Ask Mimi

[palilla]

I have to agree with Copper, here. The Teacher/Staff character stuff is pretty vague.

[Mimi]

- Are powers-based classes mandatory for all students? Are they fully optional? Or are they required when a student poses a danger to everyone else, and optional otherwise?

Not all students go to “class” for their powers. Some students have powers that standard classes will not help with. However, that is not the same as saying students do not get guidance with their powers. Many students have a kind of “independent study” for their powers and check in with their advisor weekly. The advisor could be an active SJS alum who now works at GIFT or a teacher with insight into the power.

For example, Kim Stone (an NPC at Saint Joe’s) can talk to animals. She is the only student with this strange ability. No sense having her go to class about it, since she’d be the only one in the class. So Kim more likely has a faculty advisor with whom she spends a couple afternoons a month with, to hone her abilities. On the other hand, students who have energy projection abilities (be it sonics, fire, light, frost, or whatever) might be grouped together for an Applied Energy Physics class to learn control as a group.

Also, it should be noted that EVERY student has an appointment with David Conrads four times each year. Conrads is a pivotal link in the way SJS works. He speaks to about six students a day, five days a week. He looks for adjustment problems, emotional issues, and generally tries to help each student with their needs, including helping that student get specialized faculty assistance.

- Does St. Joe's offer powers-based education for all types of powers, or only some of them? I have to wonder how willingly the nuns would allow instruction in things like the dark miasma and related power sets.

The first part of this question I answered above. The second part opens up a deeper question about how the Order of Cupertino feels about “dark” powers.

The Order is not the only factor at SJS. Most of the Order never even leaves the cloister of the residence. But here’s the basic deal: if super-powers are divine, then are dark powers necessarily demonic? Darkness exists. There’s no way around it. The netherworld is real, and some students can tap into it. But there is free will to consider. Better the student make informed choices about their potentially dangerous powers. You could almost think of it like “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” It is far, far better to teach a student who can tap into the netherworld than to let that student learn about their powers somewhere else.

- Is there a standard explanation for how we learn new powers? This might be a redundant question depending on the above answers. If students are required to take powers-based classes, then that's the obvious answer. But if we don't have classes for all powers, then things get a bit messier. Perhaps MAGI, SERAPH, etc. also do some powers-based education and training?

I think it is VERY safe to say that Saint Joe’s maintains some ties with groups in the cellar of City Hall. It’s be foolish not to. One could even make a case for some of these organizations employing SJS alumni. In terms of learning new powers, I am totally comfortable with players making their own choices.

- How well monitored are students regarding their powers and their abilities with those powers? If a student has poor control over a power, or learns a new power and can't control it, is the school there watching over them to catch it? Or are things loose enough that problems may quite happily ensue?

Again, I mainly answered this above, but I will add to it.

I think it’s very foolish to assume that the faculty and staff don’t know what’s going on with the students. I think they know. I think they know where the students are for every moment they wear their comm and medi-badge. But then, why don’t they interfere all the time? They certainly could. However, I take a reasonably relaxed stance, and here is why…

I think there is NOTHING more aggravating in a roleplaying game than being bailed out by a powerful NPC. It sucks, it makes you feel small, and unimportant. Why play the game if you cannot solve things for yourself?

So here’s how I think about it: if for a story reason, you develop a power that is honestly outside your own control, the staff will not know it at first. Until you lose control, there’s no way they could know. But once you use the power, blow up a building, start an uncontrolled fire, whatever, then the staff is going to step in. And they’re going to do the absolute best they can to help the student learn about using their gift.

In game, there is no rescue coming. But in a fiction piece, sure!

It’s sort of like the comm system in-game… We are limited by what we can do, since in-game there are no NPCs. They cannot come on to the comm. system and say “you need to stop talking about that right now!” So we have to trust that people can play it as though they’re listening, because they are. The channel is monitored.

[Mimi]

Since attendence i have noticed IC and OOC that it is really really hard to pull of a teacher position.

Alot of discution i overhear talks about the ahoritive figure of a teacher in the sg. IC its complicated. OOC the UC and SC have athority. As for a teacher figure its compelatly IC. So what Ahority OFF and ON campus do techers have?

alot of argument stems from the fact that a student is not on campus therefor they do not have to listen to there teachers. Is it only that teachers can offer moral advice or at some point are they held up to quelling arguments, solving simple task's?

i dont know if this has been asked yet but i currently dont have an answer or an understanding to the issue.

