New Date and Time for Battle Events?

[Zoe Connolly]

Sunday morning events are not going very well.

I thought the lack of participation might be due to the fact that flying is rather difficult for some people. So I've added other battle scenarios like infantry and sea engagements. Now I'm of the opinion that the day and time may be a factor. So perhaps we need a better time and/or different day for our events.

Any suggestions?

What day and time work best for you?

I'm open to any and all ideas.

[Air Vice-Marshall Pearse]

For me personally, Friday and Saturday evenings are best. Though that's premium event time. Early mornings at around 8 SLT I can sometimes manage but much beyond that and I'm off to bed.

[Wrath Constantine]

I'm typically fast asleep around then, having just gone to bed a few hours before. Evenings would work better for me too.

[Dan Gervasi]

Marshall,

I think the issue you raise is both more complex and more simple than adjusting the time and enrich the training sessions with more activities. The events take place on the Sunday on SL. This just calls for a few observations:
- you would have to accomodate early and late birds that make up the RCAF personnel (and there are early birds committed to serve the RCAF ;-) )
- you have to deal with the fact that Sundays and generally week-ends are precisely times when people do everything on SL. RCAF trainings are not mandatory, but even in the pure context of RP, we're serving for the RCAF but we might have ten different others to do: working on our virtual lawns, attending social events, etc. I'm not saying our sessions are not interesting: I'm just saying they are scheduled the day where everything else is scheduled.
- sometimes people take vacations in RL. It's hard to believe, but it happens :-)
- related to the point above, this is summer for people living in the northern hemisphere, and there would tend to be more outside social activities RL right now.
- more seriously, the question you're asking, I believe, cannot be: "am I proposing the right kind of activities?" I like what you propose, the training sessions, etc. and I'm pretty sure everybody here does. But the RCAF might be big group composed of people who just happen to have signed in randomly. So the real issue might be the motivation of the largest number of our constituents. You run a big group Marshall, but perhaps many of our members just happen to have clicked on a button by sheer curiosity and not because of a real interest in aerial matters.

All this having been written down, here are a couple of suggestions:
- I really don't know wether it would make sense to change our schedules or the day we meet. What I know is that it's pretty difficult to accomodate everyone living on the RL globe. (I personally like our schedule, but it does not mean I'm the most loyal participant in our sessions).
- You may however want to gain more readability by "cleaning out" the RCAF group. The way you may want to do this is by playing it the RP in a non-traumatic fashion. You call for a reorg of the RCAF group, because of whatever reasons you might find in world. Insist on the importance of the task when communicating with the RCAF group. You create several squadrons: several squadrons of fighters, one of bombers, airlift, etc. What you also do, is that you create a "basic" assignment for each group member of the RCAF. Not everyone might want to dogfight; some have very weak computers, but they can be quartermasters, or they can be part of the SAR squadron as medics. The important thing is: you make it clear that although it's about fun, the RCAF has to have a marching order and not everyone popping out with futuristic planes and no uniform. Give yourself about 2 or three weeks to complete it. The people who will not volunteer to be assigned anywhere go out. At the end of the day, you will have a much smaller group, but a coherent one.
- Afterwards, you can decide not so much to enrich one session, but to have separate events run by one or two of your most trusted staff members. These can be "bombing sessions", or simple basic trainings for newcomers (you still want people to enlist), etc. and the activities would be spread on various timezones and days.

these were my two eurocents, hope this helps.

Sq. Leader
Dan Gervasi.

[Cornelius Fanshaw]

I think things are a bit quiet purely because it’s summer and people are off doing other things. Personally I find the Sunday times suit me fine, but I can work with other days of the week (except Tuesdays) anything later than 3pmSL and I’ll be thinking of bed!

I must say I really don’t like the sound of forced RP assignments and “clearing out” the group. The RCAF has always been a social group for me and I like the informal atmosphere. It’s more of a club for SL flyers and a chance for a chat when we meet up. I’d hate to see old friends being turfed out for not turning up often enough.
The few military groups I’ve had dealings with in the past have all imploded due to having too many rules and regulations imposed on them. The reason the RCAF is still going is that there is no red tape to prevent us having fun. Any RP has to be voluntary and the day anyone gets kicked out for not volunteering is that day I pack my bags. I’ll happily RP a combat pilot myself but I won’t expect others to if they don’t want too.

[Phineas Messmer]

There were quite a few people in attendance for the Wednesday June 24th Tiny Dogfights in Steelhead.

We had a 1:00 PM SL time session for those in Europe and a few Americans, and a 7:00 PM SL time session for most Americans and others from Australia and such. We had an excellent crowd and some attended both events.

Based on a few observations like this, I think having two events on or near the same day, covering two major areas of the globe - for maximum exposure - would be ideal. Also - I would suggest any day EXCEPT Sunday (with all its inherent SLunday problems for busy event filled calendars and "walking-in-oatmeal" lag) would be a far better choice.