Rock, Planet, Shotgun: Outfit discussion & organisation

[Strange]

Great evening - good leadership, great gal work and much fun had...

strange

[MitchK]

I'd forgotten about the gal drop on the amp station! That was suitably epic, even though there was next to no resistance it was a super idea to drop in pairs and swallow it all up.

I can vouch for all the guns on the Galaxy too, it works as a gunboat surprisingly well provided all turrets are manned. I think gals are generally seen as easy targets by enemy air, but I've swatted many a mozzy and even chased down libs in it after they've come looking for trouble. They change their minds quite quickly when pairs of walkers and bulldogs start to rain down on them

[Cooper]

Outfit Ranks & Promotions

I've just gone thorugh & updated outfit rank names & permissions. It has made me want (more) to murder whoever is in charge of designing PS2's UI with a hundred thousand toothpicks.

They are as follows:

Rank details

Giraffe calf
Permissions: Outfit voice chat
Indication: None as yet
No one is at this rank for now. Might be put to use at a later date. Everyone should be promoted to 'giraffe' upon being invited.

Giraffe
Permissions: Outfit voice chat & invites
Indication: The backbone of the giraffes
Pretty much everyone is now at this rank. These are our backbone. As giraffes, that's a bloody big backbone that we need to make sure our heads don't fall off. You are the best backbone. We love you.

Giraffe Beacon
Permissions: Outfit voice chat, invites & promotions
Indication: Giraffes with spawn beacons & our friendly squad leaders
Requirements: A spawn beacon, friendliness & someone who doesn't mind being beacon / waypoint provider.
I've given this to a few people. Not enough. This should be a liberally applied rank with dozens at this level. Those at this level can promote. So do so, entirely at your discretion: Be liberal with who you bump up: No need to ask them if you know they've taken any kind of vague interest in leadershipness at anypoint.

Balloon Leader
Permissions: Outfit voice chat, invites, promtions & kicking (although we've been nicely arsehat-free so far)
Indication: Proven platoon leaders.
Requirements: To have volunteered as platoon lead
By 'proven platoon leaders' I mean they've done it and we've had fun & they'd be happy to do it again. I do not mean that they've done it and have produced excellent results. Fun can be had whilst dying gloriously in a flaming ball of fire and Galaxy wreckage. I've put a few people in this rank. Unlike Giraffe Beacon, promotions here should be community approved. See below.

Supreme Overlord
Permissions: To listen to Carly Rae Jepsen whilst flying a scythe and look ah-maz-ing whilst doing it & to generally be a laser-disco bundle of awesome.
Indication: The purpliest of the giraffes
Requirements: To be me

Promotions

General rule: Be bold and ASK. Be nice and GIVE.
This is not a formal hierarchy but a way of recognising good leadership.

To "Giraffe"
Should be done soon after joining. I usually mass-promote people here occasionally. If you have promotion permission, just go ahead and do this for anyone online & not at this rank.

To "Giraffe Beacon"
Should be done for anyone you know has a spawn beacon & willing to be squad leader.
- If you have a spawn beacon and are willing to be squad leader just ask.
- If you see someone working as SL, then just give this rank to them.
- Give this promotion to people upon request / when you see them lead a squad / if you know they are capable squad leaders. No need to go through these forums.

To "Balloon leader"
You get here one way; community approval

To nominate someone for Ballon leader (ANYONE can do this INCLUDING you putting yourself forward)
1a) POST HERE IN THIS THREAD: If you had a good time playing with us, then say so. Tell us who was leading that group and that you had fun because of that leadership, then nominate for promotion here on the forums.
We tend to recognise this already, so keep doing this.

1b) A nomination 'seconded' gets the promotion.
Just agree (again, here on the forums) with the sentiment that the nominee was a good provider of effective laser shoots.

OR

3) A current Balloon leader who recognises good balloon leadership can go ahead and promote as they like. HOWEVER: Be nice and let them know they did a good job by posting here in the forums anyway.

-----------------------------

I did not promote everyone who I know is a good SL / PL to the relevant ranks. If you are not Giraffe Beacon or Balloon Leader and think you should be, it's not because I don't love you. If you are Giraffe Beacon but not Ballon Leader when you've led a platoon I've been in sorry: This is not any indication of what I thought about your PL abilities, but rather because I forgot / got tired of ll the names in that bloody glowing font

I love ALL of you. You are loved.

It's because the member list is bloody long. Like a giraffes neck. I fully expect these ranks to fill out in the coming weeks. I'll sort out more tomorrow / Thursday during the outfit nights.
In general these ranks should be indicators of willingness / recognised ability, not some kind of hierarchy of command. This is not about ego. Except mine. This system has space for only one ego: Mine. Only I am allowed an ego. The rest of you are allowed to be awesome. Keep being awesome.

I briefly toyed with the idea of having everyone as 'giraffe calf' and then having anyone with promotion permission to promote anyone to giraffe the moment they were online. This seemed an incredibly torturous way of working out who was active when a simple "last online" column would do. Until I can source one hundred thousand toothpicks and find the home of PS2's UI designer and replace them with someone who knows what they're doing, everyone just gets auto-giraffed.

