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Announce post #3177: 2021 Celani Call!
Autoposter
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4/9/2021 at 19:02
Tiur, the Gnosis
Everyone
2021 Celani Call!
Aetolia is once more accepting applications for new Celani in the Pools of Creation. This is a volunteer position where you can help shape the world of Aetolia, with the potential to eventually take on a roleplay position of one our of Gods. There are many tasks expected of you as a Celani. Some of these are building entire areas, constructing and running events, engaging in roleplay, creating scripts for NPCs and plenty more!
If you feel you have what it takes to make the cut, then read on and follow the instructions for applying! Please note that this is a VOLUNTEER position, and during your time as a Celani you will be expected to give up your other characters.
We are taking three kinds of applicant this time around, a little differently phrased:
* Those who are interested in creating story depth and engagement, especially through items, roleplay, and events.
* Those interested in quests and coding.
* Those that feel they can handle the behind the scenes tasks that are tedious and difficult, but important to theme and flavor (like writing AB files/Skill messages)
Successful applicants for both roles tend to have the following skills:
- A love for Aetolia and a desire to enrich its world.
- Self-motivated.
- Maturity.
- Consistency.
- Creativity.
- Improvisational skills.
- Dependability. (underlined four or five times)
- The ability to handle critique and rejection. Many of the ideas you will propose will be rejected, whereas ones you see to completion will suffer the critique of your fellow Celani/Gods and, perhaps more terrifying, players.
Successful applicants for a RP/CONTENT role tend to have the following skills:
- Strong roleplaying ability.
- Impeccable writing skills.
- Ability to disconnect and RP for the game, not for gain
- Phrasing skills to make the mundane into mystical
In order to apply, you must meet the following criteria:
- You must be 18 years or older IRL.
- You must have, at absolute minimum, at least 500 hours of playing time.
- Be willing to sign a NDA.
You must send your application to celani@aetolia.com and include the following:
1. Your real name.
2. Your real age.
3. What position you would apply for (yes, we're only asking for one..)
5. Your occupation (or course of study if a student)
6. Your character(s) in Aetolia.
7. Why should we make you a Celani, and perhaps eventually a God?
8. Why do you want to be a Celani?
9. Any special experience you have outside of Aetolia that you feel might be helpful in your position as a Celani.
Those applying for a RP/CONTENT role should also include:
10. Two room descriptions of at least 100+ words.
11. A brief outline for an RP event, roughly 100 to 200 words in length. This should be smaller in scope than an events post, more something that makes a single city have a fun few days and talk about inside their orgs.
12. A skill message in the game you find boring/terse, made interesting.
Those applying for a CODING role should also include:
10. A paragraph or two outlining your coding background, what your language proficiencies are, as well as any other skills you feel that you bring to the table (*nix admin / SQL etc.).
Applications will be open until the 14th of May. We have a limited number of positions to fill, so if you don't make it, don't be too disappointed! Hold onto your application and send it in next time we open applications.
TEMPERING EXPECTATIONS
- Please note that we take into account the game's environment as a whole. If you run multiple orgs we might not be able to afford losing you on the player side.
- We do not open God roles of the same tether as the person accepted, and if you play both tethers, then we take into account the tether that has had the most recent amount of playtime across your characters.
- Coders can expect it to take 3+ months to get actual Aetolia code access.
- Even RPLani have to code a little, to make quests. Don't be terrified by code, we'll teach you.
- The first task of a Celani to be promoted is to build an area in full, that includes quests and NPC content. Don't worry, we'll be there to help!
- The second task of a Celani to be promoted is to run an event, so be ready to roleplay!
- For both the volunteer's sanity, and bias protection, we require discord & skype groups to be left. Technically, you're representing Aetolia in some small degree and although we don't expect you to suddenly cut ties with your friends, we do need to remove the temptation of giving information that shouldn't be revealed. Once it's typed out to a whole group, you cannot take it back.
- There is a six month limit on getting promoted. By the end of sixth months, either your stuff is done and you are helping with a God role, or we'll have to free up the spot for someone else to try.
-T
Penned by my hand on Quensday, the 3rd of Lleian, in the year 494 MA.
Tiur, the Gnosis
Everyone
2021 Celani Call!
Aetolia is once more accepting applications for new Celani in the Pools of Creation. This is a volunteer position where you can help shape the world of Aetolia, with the potential to eventually take on a roleplay position of one our of Gods. There are many tasks expected of you as a Celani. Some of these are building entire areas, constructing and running events, engaging in roleplay, creating scripts for NPCs and plenty more!
