[War_ooc] Just showing I'm not idle...

[John Penta]

Nothing deeply important today. Like the subject hints at, part of
this is your GM trying to not be idle, and also I want to keep people
up to date.

Here's where we lay:
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Right now, of 9 potential players:

3 have completed what I'm dubbing "the entry process": their writeups
are completed and posted, and their first post is in. This is Mike
Downey, Dylan, and Iain, with Mike Downey coming in with the first
post of Resurrected WAR. Will there be a prize for that? I don't know.
5 have writeups completed and posted, but don't have their first post
in. This is essentially everybody else. This fact is actually making
me anxious, as the first post came in a week ago. Momentum, to my puny
mind, matters.
1 is still working on their writeup. I'm sure you can guess who. No,
this is not meant to be subtle pressure - it's meant to be unsubtle
pressure.:)

Thusfar, nobody's taken up the retroposting option - fair enough,
though I'm leaving it on the table for whomever wants to.
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I have the economic side of the WR all done - My next task is
considering ''do we want to include certain commodity prices'; if we
do, I have to dig up pricing data, pick which price to use, and figure
out how the devil to manipulate it. (Thusfar, I'm only pondering
including gold and oil. Are there other commodities I should track in
the WR?)

I will leave the approvals side of the WR until it's basically time to
write action responses, since they're linked.
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I won't start serious work on the WR until everybody has their first post in.

Hopefully, I'll get more than one post from everybody!
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On that note: Like I mentioned in the activity requirement thread:
*Currently*, the minimum is going to be once every 2 weeks. I know
there's some argument it should be once a week, but I want to see you
all make that threshold before I apply it to true newbies.
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Speaking of newbies:

We don't have any yet. See my post 'Potentially Dumb Ideas' on the OOC
list for multiple ideas in that regard which I really want comment on.

Which makes it a good time to plan for the process if we do get any!
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Question I'm considering when it comes to newbies, which I'd really
like to have answered:

Do people still want there to be an entrance quiz?

If yes, a second question: Should it be the same quiz as currently is
posted at war.dagarcia.net/join.htm?
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Here's how I see the process working from here on out:

1. first contact - The newbie first gets in contact with me
(primarily). I try to answer their questions.
2. If we choose to do an entry quiz and the newbie expresses interest
in joining, I send them the entry quiz. If we choose not to (or if the
player indicates they previously have played WAR; I'll skip it if I
even vaguely recall them or can find someone who does), I send another
kind of app form, collecting name, email, and top three country
choices, and noting that getting AIM is recommended (though not
required).
3. After the entry quiz comes back, I grade it. If there is no entry
quiz, skip to step 4. If there's no response within one week (7 days
as measured by gmail), I "expire" it and set it aside - of course, if
the newbie eventually sends back something, I'm happy to work with
them.
4. I assign country and send the template for the country writeups, as
well as signing the newbie up to the WAR and WAR_OOC lists and
introducing them on the OOC list.
5. Country writeup comes back. I look it over and either suggest
improvements or tell the newbie to post it to the OOC list. Like at
step 3, there's a lifespan of one week where I want to at least hear
something. If I suggest improvements, repeat this step until we're
both happy.
6. Newbie writes their intro post - as this will be occurring after
play has begun, I'll look over the intro posts to make sure they don't
conflict with what's already been established, and as a courtesy I'll
try to help them put their best foot forward generally. Like at step
5, I'll be attaching a lifespan to this.
7. Once the intro post is done and any conflicts with game-reality are
resolved, I ask them to post it to the list.

In short: If a newbie is focused and clued-in, it should be perfectly
possible to go from just stumbling upon WAR to being a full player in
under 72 hours. Most people will take longer - which is fine.
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Any qualms or quibbles with that?

John