What can the Church do for Stormwind city?

Hey all. Let's brainstorm a bit.

As you know, the Church is currently the main instance for medical services in Stormwind, and provide blessings and cleansing upon request as well. I however believe we should extend our reach a bit and on occassion and host other beneficial events for the community. These should be within the volunteer work category and I want YOUR suggestions and ideas for the specific events.

It is also allowed to suggest guild-specific event ideas.

There would be a lot we can do for SW. The main problem as I see it is that there's not enough variety in RP for us to do that. We can't cat like a parish would due to the high turnout of idiots with swords and points to prove (though the point is apparently optional these days).

Fundraisers - Doubtful that this will work but it is an Idea.
Inter-Guild - We are already doing the occasional inter-guild RP but perhaps it would be more beneficial to us if we were to make more use of this option.

Fetes - A fete is basically a fundraiser but if we can do it right it would possibly be more like a fair. If we do it right and get people to RP good entertainment, stalls and similar things that will engage people to RP we could even make something like this into a monthly event.

Something OOC - Perhaps it would help if we were to encourage more ooc things like lessons in proper RP. Fixing those things that people do wrong and perhaps even those little things that even the experienced RPers seem to fail at from time to time. this would ofc not just be in the guild but open to all. Optional of course. It would be a good way to generally improve the general level of RP with us and other willing RPers.

Tricksy alts and Requests - Certain members of the church use alts they have and don't really RP on to post jobs on a notice board of some kind. One that could feature on the forums. Then we get members of the church together and we RP the completion of those jobs. It could be anything from helping look for something to moving crates to healing a sick person in Elwynn to defeating a large sized rat. These jobs would increase the RP we can do and wouldn't require other guilds to complete them. If the Idea kicks off then we perhaps can include other guilds. Ofc you'll be able to ask other RPers for help but you'll need to discuss the distribution of the reward. It would also serve as some planned RP where some interesting things might happen or will allow us to co-operate with RPers away from the normal rp areas so it would avoid unwanted additions so the RP.

The main problem is the massive lack of stuff to do between the planned RP events. I think that we really should be finding ways to encourage more RP guilds to start up. Problem there though is that there are now three hubs of RP and people seem to be relatively committed to using them.

Hearthglen - SHanders
Gilneas - Partisans
Stormwind - Everyone else

All well and good but with the large part of the community on ER not actually RPing we do face a bit of a problem, namely that there aren't enough people to commit to starting these new guilds and filling the roles that need filling that would allow us to do more and make 'our' RP more enriching.

If I think of any more Ideas then I'll come forwards with them. Until then I seem to have exhausted my creative fountain for now.

Skye wrote: The main problem is the massive lack of stuff to do between the planned RP events.

There's plenty of different things to do between events, and I think its the fact that most people think there's only good rp during the events is what's reducing the amount of people around unless there's an event. You could log onto a character whenever and always find some rp without any trouble. I don't think its that we need to help other guilds start up, but have more going on within our own, and not just events.

*Goes to school*

Laufeia has a very good point here. It seems that the majority of the guild members expect the two active officers the guild has to "create RP for them" on a daily basis, or interest in the character is lost. This is by far not the purpose of the guild and though we are more than willing to make events for you, it is important to keep in mind what the core purpose of the guild is:

To provide the city with services that the military guilds cannot cover.

This includes medical services, the occassional exorcism or warding, arranging weddings, share out meals and room to the poor and hold encouraging speeches. Your 'in-between' time is to be spent on this, or studying ICly to be able to perform such tasks, not wander aimlessly around and hope 'something happens soon'

That said, keep posting ideas, people! Preferably be as specific as possible.

So 'nobody' liked 'any' of my ideas? -.- Yippee

And the problem as I find it is that there isn't really any RP out there that amounts to more than simply talking to people or doing chores outside of the guild events. It's all well and good but it is tedious. If the talking amounts to more than simply conversation with a random stranger then it's good but really since the SH left there aren't a terrible many people Elcie can get along with. Plus she's too young to drink and she's currently at the abbey. All in all there is little motivation for me right now. I think that last one, the jobs post board thingy, would be a good addition. It would allow us to build our own RP in stead of relying on the high fathers to do something interesting.

