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Social Adventures - What is it all about?

Laoch de na Iolair Buí
Sekkerhund
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Posted On: 02/26/2016 at 02:40 PM
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(I thought I would post this as a separate thread.  I wrote it as a reply in another thread, but realized that it really needs to be by itself.)

The Social Adventure program is my adopted project.  By sheer coincidence, while Fog was in process of secretly creating it, I was working on a mirror project.  He realized what I was up to, "said... uhm hey, Sek?", so I've had a hand in developing it and I am keeping a hand on it, to gently push and prod it along, into a success.  Games like BDO are exactly why we need the Social Adventures program.

Do not be fooled by the casual appearance of the term "social".  Members are most certainly allowed to be as hardcore as they want, as the program does not require the need to be wearing a GSCH tag.  They could be wearing a Praetorian tag (thinking off the cuff), as long as they're an active member of the community, and meet the requirements set forth for the Event Claiming system.  (Technically, this really replaces the Tuatha.  Although, "replace" might be a bit too strong of a word.  But yea, that.  :) )

As far as to what the atmosphere of GSCH tagged rooms will be, I'll leave that to Fog to define.  It's his brand.  However, as far as the overall tone of the Social Adventure program, people are welcome to do whatever they want, and form as many guilds as they want, even within the same game.

Think of all the Social Adventures as little planets orbiting a central sun, aka this website.  Then you have the two Chapters, which are the huge superplanets, much like Jupiter and Saturn.  The entire Gaiscioch Social Gaming community revolves around this website.  That is why all the different tools exist here on the website, to help support everyone to game together and stay in touch, whether it be in an official Chapter, or a smaller, less popular game.

Yea, I get it... it's a little hard to grasp at first, because our common concept of a guild is something that only exists within .  Or we cling to the idea that we have to wear a certain tag, in order to be a member of that guild.

That's the stigma that I'm trying to break.  I don't throw around "social adventures" as a crutch.  I use it as often as possible, so that people start to recognize and understand it.  Exposure is the only way that it will work, because people have to re-train their thinking before they can really come to understand, then accept what we're trying to do.

 

edit: I'll clean up this thread over time, it's allergy season, so burning eyes and sleepiness makes it challenging to write coherent thoughts, the first time around.

Last Edited on: 03/05/2016 at 09:43 AM
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Laoch de na Iolair Buí
Sekkerhund
Laoch de na Iolair Buí
  • GW2: Sekkerhund.3790
  • ESO: @Sekkerhund
Replied On: 02/26/2016 at 02:41 PM PST
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edit:  Gah, I shouldn't post while tired.  I posted the thread as a reply, after posting a blank thread, so fixing it.



» Edited on: 2016-02-26 14:44:59

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Laoch de na Iolair Buí
Sekkerhund
Laoch de na Iolair Buí
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Replied On: 02/27/2016 at 09:54 PM PST
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Yes.

Although, it wouldn't yet meet the criteria for an "official" SA, it falls under the category of "Open Adventure".  All you need is 4 family members participating in an activity, to qualify as an "open adventure".  However, I am not sure that Fog has the system for Open Adventure in place yet.  Last I knew, it was "coming soon", but yea... folks will absolutely be able to do something like that. :)

No minimum rank is needed, that I am aware of.

 

edit: Since folks may not be aware of them, here are two really good links to read:

 



» Edited on: 2016-02-27 22:33:48

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Taoiseach de na Arach Glas
Foghladha
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Replied On: 02/28/2016 at 01:57 AM PST
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Open adventures are in place. You can play any game with 3 or more Gaiscioch / GSCH members and claim the event

"It's not the loot and accolades you walk away with, it's the memories and friendships that you cherish forever." - Foghladha
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Laoch de na Iolair Buí
Sekkerhund
Laoch de na Iolair Buí
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Replied On: 02/28/2016 at 08:54 PM PST
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Ok groovy.  I can promote that as well, then.  Plus, it will help me in explaining the system to folks.  I'm finding that there are some misconceptions about the program, so once we can get those cleared up, hopefully more folks will get on board with what we're trying to do.

So much potential, and I've been trying to work out a program like this, since 2007.  After a huge failure in 2010, I wanted to crawl in a hole and just give up, so I may be trying a little hard, but the success of this program is that much more important to me.

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Laoch de na Iolair Buí
Sekkerhund
Laoch de na Iolair Buí
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Replied On: 03/01/2016 at 05:42 PM PST
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(gonna cross-post this a couple of times, sorry, but spammers spam for a purpose, but this is for a good purpose)

I also strongly suggest that folks download and run Discord.  It's a social communications application that can be run from a web browser, as a desktop client, and also on mobile devices.  It does not require voice connection (unlike Gamevox/Teamspeak/Ventrilo, etc.), but it does have voice communication capabilities, just like those voice clients.

I do not suggest running from a browser, unless you absolutely have no choice.  You can download the desktop client and run it just like Gamevox.  They do call it a "desktop app", so don't be confused by what they call it.

