GJO Unity?

[Ki-Adi Kindo]

Recently, the Greater Jedi Order has cried out for unity, for us to become one united team to halt the strength of evil. The tell me, why, when do the great Jedi Masters hardly post with the striving new Padawans? Do we dare go against our own proclamtions? I have always wanted to talk with some Jedi Masters, get to know them, but when I PM them and ask, they do not write back. It is an awful feeling, to know that we break up in cliques within our own family. I have longed to talk with those like Leia, Obi, Liam and Marcus, but will that time ever come? Will we break our cliques and become one? Do not state that you want unity when you dare not to strive for it, do not.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Oh, listen to that. Sounds about right. I been seeing a lot of posts where Knights and Masters Yell and berate padawans instead of having patience and explaining why things are. I also notice that some knights that have padawans are not teaching them. Knights need to set the example. That is why they are the teachers. I mean no disrespect. But a good point has been made.

[Zeke]

For real. I've read posts where the masters/knights have a problem with the padawans' behavior. You admonish them, but a lecture and some yelling at them won't fix it. If you'll teach us how we should be, how we should act to be proper Jedi, we can function better. It feels like the masters/knights are separated from the padawans. We run our own, except for maybe 1 or 2 knights.

[TheHolo.Net]

I myself am only a Padawan, but I do not blame my Master for my slow progression. I know I could get more done on my own if I just put forth the effort and made myself get noticed and my presence known. Its unfair to cry clique and foul really when here in our little RP world the one truly responsible for progression is the person responsible for their own character.

I myself am pleased with what I have done and know that if I approached any of the masters/knights here with the right attitude, that I could get answers to my questions. I may need to be patient, because this isn’t a real time chat area it’s a forum where people live in varying time zones and have different RL commitments that otherwise occupy a great deal of their time.

Be patient yet persistent, and don’t be afraid to explore your own way on at least some occasions. It is sometimes the case that the first person you may ask a question via PM or whatever is not available for a day or two, or maybe is so inundated with questions that maybe yours was accidentally lost in the shuffle. Those are just a couple of examples of possibilities out of what are an unlimited number. Crying clique and foul is not the right approach.

Patience and persistence are valuable things. :)

[Ki-Adi Kindo]

I have gave that a fair shot, but nevertheless, I will try again.

[TheHolo.Net]

The main person to be dependant on is oneself. It shows when you have confidence and it gets noticed by everyone around you, thus creating a positive general attitude. :)

A positive general attitude can be amazing in the results in can yield.

[Marcus Telcontar]

but this isn’t a real time chat area it’s a forum where people live in varying time zones and have different RL commitments that otherwise occupy a great deal of their time.

Aint that the truth.

[TheHolo.Net]

Hehe ^_^;

Thanks for helping me see a little grammatical confusion maker there Marcus.

Has edited a tad for clarity

[TheHolo.Net]

Oh! And Kindo, if your master is who I think he is, the same as mine. I learned this along time ago about him, and have found that I do the same myself sometimes.

He and I go through phases where one character of ours is more appealing than another based on our general OOC attitude about RL. It is sometimes very difficult to switch gears from the one we are really clicking with at the current time, but the time to switch gears does come. It just takes patience in waiting it out and staying occupied productively while doing so.

You mentioned Unity in GJO and I know I am preaching individualism to some degree, but in being a strong and confident individual, you or I will promote unity because strength and confidence attracts others to you in most cases.

[Ki-Adi Kindo]

My master is Maia Tharrinn, but thanks for the advice! :-)

[TheHolo.Net]

Welcome. :)

I do hope it helps.

[Navaria Tarkin]

I will try not to take offense to this but ... I bust my butt around here. With school, mom and being sick.. I can only do so much.... So honestly, I don't like being group together as all the Knights/Masters this that and the other. Clique? That is a four letter word to me for many reasons .... :|

Anyway, that is my intial reaction to hearing what you all posted here. I think Ogies did a good job explaining things.

People have frelled up times they post, honestly, we don't have enough Masters and Knights, but that is being fixed quite well I think. People that you want to RP with might not be able to because of time contraints, overworked etc ...