Just think. It gives you something to do with your alts and allows you an escape from the tedium of RPing the same character endlessly (if you're the one who places the job) and it allows members of the church to RP together and possibly with other RPers to complete simple tasks that are too trivial for the guards to complete, i.e. Chores set by other people. It's character building and adds a little more incentive to joining the guild with minimal admin required. Ofc there would need ot be rules drawn up like

'No very! life threatening situations'
or
'Nothing Lewd'
or
'Nothing that doesn't make sense'

but at the end of the day it's a little bit extra to do and you can set it up with multiple characters even and have a mini-event with three or four friends doing something out of the ordinary.

Interaction with other prominent guilds (that do not seek to horrendously murder our characters, of course) is indeed something that would promote growth and hopefully fun.

Fund raisers, from what I've been told, tend to be popular, albeit I would stress that these should be kept within the confines of what one would expect from the Church's representatives. So, hypothetically, that basically means that having a fund raiser, which would have women prance about in skimpy clothing would definitely not be something you'd expect, much less an all out fighting competition in which we'd see people bash the shite out of each other. Just for examples.

Now, as for the other services, it's been a good while since I've seen any citizen approach a member for either a quiet conversation that'd entail "Oh, I've been such a baaad person!" to "We'd like to get married." Granted, this is also due to me having been bothersome busy IRL and having been without a PC for nigh a week. Howbeit I recall from the "older" days that I was in general approached almost every day for spiritual consulting i.e.

I would therefore surmise that it would need to be stressed that the Church provides more than just healing and surgery to weddings; or indeed the odd "I'd like to make a dinner appointment in the infirmary, please", which has been stuck in my brain ever since Cedríc mentioned it.

Exactly how to do it could be done several ways, albeit that's no guarantee that people would take note, of course. However, with possibly regular sermons, advertising on the ER WoW forum both IC and/or OOC, and gently nudging people that one comes across IC and thus speak of what the Church can do, is a possibility.

And lastly, handing out food to the poor as an event is something I personally have often dreamed about. Perchance something that could be employed.

Oh, and lastly-lastly (honest) I would echo that it is indeed NOT the job of Cedríc and Zackariah to constantly give people something to do, much less keep track of EVERY single storyline that members and other are running. RP is something you can create, not only leech of. If you lack the imagination, then try cultivating it rather than giving up.

Oh, and when Ewy's around, she tends to be available if needed by ye moste humble and obidiente adherers of the moste holy and eternale Lighte.

The elephant knows; the elephant sees.

Thank you for the contribution, Ewyllyn. "Nudging" the community into remembering that the Church offers more services than patching & cleansing is a good idea, which I believe can be done mainly through town criers and forum-posts. Though I and ol' Zackariah have plenty of writing work on our hands, (mainly recruitment) so perhaps you'd like to advertise for us?

On a sidenote, we do still get the occassional confessor to approach our clergy, even Cedric. And these walk well pleased out of there when he gives them their whiskey bottle. Since we joined, the Church also held five weddings in total, with Ellen and Rengorde's wedding the coming Tuesday being our 6th. (Not to mention the lesbian DK couples we had to decline with our deepest regrets)

As for food-donations: This was done fairly successfully in an event shortly after the Shattering. However, lately it seems that the majority of the played citizens in Stormwind are wealthy sods in fancy armor, and the lack of proper, poor individuals deprives us of doing something truly useful. Alternatively, we could use invisible NPCs (as the city is bound to have plenty of beggars and starving lower-class families), but I am uncertain about the fun-factor in this. What do you think?

Elcia: I am afraid I do not understand what your "job noteboard" entails. Could you elaborate/rewrite your entry to be more clarifying? It looks like an idea to consider, but I have too little to go on.

