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) 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
➜ PLOTTING 101
➜ NEW ACTIVITY REQUIREMENTS
➜ WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE?
➜ PARADISA FUND
➜ PLAYER QUALITY

Comments

HOW'S THE STAFF

[paradisamods]

Our current staff includes Valerie valerie and Ashley frisky as mods, with Jenn superheroine as helper.

We have recently opened applications for players to join the staff as mods or helpers. If you are interested you may still submit an application. We don't have a specific date as to when these apps will close, but we do hope to reply to those that have already submitted very soon.

As always, we welcome and encourage any questions or comments you may have for us. All feedback will be greatly appreciated!

[gottaknockhard]

I think you've done well with keeping the game going with a smaller staff, but I was glad to see mod openings come up. It's a lot of work for three people, so I appreciate the awareness! I'm anticipating that it will be a good decision for everyone.

One thing I wanted to bring up, and I'm sure this had to do with the holidays, is that the game's calendar got a little neglected for the past month. I tend to find it very helpful when plotting to know what events are coming up and when, so I hope it's not being done away with.

Re: HOW'S THE STAFF

[(Anonymous)]

This is a pretty minor thing, but still one I wanted to make a note of- I know the Paradisa staff have tried to not become too dependent on Plurk to make announcements and make sure they're always in the OOC community as well. And yet, returning character/restored memory applications were initially only announced in the same Plurk as the link to the gamewide HMD, where it was very easy to miss, and could have caused confusion for potential returning players, as the calendar does not reflect the correct dates (though I know you have addressed that above already).

I understand that you all have been busy this month, though, and things do slip through the cracks! It was mentioned on rpanons by Valerie that she was a little iffy on making too many mod posts in a row, which is something I can also understand. I can't speak for anybody else, but I know I personally would not mind! Multiple posts about the same thing all in a row for plots are nothing unusual, so mod posts wouldn't feel much different.

PLOTTING 101

[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.

[gottaknockhard]

I'd actually like to see more plots that don't involve a world change, at least for a little bit! My favorite plots are always the ones that force characters to reveal things about themselves and learn more about each other, and ones that reveal more about the castle and world in general. I enjoy world change plots too, but sometimes it seems like they run too closely together and characters get tossed around a bit too much to really appreciate the new surroundings.

That said, I haven't provided any plots in a long while, but I'm willing to help run one if I can nail down a good idea. Or if anyone has one they need some help developing! I usually come up with something I think will be interesting and get lost in the logistics of it, so maybe we can help each other if anyone is in a similar situation. :>

Re: PLOTTING 101

[beastisbeauty]

I would like to see more plots, of any kind, where we don't become ordinary humans. Every once in a while losing our powers is okay and I understand that sometimes it's necessary to make the plot work. Still, I think it is overdone. I almost feel like I'm not playing my character. The duality between Bruce and Hulk is a huge part of who he is, including that tension between them. I'd like more plots where there can be both struggle and growth between his two parts. Sure, I can do losses and stuff, but a lot of the plots we've done would have been much more interesting to me, if Bruce hadn't been an ordinary human.

NEW ACTIVITY REQUIREMENTS

[paradisamods]

We are reaching the end of our second month with the new lowered activity requirements, and we'd love to hear some feedback on how you feel this has affected the game. Are you finding it much easier to meet the requirements or are you still struggling? Has this changed any aspect of the game for you? Please let us know.

[gottaknockhard]

I haven't got a sense that anyone is struggling since the new requirements went out, so I think it was a fair change. It's still new, but I think it'll show in the next few ACs that go up.

Re: NEW ACTIVITY REQUIREMENTS

[strangewonders]

While I'm finding myself a bit behind this month, that's totally my own fault. Over all, I think the new activity requirements are a nice change. It lets people do their proofs as comment threads without having to worry as much about the speed of the threads, and saves the scramble to start more or make posts just because they're falling a little short of the mark. It's a good fit for the game at its current pace.

[pompous_today]

I agree that the new AC seems to suit the current pace of the game better- I'm just going to +1 that it's nice to not have to scramble to scrape together a second post and to have a little wiggle room for threads that are moving slower.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE?

[paradisamods]

What are some things you would like to see in the upcoming year? What direction do you think the game should take? Is there anything you would like to see added to the game or anything that you would change? Plot suggestions can be left in the Plotting 101 thread, but for all other aspects you'd love to see changed or introduced, this is the thread for you!

[gottaknockhard]

A while back, someone mentioned that they wished the 4th wall event would come up more than once a year. I'd actually love to see this be a quarterly thing! It's a great way for people to test out the setting or bring back characters that have left and consider how they may reintegrate into the game. :)

Re: WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE?

[putuporshutup]

More castle-wide threats that are preventable to an extent by teamwork that give the opportunity for characters to band together and form alliances. I loved the way so many worked together during The Gentlemen plot (which was handled SO WELL in general, and ended up being really fun).

