Cantr Proposals

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Joshuamonkey
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Cantr Proposals

Postby Joshuamonkey » Fri May 24, 2019 4:27 am

This thread is for "proposals" representing any official decision by GAB, which is by majority vote. See Cantr Organizational Constitution.

We welcome your feedback on proposals here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28565
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Re: Cantr Proposals

Postby Joshuamonkey » Fri May 24, 2019 4:28 am

Proposal 1
As a general rule, every proposal accepted by the Game Administration Board (GAB) in the future should be presented to all Cantr staff members and to players. In the rare case that a proposal contains sensitive information, the GAB Chair may chose to not share the sensitive parts of the proposal, but must mention to the staff and players that content was removed or that the words of the proposal could not be shared. The GAB Chair also determines what to share from the proposal's explanation. The Communications Department is responsible for explaining proposals to players, and the Languages Department for translating them, where necessary.

Approved proposals must be presented to staff within a week of acceptance by GAB, and to players within a month of acceptance. Proposals should be presented to staff preferably a week before announcing to players, though a day may be sufficient if the situation is urgent.

Explanation
The players of Cantr have for a long time asked staff to be open and to understand better our policies and decision-making process. Hence, we are pleased to make all staff and all players part of this process. Proposal 1 also invites feedback from players. Proposals are shared first to staff (a subset of players) so that all staff are as united as possible in acceptance of the proposal and how to explain the proposal to others (if the proposal is not retracted).

The time before announcing a proposal publicly also provides time for the proposal and any explanations to be translated.

Some proposals will only be relevant to staff members, but as the work and policies of Cantr staff affect all Cantr players, being aware of these proposals aids trust, understanding, and suggestions from players.

Sharing all GAB decisions (not including decisions regarding individual persons, such as bannings and staff hires) publicly also gives GAB more accountability and motivation to ensure that proposals are well written and explained. As an added benefit, it shows staff and players that the members of GAB are actively working to improve Cantr.

Q&A
Q: Won't some proposals be boring and unnecessary information for players?
A: Yes. In these cases, announcements will not be made in game about the proposal, but the proposal will be posted on the forum.

Q: Where can I see these proposals?
A: GAB, staff, and the public (General Discussion forum) will each have a forum thread with copies of the proposals, following the proposal's instructions on not sharing sensitive information.

Q: Won't this make decisions by the GAB too affected by the opinions of loud minorities who demand certain decisions (or complain about decisions)?
This will indeed result in more feedback from players on GAB decisions and GAB members will need to be aware of this when proposing and explaining decisions. To not bias feedback or new player perspective by a few vocal people, surveys to players will be used for feedback where appropriate, and the #general Discord channel may be muted immediately following announcements (to more effectively monitor and take action on feedback, we encourage players to use the #vent, #love, and #suggestions channels according to the type of feedback they wish to give).
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Re: Cantr Proposals

Postby Joshuamonkey » Thu Sep 05, 2019 10:14 pm

Announcement on Cantr.net (see below for details):
Cantr staff has been undergoing a lot of changes these past few months, but now things are more stable. See this forum post for more detailed descriptions, the Cantr Staff Tutorial, or this Google Drive folder containing the policies.

To discuss the changes, Joshua will be hosting a voice meeting on Cantr's Discord this Saturday, September 7, at 6 PM GMT (11 AM PT).

As a player, the most significant change as part of this announcement is the creation of the Player Board, which approves changes to the game. Players earn a spot on the Player Board on a monthly basis by sharing Cantr somewhere, active staff work, or donating ($2 USD). The Player Board elects a Player Advocate to whom they can go for questions (in the future there may be a Player Advocate for each language group). Player Advocates and players who contribute 5 times as much as required are councilors on the Player Board.

To encourage more players to apply to staff, most staff applications are now approved "automatically", or without a GAB vote, as long as certain requirements are fulfilled, which are publicly available.

This lays the ground for more big changes coming up. Stay tuned, and please apply to staff to add your voice to the discussions! :) (See "STAFF RECRUITMENT" below on this page)

Cantr Staff


Proposal 2 - Staff Activity
Staff members are asked to participate in each of their roles in some way every few weeks. After 6 weeks, they are considered absent and removed from their role or department, to be quickly welcomed upon their return.