And finally, an idea of my own which sprung from Ewy's suggestion of nudging:
What about a Church journal of 6-8 pages, in GHI form, which is passed out monthly to the citizens, and which everyone, even the neophytes, may contribute to? Such a journal would contain prayers, encouraging texts, philosophical, Light-related debates, ect.

I need to think of something! But I'd ratherly say my opinion on the ideas so far. Elcia's ... about ten ideas (amazing, right? :D) proved to catch my eye. They sound incredibly fun to prepare and practically do. The journal made me fall off my chair in excitement. Maybe, off Cedric's idea, we could have sort of like a 'Church Diary' with recounts of all the events we've had and what citizens / Church members thought of them. With these opinions, we could work to make events more enjoyable for the community.

Second idea would be perhaps sending anyone with time to spend out to assist other guilds in their work. Say, newly recruited trainees could be sent out to the Guard for educational purposes. Assistants and/or Neophytes could be sent to an orphanage, or another holy-like place to learn off of them. I think this'd help with more variety in RP and general socialization, and could prove educational.

Cedric wrote:Thank you for the contribution, Ewyllyn. "Nudging" the community into remembering that the Church offers more services than patching & cleansing is a good idea, which I believe can be done mainly through town criers and forum-posts. Though I and ol' Zackariah have plenty of writing work on our hands, (mainly recruitment) so perhaps you'd like to advertise for us?

I can try to cook something up for a forum post, and quite possibly also something for IG.

Cedric wrote:On a sidenote, we do still get the occassional confessor to approach our clergy, even Cedric. And these walk well pleased out of there when he gives them their whiskey bottle. Since we joined, the Church also held five weddings in total, with Ellen and Rengorde's wedding the coming Tuesday being our 6th. (Not to mention the lesbian DK couples we had to decline with our deepest regrets)

Ah! Good to hear. The lesbian DKs notwithstanding...

Cedric wrote:As for food-donations: This was done fairly successfully in an event shortly after the Shattering. However, lately it seems that the majority of the played citizens in Stormwind are wealthy sods in fancy armor, and the lack of proper, poor individuals deprives us of doing something truly useful. Alternatively, we could use invisible NPCs (as the city is bound to have plenty of beggars and starving lower-class families), but I am uncertain about the fun-factor in this. What do you think?

Hmm...I'll agree that it's far from as much fun doing it with imaginary NPCs. A possible venture would be having people join us with alter-egos, who pretend to be piss-poor people or some such, just to give such an event the correct feel.

Cedric wrote:And finally, an idea of my own which sprung from Ewy's suggestion of nudging:
What about a Church journal of 6-8 pages, in GHI form, which is passed out monthly to the citizens, and which everyone, even the neophytes, may contribute to? Such a journal would contain prayers, encouraging texts, philosophical, Light-related debates, ect.

That would require intensive work, but is definitely a good idea. Once a month would make it more plausible to cough up, for that matter.

I have decided that I love zeeri now. Thank you for the glowing testimony

*hugglesnugglebreakinhalfselotapebacktogetheragainwalkaway*

Now. As for the notice board. Let's break it down into it's basic components.

What is it?
A virtual notice board that would be placed inside the cathedral where anyone can place jobs that need doing(filtered ofc)

What would this do for RP?
Firstly Jimmy, there is interaction with other people outside the church as well as building friendship by doing these jobs together. It would also give us more chance to explore other areas of Rp that are not normally viewed in our roles in the church.

Well surely nobody would be posting on the board?
You've got alts do you not Jimmy? You get on an alt. Place something on the board. Wait for it to be approved by our committee of highly trained quality control monkeys and then hey presto. Your job is on the board for all to see. Your alt gets RP time with the people in the church and the people in the church get RP time as well.