Also more plots that perhaps involve some of the cooler aspects of the castle that have fallen by the wayside plot wise and that often new players don't discover easily since the game info pages and these older details about the castle could be much more accessible.

Options for puzzles/mini plots that are pre-approved by mods and reveal more/new game mythology that people can take on when they're looking for some new direction for their characters would be nice, too. Giving us options that are challenging both OOC and IC would be rad, with plenty of variety that would appeal to different kinds of power levels since we have such a vast range.

Edit: Something with Insolitus and the doors/keys/other castles maybe? That seems so freaking cool! I don't know what history there might already be, but according to the info pages they're all still locked. Seems like it could be fun to explore if that's still an option :D

[lucre]

Just as said above, it would be great to have more plots to force characters to interact with people and to reveal more about themselves.

I would also love plots involving the Insolitus and what it's for as well as the doors to the other castles. Maybe a quest to find the keys as the residents must go to these other castles for one reason or another? I think plots to explore the castle's origins would be fun and I agree that we've had a few world change plots one after another when staying in the castle could still yield many plots.

[eaglet]

I would like to see some parts of the game rebooted to some degree. Not a full reboot/erasure of the game's history and metaplot, but perhaps just something new and different to change things up a bit. Paradisa has such a long history that much of the world only exists in the memories of players, many of whom have since left the game, and they passed these memories (how the City Royale works, how the world at large works, history spanning back years) onto new players, who passed them onto new players, and so on... so our collective idea of what Paradisa is has become kind of convoluted and confusing, in my opinion.

It's impossible to wipe the slate clean of what characters and players know on both an IC and OOC level from older characters/players, but maybe a minor setting change would help. I wasn't around when this happened, but I know at some point, some characters flipped a switch (?) that altered a lot of the game's Dead Zone mechanics. It would take a lot of planning, but something like that (not necessarily changing the nature of the Dead Zone) might help invigorate interest in the metaplot.

Additionally, but in the same vein of changing things up a bit -- maybe we want to change the City Royale a bit? It's been medieval/Renaissance-themed for awhile, if not for the whole history of the game. Maybe some minor updates would breathe new life into the setting. Not a full-on modern city, as I think that would make the setting too generic, but moving forward a few years to a Victorian city or something like that.

In short: I think we need to streamline the metaplot a bit more, since it can be intimidating for new players to come into a game with so much history. I mean, I've been here for three and a half years and I still don't really understand the entire history of the game's metaplot. This probably varies from person to person (I'm sure there are some people who joined the game after me who understand the metaplot/history just fine), but that's my opinion on it.

Paradisa Fund

[lucre]

I've brought this up a couple of times as I'm still unsure as to how people feel about it, especially whether people would like to participate in it not just as contributors to the fund but as a tagging incentive. Would you be interested in tallying up how much you tag around to win the prizes? Kris and I would be more than happy to organize it and keep it running in terms of funds and also other gifts but it would be useless without anyone to give those things to.

Any thoughts are welcome even if just to say that you wouldn't participate because of one reason or another, I'd just like to know what people think c:

I've written up brief guidelines and a blurb on the offers. Thanks!

[gottaknockhard]

I think it's a really nice idea, I just personally wouldn't want to receive anything paid from another member. I know times are hard, and I'd feel too guilty about it. I do, however, like the idea of non-monetary prizes (like icons etc.) and I'd be happy to contribute those. :)

[pompous_today]

I would love to actually help fund things; however, I personally would not participate for the prize just because I can afford to keep my characters' accounts funded myself and would rather they go to someone who can't. :) I am thinking at least some others may be in the same boat.

Re: Paradisa Fund

[lord_wizard]

Yeah not gonna lie I am super broke right now and a paid would be wonderful, so that's pretty good incentive for me right there. I guess it feels weird to beg out for something when I don't have much means to contribute, though I would be happy to pay into it in the future should my finances settle somewhat.

Player Quality

[(Anonymous)]

There's been some secondhand embarrassment over some posts that show players not keeping up with game happenings. The former was addressed by the mods with a reminder to keep up with the OOC comm but recent posts show that it's still a problem, with people using this game as just a dressing room. I don't think it reflects well on the rest of the game if we just let it be.

We should first tighten application standards, especially on game knowledge and whether they understand the setting. We could require the third person sample to be set in Paradisa to let players demonstrate that. This isn't your everyday castle, it's so perfect that it should be unsettling and amazing. I get that we want to be welcoming but lowering the standard isn't the way to so it as that would drive away potential good players instead.

Secondly, the regular HMD should be required. The ones who need crit the most are the ones who didn't post to the HMD. Even better, it should be required for characters to allow anon commenting on their own HMD so people can give them crit without the risk of starting OOC drama between them. The latter might be hard to do but the former isn't too farfetched.

Lastly, there should be a limit to how far you can backdate or forwarddate open posts and logs, as related to the people not paying attention to game happenings. I suggest three days max and unlimited for closed posts/logs.

