| FAQ - Jedi Knight Trials | |
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Virtue - Jedi Council  |
Permanent
Due to the amount of questions we receive at the JAC Q&A Sessions regarding Trials and Trial Procedures, I decided to write this FAQ.
I will add to it if more questions arise on the matter. 
------ What is involved in a Jedi Knight Trial? Jedi Knight Trials are very secret and only members of the JAK+ know exactly what is involved in one. The only information I will give out concerning what goes on, is that they consist of very precise and challenging tests of Skill, Morality, Mentality and Problem solving. Trials are skill specific, meaning that a Gunner won't be trialled, expecting to be highly skilled with a Lightsaber and/or Dueling. The Trials are engineered to be the ultimate test of an individual's specialty - IE. Gunning, Dueling, Full Force, etc. There are maps that have been built especially for the Trials and the maps themselves are built to test many of the prerequisites of being a Jedi Knight. Where are the Trial Maps and why are there no links to them on the site? See above. Jedi Knight Trials are very secret and mysterious. The only people who have these maps are the JAK+ and Students who are taking the Trials. The maps are sent to 'Trialees' via P2P (Peer To Peer) method (IRC, MSN, AIM, etc.) only minutes before their Trial starts, the maps are NOT uploaded to the website, nor can they be obtained via any hyperlink. Are Students allowed to watch other people being Trialled? No. Why all the secrecy? If everyone knew what was involved in the Trial procedures, the Trials would be made obsolete. People would train specifically just to pass the Trials, people would know about their secrets and answers and would render tests of morality, mentality and problem solving ineffective. Also, the Trials serve as a test of how people behave under extreme, stressful or nervous situations. There is a certain feel/atmosphere around Jedi Knight Trials and taking them which adds to the excitement of them. If everyone knew about them and what was involved in becoming a Jedi Knight - then all of this would be destroyed. The Academy would be made a little less exciting and we wouldn't be sure of the people we were promoting in respect to mentality, admin abuse, spirit and many of the other key things associated with being a Jedi Knight at the JA. How is anyone supposed to pass a Trial if they don't know anything about what is in them? I will not deny that the Jedi Knight Trials are very hard. But at the same time, if you are active in the JA and you attend Classes and/or Padawan sessions frequently, then you will be taught how to do many of the things that are involved in the Trials, we just don't tell you that you are learning Trial material. 
Not only do we teach you to be a better JK3 player, but we subtly teach you how to pass Trials. Each and every Class here at the JA has something different for you to learn about passing a Trial, you just won't know that you're learning it. 
Can you at least tell us about the procedure of Knight selection? That, I can do.
Students at the JA are constantly being evaluated by ranked members, even the freshly new recruits. Not in a very 'official' way, we're not spying on your every movement or anything - rather, we are merely watching how skilled you are, what you have learned from Classes/Padawan Sessions and how well you use the information you have learned. Your attitude and how you interact with other people is also a high factor in this procedure, how helpful you are and how you behave in some of those 'tricky' situations (Eg. When someone is laming, when someone is being offensive/annoying etc.). Don't be fooled by this, though, your input in these situations is neither required or requested - if a JAK+ is dealing with an offender, you are expected to carry on playing as normal - do not get involved. If there are no ranked members present, simply remind the offender of the rules in a diplomatic way whilst taking screenshots/condumps/demos of the offending actions and trying to contact a ranked member immediately. If your actions are found to be worthy of an opportunity for a Jedi Knight Trial, your name will be brought before the entire JAK+ body and you will be discussed. Factors that will influence this discussion are your attitude, skill, activity, your willingness to help others and your presence to most of the ranked members (The 'aura' you give). If, after this discussion, you are found to be a worthy candidate, you are then 'toggled'. What does 'Toggled' mean? 'Toggling' basically means "Your account at the JA has been flagged, opening it up to Trial information". There are four steps to Jedi Knight Trials, being toggled is the first. Once you are toggled, you can take the next step, which is the written exam. This consists of a list of questions for you to answer concerning the JA, the rules and/or policies, various in-game things, etc. Once you have submitted this exam, it is then discussed by the JAK+ and then graded by a JAC. If you get a 'pass' on your exam, you can then take the next step in the Trials.
