Wanted by the RPTools Team: A new team member!

[Azhrei]

Released to the public April 30th, 2011:

We have an immediate need for an individual with strong enthusiasm for MapTool (and RPTools in general) who is willing to join the project team as our Director of Public Interfacing (herein referred to as "The Bard"). The job will entail periodic discussions with the developers regarding the future of MapTool and acting as the team's public persona. The former will include input on such things as usability, opinions on graphics layout, ideas for features, and so forth. The latter involves interacting with users to provide a positive first experience for them. This includes, but is not limited to, demo sessions showing off the basic features of MapTool (such as VBL, drawables, and basic token manipulation), gently promoting the use of MapTool on other forums (ENworld, Paizo, DDI, and so forth), and other public relations functions as may be deemed useful by either The Bard or the team as a whole.

The ideal candidate will have used multiple builds of MapTool over the previous year and be familiar with various issues of different builds (such as older builds not having the "Export Map" ability, or how some builds require a checkbox in Preferences to be turned on for the Export Map feature to be enabled). An interest in running and testing pre-release builds of MapTool is implied, of course. We're not looking for expert-level knowledge, but rather an understanding of how MapTool has evolved. The ability to explain the basic functionality without blowing people away with complexity is also a desirable trait.

The salary for this position will reflect our ability to pay (so you'll likely be working for free! ), but guaranteed perks include a custom Rank on the forum ("The Bard"), mention of your name in the MapTool Credits, Name Recognition among your peers, an Inside Track on the direction being taken by MapTool in the future and the ability to Exert Influence in regard to feature priorities, and the Personal Gratification that comes from knowing you've helped promote an application that allows gamers to game! Oh, and a free copy of each release of MapTool!

If you feel you have what it takes to fit our highly motivated (but sometimes stressed for time!) project team, we would like to schedule an interview. We will retain the resumé of all applicants as the chosen Bard may wish to recruit them as Minions, Mooks, or Cannon Fodder as appropriate. Please post a single reply to this thread indicating your interest and one of the team members will contact you using whatever method you prefer (please specify in your post).

Here's hoping we have more applicants than we know what to do with!!

[Jabby]

I'm interested. Please email me at [email protected]

[thelevitator]

This sounds like a position that I could do well! Let me know which way ya go Az!

[thelevitator]

Whoops, I didn't specify my preferred method of contact. PM here or email is fine. AZ, you may still have my phone number, so feel free to call me too!

[aliasmask]

Change position to "The Monk" and I may be interested. Mostly because I'm cloistered and like dealing out words of wisdom. If not, no problem... I'm content with my station as an avid contributor of macros and regular advice.

[Oryan77]

As you already know, I wouldn't mind helping out. Sounds interesting and could be fun. Plus, being a Bard would really improve my luck with the ladies. I can be reached via PM here or email.

[Full Bleed]

For the record, I think this should be a 2-4 person "troupe" of Bards who coordinate to spread the word and further evangelize the software. It's a lot to ask of one person to have a presence on a lot of other sites as well as here, work with the developers, coordinate and provide demos, be proficient with almost ALL of MT, etc. I think you're looking at spreading a single person pretty thin to hit all the possible bases.

No one is likely to be great at everything the job seems to entail...

1) People with Technical Mastery of the Program. Guys like Aliasmask, Coveredinfish, Rumble. Techno Bards.

2) People with the time and willingness to pimp the program on a variety of sites. Diplomacy, patience, and lots of newb-love a must. Perhaps someone who's already somewhat active on some other major RPG sites? Is there really any one person who's active on Enworld, DDI, Paizo, etc? The Singers.


I'm sure that 1 or 2 voices from a group will end up taking on more responsibility and coordinating efforts and I'm sure that someone can be given a "Lead" position if necessary. But, at any rate, this is going to be "on the job training" to get the returns I think the MT developers are looking for and I don't think they want to be spending their time and energy managing a Bard when a group of Bards can be pushing each other and just polling the devs for input...

