Direction Guidelines

Overview & Welcome

Hello! Welcome to the team, where we professionally wyci things. We’ve got a LOT on our plate, as the pseudo development team sans developers. Below you’ll read about our positions, what we do, and what we don’t do! You will find best practices, what to expect, and how we can do better in the future. This will be an evolving and public document; we strive to work with the people in all capacities.

Important Note!

We know your time is valuable. We'll make sure roadmap plans are clear, easy to understand, and broken down into manageable tasks. You can choose what you want to work on. Your contributions are what make Delta V special, and we appreciate every bit of effort you put in!

Code of Conduct

• Always treat fellow players, staff members, and developers with kindness and consideration. Respect their opinions, even if they differ from your own. Refrain from using offensive language, personal attacks, or any form of discrimination.
• Collaborate effectively with others, both OOC and in Discord. Be willing to compromise and work together towards common goals. Support your fellow player and server staff, and always prioritize the well-being of the community as a whole.
• Maintain an approachable demeanor, encouraging players to reach out and share their thoughts and concerns. Listen actively to others, show empathy, and respond with respect. Foster a positive and inclusive environment where everyone feels comfortable expressing themselves.
• When participating in discussions, ensure that they remain respectful and constructive. Ask for clarification and purpose when someone posts something vague or unclear. Encourage participants to provide evidence, sources, and examples to support their arguments.

Job Requirements

• You understand the intricacies of the game. This knowledge enables you to make informed decisions, solve problems creatively, and lend an expert opinion.
• You possess excellent communication skills through writing. You excel at explaining complex concepts clearly and concisely, making it easier for others to understand and engage with the game.
• You are passionate about the game and appreciate the balance between action-packed moments and immersive roleplay opportunities that Delta V seeks to offer.
• You are an active member of the Delta V community, regularly contributing to productive discussions.

Content Management

One of the Direction’s main goals is to oversee the curation of content for the Delta-V community. To accomplish this, Direction operates in a Proactive and a Reactive manner. Proactively, they create the Roadmap to indicate what Direction would like to see developed. Reactively, they curate the content submitted to ensure it meets the mission of Delta V. Direction should keep up with the development of these features and offer feedback along the way. Direction guidance ensures that Roadmap content will be developed to the best quality possible and reduce the number of changes that need to be made after the content is presented for official review.

The Roadmap

The Roadmap operates over a few stages.  Concepts on the Roadmap will be selected by the Direction team privately, and the ideas will be established to some level of certainty before being opened to community feedback. Concepts may be highly specific, or rather broad, as long as they have a solid final goal that Direction can guide contributors towards.

Discovery - Curators spend time in Discord channels, forums, and in-game, paying attention to what players are discussing, what they enjoy, and what challenges they face. They monitor dedicated feedback channels, collate suggestions, and identify recurring themes or requests. For more details, refer to Community Management

Conceptualization - Through Discovery, rank Concepts by the following metrics. This is done privately in the #roadmap-development forum, with each Concept having the relevant tags as to its status.

• Content Impact - Is the content aligned with the Mission of Delta V?
• Technical Feasibility - What technical skills are needed to complete this project?
• How can it be broken up into constituent groups?
• Community Interest - Is the community interested in this specific idea? Is this something they would take kindly to?
• Direction Priority - How necessary does the direction team believe this is? Are there external pressures pushing for this?

Requirement Gathering - After ranking of Concepts, the Curators should itemize out the following Requirements, with as much detail as possible:

• What does this Concept seek to do?
• What problems does it address?
• What should it do?

Solution Design - Curators should then iterate on the Requirements gathered, and develop the Solution Design. For every requirement:

• Determine what could be done to resolve this requirement.
• Itemize these into Tasks, as granular as possible. Are sprites needed? Add a task for a specific sprite.

Publication - At this stage, Direction will share the Solution Design with the public, contained within the global Roadmap. The processes for gathering community feedback are outlined in the Community Management Guidelines. Direction should use this feedback to flesh out Roadmap ideas and finalize them for contributors who wish to begin development.

Design Documents

Design Documents are a tool for Curators and Contributors alike. Design documents are a standardized method of outlining and presenting ideas. It is recommended to use the provided Design Document Template for the sake of consistency. Document templates and the relevant channels can be found in the Discord development category.

Contributors can create Design Documents prior to opening a PR, and have them reviewed by Direction in order to tune their ideas to Direction standards before starting the development process. Contributors are also welcome to create Design Documents for review without the intention to develop them personally. Other contributors can always claim approved documents and begin development themselves!

