Update to the NPC Shift Policy

I am not attempting to speak for Matt or Andy, just my own opinion on the topic.

Most of the questions that have come up here all end in the same train of thought. We all need to be adult about our decisions when it comes to NPCing. I'm sure we've all been in a situation where something has happened that would cause us to be late to our NPC shift and because of the human factor of it all MM's been lax towards punishing people who come in late. This laxness has caused some obvious and significant issues for MM's trying to organize their shift. Fortunately and unfortunately the game is getting larger and by proxy even harder to organize and keep running smoothly. Because of this we have to put more responsibility on the player so that we can ensure we have the NPC's available to provide a better game experience.

my only major concern in this is that this new policy will cause people to select only 2 or 3 of the several npc shifts. leaving the others drastically undermanned. moreover those who get shafted with the shifts they did not want may well choose to lose that build from the rules violation knowing full well how the penalty for repeated violations multiply just so they dont do or have to do the shift they didnt want... in protest if you will.

I often (for almost a year now) have been doing NPC registration and I have a rule that each shift may only accept up to it's designated slots and then is considered closed.  Only once every NPC shift has it's desginated slots filled do I allow overflow into other shifts.  So that does not need to be a concern.

Honestly, as has been said before in this thread, we are mostly all Adults and if someone wishes to protest a rule that is being heavily enforced in the interest of each and every player, then that is what is going to happen.

Every single player in Knight Realms dedicates 4 or more hours to other players so that they can feel like adventures and heroes.  It is only fair that when they are finished serving their 4 hours, that they reenter the game as their characters and are then afforded the same right to be adventurers and heroes.

I can say from experience that the most refreshing personal bit of knowledge I take away from our mandatory 4 hour NPC shift is knowing that when I go there, I will give 100% because when I leave, other players are going to come and give their 100% so I can enjoy the game as well.  It's a community activity and instead or protest it I feel like we should really embrace it, making policies like this unnecessary.

I have heard a lot of nit-picking at this policy and I truly believe that if we looked at it with a more positive outlook than it can be more enjoyable for everybody!  If you go into a situation feeling poorly about it, it's very hard to find a way to enjoy it, but if you show up pumped and ready to entertain and have a good time, you shift will fly by and it will be a more enjoyable experience for everyone!

I definitely echo Chris Goley's sentiment on this one, and wholly support the idea of full and enjoyable NPC shifts. I would like to add though that maybe the idea of strictly limiting NPC shift sizes, and the corresponding policy of requiring players to sign up at times they may not feel preference for, could be reviewed in order to assuage some players concerns.

Perhaps allowing those who take advantage of the early payment option to choose their NPC shift at the same time would help?

If you mixed that with streamlining the early payment option, it would be really great. I still don't know how to pre-pay