Lord Nemesis
Wanderer
Player Psychology
I have always told staff learning from me, that the key to running a safe and stable shard is to understand and work with the psychology of all your players. No two incidents, on shard or off, are the same. A solution that may work perfectly well with one player, may cause another to leave your shard and take ten friends with him, or worse. A staff member must understand the fact that most situations are not about items, but about principles. A mature player will be satisfied when a staff member opens to their perspective and appreciates it for what it is. An immature player will be satisfied when a staff member recognizes the maturity and experience that the player percieves themselves to have. As long as a staff member stays within those boundaries, they will have the footing and stable ground needed to drive the situation into whatever direction the staff member chooses. I have seen stable mature players react negatively to staff members forcing their point, as I have seen unstable and often volatile players calm down and cooperate when a seasoned staff member offered them an empty "I agree." Action A + Action B will not always lead to a solution, more often then not a situation is a game of chess, not checkers.
I have always told staff learning from me, that the key to running a safe and stable shard is to understand and work with the psychology of all your players. No two incidents, on shard or off, are the same. A solution that may work perfectly well with one player, may cause another to leave your shard and take ten friends with him, or worse. A staff member must understand the fact that most situations are not about items, but about principles. A mature player will be satisfied when a staff member opens to their perspective and appreciates it for what it is. An immature player will be satisfied when a staff member recognizes the maturity and experience that the player percieves themselves to have. As long as a staff member stays within those boundaries, they will have the footing and stable ground needed to drive the situation into whatever direction the staff member chooses. I have seen stable mature players react negatively to staff members forcing their point, as I have seen unstable and often volatile players calm down and cooperate when a seasoned staff member offered them an empty "I agree." Action A + Action B will not always lead to a solution, more often then not a situation is a game of chess, not checkers.