Demipharaoh Debate 2016 02

DP Debate Format Tale VII - 5th DP Election

Different time zones and pre-planned events made live debate impossible. Because of that our format changes to the following:

Part 1. We have twelve questions posted below, candidates will answer via user-pages by Saturday 8am EST/13:00 UTC. All answers will be compiled and posted here

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?

Dymo: Well I am Scorpio, I like long walks on the nile. I like to "party hard" at the tasting table, and fish all nite. I try not to take most things seriously. I am laid back, and I do not take things from the game personally, normally. I am an avid coder, I very much like writing macros, I release very little of what I write, as most are wildely useless and most took more time to write then the action they were used for. I once wrote a macro to drop a 20x20 grid of carrots for getting rabbits to spawn. I spent an hour writing and tweaking it, it took 5 times longer to do it, than had I just dropped the carrots by hand, but I enjoy the challange. I am the same way on events, Its a challange, and I take them semi seriously, I read the challange, hope i figured out plur was saying between the lines, and then I plan the things I will need to be able to do it effectively. Sometimes it works sometimes, i still misread it and everything goes wrong, but i love the challange of it. I am loyal sometimes to the point of not being able to say no, when I should. And I try to trade as fair as possible.

LuluDivine: I started Tale near the beginning of T4 - my brother, Sigil, convinced me to give it a try. During the course of T4 I helped run the very large newbie/mentor/public works guild Oasis, in downtown Meroe. In T5, my primary guild was a smaller group of good friends, but I kept myself plugged in to the broader community by helping manage and arrange the many tentacled behemoth that is the Test of Festivals for a number of months. In T6 I turned my focus more towards research - both the University kind and the 'let's experiment' kind, as well as dedicating myself to a number of public access projects, such as the T6 public raeli project. I've continued my interests in these aspects of the game this tale. For university research- my primary guild dedicates the vast majority of their collective energy to opening tech for Egypt. For 'let's experiment' type research, I ran thousands of cooking tests in the fall to determine the stat profiles of all reasonably testable ingredients. And the T7 Public Raeli Project was opened just a few weeks ago - 60 publicly available ovens covering 180 raeli tile colors! The answer is trite, but the thing I find most interesting about this game is the community. I don't simply mean how supportive or friendly it is - what I find truly fascinating is the conflict resolution, the wild differences in playstyles, priorities, and perspectives. There were never any rules laid out for how we were meant to work out our differences - in fact, Teppy's original purpose was arguably to see what we would all do without any such rules or expectations. This is, in so many ways, the most interesting science experiment I've ever seen - and we are both the observers and the subjects of the experiment. Also, I write really long answers to these kinds of questions. >.<

Brucette: I have been playing since T1. Over the years I have made a lot of friends and met many people. I still play with the same group of people as I did in T2, they are like my 2nd family. In the past I have done my best to help people whenever needed and it is a joy to me to make new friends. Especially if they become long time players of this game that I love. I was a DP in previous tales and I would love the chance to become one again. My real life job as a Retail Manager has prepared me for many roles in Atitd. A leader, team player, organizer, builder, mediator and most of all a very good listener. These skills are an assett to being a great Demi Pharaoh. I have a passion for this game and I really want everyone playing to have as much fun as possible, my goal as Demi Pharaoh would be to make sure that is possible.

Hanid: Hello Egyptians. I have been playing since mid T3. I struggled in the beginning and consequently have a soft spot for newbies. My favorite tests tend to be in the arts, a bit of genetics, chemistry as well as critic, pilgrimage and some of the other group activities. Making paints for people is one of my pleasures, and I also make silk. The reason I play is I appreciate the nonviolence and the opportunities to be creative, from how we lay out our cps to how we manage our goals. Various regions have been my home, from Karnak to CCR to Memphis. Currently I live in the Hinterlands, which is why I haven't been running off at the mouth on the regional chats this tale. I was elected a DP in T5. In RL I judge international sporting events.

Alkhar: I have been playing since T4 with being on and off in between. I started very casual, in a remote oasis and enjoyed myself for the begining of the tale with another friend of mine. After he quit a couple of months later, I moved to play with others in Stillwater back then but kept my pace slow all the time. I wasn't around for long in T5. With T6, I started playing more intensely especially with getting a sense of community in the game. In the very beginning, I was enjoying authentic play style in a calming oasis, then it evolved into discovering more every day. Then I realized there is hardly any limit to what I can discover in this game and its form of community which is still an ongoing process and I am loving it.