How long are the Trials? If you mean 'How long are they from the day you are toggled, to the day you become a Jedi Knight', at shortest it can take two to three weeks to complete the entire process, in many cases, it can take a lot longer. There is a lot involved, especially for you.
What happens if someone fails a Trial? If, at any point during the process, a Trial is failed, then the potential Knight is given one more chance to get it right - A 'Re-Trial' is then scheduled no earlier than two weeks after the first initial failure. The potential Knight may not "pick up where he/she left off" ether, they must retake the entire Trial (Yes, I know, we are evil ).
If the re-trial is also failed, then the potential Knight is de-toggled and will remain a Student. This does not mean that this particular Student is discluded from Knight recommendations and discussions in the future, though. If someone who has failed a Trial is, over time, seen to have grown alot in skill and mentality, then they can indeed be considered to be toggled again. If a Student fails a Trial AND the Re-Trial, how long must he/she wait before being considered again? There is no time frame. It is simply a case of observation, just like any other Student. If that Student is seen to possess the skills required to pass a Jedi Knight Trial, then they will be discussed and toggled again. I really want to help this community by becoming a Jedi Knight, but so far, I have been unable to find a Master who can train me! Please do NOT be under the impression that "only Padawans are considered for Jedi Knights". This simply isn't true. We've had many Jedi Knights and Jedi Trainers in the past who have never had a Master at all. As long as you go to Classes, are active and are seen to be helpful and respectful, you will stand out to the ranked members. If you attend enough Classes here at the JA, you will learn what you need to learn.
------ - Virtue. 
_______________ Academy Architect This post was edited by solitude on Apr 18 2009 11:04pm. |
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Setementor - Jedi Master 
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A Lesson On Secrecy
Jedi Knight Trials These are secret, because if everybody knew what they were being tested on, they would train specifically to pass the tests themselves rather than training everything else as well. Troublemaker Details These are kept secret for two reasons. The first is that we want to keep the place as peaceful and seemingly trouble-free as possible. The second is that it would cause a lot of unnecessary flaming of them and degrade the community. Jedi Knight Requirements These haven't been particularly hidden or revealed; they are quite easy to see. Activity is a requirement - when knights are toggled they are active players in the community. Complaints These need to be kept private, again, to avoid a public rant and flame about it. There will always be problems and it is easier if you allow us to solve them professionally rather than in front of a demoralised crowd. Remember we are human as well. Anything Else That's Secret Anything else that's secret, is not particularly secret. We just try to preserve the mystery for new students and keep everything professional. This comment was edited by solitude on Apr 18 2009 11:08pm. |
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Setementor - Jedi Master
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You become a Jedi Knight. |
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Chaos - Student |
what happens when you pass the trials? _______________ chaos |
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Cuthalion - Padawan 
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Apparently I've missed alot!
DAMNIT! Although from reading everything I would have to say, bravo to Kain. Hit the nail on the head. _______________ <MaherSenatu> guh... you are just... I'll keep sure that your kind of people will never be knights... <MaherSenatu> That's my mission... Master to Kain Sol |
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Fullmetal D'Kana - Jedi Instructor 
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Quote:
Quote:
Does this mean that someone mainly focused in Gunning can be toggled or not?
Yes. Quote: Are there any JAK+ especially skilled in gunning?
Fullmetal. I have some lesson plans in the works that are currently under peer review...expect some form of gunning class in the future _______________ 
This comment was edited by Fullmetal D'Kana on Apr 15 2009 06:40pm. |
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SaZ - Student 
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if i remember correctly there were quite a few jak+ skilled with guns in the past. taught classes as well. _______________ playing jk3 since 30th of january (2005), member since 1st of february. [Unofficial Master to Vision and Z�diac ] If you can make a fool of yourself infront of 300 people you can do anything - Jaiko D'kana |
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Setementor - Jedi Master 
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Quote: Does this mean that someone mainly focused in Gunning can be toggled or not?
