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◣ STATE OF THE GAME - JUNE ◢
STATE OF THE GAME ❀
Each month, we will provide general updates on adjustments the mods are making to help the game thrive as we see things develop. We wish to see the game develop organically and to be responsive to player needs and receptive to alterations that will improve player experience.
These posts will also act as reminders about any housekeeping items that need player response, deadlines, etc.
Additionally, State of the Game posts are a great place for players to ask miscellaneous clarifying questions; we'll make ourselves available to turn these around relatively quickly whenever possible.
We have been updating and will continue to update our setting page after each major event log to add any information that was revealed, developed, or changed as a result of questions asked by players. If you ever find inconsistencies, please let us know! This is an ongoing project to try to help the playerbase as a whole stay on the same page.
Based on the workload NPC engagement creates for the mods, we are working on revisiting our strategy for NPC engagement. For the foreseeable future, NPCs threads will rely on a request-based system where players come to the MOD QUESTIONS thread to explain their goal for an NPC thread before we make one available. Our goal is to use our NPCs to facilitate characters affecting the setting and developing their own plots.
We are also feeling out our reporting methods for event actions that might influence the overall setting (such as the Thessyx and Critter threads). We realized after the fact that we were unclear about what we intended these threads to represent and the information gleaned. This is not a player error — we feel that you guys reacted in a way that made sense upon our review of our initial text! However, we will be revising our approach to threads of this nature to improve cohesion down the line.
Our overall goal is to use the MOD QUESTIONS thread to clarify information, and any other self-reporting threads to influence future development and logs. We're also going to work on condensing and streamlining how many different decisions players have to juggle and report on, and we want to emphasize that deadlines on these submissions are designed with giving players time to RP and allow stances/actions/plans to develop naturally in mind. We wish to give people adequate time that allows for busy schedules, varying timezones, etc, and not to create a feeling or sense of an opinion not mattering because it came in 'late to the party with Starbucks', as it were.
We have also revised our formatting and explanations for the plot engagement post. After looking over the first few weeks of requests, we felt our guidelines were unclear. Plot requests — i.e., requests that involve detailed exploration, setting growth, and/or plot discovery — are limited to once every three months per character. We also expect players making these requests to make IC and/or OOC effort to bring any other interested players on board — such as a network post, OOC discussion, or open log.
To be transparent about our reasoning: plot engagement requests are limited primarily by the mods' time and creative energy, coupled with an effort to maintain the realism of how much time characters have in a given day (or week, etc.) on top of the work they are expected to do to help the IC community survive. The more people who participate in a plot, the further our investment will go!
Please keep in mind that Tier I & II plots are exempted from these limits. We also do not mind helping you to determine which Tier your plot would fall under! This is strictly for our Tier III, which include all plot requests. We will be keeping an eye on this and ensuring it feels fair to our players, and may make adjustments in the future as we progress.
We want to make this a place that players can ask generic questions to facilitate their non-event CR and plans. However, we also want this to a place that players can provide suggestions on how our process can better support your gameplay.
Below are a list of things we would like player feedback on:
It seems people may not have felt comfortable jumping right into our thessyx arrival event, and we want to ensure that players have the information they need to play. For events that will have interactivity like this one did, we are considering the possibility of putting up a plotting post a few days in advance of the actual log so that players can get OOC answers and clarification that allows them to jump right into playing on the day the event log goes up. Let us know what you think. Would you like to see OOC plotting posts for our event logs that involve player choice?
We're currently seeing most gameplay happen in hatching/event logs — is this something the playerbase feels happy with? Is there something we could be doing to help players drive their own logs/plots separate from this? Basically: How's the pace? Do you feel like you have enough to do, enough room to initiate threads?
We're getting ready to post a new Test Drive Meme — do you think it would be better for it to go up before this July round of reserves, or should it come after our July application round to better serve the August reserve/application round? What timing serves your needs best?
If there are specific aspects of the setting, survival tropes, etc. — things that you would like to see in future events/hatching logs, feel free to request them here.
Can we better format our events and informational posts for accessibility? Let us know here.
This is your reminder that activity check closes on June 30th at 11:59 EST. All activity must be dated and submitted before this time to our STATIC ACTIVITY CHECK POST.
(As a note, we saw there was some confusion over the posting of May activity for new characters, and we'd like to quickly apologize for not being more diligent about providing examples for how to format things. We will improve this in the future, and we have (hopefully) clarified our phrasing on the post. No one was penalized in May for the way they formatted their submission, and no one was dropped due to inactivity! Yay!)
ACTIVITY REQUIREMENTS:
As a reminder, BONUS AC can be submitted once during any three-month period. It can also be done at any time during the month. While June will not be eligible for Bonus AC submissions because everyone is new, July will be! So we want to make sure there aren't any questions about its submission. If there are, please let us know.
