CLOK BBS

Below is the current list of CLOK GMs. GMs (Game Masters) are game staff that will be able to help you with bugs or anything else you might need from staff, and are also available to solicit for general advice and help, so feel free to send them a CHAT or TELL if you see them online, though be aware they may be busily poring over work or projects not in the main game window and may not always be available to reply.

Also know that while GM characters may occasionally interact with your character, they are not considered actual characters in the game world and should not be treated as such - they will not take place in storylines, go along on hunts, dispense story information and so forth. They have plenty of alias characters to do those things with.

The below list loosely defines some of the roles and responsibilities each staff position holds. Please note that this is by no means intended to be a comprehensive list, and CLOK is a very team-oriented project. Detailed roles and responsibilities can be viewed with the GM (or GURU) command in-game.

Roles and Responsibilities:
Event Staff:
-Independantly performs small-scale events and coordinates with other members of the team to plan and assist in larger scale events.
-Creates critters for use in events.
-Creates items and shops for spontaneous periodic NPC merchants.
-Consults with GameMasters for quality control purposes before releasing content.
Contributes to team discussions regarding overall design of the game, sharing feedback and ideas for new and modified systems.
-May also perform Builder duties.

GameMaster:
-Holds guruship over certain areas of the game such as guilds, towns, and/or organizations.
-Builds permanent NPC shops in towns or other appropriate areas.
-Creates critters for population of hunting areas.
-Performs quality control of peer works.
-Performs bug fixes not requiring code modificaiton such as typo corrections, critter and shop modifications, and so on.
-May coordinate with the Builder and Mentor programs as either Builder Manager or Mentor Manager.
-Contributes to team discussions regarding overall design of the game, sharing feedback and ideas for new and modified systems.
-May also perform Event Staff duties.

Coder:
-Has limited access to server source code and scripts.
-Plans and develops new systems with DEV approval.
-Performs bug fixes requiring code modification and optimizes existing code.
-Contributes to team discussions regarding overall design of the game, sharing feedback and ideas for new and modified systems.
-May also perform GameMaster duties.

Developer:
-Has full access to all server files and logs.
-Mediates player issues.
-Drives the overall design and direction of the game.
-Provides final decision in issues such as new systems, major mechanics modifications, and major events.
-Contributes to team discussions regarding overall design of the game, sharing feedback and ideas for new and modified systems.

Addendum: We are still more than happy to receive suggestions and accept freelance work from anyone who wishes to contribute to CLOK. Of particular use to us are donated room descriptions, as there are still a good few bare rooms out there that need describing.

Listing updated.

Another update. Congrats to Landion for being promoted to a full GM!

List updated. Added areas of responsibility/focus for the different GMs. Vorpal has disappeared on us, sadly.

A hearty, warm welcome to Noctere, our newest GM!

Updated, and I'm sure I forgot a few things.

Congrats to Noctere for being promoted to full GM! He's done a lot of great work and been an excellent addition to the team.

Welcome to JGM Selene!

A sadface update. Rithiel and Selene have been super busy in that accursed "real world" and so they'll be considered inactive till they find the time to rejoin us.

Update!
- Jirato is now a fulll GM and is facepalming at all the terrible code as he tries to help us make it better.
- Icterus is active again and worldbuilding.
- Zoiya joins us as our first dedicated CE (Customer Experience) JGM!

Tse Gaiyan rejoice and infested head for the hills; Rithiel has returned!

I forgot to mention, apparently, that Zoiya moved up to full GM and, more recently, SGM.

Rithiel is now a Dev. Fear her!

Rithiel is now an SGM. It's been over a year since I had my brush with almost giving up CLOK completely and preparing for that possibility by assigning Rithiel as a Dev. Through all the ups and downs since then, I've stuck with CLOK, unable to give it up, and my wife has encouraged me to continue to do so despite the occasional grumpiness it causes her when I spend too much time staring at buffers of CLOK code or talking about the latest Lost Lands drama when I should be thinking about more important things.

Rithiel has been awesome, and I appreciate her willingness to pick up the slack for me and prepare for the possibility of taking the project over had I decided to give it up. None of her guruships or duties will change with this, so please continue to pester her about stuff that she works on (or should work on!).

Hey look, we're finally acknowledging our builders in the list!

Two new builders, Vinz and Safira! Huzzah!

Rithiel is no longer GMing. CLOK is a better (and often times scarier - those nightmare flies!) place for the years of work she put in, and we wish her the best in her future endeavors. Her areas of guruship won't be abandoned, but will be passed to other GMs. (They currently fall to Rias until staff can discuss and redistribute.)

What's this? Vinz is a full GM now? Huzzah!

Vinnie will continue to focus on PC interactions and events, but will also be taking up guruship of Tse Gaiyan.

To avoid the impression that some GMs are "better" or "more honored" or "higher on the totem pole" or whatever than others, we've collectively decided to just do away with the "SGM" thing altogether. (We also realized that nobody was really sure what "SGM" implied and how it was different from "GM")

So no, Jirato and Zoiya didn't get "demoted" or anything. We just thought it would be better and more clear to simply list what the different GMs are/do by simply seeing what their specific guruships and responsibilities are. You can see this info via the guru command in-game.

Zoiya has returned to the team! She will be focused upon:

World Building
Builder Training
Festivals
Wandering Merchants

Emraef has joined the team for code work and optimization. Feel free to give him a warm welcome if/when you see him.

Zoiya has been an invaluable asset to CLOK over the years. Her numerous additions have breathed life into the Lost Lands, her merchants and events have made hundreds of characters happy, and she has seriously been a backbone in dealing with much of the administrative effort around here. Regretfully, she will no longer actively working on the project. Her areas of guruship will not be neglected and we will continue on in her absence.

We just had our GM meeting, and there's been a few changes regarding the GM structures:

Vinz is going to be taking an extended break while he focuses on his studies. He may be around for awhile longer to tie up some loose ends, but after that he will be placed in an inactive status until he returns.

Selene is back and has a working computer, yay!

Rias is now on board as a regular GM. In addition to being a lore consultant as was previously, he will also be doing events and is now the guru of Shadgard, Mistral Lake, and all hamlets.

Emraef has been reclassified as a consultant. He has done some great work on the test server with critter AI, but will likely not be taking as active a role in GM responsibilities as others.

Please welcome our newest GM, Uyoku! She'll be helping out with events! Yay!

The original post has been edited to include a list of some of the roles and responsibilities that go with each staff position. This should help clear up any confusion. There's been no actual change, just making some additional information public.

Made a stealth edit to add Lassyn to the Event Staff list, whee!

It's been awhile since I've actually updated this.

Hayl and Lassyn are now GameMasters.

Vestyn has been added to the Event Staff.

It is with great regret that I've removed Selene from the active staff list, though she will always have an open door if she ever wants to rejoin the project.