Curators can collaboratively create Design Documents to address issues laid out in the roadmap. These documents serve as the “Solution Design” step of the roadmap, and will be available to contributors who wish to develop them.

Curators may designate design documents with varying levels of priority according to how pressing Direction finds the issue.

Content Review

Reviewing suggested content involves examining current Pull Requests (“PRs”) or Design Documents and providing feedback. Content review should always involve as many members of Direction as possible, but if only one or two choose to review a piece of content, their opinion holds the same weight as the entire team. If the rest of the team comes to a different decision at a later time, content can always be reverted.

All content must pass the full review process before being approved, with a few small exceptions. Proposed changes for the following do not require a Direction review:

• Bug fixes
• Simple tweaks
• Obvious small changes

When in doubt, the Direction team should be asked if a review is needed.

What do you look for in a review?

• Fits our MRP Standard - Keeps the balance between action and roleplay, no overpowered stuff or things that break the fun. We want things to make sense to our setting.
• Fits our Design Ethos - Delta-V is a server founded in analogue design. We want this to be displayed in all the PRs we merge, such that it fits cohesively in the mechanical narrative of the game.

How is a review conducted?

Content review takes place in the #content-review forum channel in the server Discord. The curator who creates a #content-review post assumes responsibility for providing feedback to the author. This includes notifying the author that the content is under review, and summarizing feedback gathered in the post to provide next steps to the author.

If a curator is the author of the content, they should find another curator to assume responsibility for review of the content. Curators should not argue in favor of their own suggested content in posts, in order to ensure it stands on its own merit. Content collaboratively designed by Direction is exempt from this restriction.

Content review is not a vote. Polls are not to be used for anything except timing purposes. Members of Direction are encouraged to give specific feedback on why they support proposed content or what they think should be changed about it, with justification. It is the review post author’s responsibility to summarize this concisely for the content author.

After Direction has discussed the merits of proposed content internally, any final decisions must be communicated to the content author through appropriate channels. This will vary depending on whether the content is a Design Document or a PR.

Design Document review takes place entirely within the Discord. Feedback will be provided to the author through the Discord. Typical decisions include:

• Approving the document
• Approving with an elevated priority tag
• Requesting changes
• Denying the Document

For Pull Requests, feedback should be communicated to the author through Github. Typical decisions include:

• Merging the PR
• Test merging the PR
• Requesting changes
• Closing (Denying) the PR

Note: Maintainers have final authority when it comes to the fitness of the PR in terms of code quality and potential bugs or other mechanical concerns.

Deadlines

Directions is a volunteer team. Direction approval is still a requirement for a large portion of new content. In order to prevent bottlenecks and an overall stagnation in new content, deadlines will be enforced for Content Review. Deadlines should be relative to the size of the content. The standard method of tracking a deadline is to create a poll of the appropriate time frame in the review post.

• Small changes should be subject to 1-2 days of consideration.
• Major changes may need as many as 1-2 weeks to reach an actionable conclusion.
• The minimum amount of time for a review is 24 hours.

Curators should notify content authors when their content is under official review, and give them an estimated wait time for feedback. If more review time is required, the author should be notified before the previously stated review period ends.

Deadlines should be established relative to whenever the content is “finalized.” If changes are requested by Direction, the deadline should be extended to the proper amount of time after those changes are implemented by the author.

If, after sufficient requests for input, Direction consistently fails to provide feedback on a PR, the final decision to approve or deny can be made by the Head Maintainer. Direction may request the content be reverted later if need be.

Content Removal

Some currently implemented content will inevitably have to be replaced or removed in order to achieve Direction’s design vision. Direction’s preference should be to replace content that doesn’t meet our standards with improved content where possible.

In order to remove content, Direction must complete each of these steps:

• Make a list of quantified issues with the content.
• Create a design document that addresses these issues. If Direction cannot do this, it should be stated on the issue page.
• Present the issues and design solutions to the community in the Github.
• Establish a deadline for action to be taken.

If no action has been taken by the deadline, the content will be removed. Appropriate deadlines are as follows. Content examples are not comprehensive.

• 1 week: Minor content (sprites, mechanical balance of an item, etc.).
• 2 weeks: Moderate content (roles, machines, etc.).
• 1 month: Major content (gamemodes, etc.).

