As the title indicates, this is only for the response of Squad Members - the SL's can sit back for now.

What I want from you guys is your input on what you think you'd like to do in your squad. The average number of posts/week is... well, probably -1 < x <= 0.

And if you haven't heard, theres a few members that are getting a little tired of the inactivity (me being one of them), so the purpose of this topic is to see what you guys want to do. Now, I want you to give opinions on activities that you know you'll want to do - not give activity ideas on things that you may think will benefit the Army, but not participate in them.

Post not only things that you want to see happen, but also post on the things that you see happening now that you dislike:

Stories too boring? Too predictable? Too long? Too short? Would you like more Player vs. Player and less Player vs. NPC?

Post your opinions - be clear with your ideas, and not just give a vague idea.

Give some input on what you'd like to see your SL do for the squad.

Have fun with it.

"Give some input on what you'd like to see your SL do for the squad."

It's purely constructive criticism. If an SL can't handle that, doesn't that say something about the SL's ability to handle advice?

If anything, it'll help the SL's figure out what to do for their squad - more benefit for the whole.



"Post not only things that you want to see happen, but also post on the things that you see happening now that you dislike:"

If I'm not mistaken, I think this is what SL's are looking for.

Anyone can say otherwise if I'm in the wrong, though.

I also agree with the Player versus Player idea. i think it will be a lot more interesting to see what happens then not knowing "oh i think I'll get hurt here fight some guys here, we'll win of course."

And we can make it like some weekly or monthly thing like squad vs squad in a simulation to keep them alert and combat ready.

more inter-squad stories?

Activity would have to climb up pretty good before we enter another Elite Squad Competition or Imperial Omega Campaign.

But if everything goes well, hopefully those activities will become more frequent.

the problem I see with PvP is people wanting to outdo each other, basically undermining their opponents in order to make themselves look good, I can foresee plenty of arguments.

*throws his smoke bomb and when it clears he is standing there nude*

I think we show try and bring back more of the gaming element of the club, which seems has basically faded out. :/

We could set a specific time (example; Sunday after the meeting) where people hang around to face off against each other in whatever they desire. We can also have bigger events like Squad vs Squad CTF in Jedi Outcast or some other popular game.

The battleboard could be restarted (or not) and be used again. Prizes and ICs could be awarded every two weeks to whoever has played the best/most/etc.

Just a thought.
If people are not contributing too much to writing stories, chances are writing more stories won't help much.

Alater Osted wrote:I'd personally like to see some action amongst the FPSs of non-SW base. Let's face it, Steam games and others are WAAAY better then the SW based games. They just don't compare as realistic FPSs.

I'm commenting as a PC not a SL here

Alater that is a matter of opinion.  Not everyone will agree with that.

I want DVD rights.

I agree with Dante. We shouldn't forget about the story writing (not that I'm saying yous will but just as a word of caution).

I hope that these are helpful.
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What I think is happening now:

1) Inactivity.  Squad stories may be separated by long intervals of time.

2) New squad members are not necessarily provided with a list of options that they can do when a squad story is not available (Spec Stories, Side Stories, etc.)

3) SL/ASL not necessarily properly introducing themselves or greeting new squad members (in my opinion this is an important step in building teamwork)

4) No way (other than forums like this) for higher ups to get good feedback on how a squad leader is doing

5) Bad communication.  Even if squad is doing nothing, I think that it would be good to see that posted in the squad forum so the rest of the squad knows not to expect anything for a while


Possible Solutions:

1) PvP stories, basic easy stories to fill lags, and multi squad stories are all good ideas.  Also, having some definite length of time as the maximum allowed between squad stories (a maximum break interval) would be good. 

Having an enforced rule about the minimums expected from a squad (# of stories per month, or days in a story, side objectives, etc.) and have them clearly posted for all members to see, with clear alternatives or penalties for unexcused non-compliance (not that you had a real issue, but just being lazy) like temporarily stepping down or being on a probation where someone checks your activity for a while, would also be good.

Encouraging SL’s who can’t be as active as they may like, to hand it over to the ASL for a while with total control may spark more activity and encourage the growth of ASL’s abilities.

Another option is to allow each squad to be broken into smaller teams (2-3 people) with team leads (more experienced members, but not ASL’s) and allow them to move off on squad stories (like a more official side story) with the understanding of putting that story on hold or closing up with 2 days notice for a full on squad story.

2)  Incorporating the alternatives into training, imposing a deadline time after placement into a squad to have a spec, or simply creating a briefing for new members that explains these things are helpful for letting new squad members know the other options available for activity.

3) Simply impressing upon SL’s and ASL’s the importance of first impressions, proper introduction, and being respectful of new recruits as people is important to be reminded of.

Starting a relationship by being aggressive, pulling rank out of turn, or otherwise creating strife in a new relationship can earn you a bad taste in the eyes of a new recruit or whomever you are meeting.  This may not seem so bad, but it can cause serious issues in a place where teamwork is essential to functionality and survivability.

