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 on for this round. Sock journals are still allowed.

Please feel free to bring up any game-related topic you'd like to discuss. All topics will be linked in the main post.

➜ HOW'S THE STAFF
➜ FLOOR MAP
➜ PLOTTING 101 + NOTE
➜ AC REQUIREMENTS
➜ NEW CHARACTERS/MUNS
➜ IC INBOXES

Comments

HOW'S THE STAFF

[paradisamods]

Our current staff includes Valerie valerie, TF teeff, and Ashley frisky as mods, with Jenn superheroine and Ruru plonks as helpers.

How do you feel the staff is faring? As always, we welcome and encourage any questions or comments you may have for us. All feedback will be greatly appreciated!

[rightchoices]

Hey there! I just wanted to drop a quick note to say that I love this game, and really appreciate the work that goes into maintaining it.

Just as a quick aside, though, because I am not really sure where else to put it! I really just want to pop in and say that modding isn't a job, and that expecting you guys, as volunteers who run a game almost thanklessly so that other people can have fun, to be "professional" or serious most of the time in any capacity is a stone-cold stupid expectation. On that note, I think that one thing that should be looked at, as mods, is the tone taken about players (current and past) on plurk. You guys are the most direct reflection of the game out there, and complaints about people in the game can be really offputting, even (or especially) to people who aren't in the game. I just think this is something to be careful of?

Of course, like I said: this isn't a job, and your private plurks can't be policed, nor would I ever want them to be. Mostly I just wanted to pop in and say that this is something I hope you'll be mindful of. :)

FLOOR MAP

[paradisamods]

As you may have noticed, the Floor Map is beginning to look a little bare with the resident so spread out among the floors and towers. We are allowing everyone to change their rooms if they'd like, but we'd also like to fill some of the holes in the map with other rooms as well.

Are there any special rooms or towers you would like to see in the castle? Perhaps the castle could do with an observatory? How about a padded room for all those crazy residents? An anti-gravity chamber? A room with a moose???

If you have any ideas, let's hear them!

Holodeck & Other Ideas

[acesarewild]

I know that The EMH from Voyager is working with York, Mark, Dairine and some others to build a holodeck, and it's something carried over from a previous player's idea. Unsure if that ever got formally approved/assigned, but I felt it needed to be made note of.

This is just a total random crack idea, but ... what about a room full of vending machines? Soda, snacks, coffee, random strange things you wouldn't expect a la Japan ...

Re: FLOOR MAP

[xss]

Y'know an observatory would be REALLY cool actually. One of the big features of Paradisa is its night sky after all but I feel it gets forgotten about and overlooked quite often. An observatory would fit in really well I feel and maybe draw attention back to the sky for new characters.

A planetarium would also be SUPER COOL, it could have a projector that shows off the galaxies of other character's worlds!

Aside from those though, I really love the idea of a Japanese public bath house built in the castle. Maybe the sauna could move as well and connect with it?

...btw just out of curiosity does the gym have a weight lifting room attached to it as well I've never been sure on that

[waterproofed]

I just thought of this: could we have a bouncy house room for the younger kids/kids at heart? Or a room that looks like the inside of a cave?

I am all for an observatory and an anti-gravity chamber too :D

Re: FLOOR MAP

[putuporshutup]

Where should we request a move? I'd like to stick Meg on the 7th floor for so many reasons.

PLOTTING 101 + NOTE

[paradisamods]

As always, we'd like your feedback on any plots you'd like to see in the future. Perhaps you have an idea but don't know where to begin writing it up yourself, or maybe you have a question about something you'd like to try but aren't sure how it would work. If it's related to plots you'd like to see happen, it goes here.

NOTE: If you have a plot idea you would like to pitch but would not like to run it yourself, please state this in your pitch! Additionally, if you have a plot that you are scheduled to run but find that outside circumstances will conflict with this, please be sure to let the staff know with as much advance notice as possible. We are here to help, but we can only help when there is an open line of communication. :)

Re: PLOTTING 101 + NOTE

[putuporshutup]

Being pretty new I don't really know what has been done and what hasn't, but I really would like to say that Hogwarts was incredibly fun. Doing more things that cross into really well-known canons seems like it would generally be enjoyable for a majority of players. A collaborative discussion would be awesome, maybe some polls to determine which other canons people would be as excited about playing with?

