HOW'S THE GAME?

[paradisamods]

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 valawie (Valerie), fan of todd (TF), or never die ftw (Ashley).

Anonymous will be left off for this round. Sock journals are allowed, but you will have to request comm access to post with them.

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

➜ HOW ARE THE MODS DOING?
➜ HOW IS THE ONE-MONTH APP RULE WORKING?
➜ APPLICATION PROCESS CHANGES
➜ ACTIVITY CHECK
➜ HMD
➜ PARADISA BEYOND
➜ PRISON & PRISONERS

PLOTS
➜ ARE WE READY FOR DARKER PLOTS AGAIN?
➜ WORLD PLOT
➜ MINI EVENTS/PLOTS
➜ WHAT PLOTS DO YOU WANT TO SEE?
➜ WORLD PLOT HIATUS PLOT PROPOSAL

Comments

Re: WORLD PLOT HIATUS PLOT 2/2

[ino]

I really like the idea of a new castle, and I love the idea of the castle having a more distinct and important voice. I like the idea of having a "game changer" that makes the characters think twice about what they're doing here (not unlike the Home Sweet Home plot)! I'm okay with the location change and the lack of wishes in the beginning, and I'm totally cool with characters having to rough it for awhile.

What I am really unsure about is the length of this. I really don't think that anything longer than a month is feasible. Anything longer will be problematic for anyone who isn't necessarily interested (which happens with every plot) -- instead of sitting back for a week or two like a normal plot, they ... would be stuck waiting for months until this plot comes to a close. If this were a smaller game, I would say go for it -- but it isn't, and there's a much wider range of interests to cater to. By extending this plot for that long, it's basically putting everyone who wants to do other things into limbo until it's done.

This also causes issue for characters who rely on the castle's magic for ... lots of things. From what I understand, while they'll have a foundation to fall back on, it's still not really advanced in the town at all? So ... whether it be blood for vampires, super advanced mechanical parts for cyborgs, medicine for their terminal illness which causes them a lot of pain .... etc., etc., there isn't going to be a way to feasibly create all these resources for characters without magic. While over the course of a month this might not be a problem, over five or six months? Batteries are going to run out with no way to make more. Vampires are going to kill people because they need blood but have no real way to get to it without using someone. I feel like it is going to cause a lot more chaos than I think the game can handle. And let's say something big and terrible like that happened in month two -- we'd still have four more months before it would be over.

On top of that, I feel like this will cause a bit of an issue with new players apping. Anyone who apps during that time will essentially be apping into ... not Paradisa. While players have apped in and intro'd during plots before, it's over with in a week or two and things are back to the usual game. With this, players may come in and never even see what the real Paradisa is actually like before they leave.

TL;DR I like this idea and the thought of changing things up/freaking characters out re: the castle, but I really don't think this needs to cover more than a month (if that), let alone the entirety of the hiatus.

/\

[huffythedragon.livejournal.com]

This explains all my feelings towards this plot. The length of time makes me extremely uncomfortable. I'm aware at how uneasy players have been lately, and rightly so. I just don't think such a major change so soon and for such a length of time will be at all beneficial to the game.

+1

[fluthlu.livejournal.com]

These are precisely my feelings on it as well. I love the idea so, so much, and I think it would be fun to play around with for awhile, but anything longer than a month or so would really do more damage to the game than good. Just through the reactions to smaller plots, it's clear that Paradisa's playerbase is extremely diverse in the sorts of plots we enjoy and how we like to play the game. I feel like inflicting such a dramatic change for such an extended period of time would alienate a lot of current players, and I don't think that's something that needs to be brushed aside as just an expected reaction to change.

I think something like this could easily be done on a much smaller scale, with the same intentions, but less problems to face both IC and OOC. There's no urgent need to cover the entire span of the hiatus, at least not that I've noticed. I would be in favor of seeing a plot like this that only runs for a few weeks/a month.

+1

[workaphilic.livejournal.com]

MY FEELINGS said a lot better than I could probably say them right now. I like the idea of this plot a lot, but in its current form I don't know how feasible it is. More than a month is excessive, I think, and even then a month is kind of pushing it.

