Talk:RS-wide merits

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This needs to be given serious attention and thought. I really agree with the basic premise after seeing how well Beginner's Path has worked over the past year, but then seemingly flopped afterwards. I think it should be possible to achieve a promotion up to Captain, perhaps even Major, based on "rank points" alone. Many, many things need to happen in order for this to be successful, but the rewards will far outweigh the efforts in my opinion. I will begin working on this when I have time. Licah 19:49, 17 July 2007 (EDT)

One specific course I had in mind for the OTS was a graduate course which would basically be an "advanced BP", which would handle some BP issues more in depth and other issues as well. I didn't think of it, but having the 1LT and CPT ranks as reward for the completition would be a nice incentive for newer members to take the course. Possible name eg. "Officer Trainee Path".
One note here on our rank system: lower ranks are in our system (according to Bylaws) tied to squad level activity. Tying the low ranks to RS general issues means in my opinion that we will need to introduce more ranks (or 'modify' current ones) to have squad level ranks. DaLe 17:16, 25 July 2007 (EDT)

Nomenclature

"Member Pathway" is, I think, not the name we want to use; "Beginner's Path" is accurate because everyone can perform the same tasks on the Path regardless of their destination in the RS, but the concept here is more of a list of activities from which one can select and earn points for. We need a name for both the concept and the specific points to be earned. "Merits" could be used but likely has associations for RSers and has been rather overused; most RSers now feel that they are not "worth" much. Yet a revamped merit system is really what we are after. We could call the points accrued "cash", but that evokes the idea of spending it on something; Character Points, FCHG, Command Points, this concept has been advanced many times in many places. An idea that came to mind: How about RS Crests? I like it.

For now I will move this page to "RS-wide merits", for that is really what we are discussing. (The already existing "RS merits" are purely for inter-club multiplayer games.) But perhaps we will eventually refer to the merits as "crests" or some other such item. Licah 19:59, 17 July 2007 (EDT)

additional work

There's more proposals/templates/examples etc. at User talk:Michael Raven. Licah 19:20, 31 July 2007 (EDT)

"other rewards"

Perhaps an honorable mention in the RS-Wide narrative? <See my SP activity forums post for original thought> Joshua Hawkins 08:22, 3 August 2007 (EDT)

Questions/Concerns

Ok, having read this I want to clear up some things that can be a bit confusing to idiots like myself.

1. Active/historical missions. How is this going to be classified? The current mission on the killboard is the active and everything else previous is historical? or the current killboard mission, and the one prior are active.. etc etc ?

Correct, the mission currently being flown by the fleet is "active" and all other missions, unless they are "real-time" are simulator/historical missions. Licah 12:03, 13 August 2007 (EDT)

2. Reviewing missions. Who are we reporting this to? Where will the reviews go? As of this writing we do not currently have any system setup for this. Though I thought the Mission database that Heavy was working on might have one, is this still true? If so will there be a way to prevent "unfriendly" reviews from being added to the database, if indeed we are going to add them. Which brings up another question, if someone gives a review what do we do with it?

There is already an automated reviews system in place for missions (see here) and they will be automatically entered into the database, and the RS-wide merits will be automatically awarded. As far as moderating reviews, there will be an office in charge of accepting pilot files and adding scores to the killboard that will also oversee all reviews (they will have a page that allows them to see all reviews by order of last posted). Unfavorable reviews should be allowed as long as they are respectful and state their grievances. Licah 12:03, 13 August 2007 (EDT)

3. I believe "make one mission" should be in with the academy courses, since we're going to have a mission building program (I Hope)

"Make one mission" refers to creating missions for the simulator database. There will be a separate mission-building course that will gain Academy skill points in that particular skill, and the person taking the course could also submit their mission to the simulator database, thus gaining them points both ways. After they have completed the Academy course they may still make missions and earn merits for the sim db. Licah 12:03, 13 August 2007 (EDT)

4. command merits the salary thought. Who will review this so the CO/XO/SO/whoever get their merits? How will they be determined? If a higher ranking officer in the chain of command reviews them, how can we keep personal bias out from affecting performance? (Don't tell me it doesn't happen either :P )

Yes, this is a complicated consideration. I think the FC and Fleet CS should agree upon a range of pay for each fleet; say, all squadron COs in the PBF make 10-25 merits per month. Then, the Fleet CS will determine the rate for each new CO, according to previous command experience. For example, someone who has never been a CO and is appointed (e.g.) Green CO should start out at 10. Then, based on performance, their pay can be increased. Aye, bias plays a factor in all of this, but it does in promotions also, and this actually prevents bias from playing as large a role as it does right now, if the FC and the Fleet CS set up the range properly. Licah 12:03, 13 August 2007 (EDT)

5. What is the defined relationship of fleet specific merits to that of this new RS-Wide merit system? At what point to do we consider enough fleet specific merits to warrent a promotion to the members next level?

This will be determined by the FC and each Fleet CS prior to the beginning of the system--it will be individual to each fleet. A note of clarification: when a person reaches a certain "level" in a fleet, they don't automatically receive a promotion, but instead receive a large number of merits towards a promotion. Licah 12:03, 13 August 2007 (EDT)

6. Who is going to update the RS-Wide merit system? Currently only certain people can award RS-Wide merits. Are these same people going to troll the killboards and award merit points to the people who post mission scores? For the MP games (BF2, JO, etc) We'll have to get a reporting system in place (Or actually make people use the LIC site [or create something similar] :P) That way we can award points that way. Cause I doubt the co is going to be on hand for every match.

Each area will be able to award appropriate merits. There will be a merits awarding log to prevent abuse. For example, people overseeing the Mission Database and posting scores will award merits for that; people overseeing Competitions will award merits for that; the fleets will not have to do anything extra besides award their own merits; MP events will go through a reporter; Academy command staff will award merits by graduating students to certain levels; people overseeing the wiki (Logistics, etc.) will be able to award merits for that; and so on. One person should be responsible for overseeing the system to make sure it is working effectively (I think the person overseeing Competitions might be a good option), and the FC/XO should be responsible for overseeing that person. Licah 12:03, 13 August 2007 (EDT)

7. Can I get a raise?

As RSXO, you should be able to transcend the desire for merits... ..but sure! :P Licah 12:03, 13 August 2007 (EDT)