Q: How long does it take to train a new GM? Why don't we have more?
A: That really depends on a variety of things including the GM. We usually try to tap players that have been playing the game at least 6 months. In the past it was at least 2 years. The growth of the game has caused us to have to tap newer players that have had less over all experience in the game and therefor need more training.
We have admin-side documentation that I have written to help the process along and we are constantly iterating our training practices so that the next GM hopefully gets better and more thorough training than the GM that came before.
However, in practice this presents a very large challenge because we tend to take on GMs that have availability in areas where we do not currently have GMs or are lightly staffed, meaning that their training must be done by older GMs during the time that older GMs and the new GM are available. This leads to a some what off the cuff / ad hoc / as available training regiment (outside of the first few days where there is some pretty intensive training).
In general for a new GM to get the gist and be independent enough to work on their own without direct supervision it usually takes about a month.
However, don't get it twisted. I still run into things every day that I need to ask about, or train GMs that have been around for years on. The game is very large and no one person, Johnny or Jinx or myself included has a full knowledge of everything.
Q: Are you currently playing any ALTS? Yes? No? Why?
A: I am not currently playing any alts. I am mostly just training new admin, working on the website, fixing bugs, doing general administration and light puppeting. This is due to a lack of time on my part.
Q: How many hours a week are you logged in SD? (Counting GM/Coding/Playing/Whatever)
A: Currently, it is not a ton. Maybe 10-20 hours. That's not including time I spend off-moo working on Sindome things though. I monitor the facebook, I have a Sindome e-mail account and the admin have a Sindome Staff chat that is off-moo that we keep each other up to date on. I also spend time working on things that benefit Sindome like the Cyberpunk Podcast, and doing Player Perspective Podcasts, writing documentation, posting on the BGBB, answering e-mails, talking with players about the universe on Skype, hanging out with players IRL and discussing game issues, all that. I would say Sindome is on my mind 2-4 hours a day, everyday. On days I am extremely available (such as today) I end up on the MOO all day, which definitely adds to the total hours. In the past, during the times I was Head GM or coding very actively, and also playing an Alt, it was more like 10-12 hours a day, 5 days a week (minimum).
Q: When is your second book coming out?
A: I have plans for it, and have written a tiny bit, but I promised myself I wouldn't move on to the second book until I had fully established and marketed the first one. I still have more marketing to do, and would like to see the book get more exposure before I move on to the second one. When I do move on to the second one I expect the process to be much shorter. I will devote a large amount of time over the course of 2-4 weeks to writing the book. Send it out to people for feedback. Do a round of editing on content and then have it professional edited (for grammar and such since I will have xslither'd all over it). Or, I may write and send out chapters for review / revision as I go. Either way I expect the total turn around on the next book to be between 2-6 months. And I don't expect to start it for real, for at least a couple more months.
Q: When will we have an audio book of recombination?
A: I've considered it. I would love to read it myself. I enjoy reading out loud and it would be a good experience for me, even though I would have a bit of trouble doing some of the voices. Perhaps I wouldn't do the actual voices, perhaps I would. I don't know how campy it would be for me to be doing Zenigra, for instance.