The Guide Rank Updates and Changes
The Guide Rank has been going through quite a few changes recently, both in the leadership of the rank, the responsibilities and expectations of the Guide team, and generally how the rank works. Some of these changes are bringing back things that have existed previously and other are brand new to the rank, but the hope is that all these changes will be positive for the rank, as they have been discussed extensively on all layers of the MCME community. The object of this post is to inform the server on all the changes to the rank to create clarity, but if any further explanation is needed, feel free to message any of the Guide leaders. Without further ado, lets hop into it!
Updated Guide Leadership roles distribution
As was mentioned in the post by Smaug on the Discord in the news channel, there has been a few updates to how the roles of the Guide Leadership will be broken up. @LordReavanPlays will be taking care of the application process, day-to-day management of the Guides, and management of the rank in general, @Chipped_Cherry will be continuing her work as Events and Guide Manager and will oversee the events seasons and scheduling of events in general, and @Smaug_Niphredil will act as the Valar representing the Guides, but will take a back seat in the running of the team to work more on Player Retention and the New Player Hub. You can read Smaug's post on the discord here for a better breakdown.
Guide Focuses
The Guide Rank will be adopting a new format for how Guides will choose the tasks they would like to be more actively contributing to. These activities will include Tours, Events, PvP/minigames, and a General focus for those who don't mind working on any of these activities. While a Guide will still be expected to know how to run all of these activities, they won't have to run all of them and can choose to focus on one or more over the others. Focuses will also allow for Guide Leaders to more accurately alert Guides to opportunities based on their chosen focuses.
Expectations
Guides and Guide leaders will all be expected now to run at least one activity per month, being either a Tour, an Event, or a PvP. Guides that are unable to complete this expectation for a month can contact leadership with a reasoning and will be off the hook for that month completely. If no communication happens between a Guide and Guide Leadership for up to 3 months and said Guide does not meet any expectations for that time, a discussion for their demotion will be held.
Guide Benchmarks
All Guides will now contribute to group goals called benchmarks set at the beginning of every month. The numbers set for the guide benchmarks are not hard quotas to meet, but rather healthy goals to strive for in order to increase team productivity in a more concrete manner. Guides will be given opportunities via pings on messages for things like Touring Tuesday or event ideas based on their chosen Focuses, but are encouraged to contribute to any and all benchmarks they feel comfortable with running activities for. These benchmarks will only count activities run by Guides, so excluding badge holders.
Documentation Updates
The following documents have been either updated or created in order to increase structure within the team and make a clear idea of how the rank works.
- The Guide Availability Spreadsheet: A spreadsheet detailing the availability of all Guides alongside their current focuses.
- The Guide Application Aid Document: A document that explains the Guide Application system in a little more depth alongside some of the things to expect when getting the rank. This includes a Guide Applicant Help Document that can be viewed with a link at the bottom of the resources section.
Here are some other changes or additions to the rank that have been implemented and/or are actively being pursued
- Guide Workshops: Mini Guide meetings taking place 1-2 times a month having a focus of teaching/refreshing Guides on certain topics. Also functions as an opportunity for Guides to discuss things with Guide leadership.
- Guide of the Month: This is being reinstated as another goal for Guides to look to achieve, as the Guide that runs the most activities in the month will be rewarded with a spot in the Hall of Guides of the Month in Guide HQ.
- Guide HQ will continue seeing work from the Guides
- MCME Museum will be brought to a better structure by select Guides under the guidance of Smaug
Thanks to all the people that helped fine tune these processes so that they were ready to be implemented. If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact either me or any of the other Guide Leaders.
And as always...