Everybody loves a nice philosophy essay, right?
After everything that's been happening on the RP front recently (and as far back as March), I figure it might be a good time to post this, just so everybody knows where I'm coming from when I make the decisions I do.
As most of you probably know, I'm a waitress at On the Border. My jobs are to take orders, get food and drinks out to customers, and - here's the important one - make sure the customer is having a good time. If there's a problem, it's my job to get it fixed, whether it be getting new food, bringing their kid something to eat, or just doing my absolute best at making sure everything's perfect. It's what I do, and I enjoy it.
I'm also a moderator at two LJ multifandom RPGs: Paixao (paixaorpg) and Project Daisychain (daisychainrpg). My jobs there are to review applications, enforce the rules, run activity checks, resolve player disputes, and - here's the important one - make sure the players are having a good time. If there's a problem, it's my job to get it fixed, whether it be resolving a dispute between players, revising an unfair or impractical policy, or just doing my absolute best at making sure the game runs well. It's what I do, and I enjoy it as well.
Now, at On the Border, it's policy for a server to return to a table several minutes after their food has been served to make sure everything is going well. Generally, I'll walk up to a table and ask how everything is tasting and is there anything else I can do for the table. This is the opportune moment for the table to tell me yes, everything's fine, or no, I ordered shredded beef and got ground beef/the sauce is too spicy/the queso is cold/I don't really like what I ordered. When they tell me there's a problem, that's when I offer them something different to eat or go back to the kitchen to get it solved ASAP. When I know what the problem is, I can make it right. Most tables fall into one of these two categories.
Every once in a while, however, I'll get a table that tells me that they're fine, but somehow they just don't look happy. I'll do everything I can for them - keep drinks and chip bowls full, check up on them, smile like my life depends on it - but somehow the feeling that everything is not okay still stays around. It's only after the table's done eating do I hear, either as a note on a credit card receipt with zero tip or through my manager, that their food was cold, or that they didn't like it, or that they thought service was bad, or some other problem. By that point, they've already left and there's absolutely nothing I can do to make it better - I just get blindsided by the problem and have to let it go because it's too late to try to solve it. Those tables make me crazier than tables that are outright mean, because I know how to handle mean tables, but I cannot handle a problem that I'm not aware exists.
This tends to happen in RP as well. I'll have the happy people who think everything is swell, the people who will willingly bring up a problem so it can be solved, and the people who keep mum. Sometimes I can tell when somebody's keeping mum (often they won't be active in AIM chat or in the RP, but they insist nothing's wrong when it just seems like something really is), but sometimes I have to hear about (or see, as I'm on quite a few peoples' flists) the flocked post about how the RP sucks, or read the gigantic post in the OOC community, or even find anonymous wank in a secrets community before I realize something's wrong. By that point, what can I do? Things have exploded, and it's too late for me to try to prevent the problem or to fix it before it gets too bad. All I can do is damage control and try to talk to the person with the problem, who more often than not is upset that the problem wasn't fixed beforehand despite the fact that the mods didn't know it existed.
Which brings me to the point of this little dissertation: if I don't know there's a problem, I'm not going to be able to fix it. If I think a table is fine, if all their drinks are full and the food is good and the people look happy, I'm not going to spend time there looking for trouble - I'm going to go take care of my other tables instead. In the same way, if you seem to be happy with an RP, or if you don't bring a problem to my attention, don't be surprised if it doesn't get solved. As cliche as the phrase has become, it's also very true: the mods are not mind readers. We do our best, but if something is wrong we need to know about it so it can be made right.
The other half of this is, I have no patience once the problem explodes. I check on my tables frequently, and if you didn't see fit to tell me you didn't like your burrito until you'd eaten all of it, then you're out of luck - you've already eaten it, and there's not a whole lot I can do about that. I try to talk to the players in my games as much as I can, partially because I want to make sure that everything's okay and partially because I just love you guys. If something's wrong - if you're having trouble staying active, if you're not getting along with somebody, if you're confused about anything - please tell me. I will do everything I can to help you. If you don't tell me something's wrong, and then it explodes, I will have no sympathy for you. I and all the other mods (five others in Paixao, three in Daisychain) have given you ample opportunity to bring up problems. We have made ourselves completely available to you, and there is always at least one of us online most of the time. (I cannot guarantee modly presence at four in the morning, or any other hours that fall under Stupid O'Clock.) We are more than willing to solve your problem - it is simply up to you to take the first step and tell us. If you fail to utilize your resources - if you fail to try to solve your problem, or to ask for our help in solving the problem, and instead let it get out of hand - I will consider it to be Your Own Damn Fault. I will still attempt to solve the problem, for the sake of the game itself and for the other players who are enjoying it, but I will not put up with any whining from you. You had your opportunity - you had multiple opportunities - to get the problem solved, and you did nothing. Sorry. I can't replace your burrito if you've already eaten it.
