Thank you for the reply!
I hadn't been aware of those incidents of WG acknowledgment followed by inaction.
Unfortunately I have definite issues with procrastination and demotivation, so I know I couldn't be a VMC. Not for long, at least. Maybe there will come a time when I could handle it for 1-3 months.
I can expand on what I imagine the responsibilities would be, though:
- Many gaming sites offer some method of sending in a "tip" or submitting news. The VMC would make a list of gaming sites and every time WG makes an announcement the VMC would submit the news to every site on that list, typically within 24 hours but within 48 if their RL interferes. If the VMC becomes aware of a different/new gaming site sometime after that, as long as the latest announcement is not time-sensitive they can make a judgment call about whether to send the latest announcement to that site or simply add the site to their list and wait for the next announcement.
Announcements are few and far between, so this responsibility is quite light.
"Announcements" include patch notes and all other formal, public communications from Winch Gate (so, not dev comments on player-created forum threads, not private communications, and not player-originating news).
The list of gaming sites should include French, German, and English sites (and, optionally, sites in any additional language the VMC is personally familiar with for which they're willing to write translations).
- Submitting news about official events would be a more frequent duty, and one where the VMC can and should recruit the help of other players at a certain point. The simpler side of this duty is to pass the announcements posted by the event team in the Events forum(s) on to the gaming sites. The side where other players come in is after the event, when a recap would be useful: the VMC can either rely on a single recap from a particularly reliable person or solicit two brief recaps (each from a different perspective). Whether one recap, two recaps, or no recaps will be submitted depends on whether the VMC can convince anyone to write them at the time, the nature of the event (some events are simple and some are complex, and some might not warrant a recap for some reason), and the VMC's judgment.
- Sometimes it will be appropriate to send player-originating news to the gaming sites. One of Ryzom's strengths is its community and it would be valuable to give potential new players an idea of what the community actually does. Examples: a large pre-planned trek, the Leanon community's Black Market and the Arispotle community's Fairhaven Faire, etc.
- For numerous reasons, it will be almost requisite for the VMC to have contacts in language communities that are not their own. Some VMCs would already have friends or acquaintances who would fit this bill, and some would have to create and develop their contacts from scratch. Examples of reasons for this recommendation: the VMC would be able to check with a knowledgeable member of a community they themselves aren't familiar with in order to ensure that their coverage of that community's activities is not lacking, and this would provide a pathway for getting translations of forum posts or game chat logs if necessary.
- On the subject of covering the activities of language communities the VMC isn't familiar with, it is always the VMC's responsibility to check the other-language forums frequently and use a service like Google Translate to get the gist of what's going on over there. When in doubt, consult contact. Google Translate should never be used to translate text that would be submitted to a gaming site, though.
Alternatively, each language community could have their own VMC. Depends on whether one wants to spread the risk of burnout and neglect across three people or consolidate it in one person. Simplicity benefits this whole idea, so there actually might be some advantage to having just one VMC.
Finally:
- The VMC should keep an eye on various gaming sites, watching for things like Reader's Choice awards and other game popularity contests, reviewers and Let's Play-ers asking readers to decide which game they'll play next, sites that have a screenshot gallery for Ryzom that doesn't have many good screenshots, etc. The VMC can lighten their workload here by asking friends to tell them if they see or hear about any of these things and/or asking fellow players to do so. Once an opportunity has been found, the VMC should make a forum post about it (and either do their best to post translations in the other languages' forums or ask a contact to do so) encouraging the community to vote for Ryzom, post comments suggesting it, submit their screenshots, whatever is needed. However, the VMC should always tell people not to do anything disallowed by the rules or the spirit of the contest (or whatever it is); we don't want Ryzom getting a bad name for having an overzealous community. Mobilizing a community of enthusiasts to express their enthusiasm within given rules is not overzealous, it's normal and often expected.
I hadn't been aware of those incidents of WG acknowledgment followed by inaction.
Unfortunately I have definite issues with procrastination and demotivation, so I know I couldn't be a VMC. Not for long, at least. Maybe there will come a time when I could handle it for 1-3 months.
I can expand on what I imagine the responsibilities would be, though:
- Many gaming sites offer some method of sending in a "tip" or submitting news. The VMC would make a list of gaming sites and every time WG makes an announcement the VMC would submit the news to every site on that list, typically within 24 hours but within 48 if their RL interferes. If the VMC becomes aware of a different/new gaming site sometime after that, as long as the latest announcement is not time-sensitive they can make a judgment call about whether to send the latest announcement to that site or simply add the site to their list and wait for the next announcement.
Announcements are few and far between, so this responsibility is quite light.
"Announcements" include patch notes and all other formal, public communications from Winch Gate (so, not dev comments on player-created forum threads, not private communications, and not player-originating news).
The list of gaming sites should include French, German, and English sites (and, optionally, sites in any additional language the VMC is personally familiar with for which they're willing to write translations).
- Submitting news about official events would be a more frequent duty, and one where the VMC can and should recruit the help of other players at a certain point. The simpler side of this duty is to pass the announcements posted by the event team in the Events forum(s) on to the gaming sites. The side where other players come in is after the event, when a recap would be useful: the VMC can either rely on a single recap from a particularly reliable person or solicit two brief recaps (each from a different perspective). Whether one recap, two recaps, or no recaps will be submitted depends on whether the VMC can convince anyone to write them at the time, the nature of the event (some events are simple and some are complex, and some might not warrant a recap for some reason), and the VMC's judgment.
- Sometimes it will be appropriate to send player-originating news to the gaming sites. One of Ryzom's strengths is its community and it would be valuable to give potential new players an idea of what the community actually does. Examples: a large pre-planned trek, the Leanon community's Black Market and the Arispotle community's Fairhaven Faire, etc.
- For numerous reasons, it will be almost requisite for the VMC to have contacts in language communities that are not their own. Some VMCs would already have friends or acquaintances who would fit this bill, and some would have to create and develop their contacts from scratch. Examples of reasons for this recommendation: the VMC would be able to check with a knowledgeable member of a community they themselves aren't familiar with in order to ensure that their coverage of that community's activities is not lacking, and this would provide a pathway for getting translations of forum posts or game chat logs if necessary.
- On the subject of covering the activities of language communities the VMC isn't familiar with, it is always the VMC's responsibility to check the other-language forums frequently and use a service like Google Translate to get the gist of what's going on over there. When in doubt, consult contact. Google Translate should never be used to translate text that would be submitted to a gaming site, though.
Alternatively, each language community could have their own VMC. Depends on whether one wants to spread the risk of burnout and neglect across three people or consolidate it in one person. Simplicity benefits this whole idea, so there actually might be some advantage to having just one VMC.
Finally:
- The VMC should keep an eye on various gaming sites, watching for things like Reader's Choice awards and other game popularity contests, reviewers and Let's Play-ers asking readers to decide which game they'll play next, sites that have a screenshot gallery for Ryzom that doesn't have many good screenshots, etc. The VMC can lighten their workload here by asking friends to tell them if they see or hear about any of these things and/or asking fellow players to do so. Once an opportunity has been found, the VMC should make a forum post about it (and either do their best to post translations in the other languages' forums or ask a contact to do so) encouraging the community to vote for Ryzom, post comments suggesting it, submit their screenshots, whatever is needed. However, the VMC should always tell people not to do anything disallowed by the rules or the spirit of the contest (or whatever it is); we don't want Ryzom getting a bad name for having an overzealous community. Mobilizing a community of enthusiasts to express their enthusiasm within given rules is not overzealous, it's normal and often expected.