It offers a lot of very neat features, including a shoutbox-style of text communication, and messages are review-able whether you are running the app or not.  The coolest feature, is that you do not have to be logged into voice at all, even if you run the desktop client.  To join a voice channel, you just click on a channel, then when you want silence, you just disconnect from Voice.

Sign up at gsch.info/bdo

it will open up the browser app page, then up at the top of the page, you will see a link to download the desktop client.  The browser page does not allow PTT, unless the browser is the active window, so I strongly suggest downloading the "desktop app" and run it, just like you would Gamevox.  It's lightweight and as I said, will not automatically log you into voice... it's kind of like Skype/MSNIM/Trillian, etc. but very nicely laid out, with fantastic features.

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Laoch de na Iolair Buí
Sekkerhund
Laoch de na Iolair Buí
  • GW2: Sekkerhund.3790
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Replied On: 03/05/2016 at 09:40 AM PST
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Some people seem confused and focused on terminology, so let's try this approach, because a few of you seem to be focusing on "Chapter" as something very important for BDO to be and it's current status as a "Social Adventure" as the ... "blech, hate it".

So,

  1. What is your perception of how this community operates?
  2. What do you feel defines a Chapter?
  3. What do you feel defines a Social Adventure?
  4. Do you consider a Chapter to be more important than a Social Adventure?
  5. What would you expect BDO to gain from, by being a "Chapter" versus a "Social Adventure"?

Please understand that how Fog designed Gaiscioch to operate, is a bit different from most typical gaming guilds.  It took me a couple of years, then finally Fog spending about an hour explaining it to me, for the lightbulb to finally come on.

Keeping it simple for now:

  • Gaiscioch is a website community.  Game guilds are hubs.
  • Leadership in Gaiscioch works differently from other guilds.  You'll notice no "ranks" or leadership definitions in our games, just on the website.
  • Our Family Credos are the defining core of our community.  They define what is expected of you and what you should expect from the community.
  • (I'll add more as I think of them)

So yea, I had these questions, too, as I know many others do, as well.  While Gaiscioch may not be the community for everyone, it would be ... nice for folks to better understand it a bit better.  :)

Feel welcome to ask questions, there's no awkward questions and no one is going to get mad, upset or want to /kick someone because they don't understand.  That's exactly not what we're about.

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Laoch de na Iolair Buí
Sekkerhund
Laoch de na Iolair Buí
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Replied On: 03/05/2016 at 12:27 PM PST
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(cross-posting to consolidate info)

To address the "dedication" concerns, yes, there are going to be differing levels of what folks would consider "dedication" or amount of effort that we put into some games.  Some are going to want to focus on a game, others want to play casually.  We do that right now with our Chapters, too.  Chapters just happen to have a lot of the focus, because that's where most of our members are playing.  Our focus will always be where the majority of members want to be.

Members drive this community.  Everything is designed around and to support that.  Since we have a membership numbering in the thousands, we're going to have a diverse set of opinions on what the design and support should be.  That's where a framework comes into play, then it's tweaked as the community requires.  However, the more people you have, the more difficult it becomes to try to accommodate everyone's needs and tastes.

Fog has worked very hard to develop the framework for Gaiscioch over the last decade.  He's had failures and successes.  It's always a work in progress and honestly, I think he puts more time into this community than he does for anything else.  It's a 100-ton godzilla.  lol

The important thing to understand, is that Members do drive the direction of the community.  That is why he's used some of the wording that folks are finding confusing and troublesome.  That doesn't mean that he, or we as a community, feel these other games are unimportant or not going to get attention, it just means that he wants Members to be proactive and take their own initiative with the games.

That's why he's designed the tools in a generic fashion, so members have what they need to work with.

Everyone has their own interests.  A lot of our community no longer plays GW2 or ESO, so Social Adventures is a project to work within the structure of our community and allow everyone to feel active with the community as a whole, rather than just focusing on one or two games.

 

Hopefully Fog's comment about "member driven" will hopefully make more sense, now.  "Leadership" is a multi-faceted term in Gaiscioch.  A lot of us, equate the term as "authority", but we don't.  In Gaiscioch, "leadership" = "taking initiative", being a positive "by example" and by just being pro-active within the community.  Self-less and a willingness to always try to help, are other traits of Gaiscioch leadership.

Elders are not authoritative leaders, so even when they are put in a game's management position, they still aren't meant to function as per the typical "guild leader" stereotype.  Elders are advisers and guidance counselors to the community.  They are members who have a particular personality that embodies the idea of what I just defined above.  Not everyone can or will be one, as the position is designed for a particular personality.  I'll never be an Elder, I don't think that I have the correct personality.

So, even in a Chapter, we still have the same exact "member-driven" concept that a Social Adventure has... we just have a literal "elder presence" that acts as ... well, family guides.  Think about how GW2 works.  Think about how ESO works.

Fog maintains the position of authoritative leader, no matter what the game is, Chapter or otherwise.  He's the sole decision maker. 

