[Suggestion] Weekly Assessments

[DylanDeNewb]

IGN: DylanDeNewb
DATE: 04/05/2023
WHAT YOU WANT TO SUGGEST OR MENTION:
Implementation of automated weekly/monthly (in-game) assessments into the school timetable in the form of basic general knowledge tests. These knowledge tests would work as sort of like a mini-event in the sense that they're automated to occur and gather people together to sit the test. This would also open the pathway for some new rewards, such as 'class credit' or perhaps just yen. Should 'class credit' be considered, a leaderboard for such could be implemented to bring competition, but also possibly be another pathway into joining the College faction should a student reach a certain amount of 'class credit' from these knowledge tests.
HOW WILL THIS BENEFIT THE SERVER/COMMUNITY?:
This benefits the server in a few ways, first we'll start with activity:
- Helps fill in some possibly empty period slots during the school day where Teaching staff are not available, but activities are needed to keep player base entertained.
- Brings more people together and gives them an RP scenario of having a test to work around.

It'll also bring benefits to progression, especially for new-players which are still relying on the grading system (7-12) to tell what they're meant to do next by handing them off to the automated in-game assessment events. The longer a new player, which is not aware of the server's RP nature is on the server, the more likely they are to give RP a shot, thus player retention rate >>>.

Expanding on progression, if the 'class credits' are taken into consideration, it'll also give players a reason to be more active on the server as to not miss assessments that can help them enter college, since there is an intermission of in-game time, they're likely to still RP in-between. Entering college is a very popular event as seen recently, and although its nice to have such a big event, perhaps trying to limit the amount of harm done to performance during such events by having different pathways to enter would be beneficial, as I'm sure people not applying to college would like to load more than 1 chunk every 5 seconds.

 

[Kasien]

+1
If it's a test, I doubt many people will actually attend it.

 

[kustomzero]

+1

 

[DylanDeNewb]

+1
If it's a test, I doubt many people will actually attend it.

Makes sense, though if implemented properly, questions could also be catered more towards server knowledge or perhaps just fun pub quizzes

 

[Yonio]

+1
Possibly one of the best suggestions concerning school activity. As long as there's In-Character lore information that also needs to be learned via school teachers/professors, I think this idea could finally motivate people to actually pay attention to class in hopes of getting a reward from these tests

 

[Customable]

This suggestion gets the Customable stamp of approval

+1

 

[NoZinth]

+1

 

[draculary]

+1

 

[Oli]

+1!
I can most certainly have people read the lore properly now :D

 

[philbertman42]

Don't get me wrong, I understand school activity can be bland, especially when there are no teachers online, but this doesn't solve the issues you've presented.

- Helps fill in some possibly empty period slots during the school day where Teaching staff are not available, but activities are needed to keep player base entertained.

I won't go as far as saying absolutely nobody would, but I doubt many players would enjoy doing these tests long-term. I'm sure there would be initial interest and hype surrounding the test and leaderboard, but it would inevitably die out as people get bored of doing academic work in their minecraft roleplaying server.

You could make the argument that some teachers already put students through serious academic lessons, but in a standard lesson there is still the opportunity of roleplay. In an automated environment, you wouldn't be led in an activity by the teacher, but instead prompted to answer questions by an automated system; a plugin does not have the capacity to allow roleplay to happen, which takes us away from the main focus of the server.

- Brings more people together and gives them an RP scenario of having a test to work around.

If you're suggesting that you'd like to allow people to roleplay with one another unrestricted during these automated tests, then I have a question: How would students be monitored and disciplined? Assuming that these will happen when faculty is unavailable to teach, who would be there to stop someone from causing trouble? Even with the tools at a teacher's disposal, it's sometimes difficult to manage a classroom as students are unpredictable and oftentimes don't take roleplay seriously. Having people organize unmoderated like this is just an invitation for trouble, and would likely cause more headaches than it'd be worth.

It'll also bring benefits to progression, especially for new-players which are still relying on the grading system (7-12) to tell what they're meant to do next by handing them off to the automated in-game assessment events.

Progression shouldn't be tied to arbitrary events that aren't guaranteed to happen. I'm not incredibly happy with the way it currently works, but there isn't anything fundamentally wrong with a time-based progression system (though our implementation of it really does need work).

---

I do think that the lack of anything interesting going on in the school is a major problem, but automation isn't the solution to it. I do think the school (and server in general) has been severely lacking in activity for a long while, but I think we should combat this by introducing more opportunities for IC roleplay, rather than focus on systems that feel more like an RPG.

