Suggestions/ Enquires Thread

[Emi]

I was just informed today that Meetan had quit FB without telling anybody.

Which leads to a problem. She was a Whale Island updator. Now there is a gap.

We need to stop this from happening to other updators, and more importantly, we need more ZAs. And we need to send them where we need more updators, no more to for example the Cloud Garden and more to the Glacier Islands, which has like 28 people there and no updator.

I understand that the mods are busy with personal life, and therefore I suggest this change: ZAs should approved by multiple ZAs. Sort of like a panel almost. This way, when one person sends in the test, multiple people can comment and give their opinion on whether or not the person would make a good ZA or not. Another idea is to offer ZA internships, where a ZA would offer to allow another person who is looking for ZAship to update some of their updatees. They would probably do it for nothing, but doing so would look better for when they do apply. Plus, the ZA can give the intern advice on what to do when they update, and it is a brand-new and scary world for new updators and some pointers before they go in isn't a bad idea.

[kaisap112]

Originally Posted by blazeVA

I was just informed today that Meetan had quit FB without telling anybody.

Which leads to a problem. She was a Whale Island updator. Now there is a gap.

We need to stop this from happening to other updators, and more importantly, we need more ZAs. And we need to send them where we need more updators, no more to for example the Cloud Garden and more to the Glacier Islands, which has like 28 people there and no updator.

I understand that the mods are busy with personal life, and therefore I suggest this change: ZAs should approved by multiple ZAs. Sort of like a panel almost. This way, when one person sends in the test, multiple people can comment and give their opinion on whether or not the person would make a good ZA or not. Another idea is to offer ZA internships, where a ZA would offer to allow another person who is looking for ZAship to update some of their updatees. They would probably do it for nothing, but doing so would look better for when they do apply. Plus, the ZA can give the intern advice on what to do when they update, and it is a brand-new and scary world for new updators and some pointers before they go in isn't a bad idea.

Let's also not forget that SoS quit and left a gap in the Shop-of-All-Trades.

I quite like your idea, blaze! Getting it to run smoothly might be another story though...or we could work kinda like a panel, each give our "own vote" on it (plus a list of pros and cons: "potential to develop", "weak on descriptions", comments like that to explain why you said In/Out) and the mods can tally them up for the final result. This way we wouldn't have to try and get 10 or so people to talk about the same thing at the same time and negotiate together over every single applicant over PM/Skype/etc.. (Hopefully I'm making sense.)

[Emi]

Originally Posted by kaisap112

Let's also not forget that SoS quit and left a gap in the Shop-of-All-Trades.

I quite like your idea, blaze! Getting it to run smoothly might be another story though...or we could work kinda like a panel, each give our "own vote" on it (plus a list of pros and cons: "potential to develop", "weak on descriptions", comments like that to explain why you said In/Out) and the mods can tally them up for the final result. This way we wouldn't have to try and get 10 or so people to talk about the same thing at the same time and negotiate together over every single applicant over PM/Skype/etc.. (Hopefully I'm making sense.)

I think you should meet over on Serebii to talk more about this.

[Ex-Admiral Insane]

First time for suggesting something so here it goes.

1. 2 Problems that can arise from the AR are that someone who can write well enough might have to wait 6+ months before passing and moving on to other zones and that someone else who has completed their adventure might not be FB-worthy yet. Would it be possible to change it so that when someone is deemed a well enough writer, say their last 3 posts were FB-worthy, they're given the consent to RP in other zones while still being allowed to finish their adventure in the AR? And if someone wasn't good enough they'd have to do another adventure in the AR before moving on?

This one is risky, can give me a lot of bad rep and I'm probably biased about this but,
2. Shut down the Egg House for a couple of months and see what happens. This sggestion is meant more for the purpose of experimentation to see what would happen if people's main source of Pokémon were to be shut down. Maybe, very maybe, people would temporarily focus a bit more on RP'ing to get what they want? It could be shut down just until X&Y come out. A perfect time to introduce the new Pokémon into the Egg House as well.

[Emi]

Originally Posted by Ex-Admiral Insane

First time for suggesting something so here it goes.