Bonus AC provides the opportunity for: plot/story tidbits, interesting weapons or items tooled by the mods for your characters, an item from the character's home or an in-game power or ability.
GENERAL NOTES:
These posts will also act as reminders about any housekeeping items that need player response, deadlines, etc.
Additionally, State of the Game posts are a great place for players to ask miscellaneous clarifying questions; we'll make ourselves available to turn these around relatively quickly whenever possible.
❀ ANNOUNCEMENTS
Our overall goal is to use the MOD QUESTIONS thread to clarify information, and any other self-reporting threads to influence future development and logs. We're also going to work on condensing and streamlining how many different decisions players have to juggle and report on, and we want to emphasize that deadlines on these submissions are designed with giving players time to RP and allow stances/actions/plans to develop naturally in mind. We wish to give people adequate time that allows for busy schedules, varying timezones, etc, and not to create a feeling or sense of an opinion not mattering because it came in 'late to the party with Starbucks', as it were.
To be transparent about our reasoning: plot engagement requests are limited primarily by the mods' time and creative energy, coupled with an effort to maintain the realism of how much time characters have in a given day (or week, etc.) on top of the work they are expected to do to help the IC community survive. The more people who participate in a plot, the further our investment will go!
Please keep in mind that Tier I & II plots are exempted from these limits. We also do not mind helping you to determine which Tier your plot would fall under! This is strictly for our Tier III, which include all plot requests. We will be keeping an eye on this and ensuring it feels fair to our players, and may make adjustments in the future as we progress.
❀ MOD FEEDBACK
We want to make this a place that players can ask generic questions to facilitate their non-event CR and plans. However, we also want this to a place that players can provide suggestions on how our process can better support your gameplay.
Below are a list of things we would like player feedback on:
❀ ACTIVITY REMINDER
This is your reminder that activity check closes on June 30th at 11:59 EST. All activity must be dated and submitted before this time to our STATIC ACTIVITY CHECK POST.
(As a note, we saw there was some confusion over the posting of May activity for new characters, and we'd like to quickly apologize for not being more diligent about providing examples for how to format things. We will improve this in the future, and we have (hopefully) clarified our phrasing on the post. No one was penalized in May for the way they formatted their submission, and no one was dropped due to inactivity! Yay!)
ACTIVITY REQUIREMENTS:
You must submit a combination of TWO of any of the following types of activity:
☆ A log of 5 or more comments
☆ A network thread of 10 or more comments
☆ An open post in the network or log community where the player made a reasonable effort to reply**
Players may mix and match the above to any effect, as long as it meets the two proof requirement (e.g., 10 network comments and 5 log comments, or one open log and 10 network comments). "Reasonable effort to reply" to an open thread is defined as responses to some or most of the replies accrued on an open thread.
These two proofs must be with different characters from month to month. (If you submit a thread with Mario and a thread with Luigi this month, then next month you will need to submit one with Bowser and one with Peach; you cannot submit a thread with either Mario or Luigi.)
☆ A log of 5 or more comments
☆ A network thread of 10 or more comments
☆ An open post in the network or log community where the player made a reasonable effort to reply**
Players may mix and match the above to any effect, as long as it meets the two proof requirement (e.g., 10 network comments and 5 log comments, or one open log and 10 network comments). "Reasonable effort to reply" to an open thread is defined as responses to some or most of the replies accrued on an open thread.
These two proofs must be with different characters from month to month. (If you submit a thread with Mario and a thread with Luigi this month, then next month you will need to submit one with Bowser and one with Peach; you cannot submit a thread with either Mario or Luigi.)
As a reminder, BONUS AC can be submitted once during any three-month period. It can also be done at any time during the month. While June will not be eligible for Bonus AC submissions because everyone is new, July will be! So we want to make sure there aren't any questions about its submission. If there are, please let us know.
Bonus AC provides the opportunity for: plot/story tidbits, interesting weapons or items tooled by the mods for your characters, an item from the character's home or an in-game power or ability.
GENERAL NOTES:
☆ There will be no AC warning list — this post is your warning.
☆ Activity sweeps and drops will be announced in the OOC Intro/CR Meme to facilitate plotting of those players'/characters' close CR. (This cycle will include drops from May as well.)
☆ Dropped characters disappear, but their belongings are left behind. If you have questions about a character's inventory left behind, you can approach the mods. We have all the apps recorded.
☆ Activity sweeps and drops will be announced in the OOC Intro/CR Meme to facilitate plotting of those players'/characters' close CR. (This cycle will include drops from May as well.)
☆ Dropped characters disappear, but their belongings are left behind. If you have questions about a character's inventory left behind, you can approach the mods. We have all the apps recorded.