Greetings Adventurers!
(Abridged version: contact me if you need anything; society policy reminders; tips for on-line play; #safe-space channel; sending feedback to Committee)
Welcome
Happy New Year, and welcome to a new term at Geas! My name is Vivek Santayana, and I am the Equality and Wellbeing Officer. I wanted to write to all of our members very quickly to introduce myself and let them know that I am here to help if you need anything.
Come Speak to Me if you Have Any Concerns
As much as gaming is great fun, I appreciate that sometimes things can go wrong. Difficult situations may arise at the table like player-versus-player conflict, distressing content, a mismatch of expectations at the table, or improper conduct. Also, we acknowledge that online interactions might sometimes attract distressing behaviour. Should you have any concerns or difficulties at Geas, or even if you need to talk more generally about how your game is going, I am here to help. If you experience any issues that could affect your wellbeing or enjoyment of the game or of Geas as a whole, please feel free to speak to me.
I can be emailed at Geas.Welfare, or you can message me during any of the Geas events or weekly games I am at. I am currently running games on Wednesday evenings and Sunday evenings. If I am around, feel free to ping me on Discord. You are also welcome to contact me via email or DM.
Society Policy Reminders
As you would be aware, the Committee is committed to making Geas a welcoming and inclusive space for all members. To that end, we have an anti-harassment policy (https://geas.org.uk/harassment) as well as a complaints procedure (https://geas.org.uk/complaints) to enable us to protect our members’ safety.
We also require all our players and GMs to abide by our Game Safety Policy (https://geas.org.uk/safety). This policy is to make sure all our GMs and players can enjoy their games fully and set a standard for what kind of respectful and inclusive conduct we expect at Geas.
Tips for On-Line Play
One of the challenges we’re all facing just now is moving our games on-line. This can pose a number of challenges, like ‘Zoom fatigue’ or other accessibility challenges of video conferencing, or even challenges on how to adapt our game safety tools for on-line play.
To help our members adapt to these challenges, I’ve written the following blog posts on our web site on adapting to on-line play:
Adapting safety tools for on-line play
Dealing with Zoom Fatigue and Other Challenges of Virtual Gaming
I hope you find these useful!
#safe-spaces channel
Over the Winter break, we implemented a #safe-spaces channel on our discord as a space for members to talk about their experiences and be there for each other. This is a space we are providing for members to talk about anything that’s affecting them, because we recognise that lockdown can be somewhat isolating.
You are welcome to use this channel on our Discord if you need. This channel is an opt-in channel, and there are additional rules regarding how we use this that you will need to accept in order to see it. More information on that is on our Discord.
Sending Feedback to Committee
Finally, the Committee is going to meet on Sunday, 24 January. If you have any feedback you’d like to send us for us to review and discuss at the meeting, you can do so using the following anonymous form:
Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions, concerns, ideas, or even positive feedback or encouragement. We’d love to hear your experience of Geas, and how things are working (or not) for you, so we can do our best to make sure all our members have the best experience at the Society.
I hope you all enjoy gaming at Geas this semester. Feel free to contact me or the rest of the Committee should you need any help. You can reach us by email here, or via Discord (ping @Committee, post in the #help channel, or use the various bot commands).
Stay safe, keep well, and look after yourselves and each other.
For the Honour of Geas,
Vivek Santayana
Equality and Wellbeing Officer