initiates | suggestions » ❝ but then comes the resistance ❞

Okay, I'm not entirely sure if this is the appropriate place to make a plot suggestion. Or if I can make a plot suggestion. If I'm totally off, I apologize.

Right so! I have a plot suggestion concerning mission battle things. It's pretty simple really. I'm interested in seeing a battle with a power/ability swap. Like for example. Say Character A has the ability of super accuracy and has the weapon of a gun, while Character B has the ability of super strength and has an over-sized sword as a weapon. During the battle A gets B's ability of strength and B gets A's ability of accuracy (weapons may/not be included depending on what yous prefer). Add a couple enemies and you get a few kicks and giggles as characters realize their abilities aren't what they're supposed to be.

This would also give characters with no usual skills in fighting a chance to get in on the action for a change and branch out from their usual intelligence specific missions.

I'm not sure if this is something that can be rolled with just yet as I realize battles and missions and things are still being beta'd, so to speak. Also, the issue of weapons. But I would love to see it as a plot of sorts one day.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. :)

Oh, awesome! Yes, this is the perfect place for plot suggestions as well. I will keep this all in mind, thank you! It could work out really well.

I was wondering if there was a reason apps were screened now. It seems like an odd and sudden choice.

There are a few reasons I've chosen to start screening apps! I had wanted to do it initially, but was running them unscreened as a trial to start.

+ It's much easier for the mods to organize the applications when they're screened. Previous applications are deleted from the page when they've been reviewed as well, leaving it open for less confusion for moderators and less overall load-time.

+ Potential players have expressed concerns about submitting applications and receiving backlash due to the knowledge of who they are/their past in RP. By screening applications, I hope to alleviate some of the concern associated with potential players' apping into the game without receiving criticism for doing so.

+ Leaving the applications screened limits the bias from anonymous commenters when players apply for the game. Existing players are still welcome to come to the moderators with concerns about potential applicants, however, we have recently had problems with anonymous "dogpiling" on potential applicants that have had an effect on the moderators' ability to judge applications as they are without additional influences.

It is still possible to track the page if you are interested in seeing the applications that are being posted, and notifications received in your e-mail will tell you the characters being applied for. Overall, it's related to privacy concerns, alleviating mod bias situations, and easier organization of applications.

I've always rather preferred the way that other games I've participated in had screened their applications and so far have found it useful.

That explains a lot; thank you for clearing it up.

I've found it difficult to engage with the current plot and plot prior to it. As it stands, most of the plots have been reactionary in nature—which was my issue with the Fight With the Romans Plot too. Characters can't do anything to solve it or progress it, only react to the detrimental health effects and seek help from other transports.

If possible, I think some positive ramifications based on the talk the transports had with the Initiative would be welcomed. A transport committee, more transparency, something tangible that shows speaking with the Initiative hasn't been for naught. And happier plots! The mood has been dour for a bit now.

FIRST: I am apologizing for being so late to reply! I won't even waste time with excuses.

And I am apologizing, too, for the difficulty in maneuvering through the plot. We're still working some kinks out, but we are set to start rolling the last of this out within this coming week, which is going to bring us to a more positive state.

I think the transport committee is a great idea and I'd love to hear what ideas you and others would have about setting it up! Liz and I are working on more NPC presences which should help push this forward, as well.

There is definitely going to be some cracking/shaking within the Initiative modus operandi at the close of this plot, and I really do want to expand more opportunities for characters to get proactive and work alongside (or against!) the Initiative as they see fit. I want to have an ooc discussion/reflection at the close/near close of this, too, just to weigh how everyone's feeling about where we're going and how we can better it.

Thank you so much for this comment, and I really hope we'll be able to make things snap for you and everyone!

Nah, this was a pretty prompt reply!

And thank you for responding so graciously. I look forward to the discussion post and the changes that will be brought from this.

Oh I guess it was fairly kind of prompt and not late (I thought the date said 6/9?)...BUT EVEN SO.

Thanks so much for your patience, too! We're going to do our best!

