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.

[aboutthatevac]

As with before, I'm going to have to disagree. There really are times when shit happens IRL. Midterms, 2/3 terms, then finals and on top of that you're sick and oh have a car accident. Or maybe even a series of little things where you just can't make that two month requirement. It's true that sometimes people need to reevaluate the time they can put into a game, but I haven't seen it happen very much and they do want to play when they come back.

When I'm stressing out and in a hiatus the last thing I want or need to worry about is if I'll make AC, I need to focus on fixing other things. This game was never set up to be a fast paced game it was set up so that even if people were busy or have other junk to deal with they still have a place to come to.

What would you propose instead? Hiatuses don't count? What if they were unable to access their computer (and this has happened) while on hiatus and miss the AC?

[badassfreakingoverlord]

We always, always have the 'special circumstances' exemption, that's only fair. I think if someone loses their computer access, for example, that generally gets passed around by someone else so people know what's up.

I'm really thinking about a couple of different cases here. For example, in one case the player had been on hiatus for months and no one was even certain what was going on with them. People were going, "Do we still have this player in game? Can I recruit for their character?" I don't mean to be harsh or a jerk, but from a broad perspective, if it's extended to a period of months, then we have to consider whether we're being kind and lenient, or just allowing character squatting.

I don't want to punish anyone with legitimate cause. We all have real life stuff to deal with in one form or another. But I do think it's bad for the game if the people in it don't play in it.

I'm not sure I HAVE a good idea for how to resolve it. I suppose so long as we're being lenient, anyone can always just write to an AC-poke that they have real life issues... and even when you can prove otherwise, that's kind of a nasty road to go down. Take it as a concern, that I'm worried that some players only put in a minimal amount of participation, and that I think our current minimum is so low that it might be hurting the game when people just punch the clock.

[fireforger]

Maybe if for any hiatus over a specified amount of time, you need to discuss it with the mods specifically? Like 'you take take this much hiatus time without a reason, but for anything over that you need to tell us why', or something.

Though in regards to some people just punching the clock - that happens in any game, regardless of how strict the AC is. I've been in games with much more stringent ACs that still get people character squatting. (Perhaps players should be able to go to the mods if they have a concern about a particular character being squatted, to request that they look at the situation (and if need be, talk to the squatting player)?

[badassfreakingoverlord]

It does. I just give it particular concern in T9 right now because of recent events, and because I feel like our numbers on paper are much more intimidating than our numbers in practice.

[aboutthatevac]

Actually it doesn't. I have some friends who lose internet access and I don't know what happened until months later. So how are the mods going to know if that's happened instead of the person just losing interest?

You do have a point there but I really don't see how anything will fix that other than what we've got. Evaluating on a case by case basis if the hiatus has gone on for a long time with no communication from the player and if someone else has expressed interest would be better than making the whole activity check more stringent.

[shadhahvar.livejournal.com]

I'd think that person could then approach the mods at that time, explain what happened, and be reinstated to the game. It's such an out there example to use as the rule, over saying, "this is our rule, if the unexpected happens, come let us know," which would be more broadly applicable. Then you don't lose that character -- especially not now, with the app cycle switch-up -- and there's got to be some working AU clause we can figure out if this does ever become a problem.

[aboutthatevac]

The problem there would be if their character had been apped. Although if we make apps more infrequent that's no as much of a problem and AUs can get really awkward.

I've just got to say, as someone who personally has been going through a lot and has had to juggle school and all, increasing activity checks any more than two months really, really bugs me. I'm really into Trans 9 and committed to it but if it got any more I would have to reevaluate staying and I would just feel less welcome.

[shadhahvar.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying increase activity checks, just to preface this.

Again, the chance of that happening, of someone idling out of game without notifying the mods of anything being up, of their character being apped after that idle-out, of them then coming back with an explanation is low. And in that case, there can be room made for an AU if based alone on making people question Stacy, on one person having Stacy memories and the other not -- and again, this is highly unlikely to happen, yet can still be dealt with if it does.

Hence where I'm not sold on the particulars you've brought up, as they're so specific that planning the rule to be aware of those incredibly specific instances seems pointless, when someone in those circumstances would have to talk to the mods anyway.

[aboutthatevac]

I don't really feel like this argument is particularly productive since I meant for it to be an example of problems that could occur, not THE problem to worry about.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Take what I'm saying as a starting-off point! Like I said above, I feel like we've got two demons gnawing at us -- our difficulty retaining newbies, and that we're intimidating in numbers on paper but not in practice -- and that more character activity would help both of those. Tightening the AC may not be the best way to do it. I do think we should look at it somehow.

[aboutthatevac]

I don't really agree that we need that much more character activity. There's been a lull lately because everyone's busy, true. But some people don't want to tag everything and be super active, we take things at a slower pace because it's all we have time or energy for.

[aboutthatevac]

I should clarify that I do think more activity would be nice. I just think increasing AC any more would be overkill and could do some unintended damage.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Yeah, I understand that. Like I said, there are one or two situations which, not wanting to get into detail and name names, have colored my opinions on this subject. Deliberate AC dodging while not playing in the game.

[aboutthatevac]

Yeah, I can definitely understand that. It's a tricky situation and I'm certainly to more guidelines on how to operate in those situations on a case by case basis.

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

Aren't you allowed to come back and depod your characters whenever you want? I thought the door was always open for people who wanted to come back, so it would be a choice between GLaDOSing your characters for some months instead of repodding them for the same amount of time.

[aboutthatevac]

Yeah, but if it's done in cases where someone else has expressed interest in that character then there are going to be some complications just deGLaDoSing someone if they're all ready in play.

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

Well, how's that handled now? I have noticed one or two characters who get dropped and reapped by someone else, but I've never seen a case where one person apps the character and the original player comes back and wants them too.

[fireforger]

I don't think extended hiatuses should just be gotten rid of. I think they do all need to be taken on a case by case basis - if someone comes down with a serious illness, can you really tell them that no, they're not allowed to take that hiatus?

There is a point where an extended hiatus is too long, but how long is too long would also depend on the reason. What I think should be discouraged is taking multiple extended hiatuses.