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Meeting #1 (5-27-15)
Topic Started: May 27 2015, 07:23 AM (522 Views)
SweetTea
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President & Founder

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Greetings everyone!

I just wanted to once again thank you for your support in joining the MyVMK Integrity Movement (aka MIM Squad)! It is an honor to have you all on board. Let's begin with a few of the topics I wanted to discuss in our first meeting.Please do not forget to also post about yourself in our "New Members" section! I look forward to getting to know each and every one of you. Thank you so much for sharing your ideas.

All my love,
SweetTea

Positions
To keep things running smoothly, I would like to maintain a bit of structure within our squad. To do this, I have decided to personally elect people to fill the roles of the following positions: Vice President, Chairmen, Co-chairmen, Secretary and Treasurer. I am thinking that as our community grows, we may need to add a few other positions such as administrators, web designer, etc. If you have any ideas for other positions, please include them in your post! In the mean time, I have added a post under the "General" section which includes instructions on how to apply for these positions. As I get to know each of you personally, I am also trying to size up who I feel will be able to best serve for each position. As President, I am proud to lead and represent each of you. I have the absolute best intentions for our community. I am looking for people that will make a good team to lead our movement.

Publicity
We need to think of ways to get our movement out there in order to gain more members. If any of you happen to be good with web design, I would love to get these forums looking a little more professional. Also, in my experience, people are usually struck by the elite. In other words, when we host MIM Squad recruitment events and other community benefiting events, I think it would be beneficial to decide on a uniform that everyone can wear. If someone does not have the decided uniform, I and the other members will help you buy one or trade for it. I suggest that our uniform is not something severely expensive but something that will attract others to want to join. You do not have to keep this uniform on all the time, but I suggest we wear them during our hosted events.

Forum Layout
As I insinuated above, I am by no means a web designer. I would like to get someone on board who is experienced with web design and could help me to make this forum more attractive similarly to the way the official MyVMK forums look. Even if you are not experienced in web design, feel free to post ideas! I also think that the wording may be a little awkward between the topics and sections. Keep in mind that I set up this forum in as little as two hours, so I am doing my best!

Community Concerns
What concerns do you have personally for the community? What do you think needs improvement and what do you feel is wrong about our community?

Solutions
How do you think these concerns can be addressed?

Communication
I would like these forums to become our primary source of communication between one another. I would also like to have everyone friend each other in-game so that we can communicate that way as well. However, I plan on posting all of our meetings and decisions here, that way we do not have to worry about not being able to have everyone meet at the same time.

Events
I would like to host several different types of events not only for MIM Squad members but for the entire community. This may also become a great way to recruit new members! I thought that perhaps weekly giveaways and game nights might be a good idea. If you have any other suggestions, please let us know!

Other Ideas
I would like to hear all of your ideas and opinions on the topics listed above! Also, please let us know about any topics you would like to hear covered in our next meeting. Keep in mind what our purpose is and what we stand for. Do not put others down. If you do not like one another's ideas, please say so respectfully and provide additional suggestions.
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PuffTheMagicDragon
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Chairwoman & Moderator

I think this idea would have to be considered much, MUCH later in the movement, but I think after a while of hosting events and growing in numbers, it would be cool to invite a staff member or two (that we all agree are trustworthy and kind) to be representatives for us. It could give us a foot in the door with the game staff.
I haven't put a whole lot of thought into this idea just yet, and I'm not sure how well it would go... Just an idea :)


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JenJaws
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Vice President

Aloha! There's a lot, so you may want to grab a snack first!

Publicity: I think in a couple days, we could have a meet-and-greet in the game. We could maybe have a meet-and-greet chat every week, or every other week, and we could use that to introduce ourselves and talk about our mission. For the uniform, the cheapest option would be to buy something from the shop, like a colored layered top with matching jeans and shoes. That way, we don’t have a ‘rich’ appearance, and we can have some individuality by choosing a color. I’m sure colors will get repeated, but I think as long as the style is similar, it could work. Another idea is the new Midway costumes, but I know I can’t afford to stock them up for later. I’m still working on affording my first (but we can also be unique with the colors, red, green, blue).

Community Concerns: I really dislike the rudeness, inappropriate language, and overall poor attitude of players. I would like to find a way to at least improve areas, or make a ‘family-friendly safe zone’.

Solutions: I think we need a standard of politeness and positivity for our members, and we need to host events that promote those values. I also think that more than one member should be at all of our events, so we can keep track of what is going on. During our events, we should also keep a log of awesomely polite/nice players and rude/inappropriate players with the situation and the MIM Squad members present, just so we can keep track for peacekeeping purposes, or for future membership.

Events: Game nights are a great idea, but we also need a way to fund prizes, or have a way to accept and log donations. If we take item donations for prizes though, we need someone to log every item received, who is holding that item, and who won that item when it is given out, so we can have a record to prevent any stealing. We also would need to be able to produce that record easily if anyone asks. (With all of the craziness going on in game, I feel that we should take precautions with everything.) I also think we should disallow cash donations, just because that is harder to keep track of.

