Drive by thoughts on applications.

[700c]

Hey all,

I was just reading some on applications here and I had a couple thoughts that I wanted to share. Bear with me here.

In RL, I fill out apps for loans, mortgages, jobs, university acceptance, professional license renewals, blah, blah, blah, etc, and I hate it.

Unfortunately, that distaste for filling out yet another *insert explicative application*, for something that I do to get away from RL seems... Well, distasteful.

I completely understand that you want players who want to make an effort to truly play whatever it is they're applying for, and that they understand what it is they're getting into. On that note, rather than expecting yet another dissertation for me to compose, (no offense, I'd rather skip any combo's I'd need to do that for), what are the chances that a much simpler format could be addopted?

Proposal:

Around lvl6, players considering persuing a prestige class,(earlier if they actually know that's where the RP is headed), the player shoots a PM to whoever gets stuck with, enjoys reading through these applications stating who the pc is, what they're planning, and then for the next few lvls the team could keep an eye on said player.

If through observation, the pc needs work, the team could provide guidance that would lead their RP in the correct direction for approval, let them know they're good to go when they're ready, or *sighs heavily* inform them that they're RP is not worthy of such honor.

Again, this is just some drive by randomness on behalf of my thought process. Overall, I just wanted to say, that for some of us, the application process does NOT fit in with the philosphy of "we're here to have fun".

Thanks for your consideration and any thoughts you folks might have to share.

[kalbaern]

A simple PM is generally all that is required. Generally. We don't require or often need a detailed history of each PC. Much will also depend upon each player and the consistancey of their RP though. A PC that goes around promoting the tenents of his deity IG consistantly really doesn't need a long drawn out story as to "why" they wish to become a CoT (Divine Champion).

What a DM here will do upon recieving a request from a player here is post it on our DM forums. Then we all will add our inputs and decide whether or not to allow the application or perhaps ask for more background or time to observe the player. I think most applications can be easilly summorised into a paragraph or two at most.

To date we've had some that spanned pages and a few that constited of a dozen lines. So long as you include the following and we (DMs) agree it really doesn't matter. Players needn't worry over DMs "voting" either. When a DM doesn't know the character well enough to give input we always say so and use the observations of the rest of the team. So long as a single DM can vouch for your consistant RP of the class/order/guild or whatever the request is, that's usually all that will matter.

That we've not yet turned down any requests doesn't mean we won't in the future. It instead means that so far we've had DMs IG during the right times and that the players are openly RPing their "paths" well enough that we've not had to decline anyone or even ask them for more information or time.

Here's our minimum requirements though:
1) You're Forum and player login names both. (many play IG with one or more alt logins)
2) Your characters name and current classes, levels and alignment.
3) The reason you want to *insert whatever it is you are asking*. If you can accomplish this in a dozen lines or so, fine. If you wish to give us a complete life's history, that's fine as well. Referring to events in a PC history prior to their stepping into our PW can add some weight, but it's more important what your Pc has actually done IG here.

Also keep in mind something I've run into far too many times on other servers. Just because your characters background has their parents as members of a guild does not mean your PC is in anyway qualified to join the same guild. So if your character's Bio includes having been from Waterdeep where your Mother and Father were Harper Agents, that can be your motivation for seeking to become one, but in no way is it garuanteed unless you've the RP here to back it up as well.

I hope my ramblings have made sense tonight. In short, send us what you think pertinent and if we've every any doubts we'll let you know.

[Possibly Ten]

Bullcrap!!!! I want a loooooooooooooooooooooooong drawn out application, urine sample *for Kalbaern, as he collects it*, mother's maiden name, some snap shots of your girl in a sexy outfit....


All of joke of course, I second Kal's post.

[700c]

Oct 27, 2009 21:12:09 GMT -5 kalbaern said:

I hope my ramblings have made sense tonight. In short, send us what you think pertinent and if we've every any doubts we'll let you know.

Actually you probably made more sense than I did. Thanks for the detailed response, it cleared things up quite a bit and made the process appear much less painful.

[wblackspur]

I gots to know?!! Did the application that was the victim of this drive by survive?! Poor, lil, lost orphan piece of paper, it did not...er, what? electronic? oh.

Nevermind