Oh but Skye. What if I want to do the job I'm posting with a friend of mine?
Well you've got friends outside the guild with alts. You can sort something out. Also there is a tool that is becoming increasingly uncommon in RP called imagination. We draw on this ancient and dying art and hey presto you've got one invisible person whose set you the job. You then go off and do whatever you want to do.

What if I 'have' no friends in the guild?
Don't be silly Jimmy. We're all friends here. And in the case that one of us is unable to help then the guard are sure to have somebody off-duty to co-operate with you.

Hang on. Surely these jobs might be dangerous.
Oh of course not Jimmy you silly thing. *pats* The quality control monkeys would not allow something onto the board if it surpassed a rating of 'bumps of knowledge'.

What if I run into Random OPDK #163?
Oh yes he is a bastard of a problem sometimes. You can always ignore those idiots as it's the best thing to do. Perhaps spend an evening explaining things to them in the vain hope they will change their ways and become a better person on the whole.

What if I 'WANT' to run into OPDK #163?
Then perhaps this might change your mind. *Slams a book into Jimmy's face!* As the church guidelines state. We do not actively promote 'destructive RP'. We are a helpful guild of kind people and the simple fact that most kidnapping, assault, arson, pick-pocketing, loitering, vandalism, theft, criminally poor RP and drug use charges revolve around the church is nothing more than a painful coincidence. One that seems never to get old... why does it never get old...?

Why did you hit me?
*smack!* Shaddup!

Wh... what happens when we complete the jobs?
A pre-decided reward would be granted. 95% of which would be donated to the church. If he fives you a puppy then you can enjoy your new pet whisker. Until Lauf eats it.

Is that all I need to know?
Zackariah is your Father.

What?!
*smack!*


Anyway I hope that clears up your questions on exactly what it is my idea is about. Pleas be as scathing as I want. (I do not want scathing!) xD

Confessions! Repentance! This is something that isn't done as often as it should - promotion of Repentance and confessions as a way to come clean to the Light and clear your mind may do to things:
1. Provide a bit different church staff RP.
2. Offer a *new* service for members of the SW community that may make it more fun for them.

Y'know, just suggestin' here.

Rhadegar: This is something Ewyllyn should include when advertising for the services the Church offers. We should indeed encourage confessions and give repentance-tasks to our sinning citizens.


Elcia: Either I still do not understand where you want with your noteboard idea, or this sounds like a general and not Church-based community service. Which isn't a poor idea in itself, but if the Church crew would be behind it, we'd only gain more management work with very little payoff.

Well please tell me what it is that confuses you an I will seek to rectify.

Skye wrote:Well please tell me what it is that confuses you an I will seek to rectify.

Don't know bout Ced, but sounds to me like you suggest that besides all stuff we make a board that helps with job finding?

Seriously, can't you make 'em suggestions smaller and simpler?

China called, they want their wall back.

What? Sorry but please rephrase Rhaed as I don't know what you mean there.

Just a wee heads-up. I've not forgotten the advertisment, but RL has dropped like a bomb shell on me, and I've been completely busy with both work and studies (and a very, very annoying case of stomach troubles). I'm hoping to be around tomorrow and then get around to making it.

Please bear with me.

I have decided to dissect Elcia's idea into its core elements to make sense of it. Also, I moved this thread to the Feedback and Suggestion forum

Skye wrote:
Now. As for the notice board. Let's break it down into it's basic components.

What is it?
A virtual notice board that would be placed inside the cathedral where anyone can place jobs that need doing

I assume this would be posted on our forum to allow us to administrate. This means a new forum board where you post small events that do not count and major announcement such as Eihrissa's or Sindri's ordinations. In short, an Event-Board.

The basic idea is:

Skye wrote:[...] members of the church use alts they [...] don't really RP on to post jobs on a notice board [...] Then we get members of the church together and we RP the completion of those jobs. It could be anything from helping look for something to moving crates to healing a sick person in Elwynn to defeating a large sized rat.

