Demipharaoh Debates/2013 03 2013

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Demi-Pharaoh results from 86 voters: Demi-Pharaoh Results:

F: Flowbar 63.95
M: Amenuk 36.04

Debate occurred on Wednesday, March 12 at 00:00 GMT (This was Tuesday March 11th at 20:00 Eastern Time (US))

Debate between Amenuk and Flowbar from March 12, 2013

GHawkins: *Cue intro music*
GHawkins: Hello Egypt and welcome to the DemiPharaoh debates between Flowbar and Amenuk.
GHawkins: We have only a little time, so let's get started. If you have questions for the candidates at any time, plese feel free to post them here, or send me a private message.

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FIRST QUESTION: Flowbar, Amenuk, for those who do not know you, please take a moment to introduce yourselves to the audience.

Amenuk: i'm a veteran taler, having played in T1 for about a month, T4, and now T6. I enjoy many of the tests, but Body, Thought, and Worship are my favorites. Right now, I live in South RP and love helping ppl out.
Flowbar: Oh, I have played a little now and then since early T4 as Flowbar, mostly with real life friends from Sweden, but they left early t6, so I returned from a break about seven weeks ago and now try to make new friends, mostly here in 7L. I am mostly focused on doing Worship, Body and Architecture tests, while also doing some macro programming.

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SECOND QUESTION: If you win this election you will pass the test of the Demi-Pharaoh and be our 16th DP of this tale. There are a variety of points of view on what the role of DP should and shouldn't be, what is yours?

Amenuk: This late in the tale, I see the role of the DP as someone who should encourage people (especially newcomers) to invest in the game. DPs should be mentors, problemsolvers, and facilitators for people's success.
Flowbar: The DP is moslty a threat to griefers, that makes it futile for them to persist in... griiefing... but this late in the tale there are already more than a dozen DPs, so the value of yet another DP is much less than the value added by the first.

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THIRD QUESTION: How would you handle it, as DP, if you were involved in an interpersonal conflict with another player? On a related note, how would you handle it if a close personal friend or guildmate made a complaint, or had a complaint made against them, and were seeking your intervention as DP and possibly a ban?

Amenuk: if a friend or guildmate is involved in a complaint, i'd remove myself because of the conflict of interests and refer them to another DP. To handle a conflict, i'd get both parties' sides of the story and then mediate as best i could with the understanding that i can't enforce any decision i make. I wouldn't use the ban stick for that sort of leverage.
Flowbar: If someone is griefing I would threaten with a ban and if they ignore the warning they would receive a ban, it doesn't matter to me if someone is a friend of me or not, as long as the actions speak clearly.

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FOURTH QUESTION: On the topic of the Anti-Griefer's Act (AGA), under what circumstances would you consider utilizing the tools created by the (AGA) law? What do you consider 'griefing'? Do you feel the AGA has been used well so far?

Flowbar: I didn't know it existed. 'Griefing' is for me when actions show the clear intention to ruin the game experience for others without any personal gain, for example building stuff to block the expansion or area where someone else lives just to be evil.
Amenuk: i would always use the AGA for banning purposes, letting egypt speak instead of making a summary choice of banning someone myself. I'd use the AGA in extreme cases of griefing (building bonfires/flimsy brickracks all over someone else's camp is a really good example of griefing), if someone was using derogatory/racist comments, etc. and didn't listen to the warnings they were given. And yes, i think it's been well used so far.

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FIFTH QUESTION: As some specific examples, would you consider any of the following playstyles as worthy of DP intervention? Obelisk queue violation, bonfiring of a clay patches to prevent others from building, overweighing Phoenix runners (test or event) with bricks, using strategically placed incense to interupt Phoenix runners, using large quantities of alts to rig elections, mentorship advancement, or other test passes?

Amenuk: i'd consider exploiting game mechanics worth at least talking about a ban. So, loading someone up during the Phoenix hour would warrant a warning since players don't get to say "no" to being given stuff. Rigging elecetions through the use of alts, if it's known that toons are alts, would also be warning (and possibly ban)-worthy
Flowbar: Bonfiring, if it goes out of hand,
Flowbar: overweighing - yes, I think a warning on that
Flowbar: abuse of alts should be bannable from staff, so not a DP issue

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SIXTH QUESTION from the audience: Please briefly describe the kind of work you've done this telling to help the people of Egypt.

Flowbar: I happily answer questions and offer trades if I can. I also built up Amigos, the public works in 7L/UBody, with Shayra and Augir in early T6
Amenuk: i've mostly answered questions from new people, but i've also tried to keep public works building in serviceable condition, set up a very small public guild for people in South RP (along with Ankhotep), and given materials i've had to players who could use them

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SEVENTH QUESTION: As we are nearing the end of tale, how do you perceive the role of DP changing with the reduced game population?

Amenuk: i touched on this earlier, but i see the DP role more as a facilitator and mentor than an authority who can ban people. DPs should be working towards keeping the population as high as possible.
Flowbar: Since we already have nice DPs, the role of a DP is more to add new bans to the pool, so to speak. The most important thing now is not to let a griefer achieve such powers.

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EIGHTH QUESTION: Does anyone have access to login to your account? (i.e., would any person other than yourself ever have access to your ban powers)? Note: spouselog does not allow access to ban powers.

Flowbar: no
Amenuk: No, no one else has my login information.

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NINTH QUESTION: When you come across a large camp eligable for DPA (or whatever the acronym is this tale)-ing, what do you do? What if there are more people there than just you waiting for the timer to click over allowing ownership?

Amenuk: i don't really DPA, and certainly not big camps. This tale, i've only DPA'd one small, 0% cp in the middle of nowhere with nothing in it
Flowbar: If it was my old compound I would ask them if I may get it and offer them compensation, otherwise I would move on.

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TENTH QUESTION: If the general consensus of the rest of the DPs were that that person should not be banned, but you felt strongly that they should, what would you do?

Flowbar: Not ban.
Amenuk: I wouldn't do anything. People have personality conflicts and if I can't make a clear case to ban someone to most DPs, I'd chalk up whatever feelings I have to this and move on. I person's not going to ruin my enjoyment of the game.

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GHawkins: Thank you to you both for your flexibility and willingness to do this debate on such short notice. As such I've tried to make this an abbreviated debate, and would like to skip ahead to the end.

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CANDIDATE STATEMENT: I would like each of you to wrap up now and tell Egypt what they will get in a DP by voting for you. And if you do indeed want them to vote for you, please include why you would like them to.

Amenuk: If you vote for me as DP, you will have another resource to go to for help in playing the game and solving problems that may arise. I'd appreciate your vote, and look forward to representing you, if elected.
Flowbar: A DP has one single power, that of a combined judge and jury, a vote for me would ensure that such powers remain in safe hands and that they will only be used when called for. Since I play this game a lot, I would not risk my enjoyment here by abusing it, but I would use it to keep the community safe, if called for.

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GHawkins: And with that I'm pleased to bring this debate to a close. A transcript shall be posted to the wiki shortly, now go forth and vote for the good of Egypt.
GHawkins: Thank you all for your time and attention.
Amenuk: Thanks for making the debate happen, G. As always, Egypt is in your debt.