Jinji's Staff Journal

[Jinji]

Thanks, Checkered.

One of the things I really want to do when I get a chance is test out an enhancement for our current Forum software, which I believe could add commonly-requested features like a voting system for posts. I've discussed this with Staff a few times and I've been intending to try it out for weeks now; but the particular plugin would need configuring and due to its nature is best set-up when no players are around, so it can't be messed with before it's ready; so I haven't had the opportunity as of yet and am really just looking for an opportunity to do it while the Forum would need to be down for another reason anyway. I hoped that opportunity would be given to me when I discovered that phpBB had finally released a long-overdue security update and informed Bluerise of the need to update the Forum and my intention to work on the Forum at the same time; however during the Forum downtime two days ago, Blue performed that update himself without informing any other member of staff; so I didn't get that chance. (This was the same time the new Forum theme started to appear on the Forum - which I didn't know about either until someone pointed it out to me)

Oh well. I'll figure something out eventually. For now I'd prefer to rest until I get my flow back and know I can work on things without being too slow or having to interrupt them mid-flow.

 

[regnumregis93]

Don't give up Jinji! I hope everything will work perfectly!! You will gain the momentum back! xD

 

[Jinji]

Some of you have already mentioned it in the IRC; and I'm sure many more of you have or will soon notice my name appearing in the Forum footer. But for those who have forgotten or have never known and are not the observant type, once again a very special day has arrived. Verily, today marks another anniversary of the day I first came to visit your Mortal Realm - the Birthday of my very existence to you all today. Not that I actually have a birth - I have always been a Gengar - nor an age to speak of, coming from a realm where the laws of time and physics are merely guidelines and where my existence can stretch as far back or forward as I wish it - and the attempts of many of you to speculate my true age humours me greatly. But a celebration is a celebration nonetheless.

Personally I hope to receive enough sweets and a large enough birthday cake from the PWO Community, that I am simply unable to eat it all at once and will be full of the pure energy of sugar for so long that I need not eat any dreams for weeks. But I'm not the kind of Spirit who actively seeks gifts or material possessions. That the community cares for my part within it and celebrates my special day with me is a gift enough. Here's to another year!

 

[Shiningamisgirl]

Happy Anniversary Jinji! I'm not sure how much a ghost would eat..nor how many candles to place on this Cake, but I hope you'll enjoy it all the same~! -whistles, bells and whatnot- Glad to have you around, and with hopes to see you for a long time to come! Or as often as RL permits, lol!

 

[Jinji]

Happy Anniversary Jinji! I'm not sure how much a ghost would eat..nor how many candles to place on this Cake, but I hope you'll enjoy it all the same~! -whistles, bells and whatnot- Glad to have you around, and with hopes to see you for a long time to come! Or as often as RL permits, lol!

Personally, I like numbers that have something special about them; like people believe things about them or they have a mathematical connotation. 13 is a good number because it's prime and often said to be unlucky. And since I doubt it's possible to fit over 100 candles on a cake, numbers like 11, 22 and so on are cool for being the same backwards and forwards.

 

[Shiningamisgirl]

 

[Saurus]

I haven't had the chance to formally wish you a happy birthday. So here goes. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JINJI! May you have many more ghostly pleasures! And haunting desires! Hip Hip HOORAYYYYYY! ;D ;D

 

[Jinji]

Thanks Shini, it was really kind of you - and totally unexpected - to make an animation for me for my Birthday. I like it a lot, but I'm not exactly sure what I'm seeing happening.

I haven't had the chance to formally wish you a happy birthday. So here goes. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JINJI! May you have many more ghostly pleasures! And haunting desires! Hip Hip HOORAYYYYYY! ;D ;D

Keke! Thanks Saurus

 

[Jinji]

Thanks to everyone who sent me their birth/deathday wishes. In my timezone the day has now sadly passed, though I'm aware some timezones will remain in January 23rd for a little while longer and me and my ghostly brethren are never one to keep celebrations short.

But, it just so happens that another member of our esteemed PWO Family, Carel, has her own Birthday directly after mine; and now it's January 24th it's now her time to celebrate. So as a personal request, I thought it'd make an excellent gift for her if everyone who bestowed their wishes on me yesterday, could if they please now send their Birthday Greetings to her today. Happy Birthday, Carel.