Rewards are also mentioned for the completion of these jobs. It would in other words be a board where members of the community (our alts) place up notices for jobs on a noticeboard in the Cathedral (event board), and may then have these jobs completed by the church (planned event being carried through), with a reward of some sort going to those who helped making this reality, perhaps as an administrative fee for allowing them to post on the board to begin with.

In other words like the Monster Hunter-boards of Final Fantasy 12, though with less monster hunting and more tasks such as cratelifting, healing sick in other places and vanquishing demonic rats.


The problem with this idea
As has already been stated, this particular idea sounds more general - the kind of noticeboard you'd find in the center of a town square - and not very church-specific. What is more, if members of the general community will be allowed to post on this board, then we will be wading up to our waist in administrative work, while having preciously little payoff with what we do, as has been said. What is more, allowing guests to post topics here on the boards will inevitably lead to mass-scale spam from advertisement bots, as it has on the Stormwind City Guard public-section boards.

An alternative
It is possible to ask the church for favors, from healing to other things, by sending a letter to our respective clergy-members; Zackariah, Cedric, Eihrissa, any of the Devotee-rank. There might be certain tasks that should not be announced publicly, such as the healing of someone in Elwynn (why does the people of the city need to know this?). For these kinds of events, why not let the person contact a member of the clergy directly via mail, and then if it is suitable, make a post on our clergy announcement boards (click here for link), located down in our clergywards? This in particular is good stuff for events, as it allows a person to ask for volunteers to carry out small tasks, which may lead to achievement points in the form of attending small events, or for the one initiating the work, organizing events.

- Zack

One of the ideas I think are events that coincide with the in-game calendar, such as Childrens Week and Midsummer Festival.

Taking the Children's Week (I know its gone, but shh), the church could of held a large event where they could of tried getting people to adopt children...ye, that was hard to figure out wasn't it?

Take the Midsunmmer Festival; I remember this quite clearly from the year before, and from my view, barely a scratch on the RP Community back then, it was a good event and was met with some success. Granted, it was hosted by Elve's and in the Park District (its now in fire, so perfect place to hold again no? Nah I jest), and perhaps with a little work, we could alter it to fit Church-y needs. Perhaps.

So yes, on short, try and tailor the in-game festivals and try to celebrate them in events through the church. Could work, may not, but thats a suggestion.

I still think it would be possible to hold a children's week event. It's only recently ended and even the same as Vethen suggested could be done. saying they didn't get enough adopted children as they would have liked, or whatever.

I like the idea of doing different events like, and think we should try and do some.

Even if they are small.

Zackykins makes a valid point but if we are to include the general public at large in your alternative then what happens is largely the same as what is happening now I expect. It would require one of the administrators to have a hand in it. I agree that letting the general public onto our forums is a baaaaad Idea so I think what would be better is for someone to OOCly send us a message in-game for one of us to put up on the board if it passes ll filtering rules. If one of us is the one placing a job, probably on an alt, then we've more than likely got access to these boards ourselves.

I think we should really consider this as an Idea 'cause it would promote co-operative RP outside the church and with a few tweaks here and there it could be serviceable. It would let us create our own (quest-like) RP outside of the admin and would likely also be a draw for new players into the church as the Church is a very regiment guild when compared with the RP community at large. One trumped only (so far as I know) by the City Guard and the SH. The more we encourage people to the sensible RP, the better.

I was reading back through Zacky's post and Elcia's idea would work. To be quite frank; instead of creating our own jobs pick-up board, why not use the one in the middle of the city? Both protectors and clergy can pick up roles, and head off to do them. Simple. It may seem boring from my words, but ... if Ronath and Rainbeards training session was so fun, the real thing -must- be better!

The board is more ooc than IC as it will be on the forum. It will have an IC presence but the ooc is the more important. Also, people would not post jobs on that board for the church. Those jobs would be posted at the church since the church is a specialized entity rather than a random guy of the streets. It makes less IC sense to use the boards there. Plus, they're both in inconvenient places for both the sake of RP and the sake of Spam. It's best to ignore those things altogether.