Advice on Party Management

[ngc50]

Hello everyone!

I am one of the leaders of the Dawn Treaders, a decently high ranking party within Vulpes. I am also mostly responsible for managing who stays and who is kicked.

Until now it has been a straightforward job. If a player goes for a week with 0 lux, I generally hold a vote to kick them. If they're a higher esteemed member of the team, they usually get more leeway. However, a complicated case has arisen. During the current high score event/epic medal carnival, one of our members pulled two illustrated terras. Despite repeatedly asking if she could share it, she refused to. It was brought to my attention that this may be because she didn't want to help us, that she was holding out on us in order to prevent us from outscoring her. She is an active player, and it is likely that she reads the chat. Of course, however, it is impossible to tell if this is indeed the case, or if she simply igores the social component of the game, as I have never seen her post there. It seems likely that the accusation is correct, as I was also told that she changed her share medal to terra before quickly changing it back to a useless medal.

It is a stressful situation for me because many of our number want me to take action against her, but as said, there is really no way to prove what is going on one way or another.

If it could be proven that she is acting against us, there would be no question, she would be kicked. I come to you all for advice on the matter. I think it's a very interesting topic for discussion in any case. What sort of standards do you think are fair for a party to adhere to? Thanks in advance!

EDIT: I'd really just like to emphasize that I want to facilitate a general discussion on how you think a party should be managed, which would help me as I make a decision for my specific problem. I'm not terribly concerned if your post doesn't directly respond to my situation.

 

[JR199913]

Hello everyone!

I am one of the leaders of the Dawn Treaders, a decently high ranking party within Vulpes. I am also mostly responsible for managing who stays and who is kicked.

Until now it has been a straightforward job. If a player goes for a week with 0 lux, I generally hold a vote to kick them. If they're a higher esteemed member of the team, they usually get more leeway. However, a complicated case has arisen. During the current high score event/epic medal carnival, one of our members pulled two illustrated terras. Despite repeatedly asking if she could share it, she refused to. It was brought to my attention that this may be because she didn't want to help us, that she was holding out on us in order to prevent us from outscoring her. She is an active player, and it is likely that she reads the chat. Of course, however, it is impossible to tell if this is indeed the case, or if she simply igores the social component of the game, as I have never seen her post there. It seems likely that the accusation is correct, as I was also told that she changed her share medal to terra before quickly changing it back to a useless medal.

It is a stressful situation for me because many of our number want me to take action against her, but as said, there is really no way to prove what is going on one way or another.

If it could be proven that she is acting against us, there would be no question, she would be kicked. I come to you all for advice on the matter. I think it's a very interesting topic for discussion in any case. What sort of standards do you think are fair for a party to adhere to? Thanks in advance!

Wait, if she never talks, how do you know it's a she? How do you know she pulled two Terra's? When you asked her, did you say please? Or did you demand it?

As for standards... Kicking someone after a week of 0 Lux and let that depend on how popular the guy is in the party or how good his shared medal is? Okay, that's a way I've never tried.

Also I've always wondered this, why do people automatically assume that if a party member draws a strong medal, they are entitled to it as a shared medal?

 

[ngc50]

Wait, if she never talks, how do you know it's a she? How do you know she pulled two Terra's? When you asked her, did you say please? Or did you demand it?

As for standards... Kicking someone after a week of 0 Lux and let that depend on how popular the guy is in the party or how good his shared medal is? Okay, that's a way I've never tried.

Also I've always wondered this, why do people automatically assume that if a party member draws a strong medal, they are entitled to it as a shared medal?

I only assume a she because of the avatar the player uses. And we know she pulled two because when you click her avatar, you can see a terra with an orb in one medal slot.

As for being entitled to the medal, well...I suppose that I just make the assumption that if you're in a party, it goes without saying that helping one another is of primary importance. And really, the only way to help one another directly is through the share medal system! I am sure that for this high score event, she used whichever friend medal boosted her score the most, so she must realize the advantage of having a terra shared, since it boosts score the absolute most! We definitely didn't demand it of her, we asked politely (and persistently). It's just that we've never encountered a problem with this sort of thing before. If a player gets a medal that would be super helpful to another, they almost always switch to it if requested, and within reason.

You say that my means of kicking members is something you haven't tried. May I ask what yours is?