 

[Jinji]

Please be aware that until further notice, I will no longer respond to any attempts to contact me personally via any PWO medium, nor will I be making appearances on the IRC. I have decided to take a short break from all PWO duties due to personal stresses and illness.

 

[EcoWOLFrb]

Feel better.

 

[Merse]

Get well soon Jinji! We need our mascot Gengar to be as strong as possible

 

[Mallow-]

[glow=green]Rest peacefully and come back soon Jinji [/glow]

 

[Jinji]

As of yesterday, the stomach bug that had afflicted me at the start of the week and caused me to fall violently ill, which I thought I'd recovered from and was preparing to announce my comeback in the morning, has returned. Although I feel better today, I cannot be fully certain that I'm actually well until I have gone long enough without a recurrence of any ill behaviour. So for now, while I will be checking in on the Forum now and then just to keep myself informed, I am not as of yet prepared to declare myself back to an active role.

 

[Julio~]

I wish you health and disposition.

Get better, Jinji. ^-^

 

[Jinji]

Route 2 was updated overnight with a change to how bushes work. This work was a collaboration between myself (dialogue), Luminance (in-game code) and Thugie (server code and implementation). You no longer have NPCs that offer to allow you to bypass the bushes if you have the correct badge - instead, you talk to the bushes directly; and your leading Pokémon will "lift you over" the bush if you have the required badge. This streamlines the motion and is part of tests to improve the ways people can interact with the game.

 

[HOF69]

If your lead Pokemon is a Ghost-type, would it levitate you over the bush, or walk you through it?

This is need-to-know information, for science.

 

[Jinji]

I don't see why a Ghost Pokémon's ability to become intangible necessarily means they can pass the same ability to their Trainer... I'm pretty sure most Trainers are mortal, physical beings.

 

[Julio~]

Cool. I want to test it. :/

 

[Jinji]

I want to state something speaking solely for myself, as it's been annoying me lately.

It is my humble opinion that one of the many problems right now with the PWO Community is that people do not know what sort of things they should directly approach Staff about. This is a two-pronged complaint. Some of you are PMing Staff directly about things that should be a topic; while some of you are failing to bring up at all matters that really, we as Staff need to hear about.

In the last few weeks, I've been frequently annoyed by PMs that simply contain a link to a Forum topic and ask me to act upon it. To those people who have been doing this, I'd like to ask exactly what you think this will accomplish. I personally make a point to read the majority of Forum Threads on the Forum; and whenever I have free time I will usually read at minimum ten threads from my "unread" list, usually far more. So I'll get to your thread eventually; and in fact it's occurred quite frequently lately that by the time you PM me, I've already read the thread you tried to bring to my attention.

Adding to this is the fact that much of the time, the stated reason for bringing my attention to the topic - if any is supplied at all - is something that can be best dealt with through other means. You want a Trade thread moved to Shops? There's a thread for that (although by now, you should know whether a thread belongs in Trades or Shops anyway). Someone breaking the Forum Rules? I appreciate the PM, but such reports are better served by using the Forum's in-built Report System, by clicking the triangular ! button on the offending post - this will also allow ALL the relevant staff to check it out, not just myself. And I really don't care if you just caught X Pokémon and feel like showing it off - although if it's your first Shiny or an Epic Pokémon, then maybe I'll send back a quick congratulatory note. And yes, these are ALL real examples.

As for Ban Appeals - another thing I get spammed with constantly - there's a whole category for this. Some of you seem to think avoiding proper protocol by not making an Appeal Thread; or making the appeal thread AND PMing a member of Staff directly will get your case looked at quicker. In reality, the opposite is true. If only one Staff member knows about your case, you're then at the mercy of him actually being active and having the time to look at your PM in order to begin reviewing your case - and if that Staff member is currently on leave, has lots of PMs already before yours, or is otherwise preoccupied, you could be waiting for some time. Having a thread removes that problem by putting your Appeal out in the open for ANY relevant Staff member to review; and PMing us when you already have a thread just wastes a space in our inbox and slows us from dealing with other matters as well as yours.