Yes, they can.
Quote: Are there any JAK+ especially skilled in gunning?
Fullmetal is and I regularly teach gunning classes. Some of our other JAK+ may also have used guns to some extent, especially aurochs. |
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solitude - Jedi Council 
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Quote: Does this mean that someone mainly focused in Gunning can be toggled or not?
Yes. Quote: Are there any JAK+ especially skilled in gunning?
Fullmetal. _______________ Joined 16 October 2004 | Retired 10 April 2005 | Returned 05 June 2008 | Made Staff 27 June 2008 | Made Council 18 January 2009 Padawan To Odan-Wei Belouve | Adopted into the Belouve family | Twin to xAnAtOs | Owner of the 4th Quesi sexy badge  Brother To Roan Belouve, Nomad, Majno, Silkmonkey, Kensei and Jarhok Belouve
Owner Of Virtue's 1000th profile comment, Mr. Doobie's 1000th profile comment, Gradius' 2500th comment, xAnAtOs' 2500th comment, Rosered's 1500th comment, Laziana's 900th comment, Scythus' 500th comment and Echuu's 100th comment |
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ZantuS - Student 
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Quote: Trials are skill specific, meaning that a Gunner won't be trialled, expecting to be highly skilled with a Lightsaber and/or Dueling. The Trials are engineered to be the ultimate test of an individual's specialty - IE. Gunning, Dueling, Full Force, etc.
Does this mean that someone mainly focused in Gunning can be toggled or not? I don't know if it's my own lack of understanding or what but I don't understand that. Are there any JAK+ especially skilled in gunning? (Maher you evil spammer >:O) _______________ Happiness is the ability to say "So what?" |
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Maher - Jedi Knight 
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Quote: Will this ever end?
Me gusta las telenovelas. It ends now!!!!! Nice and Informationable perm comment is a good result of this "rant"
Keep the ideas coming up, guys! _______________ Still here | My Lightsaber This comment was edited by Maher on Apr 15 2009 01:44pm. |
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Piccolo - Student 
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Will this ever end?
Me gusta las telenovelas. |
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Maher - Jedi Knight
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Quote: but how many hours do you people that are JAK+ dedicate to this community?
In my philosophy; those who are listing what they are doing, they actually do nothing... Ofcourse Lirael and Setementor, they are just being honest and they are indeed exceptions in this philosophy... Go and figure >_> I would advice every JAK+ to not answer this question... Because does it make any difference ? Only the deeds of this moment, day, month or year makes the difference
and JAK+ aren't in debt for others to explain what you are doing
Quote: so if you say TJA business is so timeconsuming... why are you doing all this. doesnt make sense.
Because we love the people... Even they are kicking you to the head... We always love the people! and I love this job! *takes his pills* *shivers* ah much better... _______________ Still here | My Lightsaber |
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Setementor - Jedi Master
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Quote: 'omg you noobs dont question our actions' and is honest.
I take pride in knowing that myself and the JAK+ never display this attitude and are always honest. That is my honest perspective; we always tell the truth and we don't want to shut you up. We want you to all come to us, right now, and tell us in PM. We want your suggestions. Just not in a public forum where it doesn't belong and causes trouble! Quote: most of the attempts to answer here are more like dodging anyway
Admittedly, I have avoided actually debating with all of you and just highlighted the principles for the simple reason that this is not a debate and many things in the JA are not directly debatable by you. Some things may be officially debated on the forums, but most other things should be suggested to us in PM for us to debate objectively ourselves. Quote: the cloud of coolness you are trying to create isnt helping.
