It’s confusing and counterintuitive. I’m glad I got whitelisted when you used a Discord channel instead because trying to get friends to play Salamander is a pain the neck.
All you’re asked to do is write a character’s backstory and upload a screenshot as proof of playtime BUT you have to take a specific screenshot of your playtime including the server’s name. This is not stated anywhere. You also shouldn’t upload any screenshot of Wizard’s Den playtime which leads people to believe you have to play on non-wizden servers to get a screenshot to apply for the wizden MRP one.
There’s also a pinned post at the top. It doesn’t say “READ THIS!!! IMPORTANT!!!” it just says “MRP whitelist information :3” it doesn’t look important at all but it’s actually RULES of applying and if you don’t read it, you’re getting shot down.
Also, if you only have Wizden hours and you don’t say you have Wizden hours because you read you aren’t supposed to show your Wizden hours, you’re getting shot down.
The worst part? Applications take forever to get accepted/denied and you have to wait two weeks between each one. This is really annoying for even me and I’m already whitelisted.
You really gotta make this clearer and more concise. Put all the requirements on this page instead of split between that and an easily missed pinned post, make it clear what you want to see in an application. This is supposed to determine if someone is competent at roleplaying, not how well they can deduce concrete intent from wishy-washy scraplets of information spread across different posts.
this reads like a mald kinda. i personally really like the opportunity to show off your characters and your ability to rp and READ the rules.
when you go to make a whitelist app it should be common sense to go through the PINNED post titled “whitelist application information”, how else would you fill it out properly? It’s absolutely stated in the post that you should include the server name of the hours that you’re posting
you aren’t really led to believe that you have to play on other servers, the only rules are that you need 20 hours of gameplay. it doesn’t specify where you need the hours from, whether fron wizden or a fork.
i’ve lurked on this forum for ages and i’ve never seen anyone get rejected because they didn’t mention that their hours were exclusivelyfrom wizden, but if you could link a post id gladly be wrong.
while i agree the 2 week wait is a bit long and personally id slash it down to 1 week(unless you have recent notes or bans) the wait time to get your response is only a few days which is fantastic, considering theres 3-5 new apps every day and only ~2 admins handling them at a time(who have to read your application, verify your hours, check your history, etc etc.)
the pinned post contains every single bit of information you need to get accepted. it’s not vague or confusing to me at all, all the information is there and in order. this application is not only a test to see how good you are at roleplaying, it’s also to see if youre good at reading rules(important for mrp)
if you want to endorse someone, it’s very clearly labelled in the admin messages section. plus, we have a #help section on the discord, where tons of people are willing to quickly point you in the right direction.
The issue is that the rules are haphazardly thrown around in a post you may easily overlook and conflicts of rules (especially with playtime requirements) aren’t clear at all.
“Well clearly you can’t understand these rules so you probably can’t understand the server rules either.” is a really stupid point because the server rules are in a nice well-formatted list all on one page labeled “SERVER RULES” with clear examples on what to and what to not do and the whitelist instructions are not.
It’s not supposed to be an easy streamlined process. There is a few hoops to jump through with the intention of if you make it too easy to get in more shitters will join salamander and the quality of players will decrease. Shitters need to stay on LRP (my server) where they belong.
Honestly, this could just be solved by adding “READ PINNED POST” in the whitelist app page, I can agree with that
The server rules are meant to be hard-set guidelines on even being in the servers at all, mrp requirements are kind of like a sieve. Not everyone is meant to get accepted, because not everyone follows the rules properly. It’s meant to make the player cater to the guidelines, not have the guidelines bend to cater to the player, which is very much in the spirit of MRP.
it’s my shot in the dark since I’m not sure how much the application process has changed on the admin side, but applications that take a while longer may be having an admin vote because of notes/bans. That’s how it was with the old discord whitelist process, again no idea if its changed. I find that the majority get accepted in at most a week, and again, it really depends on the admin’s time. You might see a lot of admins online but not all of them are in charge of whitelist applications. Being whitelisted isn’t really a need or a right, its a privilege.
I get that and I’m fully in support of the whitelist requiring you to understand rules.
My point is it’s very poorly written for the sake of understanding. It’s not a test of your roleplaying or writing capability, it’s a test of piecemealing the spirit of the law from a cobbled mess of words that are easily missed entirely in the first place.
Also doesn’t have an example of what a good/bad application looks like unlike pretty much all the server rules.
I disagree with your points but folks have done a good job on that over the thread.
I will point out though that if your an existing salamander player in good standing you can bypass the time requirement by vouching for other players at a limited rate of 1 per a week. however if you do this you are responcable for their actions.