If you feel you have what it takes to make the cut, then read on and follow the instructions for applying! Please note that this is a VOLUNTEER position, and during your time as a Celani you will be expected to give up your other characters.
We are taking three kinds of applicant this time around, a little differently phrased:
* Those who are interested in creating story depth and engagement, especially through items, roleplay, and events.
* Those interested in quests and coding.
* Those that feel they can handle the behind the scenes tasks that are tedious and difficult, but important to theme and flavor (like writing AB files/Skill messages)
Successful applicants for both roles tend to have the following skills:
- A love for Aetolia and a desire to enrich its world.
- Self-motivated.
- Maturity.
- Consistency.
- Creativity.
- Improvisational skills.
- Dependability. (underlined four or five times)
- The ability to handle critique and rejection. Many of the ideas you will propose will be rejected, whereas ones you see to completion will suffer the critique of your fellow Celani/Gods and, perhaps more terrifying, players.
Successful applicants for a RP/CONTENT role tend to have the following skills:
- Strong roleplaying ability.
- Impeccable writing skills.
- Ability to disconnect and RP for the game, not for gain
- Phrasing skills to make the mundane into mystical
In order to apply, you must meet the following criteria:
- You must be 18 years or older IRL.
- You must have, at absolute minimum, at least 500 hours of playing time.
- Be willing to sign a NDA.
You must send your application to celani@aetolia.com and include the following:
1. Your real name.
2. Your real age.
3. What position you would apply for (yes, we're only asking for one..)
5. Your occupation (or course of study if a student)
6. Your character(s) in Aetolia.
7. Why should we make you a Celani, and perhaps eventually a God?
8. Why do you want to be a Celani?
9. Any special experience you have outside of Aetolia that you feel might be helpful in your position as a Celani.
Those applying for a RP/CONTENT role should also include:
10. Two room descriptions of at least 100+ words.
11. A brief outline for an RP event, roughly 100 to 200 words in length. This should be smaller in scope than an events post, more something that makes a single city have a fun few days and talk about inside their orgs.
12. A skill message in the game you find boring/terse, made interesting.
Those applying for a CODING role should also include:
10. A paragraph or two outlining your coding background, what your language proficiencies are, as well as any other skills you feel that you bring to the table (*nix admin / SQL etc.).
Applications will be open until the 14th of May. We have a limited number of positions to fill, so if you don't make it, don't be too disappointed! Hold onto your application and send it in next time we open applications.
TEMPERING EXPECTATIONS
- Please note that we take into account the game's environment as a whole. If you run multiple orgs we might not be able to afford losing you on the player side.
- We do not open God roles of the same tether as the person accepted, and if you play both tethers, then we take into account the tether that has had the most recent amount of playtime across your characters.
- Coders can expect it to take 3+ months to get actual Aetolia code access.
- Even RPLani have to code a little, to make quests. Don't be terrified by code, we'll teach you.
- The first task of a Celani to be promoted is to build an area in full, that includes quests and NPC content. Don't worry, we'll be there to help!
- The second task of a Celani to be promoted is to run an event, so be ready to roleplay!
- For both the volunteer's sanity, and bias protection, we require discord & skype groups to be left. Technically, you're representing Aetolia in some small degree and although we don't expect you to suddenly cut ties with your friends, we do need to remove the temptation of giving information that shouldn't be revealed. Once it's typed out to a whole group, you cannot take it back.
- There is a six month limit on getting promoted. By the end of sixth months, either your stuff is done and you are helping with a God role, or we'll have to free up the spot for someone else to try.
-T
Penned by my hand on Quensday, the 3rd of Lleian, in the year 494 MA.
2
Comments
I am part of the "tether rule is dumb" party. Let's be honest, the rule doesn't do anything except keep good candidates away from the Pools because they don't want to step outside the themes they genuinely connect with and feel they can properly write. People still boohoo admin bias even with the rule and you guys don't even do anything with that feedback (if complaints here and on official Discord are to be believed)...
We will never get people who make these roles shine if we aren't willing to accept candidates passionate about them. It would stand to reason that the people most passionate about those roles are the people who play normal characters in the boundaries of those themes already.
Using myself as an example: were I to apply, there's literally only one role in all of Shadow that I would feel even remotely qualified to play in the first place. If someone else wants that role, what am I going to do besides twiddle my thumbs and do behind the scenes stuff? Meanwhile, my knowledge of game lore and familiarities with org themes means I feel much more comfortable in most any Spirit role.
