Chaos Theory and the Avlis Web Page

[Hindric]

Wow...this Community is awesome, and when I say awesome, I mean as in the actual definition of the word: "adj : inspiring awe or admiration or wonder." To all the people that have helped to make this what it is: players, DMs, Writers, Coders, builders, etc., I salute you...but there is one person missing from your team that is direly needed(or if exists, needs more minions to help them). A Web Master/Editor. Someone to sift through all of the info that gets spit out on this web page and turn it into something that new and vetran players can understand and follow. I'm talking about consistency, cohesion, and organization. Someone that can take all the information that gets posted in the forums or sent to them to publish and edit/update/organize it all so the most current and complete information is easy to find and easy to understand.

Now, by this point everyone on the team is ready to flame me i'm sure, but here it is: I'm not new to web pages, forums, NWN, or RPGs in general, yet after I got my acceptance email I logged on and started reading...and reading...and reading until I hit a point where I just could not follow what was current. I had to start going back to what I had already read and check post dates, then search the forums on the topic and see what was the latest news on any particular topic, which requires more sifting through useless babble that was probably useful to someone at some point in the topic's history, but has since lost all relevance. I understand that it would be an impossible task to try and update and/or manage the forums, but creating a linked document on all things helpful is not out of the question...in fact I think that Orleron has stated it as his goal some time in the future. This would only really be an extensive update of what is available in the side-bar on the home page.

New player tips could be expanded into "A guide to getting started" (including character creation, races and how to use the custom race system, classes, alignment, and the tips already present) and "Maps & Nations" could expand to "A guide to the world of Avlis" (including updating the maps so that they are consistent with the forum descriptions, what parts of the world each server covers, and the calender). The page for Dieties is similar to what I am talking about, but could benefit from more hyper-links.

Now, I don't expect spoilers, but here is what lead me to write this. I started looking around at what I wanted to play. I formed a picture in my head of a wemic ranger, a loner away from his pride. So I looked up info on wemics...they are found in three places: Kurathene Empire, Jechran, and Drotid. Cool, Kurathene is predominantly plains, i'll start there...so I look at the map...it has a three sentences...so I click around to see what else there is: "Toran Sharda is a mysterious land of Wemics. " What? that was not talked about in the race description., oh well. Kept going and found a full description of Kutathene. Cool, does not talk about wemics, but they arn't historically important. Then I see a post saying Wemics are disabled...well bummer...guess I need a new idea...then I look at the date...so I posted a question and was kindly answered telling me that they are working fine...so its back on! sweet! now...what server do I want...well the custom race thing says log into Le'Or T'Nanshi, but what would a Wemic do in a Tree City? Panic? You get my point...and I don't just want to jump in and start creating characters in an attempt to figure it out on my own. I could get lucky, or I could end up with several characters that are garbage. And how would that help the next person.

So here is my plea: Organize. So far I have loved every aspect of this community and world that I have encountered, I know that if I jumped in with two feet I would figure it out eventually, and I very much look forward to enjoying many long hours RPing with everyone...but...my experience and everyone else's that comes after me would be greatly enhanced if they could just spend time on their characters instead of on sifting.

That said and done, thanks for all your time everyone. I'm sorry for the novel, but I hope it is taken as constructive criticism. I look forward to meeting you all in game.

-Hindric Werme

[Aloro]

Welcome to Avlis!

You're right - we need to better organize the incredible wealth of information on this rich and detailed world. There is a daunting amount of stuff to learn, and it requires a lot of patience and hard work right now.

That said, there is a project underway to create some newbie guides, and to link the information you speak of together to form a cohesive whole. However, Avlis is a HUGE project, and frankly, we always need more help. I'm always swamped with projects myself, and can't keep up on what others are doing, so I don't know what the status is of the newbie guide. If you have web design skills, organizational skills, or writing skills, and wish to help, I suggest applying to be a subcontractor, and putting your request to help set up the newbie guide on your application. I can't speak for the folks running the project, but I know *I* can always use more help, and I imagine they can, as well.

Again, welcome to Avlis! We hope you'll have a great time here.

- Aloro

[Sindol]

Hello and welcome Hindric.

Glad to see you're volunteering already!

[Silk]

No flames here... I agree 110%. We are currently in need of a Webmaster.

[Nighthawk4]

Good idea Silk - I suggest we hire him.



I use the term loosely of course - no payment is involved

[Silk]

I didn't see anywhere in the msg where he was offering his services... and of course anyone interested in the position would need to fill out an app and hopefully forward a resume.

[Psyco]

how much of a resume would you need? would a list of previous and current sites (the public ones only) be enough?

[Vanor]

how much of a resume would you need? would a list of previous and current sites (the public ones only) be enough?

That would be close to enough. On the site there are links to applications for subcontractors. Fill that out and email it to the staff, include any sites you might want us to check out.

[Lafferty]

I wouldnt call it a webmaster....

what avlis really needs is compiling of content and keeping it up to date and putting that content in promoted places that are NOT part of the boards. So i'd call someone doing it webauthor or Content compiler.

[Psyco]

webmaster, webauthor, webmonkey, web flunky, content compiler *shrugs* all just different names for someone doing the same work, the only exception might be webmaster, any webmaster email addresses seem to get spammed ALOT

*looks at 3600 copies of the latest virus he has been sent in the last few days*

[Hindric]

The other difference could be that the compiler would only deal with the content editing and then hand the product to the webmaster. Both "jobs" would have plenty to do, thus they could focus more on just their aspect. Having the two possitions might make it more appitizing for people that don't have a lot of extra time on their hands... i.e. College students, Full-time employees, etc...

I wish I could volunteer, maybe sometime in the near future, but as I am a college student AND a full-time employee AND working on my own server...

-Hindric Werme

[Silk]

No, Avlis needs a webMASTER. Someone who knows PHP, MYSQL, PHPBB, PHPBBPortal, and has his shit together to be able to think on his/her feet.

Basically, we need a Manuel... *sniff* *sniff*

[Hindric]

I wasn't trying to argue the fact that you need a webmaster. You do need a webmaster. All I was saying is that it might be more productive to have the webmaster do PHP, MYSQL, etc. and let the Content person just deal with the compilation of correct and up-to-date content. In a buisness they would be two different jobs/departments...but this isn't nessisarily a buisness. I'm just suggesting ideas.

-Hindric Werme