Mod Post

[cityship]

Hello meatlings! As the plot continues to advance forward, we have a few modly things we'd like to discuss with you regarding the future of the game as a whole and where we'd like to take it for the next few years.

ACTIVITY CHECKS
As you may have already noticed last month, we've decided to make activity checks every two months instead of three, as well as send out an e-mail notification during the check to make sure players are aware it's going on.

We will still be using the one log for one of your characters system, as we don't this game to become stressful for anyone. We can understand losing a character's voice for a few months while remaining active with others, and we have always enjoyed the semi-relaxing pace when it comes to activity checks in the game. We also trust you, the players, to know when you have to drop a character when a voice becomes either a burden or simply too hard for you to play.

APPLICATIONS
Due to the discussions we have had, both between ourselves and with the players all making excellent points, we have decided that we will be using a slightly different system for apps. Starting next application round (March, with April Poddrop), we will be alternating between open podpops where people can join with an invitation (as before), and closed, player-only podpops where only the game's players can submit new characters.

January/July - open to everyone
April/October - open to old players only

We will also be limiting the number of invitations each player can give out to two.

We think this system will allow us to both allow new players who wish to join the game to continue to do so while better controlling our numbers so we don't have to shut down applications completely.

We are also considering adding one or two new, non-mandatory questions to the app, something along the lines of, "What role do you see your character playing on the ship," and "What are your goals for this character?" Again, players will not be required to answer it, and it won't damage your chances at being accepted in any way, but we feel it may be beneficial for some players for helping them figure out if their character will fit.

[Poll #1804578]

PLOT STUFF
We are aware of some of the complaints about the plot, and we are working to fix them. We will have more plots in the future that tie into the over-arching plot, and please don't forget that if you would like to include the Ohm, Daligig, Rom, etc. into your plots, all you have to do is email us. We will be happy to work with you and give you some tidbits.

During pop month, we won't run big plots to help characters and newbies get better acclimated to the setting. Smaller plots are still fine, for CR and just for fun.

We've also been tossing around the idea of Newbie Runs during pop months, where a newbie/new character and an older player/character get paired up to do simple missions like retrieve something to help Stacy run or pick up supplies of some sort for the crew. If anybody would like to volunteer to be a Big Sibling of a sort, you can do so in the comments here!

We are also considering allowing a few trusty helper mods in on some of the over-arching plot, to help us run things more smoothly when things get busy. If you are interested, send us an email.

SETTING STUFF
We would like to encourage players to explore more of Stacy. She's the size of a small moon, and there's a lot that the characters still don't know about her and what's in parts of her. Just like with adding in over-arching plot to your plots, shoot us an email and we'll work something out with you.

Once System Shock is done, there will be a City Expansion post in which you can come up with places that could be found in the City, either created from scratch, and/or coming from a series. It could be anything from 'Leftovers of Black Hole Headquarters' to theme parks, houses, anything! Start thinking about what you'd like to see, and remember to make up descriptions and the general decay of the building in question. Then we can really start fleshing out the city with this!

Also, we'd like to include a reminder of what the characters can do regarding keeping supplies like food and clothing more steady between shore leaves. All characters are given currency during shore leaves, the exact amount and the economy in that locale is usually given in some detail. If there are animals like cows, chicken or sheep (or alien equivalents), characters can purchase them and raise them for meat, milk, wool, eggs, etc. in either Hydroponics or in the City. Seeds can also be purchased and grown; in the City, it would be best to grow crops near the river as there is no real irrigation system yet. All of this would be great stuff to get some CR going, too, with players both new and old.

Third, the Constitution can be difficult to understand, so we will be writing it in non-legalese. If anyone would like to help OOCly, or has a character that would suggest/work on it ICly, let us know.

You can also use this post to discuss possible changes to the Department system.

Lastly, this is something that we are leaving up to all of you, in the form of a vote. With there being nine Councilors, it can take a while for decisions to be made, and some have suggested lowering the number to seven, or even five, to help with that. Please note that should you vote to reduce the council's size, the decision of who will be removed will be done OOC between the current council, and this is purely offered to make the council run smoother.

[Poll #1804579]

MOVING?
No, don't worry! This isn't an announcement that we're moving somewhere else, but rather how we want to hear your opinions on Livejournal, the site hosting us. Would you be okay with 1) moving or 2) staying here despite the changes? If we did move, what hosting site would you like best?

Please reply below in the section for it. We'd like to hear all your thoughts on the subject! It can give us some things to think about as well, and remember that if we did ever come to a decision, you'd all be involved in it. Thank you!