Other Event ideas: I think we could host a meet and greet to meet all of the members. I think we should start in someone’s room, but if this becomes a big event with lots of people, we could eventually move it to an in-game room, like the Esplanade West, Tiki Room etc. Also, I like the idea of a weekly giveaway, but I think we need a way for people to ‘earn’ their gift. I was thinking we could have a MyVMK Weekly Kindness Award, where a player can nominate another player for good deeds. I think making it anonymous would not be beneficial though, because we may have people submitting fake things about themselves. We could require a username submission, but not allow the public to see it, that way, we know it’s real, and others won’t know who sent it.
Edited by JenJaws, May 27 2015, 11:19 AM.
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JenJaws
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Vice President

PuffTheMagicDragon
May 27 2015, 11:10 AM
I think this idea would have to be considered much, MUCH later in the movement, but I think after a while of hosting events and growing in numbers, it would be cool to invite a staff member or two (that we all agree are trustworthy and kind) to be representatives for us. It could give us a foot in the door with the game staff.
I haven't put a whole lot of thought into this idea just yet, and I'm not sure how well it would go... Just an idea :)
I think that's a really good idea, but I agree that it needs to be much later. Right now, a big issue is that the members don't trust the staff, and I'm afraid they'll feel that we are more directly associated with them. I am for making that a future goal though!
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PuffTheMagicDragon
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Chairwoman & Moderator

Publicity
Getting the word out is an integral need for this group to thrive. Meet-and-greets will be a great way to do that. I think we should jump into hosting events soon. Even if they totally flop for a little while, it'll help get the word out. We should pool some furniture (and log it properly with who donated what) and design a room for games. I also agree that we should have a "modest" uniform for events, as in something we can all buy or is easy to get for all players.

Forum Layout
As a start, we should all try to brush up on our html code! You know, "MySpace stuff"? It's easy to do, and even things like color changes can help spruce up the forums until we find someone to redesign them. (You did a great job, SweetTea!)

Community Concerns
I posted earlier that I think (way down the line) we should invite a staff member to represent us within the "game staff realm". However, the reason why problems on the game got so out of hand is that the players don't trust the staff anyway (as pointed out by Jen). We need to make sure that we give other players no reason not to trust us! Being part of this group has got to mean being on our best behavior on the game and forums. We have to make people want to join us :)
My main concern is the current atmosphere of the game. Everyone is on their guard for bad news. We need to help make this family-friendly again!

Solutions
We need to always remember who we are representing while we are in-game. I think we should, as a team, come up with some general behavior guidelines/rules to follow. I don't doubt any one of us would try to, but bad behaviors from members of the MIM Squad could definitely put people off from joining or supporting us.

Communication
Just from playing around the forums for a little while, I think this is a great means of communication. I do think that during events we should have some way of actually chatting aloud (quicker communication). Skype or something along those lines is my suggestion.

Events
As aforementioned, I think we should build a room specifically for MIM Squad events. It should probably be in SweetTea's name because she is the President. I can donate a room and some furniture (I don't have a lot, but it's all up for grabs). It needs to be somewhere that promotes a good atmosphere and has certain expectations of player conduct. We can give all members permission to edit the room to their liking for hosting games and such. I also think we need to come up with some cool ideas for new games!

Other Ideas
Invite, invite, invite friends! When you read the forums and find someone that may be interested in the group, don't be afraid to PM them, even if you've never spoken to them :)


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SundanceCody
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Treasurer

Publicity: Aside from inviting as many people to join our cause as possible, the meet-and-greet ideas presented here are the best. We definitely need a dedicated room or two for hosting meet-and-greet events as well as games to attract new members. I agree with PuffTheMagicDragon that these rooms ought to be in SweetTea's name since MIM was her brainchild and she's president. That would avoid any future confusion. To expand upon that, if any member has an idea for a recurring game, we could always add additional rooms also in SweetTea's name for that purpose. Once we have enough members, we should also establish a strong presence in the game by attending non-MIM events in numbers. Just as with any civic organization, simply being seen can draw interest from other non-members.

Forum Layout: I wish I could code, but I really did just enough coding to get by in my IT classes. That said, the forums look pretty good. I think they really just need a little sprucing up ;). Hopefully someone with that particular skill set will join forces with us, but until then, we do have a functional meeting place, which is all that really matters.

Community Concerns: My two top concerns are definitely the overall distrust of the MyVMK staff members and the general malcontent that has apparently been poisoning the community for some time now. Granted I've only been here for a few weeks myself, but from what I've read in the forums, it looks like most players see MyVMK as a pretty grim place. We definitely need the staff on our side, and I think they'll be happy to support our cause, but I also agree with PuffTheMagicDragon and JenJaws that we don't really want that connection immediately apparent in the game and on the forums. I'm actually a member of a civic organization that battles against a very similar problem IRL, so the longer we can put that off the better. Focus on improving player attitudes toward the game and each other and then ease into improving player attitudes toward staff members. Obviously if we're approached by staff at some point, we'll be able to tell that we're behind them 100%. It's okay to have differences of opinion, but when all is said and done, they need our support just as much as we will need theirs.

