HOW'S THE GAME?

[paradisamods]

HOW'S THE GAME?

It's been awhile! It's time for another round of Game Discussion, also known as "How's The Game?"

Here we come together to discuss the game, its plots, the settings, and just about anything we can think of that we'd like to talk about, expand upon, improve, change, etc.

This is not an HMD for players and their characters; this should be about the game's function as a whole and not the people in it. If there is something you feel is absolutely necessary to address that involves a specific person, please IM a mod first to discuss it. We can be reached at terraqueous orb (Kayla), end title (Fudgey) or a great fanfare (Jenn). (Though Jenn is on hiatus right now because her laptop is broken, so Kayla or Fudgey would be best for right now!)

Anonymous will be left off for this round (see first section).

Here are the sections that we've come up with. Add your own and we'll edit it into the list.

Anonymous: Why is it turned off?
What do the mods/helpers do, anyways?
How is my activity being monitored?
Activity check changes
Applications/turnover rate
 → Test Drive Comm
Abilities on the application
Villains & Heroes
 → Recent Villain Activity
 → Upcoming Villain Activities/Plots
Death
World Plot/Paradisa Lore
 → Concrete Resolutions, etc.
Canon Updates
Mini-plot Planning
Changes since last HTG
Plots in General
Regular Plots?

How's The Game will now be held quarterly, in order to avoid excessively long stretches in which there is no outlet for discussion.

Comments

[knifestorm.livejournal.com]

The two points are related, in my opinion. A gradual canon update would be so different from the norm that it would create excitement if carried out. Staying awake through the whole process could be a cause for development or drama as well -- if I were to update Shizuru to post-canon, she'd have to deal with losing her powers, for one -- feeling them fade away would have a drastic impact on her. Not sure what else might be good for spicing things up...how about the new information being stored in some form which would be picked up by other characters? Like if someone comes across a funny-looking item which turns out to be an important part of another character's "future" and the updated character would gain the information inside when the acquire that item...ahahah it's just an thought I came up with on the spot.

I agree with Laura's comment upthread too. Poorly executed canon updates just make it come across as "oh, so-and-so now looks different/has a new power/hates onions and will never touch them" and skips all the development in canon that led to those changes. For someone else unfamiliar with the canon, they might be led to question why and how that is. Furthermore, it might make sense for some characters to keep trucking on after being updated, but for others, they would have to handle being sent back and undergoing their new experiences, then suddenly thrown into Paradisa. There has to be some degree of adjustment, in short.

+1

[orz-woeisme.livejournal.com]

I...am digging the idea of finding items/things needed for people to progress in a canon update. It's really different and gives the chance to build CR through whoever finds the item/etc *_*

What do other people think about this?

+2

[gottaknockhard.livejournal.com]

That's a really cool idea that I haven't seen before. I like it! :)

[percepts.livejournal.com]

I really like it as an alternative to the big info-dump after being knocked out for a few days. I'd need to get a clearer idea of how it would work in my head (if it's an item from the character's future, how would the person know it's theirs, how would the person who found it get it to them; once the person gets the item, do the memories just flow into their head or what, etc etc etc) but, yes. :)

[entailing.livejournal.com]

I was envisioning the new memories and experience to be "absorbed" by the character, although there'd probably be issues arising from there to be addressed.

Another possibility might be having it done step-by-step. Like if Sakuya were to be playable in Touhou 14 and I wanted to update her to a canon point after that, I would put up an OOC post with a game script and maybe some links. Then, assuming there are 7 stages (including Extra Stage), there would be 7 items she would obtain in order over a period of time to know all that occurred. The problem with such a process, of course, is having the character go back and fro between their canon and what happens in game, and deciding what would happen to them in between getting the items...

-1

[thiefoflight.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I don't really like the thought of this, only because the character is not living through their development as they would have if they were back home.

What I like about Paradisa is the fact that a different road could be taken now that the circumstances have changed. If a character goes through this life altering journey or character development with the help of their fellow residents, the end effect would not be the same if they did it back home, by themselves, with the surroundings at hand. Because of the lack of their own environment's influences, who is to say, there wouldn't be some weird hybrid third fate that they'd end up falling into?

DOES THIS MAKE SENSE? I HOPE IT DOES. I WILL BE MORE CLEAR WHEN I GET BACK FROM WORK... /GOES TO THAT

[entailing.livejournal.com]

I guess now that I'm thinking about it more I can try to answer, since you've raised your concerns!

What I had in mind was for the character undergoing the update to have any new information/experience they would be gaining to be available to them once they obtain the item it was stored in. So it isn't unlike what generally goes on with updates as they are at the moment. The item will serve as a trigger of sorts which makes them undergo the events leading to them becoming their updated selves. I'm...not sure how that cuts away the influence their canon environment would have on the character, could you clarify that?