Content that is extremely broken or clearly and severely detrimental to the game experience may be removed without this process. Content may be removed upon the original creators request without navigating these processes.

Test Merging

Tmerges may be conducted on PRs whose effects are potentially unclear. A test merge consists of merging content that may be pending changes, or reversion. The purpose of the merge is to gather feedback from an in-game scenario in order to make such decisions. Test merges may be conducted on a test server if appropriate.

Players should be made aware of all active test merges on their current server.

Curators are authorized to manipulate rounds in accordance with Event Management policies in order to test said content.

Test merges must be monitored, or otherwise have an official way of collecting community feedback (such as a feedback forum). If there are specific aspects of the content that Direction is looking for feedback on, this should be made known to the community before the test. Otherwise, a test may be used to discover previously unknown issues with the content, but Direction should take care to ensure content is in the best state possible before conducting a test merge.

Community Management

Through Community Management, Direction interacts with the community of Delta V. Our mission is done to serve them, and we work to encourage their assistance in upholding this mission. It is our responsibility to act responsibly and with respect. Curators listen to what players love (and don't love) about Delta V. They:

Gather Feedback - Curators actively seek out feedback from players through various channels such as surveys, polls, and direct communication. This feedback is essential for identifying areas of improvement and making informed decisions about the future of Delta V. Recording Feedback is just as critical, talk to the team and bring up problem items!

Solve Problems - When players encounter issues or concerns, curators are there to help. They provide guidance, troubleshoot problems, and escalate issues to the appropriate team members for resolution.

Use Communication Channels

• Announcements - The announcements channel is used to share important updates, server news, event information, and roadmap changes. Announcements must be carefully coordinated with the rest of the team to ensure consistency and accuracy.
• Polls and Surveys - Polls and surveys are conducted to gather community feedback on specific topics, gauge interest in potential features, and involve players in decision-making processes. Curators recognize that polls and surveys can also yield uneducated opinions, so they work closely with the team to ensure that questions are clearly worded and unbiased.
• Public Forums - Open forums provide a platform for Direction to speak directly to the community about upcoming changes and get community buy-in for specific ideas. These forums allow for more focused discussions and enable the team to gather valuable insights and feedback.
• Changelog - The in-game changelog can also be used to share important information with players. Many of our players do not use or check Discord, and elaborating on new features, and bug fixes can be helpful.
• GitHub - By leveraging GitHub issues and pull requests, maintainers, contributors, and Curators can collaborate effectively, share ideas, and discuss changes.

The roadmap on GitHub plays a crucial role in this communication process. It provides a transparent and accessible overview of the project's goals, priorities, and planned features. By regularly updating the roadmap, Curators can keep contributors informed about where efforts are needed and help align their efforts with the overall mission.

Event Management

Events are a term used to describe any action taken by a member of staff that influences the affairs and happenings aboard the station. The goal of an event is to supplement and enhance existing situations, create unique scenarios that players can choose to react to, or to resolve situations in a non-administrative capacity. Spawning items and mobs, setting custom objectives, and granting requests would each constitute events, while actions like banning a player or answering a CHelp would not.

Event Rules and Best Practices

• Events must be reported. Event reporting serves to show the actions staff made during the round; be thorough and include all relevant details (including, but not limited to: rationale behind the event, items spawned, players affected), as well as screenshots where possible.
• Events should be allowed to play out at their own pace. Events will almost invariably be affected by the crew, antagonists, or natural occurrences within the round; let the round flow organically and allow players to interact with the event rather than forcing them to follow a script.
• Events must meet or exceed our MRP Standard. Both the rationale and implementation of an event must demonstrate evidence of conscientious design; do not run events due to boredom, for primarily humorous purposes, or just to interfere with characters or the round as a whole.
• Events must not feature staff-level ghostroles such as deathsquad, CBRN, etc. unless directly authorised by a Project Manager or a Game Director. These roles should be filled by staff and represent both administration and curation in an in-character fashion. Abuse of these ghostroles tarnishes the reputation of staff and will result in demotion or suspension.
• Events should fit within the established lore of DeltaV; additionally, limit elaborate events revolving around original characters and organisations.
• Events should never portray NanoTrasen or Central Command as directly antagonistic to the crew. While Central Command is expected to be strict - especially on matters of policy and procedure - they should be supportive where possible, politely evasive when pressed, and only authoritative in extreme circumstances.
• Event roles should be reserved for players. Staff are expected to organise and oversee the event, not partake in it.
• Events should not disrupt the balance of the round by introducing overpowered, unique, or usually unobtainable ghostroles, entities, or items. This includes objective items, spawn-only items, leviathings, etc.
• Events should not overwhelm the round or the station and its resources. Be sure to check the current round and gamemode before running an event and evaluate the effect that the event may have on the various departments and personnel.
• Events should not be biased towards or against specific player(s). The capability to run events is a privilege provided to allow staff to improve the round as a whole, not for personal entertainment purposes or to mess with a singular player.

