Reset Vote Counting

[SardineTheAncestor]

It is always a bit confusing to me when a reset vote starts. Most of the time, nothing appears to be the matter, no one is talking about why in Discord, andnobody has sent me a tell explaining why I should vote yes. I default to voting no. We know the server can last stably for several days, yet sometimes we restart 2 or 3 times within 24 hours. No explanation at all.

This is mainly happening because absent votes are not being counted, when they should be counted as no votes. Most resets, we can see that almost half of the server doesn't even vote. If people don't care enough for a reset, why reset?

There should be no "no" vote. You should only have the option to vote in support of a reset, and if you do not vote, you are counted as voting against it. In those 5 minutes of voting, the people initiating the reset can give their reasons as to why they think a reset should occur, to everyone on the server, through the use of Discord or Tells. Therefore, people can hold their vote to reset until they are given a proper reason.

So, to recap:

1) Not voting should be counted as a vote against the reset
2) Ideally, remove the option to vote no
3) Reset initiators should spend the 5 minutes explaining in Discord / Tells explaining why the reset should occur
4) Nobody could have voted no in that time, since the no vote was removed
5) If the reason to reset is seen as insufficient by the majority, the vote will not pass

You can achieve this without abolishing the no vote, but I am appealing to human nature here. I think it's a very good idea to give people 5 minutes to think whether they want to vote yes. The RP singularity that occurs for 20 minutes is kind of a big deal.

Thoughts?

[Iridni Ren]

I like the idea of counting non votes as no because resetting the server by players should be an affirmative action. Indifference evidences satisfaction with the status quo.

When a reset is rejected, perhaps the time before another vote can be called could be upped?

I also like this suggestion from a while back of showing how long the server has been up when asking players to vote:

https://www.nwnravenloft.com/forum/index.php?topic=49354.msg606403#msg606403

[SardineTheAncestor]

Agreed. That would really help a lot more. I don't want to get this thread too complicated if it doesn't need to be, but I'd even like to see that 20 minute RP deadzone at the end to be shrunken down to 5 or 10 minutes. If the server is decisive on a reset - which it needs to be, if 51% people on the server must vote in favour - then everyone knows they'll be wrapping up really quickly anyway.

[Grendlykins, Simp of Azalin Rex]

Speaking on the last reset; I'm not in possession of all the facts as to why the vote was called. Maybe there was an issue that necessitated a reset that was a genuine concern like dead NPCs in a major thoroughfare like the Mist Camp, or maybe people had just finished ninja looting the server dry and wanted a second bite at the apple. But considering we had a reset roughly eight hours previous and the most recent reset has seemingly caused some of the worst lag on the server at least for me, it's not exactly a thing done without consequence. I'm not sure I'd agree with forcing a majority vote on the server for a reset to occur since the non-voters are usually a significant force; I've often seen yes and no voters combined outstripped by those that haven't voted. But I would agree with the addition of some function for players to be able to see the current server uptime, certainly.

Addendum: perhaps consider adding a reason field to the vote reset instigators which is broadcast when the actual voting begins, so that people can justify their reasoning. Seeing things like "server is lagging" or "caravan driver dead in mist camp" would go a long way to making stuff like this clearer.

[SardineTheAncestor]

The last reset had to do with a corpse bug that prevented someone from playing. I didn't mention it because I don't disagree with it -- I just think it's uncanny that I didn't learn about the reset reason until after the reset was already completed. So it took me 30 minutes to figure that out.

A reason field would be great too, a lot less work than copypasting to each individual player + dropping a line in Discord, that would keep it all ingame where it belongs.

[Grendlykins, Simp of Azalin Rex]

Perfectly reasonable use of the reset function then, if no DM is available. Just further cements the possible need for the reason field though, since I'd wager some people don't vote on resets because they don't know the reason.

[HM01]

Perfectly reasonable use of the reset function then, if no DM is available. Just further cements the possible need for the reason field though, since I'd wager some people don't vote on resets because they don't know the reason.

Wanted to echo this, anything that negates unsolicited mass tells or reliance on constantly checking discord would be a quality of life improvement. Conversations have a tendency to exaggerate the severity of things, but maybe this could get looked at.

[Relapse]

I think a reason field would be great.

[Hypatia]

+1 to reason field.

[Glowfire]

I'd like to see a reason field as well - especially if not voting will count as a 'no'.

I often don't vote at all when I'm not noticing lag or issues, or when I'm in RP or a situation where it wouldn't be that disrupting if a reset happened to go through. If it would disturb me, then I'd change it to a 'no'. I suspect most people who don't vote either 'yes' or 'no' are a in the category of 'whatever the rest want - can manage with a reset, can manage without a reset'.

[Hypatia]

That's actually a really good point.  I don't vote often times because I don't know why its being called for, and I don't want to vote NO in case there's a valid reason for it that i'm just unaware of. A reason field would solve this pretty handily weather you changed non-votes to no or not.  Afterall if there are people who need a reset for any real reason, Im sure not going to vote NO unless there's something super important going down that can't wait.
 

[MAB77]

There are good suggestions in this thread. We'll evaluate our options and see how we can improve the reset vote process.

[BraveSirRobin]

I think making it so all non-votes are 'No,' in the grand tally is an excellent idea; If there was really a server-wide issue severe enough to warrant a reset, people would notice. Adding a reason field would as well be baller. I dig it.

[Tycat]

This! I had a similar thought about reset votes a few years ago but never articulated the point. This is an ideal suggestion.