Re: PLOTTING 101 + NOTE

[lucre]

We should do another languages plot when the castle's translating function fails! And for myself, I've always enjoyed more metaplots unrelated to expeditions, that is anything that reveals or adds more mystery to what the Castle actually is. Like that time the walls turned into jell-o ;)

I was also wondering, if this is related to plotting, if it's possible for us to have the calendar updated every month instead of three months? So, we would have, for example, July-September then the next one will be August-October, which would be helpful since waiting for the end of September to know what's coming up in October is tough for plotting. I know this adds more work for the mods, so if there's any way I can pitch in and help out, I'd be happy to!

Re: PLOTTING 101 + NOTE

[rose_of_battle]

I think this might fall into the category of wanting to try but not sure how it would work.

And, my original info may be wrong, so please bear with me...

Some have mentioned that Paradisa used to be dark--literally. What if the place somehow goes back in time to how it was in the beginning of the game, and over the course of possibly a month (?) it travels forward in time (maybe with a nano-second's worth of seeing how the place was originally?)--with some events repeated quickly (like the castle exploding)--until it reaches its present time, though leaving the residents out of the time equation?

Helpful Link Tiem

[hard_talker]

ALSO since I needed this for other reasons and realized it wasn't in here yet...

Here is the Plot Suggestions post!

AC Requirements

[wilder]

I was asked to bring this topic up again to the table a couple weeks ago, so here we go.

Currently the AC for this game is 2 proofs of activity, a proof being either a post, log or 25 comments equivalent. If you are on a strike, you are required three proofs of activity- therefore either three posts or 75 comments or a combination of the two.

Frankly I must say as I have in the past, that this AC is much too high for the current speed of the game. A lot of muns have admitted to struggle every month with this AC and it's a factor for a lot of the muns that are dropping or choosing not to app in the game. It is a much higher AC compared to a lot of the games out there right now, and I think it causes the game to stagnant with a lot of unnecessary posts that people make to get by. Not to mention, it scares away a lot of players.

So I plead with you guys one last time, to please consider lowering the AC. I know that I'm planning on leaving at the end of the month due to burnout and RL stuff regardless of what happens with HTG, but AC is a huge factor in whether or not I'll come back (which I would like to come back!). And I know there are many muns who feel the same way! While the 2 post AC worked in the past, it doesn't anymore. The playerbase has gotten old, more busy and the game is slower. I feel it's really time to update the AC to accommodate to to those fact. That way, playing in Paradisa can be again more fun and relaxing rather than stressful about making AC.

Thank you.

Re: AC Requirements

[acesarewild]

Personally, now that AC has been modified to say that 25 comments' worth of thread activity counts as 1 post, I've found that meeting AC has gotten easier.

This isn't to say that I don't see and understand where you're coming from, because I do, having recently lost a good chunk of my usual tag time to RL circumstances. I'm just putting my two cents in. :)

Also: for me, the ease of meeting AC from month to month can depend a lot on what sort of plots are happening, either game-wide or between CR. Some months there's so much going on that I feel like I don't have enough time to tag into everything that interests me, while other times there isn't anything that would interest any of my characters ICly, so I find myself having to come up with posts and/or logs and find places to tag out is a little more difficult.

I guess my TL;DR on the subject is, I'm content right now with the requirements, YMMV.

Re: AC Requirements

[princelyspirit]

I don't know. It might be because I only have one character, but the only times I've had trouble with AC is when I've slacked off and didn't keep up with my threads. While I've seen people struggle with AC, most of the time it's either because they didn't find any posts that would interest both them and their character, or their threads were dropped. While I wouldn't argue with cutting AC requirement back a little bit, I think we should look at other issues as well. After all, it doesn't matter how few comments or posts an AC requires, people will still have issues if they don't feel that they have anything to tag.

[scaler]

I don't necessarily agree that AC is a struggle (as other people have mentioned, the set comment count makes it much easier, and the inclusion of backtags also allows me something to fall back on if I can't quite make it). But I do agree that it's in our best interests to lower AC.

I understand the inclination of the mods to keep AC focused on posts -- it makes the time necessary yo complete AC much shorter. But you can't deny that the number of people opting to provide threads instead each month has been steadily increasing, and that we frequently have a bloat of posts towards the end of the month.

I think lowering AC would be acknowledging the game for what it is now, and would tighten up the game with regards to threads/posts done for AC and those done for fun and creativity.

