awiiya

Same. :( Awi

For me, it's as simple as: It's more fun to grow real gardens in real life. Awi

Yup - the error was from the Watering Can. I'll give bugs an email. Awi

So the watering can was coded by me a long time ago. But now when I try to use it I get this: [b][color="#CC0000"]There was a problem in using this item[/color][/b] #Reloaded use page, please press use from the inventory page Any ideas Awi

The adventure log Here's why: 1. It was updated, when done well, once or multiple times a day. 2. It highlights certain players, and makes the idea that players can change the realm real for new players who are skeptical 3. If someone takes turns writing or creating it, it could become a very successful way to improve activity. A lot of us old vets have this idea of the Adventure Log as something that introduces or expands on the central philosophy of MD - or it should reveal some part of Mur's master puzzle that we call this game. Honestly, I don't know that it has to be that. In the right hands, it could reveal not Mur's master idea (or cryptic clues towards it), but ours. The game is not Mur anymore. I think it's time to revive the Adventure Log - but this time without the burden of living up to Mur's intricate clues and mysteries. As for WHO or with what mechanics... I'm not sure. Maybe a new interface, like the mood panel, but designed less for momentary thoughts and more for grand plots and ideas. Think big. Now is the time to. As for my own ideas to help: 1. I could offer a rooting day festivity as always. 2. I have the watering can which always is set for fun (if you've never used it, ask me sometime) 3. There's the oldest game, or a version of fortune telling which I'm rather fond of. 4. I have Wiiya and Bubbles so I could start up my quests again. Awi

Well - yes, but judging the judge is just shorthand notation for judging everything you know about them. The question could have just as easily read, "Do you trust the Council's decisions." Awi

The statement with which people agree or disagree: [b] "I trust the Council's decisions"[/b] So each person interpreted that statement for themselves and decided whether they agreed with it. Awi

As per Chewett's added alt information, this will be changed soon to be more positive. Awi

Post any opinions you like here. I asked people not to post opinions on the other board so that a person about to vote would not be influenced by our thoughts. But that's not a worry here! Awi