We don’t require a proof of playtime to be posted, just that you have 20 hours on our servers or can provide proof on another ss13/14 server. We also tell you in two separate places, both on the whitelist application and the whitelist information, that you should not post your playtime of WizDen servers. You also confirm that you have read and understand the whitelist information when you check the box.
While there may be some improvements that can be made to the wording of the process itself, it is already an incredibly simple process. If we were to make it any easier, we would just return to discord to process the whitelists.
As for the time it takes to process applications, we are all volunteers. I know everyone has heard that line a million times, but its still true. I pushed for this to get implemented after it had stalled before I joined the team and I do my best to keep up without getting burned out, but that is a difficult task. Other admins are busy with other adminwork, not comfortable doing whitelist applications, are burned out themselves, or are otherwise not able to do it regularly.
I agree. It also feels like the mods that process these are given the directive to find ANY reason they can to deny them, and they do so as it’s much faster and easier to reject.
I think they’ve lost the plot on the point of the Whitelist process as well. The system they have built doesn’t attempt to form a community of roleplayers. It’s a punitive system that’s lazy and easy that only requires a once-in-10-days check up. It’s built for simplicity because they don’t have the bandwidth or the time to manage a proper system, exactly as Minemoder said. There isn’t even an appeal process for Whitelists.
And lastly, even when they know they are not punctual on the whitelist apps(for all the reasons that Mimemoder laid out), they still offer absolutely no grace regarding the timing of your application. If you submit that app early, and even lay out that you’ve done so because you know they can’t get to them regularly(identifying that you’ve read and understand the rules, but are choosing to make a choice that is more convenient for everyone), that app will still be rejected. And again, the mantra they repeat is that they want you to demonstrate that you have read the rules, but that’s not true. If you demonstrate you’ve read the rules and are still rejected, the only possible conclusion left is what they really want is for you the bend the knee. I think this idea was reinforced when I saw a white list application rejected because the guy challenged them about the punctuality and quality of the whitelist he review received previously. “Bad attitude” Mimemoder said.
My conclusion is that the goal of the whitelist isn’t to build a community of fun roleplayers. I think the facts support that. The goal of the whitelist is for it to be an easy system that can get as close as they can to a good system with the least amount of effort because they don’t have the effort to give. They need help. And because they are overworked and overwhelmed, it’s quicker and easier to just insta-reject apps of people showing any signs being difficult. That way, until they can stabilize and grow the admin team, they can just manage a nice easy server of sycophants.
I won’t go into any details since it’s off topic, but I think the way the game is Admin’ed reflects this as well.
you read the requirements that you need 20h of gameplay and a 2 week old account to apply
you have less than 20h of gameplay and/or an account that’s less than 2 weeks old
you apply anyways
I understand that you’re trying to make the admins job easier and make it faster to get in, but the admin response time shouldn’t affect you reading the rules and obeying them. It’s really, really simple, and honestly really lax for what you’re getting into.
You play for 20 hours and you wait for 2 weeks. If you break the rules or disregard them, and/or argue with an admin about you disregarding them, you’re just not a good fit for MRP yet. MRP isn’t just about having fun roleplay, it’s about following the rules so everyone can have fun roleplay, so it’s easy to see why people who are being difficult about the rules are denied.
Again I feel like I have to reiterate, being whitelisted isn’t a right, it’s a privilege.
the admin team is pretty underequipped right now, but since the promotion of new headmins and hopefully the new batch of trialmins coming soon, that’s bound to change.
If it’s too easy to get in too many shitters will get in. @Minemoder among other admins work hard to process the applications. I regularly see 2 hour intervals where they do nothing but process applications. The admin team is trying their best, and are doing a damn good job at it.
The POINT of the process is for it to be strict to maintain the quality of RP, since, you know, that is what MRP is supposed to be.
The POINT of the application post is to make sure you regularly read rules carefully, if you fail at the very simple rules posted, it means you did not read them well enough. The game has WAY more rules that are also way more complex and difficult to follow, so showing you cannot follow the post guidelines is a clear tell you won’t do well in-game.
The only other reason to get denied is for the character application to be lacking, which i WILL agree is just shitty. It is purely subjective and a simply weird standard. Altho i do understand that the point is to prove you CAN RP.
But the idea that this is low effort is just cope. The easy way was the old one, where they just give you a time-gate and a good behaviour requirement. This approach requires CONSTANT monitoring on the forums which adds more to the overworked staff, so they are sacrificing a lot just by having this system up.
My opinion is that it should return to how it was. But your reasoning is simply malding.
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