Essentially, I think it's strange that AC is the same now as it was when I first joined in 2008, and that it would be beneficial for the game as a whole to lower it.

[gottaknockhard]

I can't quite agree on this one. I only have one character in game, something I've kept myself at so far because I knew what I'd be able to handle, so maybe that's why I've never struggled to make it. But 50 comments in a month just doesn't seem like a lot to me, and if there's a post or log involved, it's even easier.

I don't know, but I (personally) think that this issue was resolved when the comment count was specified. Lowering it would make for less incentive for people posting, and really, I like to see that motivation in place. Not that I don't sympathize with those who struggle to meet AC, but for the sake of opinion!

[youfallback]

I want to agree that the AC is too high for the current pace of the game. Even when we do have plots, everything hits so quickly that not everyone continues threads they start, leaving multiple short threads.

I really appreciate comment threads being allowed, for sure, as a mun of a character who is getting more distant regarding fellow residents. It means I don't have to push her to be ooc or anything like that. I don't usually have too much of a struggle getting enough comments, but our AC is much higher than many other games. I think the drop train (obviously with the beginning of the school year this was inevitable, but) is indicative of this.

[greatesthitman]

Yeah I'm another one of those that agrees with Yuff. AC here is nearly twice that of every other game I've seen that's monthly, Asgard is the highest with their AC right now at 30 comments across at least 3 posts and posts don't count for anything there now and out of all the people I've tried to enable to Paradisa they've said AC is a huge factor in not coming here and it needs to be lowered, and like Yuff, I'm dropping at the end of the month too but I stuck it out to have a say in things here because I'd like to come back.

I'd like to suggest lowering the total comment total needed to 30 total. That's 15 comments a proof and with how this game pace can be it works much better, especially when people are struggling to find things to tag into. 30 total or 2 posts is at the higher end of what every where else has right now with two proofs of activity and 15 is about right where most of the single proof games call good on network threads. At the very least it would draw in the folks that were looking at this game before but didn't consider fully because of the AC. A strike for AC and a half could be 40 comments instead of 30 or a third post etc.

And if you guys don't believe me that AC is the highest so far out of the other games around here's a few examples, Exsilium, Ataraxion, Exit Void and Asgard.

I'm all for the comment count, especially because it's so flexible here and I love it but again in my opinion it's to high for the pace of the game. More people are using threads for AC now and lowering it can only help folks when they can't come up with a post idea for the month and can hopefully bring in new people.

[superheroine]

I was just looking at my charts, and I just wanted to make a note about AC and offer some perspective.

We've had around 130-140 characters in the castle for over a year. Right now we are sitting at 130.

We get about 11-12 new characters a month. An average of 4-5 characters get swept per month. A handful of people take on extra posts for the next month -- something like 5-8 –– and they make it. Maybe 5-6 characters drop every month for their own reasons.

Take this from someone who used to do AC back in Paradisa's heyday: the amount of people failing AC has not risen. The number of people dropping hasn't risen. It just seems to me that the game has scaled down in both size and speed, but people are still making check just fine.

Do more people rely on comments than posts? Sure! But as far as I can tell, nothing has changed about people coming and going.

And granted, no, that doesn't mean people aren't struggling to get to that 50... but speaking to Val, who does AC these days, it doesn't seem like people's submitted threads are scraping by or anything. People are still completing it. Hell, last month there was a huge spike in threads because Hogwarts was on and lots of people were super into it. Because of that, I don't think AC is necessarily the problem. I think it's the same problem that has popped up time and time again: motivation. I think people need something new to motivate them and get them interested in tagging, whether that's new plots or mixing things up, or... whatever. Hell, given the thread down below about IC inboxes, it seems being perceived as spamming the comm keeps people from posting and tagging with people.

[lord_wizard]

I see where you're coming from, I really do, and I sympathize entirely with your issues here. The game does seem slower than it used to be and it does feel like a lot of people are dropping lately. But I'm not entirely sure the speed of the game is the cause - or at least, the sole cause.

My concern is, as it has always been, that lowering AC may potentially make it slower than it already is. Personally, without any kind of deadline or pressure, I'm very likely to not do something, and lowering the bar would only be temptation to do less. One of the reasons I dropped from Exsilium is because, due to the lower AC requirements, not only did I have to post less, but people commented to me less as well, and I felt ignored, bored, and stagnant in the game (but maybe it was just me/the character).