[b]General Approval Rating:[/b] [b][size=6][color=#008000]36.67% approval[/color][/size][/b] [b][size=6]31.67% neutral[/size][/b] [b][size=6][color=#ff0000]31.67% disapproval[/color][/size][/b] Split even on the strong opinions - 10 votes for each. The largest portion by far is the neutral at 19 votes. As far as spread goes - every other category received about 10 votes (+-2). This gives the Council a slight positive approval rating (by 3 votes). [size=4][b]Fairness Rating:[/b][/size] [size=6][b][color=#008000]23.33% fair[/color][/b][/size] [size=6][b]38.33% neutral[/b] [color=#FF0000][b]38.34% unfair[/b][/color][/size] Unlike the general approval, more people seemed to think that the Council was at times unfair to the people of MD. A quarter of voters disagree with the proposition that the Council is fair. The disagree outnumbered the agree by a large margin (12), while the strongly disagreed outnumbered the strongly agree just slightly (2). Still a bit more than a third of voters have no opinion about the Council's fairness. [b]Trust Rating:[/b] [color=#008000][size=6][b]20.00% trust[/b][/size][/color] [size=6][b]36.67% neutral[/b][/size] [b][color=#FF0000][size=6]43.33% distrust[/size][/color][/b] This is a mostly negative result - with only 5 voters agreeing and 7 strongly agreeing that they trust the Council. While again a third responded neutrally, 17 voters disagreed and 9 voters strongly distrusted the Council. The majority of responders to the poll find that they cannot completely trust the Council - despite perhaps approving of being neutral in the approval rating. [b]Growth and Health Rating:[/b] [size=6][color=#008000][b]28.33% promotes growth[/b][/color][/size] [size=6][b]23.33% neutral[/b] [b][color=#FF0000]48.33% does not promote growth[/color][/b][/size] This is the most negative result of the four questions, and the most polarizing (only about a quarter responded neutrally). Almost half of poll responders think that the Council does not promote the growth of the Realm - but they also may think that the Council doesn't particularly impedes growth either. This question also resulted in the largest number of strong responses (12 people strongly disagreed) in all four questions. [b]General Analysis and Suggestions:[/b] While a 36% approval rating is nothing to celebrate, the most worrying results are the last two questions, especially the trust rating. The Council may not be responsible for growing the Realm (perhaps that should be the work of us), but it should inspire trust. This lack of trust may come about as response to their anonymity or lack of updates as to exactly they're working on. The fairness rating may also reflect the last few public decisions - ZenTao, Fang - that generated more negativity as to the harsh, act-first-ask-later attitude taken by the Council. As for ways to improve - there's already a forum topic dedicated to ways in which the Council could do a better job. From this poll, it seems that the Council should focus on inspiring more trust and handling situations with a bit more tact. People especially feel cheated when a forum is opened to gauge public opinion, and then the Council does not accept the majority opinion. If the Council is going to go ahead and decide themselves, what's the point of asking the public's opinion? It can feel that the Council asked for opinion just to give the illusion that they are considering our opinions (even if in reality they are considering them - we do not sit in on their meetings and thus cannot know this for sure). Nearly half of responders do not think that the Council promotes the growth of the realm - and this shouldn't come as a surprise. The public view of the Council has been largely administrative - they punish, announce, and organize. Because the Council is not in-game, and their style differs vastly from Mur's thought-explosiveness, it can be harder to tell that they are in fact moving the game forward in a creative direction. Furthermore, most of the times the Council does speak on the forum and in announcements, it sounds robotic and overly controlled - most likely because the writer of the Council is attempting to sound as objective as possible (and as much unlike themselves). This stripping of all personal flair leads to an image of coldness and perhaps even contempt. I hope that you will take my opinions with a grain of salt, and if you would like to post your own analysis or a response to mine, by all means. Awi

Orange dots work in MDA as per announcement: [color="#CCCCCC"][font=Georgia,]Ann. 2208 - [2012-02-18 02:27:20 - Stage 11][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=Georgia,]The Realm 4 (MDA Building) map now has an indicator showing where you are. It will also show other online players if you have bought the feature from the MD Shop, in the Extra Features branch. If any location points seem misplaced, or doesn't appear, please post them on the forum.[/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Georgia,] One more land to go![/font][/color]

Chewett, I'm not sure the sideline comments are helping much either... I think I may put a vote out with some of the ideas culled from this topic to see what people think of them. I would love to hear more ideas about how the Council could improve, or what should replace them if the realm has had enough of them (which I just don't think is the case at the moment). Awi

I was well aware of the 5 point scale, and well aware of standard practices in questionnaires. Furthermore, the idea to take an approval rating and ask a few other questions came from the United States Presidential Approval Rating. However, where that poll employs random sampling, my poll (hopefully) captures all of those who have any interest in the subject. As for the analysis, I'm planning on doing a number of analysis, some lumping the agrees together, some separating them out. But enough about the poll - we are here to talk about what would make the Council better, or what should replace them. From what I'm hearing, not many people really want to abolish the Council... and most would rather just have them modify themselves to be more transparent. Awi

[quote name='Maebius' timestamp='1356966982' post='129361'] From Awiiya's poll, it seems there is a slightly negative opinion on some aspects of council. However, statistics are a good starting point for discussion, but not the end-all of opinion. In any "community" the most vocal tend to be the ones who are dissatisfied with something. Thus, polls can tend to skew slightly unfavorably. This doesnt' mean they are not useful, just potentially non-accurate 100%. [/quote] Actually Maebius, I'm not sure that's a fair assessment. I think that you could make an equally convincing argument for it being skewed in the opposite direction: because the people who approve of the Council notice a trend for those with a negative opinion to speak up strongly, they are more likely to vote, and vote strongly. And if you look at the board, you and SkyArmy were the only two to comment on the voting with an opinion - both of you spoke positively of the Council (despite my explicit request not to post your opinion). You, in fact, felt the need to encourage people to vote positively, in a thinly veiled statement which you probably shouldn't have posted. There's of course the possibility of skew in every poll - but it's a lot more holistic of a picture than attempting to read through forum posts and ascertain public opinion. In a forum, the strong opinions, both positive and negative, are more likely to manifest, masking the less opinionated in the group. I don't think that the poll represents a more negative picture of public opinion. I think, to be honest, it's rather fair - and because of the outspokenness of Council disapprovers, it may in fact be skewed positive. Awi

