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

[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. :)

[delincuente]

Seconding this. What's said on a site like Plurk cannot be policed, but there's a certain degree of policing oneself that needs to happen when you're in a leadership position. I was frankly a bit appalled to see that kind of behavior taking place there. It reflects badly on the game and the way it is run, to see people in authority positions saying things like that where other members can see, and it made me very uncomfortable. That shit isn't cool. I do love the game and have a good time RPing here, but I think that being more mindful of things like that is really important.

[ino]

Popping in to agree with this. As a former mod I know well that there are plenty of frustrating things about doing the job that you do, but there is a time and place to vent about those frustrations, and it isn't on a public plurk. I was honestly disappointed to see that level of blatant disrespect for your players.

(frozen comment)

[(Anonymous)]

Can we get some examples? I have all of the staff members added but I haven't seen anything that could be described that way :S

(frozen comment)

[rightchoices]

What caused me to bring this up was one particular instance, yes, but I really don't want to name names or try to "shame" anyone! That's not my intent at all. I just wanted to bring it up as something important to me, as much as that's worth. :x

(frozen comment)

[(Anonymous)]

as someone else who as the staff friended, i saw what you're referring to but it was not in a public plurk, as people are saying. also, it was an incredibly vague plurk until the person who suspected it was about them entered the plurk to defend themselves.

(frozen comment) DA

[(Anonymous)]

I saw the plurk, too, and while it was private, it was pretty easy to figure out who the mod was talking about imo. I'm not too concerned about it personally since apologies were given and everybody involved calmed down, but it did come across as a passive-aggressive dig at first.

(frozen comment) Re: DA

[(Anonymous)]

if i were one of the players mentioned in that plurk, i would hardly call it an apology. it was incredibly disappointing to see that level of disregard from a mod, either way.

(frozen comment)

[valerie]

Whether or not that is what you would call it, the issue has been addressed and resolved. The staff can only learn from our mistakes and do our best not to repeat them.

I do thank Autumn for approaching us with her concern, and she and I had our own conversation.

There's little merit in continuing to discuss whether or not it was a genuine apology and continue to drag this issue on after it has been resolved.

(frozen comment)

[rightchoices]

By "public plurk," I meant "on their timeline, not locked to a certain group of people," and I'm sorry for my poor wording. I will disgaree on the "incredibly vague" part, though; considering the subject matter of the plurk and the comments in the plurk, it was incredibly obvious that the plurk was about me and the other person who stepped in! Which I am pretty much destroying my comment earlier about wanting to not be specific about what I'm talking about -- I raise this point only to disagree.

I will admit that I was one of the players discussed in the plurk (that has been deleted, so there's no point in going and combing through timelines, guys), and that I was made uncomfortable, especially when I had a handful of people who saw the plurk messaging me to tell me about it. I think that refutes the "it was too vague" comment.

Regardless, this isn't the place to discuss details of that, since it's all very firmly in the past. I just wanted to say that, moving forward, I hope the mods will keep in mind that some people can see their personal plurks as indicative of how they are as mods, or of the game environment, and blah blah blah I really don't want to come across as seeming like I'm going POLICE YOSELF, because that isn't it at all. :( Dropping the longwindedness: TL'DR my feelings got hurt and it made me want to leave Paradisa, but I've been here for years and know it was a kneejerk reaction. I really don't want that to happen to anyone else.

[(Anonymous)]

I have all of the staff friended as well on Plurk and I think I know of the incident that has sparked this and I agree fully with this. Sadly this isn't the first time I've seen vague plurks like that about someone in game or who has dropped be put up and then come to light it's about them in that plurk. It's incredibly off putting to me as a player.

So I agree with this fully! I know you guys sometimes need to vent but take it to somewhere private and not where your full timeline can see it.

[wilder]

Agreeing with this. I totally get needing to vent about RP, players, modding and what not. I think everyone does it to some degree whether it be over a serious issue or some stupid pet peeve. But there's a time and place for it, and a barely filtered plurk (since when everyone on your timeline can see it, it's not that filtered) is not it - especially when you're a mod. It was incredibly disappointing and uncomfortable to see a mod act in such a way.

[plonks]

I can't make promises for any of the other members of the staff, but I promise that I will personally make an attempt to keep my behavior polite and respectful on plurk in regards to the players of this game. I try to be polite in general, but I am sure I've slipped up from time to time, and apologize for any instances where I may have made players uncomfortable.

[teeff]

Also chiming in here to say if anyone ever has a problem with what I personally say to please come to me and let me know. My personal contact page is screened, anon enabled and non IP logged so if you have any issue with me you can contact me there, or on aim, plurk, email or carrier pigeon. I honestly never try to upset any players and if I've ever done it, albeit unintentionally, I'm really sorry.

[valerie]

I'd like to extend an apology for anything that was said on plurk that may have offended any of our players, not just the parties that were directly involved. It is never the staff's intention to make anyone uncomfortable for any reason, and that this has occurred I do apologize.

There should never be a time when you feel that you cannot approach any member of the staff for any reason. We are human and unfortunately we will make mistakes, but we can strive to learn from our mistakes so that we do not repeat them in the future.

As Autumn has said, this incident has since been resolved, but I thank her for bringing it to our attention so that it will not happen again. I intend to be very mindful of how I speak to or of other players.

I understand there may be confusion with regards to my freezing the thread. I had only intended to freeze the anonymous comments as I could not continue to closely monitor the thread, but it appeared to be steering into a personal direction and away from what How's The Game is intended for.

I hope that all players will continue to feel they can bring their issues to us.