Here, since the new comment system, I have had little trouble making AC, even during spans when I felt a bit unmotivated. It seems the factors affecting that should be addressed rather than how much activity the game requires.

New characters/muns

[(Anonymous)]

There is something that honestly has bothered me for a little while, and I had hoped that there could be a way for it to at least be mended a little. Sometimes when I look at the introduction post of a new character, depending on who that character is, there is a serious difference in the number of tags they got.

I know it is to be expected that if there's a new character from a more well-known series coming in, yes, more players may want to interact with that character. But for someone who brings in an obscure character, I can't help but find that a problem. It's a little discouraging, really. Especially if a person brings in an obscure character at the same time someone else brought in a more well-known one. It's not so bad when it's a player who have already established themselves in the game before, but when it's a new player, I find it can be kind of discouraging.

I do know that a lot of the older players got tired of the 'welcome to a magic castle' routine, which I can see if you've been in the game for a really long time like a number of players have been. I am also aware that sometimes the muses won't cooperate because, well, maybe that character is on the anti-social side of things.

But I just can't help but want to see some sort of remedy? As I recall back in the LJ days, there were at least two things that were meant to help. One character had put together a list of 'typical welcome things' in an entry and other characters were like "Yeah, read this over and we'll go from there" and wasn't there a 'welcoming committee' at one point? I'm thinking there was also the option of a character receiving a pamphlet at the beginning, but my memory could be faulty there.

I was just wondering if maybe one of those could be restored? The latter most could be used for a mun if they'd rather have a character know the basics and not make a 'whoa where am I' post for their introduction. I could just be rambling over something that might not be as big a problem as I think it is, but I thought it could be at least worth mentioning. I personally would like to see if we could get one of those three options for new characters again.

Re: New characters/muns

[princelyspirit]

Seconding the idea of a welcoming committee/pamphlet/pretty much anything that can give newcomers the quick and dirty version of what Paradisa is like. While there's a very useful info post on Paradisa and Nostos, the only one I've seen has been pretty big, beefy, and intimidating for somebody who's new (both IC and OOC). Like OP mentioned, it would allow players to skip the OH MY GOD WHAT IS THIS WHERE AM I step, and allow for more creative intro posts.

IC Inboxes

[rightchoices]

Man, I have honestly never posted to a HTG, so if I'm doing something wrong, please let me know! Otherwise, I'm just gonna charge right ahead.

I'd love to see IC Inboxes utilized as part of the game, and even maybe counted for AC. Let me really quickly run through some of the pros/cons here:

PROS-
1) It would seriously help with CR building. One of my inboxes in another game was created in July and has 600 comments -- lots of those threads are short, tiny little things that don't merit a post. 'Hey, did you hear the fireworks,' or 'hey, you weren't attacked by the monster, were you?' There are lots of chitchatty conversation, and it really helps solidify CR in tiny ways.

2) It would also cut back a lot of the locked posts that Para has. Look at the front page right now - those three posts were all in a row, and all locked. Even if these posts only hit a few comments, they count as an entire AC proof for the poster.. but not the commenter. These really make the game look a lot more cliquey than it is, and generates the impression that building CR can be difficult, especially when you scroll and see locked post, locked post, locked post.


CONS-
1) There is a usual worry that with IC inboxes, especially if they count for activity, means that characters will ONLY tag their CR. That's a valid concern, but look at the image I linked above; it people want to do that, they can already simply make a post locked to a single person, and then the comment count doesn't even matter. If I made a post locked to a CR person, that's one proof counted; in order to get the same AC proof in an IC inbox, I would need a thread that's at least a total of 50 comments long. In the end of it, if people are determined not to branch out, they're not going to branch out; the inclusion of IC inboxes won't change that.


So, in silly summation, IC inboxes are awesome and y'all should consider them. Threads like THIS and THIS and THIS are the reasons I love them, and they let people build and solidify CR so easily, especially when I don't want to make post after post after post. At this very moment, I'd really like to have Lee speak with Joel about Tess, and then to ask after another character he met in the last post, but I don't want to clog the front page of the comm with a post that won't necessarily notify whoever I'm trying to get ahold of. :(

Thanks for listening!

