New Forum: DM assignment requests

[Wrexsoul]

Hello!

Never mind the crummy title, I couldn't really think of a proper label for what I have in mind. Crummy title aside, though, I think this suggestion is something that would make specific event coordination a great deal easier, less frustrating and less time consuming, both for players and DMs.

I am sure you have all been in a situation where you have found a special item that you want to tinker with, need a ritual overseen, need a faction initiation, and so on, and ask yourself "now, who among the many awesome DMs should I contact for this?" Currently, the solution to this problem is to spam the DM channel, #EfU, PM all individual DMs and so forth until you finally find the right DM, who possesses the information necessary to oversee it and has enough time at his hands to help you. Doing it like this both risks making the player in question feel like a nag, and, I would imagine, creates a great deal of unnecessary stress on the DM team before the "right" one is located. Even something as simple and quick as giving a player a faction-specific key or similar can get unnecessarily roundabout.

So what I suggest is that a new forum is added. This forum should be like the application forum and similar in that only you and the DMs can see your particular thread. There should be strict guidelines both for what kind of requests that are allowed, and how to succinctly form your request, as to minimize strain on the DMs. The answer given by the DMs should not be a long or time-consuming one, but simply state the name of the DM who feels like they would like to handle the issue. The player can then contact said DM on IRC or wherever to make further arrangements.

An example to illustrate what I mean:

Character name/In-game account/forum account: Bobby McBobson/Bobslayer101/RepetitionOfBob

General time zone: Central Europe

Request: Bobby McBobson has found the "Mysterious Locked Goblin Journal" in the hidden passage in the basement of the Wicked Goblin Tower. He would like to attempt to unlock it and study it with his wizard friend who has a bachelor degree in Gobspeak.

Misc. Information: DM OtherGuy who designed the book is on vacation for 2 months, so I need someone else to help me with this.

The DM who has knowledge of the book in question would simply reply:

Contact DM Knowsalot in IRC about this.

Bobson would then PM Knowsalot in IRC, and together they would decide upon a time and get to it.

To prevent a needless strain on the DM team, guidelines would have to be rather strict concerning what requests would be allowed. Even so, though, it would save a lot of time and hassle for people...

 - With faction initiation requests who do not know which DM is in charge of the faction

 - For things concerning a DM who is AWOL

 - For wanding/LETO after passed applications
 
 - For having located things with no OOC notice of which DM to contact (like the locked book from the librarian in Mistlocke)

 - For wanting to commence a long-time-prepared ritual of awesomeness

...And so on. For the DMs, it would save them a lot of "Hi, can you help me with ?" "No, check with instead" IRC PMs, as well as let them think stuff through instead of having to make up their mind on the spot about whether they currently have time or if another DM would be preferable in that particular instance.

This ended up being a bit long-winded, but, what do you think? It would sure help players out, but perhaps even with strict guidelines it would be too messy for the DMs.

[Caster13]

You can already do this in the DM Q&A forum.

[Thou tun'st this World]

... The DM Q&A forum actually doesn't always work so efficiently.

I wholeheartedly agree with Wrex's idea.

[DnDPnPPlayer]

SOmetimes.... getting a Faction key can be accomplished by a faction member (I just discovered this is true of the Stewards as I read through information... I suppose woe to s/he who lies about having an app approved)... not sure if this is true for other factions, however I think it would take some of the "strain" off the DM's as a player can induct another into the faction (maybe a DM note in the faction forum stating char Bob McBobslayer is now allowed to join).
 
SOmewhat off the original topic, and I agree with the topic, I'm just adding the point that some tasks can be handled without DM input.

[lovethesuit]

It's worth trying out. I like the idea.

[NonExpecto]

This sounds like an excellent sort of request to be incorporated into the support ticket system.

[Underbard]

This suggestion IS much better than the title.  I like it.

[MexicanGunslinger]

I think this is a great idea :)

[Caster13]

You can post private posts to the DM in the DM Q&A forum.

[Nuclear Catastrophe]

I like this idea actually, but it should come with an OOC warning that we might not necessarily do whatevers contained within.

[Wrexsoul]

I like this idea actually, but it should come with an OOC warning that we might not necessarily do whatevers contained within.

Definitely. However, once one of you list their names for contact, it should be guaranteed (unless it's a request for more info, or something comes up, of course), or the purpose of the forum is kinda defeated. This also makes things even clearer - no reply to your post means no one can deal with it at the time, while a reply means you are certainly going to get help.