Comments

ACTIVITY CHECKS

[cityship]

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Our activity checks are SO light and SO infrequent, that I think we should take a look at hiatuses in connection with those. There have been incidents where players have, for example, gone on extended hiatus for literally months and gotten through by saying they're on hiatus all the time. If you really haven't posted once in the space of two months, you're really not in the game. Considering how lenient our return policy is, I don't think we should let people stick around for that long when their character has a shot at being picked up by someone more active.

So extended hiatuses need to be discouraged, and I don't feel a hiatus should be an excuse to dodge AC.

More generally, I feel the AC is still on the lenient side, since you can get away with one thread every two months. I feel like... people doing that are hurting our game. I don't want anyone to feel they HAVE to post, and I'm definitely not in favor of removing the "AC by player, not by character" requirement. But I do feel that one thread every two months is below a minimum standard that we should expect.

APPLICATIONS

[cityship]

Re: APPLICATIONS

[monster-san.livejournal.com]

I think that if we're going to be very restrictive with applications, we need a hard date for when the game is going to end. Like not OCTEMBER THE EIGHTH 2012 but a general idea of Fall 20XX.

I know people want to keep playing in this game for a long time, because it is a wonderful game, but I don't think it can be kept going for two or more years with very few new members coming in--not just characters, but people. Eventually people who have been here for a very long time won't be able to just rejuvenate interest with a new character because they've already done pretty much everything with the ones they've already played, and I would like to see the proper ending for this story. I don't think that'll be able to happen if the game goes on indefinitely with so little new blood.

Honestly, I kind of think that if we're going to have alternating current/outsider-allowed apps, we should have at least one app period in the year when anyone can join, but I don't know how open to change this is so I'll just throw it in as my two cents. We've lost a lot of people and over a dozen characters since the last big discussion about this, so I think getting more people in would be more beneficial than detrimental. (And for another penny I'd prefer three to two invites, but eh.)

On restricted app cycles

[badassfreakingoverlord]

I am really, really opposed to this idea. I feel it will make it almost impossible for us to get new players in. Very, very few players will wait one month to get into the game, let alone five.

In general, we are at what, 85 people or so? I personally do not feel that is an unmanageable number. If we have a lot more character, that's because we have people with large stables (am I the largest, now? Please say I am). That's a factor of time-in-game, though. This game can only benefit from more, energetic, active players. Having more players does gum down plots, but I'll address that down in the plot tag.

I'm okay with limiting invites but I really think the game will suffer if we cut down new blood to once every six months. Especially as more people drop, which will be inevitable, for whatever reason.

Re: APPLICATIONS

[quick_strike]

The biggest thing that doesn't sense to me is the 'two invites per player'. We don't exactly have a flood of newbies so why limit it? It seems unnecessary and may end up turning away some new people simply because the invitee doesn't have enough invites and found some people to join his/her cast in the game.

Then again, in the above scenario, it could be easily abused by having a friend in the game spend their unused invites (because there honestly aren't a lot of newbies joining).

In the end, that seems superfluous, kind of intimidating, easily abused, and may force someone to have to play favorites with their invites.

PLOT

[cityship]

Re: PLOT

[monster-san.livejournal.com]

I'll volunteer Allenby to be a Big Sister to newbies!

Re: PLOT

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Like I mentioned before, I'd be interested in being a newbie helper.

Re: PLOT

[fireforger]

Either Daja or Celestia could be a Big Sibling. Marco not so much I'd only be able to have one of them be a Big Sibling each podpop though, since I'm not sure I'd have the time to Big Sibling for two characters.

[aboutthatevac]

Newbie Runs/Big Sibling sounds like fun.

Re: PLOT

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

I would like to help newbies.

[magicgunworks.livejournal.com]

I'd be more than happy to sign both my girls (Fate and Mami) up as Big Sisters!

Re: PLOT

[shadhahvar.livejournal.com]

More than happy being a newbie helper, and Sakura would be able to help guide a new arrival through things. Esplin is the worst choice ever, but I can fanangle IC reasons for him participating.

On plot pacing

[badassfreakingoverlord]

One of the problems that has often been voiced about the game is that its size makes large shipwide plots, be they combative or simply revelatory in nature, prohibitive. This is part of the "the game is too large, so we're losing the plot" sort of thing.

I think we can help this a lot by having dedicated NPC-taggers or plot-runners. In Lirath, for example, we were all asked to NPC for ourselves or for others, but with no assignments or formality to it. That left us either waiting for someone else to toss us some foes, or NPCing for ourselves -- and I personally hate the latter. I feel like I'm writing the NPCs just to set up my characters, as opposed to my characters overcoming a legitimate threat. What I'd like to see is that prior to a large plot, the NPCing be planned out to some degree. For example, Lirath, pick a willing player to NPC "all battles in Medical Phase 1" or the like. That will keep the threads moving, keep the players entertained, and allow for awesomeness to still be set up without being spelled out.