The cloud of rage that everyone is trying to create isn't helping either, nor is it going to solve anything. Contact us privately if you have a concern. In your position, I would open my e-mail client and write an e-mail to fixtheja@thejediacademy.net detailing all of my thoughts and opinions rather than create a huge ruckus on the forums. I do the same in other communities of which I'm a part and it works very well and my suggestions are often implemented. Quote: is because it’s very easy to criticise what other people are doing.
Seems like whenever we light the flame on doing something good, we get set on fire ourselves. Quote: It’s not easy to make posts like this – it seems every time someone has been promoted recently there has been very little in the way of congratulations or recognition into the time they have voluntarily given up. To say that’s not very nice for the person being promoted or the JAK+ trying to think of ways to promote more people or get increased activity on the severs is an understatement.
Quote: We give up our time for you guys, the students so you can have fun with this game. And I am getting very tired of comments that only berate the time and effort we put in and don’t put any positive suggestions across themselves.
I have my limits too and would step down if the time I was putting was less beneficial than beneficial. Quote: I hate to add to the fire or anything, but how many hours do you people that are JAK+ dedicate to this community? I'm not siding with anybody asking this or assuming you barely do anything, but it sparks my curiosity. It seems like a helpful piece of information for the FAQs.
Personally, I run 7 classes each week, train with my padawans, review and run trials, go on the servers sometimes, chat on IRC when people need me every day, help train people and welcome them, post on the forums and keep them civilised (*cough*here*cough*), take concerns and suggestions from people, run events (swoop racing, Q&A, ceremony, April Fools and..uhm you'll see), regularly discuss things with the staff (deal with troublemakers, handle promotions, do trials, propose events, meetings and ideas and so forth). This is all on top of a busy life. With so few staff, all of which have been here for a long time and have gradually gotten very busy lives, they do surprisingly well at keeping up their duties. Because they love the JA. Quote: people don't suggest positive things we CAN do
I'm actually pretty eager for people to come and suggest things to me. I always take suggestions seriously and work on them if at all possible and appropriate, but it's not too often people approach me with them. Quote: we will give you an honest answer and try to explain things from our perspective.
I always do that anyway. Which is why I don't get contradicted. Quote: The trials are HARD. Anyone who passes them deserves respect.
Some of the people here have no idea just how hard they are. Let them speculate.
As for everyone, JAK+ and students, this isn't the place for this discussion. We made an FAQ thread and asked you to e-mail questions and we even made a Q&A session and neither achieved much success. Regardless, I'm still open to receiving such questions in my own inbox and posting them up in the Q&A and the staff and the e-mail accounts are there for you if you want to suggest anything or give your views and feedback. They will be read and listened to. The bottom line is that there is nothing to debate, but there is plenty you may suggest to us, in private. Since you have all ignored my request, the next person to post off-topic comments in this thread will get an official warning. This comment was edited by Setementor on Apr 15 2009 06:06am. |
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Augusta_Mintaka - Student 
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Maybe there should be a thread for this kind of stuff. People have made them before, but they get locked. As long as the discussion stays relatively clean, it seems like a good idea.
After all, you can douse a flaming piece of wood, but it can still catch fire. If you let it burn in a controlled manner, it will no longer be set ablaze. _______________ "Deos fortioribus adesse." |
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SaZ - Student 
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Quote: If you are not enjoying it, well, I'm sorry that you feel that way and that we couldn't please you, the door is ->.
heeeey, i was refering to the long answers, not everything you guys do : ( _______________ playing jk3 since 30th of january (2005), member since 1st of february. [Unofficial Master to Vision and Z�diac ] If you can make a fool of yourself infront of 300 people you can do anything - Jaiko D'kana |
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solitude - Jedi Council
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@ Sazabi
Quote: so if you say TJA business is so timeconsuming... why are you doing all this. doesnt make sense.