To me, this seems to be a major problem throughout the VE, not just in squad interactions or Leader to subordinate crossings.

4) Create a slip level survey that must be filled out periodically.  This would be sent and collected by someone in High Command who is not associated with any squad, and be anonymous.  The regular squad members would fill it out, and the results compiled and sent to the SL’s and ASL’s for feedback.

If improperly set up or managed, this would of course create issues.  If a higher up who was involved with a squad (even through a close relationship) let slip who said what, the lower person on the totem pole could then be subjected to abuse, and a big issue would start.

Alternatively, the lowers could use the system to be unfair to the SL’s, so a fair amount of judgment would have to be used to determine problem areas.

Also, this step takes a lot of work and shouldn’t be attempted if not taken seriously.

5) Create some type of loose weekly report for the planners to fill out that lets the squad know what is happening in the next week or so, or simply be sure to post in the squad forum what is going on, even if it is that nothing is happening for a while.

Why not make a rule: when one platoon has a story, the other one must have one as well. That shoudl keep activity up.

Thank you for piecing this out and providing your answers to these issues Doc.

I am glad to see that some of these are valid, and appreciate you giving your reasoning for the parts that aren't. 

Hopefully these suggestions do hold some value though.  I would like to add some qualification to a few previous statements:

Quote:4) No way (other than forums like this) for higher ups to get good feedback on how a squad leader is doing

You replied:

Quote:IRC, email, IM, whatever you got.  We are available via some means here.  If you have a complaint, don't hold onto it and wait for a forum topic to come along.  Tell a commanding officer, we can't fix it if we don't know about it.

This is true, but to me these options encourage people to only say something when thing sare really good, or really bad.  If the only quality checks are "he is doing a good job," or "I have a problem with this..." then there is no real way to check the strengths and weaknesses of an SL. 

What I meant by suggesting the skip level surveys is to provide a means for the SL's to know how they are doing in many areas without waiting for trouble to find out there is a problem.
 
If regular checks occurred, and a problema rose, the check would show whether it was a real issue, or just one trooper complaining, also, it would prevent some chaos stemming from waiting until a problem got out of hand before reporting it.

Also, if an SL was trying to increase some certain feature, such as the quality of their storylines, the surveys would provide some regular interval of grading so that the Sl could get better feedback.

Regular status reports will provide a better view of how an SL is doing.  It is not that they don't know what they are doing, but we are still human beings.  C.E.O.'s of companies have status reports, and it aids them as well.  That is why I voted for this option.

The FTC is a great idea (to me) and it would allow anxious troopers to carry a story without bugging the SL or waiting on a whole team to move.  I noticed that Eclipse has this and thought that it was good enough to be encouraged throughout the VE.  I asumed that it was common lnowledge and perhaps it was just missing in some squads.  I apologize if it seems like I was stealing your idea.  It was a good one though, and so I think that it should be an option for other squads.

The specs are something that I must have missed when I was in training.  I don't doubt that I got an email, but I was flooded with so much stuff about formations, sticking together, and pieces and features of armor that I must have missed that part.  I had to get you to provide me with my first spec, if you remember. 

I was just hoping to make this part more visible, so that newbies don't have to find someone on their own to answer every little question for them (like you did for me, and I will always appreciate.)

While I don't doubt that ASL's and SL's have worked hard to get where they are, with power comes abuse, and initiating contact with a new person by pulling rank for power purposes or otherwise being a jerk the first time you meet them can cause conflict between you and that person forever.

I don't see why anyone would bother informing someone that they are being a dick if they obviously already know, so talking about it seems a moot point.  Intentionally creating bad first impressions just causes problems that are unnecessary and hard to get over.

It is bad business, and in my opinion, it happens too much.  I understand that this group is a bit competitive, but the way to show your dominance is not by stepping on someone else and attempting to degrade them, however many seem to use this method over other ones.


THe difference is this:

I personally had (and still have) more respect for you, Doc, from day one because of the way that you have always treated me (answering questions, being helpful and respectful, etc) than I will ever have for some of the others that I have started off bad with.  I will never respect the people that start off by being cruel, regardless of how much they may help or how friendly we get.  Because I immediately saw that you give others a fair shake, I will always hold you in a different regard. 

If at this point, you decided that you hated me and attacked me for the rest of my time here, I would still hold you to a different light than some others because you gave me a chance before you decided taht you didn't like me.

That is my point.  Some people will never get along; That is life.  But there is a huge difference between deciding you don't like someone because you disagree with some portion of their personality or values, than because he is the new kid and you outrank him.

We will never flourish as a group if we treat our new people like crap. New people are the only way to grow.  Many are helpful, but some are not.
 
That is why I stress being cordial on the first few encounters with someone, not because I can't take someone being rude to me.

I hope that you understand that these are simply explanations, and are in no way meant as attacks.  If you see any faults in my logic, please point them out, as I understad that I am the new guy.  Thanks.

Cosmic already knows my views on this..