Shift Calling. OOC.

G · Post by G » Sat Jul 20, 2013 3:58 pm

It was brought to my attention that last Sunday, The Callers were there till 3am.

I am okay with the duels being open later. Maybe as late as 2am to take into account for West Coast dueling. But the Callers on Duty were there from the Opening of Fight Night at 8PM.

This means they were there for at least 7 hours. Calling a Shift.

If SUBS do not Start picking up slack, I am going to close official dueling much earlier and duels will NOT count for Hydra or Regulation Dueling after that period of time.

I Will clear this with the coordinators of each sport, as well.

Rand alTan · Post by **Rand alTan** » Sat Jul 20, 2013 5:07 pm

G wrote:It was brought to my attention that last Sunday, The Callers were there till 3am.

I am okay with the duels being open later. Maybe as late as 2am to take into account for West Coast dueling. But the Callers on Duty were there from the Opening of Fight Night at 8PM.

This means they were there for at least 7 hours. Calling a Shift.

If SUBS do not Start picking up slack, I am going to close official dueling much earlier and duels will NOT count for Hydra or Regulation Dueling after that period of time.

I Will clear this with the coordinators of each sport, as well.

I fully understand the sentiment but would caution the reaction with the following.

Callers should feel 100% comfortable ending their shift. They should also feel comfortable calling more duels, even to calling for 7 hours, should they want to, no?

I'd hate for the duels to be closed when there are no victims.

G · Post by G » Sat Jul 20, 2013 5:29 pm

Rand alTan wrote:
G wrote:It was brought to my attention that last Sunday, The Callers were there till 3am.

I am okay with the duels being open later. Maybe as late as 2am to take into account for West Coast dueling. But the Callers on Duty were there from the Opening of Fight Night at 8PM.

This means they were there for at least 7 hours. Calling a Shift.

If SUBS do not Start picking up slack, I am going to close official dueling much earlier and duels will NOT count for Hydra or Regulation Dueling after that period of time.

I Will clear this with the coordinators of each sport, as well.
I fully understand the sentiment but would caution the reaction with the following.

Callers should feel 100% comfortable ending their shift. They should also feel comfortable calling more duels, even to calling for 7 hours, should they want to, no?

I'd hate for the duels to be closed when there are no victims.

You have no idea how many times I've heard "I'll be fine." only to hear not long after they're helping out "I can't take much more of this, I need a break."

Why be a substitute caller if you're never going to sub?

Regardless of if the callers stay, when players notice, and it's impossible to not notice something like this at 1 in the morning that they've been there a long time, a Sub should offer to come in and help out.

If they are not going to help out, I am going to ensure that my callers do not inadvertently burn themselves out, whether they want to continue calling or not.

I will enforce this if I have to. I would caution Substitute callers to do what they volunteered for.

PrlUnicorn · Post by **PrlUnicorn** » Sat Jul 20, 2013 5:47 pm

Rand, I respect your opinion. However, having been there, done that, bought t-shirt, having the coffee mug in the cupboard, the bumper sticker on the car, and the hat in the mail ... I have to agree with G regarding burn out.

There are set hours for a reason and they should be observed. Anyone coming in after those hours, if a caller happens to still be there finishing up their shift, should NEVER be guilting a caller into staying. This is also called taking advantage because someone is being nice. It's for that reason when someone asks if more people want to duel and it's after hours that I tend to post something like ((No, thank you)) to screen.

-----------------------------------------
I'd like to suggest that a full weekly schedule of hours be posted. Week at a glance sort of thing on the Schedule page.

I realize there's a sidebar of weekly events, but on the schedule page this is currently posted:

The Duel of Swords

The Arena is open on Thursdays and Saturdays plus the Fight Nights in the Annex.

The Duel of Fists

The Outback is open on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays plus the Fight Nights in the Annex.

The Duel of Magic

Twilight Island is open on Tuesdays plus the Fight Nights in the Annex.
------------

Set hours on that page would be great. It might alleviate some of this problem with how long people stay.

G · Post by G » Sat Jul 20, 2013 5:58 pm

PrlUnicorn wrote:Rand, I respect your opinion. However, having been there, done that, bought t-shirt, having the coffee mug in the cupboard, the bumper sticker on the car, and the hat in the mail ... I have to agree with G regarding burn out.

