HIGH POSITIONS DEBATE

[STORM]

high positions debate

Hey everyone,

High positions are always a big part of Warriors RP's. Yet it's hard to keep the same characters in high positions because of members disappearing and other such things.

So, the staff wants to know what you guys think we should. Currently, we have the ideas mentioned below that we are considering. I added a poll, yet I would love if you guys would comment below and give your input on the issue.

First, we could keep either auditioning high positions or make them first come first serve.

Second, we could add a rule that a member must be active for 3 months (or so) before they can get a high position.

Third, we can make the high positions NPC's, or have them played by staff. Which means all staff members would play the characters, not just one.

Fourth, sort of 'hand-me-down' characters. For example, let's say Brackenstar is played by Tide. However, Tide goes inactive or leaves because of family issues. Rather than throwing away Brackenstar, we would adopt him out. Then the character would remain the same, but be played by a new user. Also, theses characters would be bios created by the staff, so that we're not using anyone's characters without permission.

Let us know what you think.

Thanks guys,
    Staff

[Deleted]

personally i find that high positions are a draw for a lot of members, so auditions or first come first serve would have a lot of appeal to prospective members. that being said, it is very important to have activity, especially in those higher ranks. when we have high ranks that go inactive, or even hiatus for extended periods of time, it really creates a sinking ship. i think the trick would be to have frequent activity checks and fast paced plots/events. exciting things can really lose their ouster when members have to wait a long time to be able to move forward. (for my personal taste, i like to have activity checks and auditions run about a week. when they run too long, members start to straggle. especially when it comes to activity checks, you get members that happen to have popped in a day the activity check was running, they post to save their characters, and then they're gone again.)

[BLIZZARDCLAW]

I've always been fonder of the idea of auditions with restrictions. Like, your character that you're auditioning has to have been in a few threads already (to make sure they're active and not just created to fill the high position) but the MEMBER has to have been with the site for a few weeks already. Not months, weeks. Because if for some reason high positions kept leaving, the member base would slowly be depleting until the staff would have to choose a high position and that might create dissent between the plebeian rabble about 'favorites' and 'cliques' and what not.

Except, of course, for things like leaders and medicine cats. Obviously first choice should go to deputy or MCA, to see if they want their cat to be promoted. And if so, they should be able to choose among the auditions for deputy and MCA afterwards so it's THEIR choice and not the staff's.

[SHADOWFIRE]

In my personal Opinion... I'm honestly not trying to be rude at all. I think the Hand Me Down option would work better. these characters have already been created and have been used in one way or another. They have impacted out clans way of life. Instead of wasting Characters or valuable time, you should post the the Bio's for the Characters up, and have additions for the people that are interested in them. But with that being said, We need to make sure these people are active, Do NOT have more then a certain amount of High Position cats, and possibly have a probation period. So say Bob wanted to claim Fireheart Deputy of FluffClan, He would be monitored to post so many post a week, make sure his post are not Dry (trust me i know a lot of characters that are and its almost impossible to reply to their characters) and fit the word limits we have set up, and personally I think the High Positions should have some kind of responsibility like maybe being able to Accept Character Applications or Have them Advertise on so many sites a week, Something that makes them feel important.

[Deleted]

i totally agree with shiny's input. a member that must have an active character prior to audition really makes sure the activity is boosted and the ranks aren't being claimed purely for the sake of it. i'm also a fan of characters ranking up naturally, whereas the former deputy becomes the successor and appoints his/her new deputy - it tends to make more sense in role-play too, so you don't just have new leaders being created out of thin air.

and i really like shadowfire's input about responsibilities coming along with the high ranks. this doesn't necessarily have to be moderator-type responsibilities (should the admins not want that), but i've seen forums that require in character responsibilities. for example, the deputy of each clan would be responsible for deliberately organizing patrols each month and assigning warriors to those patrols. this gets threads created and posts flowing. a leader (or deputy) might partake in apprentice assessments, should there be no ceremonies to be had that month. anyway, just throwing some ideas out there, again! :P

my only objection about hand-me-down characters is that some people prefer not to adopt and might have a bit of an aversion to this method. in my own taste, i really like personalizing my characters, especially my high ranking ones. i wouldn't be comfortable adopting someone else's already-made character in fear that i would stray from their personality, and that might make me reluctant to plot or want to make any major moves with said character. however, you could always keep adoption as an option. for instance, if you decide to host auditions, you could give members the opportunity to audition to adopt the pre-exististing character, or create their own. does that make sense? i can never tell if all my ramblings are coherent or not.

[boges]

Hi, I'm super new here, but my 2 cents is that both hand-me-downs / adoptables and auditions are good ideas, and if there was a way to utilize both of them depending on the situation, that'd be great. If there's no interest to adopt an abandoned high ranking character (like WC deputy or something, if the banner up top is anything to go by when compared to the board with active characters), then they could be used as an NPC within a minor plot-line that would either see them retired to the Elder's den via injury, killed in some accident or battle or via illness, or just stepping down in general. Then auditions could come in to play and stuff, because then a new one would be needed.

No idea if any of that made sense, but basically think of the taco girl that goes, "why not both?"

--

Also the input above is perfect. I just left a site not long ago where people swarmed high ranking positions for the flare, and then did absolutely nothing. It's VERY important that they're actually active roleplayers and willing to be go-getters that actively plot with new members and start up threads to keep things moving and going. They have to accept responsibility to maintaining a lot of activity among the RPers in their clan. It's not hard to do, but I've got a lot of DMing experience from my nerdy RPGs, so.

I'd suggest always having auditions, but for things like deputy, show the leader of the clan their applications and let them pick who they think would be best for plotting material, activity, etc. Ultimately admins get final say, but at least that way the clans get some kind of input. A lot of our admins have high ranking characters / leaders anyway, so it wouldn't be necessary a lot of the time xD

And on the note of RP responsibilities for leaders, Med cats, and deputies--- yes, dear god, yes. Things like patrols, hunting, and training were near and dear to the very core of daily life in the warrior's books, and it's so rare that I ever see people actually RPing those things. They can lead to so many plots and twists and turns if only people would just utilize them. DEFINITELY keep that as a requirement for high ranks. It gives everyone so much material if they actually do the work, and it can be so much fun.