1. 2 Problems that can arise from the AR are that someone who can write well enough might have to wait 6+ months before passing and moving on to other zones and that someone else who has completed their adventure might not be FB-worthy yet. Would it be possible to change it so that when someone is deemed a well enough writer, say their last 3 posts were FB-worthy, they're given the consent to RP in other zones while still being allowed to finish their adventure in the AR? And if someone wasn't good enough they'd have to do another adventure in the AR before moving on?

This one is risky and can give me a lot of bad rep but,
2. Shut down the Egg House for a couple of months and see what happens. This usggestion is meant more for the purpose of experimentation to see what would happen if people's main source of Pokémon were to be shut down. Maybe, very maybe, people would temporarily focus a bit more on RP'ing to get what they want? It could be shut down just until X&Y come out. A perfect time to introduce the new Pokémon into the Egg House as well.

The first point has been brought up time and time again when people who are updators can't adventure. Your not getting it. We have been told time and time again no.

On the Egg House, it makes more sense to shut it down for X&Y to get things sorted out since we don't know enough as it is to prepare for it now.

[Kindrindra]

Admiral, I see where you're coming from, but the problem with that second idea is that other zones move at the same rate- slow progress isn't exclusive to the AR.

[Ex-Admiral Insane]

Originally Posted by blazeVA

The first point has been brought up time and time again when people who are updators can't adventure. Your not getting it. We have been told time and time again no.

On the Egg House, it makes more sense to shut it down for X&Y to get things sorted out since we don't know enough as it is to prepare for it now.

Ah. Somehow I've missed this point. I had the impression that people were complaining they were forced to the AR altogether and not that they necessarily had early leaving conditions (or something along those lines).

Originally Posted by Kindrindra

Admiral, I see where you're coming from, but the problem with that second idea is that other zones move at the same rate- slow progress isn't exclusive to the AR.

Well the second idea isn't meant necessarily for the purpose of RP'ing or the AR. But seeing as how some have been complaining about the shift of FB going from RP to Economy, I thought this could prove a nice experiment. I'm not entirely positive about my own suggestion and I really don't expect it to be implemented but I thought I could at least pitch the idea (for what it's worth).

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by Ex-Admiral Insane

This one is risky, can give me a lot of bad rep and I'm probably biased about this but,
2. Shut down the Egg House for a couple of months and see what happens. This sggestion is meant more for the purpose of experimentation to see what would happen if people's main source of Pokémon were to be shut down. Maybe, very maybe, people would temporarily focus a bit more on RP'ing to get what they want? It could be shut down just until X&Y come out. A perfect time to introduce the new Pokémon into the Egg House as well.

It takes all of ten seconds to reply to the Egg House one week and all of one and a half minutes to reply to it again one week later. Two minutes of Egg House distraction is not what is robbing you of your updators.

I mean, you can go ahead and shut down the Egg House permanently if you think it's going to help out the updating shortage. But I can guarantee you it's not. Who does the Egg House benefit? Bawing updatees. (And I would be in that group as well, so don't think I'm deprecating just you guys.) Bawing updatees who baw baw baw that they're not getting what they want fast enough. Who doesn't the Egg House benefit? Updators (strictly in their role as updators; divorcing them of their dual identities as updatees elsewhere). Updators whose incentives to update are in no way affected by the Egg House.* All shutting the Egg House down is going to do is drive up angst amongst the angsty updatees while doing nothing to titillate the updators. You're still going to have dead zones and now you're going to have even angrier updatees.

* The worst that happens -- and has happened -- is that an updator is trying to give someone {Pokemon A} as a zone reward and then that updatee ends up hatching it from the Egg House faster. But this is the exception, not the rule. I can only think of one specific instance where this has happened, though I'm sure there are others.

[jolteonjak]

Originally Posted by Talon87

* The worst that happens -- and has happened -- is that an updator is trying to give someone {Pokemon A} as a zone reward and then that updatee ends up hatching it from the Egg House faster. But this is the exception, not the rule. I can only think of one specific instance where this has happened, though I'm sure there are others.

This actually did happen to me. Won't say with whom though.

[Emp]

Originally Posted by blazeVA

We need to stop this from happening to other updators, and more importantly, we need more ZAs. And we need to send them where we need more updators, no more to for example the Cloud Garden and more to the Glacier Islands, which has like 28 people there and no updator.