Rping in a community like this is not like playing a computer game or console. That CPU can work all night and all day to entertain .. Humans cannot.

Patience and understanding isn't just for Jedi guys, need to be able to do that for your fellow gamers here. People burn out and there are a slew of reasons why you can't always get what you want right when you want it :)

Hell, I lived through that for over two years >_<

:lol :rollin :lol

[Oriadin]

Kindo, I can understand what your going through. I know when I first started here it sometimes felt as if you were waiting for replies and things from people but arent getting it. Yet you look around the board and the same people you are waiting on are posting in other places. Sometimes it just feels as if your being ignored.

Saying that, it is easy to forget about some of the roleplays your are still active in. I know ive forgotten about a few in the past. It must be even more difficult for Masters because they have so many padawans to take care of. One of the biggest problems here as far as I can see is the huge lack of Knights/Masters. Its a vicious circle too because padawans get fustraited that they arent getting anywhere so leave, meaning very few end up getting promoted.

My advice is simply to try and stick it out. Try setting up a thread for someone to reply to, if you get no reply bump it up and if there is still no reply, try and set up a roleplay with someone else. Keep posting and keep in peoples minds. RL has always come first here and rightly so.

[Loki Ahmrah]

On top of all this good advice I think it's also fair to say that if someone is unhappy with their current situation then they are entitled to both say so and perhaps request a change or way to find a solution. Leaving padawans to go about unhappy with the way things are is not the answer and I'm not saying that is the case here but thought I'd thow in a couple of my own pearls of wisdom. :)

[Oriadin]

Yeah, id agree with that. Ive had two masters now, as I was unhappy with the way things were going with my first. I remember I spoke up and said to the council I felt my posts were being ignored, my then Master said that his way of teaching was to let his Padawan get on and do thier own thing which was completly different to the way I saw it so I requested a new Master.

Helenias Q'Dunn is my master now and I know she doesnt get much time to come online and post with me but im happy with the way my training is going. Ive just got to try and stay active with as many people as I can.

The best advice for you is probably a mixture of both mine and Loki's

[Dasquian Belargic]

When you get to Knight and have up to 10 Padawans, as well as perhaps another two characters (with their own apprentices) to handle, I'd like to see you still be on top of all of your posts :p

If you aren't happy with your Master, request a new one and give a valid reason why, but I think you will find that most people aren't going to be lightning fast with posting as their time has to be devoted amongst many things.

I know how frustrating it is - I remember my training at TSE taking about 3 months to finish :x - but you just have to have a bit of patience and have faith in your fellow RPers :)

[Navaria Tarkin]

Dasquian is right and brought on a point that I forgot ... Being a Padawan is a cake walk :lol

Once you get promoted and take on Padawans, you get to know more people, then there is running the group and doing things off board like websites etc that people forget to take into account that the posters here do :)

And Loki is right, always bring up your problems ... we discuss, we vent if needed and then fine good solution to problem in hopes the situation is better.

[Loki Ahmrah]

The whole training system is a huge problem as far as I'm concerned. It's in a worse state than our NHS!

I would rather it be two padawans to a master and one padawan to a knight. No more. Hopefully one day that will be feasable. When Loki gets promoted, I will take on no more than two padawans and preferably one so as to dedicate my undying attention to one roleplayer for a while and go for quality over quantity. I know it wouldn't be fair on others with 20+ apprentices and whatnot but there's no way I will take more than two. It's not fair on both the master or the padawan.

[Navaria Tarkin]

If we lived in an ideal world ... this wouldn't be a problem :p

[Loki Ahmrah]

If we lived in an ideal world, I would have problems with....errr, nevermind! :eek

:)

[Oriadin]

Yeah, once again I agree with Loki. I will be hard to convice in taking on more than one Padawan. It is a big problem here but there just arent enough knights to padawans at the moment. I think gradually, in time this problem will ease. However, I dont think its as bad as our NHS, not quite anyway. That is a bit harsh, I dont think anything could be that bad!

[Kelt Simoson]

Ive never trained a single soul with Sieken even though i have the right at Knight rank to do so, i dont think i will ether in a very long time as i have little time to post even now, what with my graphics block coming up and my personal research on a few subjects. One day perhaps, but not yet.

