User:MissBarbara

Q1. For those who have never had the opportunity to interact with you before can you share a little about yourself, what you enjoy about ATITD as well as how long you have been playing?

I am MissBarbara, I have been playing since Tale1. I live in South Egypt and I am married to Balthazarr. I love running around herbing, shrooming and especially meeting and get to know people. I'm very fascinated by other peoples cultures, experiences and to me, this game is a very nice way of socializing with different kinds of people that you might never have had the opportunity to meet in real life. In South Egypt, I spend a good deal of my time online working on research projects along with the rest of SE and EG. We are not a lot of people, but we are hardworking and enjoy the challenge :) I'm also a moderator on the Egypt wide chat channels, Egyptian Exchange and Egypt Today, which I enjoy. I have been Demi-Pharaoh in several tales, and it was a pleasure to serve Egypt as Demi-Pharaoh before, therefore I am here and able to serve again :) I am prepaid for the rest of the tale, and I will be staying active the entire time :) When I am not in Egypt, I breed Norwegian forest cats, work as an editor for a cat magazine and I'm the employer for a hand-full of people, so leadership for me comes very natural as it is a daily thing for me to lead, delegate, solve problems of all sorts, encourage and make sure everybody around me is happy and performing their best in a positive way.

Q2. Some playstyles/choices are criticized. What are your opinions on the following (totally cool? uncool but not banworthy? worth a scolding? worth a ban?): jumping Obelisk queues, bonfiring clay patches far from your own camp, hoarding a resource, building non-griefer structures in someone else's camp/backyard?

First of all, it is up to a person him/herself how he wish to play this game. And I know for a fact, that Egypt as a whole also have a voice in these matters. Not much goes unnoticed. I think that the examples above have a lot to do with morale and integrity and I don't think they should result in a ban. And for the griefers, we have a very unique legal system in this game. If a person is harassing others with bonfires, wood-planes etc. then I strongly feel, that the Anti-Griefer Law should be used on the violating person. I think Egypt deserves the right to speak on those kinds of matters and not only one single person even if he is a DP. Banning another person is a very serious matter, and it should only be used as an absolutely last resort. If forced to use a ban, for a ban appropriate reason, I would strongly consider using one of the shorter term bans (one day, one week or one month) rather than a permanent exile.

Q3. 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?

After having investigated and presented my case to the other DP's and they advised against a ban, I would listen to the other DP's and respect their opinion. I would keep an eye on the person in question, and if he continued the behaviour that made me consider a ban the first time, then I would consult the other DP's again. No ban is undoable, so proper judgment and deliberation must by used prior to the use of even a One Day Ban.

Q4. How's your progress in other Leadership tests?

I have already passed The Test of the Bureaucrat, and I am actively working on Mentorship, Kingmaker and Retired Pirates. I also have a Plantation guild with Balthazarr, which I am very excited about. I plan to participate in Hegemon, Cartouche, as well as the other Leadership tests that are released later in the tale. I enjoy the leadership tests a lot and those are my main focus within the 7 disciplines of tests.

Q5. How are you providing leadership in the game and amongst the player base?

Leadership comes in many forms and shapes. I am not, and have never been fan of dictatorship or absolute monarchy. I feel that Egypt deserves better than that and that everybody has a right to be heard. Personally, I feel, by being a good example to my fellow Egyptians and by always trying to see things in a larger picture and from different angles, I show people a good way of playing/living in Egypt. Encouraging people to do the right thing, and helping them do the right thing is an important part of providing leadership, I think.

Q6. What specifically have you done to further the growth of the community?