However, with Social Adventures, the involved members actually have a little more freedom in that area.  They actually can govern themselves, as long as they follow the guidelines set by our Family Credos.  Of course, that is under the GSCH brand.  If it's something like Echoes in FFXIV, they run autonomously under their own structure, but would be welcome to operate as a Social Adventure, as long as they agreed to abide by the credo.

 

"Full attention and support".  That's the easiest to explain, as that just means the infrastructure stuff, like event claiming, marketplace, separate forum areas, VOIP channels.  Chapters are only those games that can support the infrastructure.  There's literally thousands of hours of work that goes into supporting a game.  Fog has developed a very long list of detailed requirements, that a game must meet, in order to be able to integrate it into the current Chapter infrastructure.

For each game, he has to spend several hundreds of hours making tweaks, so ... it's something that he wants to make sure that a majority of our membership will play.  We're talking the intention of supporting ~1000+ for a single game.  Very large scale. (edit: I should note that the minimum is 400-ish, but the intent is for a much higher number)

Most games don't meet that, but it doesn't mean that they'll become the un-loved step-child, just that they can not be integrated into the full support structure of the community website.

 

I hope this helps folks, maybe even in answering questions asked of them.

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Foghladha
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Replied On: 03/05/2016 at 02:34 PM PST
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Sek touches on a lot of points but there are some things I want to make clear.

 

When Gaiscioch opens a chapter it requires 100+ hours of coding, data modeling, analysing, data entry, and more. Thats just to get the functional side in a game. That process starts nearly a year before the game even sees launch. I don't want to spend 100+ hours for every game ever released who someone in our community things is chapter worthy. I simply can't manage that and still be an active presence in the community. I don't want to become a sean stalzer who nobody sees and leads from behind a veil. I want to be on the front lines welcoming each and every single person to this family. Most of you have gotten a welcome letter from me when you requested to join. That is NOT an automated script. I read each and every person request to join (part of my morning breakfast routeen) and send out welcome letters to each and every person. Yes that's 7,000+ welcome letters so far. It's important to me that I have time to be with all of you. 

Now for years we ran as 1 Chapter. That's it. From Dark Age of Camelot we had a Dark Period of Gaiscioch where it was just 3 - 5 of us playing random games together. Then Warhammer came around and we played that for 3 years. Then we moved entirely into RIFT closing Warhammer. After RIFT we pulled up camp and moved into Guild War 2. We found ourselves with a home for our PvP folk and Casual gamers but our Raiders we picked up with RIFT were unsatisfied. So we opened ESO to accommodate our raiding teams. This was the First time we ran 2 chapters at the same time and the "Daddy loves you more" took place on both sides of the ball because my attention was divided between 2 chapters.  Since then our ESO side has dropped to a GSCH Legacy Chapter and functions today similarly to a Social Adventure except it continues to have the tools I built for it when it was a full chapter. 

In all honesty 1 Chapter is best. It allows me to focus my development time one one community and keeps me playing with the community. Now Social Adventures I setup as a 3rd chapter in our system. It literally functions internally as a chapter. However I wanted to allow these satellite offshoots of our community function regardless of if there was an in game guild or not. The key is I want Gaiscioch members playing with other Gaisicoch members in whatever game they decide. We setup GSCH Social Adventures so that people have a common meeting ground. That said, everyone is more than welcome to create their own guild with other Gaiscioch members and continue to use the Social Adventures system. The guild tag does not matter. Just because we don't have Gaiscioch or GSCH above our heads doesn't mean in our heart we're not Gaisicoch. 

Gaiscioch is a lifestyle, it is an out of game community. Gaiscioch is based from this website. From there we can play sports, have local hang out groups, play games, you name it. When a group of friends go to Regal Cinemas to watch a movie it doesn't mean they aren't friends. It just means that that group went to the movies together. Games are our Theaters and inside them we entertain the masses. Whether we're in game or out we are still Gaiscioch at heart. This is still our family. The Game doesn't make the Family. The Family makes the Game. People are what's important.

I know this is confusing as Black Desert was the first of the Epic Social Adventures and is quickly surpassing the 100 mark and beyond. Realize that while you are not a chapter, you are still Gaiscioch at heart. This is an activity group within our family and it can be taken as dedicated as you hope it to be. If you're going to play this game every day great! Grab some friends and do some activities together and earn those social points. Those stack up so that someday when Gaiscioch does play a game you play, you can use all those points to buy gear and materials for crafting in those titles. Additionally you can use those points now to buy games from our loot vault

It's important that we realize there is no "more important". We are people. Everyone is important! The only reason that we don't chapter every game is because YOU'RE important. If I was to chapter them all, you guys would never see me. My full time job would be running this thing, and I would never touch a game again. You're important to me and I want to spend time with the people, not the code. You all are my family regardless of the game you play. 

I highly recommend people watch the portion of our 2015 State of the Family that pertains to social adventures.

https://youtu.be/A9TPg07RHsY?t=26m4s

Here's the full video:



» Edited on: 2016-03-05 14:35:02

"It's not the loot and accolades you walk away with, it's the memories and friendships that you cherish forever." - Foghladha
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