The assumption is that the work is appreciated and the community we have here get enjoyment out of our work. We were lucky enough to have dedicated people who ran the place before - for me, this is my way of giving something back. We are doing volunteer work and are not going to punch a timecard to make people happy. At the end of the day, there are servers up, classes running and we hope that this is a fun place to learn and play. If you are not enjoying it, well, I'm sorry that you feel that way and that we couldn't please you, the door is ->. @ Kain There is constructive criticism, and there is just criticism. One is useful, it's always good to have feedback, the other will naturally just rub people the wrong way. As far as in game time goes, you're right, some people do spend more time in game than others. Admittedly, I do not play much anymore, but I am reachable if you need me, do a bunch of boring admin crap and the servers seem to be (mostly) up. :p Ninja Edit: I worked out (one of) the reasons why I never play - every time I get on I miss the people I played with back when I joined up. :/ (The other is obvious to anyone who knows me - I have serious RSI issues.) (P.S. you are not bant, you'd have to do something far more outragous to get banned. :p) @ Everyone If anyone has anything *constructive* to say and has a sensible suggestion, drop myself, fixtheja or any JAK+ an email and I'll see what we can do.
I expect this to be the end of this offtopic conversation in this thread. _______________ Joined 16 October 2004 | Retired 10 April 2005 | Returned 05 June 2008 | Made Staff 27 June 2008 | Made Council 18 January 2009 Padawan To Odan-Wei Belouve | Adopted into the Belouve family | Twin to xAnAtOs | Owner of the 4th Quesi sexy badge Brother To Roan Belouve, Nomad, Majno, Silkmonkey, Kensei and Jarhok Belouve
Owner Of Virtue's 1000th profile comment, Mr. Doobie's 1000th profile comment, Gradius' 2500th comment, xAnAtOs' 2500th comment, Rosered's 1500th comment, Laziana's 900th comment, Scythus' 500th comment and Echuu's 100th comment This comment was edited by solitude on Apr 15 2009 12:49pm. |
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Kainz00r - Jedi Knight 
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Must not post... do not get self banned... bah, will say one thing though, I doubt even half the JAK+ spend more than 2 hours ingame with other members of the academy per week, if at all. I suspect most ranked members would disagree with me, but I wonder how many active students would agree with my observation
I get your post Lirael, but it's mostly formalities outside of the game, where as the focus thus far in this thread seems heavily focused on ingame activity. Amik's question was more general yes, but unsurprisingly she had to squeeze for an actual figure. Stuff like that is the reason you get these 'problem threads', half the time the response may as well be automated Not that we don't appreciate the effort you guys put in, of course we do, but to be frank the ranked folk of this place never seem to react well to criticism - and it doesn't always have to be private, this is an issue that affects the entire JA, and has been discussed in this thread thus far, so I don't think this post will do any harm _______________ Fervent supporter of duelling - leave a message if you would like to battle! Married to Masta. |
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Augusta_Mintaka - Student
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Just on average. Assuming there were the current amount of active classes, no events to worry about and everything was just like the usual. This community isn't super dynamic that there is no average.
+edit And there you go! Heh, that's all I was asking for. Maybe you all should average times up and put it out there since it's good to know. Thanks for the answer. And by Dynamic I mean that it doesn't change by huge margins a lot. There aren't rule changes every day, constant major events or excessive activity (in a positive sense). That's not a bad thing, it just means that the community is stable & consistent. _______________ "Deos fortioribus adesse." This comment was edited by Augusta_Mintaka on Apr 13 2009 10:23pm. |
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Lirael - Jedi Council 
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Exactly, it varies depending on what is going on in the community.
edit: I'd say 2-3 hours today. Tomorrow who knows? Although it also happens to be my birthday tomorrow so I might look into this 'real life' thing I've heard about.
edit edit: No, it really is dynamic. If you want to add up the average class hours etc, be my guest. I'm not going to play with statistics, calculus has always been my stronger point. _______________ I can write my name with my sparkler. My sparkler > your lightsabre This comment was edited by Lirael on Apr 13 2009 10:08pm. |
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Augusta_Mintaka - Student
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Heh, I just asked on average. I can't quite get an estimate from that because they can take anywhere from a second to hours. You can make an extremely rough estimate, I know it's hard to keep track of time. I sometimes think I spend only a couple hours studying and it's dark outside all of a sudden.
