Maybe a few more experienced judges for the Character submission area

[alekzander]

I haven't been a member of Layonara for that long, but I have recommended alot of people and I am a huge fan of it. From my experience it is the best PW for NWN on the net, but I know alot of people that have tried to join that have been turned off by the long wait it takes for character submissions to go through.

I placed a character 2 days ago and it hasn't even received it's first review and a few of my friends put yesterday or at other times and it takes almost half a week to get it reviewed back & forth enough for the submission to become successful. I see on the server that it is also rarely more then half full.

I understand that the character process is extremely important, but honestly 2 or more days for a 1st review is too long. I don't want to seem rude, cause I really love Layonara. I would just like to see a few more reviewers that can get character submissions through faster.

Thank you for your space and time.

- B (alekzander)

[Dorganath]

Please understand that the character reviewers, indeed all GMs on staff here, are doing this as volunteers and in their own spare time. All of our GMs have other things going on in their real lives but they still give their duties as much attention as possible. Within the last few weeks we added a few more character GMs to the mix, but again it all depends on their RL schedules.
  Some days, the character GMs will crank out a whole list of comments and approvals, on other days it will seem like there is little or no activity. Sometimes character bios are being discussed on the "back channels" based on their content before the reviewers will comment on them publicly.
  The point is, please have patience, and ask your friends to do the same. It won't be long, I assure you, and if on the off-chance it takes a week before receiving comment from the character GMs, feel free to bump your character submission.
  One last point I wouldlike to make. Do NOT PM, e-mail, send in-game tells or otherwise bother the GM Team for character approvals. Any reminders should occur in your original submission thread. Along the same lines, don't use the "Alert" button to draw our attention to submissions. The alert system is inteded to draw attention to harrassing, obscene or otherwise inflamatory postings, and is not intended to be used to just get the Team's attention regarding your new character.
  As I said, please understand that the GMs are doing this on a volunteer basis and on their own time.

[Rasterick]

We all appreciate your enthusism to get on and play; but please be patient. The folks that review and approve characters have real lives, and as such are not available 24/7 for character approvals. We have tried to add more people to the task, as well as split them over various timezones, but there is only so many people that you can throw at a problem.

With the popularity of Layonara, comes an increased workload for those that volunteer to keep it running, and everyone here is a volunteer. I am sure the approvers will get round to reading, commenting and approving as soon as they can. In the meantime, have a read of the Player Handbook, puruse the maps, put together some more background for your character, browse the forums, read the character development of some of the characters you may meet. It will all add to the experience once you do get on. I  guarantee it will be well worth the wait.

[alekzander]

Thank you for your replies. I understand that...like I said I was hesitant to even post because I didn't want to offend. Just pointing out an observation. We all on the LO servers appreciate everything all the volunteers do and wouldn't want to make any of them feel unappreciated.

Note: Sorry about the alert, that wasn't me. that was someone else that was posting a character using my sign in name. My most sincere apologies about that.

[miltonyorkcastle]

I've been with Layo for about a year now, and I would have to say, waiting even a week for approval for your character is a small price to pay for the benefits of this community and PW.  In the grand scheme of things, it's a rather short period of time, and I would also like to suggest that those not patient enough to wait for approval may lack the patience to discover the wonder of this world.

[Dorganath]

alekzander - 2/9/2006 8:29 AM  Note: Sorry about the alert, that wasn't me. that was someone else that was posting a character using my sign in name. My most sincere apologies about that.

 For the record, the paragraph about PMing, emailing and using alerts was not directed at you personally. In fact, I wasn't aware that a character submission tied to your account had been tagged with an alert. It was just a general set of suggestions for everyone. Doing such things as I described just annoys the character GMs and truthfully does not help submissions get seen, reviewed and approvedany faster. Bumping the original submission is the best thing to do...but even there, don't bump after only a few hours...even a couple days can be "normal". If the better part of a week goes by without even a comment, however, a bump is appropriate.

[feniox]

I'm not, nor have I ever been a GM here, but I think it's worth mentioning that it's a good idea for new players to review their character bios before submitting, or whilst they are waiting for approval. I occasionally skim through the character submissions and a lot of players that are new to the server get rejected a few times to begin with, usually because they have applied as a paladin/cleric/druid or some such class/subrace that needs additional information that hasn't been supplied.

I know it's confusing when you first join the server, but all the information is there in the links at the top right. Making sure you have met all the requirements before placing your submission will help speed up the process and avoid the frustration of waiting, and also free up time for the GMs that have to re-review the bio until it gets done properly.

[Lilswanwillow]

and the other thing is-I actually read the subs on a regular basis, and have seen people just be, well... idiots.  thier posts are gone now- good thing too, cause I wouldn't have wanted egotistical people playing...

making a character that has special powers, is a 1000 year old human, trying to start out at a high level and not bending...   the GM's will know which recent post i'm talking about!!!  It was horrible.

But, there are people that just want to be, well... rude.  And the GM's have to put up with it.  
As long as you read the rules, things get approved fairly quickly.  And even if there is some banter over a submitted character, that can just make he/she develop farther.  ie: if aragwen HADN'T asked me the questions for my new character (Roduna) I don't think that I would have as rich (and hard to play) character as I do.

speaking of which, I want to play now...