New DM Request Form

[Rhifox]

Hello! As you've likely noticed by now, we have a new button at the top left of the forum. This button takes users to a new form where you can fill out details for DM requests. Once submitted, these requests are posted directly to the DM player requests forum for discussion.

BGTSCC has had many issues with player requests over the years we've been active. Our forum is, unfortunately, rather limited, and the PM system leaves much to be desired. Most PMs couldn't be automatically sorted, and there is no search function. Combined with the huge number of PMs we get, coming from new requests, followups to old requests, BCCs from followups or other staff PMs, and so on, PMs fly through DM inboxes at a very fast pace -- a PM received just a few days ago will quickly fall to 2nd or 3rd page, and once there, it might as well no longer exist. In order to better keep track of requests, it is policy for DMs to immediately cross-paste any requests received in PMs to a separate player request forum where it can be discussed and tracked. But if it is not cross-posted, due to DMs being busy with other requests, RL, or simple burn out, this can sometimes result in a PM being missed and falling to the dreaded 2nd+ page, where it becomes lost. This is why we have had the recommendation that players send in reminders if a week goes by without a response -- because this generally means we missed it, and therefore the request might as well no longer exist until you remind us about it so we can go looking through old PMs to find it. While we could certainly do better with making sure everything gets properly cross-posted, and players could do better with sending reminders, I think everyone can acknowledge that this system was far from ideal.

Therefore, we are hoping that this new system will make it much easier to handle request intake and followups by automatically handling the cross-posting and keeping a one-stop-shop for all matters related to the request (beyond followups, which will still be done by PM) in a single place. In addition, by being posted to the forums, requests can be searched and categorized much easier. The form currently includes a few categorizations in a dropdown menu that you select when making the request. This will append that category to the subject line of the request when it is posted to the forums, allowing DMs to see at a glance who the requester is and what type of request they are submitting.

The Request Form


The Posted Request in the DM Player Request forum.



We would like to ask players to begin transitioning to using this new system instead of PMing the DM Team (aside from followups or replies to DM PMs). We will be updating the stickied request thread eventually with the new details.

The form could undergo some small changes or additions to categories and questions as we get a better sense for what we need to make this system work best for us.

This system should allow us to better serve our players with your needs. Happy roleplaying!

[mf_hansen]

Definitely smooths out the contact prioritizing anything that helps DM Team! I wonder if it's possible to make the form auto-PM the sender when request is made.

Depending on the form, some fields are mandatory, and when you click "send" a gray text up top currently now indicates "you forgot to provide some fields" or similar, but in heat of the moment a player COULD overlook this message, thinking the form WAS sent.

Then 7 days later they do another form again, retyping it as best they can remember, or send it by an oldschool PM to DM Team, who then reply "we haven't seen any form". If the sender gets a PM copy of the form to their inbox it's easy for them to see it got sent succesfully, and what they wrote inside it.