Event Categories

Events can be divided into three categories, each of which must be recorded in the event log.

1. Low Impact

These events may be run by Game Administrators, Trial Curators, and Curators without approval.

Low Impact events either:

• Do not impact players in any meaningful way and should be easily mistakable for an in-game event, or
• Are a direct response to any player request or interaction, and do not affect the round to a great degree.

Examples of Low Impact events include:

• Spawning a single spider in a maintenance tunnel.
• Sending the station a replacement board for a machine or computer.
• Acknowledging a prayer by flashing the player and spawning ash.

2. Medium Impact

These events may be run at Direction’s discretion when approved by a Curator. Ping Event Managers prior to running these events.

Medium Impact events:

• Considerably affect players or the round without derailing the round, round-removing players, or taking significant resources and manpower from departments, or
• Add a new gamerule unlikely to cause significant effect on players or the round,
• Are a direct response to an in-character player request or interaction that affects the round by noticeably altering its course.

For easier access and review by curators and yourself, and to better repeat such events, it is heavily advised to write down the event and its details in Direction’s event library. Events planned in advance and approved by Curators may be run at the discretion of Trial Curators.

Examples of Medium Impact Events include:

• Selling a shuttle to the station containing minimal equipment.
• Sending a member of Central Command, played by a member of staff, to the station.
• Providing a custom objective to an antagonist on request.

3. High Impact

These events may be run following the mandatory notice and when approved by a Curator. Ping Event Managers prior to running these events.

High Impact events:

• Heavily affect players or the round, possibly derailing the round, round-removing players, or taking significant resources and manpower from departments, or
• Add a new gamemode, causing significant effect on players or the round,
• Are a direct response to an in-character player request or interaction that results in a Medium or High Impact event.

⚠ High Impact events must be planned, written in Direction’s Event Library, and approved by a Curator. Additionally, a mandatory four hour notice must be posted in the event log prior to running these events, unless otherwise authorised by a Game Director or Project Manager. An event plan should include entity/role requirements, event goals, players and departments involved, et cetera.

If possible, try to involve as many departments as you can. Having an event dedicated towards only one or two departments does not make it fun for the rest of the players.

⚠ Do not run these events solo. Collaborate with at least another two Curators and ask for help in Direction or the event log channel. Make sure that administrators are aware of and overseeing High Impact events.

Examples of High Impact Events include:

• Sending an ERT independent of the evacuation shuttle.
• Setting up a scheduled wedding between two players.
• Providing a custom objective to an antagonist on request.

Event Exceptions

Staff are permitted to spawn in admin/curator characters at Central Command for the purpose of greeting arriving crew on evac, writing faxes, etc. but must enter an entry into the event log. Faxes, announcements, and other interactions with the station are still subject to event categorisation and according requirements for approval.

Staff are permitted to create Ghost Bars (spawning in ghost roles on a separate map from the station for the purpose of a gag, sandbox construction, et cetera) but must enter an entry in the event log.

• Ghost Bars should have no interaction with or impact on the round and its players.
  • Do not spawn round ending entities, entities that can affect glimmer, or entities that may cause issues with traitor objectives.

Staff are permitted to spawn Emergency Response Teams (ERT) on evacuation shuttles with a corresponding entry into the event log under the following circumstances:

• The station has been at an elevated alert level (Condition Red or higher) for a period of ten minutes or longer, and there are current active threats aboard the station.
• The station’s Command Department has sent a request via fax, announcement, or red phone for ERT to be deployed on evacuation or at the earliest possible convenience.
• The evacuation shuttle was required to be called by a curator or administrator and there are current active threats aboard the station.

Additionally, the use of an Emergency Response Team is held to the following standards:

• ERT roles should only be offered to players with adequate playtime and relatively clean records.

• ERT should always prioritise the safety of the crew first, then assets aboard the station, then enforcement of procedure and policy.
• ERT should always be supervised by a Leader or Central Command official played by a member of staff.