 

[Leopardess]

I lead a Dedicated Casual group, so run it casually. LOL. But our group is very supportive and they each offer up share medals sometimes for particular quests, etc. But their actual share medal is totally up to them. I assume and hope they will share their best. If your group especially runs on Lux amounts, then I suppose you would have a case against her. It seems a bit extreme to get kicked out based on your weekly Lux, but that may be the case with Hardcore or Core? For me, it's the Log In frequency. If the members aren't dedicated and don't sign in after so many days, they are subject to getting deleted. But if your group has it's rules set up for Lux, then that is rule. But I don't understand how the popularity of the member would change that rule. If it's a rule, it shouldn't matter how popular or unpopular a member is.That's just favoritism.

 

[JR199913]

I only assume a she because of the avatar the player uses. And we know she pulled two because when you click her avatar, you can see a terra with an orb in one medal slot.

As for being entitled to the medal, well...I suppose that I just make the assumption that if you're in a party, it goes without saying that helping one another is of primary importance. And really, the only way to help one another directly is through the share medal system! I am sure that for this high score event, she used whichever friend medal boosted her score the most, so she must realize the advantage of having a terra shared, since it boosts score the absolute most! We definitely didn't demand it of her, we asked politely (and persistently). It's just that we've never encountered a problem with this sort of thing before. If a player gets a medal that would be super helpful to another, they almost always switch to it if requested, and within reason.

You say that my means of kicking members is something you haven't tried. May I ask what yours is?

Good point. Forgot about that...

I can understand that. But I can also understand why she wouldn't share it. Well, aside from the reason she wants to keep you guys from scoring higher then her (if that's really the case).

Well, I don't run a party in this game, but in other games. I usually wait 3 weeks before taking action, but I can understand you guys wait a week, especially if you guys are very competitive. What I don't like is that you let it come down to the fact of how popular a guy is. It means that members who are longer member can get away with more stuff then members who are there for a shorter time. Hell, if a 0 lux person shares a good medal I bet you guys all vote to leave him in the party, even though he is actually totally useless.

I wait around 3 weeks, if the person isn't active I ask around in the group if someone heard anything from him and if he has a reason of absence. If not I kick him and leave him a message that says that he can rejoin us if he ever comes online again. I don't let it depend on a vote, or how much other people like him.

I lead a Dedicated Casual group, so run it casually. LOL. But our group is very supportive and they each offer up share medals sometimes for particular quests, etc. But their actual share medal is totally up to them. I assume and hope they will share their best. If your group especially runs on Lux amounts, then I suppose you would have a case against her. It seems a bit extreme to get kicked out based on your weekly Lux, but that may be the case with Hardcore or Core? For me, it's the Log In frequency. If the members aren't dedicated and don't sign in after so many days, they are subject to getting deleted. But if your group has it's rules set up for Lux, then that is rule. But I don't understand how the popularity of the member would change that rule. If it's a rule, it shouldn't matter how popular or unpopular a member is.That's just favoritism.

^

 

[ngc50]

I'm glad you guys are offering such good feedback on my management style! I'll try to more adequately explain my rationale for my choices.

Of the other parties I have been exposed to, there seem to be two main strategies for deciding who stays and goes. There's the one that Leopardess mentions - keeping those who log in at least once in a while - and the more hardcore strategy of having all members meet a lux quota (I've seen one party that requires 50k per week). I think that a compromise works best for my party. By asking members to have more than 0, I find that what usually happens is that it encourages them to play more! There are a few exceptions - people who only get like 500 lux in a week just to immunize themselves, but that's fine with me. Sometimes those same players will be very high in the leaderboards next time around.

More details on our voting system: we have 4 mods including myself. If a player has 0 lux on a Sunday, they are eligible to be kicked. Any player may suggest one of those people to be kicked, and we the mods vote on if they leave or not. Despite what I may have said in my first post, 0 lux players aren't automatically removed.

Is there favoritism in this system? Probably. But I think that that's fine in this context. The mods have the shared goal of creating a party comprised of members who help each other, communicate, and are active in the game itself. It makes sense that we would want to keep around players who meet our criteria. The voting system provides a means of cutting people a break who deserve to stick around. Once in a while, a very active/helpful player may go AWOL for a week. It would seem silly to me to just immediately remove them. Often times they come back, but if not, they are generally removed after maybe 3 weeks at the absolute most. I mean, we've even removed one guy who had a Sephiroth shared, so I have to refute your claim about us using people for their medals JR. The people who get removed after one week generally are just not that active in the first place, don't participate in that chat, etc.

In summary, our ultimate goal is to create a party of people who are both active and good to each other. The lux rule isn't really there to boost us to the top of the leaderboards, just to help our members stick around and be part of the community.