[valerie]

Just to clarify regarding those locked posts between two people: if both participants have their character tags on it, I've been giving both characters credit for the post since it's exactly like a closed log; just two people doing something. If someone isn't getting credit for a post like that it's likely because they don't have their character tag on it and I didn't see it come activity check.

GAME INFO

[lord_wizard]

I realize me or somebody brings this up every HTG, but I think one of the major things that is affecting this game is how our world and game info is currently organized or it's lack thereof in many places. Old players remember things wrong and new players can't get the info they need (or not even realize there are things they do need) because this info is lost or too spread out. Currently, the only way to get to info about the town and world is to go through two different links, and even then the world info comm is still startling full of gaps. The only existing large map of the town is not linked in the maps or the wider entry for the City Royale, but locally under the entry for the town church. There are plenty of smaller details or locations they are simply not mentioned or detailed anywhere and are at risk of being lost from player knowledge forever. As it stands we only appear confusing and inaccessible to new people (and even as an older players, there is still a lot that I forget or have gotten wrong over the years).

Firstly, I think the world info needs to be linked directly in the profile, so it can easily be found.

Secondly, I think a more focused effort needs to be taken to fill out all those gaps. I realize the staff has attempted to enlist the aid of players in this endeavor, but have stated a lack of activity or interest in this project. Rather than leaving players to do this on their own, perhaps picking one section each month to work on or refine. Give us a goal and poll the playersbase at large to give information about certain topics which now only be floating around as exclusive or obscure character knowledge.

Any thoughts on this, or how we might improve information about the game and it's world would be appreciated.

Re: GAME INFO

[superheroine]

There is so much I have said on this over the years, but right now I'm going to be uncharacteristic and take an entirely different stance than I have in the past.

I think most of our pre-existing ideas about the city and all that stuff just needs to be scrapped, set up with the basics, and then be allowed to grow organically again. We are at a point where we have a big page for all the details of the laundry room but it took me five minutes the other day to remember where the hell the links to the city map was. I had to remember what the information comm was when I realized it wasn't visibly on the profile page for the comm and realized the "full site map" had nothing, either.

The whole idea of making some immaculate huge encyclopedia of everything Paradisa just needs to be scrapped and replaced with concise, straight-forward summaries. Older players need to let go of minutiae and we need to stop caring about trying to keep things super consistent. New players need to jump in and not be afraid of stepping on toes or making things up. (The castle is magic, we have an excuse for anything.) Ideally we find 2-3 people -- players, mods, whoever -- and have them lay down the bare bones. These people get appointed and held to the project, no assuming someone else will get around to it eventually.

Then, once we have a working basic outline, we re-assess from there.

PARADISA BIRTHDAY FUND

[anonim]

What if we start a birthday fund for Paradisa to gift paid accounts or extra icons for muns celebrating their birthdays?

It would be nice to have and should be easy to maintain, since many muns in game already give paid accounts to each other. It will be voluntary, so anyone who wants to contribute to the fund can do so and anyone who doesn't want to be in the birthday roster can opt out. The one overseeing the fund must update a page listing all the contributions either named or anonymous to keep themselves accountable (so that, if you send in points to the fund, the page should show the new total points in the fund and your contribution listed, whether anonymous or not, and you should complain if the amount is not reflected). They will also keep a birthday roster of existing muns who want to participate.

I'd be happy to contribute the first few points to keep the fund going for a bit until we get more donations (as for being anonymous, I'd rather donate without revealing my name). I can foresee potential problems only if people start being jerks and app into the game before their birthday only to drop soon after or apping as two muns instead of one to get double the gifts, but I don't see any point in policing that unless it becomes a recurring problem, the first one especially since the second one would be hard to prove. Do you think we should have a clause to say the mun must be in the game for at least 3 or 6 months before they can join the fund (not necessarily the same character, just the mun)?

Who would want to see this? Any feedback? Any other potential problems you see?

Re: PARADISA BIRTHDAY FUND

[(Anonymous)]

I love this idea! But instead of giving out paid accounts for birthdays, why not give it out to muns/characters who tag out the most? It will still be voluntary if we make the muns post their own proofs and we can award it to the one with the most, every month or so. It's fair and transparent. It's in no way required, but if people would like a paid account then they can get it by tagging out more. We can work out the details like tags into closed logs don't count and/or you can't keep tagging the same character repeatedly. The gist of the idea is to make people branch out more and get a little reward in return.