The bottom line is, I am more than willing to help you in any way I can; however, you have to be willing to ask for that help.
As most of you probably know, I'm a waitress at On the Border. My jobs are to take orders, get food and drinks out to customers, and - here's the important one - make sure the customer is having a good time. If there's a problem, it's my job to get it fixed, whether it be getting new food, bringing their kid something to eat, or just doing my absolute best at making sure everything's perfect. It's what I do, and I enjoy it.
I'm also a moderator at two LJ multifandom RPGs: Paixao (paixaorpg) and Project Daisychain (daisychainrpg). My jobs there are to review applications, enforce the rules, run activity checks, resolve player disputes, and - here's the important one - make sure the players are having a good time. If there's a problem, it's my job to get it fixed, whether it be resolving a dispute between players, revising an unfair or impractical policy, or just doing my absolute best at making sure the game runs well. It's what I do, and I enjoy it as well.
Now, at On the Border, it's policy for a server to return to a table several minutes after their food has been served to make sure everything is going well. Generally, I'll walk up to a table and ask how everything is tasting and is there anything else I can do for the table. This is the opportune moment for the table to tell me yes, everything's fine, or no, I ordered shredded beef and got ground beef/the sauce is too spicy/the queso is cold/I don't really like what I ordered. When they tell me there's a problem, that's when I offer them something different to eat or go back to the kitchen to get it solved ASAP. When I know what the problem is, I can make it right. Most tables fall into one of these two categories.
Every once in a while, however, I'll get a table that tells me that they're fine, but somehow they just don't look happy. I'll do everything I can for them - keep drinks and chip bowls full, check up on them, smile like my life depends on it - but somehow the feeling that everything is not okay still stays around. It's only after the table's done eating do I hear, either as a note on a credit card receipt with zero tip or through my manager, that their food was cold, or that they didn't like it, or that they thought service was bad, or some other problem. By that point, they've already left and there's absolutely nothing I can do to make it better - I just get blindsided by the problem and have to let it go because it's too late to try to solve it. Those tables make me crazier than tables that are outright mean, because I know how to handle mean tables, but I cannot handle a problem that I'm not aware exists.
This tends to happen in RP as well. I'll have the happy people who think everything is swell, the people who will willingly bring up a problem so it can be solved, and the people who keep mum. Sometimes I can tell when somebody's keeping mum (often they won't be active in AIM chat or in the RP, but they insist nothing's wrong when it just seems like something really is), but sometimes I have to hear about (or see, as I'm on quite a few peoples' flists) the flocked post about how the RP sucks, or read the gigantic post in the OOC community, or even find anonymous wank in a secrets community before I realize something's wrong. By that point, what can I do? Things have exploded, and it's too late for me to try to prevent the problem or to fix it before it gets too bad. All I can do is damage control and try to talk to the person with the problem, who more often than not is upset that the problem wasn't fixed beforehand despite the fact that the mods didn't know it existed.
Which brings me to the point of this little dissertation: if I don't know there's a problem, I'm not going to be able to fix it. If I think a table is fine, if all their drinks are full and the food is good and the people look happy, I'm not going to spend time there looking for trouble - I'm going to go take care of my other tables instead. In the same way, if you seem to be happy with an RP, or if you don't bring a problem to my attention, don't be surprised if it doesn't get solved. As cliche as the phrase has become, it's also very true: the mods are not mind readers. We do our best, but if something is wrong we need to know about it so it can be made right.
The other half of this is, I have no patience once the problem explodes. I check on my tables frequently, and if you didn't see fit to tell me you didn't like your burrito until you'd eaten all of it, then you're out of luck - you've already eaten it, and there's not a whole lot I can do about that. I try to talk to the players in my games as much as I can, partially because I want to make sure that everything's okay and partially because I just love you guys. If something's wrong - if you're having trouble staying active, if you're not getting along with somebody, if you're confused about anything - please tell me. I will do everything I can to help you. If you don't tell me something's wrong, and then it explodes, I will have no sympathy for you. I and all the other mods (five others in Paixao, three in Daisychain) have given you ample opportunity to bring up problems. We have made ourselves completely available to you, and there is always at least one of us online most of the time. (I cannot guarantee modly presence at four in the morning, or any other hours that fall under Stupid O'Clock.) We are more than willing to solve your problem - it is simply up to you to take the first step and tell us. If you fail to utilize your resources - if you fail to try to solve your problem, or to ask for our help in solving the problem, and instead let it get out of hand - I will consider it to be Your Own Damn Fault. I will still attempt to solve the problem, for the sake of the game itself and for the other players who are enjoying it, but I will not put up with any whining from you. You had your opportunity - you had multiple opportunities - to get the problem solved, and you did nothing. Sorry. I can't replace your burrito if you've already eaten it.
The bottom line is, I am more than willing to help you in any way I can; however, you have to be willing to ask for that help.