Special Discussion [PLEASE READ]

[cityship]

It has come to the mods' attention that there is a signficant chunk of players that have concerns about the health of the game and think it's dying. Unfortunately, this means that everyone's in a holding pattern waiting to see what happens and the problem with this is if we collectively do this as a game, we might not make it past rebellion.

So the mods have decided to address the issue head on to discuss it.

For our part, the mods want to encourage people to send in plots, tag around, invite people for June, and put up posts. We'd also like to take suggestions and answer questions and want to try to reassure you that we will do whatever we can on our end to make things fun. Our response times for plots and answering questions about things people can do in the game are down to only a few days (usually 3-5 for complicated issues/questions). Sometimes we can even get a response back the same day or just 1-2 for simple issues. If players want to run plots, we can definitely get an answer back to you very quickly, and in the case of milk runs, you pretty much have free reign to do those whenever or however you want. So now's the time for us to ask the question: what do you need from the mod team to have fun? What things do you want? What things might you want to see?

What things would players like to see from other players? This is also a good place to discuss that. As of right now, close to thirty people have posted for and made AC, which means that there are a good chunk of players that have have at least some interest in continuing to play. (Hopefully that will be reassuring to those of you worried about mass drops.)

At this point, the game is really only what we make it, and while there were a lot of problems over the last year, we are very dedicated to working on the ones that were on the mod end. The game can be made fun again, but now that the backlog of work and mod duties have been caught up, it is definitely something we need to discuss and cooperatively work on and confront head on as a group.

So discuss away, and please plurk and replurk this to your heart's content, point other players you know to it via AIM, etc. It really is something we need as many eyes seeing as possible.

EDIT: Please keep commenting, even if the mods don't respond to each of your individual comments. We're incorporating all the player feedback into our discussions about this in modchat.

EDIT 2, EDITINING: The mods are going to have a big modchat on Friday the 25th to iron everything out and probably have communication go up then or over the weekend.

Comments

[badassfreakingoverlord]

I've already expressed a couple of comments earlier about AC and so forth. I'll keep them to their own place there. This is a different kettle of fish.

First, we have become, or are in grave danger of becoming, That Game Where You Have To Have Plurk To Get CR. From my own perception, a huge number of our posts -- particularly our closed or semi-closed posts -- come from "let's do this" or "I will make this post" discussions on plurk. This is not in and of itself a bad thing; plurk is a useful communication tool for exactly that purpose. But as this very post evinces, we have great ideas that are not being communicated to each other for stuff that can happen. Plots get bogged down because there isn't a central place to discuss them. People get worried about contacting people through other means.

People have proposed things like the watercooler post, but I agree with the earlier-expressed sentiment that they usually only result in the same people talking to the same people. So the question is, how to address it?

For one, I suggest adapting the contact list to somehow indicate what a preferred method of communication should be. I myself feel awkward looking at someone's email and wondering if I should use it - or should I IM them, but maybe they don't recognize my SN and will ignore me -- or should I plurk them, but hey, the contact list doesn't HAVE plurk. In lieu of that uncertainty, let's ask everyone "how should we contact you?" and clearly mark that so I know what the best way to get in contact with the other person is, and have alternate ways to fall back on if I need to.

For another, possibly a separate plotting community would do us good. Someplace we can just toss out ideas, or say, "Hey, I'd like to do an open post with X, would anyone be interested if Y scenario happened?". We could always use the OOC comm, but I feel that the greater volume might drown out what are otherwise important notices such as hiatuses or mod communications, plus there's a certain hesitancy to just post this sort of thing to an 'official' comm, if that makes any sense. This would be a free-posting, no-judging comm. Imagine it like plurk or a chat room, just... on a comm.

My other point is something I feel needs to be said but hasn't yet: all our problems and the solutions we're discussing, be it increased AC or better ways to discuss plots or how to keep people active in plots or all of this... it's all just symptoms of the greater problem, which is that people aren't posting and aren't tagging at anywhere near the volume this game should see, and HAS seen, at its numbers.

We're trying to encourage that -- hell, we're even trying to force it, and I don't say that negatively, because I'm in favor of increased AC -- but ultimately, if people don't find the desire and motivation to bring themselves back to activity, then it will be all for nothing. This, then, is my plea: if you aren't as active as you'd like to be, or ought to be, then please, take a moment to figure out why that is. And if it CAN be addressed, then let's address it.

If you aren't clicking a character, let's find a place for them. If you're swamped OOC, well, that's understandable, we can tell the difference between an active but slow person and a person who's just dipping in, if rarely, to make AC. If the spark has gone out of the game for you, let's figure out why, and what we can do to get it back.

Changing the game in the ways we have proposed treats the symptoms. The cause needs a treatment too. Let's not lose sight of that.

[punchedoutdestiny]

I like the idea of a plotting-specific comm, as it's done pretty well over at Imperial Saga from what I've seen.

[elementofloyalty]

Well, yeah, where do you think I got the idea? :D

[punchedoutdestiny]

Awww yeah. Though would the signups and more fully-formed stuff still come up on the regular OOC comm with that around, or....? :|a

[badassfreakingoverlord]

I figure official signups and announcements ought to come on the OOC comm.