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>I had this idea to improve communications and create a more
>balanced relationship between the playerbase and staff.
While your concept is noble, I don't believe *this* technique is really the way to go about it...with the following reasonings as to why this falls apart.
>Step One.
>
>Someone has an idea. They create a formal outline of how to
>implement the idea and submit said idea for a VOTE to the PB.
>After a set amount of time if the idea is well received and
>received more yays than nays, it is then submitted to the
>Immortal staff and we see if the idea can gain a 'sponsor' -
>an Imm who would oversee the development of the idea.
First of all...voting of the masses is rarely an effective way to run any organization. It's something that good leadership will *listen* to, but may have to say no. I've got three siblings, and I guarantee you democracy never happened in our house. Secondly, even good ideas may just be too difficult to implement.
>Step Two.
>
>The Imm Sponsor consults with other Imms on the technical
>feasibility of said idea and maintains communication with the
>person who submitted the initial idea. This would of course
>assume that there needs be a formal submission of ideas vs.
>what we all usually do (post ideas here).
This step doesn't add much benefit to the process besides "The person who submitted it knows it's being worked on". On the flip side, it does add layers of "management" in a sense, that are unnecessary with how projects currently work.
>Step Three.
>
>Assuming the other Imms give the nod, the Immortal sponsor
>enlists a 'development team' of interested players who can
>contribute to making the idea a reality. The Immortal sponsor
>would be responsible for overseeing the team and making sure
>everyone is on the same page.
In most cases, anywhere the playerbase *could* help, is often on a similar level as area writing. The Immortal sponsor could likely just as quickly and easily do the work needed, or this is often the sort of work that goes to Heroimms, who in many ways do act as "players that help the Immortals".
>SPECIAL NOTE:
>
>I understand that from an 'area-writing' perspective I was
>told that it takes more time to train up and insure a player
>is doing it right than to just do it yourself. What this
>proposal means is that the Imm sponsor sorta takes the idea
>  inc. area ideas) and works in collaboration from the very
>beginning with the author of the idea so that being on the
>same page typically should not be an issue.
>
>Either way, some sort of semi-formal process for the PB to
>know SOME of the ideas being worked on would be nice.
>Obviously super-secret game-changing ideas should be kept
>close to the vest, but having a more direct hand in shaping CF
> without having to write an area) even if its only coming up
>with good ideas and helping bring them to fruition would be
>nice for the PB in my opinion.
Ultimately, there's really two major ways changed can be made to the CF world -
1) Coding
2) Area writing (which is similar to learning simple coding in a CF-specific language)
The first amounts to roughly five Immortals, while the second is obviously broader. Generally any changes that do occur amount to someone coming up with an idea that an Immortal finds promising. That Immortal will bring it up to the rest of the Immortal staff, and if it seems most interesting, discussion occurs among the higher level Immortals regarding gameplay and balance. If that's approved, then ultimately one of the coders will have it added to their queue, at which point they'll create it as time permits.
Probably the largest factor in this aspect is the "time permits". As much as players comment about having limited time, this same concept applies to Immortals who are choosing to use some of their CF time towards creating a better environment for everyone, rather than playing themselves. Often, coding is what these Immortals do (or have done) for a living, so they can even be coming home from work to...decide to do more work for "fun".
>Having a POC (point of contact) I believe would really
>improve communications. Anywho, thats it for today.
Ultimately, I would personally agree that a *certain* amount of transparency and open communication is a good thing, where possible, there is often purely not a lot to say. I feel there ARE a lot of ideas that have come from the playerbase, though the timeframe can be exceedingly extended.
As for throwing ideas out there, it does serve as a discussion board for ideas, just that if there's no response, you could assume it's something that hasn't caught the interest or appeal of an Immortal.
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