[Balthie]

GM Channel, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Our Chat


Now, I understand this is what a certain subsection of you came for, and probably what you expected this whole thread to be about.
I'm going to give you direct insight into how we as a quartet generally interact in the GM Lair channel in the SL2 public discord server, what tools for keeping track of each other we have at our disposal, and perhaps some clarifications on recent events in the light of this insight.


So. I shall make no illusions as to the contrary- whilst I agree that there are improvements to be made to the system we have, the way GM Lair operates is something I adore.
There have been allusions both recently and in the past that things are generally not handled by only one GM. This is true in large part, but I shall clarify upon that matter. Are specific cases usually handled by one GM more than the others? Yes. Specifically, we can't all be the one to issue a warning, a boot, or a ban. We can't all be the one to speak to you at one particular instance, or be the one doing the bulk of a specific investigation. You all already know that, of course. However...
When it comes to what should be done regarding a certain case, the GM Lair is remarkably collaborative. I cannot recall a single case outside of bots, spammers, or advertising that has been the sole purview of one GM pushing for punitive action. Every case I can think of off of the top of my head, both in terms of moderation AND in positive changes/responses on more benign topics, has been something up for discussion and amiable, reasoned debate with one another. We all have access to the same materials where appropriate. We all are comfortable speaking with one another on a plethora of topics. We all are more than willing to open a dialogue with one another over most anything administrative, or criticise suggestions without hostility.
It's a shockingly pleasant change from many past administrative gigs I've had.

To quote a recent thread,
"We've also seen evidence that all the GMs were communicating with other about this and were all aware of the situation." -sic Jupiter_Storm, Addressing Misinformation Regarding a Recent Ban
This is very much a public good, and I'm glad that it has been seen openly, at the very least. Please know that this is fundamentally the situation with, again... basically every topic that is ever broached within the GM Lair channel.


Now. It's true that in regards with coming forward to a GM in regards to a specific issue, we prefer you to go to the GM who directly handled it, even if we've all discussed the matter. This helps to avoid any unnecessary confusion or crossed communication channels, and we've all experienced situations on BYOND in which a problem player has tried to go behind the back of one GM to speak to another. It's the ideal situation to avoid those problems. In most cases, if you make an effort to speak to the GM in question directly, they'll make an effort to respond as quickly as possible, given our personal schedules and lives. In situations where this is not the case, it's largely due to said GM being very busy in that moment, or an effort being made at a carefully reasoned response in more delicate situations.

Obviously, this can't always be the case. There are times where it may be appropriate to contact another GM.
Urgent scenarios? The need to report something particular sensitive, where you require someone more familiar to feel personally comfortable? Absolutely.
But keep this all in mind- we enjoy the collaborative nature of the GM Team, and the openness thereof. You should do this anyway, but remember that we have doubled personal investment in you;
Reporting any concerns you may have about GM(s) or GM Action taken. Really. Do NOT hesitate to report well-founded GM concerns to another GM or Dev. We take these matters very seriously. This also applies to Eventmins just as strongly.

I for one would be incensed at inappropriate GM activity taken behind the backs of an otherwise incredibly pleasant atmosphere.
Which leads me to...



GM Tools, Accessibility, Checks & Balances

A shorter word on some things we can do, are soon able to do, and keep track of.

A lot of mention has been had lately about logging, player logs, and player reports. It has been brought up prior to this, but as I understand it, there's due to be the positive change of an addition of server side logging. I'm to understand that a few of you have spoken on this in particular, commenting that it allows more thorough investigation, undoctored facts, and irrefutable evidence in the case of denial. Now, whilst it isn't foolproof- not all actions are taken over text posts, and not everything is on the game itself...
I, obviously, agree with you, and am delighted to be aware of such an addition.
It won't mean people can get away with things that aren't over text by pointing to the lack of a log, but it certainly makes textual infractions set in stone.

What do we keep track of, and how?
The GMs section of the Discord is full of various channels aside from the GM Lair itself.
Significant mechanical action is tracked automatically. Have you spawned an item, punished a player, or otherwise done something mechanically notable? It's automatically posted for the other GMs to see. This goes for Eventmins too.
Less significant, more community driven action is also tracked in a seperate channel. Every rename we've done since the existance of this channel is logged accordingly, for example, alongside prior character name and key. This includes comments on reasons for warnings, comments on investigations, and reasons behind especially notable things tracked in the auto log, amongst other more miscellaneous things.
Child characters? Ancient characters? Roles, approvals, even longer, more specific discussions that require their own dedicated channels before implementation? We record things like this.

If the fact that we communicate openly with one another isn't enough to ease some of your concerns, let the fact that we have these channels and that any missed logging we hear about would be very suspicious ease them.
If that doesn't ease some of your concerns, know that Dev has access to every GM channel and the entire server, and is able to see literally everything we post or have posted.



Balthie's Selfish Personal Time, and Positive Change Moving Forwards

So. I've tried to keep things positive in these opening posts. That... is not about to change!
"May you live in interesting times."
I said as much at the start of this, so let's recontextualise it. We as a community have had a lot of strife and upheaval recently, and I'll be real, that's stressful! But I'll be damned if there aren't good things that have come from it, and will continue to come from it. Times of change are rough, sure, but we can make that change for the better.

Perhaps the most important?
None of the GMs are against new GMs. We welcome it, and agree with you on the need for them.
We want to make sure the right candidates are put into consideration to better our team, and our community as a whole.

Beyond that, though-
Suggestions for mechanical systems to allow GMs better accessibility to both investigate ongoing issues, and improve the game experience for players.
Already off to a good start for positive change here. Server side logs? Great, I'm overjoyed. This continuation of positive steps forward is a great sign.

Eventmins as a whole.
It's been a while since they've got in now, hasn't it? I hope y'all have been enjoying the fact that we can have them now. Let's not forget the times when there was almost no system in place for this sort of thing, and the steps forward we have taken with providing events to players. Perhaps it's soon time to reflect on the prior few months in which the Eventmin team was settled upon, and review how things have been? A refinement, examination and expansion of what we've had thus far is an exciting prospect for me to consider.

The Most Selfish One.
Newsletter. Newsletter? Newsletter!
That initial suggestion of a Newsletter. I love it. Dyst loves it. I'm pretty sure we're all pretty damn positive about it. I wouldn't necessarily say expect it, or how soon it would be, but-
Goddamn I'm on board for the idea, and I don't think that I'm alone there. At all.
I'd love to see semi-regular news on what we're up to, and maybe... and Eventmin newsletter too? Perhaps. We've been very busy with the current contentions, so this hasn't seen quite so much discussion yet.

So, closing out...
I want to give a personal thank you to the OPs of each of the recent threads, and the constructive comments therein. We need openness and collaboration as a community. Your time, presence, and dialogue is something I deeply appreciate.

There are two things that I want to humbly ask of you all in the comments here. Firstly, I actively want to hear your questions and comments, but would appreciate respectfulness and kindness to your fellow players in the thread, to let us continue to tread towards positive change. Secondly...
I'll be active in the thread for a good couple hours at least, before I'll want to take a breather. I've had to write this up on four hours of sleep, after how busy the last few days have been with threads, overhauls, and way, way more discussions in the GM Lair than you'd think, so I'll probably need some fresh air afterwards! But I'm the GM least burdened by recent SL2 things, at least in my personal reckoning, so please- also remember that we GMs are still just players too, a fact that most of you have been well respectful of. We're largely very tired, so please understand as much.

Thank you again for reading, and thank you for any responses you may have.
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