I'd happily take on Meetan's group but I'm not sure if they're that interested in recruiting more updaters. I've been PMing Tess since the 18th May telling her my hiatus from updating due to university is over but my ZA powers still haven't been reinstated on SPPf. I might be an exception though.

Also GI doesn't seem like a huge priority to me given a) a lot of the people with intro posts there have gone inactive b) a lot of the people with intro posts there haven't graduated from the AR thus wouldn't be able to adventure there c) a lot of the people there have active adventures elsewhere.

Originally Posted by Talon87

* The worst that happens -- and has happened -- is that an updator is trying to give someone {Pokemon A} as a zone reward and then that updatee ends up hatching it from the Egg House faster. But this is the exception, not the rule. I can only think of one specific instance where this has happened, though I'm sure there are others.

I can't think of an example but this has happened to me loads of times. I've even had an updatee encounter the Pokémon they are after only for them to hatch or trade for it before they reach the capture stage.

Originally Posted by MarbleZone

That's all I'm saying, it's got nothing to do with us "having a say", which we've been defending for a while now; I'd be pissed if we got nothing out of this thread. Makes no sense to assume I meant anything else. :/

Yeah I totally misunderstood what you were saying. My bad

[Zekrom25]

when we register what pokemon can we choose ?

[Toyo]

Registration is currently closed, but for when it does open;

Any basic form pokemon other than legends and the following;

Babies: Wynaut, Azurill, Pichu, Togepi, Elekid, Magby, Smoochum, Bonsley, Mime Jnr, Happiny, Chingling, Budew, Munchlax, Mantyke, Riolu

Fossils: Omanyte, Kabuto, Aerodactyl, Lileep, Anorith, Cranidos, Shieldon, Tirtouga, Archen

Rares: Snorlax, Sudowoodo, Jynx, Mr Mime, Miltank, Chansey, Clefairy, Farfetch'd, Kangaskhan, Jigglypuff, Lapras, Lickitung, Misdreavus, Electabuzz, Magmar, Porygon, Tauros, Dratini, Larvitar, Tyrogue, Eevee, Wobbuffet, Bagon, Beldum, Castform, Absol, Tropius, Chimecho, Feebas, Drifloon, Spiritomb, Gible, Skorupi, Croagunk, Carnivine, Lucario, Rotom, Drilbur, Audino, Sigilyph, Yamask, Zorua, Solosis, Frillish, Tynamo, Litwick, Axew, Cryogonal, Mienfoo, Druddigon, Golett, Pawniard, Bouffalant, Heatmor, Durant, Deino, Larvesta

Your starter pokemon also may not be shiny, shadow, recoloured, or evolved.

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by DaveTheFishGuy

Personally I think the 'chained to the computer' ruleset is silly (and it was part of the reason that I left FB just after getting into it), but there's no real way of changing most of it without going down a slippery slope. But with regard to the Casino... I personally think there should be maybe a week/fortnight limit on it. If you don't collect your winnings within [set amount of time] they're forfeit. That way it's a bit more lenient on those who can't check in every time there's an update and still prevents people from collecting winnings they earned ages ago but weren't arsed to cash in.

I know we're not onto Casino suggestions (and we're not even sure if we're keeping it at all), but just to toss this idea out there:

I've considered that one of the reasons the staff might've wanted to do away with allowing people to pick up their Casino winnings after the next Casino update is posted has to do with how it's a minor hassle (and an annoying drain of time) to have to manually search back through a thread when someone posts late and to then confirm that, yes indeed, they a) aren't trying to re-collect already-collected winnings and b) really have not posted at all in the interim. I don't know if this is the case or not. It's pure speculation on my part. But if it is even partially true and partially the reason why late pickups were done away with, here's a suggestion that the staff is already intimately familiar with:

Why not have a list at the bottom of every Casino update post which indicates when an active member last collected his/her previous winnings and placed a new bet? Pretty much identical to what you already do with the Daycare and many of the other weekly shops? Example:

