Maple Advisory Council

There are some kinks, but it certainly looks promising...

[MENTION=10688]Tyler[/MENTION];

1) How do you suggest Nexon dedicate the kind of resources necessary to create the programs/items/features necessary for this system to operate (specifically, second line of defense, report system, giving GM-esqe abilities to non-GM characters, etc) while also putting a focus on lessening of resources in the corporate environment? Seems contradictory.

Think of it like alternative energy. To save money you must first spend some. There is a document with more personal information such as costs, resources needed, and more and I can ensure you that the costs of developing the system into the game would be minimal, along with staffing as it would be built into their already made system.

2) How do you define "fully committed"? How does selection occur? Would being on a fansite give leverage in this process? Would knowledge of the game's updates and/or mechanics give leverage? How are they supposed to know who is the best person for the job on a world by world basis? What happens when a member wants out?

Fully committed means a player or individual that has a passion about making a difference in the community and is willing to sacrifice their own time for the better good of others, giving them humanitarian values.

Selection would occur by a select portion of Nexon's team going through the entire internet (fansites, their own official forums, in-game, and even social media such as Twitter and Facebook) to find any potentials. They would then contact each and after a series of elimination, get a set of Council members.

Confidential matters are kept confidential, which includes game updates. Besides casual talk, information about updates, events, and so forth would be kept secret as normal.

When a member wants out, they must let their appointed nexon representative about it and their service will be concluded. They will lose access to their Council account, and the medal on their character (assuming they are given one) will be removed next maintenance.

3) How can you define what the council will handle when there are no documentation on Nexon's stance towards certain isues? Specifically, anything in the ToS that they don't already monitor and react to? (buying/selling in-game items or real life items (who sells real life items in maple anyway? why should nexon care if i advertise the sale of my television in their game?), KSing/harrassment, scamming, etc)

Only matters that are assigned to a Council member or discussed in their handbook will be handled, nothing else. If there is an event taking place that is not documented there will be no action against it. This does not always mean that what is in the Terms of Service will be the same as their job, although it isn't to create any unfair advantage to getting players reported. It's a fair system.

Additionally just to state, kill stealing is against the Terms of Service and has always been bannable. Kill stealing falls under the category of 'restricting a player's normal gameplay or interrupting gameplay.

4) What is going to happen when a council member gives a bunch of names to Nexon and only half of them are actually banned because the other half spent a large amount of money on the game or because those accounts used paypal and can refund their money? (read: http://www.southperry.net/showthread.php?t=60929) What happens when after this happens, the council sees this player again and didn't know about this policy of Nexons? How are you going to guarantee that someone who isn't directly tied to Nexon won't stab them in the back (by, say, using that twitter account of theirs to spread negative statements about their business practices) if they don't agree with their policies?

Put in different words: Why should the council stay dedicated to Nexon when/if they realize their policies are different from what they think their ideals were?

If the inability to ban players as discussed above is true, then that isn't avoidable.

You asked.. "What happens when after this happens, the council sees this player again and didn't know about this policy of Nexons?"

They would still be reported. Reporting does not mean a player will be ban, it is merely alerting Nexon America of an issue. The same would go for normal players reporting them.

It wouldn't matter if it's a Council member or anyone, if someone says anything that can harm a company they can be contacted by their PR department to remove the content and further legally. All Council members will be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement so if they say anything confidential it would be ..well, let's put it bad.

5) Why do you think the council deserves amenities? A large amount of people who have suggested systems like this have said that people who are "fully committed" don't require benefits to make the job worth doing. Communication between Nexon and the council is fine, but an allowance of maple points seems a bit much especially when there is no way to make sure it won't be spent on non-decor short of cutting them from the council. Also, giving a normal character the ability to warp to ANY MAP with no restriction is hilariously bad. Remedied by making a new character, but why is that any different from a normal GM?

An allowance would be given because that's what Nexon does and it doesn't hurt to give something back to someone who is helping the community. Staff are given NX, interns are given NX, everyone who helps at Nexon is; this isn't an issue.

Additionally, seems there is a mix-up, although any NX on the Council account is Decoration only. The NX given as an allowance to the Council member's main account could be spend on anything. The same goes for their staff.

Why would being able to teleport to any map be an issue? When teleporting the Council member is kept invisible. This would help in those cases of if a player says "Hey there's so and so doing so and so in this map!". The council member could then teleport there and check on it. If there's nothing wrong, then nothing is wrong. If there is, it'll be handled.

6) It seems like this system would end with a divide in community opinion (if it succeeds) towards the council and actual GMs. If the community sees the council doing an amazing job, why should they treat the GMs the way they have till now as if they had real authority?

When a player sees a GM they known that they work for Nexon America and are 'staff'. When a player sees a Council member they will know that they are more or less helpers in-game. An announcement would be made on the main site as well as in their information databases so there would not be any vagueness.

Sorry if there's any odd responses to the questions, it's past midnight and had a long day. Feel free to ask anything more!