I'm also aware that many people PM certain Staff members about cases with a view to getting them to weigh in on the case, before - or in addition to - any other member of Staff in the hopes their opinion will be more favourable. This is also a waste of time. As part of Staff Policy, it's actively encouraged during any Ban Appeal that the person(s) responsible for instigating the ban be encouraged to weigh in on the reasons for their Ban; and often they will be first to speak. For this reason, when I receive a PM about a ban I had not been around to observe and did not perform myself, I will usually simply forward the PM to the person(s) responsible before making any response of my own. By doing this, it also helps me to establish the facts of the case; no Staff member can personally observe every ban performed and logs only give so much detail, so sometimes Staff require further information about a case before they can act upon it. This would be much easier to share within a Forum thread, whereby each Staff member can share their knowledge of the case instantly with the other Staff members and any further questioning is known to all of us. It's also not the case that any Staff member is more "merciful" than another; as all of us are aware of the game's rules and will uphold them to the highest standards. Even if it WERE true, an unban is rarely agreed on without consultation between multiple members of the Staff team; so any attempt to pander to a single individual is likely to be seen through and counted against you during the appeal process.

Now I've talked about what I DON'T want to receive, how about examples of what I would like to get which I feel isn't sent often enough?

To put it simply, one word. Feedback. It's a real headache for myself - and I'm sure most of the Staff in kind - to hear constantly accusations that we do not listen to the players. The fact is, we make every attempt to involve the community in as many points of the game's development as we can; this is after all one of the major reasons why the Forums exist; plus we now have the regular surveys with questions to get your views on general game-related topics or opinions on recent or planned changes; and there's always been the Suggestion Box if you want to pass an idea of your own along to us. But feedback extends beyond the game itself. Have you ever felt a Staff Member was easily annoyed in-game? Have you ever found a Staff's response to a player's complaint or Forum post difficult to understand? On the flip side, have you ever felt like thanking a staff member for their fast responses, their frequent appearances, or just for being a nice person to know? It might seem obvious, but if you aren't telling us your thoughts, there's nothing we can do about them. We're here to serve YOU, our loyal player base, and keep the game fun for everyone while weeding out trouble to the full extent we can, after all. So don't be afraid to confront us. My favourite days on PWO are those rare days when I get a PM that just says "thank you" and "keep up the good work"; and it'd be nice sometimes to know when we've made your day, because it makes ours too. At the same time, if you feel a Staff member isn't stepping up to the mark, we would like to know why - none more so than the individual themselves. And personally, I've always had greater respect for people who are brave enough to say it directly to your face. So feel free to PM us to share a concern. If we know what worries you, we can take steps to make it better.

On a personal level, I also like to use PMs as a way to just talk. It's fun sometimes just to discuss whatever's on your mind, game-related or not. Sure, we have Off-Topic Forum threads and the IRC Chat, but it's nice sometimes to just shut yourself away from the rest of the world for a while and just spend a little time one-on-one to just banter, without any specific topic in mind. It's friendly, it's heart-warming and it encourages a more open dialogue, where people may feel more keen to share what they don't feel able to in public. And it's human. Yeah I know, a Gengar talking about human things. The thing is though, sometimes I feel the players of games - not only here in PWO, but also in MMOs, RTSes, and online games all over treat Staff like robots, thinking we just methodically doing tasks and dish out justice and are just so completely focused on the job at hand we simply can't be approached. But we're all human as well, just like you. A minute out of our day just for a friendly chat sometimes makes an hour of work way more tolerable. And hey, if we really ARE too busy right now, it only takes five seconds for us to say so. Or we can just wait until later to reply. The advantages of PMs is once they're there, they stay there unless we delete them; and we know where to find them. So even if it's two days, three days, a week later, I'm happy in the knowledge that I always have an opportunity to say hi back and don't have to go hunting to find you again.

In short, if you're about to send a PM to any Staff member about a subject that can be more easily dealt with on the Forum itself, or with multiple Staff members involved, perhaps you should avoid sending it and make a thread instead. But if you have actual opinions to share, a genuine reason to grab my attention, or you just feel like talking... well I won't speak for the other Staff members, but I would love to hear from you.