Originally Posted by enchantress

Latest Casino Collection
blazeVA: 2013/08/29
PikaGod: 2013/08/29
Arc_Angel: 2013/08/29
Gemini Spark: 2013/08/29
Tess: 2013/07/23
EVs and Ivsaurs: 2013/08/22
sweetbbydoll: 2013/08/24
swampertforever: 2013/08/29
Lightpanda: 2013/08/29
Hayward: 2013/08/29

Or, to make it even more legible, you delete the 2013 portion and it's just assumed that if your name is on this list then you've been active in the past 12 months whereas if it's not then you haven't and so don't dare try and collect winnings from "just last week" that are really two years and one week old or something. :p Example:

Originally Posted by enchantress

Latest Casino Collection
blazeVA: 08/29
PikaGod: 08/29
Arc_Angel: 08/29
Gemini Spark: 08/29
Tess: 07/23
EVs and Ivsaurs: 08/22

While the creation of and continual updating of this list would introduce a new minor hassle for the staff, a) I think it'd be a heck of a lot less hassle than the old way! and b) it'd allow for members, once again, to not feel chained at the hip to the Casino. You could instate a lenient turn-around time like (say) two weeks to claim winnings, and it'd be really no sweat off of your back to be sure that someone wasn't cheating when they went to collect 10-day old winnings -- because you'd see their name on the list, see that the last time they were confirmed by a staff member to have collected was 11 days ago, and voilà: they're cleared for takeoff.

[Stark]

I can guarantee that I will not be adding a list of casino pickups to the bottom of any Casino updates like you see in some of the Egg Houses. I have already done away with that list in the Egg House on serebii due to it being such a pain for me. So adding one to the casino is not going to happen. There are typically a little over 30 people who post in the Casino at any given time. One of the things people seemed to want not so long ago was a way to make the Casino updates happen quicker and easier. Adding more work does the opposite. Adding more work of this nature also adds an annoyance factor for me that I don't want to deal with. Now if you can find a way to make this work where any extra work falls onto the shoulders of the players themselves, I will be more than happy to entertain extending the pickup times of Casino winnings.

As for the Casino itself, I'll look to see how many people have voted and decide how much longer to leave that poll open. I will also have a new subject for us to discuss in the Development thread tonight.

One of the things I hope to have us accomplish with the changes that are in the works is to give players more responsibility not just in terms of what they can do, but also in terms of what they will need to do.

[Talon87]

I figured this would make much less work for you -- since you know you can trust yourself and you keep a running list -- than having to go back and double check each and every single time whether someone is trying to collect winnings that are too old. Obviously you can do this with the latest system just by checking against the list o' names in your last update post, but the whole point of this suggestion was to re-enable late pickups (i.e. pickups which don't occur prior to the next update) while making things a lot easier for the staff than the old system (where, I imagine, you'd either have to laboriously crosscheck each and every little post or else just not even bother checking at all).

If this would create more labor than the old way, then I guess never mind, even though it seems strange to me that it would. There's no question that it'd create more labor than the current way, but the current way is so impractical for many users as to make the shop unusable.

[Stark]

I think a link by a person to an old post would be a much better system for myself personally and a lot easier. I think if a person is going to pickup late winnings they can link to their old post rather than me take an extra five to ten minutes every casino update to tell people when their last pickup was. I can't speak for Tess or Stacey on this, but this is where I stand on it. This of course, depends on if we even allow late pickups. There is a good chance that we won't allow late pickups on any of the new games we bring in just like we didn't allow late pickups for the Lucky Draw. That would leave Roulette and Slots the only ones that will really have a chance for late pickup. This will be a subject to discuss if the Casino stays.

[Talon87]

Given what all you've said, I have some questions for both you, Stark, and for the other Casino updators. You don't have to answer, of course, but your answers will definitely sculpt my own vote in the Casino poll. (For what it's worth, at this time I am slightly leaning towards a vote of "No" but still have not made up my mind.)

Q1. Would you describe the Casino as more effort than it's worth?

Q2. Now that you're used to updating the Casino, would you say that an average Casino update takes you:

1. fewer than 10 minutes?
2. between 10 and 30 minutes?
3. between 30 and 60 minutes?
4. between 1 hour and 3 hours?
5. more than 3 hours?

Q3. In your honest opinion, do you think that if the time you spent updating the Casino were suddenly freed up, you would put most or even all of it into working on other areas of FB? (For example: writing updates for others; writing replies to others' updates for you; reffing the TCG; playing the TCG; reffing the Trainer Battles; participating in the Trainer Battles.)

