S28 Rules Summit

[nunccoepi]

As Steg has said, we are always willing to discuss rule proposal ideas and to utilize HO slots for community-sourced ideas. I couldn't tell you the last time HO used 100% of the proposal slots we're allotted. So blow up our DMs in the lead-up to next rule summit. Actually talk to us about what you want to see changed. If you're not willing to speak with us directly, cool. Utilize the league survey, utilize the forum suggestion box, talk to your GMs. GMs especially want to hear from their players on stuff like this.

There are options to have your voices heard in the current system. I implore you to use them.

I suspect the problem here is that by-and-large, members may still not feel entirely comfortable using those existing channels. For any number of reasons.

As I've said before, I think generally you guys are doing fine. I don't really have any specific issues with how things are going. But... I think if your view is "we have systems in place for this", and yet you realise they aren't being used, the first question should probably be "why not?" (there are parallels here with voter abstention but that's maybe a little too political for this situation, eh?)

It's a bit of a balancing act, I appreciate that. There isn't an easy solution. Already there are several options, and that's good. But I still think that at the moment, if we still have evidence of discontent alongside little to no use of those options, then there must be a reason those existing channels aren't being used. So why is it?

I think it's good that HO is directly saying right here in this thread "hey you can talk to us about this you know". However, I think perhaps from your perspective as HO, you're maybe not really aware of the nature of this disconnect (for lack of a better word; it seems like the complaints are coming from people who feel as though they are divorced from the decision-making process) and this is something to look into. Sometimes being in a position of authority (as loosely as this can be defined here) blinds you to the perspective of the other side, and that's not a personal failing, it's just how it is. You *will* have a different perspective of the situation, by necessity. It may serve HO to try and figure out why most people have chosen not to engage through these existing channels (a sort of focus group could work? I dunno; potentially use interns for this, they're maybe less detached from the overall user base by virtue of their temporary position? lots of possible explanations).

As a group, HO has been pretty good at responding to these things -- as evidenced by your attempts to encourage engagement in this very thread -- so I'm fairly sure you can come up with improvements on the current system when you have more information. It's just a matter of getting that information first, no?

I personally think there's a lot of truth to all of this you stated 37th. And I think, if they're being honest, the average user can also see why it can be frustrating to the average HO member who's also going about it in good faith and struggling with their own blind spots. Moral of the story is we all need to work on those blind spots and being kinder to each other in these threads as things get heated. 

All that being said, on the topic of accessing blind spots, I just want to highlight the latest off-season PT in which HO is trying to do that very thing. It focuses a lot on transparency, and as someone who contributed to the drafting of some of the questions, a lot of it is just: "tell us what we are missing." So I definitely recommend that everyone take that PT seriously and constructively so that we can continue to improve as a league.