair of ears is all that is needed.
- We'll ask questions. Open-ended and specific - both to find out your concern and perhaps to help you nail down what your concern really is. So what did the ST do? What did the other player(s) do? How did this start? Have you read the rules pertaining to the issue? Was this sent via email? Did you read the house rules? Have you had this call made for you before? Was this the 'last straw' and there are really some other issues that are making you annoyed beneath this one? Do you want me to talk to the STs about it? Do you want to remain anonymous?
- We'll make suggestions. Like some of the above. ‘Ok, lets go look at the book.’ ‘Lets go look at the house rule.’ ‘I can bring it up with the STs.’ ‘Lets get info from the other players/staff/whomever that were there/involved.’ ‘Have you considered looking at this problem in a different way?’
- We'll take action. I'll talk to the STs about this and get their side. I'll talk with the other player s involved about it. If specifically requested by a player, I can involve additional PA's as well.
- We may speak on behalf of the STs. ‘The reason this house rule exists is because...’ ‘The STs perspective is this...’
- We'll let you know how things went if further action was taken. We'll ask you how you feel about it. When all is said and done, is this 'fixed'? Do you understand why/how this call was made or issue was handled? Even if you don't agree with it in the end - Hey, sometimes that may happen - we'll at least try to help you understand why things went the way they did, and if possible provide tips on how to avoid the issue in the future. Believe it or not, many issues we see are simple matters of miscommunication between STs and players.
The above guidelines aren't just for resolving issues with role-play that takes place at game, though the majority of PA involvement arises from them. Maybe you have a dispute about XP costs, or a role-playing choice an NPC made. Maybe we can help be a go-between for a player vs. player dispute. We are here to help resolve conflict and restore some functional harmony to the game’s community, when we can.
Know that PAs work toward resolving conflict. If you contact a PA, please have the same goal.
There may come a point at which the consequences of issues occurring at game, or disputes between participants, exceed the scope of a PA’s responsibilities or comfort of involvement. If anything you bring to us threatens to hit any ‘hard limits’ for us as individuals or as PAs in general, we will let you know. If we do hit those hard limits, The EC Charter will be our guide as to how to react and handle the situation. Please treat us with courtesy, because you can expect the same from us.
Above all: Ask for help now.
Whatever you choose to do to have your concern addressed, be it by contacting an ST or a PA, do it sooner rather than later. Do not wait for weeks or months to have passed, memories to have faded, and in-character circumstances to have altered.
Thanks for reading.
Your ECC Player Advocates
chris@emeraldcitychronicles.com | julie@emeraldcitychronicles.com |
paul@emeraldcitychronicles.com | n/a |