Since attendence i have noticed IC and OOC that it is really really hard to pull of a teacher position.

Related to this, what's the policy on having a teacher character? Can anyone create one and join the SG?

Personally, I think that a teacher character should only be admitted to the SG by a SC member, and then perhaps only after the SC has discussed it as a group. I also think that teacher characters should only be created by persons who already have a well-established student character in the SG.

In any case, I think something should be added to the main website about teacher characters. Right now, most/all the guidelines target student characters.

This is a topic that we’re actually talking about right now behind closed doors. Unfortunately I do not have an answer for you right now.

Stay tuned, I guess.

[High Tower]

maybe we should have a community discussion as well, im pretty sure a lot of people have strong feelings one way or the other regarding this issue.

[Eric Copper]

I like what Mimi has done with similar things recently: Once a viable solution was written up, she posted it to the forums for community feedback before making it official.

Oddly, I can't find any of them anymore. I could have sworn there were several such threads, relating to things like the Alt policy and other code of conduct updates, but they seem to have vanished.

[Wachabe]

its cause once they are official she removes the public discussion thread and makes a official Sticky.

[Mimi]

its cause once they are official she removes the public discussion thread and makes a official Sticky.

The man with the distracting avatar is correct.

[Passion's Flame]

its cause once they are official she removes the public discussion thread and makes a official Sticky.

The man with the distracting avatar is correct.

can i use my avatar again mimi?

[Passion's Flame]

i know there was a thread about uniforms and stuff but i can't find it so i'll post here. mimi, i know that we are now allowing scarves with our uniform. i also hear we can have minor aura's (is this based on approval for everyone or do we have guidelines?) also i wanted to know if the witches hat might be considered along with the uniform. (looks really good black and yellow)

maybe a rank thing? sophmores scarves , upperclassmen hats/aura's? anyway just curious i was playing a bit and the hat with a minor aura and my scarf looked way cool.

[Mimi]

i know there was a thread about uniforms and stuff but i can't find it so i'll post here. mimi, i know that we are now allowing scarves with our uniform. i also hear we can have minor aura's (is this based on approval for everyone or do we have guidelines?) also i wanted to know if the witches hat might be considered along with the uniform. (looks really good black and yellow)

maybe a rank thing? sophmores scarves , upperclassmen hats/aura's? anyway just curious i was playing a bit and the hat with a minor aura and my scarf looked way cool.

The answers you seek are here, young grasshopper.

/big gong sounds

/bows deeply

[Wachabe]

Yes Tank, your avatar is awesome.

[Wachabe]

Yes Tank, your old avatar was awesome.

[Passion's Flame]

Yes Tank, your old avatar was awesome.

you remember those?



and who can forget the lost pic of mimi and her simian life partners child?

[Eric Copper]

More questions!

What's the car and parking situation like at SJS? Are students allowed to have cars (assuming they're of age, of course)? Do the nuns have cars; if so, do some of them commute to the campus or do they all live on the premises? Does the staff have parking, or do they all catch the train?

I was going to write up a short where one student's showing another how to drive. Then I realized I wasn't sure if there would even be cars around to make that possible.

[Mimi]

More questions!

What's the car and parking situation like at SJS? Are students allowed to have cars (assuming they're of age, of course)? Do the nuns have cars; if so, do some of them commute to the campus or do they all live on the premises? Does the staff have parking, or do they all catch the train?

I was going to write up a short where one student's showing another how to drive. Then I realized I wasn't sure if there would even be cars around to make that possible.

Seems to me that we'd probably have parking, but maybe not directly on campus. I envision a large-ish lot near the fields for people to park and watch or whatever, but in my head I guess I see it on the far side of the fence, with its own little gate and path and such.

I imagine there's a small lot near the main building for faculty and staff.

There's also probably "guest parking" near the main building for visits, and propective students' families, and such. But for a large parent weekend like homecoming, it's back to the big parking lot near the field.

Students can have cars once they're of age, but only Juniors and Seniors can get a parking permit for the lot. The younger students need to park on the street.