Special Permission System Review

[MonMarty]

We have reviewed the Special Permission System after a lengthy debate on the review protocol and the inherent problems in the voting procedure that was in effect. We held a few meetings, and eventually came up with a consensus of a new system along with expansions to improve the current system.

What has changed:

• Permission system completely overhauled.
• All current Permission holders will be reviewed.
• All ongoing Permission applicants will be asked to re-submit their application

Where can I read more:

• This Thread
• This Thread also

Why did we do this:

• Revoking permissions is super hard right now, from a system's management point of view. We committed nearly half a year ago to making sure that permissions wouldn't be revoked, but we've come to the conclusion that this kind of goal is utopian and ultimately unrealistic to the needs of the many. Many permission holders slipped through on a promise that was never delivered upon, and maintain a power fantasy permission while giving nothing back to the community.
• Permissions were starting to get over saturated, because we couldn't revoke them. Players who entered the system later had a much harder time getting applications approved, which created a grandfather privilege problem.
• Voting is always complicated, because it results in quality slacking. The longer the system ran, the more likely Lore Staff would skirt around the specific requirements or start applying a double standard. This isn't a point to say the Lore Staff are corrupt, this is just general "System Fatigue" that happens when a system has been running for a really long time and it's not shaken up every now and then with innovations.
• The voting procedure felt impersonal and lacking in compromise. Our not-vc based voting procedures often resulted in deadlocks or some voters just copying other people's votes. This is inherently fine, but it sometimes means some players get stonewalled with an unfair obstacle. When we are all in voice, compromise is reached much faster and we are all quickly on the same page when it comes to feedback.

What did we do:

• Rework the permission system to ditch the 5 man voting squad and instead turn it into a milestone generation team. Instead of the previous system where 2 or more votes would reject an application usually based on apathy, the new system will cause reviews to be considered on the logic of: "If at least one staff member can come up with milestones, and the rest agree that the player can commit to them and that they are good milestones", then the application is approved. In simpler terms: Only one person needs to really be in favor of a permission now, instead of 4.
• Set clearer internal protocols to really ensure that every player is dealt with the same quality assessment and that these protocols don't slack the longer the system runs by really using clear language for the goals and limitations.
• Rework the application thread.
• Ongoing work on back end paperwork revisions to streamline the whole process.
• We added a bunch of new permissions with more flexible possibilities like technology inventions, alchemy inventions, special virtuoso Proficiencies and more!

What should players do:

• Are you currently a permission holder? Your permission will be re-reviewed over the coming days. Every current permission holder will be reviewed along the logic of:
  • What did this player promise when they made the application.
  • Did this player commit to those promises, did they do any of it?
  • Can we generate a new set of Milestones? Will they make those?
  • Reject if we cannot resolve, continue if we can.
• Some of the current Permission holders will lose their permissions, and that's going to suck for them, but realistically speaking, all Permission applicants made a verbal agreement with Lore Staff when they made their permissions. We accepted their promises of "Narratives" and "Story lines" and if none of them have been materialized upon, then it simply comes down to the Permission holder having abused the good faith of the Lore Staff for their personal benefit. We won't make a big deal out of each rejection, but we will have to flush the current system by getting rid of Permissions that aren't "adding" anything to the server's entertainment value or the community.
• For special cases like @Lumiess who is in the middle of moving across states, we will not commence the re-review process until she has a fair time period in which she can commit again. It sucks when you're being thrown into a review process while you can't realistically commit to the milestones we set for permission holders, so we will allow those people with situations like her to maintain their permissions until such a time arrives when the review process is fair on both ends. If you feel like you are one of these people who cannot be fairly reviewed right now due to IRL obligations, please PM @MonMarty about it on the Forums.
• Are you currently in the voting procedure? This affects @WrongChat @Lord_Immortal @XxCyberkiller555 @Banard @apath @Walrusaur_ @Athelois @Optimalfriskies @PuffyPigeon @Carlit0o , these people need to re-submit their application in the new template format, and their application will be re-reviewed based on the new criteria, even if they had already been accepted or rejected in the meantime.
• Did you only just recently get your permission? People like @HoshiWomp @Eccetra @SpunSugar @Patsie who are still waiting for their magic assignment will be given a much looser and simpler re-review process. We'll go off the assumption that we'll try our damn hardest to ensure these people get milestones that are fun and realistically possible to achieve sooner rather than later, and not make the whole "Well they haven't used their permission yet" thing factor in, especially because they haven't actually received their permission yet. Recent permission grants such as @TheBioverse will be given more leniency, but all will be given a new set of milestones to work with as a measurement of their permission value.
• Were you recently denied, or got rejected in the past? You could try re-applying since the system has been changed, but we do want to stress: you should ensure that if you were given some sort of feedback by Lore Staff in the past about your rejection, that you should still work on that and ensure you've improved there before re-applying. Just because the system qualifications changed doesn't automatically mean that these problems are going to go away.

As with anything, this system modification is a work in progress which we hope results in a fairer, more flexible system that is more transparent towards the players. The need for a revocation system, as shitty as it may feel to the ones who will get chopped down for it, was absolutely necessary. The system was becoming bogged down with inherited problems since the beginning, and we're scrubbing them out for a breath of fresh air.