Bryce: I started playing at the start of T2. I have attempted all and passed most of the tests that have been released since I started playing. I have done pretty much everything there is to do in the game, and have enjoyed most of the activities I've done and tests I've passed. I have been a DP in multiple other tales, have never banned anyone, and have used my authority as a DP to help mediate disputes to achieve a positive outcome for all parties involved. I have mentored many of the players currently playing ATITD at one point or another and am always willing to help out when I'm in-game. I enjoy building items and planning activities, but what I enjoy most about ATITD is the friends I have made, the interaction between players, and the group projects/activities.

MissBarbara: 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 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 a moderator on the Egypt wide chat channels, Egyptian Exchange and Egypt Today, which I also 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, serve 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. 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, using large quantities of alts to rig elections, mentorship advancement, or other test passes?

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?

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

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

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

Q7. How many Egypt-wide events e.g Acro, Digs or others have you organized in T7?

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

Q9. As DP do you think you should share your password? Do you think a DP should have access to other DP accounts?

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

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

Q12. Closing Statement

Part 2. Egyptian Citizens submit questions by Saturday night and candidates answer directly on the debate page by the end of the weekend.

Please enter your name (or Anonymous) and question in below or chat Augir with the question.

Question from John Q. Egyptian - Under what circumstances would you use the ban as DP?

Bryce - Being a DP in previous Tales I have not used my "ban stick". It would take someone like GeoDude or someone of his ilk to have me use it, but I would only after reaching a consensus with the other DP's as it being the correct course of action, and only as a last resort.

LuluDivine - I have been DP in two prior tales and I either used the ban once or not at all. (I cannot remember whether I helped ban one of Geo's alts at the beginning of T6 or if they were all done by Kuupid.) I answered this question already in the general questions, but here's the answer again:

Bans are always the option of last resort. Bans are only appropriate when 1) the behavior is so egregious that there's little chance of reasonable disagreement, 2) social consequences are inadequate to reduce or control the inappropriate behavior and 3) the damage from the behavior is substantial. This is exceedingly rare.

Question from Balhazarr - Since many of you have played for many tales I am curious who was your first mentor(s) and what did they do to help you to become so in love in this game that you have now played for so long? Is there any particular attribute or skill they imparted upon you that really sticks in your memory?

Brucette - My 1st Mentor was Gumby in Tale 1. He was there the second I landed on the mainland and helped me a lot. He is the reason I came back in Tale 2 and has always been a good friend.

Hanid - In my first tale there were so many strong personalities. I was completely overwhelmed and remember people I was in awe of, like Judd, Lorraine, Deeva and Soweto . . . I remember Shivani beating into me the right way to pick up gravel, hanging out with Ellorin making sculptures, Kuupid who was constantly trying to keep HHOF functioning and keeping me, and many others, out of various messes. Spooner taught me about quarries and mining and still hasn't given up trying to teach me to make a decent thermometer. There are new mentors with each new tale too. Zotep taught me the basics of chemistry last tale. This list could go on for pages. What each of these people have in common is they offered me some of themselves. I think it was their generosity with their knowledge and their patience that built the love I feel for the game today.

Bryce - My 1st Mentor was Usercare in T2. He was one of the first people I met other than the group that I migrated here from TSO with. His knowledge, humor, generosity, kindness, respect, and helpfulness really stuck out as traits that I should try to emulate.

MissBarbara - My first mentor in T1 was LittleCleo. A wonderful german woman who quickly got me into her and Susan's guild and helped me explore a lot of things on my own, always only a chat away. She was very good at making beer, a thing I still haven't tried, but since this is the tale for trying out stuff for me, I might take it up to honor her this Tale :)

Alkhar - I didn't really have a mentor as I started the game with a goal of discovering things by myself. I had many great friends who helped me a lot though.

LuluDivine - Though my brother, Sigil, got me into ATITD, my first mentor was Shayra. I joined her Newbie/Mentor/Public Works guild my first day of T4. She and I ended up running that guild together for the rest of the tale. I learned a lot about managing conflicting interests, motivating large groups of people, careful management of resources with a huge guild....all kinds of things. She's been a good friend for years now. She hasn't been online in awhile, though, and it's rumored that she may be ill - please send kind thoughts her way, if you can.