As a bit of a counter-suggestion, why not implement this as something not to stand in for teachers, but supplement their workflow? As in, allow for teachers to design the test in a way that is relevant to their subject, then manually start them during class. It won't solve the issue of inactivity, but it would present a new path to college through education credits, and potentially increase student attention and engagement during lessons.

 

[DylanDeNewb]

I won't go as far as saying absolutely nobody would, but I doubt many players would enjoy doing these tests long-term. I'm sure there would be initial interest and hype surrounding the test and leaderboard, but it would inevitably die out as people get bored of doing academic work in their minecraft roleplaying server.

Theyve got the choice of doing a couple simple basic knowledge tests or waiting a few months for each large scale college entrance exam, which do you think they'll be more inclined towards?

a plugin does not have the capacity to allow roleplay to happen, which takes us away from the main focus of the server.

Nothing stopping people from RPing when doing exams, if they wanna risk cheating and potentially get caught by any tutor or professor, all the more power to them. Obviously there could be punishments such as negative credit. (And yes, this does require teachers being around, I know, such a hypocrit). Though if there's no faculty, they can do as they please, nobody is there to stop them and they have fun during the test.

it's sometimes difficult to manage a classroom as students are unpredictable

Thats right, it'll be no different than a normal classroom, I dont see any new issue. Its an unwhitelisted server after all

Progression shouldn't be tied to arbitrary events that aren't guaranteed to happen.

What isn't guaranteed about automated weekly events? Theyre the most guaranteed you're gonna get. And yes, whilst the current progression isn't exactly ideal, it does give some sort of direction for new players getting into the server, I doubt it'll make much of a difference for already existing players other than the new pathway to enter college.

I do think that the lack of anything interesting going on in the school is a major problem, but automation isn't the solution to it.

I agree, automation isn't the solution to everything, though automation is the solution to scaling, we're trying to scale progression here. Its completely unreasonable and old fashioned to try keep everything reliant on the player, especially when school progression is already automated in the first place.

The longer new players stay on the server, whether it be interacting with the systems or rping, they're more likely to bump into someone that'll keep them entertained and coming back, thus improving player retention. The key is keeping them on the server for as long as possible, which the idea of being rewarded with class credits or yen will potentially enable.

but I think we should combat this by introducing more opportunities for IC roleplay

You're welcome to try implement a similar system in character which can cater/manage up to hundreds of players progression data at a time. Again, we're scaling up, not down.

As a bit of a counter-suggestion, why not implement this as something not to stand in for teachers, but supplement their workflow? As in, allow for teachers to design the test in a way that is relevant to their subject, then manually start them during class. It won't solve the issue of inactivity, but it would present a new path to college through education credits, and potentially increase student attention and engagement during lessons.

Although not inheritly a bad idea, It still opens the possibility for over use and abuse, all it takes is for a bunch of teachers to try the feature out on the first day and someone's already gathered a shit ton of credits. Or, a teacher decides they want to fuck about and make a piss easy test to which the same credits are given, there's no consistency. Its overall more simple to have it automated and strictly limited to a certain time frame.

 

[Lizalopod]

+1, pog

 

[RexLobo]

+1

 

[Nylu]

+1

Thats right, it'll be no different than a normal classroom, I dont see any new issue. Its an unwhitelisted server after all

Even with the tools at a teacher's disposal, it's sometimes difficult to manage a classroom as students are unpredictable and oftentimes don't take roleplay seriously.

There are tutors, councilors, and other roles that are allowed to take care of things like this!!!

I also wouldn’t say that they’re not necessarily “refusing to roleplay seriously” because there are times when characters are genuinely roleplaying, but they’re either being troublesome for the sake of rp, or doing delinquentrp - both are things that WILL happen and both are things that DO happen in a school environment! If these things were really that troublesome, it would’ve been made against the rules to do either of them.. roleplay will only be as interesting as you make it, not anyone else

 

[atoki]

+1

 

[ilovemyplane]

+1!
This could most definitely help engage the general KHS for when teachers aren’t able to be online, like you said. I have often seen a lot of the playerbase complain that there isn’t much to do as a high school student and honestly? I agree, I may have the college role now but there wasn’t much to do as a high schooler when the teachers weren’t around.

 

[rieums]

+1 This is cute

 

[Makar.Nataka]

+1
If it's a test, I doubt many people will actually attend it.

ya same~

 

[Makar.Nataka]

This suggestion gets the Customable stamp of approval

+1

lollll

 

[hellioni]

if Yonio said +1 then its +1