Community

Hey guys:

I'm sure this is not too much of a surprise to some of you, but I have been trying to deny it for some time. Basically, I've come to a point where I just need a break. Between life being complicated right now and just not having as much time to put into the CoCo, I'm just needing to make things more simple.

I tried to prolong this as much as I could, but the reality is I'm just not getting out of the CoCo what I need in order to keep it going.

Luckily, the CoCo is really simple to run once you get a few weeks under your belt and assuming you have a helping hand. I am offering to be that helping hand while you get acclimated if you step up. Any one of you can take the job - seriously - it doesn't take much and I found it very rewarding for some time.

I want to thank all of you for helping keep this place going for the last few years while I've been GM. It is sad for me to step down, but at the same time, maybe it is also a good time for someone else at the helm. Who knows what will happen in the future and maybe with a new leader at the head the CoCo can thrive in new ways.

I am going to do my best not to disappear completely. Life obligations are complicated as usual, but that doesn't mean I can't spare some time over here to help out, and possibly have a fight or two.

Anyway - thanks again for everything.

/david

I have a whole lot of free time (relative to what I'd before graduating college) on a long term basis.  I would be willing to help out, and I understand 4E well enough to help out if Sagarus ever picks up again.  I imagine somebody like Eluria would probably be better qualified, and I haven't been around as long as most, but if they don't have the time, I'm willing to dedicate the time needed.

In a few weeks, I may be able to take over if nobody else does.

Actually, I really hope you don't quit completely; we can probably spare you as GM, but I don't know if we can spare you as a player.

I don't have the time, unfortunately, to take over being GM. If there are certain threads that need to be managed (traps, blackmarket, etc) I can take on responsabilities like that though.

I agree with Yitzi, though, that I hope you continue to play, even if you don't have the time to GM. I really have enjoyed playing against your characters and pitlording fights with your characters in them.

Edit: in any case, I'll add a CoCo link to my sig in the giantitp forums and see if that generates a bit of interest.

I do hope you can activate characters occasionally (and not being GM, maybe you could activate characters you really want to instead of just whatever is most convinient).  After this summer when Eluria was subbing, we all got to appreciate just how much you do around here aside from just running it.  You really do bring alot of life to this place.

Ah, that's tough, but I guess it happens. I think we should be fine to organise pairings and things like we did over summer, but it would be great for you to keep playing. Perhaps without having to pick up the slack when there aren't the pitlords to GM popping in will be more manageable.

It doesn't help that everyone seems to have been a bit busy lately; I've had shed-load of work which needed (still needs) to be done for today myself. In actuality, taking things slower has probably done me a favour. 

Hopefully we can get going again, though. I do still want to beat that weekly record!

An idea occurred to me, and voxthunder's post seems to echo it as well. What do you guys think about a delegation of responsibilities, rather than the CoCo GM being responsible for all the work? The GM should still make sure everything is being done, but certain tasks could be delegated to those people who have the time and inclination for it.

If you like this idea, the first thing we'd have to do is identify what those tasks are that keep the CoCo running. Telin, this is where we'd need your help, so that nothing is left behind in this transition.

The tasks that I can think of so far:

1. Pairings (obviously)
2. Rules arbitration
3. Getting newcomers started
4. Maintenance of wiki (rules, monster roster, and fighter roster)
5. Promotion of CoCo to the outside world (blogs, etc.)

IMO - Rules arbitration should be handled by the group as a whole. Inevitably the "person in charge" is going to be involved at some point and, quite frankly, it works better with votes on the matter.

Likewise, getting newcomers started is a group thing. The GM (or rather the owner of the group) is going to get the bulk of the PMs anyway - but generally all I do there is give a couple of links and then remind them that the forum will be a faster response rate.

Lastly, promotion of the CoCo is really everyone's responsibility. I did talk a fair amount about promoting the CoCo, but I don't know how much help it really provided. Of course, as I got busier, it just didn't get the attention I needed to give it.

I would add on the responsibilities that Eluria was handling - Prison and Blackmarket.

There are a couple of other responsibilities that are smaller and less commonly used-- mercenary creation approval, which has a couple waiting, and trap approval (this one is up to date, but very rarely used).

I'd be glad to take over either or both of these, since the work for them is pretty light, if you don't think you'll have time.

I think character roster and pairings stuff naturally go together, especially since the roster person needs to update the character's active/inactive status. This is of course a ton of work (and thanks again TelinArtho for doing it so much!) compared to the other stuff.

I think that most of those duties are more of a group thing.  I think the big things is really just overseeing them and then running pairings and approving things.  Of course, running pairings has maasive implications it seems with regards to pitlording and character activation if Telin is any indication.  The other thing is putting up blog posts for the group and running contests, such as the annual prestige class contest.  This helps make people stay around.  The other thing is recieving the PM's from new players, and this is probably best to keep with the person doing pairings to avoid confusion and make sure they know to add them to the roster.  

Overall, I would be glad to take over the pairings duties.  I've run the power calcualtions before, and I have plenty of free time to pitlord "as needed."  As far as the others duties, I am always up for learning and trying.  I have the time and I would love to involve myself more, so I'll do what I can.

Well, why don't we just try having someone else run pairings this week (Uknits it sounds like you're the best person for it ) and otherwise go on as normal, and just see how it goes? Telin can keep an eye and make sure everything's still running smoothly but not actually have to do it all himself - kinda like a gradual transition of power. As other things come up people can pick up the reigns on those, too.

If Uknits is comfortable taking over being GM and we can get pairings for this week, that's awesome.

I'm gonna move Nathas over to being "ready whenever 2012" to help out with making pairings easier, but I'll keep Krug active (and Kinslayer is still in an ongoing battle with Sendra). I can pitlord 2 fights per week and am glad to help out with threads like mercenaries and traps threads. I have another ECL 3 character I'm working on who will be "ready whenever 2012" sometime soon.

I have no problem taking parings and getting everything running this week if that's ok.  The only problem is that I do not the ability on my account to to edit the character roster, but I can calculate and record power ratings for that and update later or give them to somebody who can update.

That's simple enough to fix - you should be able to now.

At some point, I'll transfer ownership - but I think that requires a few hoops to jump through (and it isn't obvious to me at the moment).

Awesome.  I'll run pairings Wednesday night, then.

Hi
This is not a surprise, but is truly monumentous - Telin, your friendship, leadership, creativity, reliability, positivity, and sheer amounts of happy fun can't be overstated -- you're the reason there's still a CoCo, and for the last 2-3 years it's been 95% you, really. 

I understand how things change, and the various pressures, and balancing fun, family, work, and the rest of life -- I, and we, all truly appreciate you!

Part 2:
In terms of responsibilities, I respect seniority, but my vote/priority would be to find a balance where things can function.

I totally support shared responsibilities as much as possible, but agree there has to be a pairingsmaker.

If Uknits is volunteering, I wholeheartedly support that -- as you can tell, I've been pretty absent for the past month, and that's not likely to lighten up for at least the next few weeks, and maybe not until the holidays. 

I think we have a great game going here, and a wonderful community -- the attitude, personalities, and teamwork is remarkable, and really I think is something that comes back to Telin first, but to everyone really - this place is a wonderful corner of the Web.