There are set hours for a reason and they should be observed. Anyone coming in after those hours, if a caller happens to still be there finishing up their shift, should NEVER be guilting a caller into staying. This is also called taking advantage because someone is being nice. It's for that reason when someone asks if more people want to duel and it's after hours that I tend to post something like ((No, thank you)) to screen.

-----------------------------------------
I'd like to suggest that a full weekly schedule of hours be posted. Week at a glance sort of thing on the Schedule page.

I realize there's a sidebar of weekly events, but on the schedule page this is currently posted:

The Duel of Swords

The Arena is open on Thursdays and Saturdays plus the Fight Nights in the Annex.

The Duel of Fists

The Outback is open on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays plus the Fight Nights in the Annex.

The Duel of Magic

Twilight Island is open on Tuesdays plus the Fight Nights in the Annex.
------------

Set hours on that page would be great. It might alleviate some of this problem with how long people stay.

You're right. I agree. And I will be getting that set up asap. It was something similar I was working on but haven't completed yet. Also, the Live Events does post the Hours of each dueling night, I think you were referring to that, but stating it again just in case. Like..

Saturday, Jul 20
Duel of Swords
8:30 pm – 12:30 am ET
Red Dragon Inn Chat

I do agree and will work on getting it added to the main page.

PrlUnicorn · Post by **PrlUnicorn** » Sat Jul 20, 2013 6:11 pm

G wrote:

You're right. I agree. And I will be getting that set up asap. It was something similar I was working on but haven't completed yet. Also, the Live Events does post the Hours of each dueling night, I think you were referring to that, but stating it again just in case. Like..

Saturday, Jul 20
Duel of Swords
8:30 pm – 12:30 am ET
Red Dragon Inn Chat

I do agree and will work on getting it added to the main page.

That's exactly what I meant. The side bar is a useful thing, but you have that big store window staring people in the face.

For instance, the main panel of the schedule shows:
The Duel of Swords

The Arena is open on
Thursdays and Saturdays
plus the Fight Nights in the Annex.

Instead:
The Duel of Swords
The Arena is open on
Thursdays ( 9:00 pm – midnight ET)
and Saturdays (8:30 pm – 12:30 am ET
in the Red Dragon Inn Chat)
plus the Fight Nights in the Annex.

The text would need to be adjusted for the table width, but you get the idea.

And so on.

Rena A Cronin · Post by **Rena A Cronin** » Sat Jul 20, 2013 7:42 pm

Since this seems to be pointed at me, I think it's time I respond.

Yes, I come in at 8 because that's what I told Norah. And up until Hydra the first hour or so was real slow so I stayed with Aja till midnight or so because she was still new and didn't like calling fists duels. Lately though I would stay online but would take a break somewhere in there to do something besides call, again telling Aja I was taking a break but we were usually done by 1:30 or so most Sundays(again with me taking a break in there).

This made it good because we are an east/west coast pair of callers so it worked out.

After Hydra I will request the time be shifted to start at 9, again because 8 was slow or non existence.

Sylus Kurgen · Post by **Sylus Kurgen** » Sat Jul 20, 2013 10:13 pm

I agree with G that the substitute callers who aren't currently stepping up to help should. While it's awesome that we have callers such as Rena and Aja pairing up to keep duels open for 7 hour stretches, it's still unfair to eat up so much of their night life, especially when they are not paid to do any of this.

For all of us, this is a hobby. Something we do because we enjoy it, but there are days when some aspects are a lot of work. I would wager that for some callers, Hydra Season is more duels in a week than they usually see in a month which can be hell for new callers such as Anonymous, Time, or even some of our seasoned callers like Imp, Dioxane, or Kheldar. Granted, many have had months to "Brace yourselves, Hydra is coming" and taken measures to prepare for the extended chaos in their shifts.

I fully encourage all of our calling staff to come out on dueling nights to lend a hand. Keep queues, run earlier or later shifts to allow those callers with dedicated shifts to just call their normal allotted time frames. If regular callers are willing to stay over? Awesome, that's great. But No caller should feel pressured to keep the rooms open longer than they are really willing to.

I'm rustier than hell at calling, but I'm going to try and suit up more as the season continues. With Double DoM starting this coming monday, the Isle is going to get hammered more than ever, and I'm sure that Time, Lem, Sara, et. al. will appreciate the extended help.