Making them remove themselves from shared social groups stops them from being pressured because people of Aetolia Discord Server #1234 bombard them with so many open ended questions/demands into giving up information and destroying developing storylines by saying "this storyline is going to go here so you need to do this." Sure, that falls into the guilty before innocent mindset, but when you ask for players to become an RP god or something of the sort, you need to hold them to a higher standard. They might be your friends now and someone you can talk to about anything in the game, but if they go to Celani they can't really talk to you about in game stuff anymore.
It's not an 'us vs them' mentality. They become your 'boss' in a sense and as your 'boss', they aren't necessarily allowed to be friends with you. Additionally "if they break NDA, just fire them" is a poorly loose statement due to the inherent fact that unless IRE tells their Celani to give them access to ALL their discords, it would be very difficult to track that. However, as @Teani mentioned, they aren't going just ghost the people they talk to online (wouldn't be surprised if some did, but not all will). However, the aforementioned control would never happen because that's an infringement upon privacy and that's illegal.
And fun fact, back in 2015 when I had originally created my first Celani application, I had whole arcs thought of and personally developed for Templars to give them some flair and I have very little idea on their lore or anything that they do. I also had a few ideas and had written them out for my application for global events and Enorian. Don't come at me. :P
Also if people are trying to pressure you to give info that's a boundary that people should be capable of enforcing. Those people asking you to do drugs and give them secret behind-the-scenes information? They are NOT your friends.
Isolating Celani from social circles is dumb, and if you can't trust them to keep their traps shut, don't bring them upstairs to begin with. These people aren't even being paid in credits, there's no reason they should upend their social lives for a free gig.
edit: also lol Celani are not our bosses, and Boss vs Subject totally IS an us vs them dynamic, you literally described it, my dude. They're unpaid volunteers trying to essentially DM the game for us to make it more fun. They're not any more our boss than a Dungeon Master at a weekend game of D&D is your "boss."
1) For the quitting Discord/Skype group rules, this is a little poorly worded in the announce post. We only require you to leave servers that are focused on Aetolia. e.g. official Aetolia discord, various discords for player systems, and so on. We're not saying you need to cut off contact with your friends entirely, that's just silly. We just don't want you in Aetolia-content servers (other than official, later on, when promoted) because you'd be representing us now.
2) Yes, we require you to play a God from the opposite tether. One thing that's not mentioned in the Celani call post is this is just an at-first thing. Generally, we'll let people pick up a second God from either side if one is available later on down the road.
3) Playing a God from the opposite tether does not exclude you from running events for any side of the game. The only exception here is your Celani promotion event. We require that to be from the opposite tether, as part of making you do research into that tether's lore and gain experience interacting with them.
For the rule itself:
Speaking from my 13 years of experience in the Pools, which includes 3 years as a volunteer and 5 years as a former producer, I was the one that ultimately instated the rule and stand by it even today. I have seen a lot of volunteers come and go over the years, and had to review countless more applications that haven't been accepted on top of that. During my five year tenure as producer, I received more complaints than I can remember about various volunteers. Something that I'm sure that Tiur is also enduring.
Here's the thing, most people we bring on as a volunteer are going to have biases for their tether, and/or against the other tether. Some of these biases won't be strong, but they still exist, and they take a long time to fade. They did for me as a volunteer, and I know other longterm volunteers have stated similar things. They take even longer to fade when you're still involved in Aetolian social groups, because you're still there in your echo chamber, which is another reason the leaving groups rule exists. You might think that's not true for you, and maybe it isn't, but we have no way of knowing that about you and so a blanket rule works best.
I don't think I need to, or should have to, explain why having a bias AGAINST a tether is bad. So the next thing you might ask is why is having a bias for your tether bad? Doesn't that just mean you'll run really awesome events and interact a lot? This largely falls down to optics. Your Celani/God identity will almost always come out no matter how hard you try to protect it. People will see you interacting with your side, your order, giving cool things to certain people, and promoting others in the order. Then we'll get the e-mails, sometimes even from people on the same side as you, saying you only gave item/promotion x to person y because your mortal is Bertha and you're friends with them. Usually, we will almost always have your (the volunteers) backs on this, and dealing with complaint e-mails isn't the deciding factor here. The deciding factor is when people get no resolution from their complaints, and start spreading the hate that arises from this around in their corner of the community. People start hating on this volunteer, and by extension the rest of the administration as biased. You might think this is all exaggeration, but I've seen it happen again and again.
As for leaving your comfort zones, that's what being a Celani is about. We don't want people that only run events for one side of the game. We have limited spots available, and if it comes down to someone that doesn't want to leave their comfort zone, and someone that's happy to explore the other tether, we're going to take the latter every time. Sometimes, that might mean we'll gain less volunteers than we would otherwise and that's perfectly fine.