Right from the opening of the tale, Balthazarr and I have focused a lot on helping as many as we could. Right off we made many of our structures that were important, such as pottery wheels, rock saw's, masons benches, etc. public useable, so citizens around us didn't have to struggle with their basic needs. Since then, we have continued to donate and help develop our public facilities in SE, and I am very proud of what the local community can offer new citizens in SE. BTW. who do you think grew all of the ingredients to make the ash to fill all those benches in my husband's public glass compound? ;) I have been working very hard on helping unlocking techs, both in SE and in other regions where it was needed and will continue to do so. Also another thing I do and that I find very important, and that I am thankful that a lot of people are good at is; Announcing sightings of safari animals, announcing and posting mushroom's on Shroomdar, announcing pearl beds of importance, Arch sites and anything else that could be helpful for others. It makes me so happy when a person chats me and says: Thanks you for your post on Shroomdar, I am now on my next DN list because of it! Apart from that, I am working on wine, and an orchard that - when it is done - should be able to supply all honeys and fruits for the festivals. I can currently supply 87 of the fruits, and that have already proven to be a good thing, when Old Egypt needed their honeys and wine to open up Ambrosia Brewing :) You are welcome to come and visit at 703,-5441 and have a look :D Another thing that I am a bit proud of is probably the Airship Construction in SE. Previous to this tale, I have never made a single thistle or piece of silk. But I quickly realized how much Airships could help all of us, so I decided, that I *had* to learn how to make thistles, so we could open that tech as fast as possible. I found a very good thistle-teacher and started out, failing and failing. I kept trying and finally understood the principles and since then, I have made most of the 800 Silk Cloth for the Airship Construction technology in SE. I believe we were the first region to open Airship Construction, which I am very proud of. In addition to material contributions for University Techs Research, I have donated herbs and other foodstuffs to the players and guilds who are involved in doing cooking research.

Q7. How many Egypt-wide events or efforts have you organized/pushed in T7 (or prior tales)?

I have been organizing more research than acro and digs in this tale, as others seem very eager to organize those. Therefore I decided to focus more on research this tale. However I do participate in all possible events, mainly to help others or the community as a whole and I am currently working with LadyKaytay and Balthazarr to get a player run event guild up and running, so keep your eyes open for fun and challenging events that will be announced in game :)

Q8. Spouselog allows access to ban powers. Do you know who have access to your spouse account?

Yes, my spouse via spouse log, and no one else. :) We do not share our passwords. Not with each other and not with others. After Balthazarr was elected DP, we did confirm that the exile menu was available via spouse log, helping to dispel the idea that spouses did not have access to the bans of their spouse.

Q9. As DP do you think you should share your password?

I don't think anyone should share his or her password, DP or not. But especially for a DP I think, that you should honor the trust Egypt has placed in you and therefore not violate that, by sharing your password with anyone. Egypt has picked you as DP, not your friends, and access to banning others is a very serious matter especially for the one that might end up banned for the wrong reason. There has been at least one ban that was done using a borrowed password; this is something that should never happen, under any circumstance.

Q10. What other powers would you like to see DPs hold, in the interests of improving game play?

Apart from the granting of ponies to players, I really like Sabuli's proposed expansion of the DP powers with the ability for 3 DPs to overturn a ban. Another thing that I could also find useful and could improve gameplay for a lot of people would be "Free announcing of events in the calendar".

Q11. What question would you like to be asked, and why?

I think, that a question all DP candidates should have is: How do you feel about having access to bans? It's the most tangible power a DP have, and I don't think it should be taken lightly by anyone, as banning someone is very final for the person who might get banned. I feel very humble, but also absolutely responsible enough to have access to them once more.

Q12. Closing Statement

Thank you Lulu for taking over and arranging this debate in last second. And also, thank you Egypt for reading all these Q&A's. I am very proud and happy to be considered as a DP once more. I have served Egypt in many ways during the past 13 years, and will continue to do so. Even more important, I have had a lot of fun and gotten to know a lot of very nice people and most of you, I consider my friends. I spend a lot of hours in game every day and I enjoy every moment spent there. Well maybe not playing Egyptian Croquet aka making gravel. I hope that you will consider me as your next DP and more importantly that you will take the time and go visit a voting booth, every election, so Egypt can get the best possible DPs for this tale :)

This isn't one of my Norwegian forest cats. Say "hi" to Rico :) He actually an abyssinian which is considered as an Egyptian cat. I live with two of these beautiful creatures and I love them very much. If you want to see the Norwegians, feel free to chat me in game for a cat-chat :) Or anything else!

In SE as always :) Always happy to trade herbs and mushrooms.

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List of markers... http://www.atitd.org/wiki/tale6/User:Mayanah/map ... some are real big especially the custom ones