gameDEV: Development for Deviants!

Issue 3: Staffing

Table of Contents

Forward
Who needs staff anyway? I’m l33t.
Open casting for evil minions!
Finding volunteers
Working with volunteers
Being a good leader
Staff/Player boundaries and controls
Specific controls
Topics to be discussed next article and closing

Forward

Happy April Fools day! I figure that there is no better day than the first of the month to launch the third issue of gameDEV. Today we will be discussing staffing needs within the game development world.

Who needs staff anyway? I’m l33t.

Truth be told, there are some out there who can put together a game all by themselves. These are the types of people who have a solid grasp of coding and are also able to come up with artistic designs. “But Forks,” you say, “I’m good but I’m not THAT good!” Well that’s okay, we’re going to approach this as if you aren’t TOO l33t

So who needs staff anyway? Chances are, if you’re making a game you will need some staff. Whether this be one other person or several admins, you’re going to need to know how to be a good leader to get the job done. But, before we get into leadership, let’s find our staffers.

Open casting for evil minions!

The quality of staff that you will be able to find depends on a number of factors. One of the biggest factors that determine staff quality is whether the position is paid or not. If you’re a serious full-time game developer, paid staff is the best way to go. Hiring artists and game coders who are good at what they do will help you get your game off on the right foot.

But what if you aren’t a full-time game developer? Let’s say that you have a great idea and want to make a game as a personal project or goal. Is paid staff the way to go? Chances are the answer is no. Some people may commission an artist for art but most people will go out and look for volunteers. Volunteers are great assets to your team, as long as you get good ones!

Finding volunteers

The best way to find good volunteers is by looking for people with similar interests and goals that you have. If you frequent a gaming forum, some of the members may be interested in being a part of creating a game but have no one to lead them. Guess what! YOU can be their leader! It’s important to note that you probably want some sort of plan laid out before you go and try to recruit volunteers. Potential recruits will want to know what they are getting themselves into. Is it a single player game? A massively multiplayer game? Is it fantasy, war or Barbie tales themed? Do you need coders or artists or writers? These are all examples of questions that you should be prepared to answer.

If you already have a game developed, the best volunteers are those who are already dedicated to the game and the community. However, it is important to remember that when you take a player to staff, you lose a valuable community asset. You will have to weigh the pros and cons of making the conversion.

Working with volunteers

Volunteers are just that, they are volunteers. They don’t owe you anything and you can’t expect anything out of them. Volunteers are different from paid staff in that you can actually expect quality work from your paid staff. If they don’t perform, they don’t get paid, and that serves as motivation. Volunteers, on the other hand, have no motivation to begin with. They don’t have to answer to a quality standard because you aren’t paying for their services.

That being said, this doesn’t mean that you have to settle for sub-par volunteers. There are a lot of volunteers out there who will work as hard – if not harder – than paid staff. These types of volunteers are the ones that you want to make sure that you hold on to. The coder who has been there with you from the beginning who has coded the entire framework for your game should be treated as both a valued member of the team and as a paid staff member.

It is completely fine to have standards for your volunteers. As I said, some people will step up and work hard for you even though there is nothing necessarily that they are getting in return. You can determine the types of standards that you choose. Where do you draw the line? Do you want good volunteers? How about the best? Or how about the best of the best? You get to choose who volunteers with you so take your pick!

Being a good leader

Whether you’re leading a team of paid staff or volunteers, it is important that you lead the team well. There are several things that you should be thinking about when trying to be a good leader:

Motivation
Everyone needs to be motivated. The people that are working for you will want to see that the work that they are doing is actually progressing towards something bigger. You need to work hard to show them that their efforts aren’t wasted and that you are still serious about making the game. Updates and deadlines can help serve as motivation because your staff will see how things are progressing as you move forward. As you get closer to the end of your game, giving a projected finish date can be great motivation. Be warned though, dates and deadlines that aren’t well thought out can de-motivate your staff as well! Give them time to do what they’re doing, and get their input on it as well.

If your game is already made, motivating your staff is something that should be done on a constant basis. Unless your game is one of those games that is done as soon as it is released, your staff will need a reason to stay around. If you’re a good leader, they’ll want to stick with you (perhaps into a new project). So give them a reason to stick around! Make things fun but also progressive!

Communication
Communication is another important factor in being a good leader. You aren’t leading anyone if they can’t hear your instructions. Set up a forum or a mailing list to communicate with everyone on the team. Whether you are still in the development stage or if the game is already made, communication is key! Of course, if no one checks the forum or reads their emails you’ve essentially been wasting your time.

Give updates to your staff. What is everyone else working on? What are YOU working on? How are things progressing and what seems to be working well? Get their input too! A good leader wants to know what his or her staff has to say.