[Stark]

Originally Posted by Talon87

Given what all you've said, I have some questions for both you, Stark, and for the other Casino updators. You don't have to answer, of course, but your answers will definitely sculpt my own vote in the Casino poll. (For what it's worth, at this time I am slightly leaning towards a vote of "No" but still have not made up my mind.)

Q1. Would you describe the Casino as more effort than it's worth?

Q2. Now that you're used to updating the Casino, would you say that an average Casino update takes you:

1. fewer than 10 minutes?
2. between 10 and 30 minutes?
3. between 30 and 60 minutes?
4. between 1 hour and 3 hours?
5. more than 3 hours?

Q3. In your honest opinion, do you think that if the time you spent updating the Casino were suddenly freed up, you would put most or even all of it into working on other areas of FB? (For example: writing updates for others; writing replies to others' updates for you; reffing the TCG; playing the TCG; reffing the Trainer Battles; participating in the Trainer Battles.)

To answer your questions...

Q1. No it isn't that difficult to do, although there are times when I find myself a little short on time to do one on my scheduled day/days which can lead to problems as we've seen in the past like when I updated less than 24 hours after Arc did. However, it really was only an issue that one time and that was because I was going to be gone for the weekend and wouldn't have been able to do one otherwise.

Q2. I would say between 10 and 30 minutes, but closer to 30. Most of that time is just spent going through and making sure that I have everyone's bets correct. Which as a few people have noticed, sometimes I make a simple mistake that I need to rectify as soon as possible. The actual RNG portion goes quite quickly.

Q3. I don't think the time I lose in the Casino would affect how I work on other aspects of FB. Mostly because I am working on a lot of behind the scenes types of things at present. Maybe in the future I will have more time for some of those other things, but right now I feel I need to concentrate on what I am doing. However, I do plan to pick up a number of AR adventures over at BMG soon in order to help those who are stuck in limbo over there move on. After that, we will see how my time works out.

[Electric Blue Eye]

I have a question to the mods because many people have been putting their opinions based off the games/manga/anime; How different do you guys want to make fizzy bubble compared to the games/manga/anime?

[Talon87]

It's been brought to our attention that because of the freeze on the Coin Exchange, none of us can purchase PokéBalls any more, meaning that once you run out of PokéBalls, that's it: no more Egg House pickups. Can someone please unlock the Coin Exchange (whether or not you update it before doing so) and allow those of us who will be needing to make purchases in the next few weeks to do so? Thanks.

[lilboocorsola]

Originally Posted by Talon87

It's been brought to our attention that because of the freeze on the Coin Exchange, none of us can purchase PokéBalls any more, meaning that once you run out of PokéBalls, that's it: no more Egg House pickups. Can someone please unlock the Coin Exchange (whether or not you update it before doing so) and allow those of us who will be needing to make purchases in the next few weeks to do so? Thanks.

Alternatively/in addition, why not make it so Pokémart items are tradeable? I thought the reason the rule existed in the first place was because Mart items used to be free, but that is no longer the case. So long as they are exchanged for their market price or equivalent it shouldn't be a problem.

[Stark]

Originally Posted by Talon87

It's been brought to our attention that because of the freeze on the Coin Exchange, none of us can purchase PokéBalls any more, meaning that once you run out of PokéBalls, that's it: no more Egg House pickups. Can someone please unlock the Coin Exchange (whether or not you update it before doing so) and allow those of us who will be needing to make purchases in the next few weeks to do so? Thanks.

I will talk to the other mods about this and try to get it rectified quickly. I don't think it will be a problem to unlock the CE and open the Pokemart. The CfP will probably remain closed until it is overhauled. Unfortunately, a lot of things are taking far longer than we anticipated due to all of us being unexpectedly busy with RL stuff at the same time. I apologize to everyone for the wait and thank you all for your patience.

Lilblue, I will look at trading pokemart items as an option. Personally it wouldn't be a problem for me if people wanted to trade potions or pokeballs. However, I also don't want to have to put a limit on the number of items people are allowed to trade either due to someone using items from the pokemart as a means to work around the trade restrictions on coins. For example, I am not going to allow someone to trade 500 potions to someone for a pokemon just because they think it is worth 50,000 coins. Nor will I allow someone to trade in 500 potions for coins at the CE from such a trade.