At the end of the day, and to be more candid than I should be, Aetolia and IRE is a for-profit company that heavily relies on its volunteers. Bad volunteers can, and have, cost us players and customers. The rule is a filter, and it generally works.
And now to cherry pick some things to reply to: To be blunt, if you actually hated one side of the game, we wouldn't want you as a volunteer. You have no idea how frustrating this comment is. Unless someone is just an outright idiot, it is incredibly incredibly hard to prove someone has broken a NDA. Sure, I can see Player Mary that's a known friend of Celani Bob talk about things they would only know if someone is breaking the NDA. It's a lot, lot harder to prove that Bob told Mary this information. Most of the time we can't, and if we talk to them they just deny it. This leaves us in a difficult position, because we have zero evidence. Maybe Bob takes their NDA very seriously and it was actually Celani Steve, who we didn't know had an association with Mary, told them. This has something that has come up a lot over the years, and something I'm still no closer to solving. Some people have been volunteers for far longer than the rule has existed. And as said above, the rule only applies to your initial God.
Then again, maybe I underestimate just how isolated the upstairs people are from these networks that players are a part of.
Thanks for clarifying the opposite tether limitations, that actually makes a lot of sense and makes that pill a lot less difficult to swallow.
I was a very active player for a very long time. I have over 3000 hours between my assorted mortal characters (not counting time as my previous celani and God, nor current upstairs stuff), but before the celani call which resulted in me becoming Zeheia, I had not really actively played Aetolia for around four years. I am in my mid-thirties and my memory is not what it once was - I honestly can only pick bits and pieces of lore and interactions that I can remember from all those mortal hours.
The best part is that I came in knowing hardly any current players. I didn't come in with some big idea of what Spirit or Shadow were like. I picked my God character (yes, I know that's an open secret at this point) based on what side really needed some RP love. I'm still definitely not 100% on lore, and most of my understanding is skimmed from discussions or glancing through events posts.
You don't need to be 100% on lore to be an effective God (don't tear me down here please!). You just need to be willing to learn and, more importantly, ready to make the game better for everybody, not just one side. I have had adorable interactions with Shadow as a Spirit God, and I have had amazing interactions with people on both sides.
Yes, I need to ask questions. That isn't and shouldn't be a bad thing. Yes, sometimes I hear the sniping that goes around, and I don't have a vested interest in believing any of it. You might think I have my favourites to RP with - but I suspect they wouldn't be who you'd guess they are, and frankly, I try to at least touch in on everyone who shows an interest in my God sooner or later, because I literally don't know who will become my next favourite. And the one after that, and the one after that.
I'm here because I love Aetolia - even with my extended breaks - and I love RPing as a divine personality, and I love making it magical, whether it be with a shiver down your spine, a smile on your face, or diabolical laughter on both sides.
If in doubt, please refer to the Forum Rules! If in more doubt, please reach out to a moderator.
Act as you would wish to be treated.
"It costs you nothing to assume that we are acting in good faith."
If in doubt, please refer to the Forum Rules! If in more doubt, please reach out to a moderator.
Act as you would wish to be treated.
"It costs you nothing to assume that we are acting in good faith."
Edit: It's not me.
(Web): Abhorash says, "Nerds."
(Web): Abhorash has left your web.
Alela's Affirmations
Also, on the fact of it 'losing you customers'? I would say that a distinct lack of worldwide happenings is losing you customers. We haven't had an event that wasn't just a way to drop a new class or race (things people might have to pay rl money to get) in quite a long time. That might be fine for pkers and stuff, but a lot of your player base is rp focused! Id' be more willing to spend money on this game if I was seeing an active world, and I'm just not. I dropped the game for a while because the distinct lack of anything happening bored me.
I guess I just think like, I understand WHY you have this policy, I just also think that there may be a better way to handle the concerns that allows for things to be more active on a global scale, though I suppose that's a thread all on its own.
I just removed a few comments that weren't constructive to discussing applying to be a volunteer.
It's clear there's a problem with the system. Sometimes "how we've always done it" is the death toll of a system. I'm really rather fond of this game and I'd prefer to not see it die, but there's clearly a problem. We're a community, and we'd love to help fix it, but it's hard to do so when all we get in return is "you're wrong".
If in doubt, please refer to the Forum Rules! If in more doubt, please reach out to a moderator.
Act as you would wish to be treated.
"It costs you nothing to assume that we are acting in good faith."
We all want this game to succeed, which is why critical posts get made.
Just my 2c.
Not
"Dump your entire social network for us on the off chance you might break NDA."
I leave this open in case there are good questions.
We have enough applicants that I am not interested in debating our rules. The tether one is the main contention, and I feel like it's been talked to death.