[valerie]

Re: App Standards: I'm not going to single anyone out, nor am I going to say this an excuse for any players you may be referring to. However, many times we have received very well-written apps that portray understanding of the character, but it does not accurately reflect how well they play roleplay once accepted into the game. Short of requiring only a thread for the first-person sample, there's a chance this can happen in the future with anyone that applies.

I would be okay with changing the third-person sample so that they would be required to show their understanding of the setting. Usually if we see someone submitting a sample where they get game mechanics wrong, we'll correct them in their approval notice.

Re: Mandatory HMD: We posed this question a year ago on HTG, and it was met with mixed feedback, but mostly against it. We can revisit the issue, as the playerbase has changed since then.

A great majority of our playerbase did not participate in HMD this round, myself included, for whatever reason. Even if they do not post to HMD, and even if they don't have a personal HMD in their journal, they can still be privately messaged via a sock journal or emailed through a sock account. When all else fails, you can always come to the mods with your concerns/complaints and we can relay them to the player(s) in question.

Re: Posting limits: We get into a very dangerous area when we try to dictate how players can play the game. There could be several reasons why people would backdate or forwarddate posts that don't always revolve around plots. Maybe they're going out of town and want to get a post up, or maybe they've been on hiatus but still want to tie up some loose ends. This is just my opintion, not that of the entire staff, but I wouldn't want to place a limit on this.

Re: Player Quality

[(Anonymous)]

We should first tighten application standards, especially on game knowledge and whether they understand the setting.

before we can do that we need to clean up the game info and make it more easily accessible. while it's not nearly as bad as it used to be, the game info is still somewhat disorganized and unintuitive, especially in regards to the metaplot

Player Quality

[superheroine]

This has been something of a concern of mine lately; I like your suggestion that the third person be set in Paradisa. I admittedly still kind of dig old-fashioned "prove you read the setting post" questions, but I know they're pretty unpopular on DW (last I checked) so we won't go there.

With some new helpers, I'm hoping to iron-out some solid guidelines for what is inadmissible on applications. I feel very strongly that we need an improved standard for technical writing; I don't really care about the odd typo or grammar mistake or whatever, it happens, but sometimes we get apps filled with easily-fixed mistakes and in the future I feel it's appropriate to decline/revise these applications and ask for a resubmit that has been edited properly, regardless of characterization. Writing is our "graphic" quality in this game and we are not FF7.

And on top of that, I think I'm going to do some general brush-ups on the application in general to be more clear about what we are looking for and what the standards are for formatting and whatnot. Paradisa has had a lot of newbies over the years and has quite a few now, but I too am getting a little tired of the "Baby's First RP" atmosphere developing out of it. I'm willing to take a chance on people on apps if their characterization is passable even if they don't seem to know formatting or RP, but if you've been in the game a month, you really should be familiar with the setting and the format at the very least, even if the social protocol is a work-in-progress. Ideally I'd like to have a "are you familiar with DW rp/have you RPed on DW before?" question on the app so we can better pinpoint who needs help with settling in and integrating.

I feel it's important that they integrate with the general DW culture because, let's be real, DW RP can be pretty hostile to new players and I'd rather we help them integrate instead of just resorting to passive-aggressive grumbling. No matter how justified we feel sometimes (because I'll admit I do it too sometimes!) we really need to clean up our act and get the newcomers into the groove rather than watching them fumble around. This means instead of going to RPanons or Wankgate or Plurk, send these guys a PM and say "Hey, I noticed you're new to the game and don't seem familiar with DW RP. How are you getting on with the setting? Is there anything I can clear up for you? Do you have any questions about DW RP/Paradisa?" Invite them onto plurk to mingle and get to know more people. They aren't psychic, let's assume good faith and help them integrate.

This all makes us sound like a shun-the-non-believer cult, but ah, well. ;)

Re: Player Quality

[(Anonymous)]

Just as a note, I know that personally, I only post to the HMD occasionally, because I never get crit on it. Never have gotten a single comment, the entire time I was in the game. And after awhile, it just seems pointless to post, especially since I have anon-enabled HMDs on all my journals.

And experience with past games has told me that making HMDs mandatory doesn't make people *use* them. And DWRP has a special aversion to telling people they need to fix things, even when given every opportunity. So while we could make the HMDs mandatory, the chance that it would help is pretty slim.

[(Anonymous)]

I know this is well after the HTG, so I hope you guys see it. This only came to mind today with the poll about CRAUs and I thought it was better asked here than on that post.

Is there a plot reason why returning character applications (currently) and CRAU apps (possibly) would only be open for a short period every three months? I appreciate if there is. But if not, I have to ask why? All other games I've seen that allow CRAU and past memories of the game allow those apps at any time along with all the others, and I don't think it would be to Paradisa's detriment to allow the same.

Thank you for your time!