Teamwork
It is always important to remember that even though you are the leader of the pack, you want to make sure that you are also a part of the team. If you sit in your corner office all by yourself on your high horse, you can miss everything. Be a part of the team and the team will work with you.

Recognition
Paid staff expect to be credited some how. However, most people forget that volunteers should be recognized for their work too! If your artist just finished all of the images for the first 5 areas of your game, I think that is something that should be recognized. Not only does recognition allow your volunteer to feel included, it also helps them feel that what they are doing is an important part of the game. No part, no matter how small, is insignificant. EVER. If it weren’t needed then you wouldn’t have told them to do it, so give recognition where it is needed. A post weekly featuring a volunteer or an email thanking them for their hard work is a small gesture that can go a long way.

Time away
While this applies to both paid staff and volunteers, this is more geared towards volunteers. Sometimes your volunteers will feel burned out or bored and need some time to get away from working on the game. Give them the time that they need! If they want to relax for a while, why not? You’d rather have them take a break than quit to get their break, right? Don’t be a slave driver; things should be progressive and fun for everyone.

Staff/Player boundaries and controls

** For multiplayer games where admins or Game Masters roam and have powers **

Let’s say that your game is finished, and that it is a massively multiplayer game. You have some staff roaming as Game Masters to help deal with players, run contests, ban bad guys, etc. It is very important to be sure that there are boundaries between the staff and your players.

One of the best policies that I have ever seen for staff/player boundaries was one of the most effective methods that I’ve seen in staffing. This one policy ensured that staffers were completely outside the realm of the actual game play. The admins did not have player character themselves and they only interacted with players when there were rule infractions or during major contests. Let’s explore the pros and cons of this policy.

First, this policy did not allow the admins to have player characters of their own. This is important to prevent cheating. How easy (not to mention tempting) is it for an admin to generate some extra money for their player character? If the admin is one of the storyline writers, might they already know all of the secrets to getting through the quests? You will save yourself a lot of trouble by not allowing your staff to have player characters of their own. (If you decide to run multiple servers, you can consider allowing staff to “work” on one server and play on the other.)

Second, interaction with players was very limited. Admin powers can be cool but they can also ruin game play. There should be no reason for admins to spend lots of time with certain friends while playing the game. This can cause player uproar because many players will cry corruption and quit. This is important to note – corruption causes players to quit because they don’t think that the game is fair. No one wants to play a rigged game unless you’re on the winning team, so keep your admins on a leash and keep an eye out for corruption.

Third, the admins were allowed to interact with players on a global basis (ie: through contests). People can’t cry corruption if everyone had a fair chance to take part. However, note that I said a FAIR chance is necessary. Having a last man standing contest including the strongest player in the game and 20 newbies just screams corruption and unfairness, so keep an eye out. Something to think about is having more than one admin take part in the contests. You are far less likely to have corruption when multiple admins run a contest together!

Now let’s talk about some specific controls.

Specific controls

Ultimately, controls are specific to the type of game that you are making. However, here are some specific controls that may apply to all multiplayer games:

Logs
Code in a logging feature! Everything should be logged (space permitting) to allow you to check for corruption or cheating. Everything that people say can be logged too so you can notice player discontent before it becomes a big problem.

Levels of admins
The game I worked on had 4 levels of admins. Increasing levels of power come with an increased opportunity to be corrupt, so you would want to be careful of who gets the highest level. For example:

Mod: Player character with admin ability to moderate chat
@Admin: Non player character with admin ability to moderate chat; warping; no item interaction
@@Admin: Non player character with admin ability to moderate chat; warping; item creation (but not able to drop items or give to player); can create buildings, quests, etc
@@@Admin: Non player character with admin ability to do everything that @@ can and below, plus ability to interact with players, appoint/demote/fire admins, change server settings, etc; ultimately a server admin or game creator

You’ll usually see some sort of variation with admin levels as you go from game to game. Some games have levels sorted by numbers (100 server admin, 10 moderator, and varying levels of power in the levels between) and others have levels sorted by symbols or characteristics. You will need to decide what works best for you.

Segregation of duties
Linked with admin levels, segregation of duties involves having different admins be responsible for different things. Basically, following the previous example, you could have an @@Admin run a contest but only a @@@Admin can distribute prizes. This is an example of a segregation control that can help limit the possibility of corruption.

Global chat
Believe it or not, players like to be able to talk to the admins. If all of the players can witness a conversation between an admin and a player, it is easy to see that no corruption occurred. Not only that, but global chat can keep your admins on their toes (they can be called out at any time in front of everyone).

Topics to be discussed next article and closing

Now that we’ve gone over some basic staffing issues and controls, we will be moving onto storyline creation next. You can expect:

Storyline creation
Being convincing
Setting the scene
Quests?
Keeping things fun! (Game altering events)

I’m also still going to be including interviews with people involved with game development. If you are someone who wants to be interviewed, please note me (^ForksOfTheSalad)!