Rand alTan · Post by **Rand alTan** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 1:13 am

G wrote:
Rand alTan wrote:
G wrote:It was brought to my attention that last Sunday, The Callers were there till 3am.

I am okay with the duels being open later. Maybe as late as 2am to take into account for West Coast dueling. But the Callers on Duty were there from the Opening of Fight Night at 8PM.

This means they were there for at least 7 hours. Calling a Shift.

If SUBS do not Start picking up slack, I am going to close official dueling much earlier and duels will NOT count for Hydra or Regulation Dueling after that period of time.

I Will clear this with the coordinators of each sport, as well.
I fully understand the sentiment but would caution the reaction with the following.

Callers should feel 100% comfortable ending their shift. They should also feel comfortable calling more duels, even to calling for 7 hours, should they want to, no?

I'd hate for the duels to be closed when there are no victims.
You have no idea how many times I've heard "I'll be fine." only to hear not long after they're helping out "I can't take much more of this, I need a break."

Why be a substitute caller if you're never going to sub?

Regardless of if the callers stay, when players notice, and it's impossible to not notice something like this at 1 in the morning that they've been there a long time, a Sub should offer to come in and help out.

If they are not going to help out, I am going to ensure that my callers do not inadvertently burn themselves out, whether they want to continue calling or not.

I will enforce this if I have to. I would caution Substitute callers to do what they volunteered for.

I want to think you're using "you" to mean all subs. Maybe I'm taking your message too personally, as tone is hard to read.

I feel the need to defend myself, however. I wasn't on or I would've offered to call, as I have done each night I was on, after being reinstated.

Also, I've offered to be contacted by email or aim if people need calling support, even if I'm not online.

Rakeesh · Post by **Rakeesh** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 2:04 am

I'll begin to sub starting this upcoming week, as I learn the new calling system. I definitely encourage other folks to as well, even if it's just one shift. A bunch of folks picking up a shift a week for a few hours can do a lot.

That said, I definitely am thankful for folks being eager to stay late to call. Let's give those folks some support, in turn, and spread the love. I don't mind the duels staying open late, personally, since there are a lot of night owls in the community (especially on the weekends), but I do agree that more folks could pick up a shift or two here to help out.

Calling is fun! It's also a nice change of pace from the pressure of a very competitive Hydra season.

G · Post by G » Sun Jul 21, 2013 11:02 am

For the record,

"You" is meant to encompass all substitute callers. I am not singling out any single one.

Post by **Kalamere** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 11:12 am

Damnit G, stop picking on me!

Siofra Kelley · Post by **Siofra Kelley** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 3:59 pm

Oh absolutely! Love to ALL callers!!! I'm not a sub caller but I hope there are more that will come and help. Very impressed and thankful for all that do and all of the ones who are always multitasking like fiends for this Hydra season! Much love to all of you!

Elijah · Post by **Elijah** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 5:17 pm

I for one love the fact the callers have been willing to stay late to call duels and that there are people there looking to duel.

I don't want any caller to get burned out, or feel obligated to stay longer, or in any way made to feel uncomfortable about the time they put in for volunteering so others may enjoy a hobby. Having never been a caller I can't speak for experience, but I want those that do to be able to enjoy a hobby and not made to feel it is a "chore" and no longer a hobby. I think because Hydra is a short time period and not year round that a few hardcore weeks by those willing then go back to normal is acceptable.

I was one of those people dueling till way late because I live in the mountain time zone and I finally had to cut myself off even though people were still there to duel and to call duels. Everyone's different, and I just hope the forum remains flexible but guarded about the dueling hours.

Post by **Kalamere** » Sat Jul 27, 2013 10:34 am

Caller Stats since Hydra began, for those interested seeing them.

At the time of posting, Matt and Rena have the most total appearances on shift (7), while Harris is kicking ass with 82 duels called! I would be the slacker of the group with but 2 DoF duels in one night called.

Of note please, the chart does not include any time spent keeping the queue unless duels were called as well, nor does it include challenge calling (of which there has been a good deal in the last 4 weeks) or tournament calling.

Everyone on this list deserves kudos for throwing in their time. Whether they've called 7 shifts or 1, we couldn't do any of this stuff without them.

~Kal

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