Solutions: Regarding improving player attitudes toward the game and each other, JenJaws and PuffTheMagicDragon are right on track. We need to have a MIM Code of sorts that dictates how we will act in-game and on the forums. It can be difficult when faced with ill-tempered players to maintain dignity and poise, but ultimately we want non-members to see how we handle bad situations as well as good and think, "These guys have it going on! I wonder how I can get in with them?" We can even begin tackling the issue of staff distrust by sneakily mentioning how awesome the most recent staff-hosted event was or how some staff member did something really nice for someone recently. The key is to be as sneaky as possible about it ;).

Communication: The forums are by far the best for meetings and such since we all likely function on completely different timetables. In-game meetings would also work well early on, but as our membership grows, that may become infeasible with the exception of our officers. PuffTheMagicDragon brings up an interesting point about quick communication during events, and I think she's probably right about Skype being the easiest solution. I've never used Skype personaly (weird right?), but it wouldn't take me long to get it set up and rolling on my end.

Events: Meet-and-greets, games, etc. Our events would pretty much be all about publicity. Again though, I think we should also make an effort to be present in numbers at staff-hosted events as well as a gesture of goodwill and to show our support. Good attitudes tend to rub off on others as long as you "just keep smiling," as we've been reminded recently.

Other Ideas: One of the biggest problems that seems to be plaguing the community is that so many players are holding onto meaningless grudges and trying to cling to a past that is long gone. To quote one of my favorite movies, "Meet the Robinsons," "You just focused on the bad stuff when all you had to do was let go of the past and keep moving forward." We can build a better tomorrow, as long as we heed Lewis' advice and "keep moving forward." There will be players who will say that VMK has outlived its day, but we're here because we believe that MyVMK is just getting started and has a long road ahead of it. We aren't trying to recapture the past; we're trying to build the future.
Edited by SundanceCody, May 27 2015, 05:54 PM.
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SundanceCody
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Treasurer

Quick tip: Don't be discouraged if someone you've approached as a candidate for MIM declines. I haven't made very many MyVMK friends yet as I've only been on a short while, so I approached a member who is a complete stranger to me because I felt he'd make an excellent MIMion (as SweetTea brilliantly dubbed us ;) ). After he asked what MIM was and I gave him a brief synopsis in addition to pointing him in the right direction, he politely declined. His reasoning was that he could see our movement backfiring and contributing to the drama rather than improving the situation. I disagree and firmly believe that we can make a difference, but I politely responded that I do understand and respect his concerns and that, if he ever changes his mind, he will be more than welcomed to join MIM. I still believe that he'd make an excellent MIMion, and I believe that we can prove to any doubters that we can make a difference. Build a good report with those who are on the fence, and sooner or later, they may very well come around ;) .
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Wavves
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Representative

Hey guys! I'm very excited to be reading through your posts and seeing to it that we become some of the devoted individuals willing to stir magic back into our favorite virtual kingdom!

Forum Layout/Communication
SweetTea & fellow members, I have delved into the forum moderating world a few years ago and have tons of prior experience in designing and contributing toward making a forum board work. I worked for VFKForums when it was open and became a moderator that found myself climbing the ladder until I reached an administrative position. I find comfort and joy in making things look good and I can definitely help you out with the general forum's purpose/look. As Puff mentioned, we could all start brushing up on HTML; you'd be surprised at how simple most of the coding is in an administrative panel! I just wanted to let you guys know that, hehe.

Publicity
I really enjoy the idea of wearing uniforms in-game during an event hosted by MIM. I also like JenJaws' idea of meet-and-greets often in-game. This would allow fresh new faces and fresh conversations to appear! I think it's very important to strew the idea that this movement is made by the people, for the people & anyone interested should feel right at ease joining along!

Community Concerns
I just really don't want to see MyVMK completely deteriorate and would like to be involved in introducing fun happenings all around the kingdom with you guys!

Solutions
I like the ideas as said above.

Events!!!
I'm all about helping build rooms for events, I love building.
Edited by Wavves, May 27 2015, 07:17 PM.
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JenJaws
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Vice President

After reading all of your posts so far, I really think MIM Squad will be a success! We can totally do this!!!
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Hannnnaholivia
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Co-Chairwoman

As I have not yet updated anything to my profile such as avatar and signature, I may look like a creeper that has just stumbled upon this forum LOL. However, I'm super siked to be a part of this movement with you all. I like the Host idea, and do agree that it should be later on as we build our numbers and become known in the community as the MIM Squad. I think that something we could also try to do, say we get a host member on board, is create a special NONtradeable pin that members of MIM Squad could wear as part of the uniform around the kingdom.. Also to be done later on of course, and with much help from Staff members. I am no web designer myself, and really could not be of much service to any of you with that. As for our uniforms, I do however suggest something not easily attainable either.. but not severely complicated. I would love to help host events and games to draw in the attention of the virtual community and get everyone together in a happy and safe environment.. if there are any specific suggestions about the game/event I would love to hear about it and help host. I look forward to getting to know all of you better... I suppose I should make my profile less generic and creepy now. :)
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