Re: PLOT

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

Pencil in Kate and Xander to be Cool Big Siblings on plots.

Re: PLOT

[poetrysoldier]

I'd like to have Dustin Brooks and Ashley Williams as a Big Brother/Sister.

Re: PLOT

[morphitudinous]

I volunteer Billy for this, he should meet someone new!

[battorch]

I'd love to sign up for the Newbie Runs stuff! :D That sounds like a good idea, I love it. And just clarifying, the 'new character' does mean from old players as well as new? Or is it just people new to the game (so every other pod pop)?

Re: PLOT

[quick_strike]

I'll volunteer here too! With both Alendian (haha) and Kais later on.

[bonnypiperlad]

I'll volunteer Jamie for being a Big Brother!

Re: PLOT

[beyondgotham.livejournal.com]

I'd like to volunteer Terry to play Big Bro to newbies! (Also, gah, sorry about inactivity, I accidentally came back in the middle of plot and want to wait until it ends...)

SETTING

[cityship]

Re: SETTING

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Color me interested in helping with the Constitution OOCly, and with Eva helping out with it ICly. LET ME GET MY LAW GEEK ON YEAH YEAH.

LIVEJOURNAL (OPINIONS, ETC)

[cityship]

[sparklemagpie.livejournal.com]

I am fine with staying on LJ if that is where the game stays for the convenience of everyone but I am personally unhappy enough with Livejournal right now to have withdrawn all five of my paid accounts and moved my personal journal to Dreamwidth with little intention of returning even if the changes they are currently pushing for are reversed.

I would happily move to another hosting site should the game move.

I am playing several other games on Dreamwidth already (and have found it to be really fantastic to work with) so that would be the alternate host I would personally recommend but I'm not picky.

Anything that LJ Login can interface with I will hop on over to in a heartbeat to stay with the game.

[encourage]

Mod activity.

I can tell you that as a player, I've often felt that the mod force I'm actually ever seeing work on anything like a timeschedule is (even when laden down by work, life, and the whole gambit) Karl, Shae, and Pixle. Which would be great! If this game ran on three mods alone. As far as I'm aware, it doesn't, a fact which crops up most regularly trying to get anything approved.

Life's busy. Oh heck I know this. Yet even if on character hiatus, if around a computer at all, is it seriously that hard to read something over and keep a conversation going? Just that, no need to tag, no need to anything else. Just keep the ooc side of things shuffling along.

Maybe the mods who I can't name off the top of my head are doing this. Maybe. You'd have to sell me on that possibility, pretty darn hard. I know it's next to impossible to track how much any person does behind the scenes, especially on the internet, but I can tell you what I see: Shae and Pixle working their butts off, and I know Karl's back on that wagon after defeating the beast that is school and graduation. (Congratulations again!)

Yet when the next person after that who I can name doing things is Saphie? Something's wrong. There's a lack of communication I don't know how to rectify, yet I feel needs to be. I'm willing to look for ways to open up communication, to work to help lines of communication be heard, but I'm not willing to sit here and wonder what half the mod team is ever doing. Are they playing around in game, IC? That's awesome! I hope they are. Do they have mod duties I'm unaware of? Tell me!

But why does it take so long to hear back from them to get a post like this up? That's a problem. And why do plots go unresponded to for more than two weeks? Why are emails, or comments left in the mod comment post, not addressed? Big, complete answers aren't the kinds of recognition I look for, if I can't speak for anyone outside myself on that point. Yet some recognition is necessary. Having to pester the mods I do know are active and around to know what's going on? I feel like a nuisance, yet if that's going to be the rule for how things get addressed and done, then... I'll become that nuisance.

[coldfire-adept.livejournal.com]

I've... actually experienced the same thing, and I thought it might just be me or something. Often if I don't send multiple emails about a topic, I don't hear back at all. Some of my plots have taken multiple weeks to get back a yea/nay answer, and that's only when I continue pinging, which I'm kind of loathe to do because it feels like nagging but on the other hand if I DON'T ping, I end up waiting for a month with no answer until I finally speak up.

I'm also pretty consistently confused by mod answers to questions about the setting or plots. Like the time thing. Now as I understand it, different parts of the ship experience time differently, and there's no way to tell what time it is or what day it is. Therefore, no one knows how long they've been on the ship. At the same time, organizations like Security and Starfighter Command have shifts, wherein characters would be required, presumably, to show up at set times. How do they know when to show up when they can't tell time? Can they estimate time well enough to know when so-and-so o'clock is? If so, why can they estimate time accurately enough to know when their shift is, but not enough to estimate how many days it's been since they got on the ship?