Also: Auto-giraffe should be some kind of sexual euphemism.

If things get to complicated, I'll start a new "Balloon Leader nomination" thread. Though we already have too many...

Also: Rank names can change if someone comes up with something better (please, someone come up with something better). Note: Giraffe Camelopardallis doesn't fit. Already tried that.

[The JG Man]

Thanks for the continued effort, Cooper. It goes without saying that it's valued by everyone, even if it's an indirect value and they don't necessarily know you're the brains of the operation. Or outfit.

Also, I'm both honoured and amused that a mispronunciation of mine is now official within our outfit.

[EsotericReverie]

Thanks for the continued effort, Cooper. It goes without saying that it's valued by everyone, even if it's an indirect value and they don't necessarily know you're the brains of the operation. Or outfit.

Agreed! Good job!

[RIDEBIRD]

Great job!

I dunno if I'm a little purple balloon, but I'd like to nominate Grible, QuantaCat Laldy, InvaderZim, Rei0nRye or whatever Reis full name is (you know who I mean) and myself.

Also I nominate Qazz for Giraffe Beacon.

[EsotericReverie]

I too have The Beacon, and don't mind squad leading/plopping beacons from time to time.

I also second the nominations of Grible, QuantaCat, Laldy, InvaderZim, ReiOnRyue (?) and Ridebird. And Qazz.

[Orius]

WHY DON'T YOU LOVE ME? :P Yeah but nah I'll be a beacon any day, I like the extra layer that beacon/waypoint placement adds to the game. Also, those nominations sound good indeed.

[QuantaCat]

Grible, Laldy, InvaderZim, Rei, Ridebird for Balloons. I dont believe people should nominate themselves, should they?

(but thanks for having fun under my command)


Good squad leads, if it needs saying: Orius, Dthen, Cmaster, Qaz/mqx, (all of the balloons), Reverie, Boris, Loki, Andov.

Id like to play under Qaz' platoon lead. I havent yet, and I hope he's better than in perp online ;D

(PS: I may be panicky in perp, but youre mumbly)

[CMaster]

I'd nominate Ridebird, Laldy, Quanta for balloon lead recognition.

Out of curiosity, who's done Platoon Lead on organized nights? Purple Weds has mostly been Cooper, but I did it last week, not sure who did it the week before that? Strat Thurs has just been Cooper, RIDEBIRD, Quanta I think?

[MrEclectic]

All of the above, plus CMaster and JG Man for BLs. They both did a great job in Amerish during the triple continental lock. JG man was also coordinating in the commander channel, took command when CMaster had to log off, and he did come up with the balloon leader thing

[RIDEBIRD]

Forgot CMaster for beacon but yeah I seccon all proposed beacons. Reason why I didn't propose CMaster for PL is that I think he doesn't like it..? Believe he said he prefers to SL at least, dunno.

And I put myself up there, I thought you were supposed to. BATHE IN MY EGO

[CMaster]

I find being PL fairly stressful, and have had more fun when SLing things that are going well.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy PLing for PW when I did it, or that I'm shy of stepping into the breech again. But it does come down to whether I feel up to it on the day (although I have had PL thrust onto me a couple of times)

[MrEclectic]

BLHC? Balloon Leader Honoris Causa

[QuantaCat]

I mightve done platoon lead on wednesdays once before, but Im not sure. I actually think it was on a tuesday or friday, or some other day that isnt an *official* gathering.

Also, I thought the point was to put up people for "promotion" which youve personally played with. Hence my list.

CMaster was a great SL but stated he didnt want PL nor did I ever experience his PLing. Nothing personal and all that.

[Orius]

All of the above, plus CMaster and JG Man for BLs. They both did a great job in Amerish during the triple continental lock. JG man was also coordinating in the commander channel, took command when CMaster had to log off, and he did come up with the balloon leader thing

Shit, I forgot who was actually leading the balloon back then in my last post, but I'll second those for sure.

[Cooper]

Ok, I've done another round of promotions. I -think- I got everyone here except Boris or Qaz, who I couldn't find in the list. Someone bump Boris up to GB when he's next on and Qaz to BL

Giraffe Beacon should filld up quickly with people at that rank. Again: Giraffe Beacon doesn't need nominations

If you are GB or BL and are online with someone who's doing the job of SL, then give the position to them.
You might wanna ask them to check they're ok with being recognised as SL volunteer & actually have a beacon, but no need to go via these forums

CMaster: I made you BL during my first round of promotions after I set this up. You have the power to demote yourself if you'd rather prefer and then step-up to PL only as and when suits you.

[MrEclectic]

So, we are a bunch of purple and animal print latex wearing guys and gals, who love laser shows, techno music, and ride in a balloon

[QuantaCat]

So, we are a bunch of purple and animal print latex wearing guys and gals, who love laser shows, techno music, and ride in a balloon

thats top, that.

PS: I hate smileys.

[The JG Man]

I hereby award Cooper the Special Award of The Tire Burner for his interesting driving method, involving driving a sunderer off a cliff face a bit too sharp for the vehicle and its crew.



(Not pictured: Two additional tires that rolled past me.)