It doesn't hurt to have some built in succession with a volunteer job like this either.

[dorpond]

@everyone
Thanks to all of you for your offers! I am rather excited to see such top notch people looking to fill the void.

@Full Bleed
You bring up valid points. I think Azhrei did mention though that he expected the "bard" to have "followers" (all D&D 3.x references) to help in the mission. I am not sure what is the best way to approach it so the team will discuss all the points you bring up.

[Azhrei]

@everyone
Thanks to all of you for your offers! I am rather excited to see such top notch people looking to fill the void.

Yes, "thank you" to everyone who has spoken up! One of the team members will be contacting each of you in the next day or two (probably myself or dorpond). I would like to get MT ready for ENnie submission... We'll see if we can move that quickly.

@Full Bleed
You bring up valid points. I think Azhrei did mention though that he expected the "bard" to have "followers" (all D&D 3.x references) to help in the mission. I am not sure what is the best way to approach it so the team will discuss all the points you bring up.

We haven't discussed the details yet. I see the "Director of Public Interfacing" position as the top of a hierarchy. I would hope that the chosen Bard would be receptive to the necessity of spreading the load around as FB describes. Our community has been quite supportive in that regard (moderators for the forum, editors for the wiki, authors for documentation, and so on) and I see this position as working similarly, but with a much higher level of visibility. In the D&D3.x universe, I think "cohort" is the best description for how I envision the relationship: The Bard will be the primary contact and the Assistant Bard position(s) will flesh out the rest of the PR team.

[aku]

bu bu but bards dont have cohorts, only fighters! (or am i a version or two behind on that?)

[Oryan77]

bu bu but bards dont have cohorts, only fighters! (or am i a version or two behind on that?)

In 3.5, anyone can take the Leadership feat to gain a cohort & followers as long as they are at least 6th level. Luckily, I have a High School diploma, so I'm at least 12th level. So far I've met the prerequisites!

[RPTroll]

I'm late to the party but I'll step forward from the volunteer line as well.

[Azhrei]

I've been really busy and haven't contacted anyone yet. My fault. I'll be doing that right now...

[Benz72]

We haven't discussed the details yet. I see the "Director of Public Interfacing" position as the top of a hierarchy.

Respectfully, please reconsider your title
DOPI pronounces very... humorously
Better than the Director Of Project Enhancement or the Dispenser Of RPTools Kindness, but still...

Senior Web Advertising & Marketing Integrator?
Chief Of Operations (Limited), Advertising & Communications Enhancement?

[Azhrei]

Heh, cute titles. We'll probably just stick with "The Bard".

Speaking of which, we have an announcement -- the search is over!

After wading through thousands of interested replies (well alright; less than a half-dozen, really) and poring over the hundreds of introduction letters that we initially filtered it down to (really only two) we have decided that the position of The Bard shall go to... <drum roll please, but nothing ridiculous like on American Idol>

RPTroll! He is known colloquially as Keith Athey and you may have picked up his recent interviews with the MapTool core team on his blog recently. (And no, he didn't pay us off for either the interview or the position of Bard, as much as we hinted at it.) Congratulations Keith!

Our first runner-up was Oryan77, a.k.a. Ryan Chilton. It is our hope that Ryan's enthusiasm to help promote MT will continue and perhaps the two of them can work together to make our favorite VTT more well-known. You know the saying, "You can never have too many Bards." (At least, I think that's a saying. If it isn't, it should be. )

Others have also expressed interest, although perhaps not in the capacity of being the point man for RPTools. To them I want to extend a warm welcome into our extended family and ask them to contact Keith if they have ideas of how we might better "spread the word that is MapTool (and RPTools) to the masses". (Be aware that having ideas will likely mean you'll be put in charge of the effort, even if it's only in the role of coordinating the project.)

Stay tuned, as I'm sure there will be more information regarding this new team member in upcoming days and weeks.

Once again, congratulations to RPTroll as the latest RPTools team member!