There are a number of options, I think, if we wish to change the Council. They fall into two broad categories: abolishing the Council, and significantly modifying the Council. [b]Abolishing[/b] 1. A single King of the realm, much like Mur. 2. A splitting of duties into a number of people. One person handles rule breaking, one person development, another roles, another coding, another bills, etc. They could either have an overseer, or they could make large decision about the game much as the Council does. Preferably non-anonymous, but they could be mixed: the person who pays the bills doesn't really need to be known, so they are anonymous; the person who handles rule breaking, to promote trust, may be public; the person handling tags and such may be anonymous or public. 3. A vast voting system compromised of some or all of MD's players. Players make the rules, decisions, etc. The only things that would still have to be appointed are bills, coding, etc. [b]Changing[/b] 1. Revealing some or all of the Council's identity to promote trust and accountability. 2. Having more open forums in which the Council discusses exactly their plans for things and how they make decisions. These are ideas, I'm not particularly promoting one over others. Feel free to rip apart, take, exalt, etc. Awi Later comments: It just occurs to me that voting truly could offer a serious alleviation of some of the Council's duties. We already decide who becomes a citizen and who doesn't. While that process has some kinks, it could be expanded to who gets a tag, who gets items, and a ranking of what we want coded. There is of course the problem of who has what power of vote, if we're all equal or if it's weighted. Perhaps it could tie in with heat or one of the other ways we have of expressing ourselves (items?). We need a real economy anyways, this might be a way of encouraging that. Again, bill paying and coding stil have to be handled by a Council-esque group or individual. As a third aside, those of you who know me or have good memories know that the Council and I have had our differences, and my dislike of them goes rather far back. I've railed and called for change a few times. But it seems to me here that anger and calls to attack will do little good here, so I'm instead being civil and objective. I encourage you all to do the same.

This is possible too. Hmm. There's no way to know for sure without an alt check. What are your thoughts, Chewett? Awi

I would agree BFH. I'd be more wary if there was a seriously skewed picture - for instance 10 or 20 person lead in the results. Awi

I am going by the principle that there should be only one forum account per user. I'm not sure what Chewett does to enforce that (if anything). If Chewett or one of the other forum mods would like to perform an alt check, I would be very grateful. I don't have that kind of power (I have no idea who voted in this poll, I just started it). Thank you for the concern, but if Chewett refuses to do an alt check, I'll still go ahead and do the analysis. Awi

Last chance to vote. I'm going to do some analysis of the votes and post it somewhere. Awi EDIT: The votes continue to stream in, so I'm going to actually leave this for a week to allow any stragglers. I will compile my analysis next Friday.

Just a poll to see what people think of the Council. It's similar to what you would see for many public figures. No bias from me - just asking out of curiosity. As an aside - if you would like to comment on the poll or why you voted as you did, make a separate board. This one should be opinion free so as not to influence the poll. Awi

