CoPaP

Question: If you were running a NWN persistent world (this includes the entire team), would you strive for a large team to run the server or would strive for a smaller, select group? And if you are feeling adventurous, why?

In short, what do you like—big or small?

Medium.

Still hand pick exactly who you want, but make sure you have enough to cover people leaving so that your team doesn't totally collapse.

I made the mistake of small and hand picked early on in Tairis' life. It went well for a while, but then RL claimed a lot of my team and I never really recovered.

I second Them on this one. A medium sized team is ideal. Hala has always had a smallish team. We've been plagued in the past by people leaving, going on extended vacations and what not. That doesn't leave much in the way of fill in.

We have what I consdier now to be about a medium sized team as we have 2 servers, 6 DMs (when all are active), 2 dedicated scripters and 4 builders. All hand selected. This makes for a much tighter group who knows the vision of the world and strives for it. As well as adds a family feel to it which can help make things go a lot smoother.

I believe the team size should be proportional to the size of the player base at the point, where the PW has established itself.

Before that point, the optimum is to start with a team that covers all crucial positions (coder, DM, area designer, coordinator) and have a recruitment rate that can cover up any losses, but at the same time aims to expand the size of the team and of course the size and quality of your world.

I'm in favor of hand-picking recruiting, sure, but you should never seize doing it and always ask for more, even if you feel you do not need more team members. The reasons are clearly depicted by the previous posters.