I definitely agree with Mao on all of this; one of the reasons why I've hiatused for as long as I have is because all of the plots have been so negative and angst-inducing lately that I've been feeling a bit of disconnect .

I'm looking forward to (somewhat) happier times and OOC discussion would be great!

edit: herpaderp, should read all my emails in the future... this new plot thing sounds great!!!

Edited 2012-06-17 03:52 (UTC)

(Ok NOW I can apologize for being tardy; good grief, self)

Liz and I totally understand, and we're really working hard to move things forward best we can! I do apologize for the lapse of "buh," for lack of better terms; our new installment as mods + learning the ropes is no doubt part of it, but we're definitely not going to let lapses that be a recurring thing if it's within our power.

Thank you so much for sticking with us thusfar; I really hope you and everybody enjoys what's on the menu!

I really hope so too! The fact that there are a whole bunch of amazing people playing here is what keeps me going, and crazy shenanigans at Woodstock should help feed my desire for fun.

can i ask why the decision to make activity easier was reached?

we've already got a squatting problem.

At this time, I have not yet received a single complaint about character squatting. Unfortunately, I had not had that in mind when making the decision to make Activity Check easier as it had not been brought to me—it hadn't been something I had thought about, but I do understand the concern.

There are many players who have had difficulty with AC as it stood. Characters who were very active in posting on other players' posts and making a lot of thread-based activity without necessarily making network posts. Those characters, while visible and creating CR with others, were unable to meet Activity Check with the current requirements.

Additionally, as Exsilium is a slower and backtag-friendly game, some players had difficulty meeting the thread length requirement with their characters due to time constraints and the nature of the game's being on the slower side when there are not major events occurring.

Characters who otherwise should have met activity (very active on other posts, but not necessarily making their own) were not able to until the change.

Character squatting is an issue, I think, that is perpetuated by our hiatus model rather than our Activity Check model—which is something I am willing to take a look at and change. Though, since I have not received complaints about character squatting and had not realised that it was an issue for players, I had put the idea of revamping our hiatus rules on the backburner. That said, I will make it a priority for the near future.

So, I know we've been working out the kinks with a player plot with my little killer and a couple cop-characters but I had a thought concerning the missions that people get sent back in time to play out. I think I had plurked about it but an idea has come up where the United Earth decides to try to balance things in favor for them - ie, they noticed that people are going all over the place and in time thanks to the chipped people getting involved in missions.

Would it come up where the Initiative would noticed that the United Earth have been changing the past too, and that some unpleasant missions will come up? And on that note, does the Initiative know about the people they've been bringing in more than they let on?

But anyways, the idea was just an unpleasant mission where those involved will have to make a nasty decision in order to keep things moving smoothly - like starting World War II or something.

Ooh, thanks for bringing this to us, that sounds awesome! I will keep it in mind and show it to Liz and Elle as well. :D

Hi, guys! For the past few months, the game has been getting pretty big lately and with new applicants coming in every other week, the game has been flooded with continuous intro posts and the like, and it's getting hard to keep up with old tags as well as tagging new people. This is a complaint I've heard from a few people.

I'd like to suggest to maybe switching app rounds to once a month rather than every other week. It'd help players keep up with new people and also help to plan around events so that the new kids could also get in on the plots.

Also, I'm not sure if you guys have one, but there should be an updated plot page, so that newbies (and oldbies) can easily access to see what has happened in the past, OOCly of course. I know there is a wikia that we have, but I feel like that has not been promoted enough to be of use. And maybe there should be a Locations page, so that everyone can easily find the types of places there are for their characters to visit. A lot of these questions are on the FAQ, but not everyone is going to go through the comments to see if their question was answered.

I had actually been thinking of something very similar in regard to apps and the intro floods! I'd been kind of trying to stagger accepting them, but then found that I worried about letting people wait too long—so the idea of monthly app cycles was fresh on my mind this week for that very reason! I ran the prospect by a few of my fellow mods and it seems we're a bit split on it, so I think what I'll do is set up a poll in the OOC community to get a feel for how everyone feels on the subject. That said, it's definitely a good idea, and I'll see what we can do with it!