Think of shapes. What shapes do you get from odd numbers - A line A triangle A pentagon A seven sided figure (heptagon) Now, if you notice the angles, none of these shapes can be made of all right angles. Triangles can have one right angle, sure, but surely not ALL right angles. It should pop instantly into your mind that a rectangle, of course, has 4 90 degree angles. And that the word rectangle derives from latin - rect, meaning right. Angle, meaning... well... angle. But now say you want to add more 90 degree angles to a rectangle. Try to add one more. 5 right angles. It's impossible. But adding 2? That's child's play. And adding 4? Easy peasy. 6? Pie. 8? Cake. 10? Some other sort of sweet. As you can see, only even sided figures can be made entirely of right angles. Only even numbers have this innate sense of precision and rigor. This geometric explanation provides some deep thinking into why even numbers feel so safe, so secure, so... right. So stable. And truly do we have stable when we have just 3 of things? What years of your life did you enjoy most? What number do you enjoy rounding things off to? There's much behind even numbers that fuels this "right"-ness. Aha - but once you realize this, once you start to feel stable, secure, etc, as a being of Change must notice, this is not dynamic, fluid, free. There is some sort of comforting infinitesimal progressional comfort brought about by imagining shapes adding a single dimension of complexity forever, but we don't want fractals, we want fun! We want explosions, interruptions. This is odd numbers. Creation, expansion, instability. Or change. But then the pendulum of course may swing the other direction, and just as soon as odd numbers began to represent freedom they may instead color themselves as discomfort or uneasiness, as ugliness or fear. And then we retreat like tides back into EVEN. Into the RIGHT side. Left side, right side, angles, shapes, polygons, infinity, fractals. This is my answer. Awi

Come on. [url="http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/18/3780158/instagrams-new-terms-of-service-what-they-really-mean"]http://www.theverge....hey-really-mean[/url] Instagram is smarter than that. What it REALLY does is provide more precise language in their terms of services, and it's more restrictive than before. Instagram has technically had the power to sell your photos since day 1. They just never have, because obviously all of their users would hate that. And if you want a summary of Instagram's own response: [url="http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/18/3781860/instagram-on-its-new-tos-its-not-our-intention-to-sell-your-photos"]http://www.theverge....ell-your-photos[/url] This is the internet. Remember to do research before you get outraged about something so clearly ridiculous. (And always trust the verge because it's a fabulous source of tech industry journalism)

I can make that.

[quote name='Chewett' timestamp='1354787585' post='127634'] Spend some time to find out what mur previously said about Jonn and him dealing with bannings. Its a [i]very [/i]interesting and has a lot of comparison to the council. Until you see his reasoning i dont think you will understand what "the council" is. Failing that, talk to him about it, you get a lot of interesting ideas. Not that i necessarily agree with all of them, but if you want the "why" of council, thats the path of research to go to. [/quote] Would you be so kind as to share what Mur previously said about Jonn and him dealing with bannings? Awi

[quote name='Pipstickz' timestamp='1354776989' post='127583'] No, their job is not easy and it should not be easy. If it were easy, Mur would still be doing it, no? The Council gets power in exchange for their effort. They get the reins, but they have to hold tight to make sure they don't slip and fall away. If everybody hates the Council so so much, they would all quit the game, leave it all behind, but people keep showing up. We're lucky we have any say at all, really. Do you think a relatively young world of warcraft player could be acknowledged by the greater community? You can forget about whoever it is that makes the decisions in that game, I assume. MD is what we make of it. We're given the surface of the pond, but the fun is exploring the depths, and the Council can't take that from you by making the superficial decisions that just need to be made. [/quote] I don't view it this way: for power you must slave. I think that those who are happy and enjoy what they do and get positive feedback do better jobs. I believe that power is best in the hands of the happy, not in the hands of the callous. I know i have done my best job not when I was battling everyone I was trying to help but when I felt a sense of community and wholeness. I can only imagine that the Council works in a similar way. The Council, for better or for worse, has kept the status quo. This means that although no one particularly dilikes the Council, no one particularly likes them either. Is this best? Is this what we aspire to? I do not aspire to the baseline. And I think I disagree with the sentiment that "Council can't take that from you by making the superficial decisions that just need to be made." I think in a lot of ways the Council should ignite us to create, and lead by example. Frankly, they seem stiff and bored. Awi