So the problem and the question becomes, how responsible are members going to be when it comes to trading? Can I trust them not to try to break the system? Or do I need to put rules in place to prevent them from doing so? Right now, I sadly feel like I need to have certain rules in place before I can allow something like this to happen.

[MarbleZone]

Originally Posted by Stark

So the problem and the question becomes, how responsible are members going to be when it comes to trading? Can I trust them not to try to break the system? Or do I need to put rules in place to prevent them from doing so? Right now, I sadly feel like I need to have certain rules in place before I can allow something like this to happen.

As long as there's communication between both sides, we'll be as responsible as you need us to be. Rules that serve an actual purpose will naturally be respected, I think.

[Electric Blue Eye]

Is there even a need to trade Pokemart stuff when the majority of the posts are Candy pick-ups and the purchasing of Pokeballs?

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by Electric Blue Eye

Is there even a need to trade Pokemart stuff when the majority of the posts are Candy pick-ups and the purchasing of Pokeballs?

I think his concern is this:

• if the Coin Exchange is only temporarily unlocked ...
• and if someone were to buy 100 PokéBalls under the premise that they're buying for the long haul and to avoid ever encountering something like this again ...
• and if the Coin Exchange were then locked back up ...
• and if the staff said "it's okay to trade PokéMart items if you like while the CE is locked" ...
• ... then would this member attempt to use 50 of his PokéBalls to sweeten some deal and say "at 100 a pop their total value comes out to 5,000 coins"?

Part of me appreciates his concern. The other part of me (cynically? ^^; ) feels it's a bit of a moot point since people can and always will find ways to sweeten deals within whatever means are legal at the time. Trying to impose a coin restriction on trades, while I can appreciate the intentions behind it (namely, trying to make the playing field more even between the rich and the poor), is ineffectual when we can still trade other items which a) have proven coin values or b) have persuadable coin values.

Originally Posted by Stark

I will talk to the other mods about this and try to get it rectified quickly.

Cool.

Originally Posted by Stark

Lilblue, I will look at trading pokemart items as an option. Personally it wouldn't be a problem for me if people wanted to trade potions or pokeballs. However, I also don't want to have to put a limit on the number of items people are allowed to trade either due to someone using items from the pokemart as a means to work around the trade restrictions on coins. For example, I am not going to allow someone to trade 500 potions to someone for a pokemon just because they think it is worth 50,000 coins. Nor will I allow someone to trade in 500 potions for coins at the CE from such a trade.

So the problem and the question becomes, how responsible are members going to be when it comes to trading? Can I trust them not to try to break the system? Or do I need to put rules in place to prevent them from doing so? Right now, I sadly feel like I need to have certain rules in place before I can allow something like this to happen.

You can pretty easily put a reasonable cap in place. No one's asking you to open the shop back up right now except for PokéBalls, so what you can say is:

• only PokéBalls can be purchased right now. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
• (Optionally) If you really want to purchase something else, please notify staff what it is, why, and how much. We can work with you on a case-by-case basis.
• PokéBall purchases limited to 10 per customer.

10 nets you your free Premier Ball. It's also the smallest denomination which does so. It's also good for the next 30 weeks (if 100% are used in the Egg House) or 27 weeks (if one is used in a zone and the other nine are used in the Egg House). 27 weeks is one week over half a year. Half a year. That should last people plenty long enough to the time when all the shops get overhauled, I hope. Last but not least, 10 PokéBalls isn't going to be sweetening any deals significantly: it amounts to 1,000 coins at most. If someone's that desperate to sweeten a deal that way, I don't see why you wouldn't let 'em. Free market and all that. And besides: some members might not even agree to a trade for PokéBalls. I know I'd be pretty paranoid about it myself. Would be paranoid that when I got around to using the traded-for PokéBalls, the mods would've long since forgotten that these balls came from the narrow window of time where we allowed PokéMart items to be traded. I'd probably prefer to be 1,000 coins poorer (as a vendor) than accept someone's offer of 10 balls.