And dding to that, even if i do, i wont take on 10 like some do, id rather stick to 1 or 2 so i know i have time to spend with them...

[Marcus Telcontar]

In a perfect RP world, there would be a lots of Knights on all the time and one Padawan per Knight or Master.

I'd also have lots of time as well and a bit more mentally prepped to do more. But, I dont and work is a killer at times, especially now. I post in between work tasks to mentally break and its nasty to try and think like a Jedi when all you want to do is to smack stupid users over the head. Hard to be social as well, which I'd like to be, but that's not on when you got morons on the phone and twats in the office making your life suckage. And the fact that I get carpet bombed with AIM when I do log into my publically known addresses.

I wish I could get to more people and have more time to chat, or even be in the right mood to be social. Unfortunantly, cant do that all the time or even some of the time these days

[Morgan Evanar]

It almost always boils down to time. I don't have much, between working and class and Counter-Strike and life and fixing ticket crap.

Not really sure if this has anything do to it, but:
Sure, Mark and I have nasty spats on how to get stuff done here, but we do both care a lot. I am a relentless bastard at times but thats just kind of how I am.

[Yuran Fur'Dun]

I have 2 padawans, and I don't RP with them much...but thats because all three of us are monumentally busy. I know if any of them asked if I would do some more training with them, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But we all have trends and patterns, both IC and OOC. I know that there are folks with massive demands on their time. Its important to recognize this...even when they're online alot. I can't even count how many times I've been berated or yelled at to post somewhere. It gets very old. I try my best to be timely, but if I'm gonna do everything for everyone when they want it...I need an office staff.

And that ain't gonna happen.

[Oriadin]

I suppose one good thing about Marcus not getting on more often...

We can try and catch up on the millions of posts he seems to have!! :lol

[Marcus Telcontar]

Nah, that aint never going to happen :p

[Oriadin]

I can dream!

[Pierce Tondry]

No, no, you can't. No dreaming aloud.

:)

The above subject having been brought up, I'd like to say that it is crucial above all else for player characters who are Padawans to interact with each other and promote their own training. To shift burdens onto the shoulders of those who have been here for a while and who already have commitments and relationships within the RP is not very fair or fruitful.

Padawans should stick together; perhaps those under different Masters can congregate to share what they've learned about the Force, or to discuss Jedi philosophy, or simply to learn to fight as a unit against their enemies. Whatever the reason, it is up to those who feel neglected to seek out their fellows to further themselves.

I will add that running two characters and leading a group with three apprentices to teach is not only time consuming, but hard on my creativity. How do I know what a particular Padawan has already learned? Either I read their previous threads, I ask them, or I've taught them a particular skill myself so I know they have it- but these aren't always easy to do, especially reading someone's past threads.

Even once I know where a Padawan is deficient, a fun and interesting tutorial is not always readily apparent to me, so it helps if Padawans come up with things they would like to do and propose it to me, rather than forcing me to come up with everything.

I myself have a natural tendency to take responsibility for the directions and training of my characters, and it has worked well so far. I can only suggest is that others try this method.

This is by no means a complaint-fest, if it should happen to seem like it. I very much enjoy RPing under the auspices of both GJO and TBH. But the statements above are merely problems and potential solutions from the more experienced side of the Master/Apprentice fence that I am presenting to the general public of RPers so everyone can work with them.

[Oriadin]

I guess that it just seems at times as if padawans who have masters would just as well not have masters. I know its not the fault of the people who act out the characters but sometimes it takes time for the padawans who have not been at the board long to understand. It can be extreamly fustraiting being a padawan here for the first time because you dont know anyone and your trying to break in. It does feel that people have thier select groups in which they like to roleplay and if your a newbie that doesnt know anyone, simply seeking out other padawans isnt that easy.


Perhaps when a Master takes on a padawan it should be part of the responsability to introduce the new person to the people they frequently rp with. That way they would feel more comfortable in asking other for help and who to go to for different things.

The problem is, the trainer doesnt always have the time and the trainee (if new to the boards) doesnt know who to ask for help or how to go about it. I know that was a big part of my problem when I first came.