In regard to the updated plot page, we've got the Changes in Exsilium page, but that kind of doesn't hold weight on its own—perhaps if I found a way to link the two of them together? I will work on getting that updated too!

The Locations page is also something that has been in the works (er, in my mind), that I've toyed with, but haven't put into play yet so I'm really glad you reminded me! I've got a pretty good idea of how to set it up, and how to implement player-run Locations too—so I will make a note to try to get that set up and running within the week.

I definitely understand with the FAQ, especially since it's hit, what, 300 comments now? I've gotta go through when I have the time and consolidate the information and add the questions into the FAQ so that people won't have to search or feel uncomfortable asking more questions. Hopefully I can get this stuff all rolling really soon!

I dislike how tags for dropped characters are switched to the 'dropped characters' tag. It makes it a pain in the ass to find old threads with specific dropped characters. I understand why it's done, but I wish there was an alternative.

That's a very good point. It's been difficult to maintain in the past (example, 10 characters get removed after AC - 40 tags have to be manually changed one-by-one), but we are willing to give it another shot with a slightly different take on the system.

For our own benefit and for yours, here's how we'll start doing it from now on:

A dropped character's main tag and their r: tag will be combined into one tag (so that if one is unused, it doesn't take up space) that will be accompanied with the ✝ denotation. [ "character (canon), r: character (canon)" will become "✝ character (canon)" ] If a character's tags were never used at all, they'll be removed entirely.

That way it will be more fluid and easier to maintain.

Wow, you guys worked fast on taking my suggestions to heart, especially about apps!

Tbh, I had completely forgotten about the Changes in Exsilium page, which is probably the problem right there? There are pages that seem important for game info, but they don't seem to get any attention or aren't promoted. Linking the two of them together would probably help, but I'd also suggesting putting the links to the pages themselves in the sidebar.

There's also this idea of a "State of the Game" that I have seen other games use before, where at the beginning of the month, the mods make a post about all the happenings from the previous: effects from any events, what NPCs are up to, ~weird and mysterious things~ we as players should be paying attention to, and even mundane things the characters in the game themselves are up to. For example, updates on the player-run clinic, etc. It's just a suggestion, but that would be pretty neat to see used.

Once I'm fully back from hiatus, we'll have an announcement about our new apps situation starting for September! :)

Yeah, that definitely makes sense! (I'm making a list here to be sure I don't forget anything—checklists ahoy!) I think what we'll do is link them together, maybe embellish the information a little bit more, and add them to the bottom-of-page directory as well as the main directory. The thing with the sidebar links in communities is that I think we've hit our maximum links allowed! :( That said, it would be wise to look over it now given that we've got so much more information coming out and maybe adjusting what links are there, so that is definitely on the to-do list.

I love the idea of a State of the Game post! I'm not sure if monthly would work out here, I suppose depending upon the speed of changes—but perhaps we could implement it on an every two-months basis. I will see about doing something like that and collaborating with the other mods to pack it up with useful information. I like that idea, thank you!

Hm, it looks like apps close on 9/1 but AC ends on 9/4. Would it be possible to extend the app period regularly such that someone could app a character whose player has idled out?

I spent some time considering it and I ran it by Brette, and we don't think it would work to do something like that during this cycle. As it is, though, reservations will be open when AC ends, and those are the reservations that will last throughout the entire month! So when characters are removed via AC, someone would be able to keep an eye on it and then put in a reservation for that character, which would be valid and held for the whole month.

Keeping it in mind, though, we'll consider how it would affect the app cycles/AC cycles if perhaps we change the duration of Activity Check in the future to better suit the duration that applications are open.

Thanks for giving it thought! I do think it would make sense to adjust the timing of one to the other eventually, but yeah, this stuff always does take time to sort out.

suggestions » ❝ but then comes the resistance ❞

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