I do state again, I'm not accusing of anything or assuming the JAK+ spend like no time at all doing stuff. It's just something that sparks my curiosity. _______________ "Deos fortioribus adesse." This comment was edited by Augusta_Mintaka on Apr 13 2009 10:02pm. |
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Lirael - Jedi Council
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I'm sorry we don't carry stop watches with us so I shall give you a descriptive answer.
The roles various JAK+ have to fulfil are: Keeping the website UP
We Review applications, checking that they are not banned members trying to sneak back in. Often anomalies pop up and we have to check those individually. We have regular JAK+ meetings where we discuss all aspects of the JA. In these meetings we have to come up with positive and constructive suggests of our own over a range of topics like how can we encourage activity? Who should we promote? What can we do with this server? What can we do with that forum? We are on IRC regularly so that we are easily contactable if anything occurs. That includes, sorting out monotonous and endless disputes raised in threads like these. That includes sorting out issues on the servers like banned members getting the passwords and reseting them all if they are leaked. Finding out who leaked them, trying to ensure they aren't leaked again. We Deal with lamers on servers. Either explaining the rules to new members who dont understand the rules or again having lengthy discussions with people who like to seen as rebellious. We put on classes for you. We have to make, yes actually sit down and write, proper detailed class plans. We have to be role models and not answer tit-for-tat even when remarks get personal. We ask you to come to us any time to discuss any concerns you may have. We put on Q&A sessions in IRC incase there are any more issues you would like to bring up. We make lots of posts and permies trying to explain what we do and why we do it. (I hope this is comprehensive, if any JAK+ think I've missed something, feel free to add )
We take on padawans and teach them everything we know. We help anyone with training who wants it as well, not just official padawans. We assess and organise JAK trials. Obviously I'm not going into the detail of this. But this is time consuming. In Addition to this, sometimes we even try and squeaze in some fun. And to answer Sazabi's question, we do this because we think this is a great game and a great community and we want to work constructively to help it continue to be so. So Amik, you do the math. _______________ I can write my name with my sparkler. My sparkler > your lightsabre This comment was edited by Lirael on Apr 13 2009 10:03pm. |
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Augusta_Mintaka - Student
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About THIS? That's not a very good joke, Mahar. It would just start flames and it isn't an interesting topic for me to begin with.
At any rate, why don't you be the first to answer the question Mahar! It would help people decide whether or not they even want to take an interest in becoming JAK. How much time do the JAK+ dedicate to the community on average? _______________ "Deos fortioribus adesse." |
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Kainz00r - Jedi Knight
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Man it's way too tempting to post in this thread _______________ Fervent supporter of duelling - leave a message if you would like to battle! Married to Masta. |
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Maher - Jedi Knight
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Amik, You should make article about this! :O _______________ Still here | My Lightsaber |
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Augusta_Mintaka - Student 
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I hate to add to the fire or anything, but how many hours do you people that are JAK+ dedicate to this community? I'm not siding with anybody asking this or assuming you barely do anything, but it sparks my curiosity. It seems like a helpful piece of information for the FAQs. _______________ "Deos fortioribus adesse." |
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Maher - Jedi Knight
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Frankly I don't see where this is going ?
The Question was about does student need to be active on way becoming a Knight ? Setementor answered very clearly, shortly and decently "yes!" to that question! Shortly after It leaded to another question, "How is it possible that Masta was made knight then?" The Answer; He passed his trials! Now we have driven to debate of debate of debate... All the point is; JAK+ is doing its job badly and I have better idea as how to deal things! Guys and gals if you have problems with JA.net as generally ? or questions in mind ? Post at fixtheja@thejediacademy.net Or come to talk with me or any JAK+ about these issues... _______________ Still here | My Lightsaber |
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