[rappelle.livejournal.com]

yep. kayla said a lot of what makes me uncomfortable about this plot. I love the idea, and it seems seriously intriguing, and i could see myself and a couple of my characters really getting into it. but i also see a lot of apathy setting in, especially OOC-wise and it would be hard to deal with that. 5 or 6 months is a heck of a long time for this kind of change. even 3 or 4 months.

however... i mean. i can see WHY you'd want it to go on for that long, because obviously a plot like this needs time to be fleshed out and developed in order to work properly. and like i said, this could be really banging. but beyond a month, or maybe two if people are willing, i just don't see it working very well.

+1

[save-the-souls.livejournal.com]

Kayla basically expressed everything I was worried about. When I read the plot, I liked the idea of it but the first thing that came to my head was "...so what's Allen suppose to do?". Him and so many other characters would not be able to function for such a long period of time without the magic of the castle. The only feasible way I could have him not starve to death every two weeks is to change his loss to be all of his powers...and that's not really a road I want to go down. Not because I'm like "fufu I need my characters powerful" than just...losing all his powers possibly permanently would be devastating for him and I'm not looking to play smash the muse. I can imagine it's the same for many other muns with their characters too.

[custodismundi.livejournal.com]

I completely get what you're saying. The length of time was a major concern when thinking up the plot.

This plot is just a skeleton, so your issues with things like magic not providing for things can be easily explained away. Vampires can get blood from the hospital in town, or have reserves in the houses they wake up in, for example. There could be spare batteries or places to generate more provided by the town; the castle is playing a game, not trying to kill off residents or make their lives unlivable.

If there are problems, we can work around them or provide for them! I would never suggest that people simply have to deal with things like that. I don't see these as dire problems that can't be resolved, but hitches that we can easily create solutions for.

This all being said, I am going to suggest to the moderators that this plot be either shortened or be revamped closer to the plot idea it had been BEFORE the world plot hiatus came to mind (it was more a typical week long plot involving mystery/castle. I changed the length and scope once I thought 'hey, couldn't this be extended to work for the world plot hiatus?'). I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable with the length of time the setting would be altered and wishes taken away.

[ino]

Yeah, there are some things that can be explained away like that. But at the same time, if it's going to be that easy to get ahold of the things they need .... well, let's take Yuff's comment about Allen as an example. Allen needs to eat a monstrous amount of food every day to not starve because of his powers. Let's say, then, that as a solution, people are able to farm the amount of food that he needs, PLUS the amount that everyone else needs, etc. etc. Doesn't this kind of defeat the purpose of having a long term plot that wants people to see what it's like when wishes are negated? If everyone can still have everything they need, and are only minorly inconvenienced, then it isn't really a "game changer", so to speak, it's more of a "well okay, I guess we're doing this now". That's why I feel like this would be more successful as a shorter plot -- something like 1 or 2 weeks. Because then you can play with people having dangerously low supplies without truly endangering character's lives.

I'm not entirely sure that this particular phase of the plot will raise more than just typical annoyance at the castle otherwise ... and, there's the issue of scaring characters enough into wanting to participate in the last phase of the plot. If people are just inconvenienced and annoyed, I sincerely doubt most characters are going to go out of their way to prove their loyalty or anything like that.

SO YEAH, basically, if the mods decide to approve this plot, I think it would work way better as a shorter thing like you originally had in mind :)

[custodismundi.livejournal.com]

I contacted the mods and withdrew the idea earlier tonight, and might rework it in the future as the shorter 1-2 week version as originally intended. We'll see!

Something of this scale is a lot of work, and I think with the way the game is uneasy of change, it would be better to stave it off and do something else than try to fix all the potential problems, even if I think it would be possible. You know, save us all from going gray thinking about all the details. For the amount of effort involved, it'd be a real headache!

[ino]

Anything that involves all the characters in a large game like this is going to be a lot of work, definitely. But hey, that's what the rest of the game is here for, to help out!

Though, I personally don't feel it's an issue of not wanting change or being uneasy about it for most people-- it's just something that needs a little tweaking so that the most people possible can enjoy the plot without having their characters and their handicaps/setbacks/parasites/cyborg parts/etc interfere with the fun.