Proposal 3 - Staff and Department Definitions
Here we define staff roles, departments, and teams inside departments. A staff member is limited to 3 staff roles, not including consultant positions.
Each department chair must be approved by their department, as they represent their department. In addition, department chairs may only have staff roles within their department.

Proposal 4 - Department Decisions
This may be the most significant change to the work of staff. Departments now vote on decisions, usually lasting one week. A website and app called Trello is used to keep track of tasks and decisions, with the help of other automated tools.

Proposal 5 - Player Board
The Player Board votes on decisions that affect the game of Cantr directly. Players earn a spot on the Player Board on a monthly basis by sharing Cantr somewhere, active staff work, or donating ($2). At least one councilor (who contributes 5 times as much) must provide a reason for vetoing a game change.

Proposal 6 - Player Advocate
The Player Advocate is elected by the Player Board. The Player Advocate provides direction and support to players to help them overcome any barriers to enjoying their experience with Cantr and the Cantr community (in a way complementary to staff departments). We hope to elect Player Advocates for different language groups.

Proposal 7 - Prioritizing Staff Work and the Product Owner
The Product Owner is elected by all staff members and prioritizes tasks on the product of Cantr (in a broad sense), in coordination with the Marketing Team.
Staff work is organized in quarterly periods lasting about 3 months, with quarterly planning meetings as well as informal team meetings or updates every few weeks.

Proposal 8 - Cantr Staff Volunteer Agreement
To protect players, protect Cantr, and clarify staff expectations, all staff members are required to sign (electronically) a Volunteer Agreement.

Proposal 9 - Auto-approve Staff
As defined by this proposal, most staff applications are approved without a GAB vote, as long as certain requirements are fulfilled.
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Re: Cantr Proposals

Postby Joshuamonkey » Thu Nov 21, 2019 10:24 pm

This was approved August 21 but only recently implemented (sorry for the delay in posting here):
Department closely affected: Players

Proposal 10 - Inactive Account Logins

Instead of not allowing players to log in after a certain number of days of not logging in, just have their characters die and allow them to log in again later, indefinitely. This applies to current inactive accounts as well (all will be reactivated), but we will lock old inactive accounts from making new characters with an explanatory message when they login (and they can then contact PD, or PD is notified); PD can decide the details of this. For new inactive accounts, auto-locking shouldn't be necessary, because any duplicate account should be denied.

This way we get players into Cantr as quickly as possible.

Q&A
Q: Why are previous accounts locked?
A: Since some current players may have login information for inactive accounts (whether an old account of their own or of someone else), locking currently inactive accounts allows implementing this change without overwhelming PD with potential problems caused by access to old accounts.
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"Don't be afraid to be different, but be as good as you can be." - President James E. Faust
I'm LDS, play the cello, and run.
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YuukiSagawa
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Re: Cantr Proposals

Postby YuukiSagawa » Sat Apr 18, 2020 11:17 pm

Proposal 11 - Intro Server
This proposal describes changes to the new user registration process, the reactivation process of previous players, and the Intro server.

Polish Version

Spanish Version

Portuguese Version
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Re: Cantr Proposals

Postby Joshuamonkey » Sat Apr 25, 2020 4:55 am

Announcement: There's a new member of the Game Administration Board, MattW, chairing the Programming Department.

Also, GAB has selected YuukiSagawa to fulfill the role of Executive Director.

This new staff position has been defined as follows:
Executive Director
The Executive Director oversees Cantr Staff administration as a whole and is responsible for carrying out decisions made by the Game Administration Board (GAB) and departments as defined by Cantr Staff’s policies. In general, the Executive Director is the highest ranking officer in the day-to-day affairs of a non-profit organization and in Cantr Staff acts on behalf of the GAB Chair and GAB who also oversee Cantr Staff administration. However, like many non-profit organizations, decisions about what should be done with Cantr’s resources (or changes to the game) are made by the board (GAB) and committees (departments).
Defined here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19-V ... XyQPk/edit

Both MattW and Yuuki have stepped up to their roles and have demonstrated their commitment to see Cantr succeed. :D
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