A new proposed staff position. Please hear me out on this. "Human Resources" / Public Relations / Mediator / Secretary.
Doge has a large player base and several staff members as well as a very important owner. However, said owner does have a life. Believe it or not, his time is very valuable. While many tasks DO require his attention and his powers, not every little detail necessarily DOES require his time. Please consider this position as a "go-between" for the owner, players, staff and every combination thereof.
This position would entail:
helping communicate the players needs,
helping provide insight/suggest who could be promoted within staff,
act as a mediator between players/staff etc,
helping keep staff organized on projects,
helping communicate goals for the projects between staff,
communicate to the players ETAs on projects or keep them up to date on relative information "when is market coming out" or "when will CE be fixed" and while these things are sometimes unknown at least the HR would be able to give an up to date answer on this information.
Many staff are not on the same page for these answers, which is fine, we all have lives and are various degrees of busy and no one should feel bad about that. I do believe that players should be kept in the loop and to have their concerns and opinions heard and relayed to staff; that their ideas and voices are very important. While posting things on the forum or PMs to the owner are valid ways to be heard, many players feel these are not the easiest or best ways to communicate. This might be because no one checks the forums or might be because it doesn't feel like a two-way street, something proper communication ought to be.
While all these things are ultimately up to Niko, this HR position would be able to relay what he has decided in times which he is not online.
There are lots of social cliques on Doge, it's fun to hang out with friends. There are even players that don't speak English that play here. The HR should be someone that can get along with most of these groups or at least be neutral in dealing with them. This would also be the person who players can go to when they feel that the staff has wronged them or if they have issues with another player that needs resolving. Essentially a mediator.
Perms would NOT be necessary for this role, but being invited into a "staff" position would be. Things like /ban/mute/kick or even just /mute and /kick is more than what this position would require but could be valuable when no one else is online. An official "Human Resource" title would help players recognize who they can go to for these issues. While helper is also suited for some of these, it should not be left to "the lowest staff position" to handle all this organization and communication that is clearly lacking at the moment. While this position wouldn't be required to go fix griefed or lost items, they could easily redirect anyone to the appropriate staff to have the issues resolved. (If there's an available helper online there's no reason to try and ask a builder or admin to fix minor issues). Things like "WHO'S THE OWNER I NEED HIM" could easily be handled by saying "I'm not the owner but I can relay a message to him or find an appropriate staff member, if you tell me what you need.".
Thank you for hearing me out, I realize it isn't a position that has been on Doge before and it doesn't "feel" necessary but I really do want Doge to be the best place it can be. When the players aren't heard or don't feel like they are taken seriously they get discouraged and stop playing. I don't want to see any of my friends leave because they resent or are upset with how things are. For this reason, I believe this role should be created. I would toss my name into this hat to be considered for the position if you would have me. HOWEVER, if you believe I lack some of the skills needed for this position PLEASE still consider having someone fill this space in. It is a much-needed role.
Traditionally this would be put into the "apply for staff" category (please don't deny this just because it's in the ideas forum) but I am placing it here BECAUSE I want to hear the players feedback. As it would be a staff position the next post is my application.
Is this needed? Is this something you would want? Is this something that would help Doge be a better place?
TLDR; LadyForHR
) but uh I bet they randomly just picked something. so good job making an impact on the server VG ^^ keep it up xD