How did the Arbiters come into existence?

DevilishMetal·Dec 30, 2015·2 votes·462 views

I just thought it'd be kinda interesting to know, if maybe a rioter (or arbiter if you know) could tell me where the idea came from.

7 Comments

DaenDec 30, 20152 votes

We were borne on wings of night, cascading through the shadows into the midnight air.

4srs, I think it was more of a series of different ideas and decisions that led to the Arbiters being a thing. The Rioter that's leading the program used to be a Wrenchman, which is the only other valid volunteer program that has really existed past Season 2 in North America. Lots of people (me included) have been talking about volunteer groups for years, so I'd like to think that has something to do with it as well. The re-organization of the Boards allowed Riot to implement a Player Behavior board, and my expectation is that Riot saw value in bringing volunteers into the mix to help out with the post density.

Keep in mind, this is mostly conjecture. I'm not sure of the specifics, just providing some random info that might be connected.

DevilishMetalDec 30, 20151 votes

{quoted}

We were borne on wings of night, cascading through the shadows into the midnight air.

4srs, I think it was more of a series of different ideas and decisions that led to the Arbiters being a thing. The Rioter that's leading the program used to be a Wrenchman, which is the only other valid volunteer program that has really existed past Season 2 in North America. Lots of people (me included) have been talking about volunteer groups for years, so I'd like to think that has something to do with it as well. The re-organization of the Boards allowed Riot to implement a Player Behavior board, and my expectation is that Riot saw value in bringing volunteers into the mix to help out with the post density.

Keep in mind, this is mostly conjecture. I'm not sure of the specifics, just providing some random info that might be connected.

Thanks, Daen. I was one of the people calling for moderation as well and I wondered if that had something to do with it :3

DaenDec 30, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Thanks, Daen. I was one of the people calling for moderation as well and I wondered if that had something to do with it :3

No worries! Hope that info helps.

We can't actually moderate anything, as it stands, though it was something we discussed as a possibility when the program was getting set up. The reason we can't at the moment is a combination of resources being unavailable and lots of decisions needing to be made, but hey. Maybe in the future!

AJStarhikerDec 30, 20151 votes

Weren't there also Emissaries for awhile on the old forums? I remember seeing a few before they vanished.

DaenDec 30, 20152 votes

{quoted}

Weren't there also Emissaries for awhile on the old forums? I remember seeing a few before they vanished.

There were, for sure, but they weren't really supported by Riot past Season 2 or so. The NA volunteer programs have been as follows:

Original

Council - Purple, high level players that helped Riot with balance during beta/Season 1. Completely unsupported ~S2+ Adjudicators - Blue, beta testers. Completely unsupported ~S2+ Emissaries - Green, community pillars. Completely unsupported ~S2+ Wrenchmen - Orange, H&S volunteers. Currently supported, somewhat.

More recent

Huntsmen - Light blue, PBE testers. No idea of the status currently. Arbiters - Light blue, PB&M volunteers. Currently supported.

It's possible I'm slightly off in my information, but this is my understanding of how volunteer groups have gone.

AJStarhikerDec 30, 20151 votes

{quoted}

There were, for sure, but they weren't really supported by Riot past Season 2 or so. The NA volunteer programs have been as follows:

Original

Council - Purple, high level players that helped Riot with balance during beta/Season 1. Completely unsupported ~S2+ Adjudicators - Blue, beta testers. Completely unsupported ~S2+ Emissaries - Green, community pillars. Completely unsupported ~S2+ Wrenchmen - Orange, H&S volunteers. Currently supported, somewhat.

More recent

Huntsmen - Light blue, PBE testers. No idea of the status currently. Arbiters - Light blue, PB&M volunteers. Currently supported.

It's possible I'm slightly off in my information, but this is my understanding of how volunteer groups have gone.

That sounds about right for when I stopped seeing the green names (I started playing in S1). I think I remember something on the webpage about how they were selected. I think there was a post or two about adding Emmissaries (or at least players wanting to join) but I never saw any new people added, so it might have been around the time it was fading into memory.

DaenDec 30, 20152 votes

{quoted}

That sounds about right for when I stopped seeing the green names (I started playing in S1). I think I remember something on the webpage about how they were selected. I think there was a post or two about adding Emmissaries (or at least players wanting to join) but I never saw any new people added, so it might have been around the time it was fading into memory.

Yep, that sounds right! A friend of mine is/was an Emissary and we've spoken about this stuff a lot, so we're using the information about how those programs failed to make sure the Arbiters don't. I've always been a huge proponent of volunteer programs, and I'd love to see NA get closer to the awesome stuff volunteers are doing in Europe.