Event HMD | Powerdown & Malicant Plot | June 16th - July 13th

[ironwood]

As before, and for anyone who may have missed it, at the end of every mod-run event in Tu Shanshu, we try to toss up an open dialogue post so that the events can be discussed. This is mostly to see if everybody's as happy as possible with the direction the game is going, whether or not the events could be considered a hit or a miss, that sort of thing.

This particular HMD covers the Meta Power Reduction & Malicant joint event.

What are we looking for?
Feedback of all sorts! Did you like what happened? Did the event run too fast, or too slow? Were you able to feel like your character contributed or made a impact on the event? Would you like to make more of a difference? Has there been too much 'downtime' for the characters, do you have any suggestions to make about future events, etc etc? Did the event run long enough for you? Would you like to see more NPC-driven events, or less? Did you feel that there was enough for combatants and non-combatants alike to participate in?

OBVIOUSLY if you have more comments, questions or concerns than those listed above you can add those as well! This is pretty much just a general list.

Do we already have a focus?
In part, yes. We've identified the following issues with the event and would love to foster discussion on these points:

> Team Structure
There were some players that had multiple characters assigned to a team and others that volunteered and did not make the final teams. This was an oversight on Alex's part and she apologises! That said, do you have any suggestions on how we could avoid such an oversight in the future? Should we limit sign-ups to one character per player?

> Multiple Options
Each team was asked to pick only one option per clue set regardless of their characters' proclivities towards exploring multiple options. This was to reduce administrative workload and tie-in with the reduction of powers. Do you have any suggestions as to how we could make taking multiple options feasible for any future event structured in this way?

Note: Alex here! One option considered and taken off the table would be preparing all of the possible branches off the options and clues before the event starts. This is because I found creating the sets during the event really allowed me to adapt the scenarios to suit the actions of each team in a really organic fashion. In summary, it let the characters further influence the event rather than being stuck on rails (see: swizard). I'd really prefer to find a solution that allowed mid-event creation of the clues without sacrificing the multiple options, tbqh.

> Outcomes
The pre-event survey concluded that players were okay with getting dead-ends for their characters actions and so this was included. Two teams had a major impact on the health of the turtle and a variety had other impacts that lessened Malicant's grip on Keeliai. Do you think we should have included more largescale impacts? Less? More impacts in general? More complete dead ends?

We'd like to emphasize that any and all feedback is welcomed and encouraged! These are merely some areas that we've identified as concerns from our standpoint and would like to hear your thoughts on.

Do we have a form?
Yes, in fact! This time, we're offering a quick text form to help provide some structure to the feedback received. This form addresses some of the concerns we noted on a mod level and tries to give as much freedom as possible to anyone that chooses to use it. Please note that you do NOT have to use this form! It's provided as an option only. :3

<b>Did you have characters involved? Via teams or the independent investigations?</b> (Especially optional for anon feedback; we respect your right to remain anon.) <b>What did you like about this event?</b> <b>What didn't work out so hot?</b> <b>What would you like to see in the future?</b> <b>Do you have feedback specific to the team portion of the event?</b> <b>Do you have feedback specific to the independent investigations portion of the event?</b> <b>Would you like to share any other thoughts, suggestions, or opinions about the event or game?</b>

Please remember, ANON IS ON for this and IP LOGGING IS OFF so if you have anything you'd like to say but maybe you're more comfortable putting it forth anon that is a-okay! You can also feel free to PM us at this journal, or to toss a private plurk at either of the mod accounts (those being vonnerdyce or reignsdown) if that suits your fancy. Any and all comments are welcome, and though participation in this meme isn't required it's definitely encouraged if you're up for it.

Thanks again, guys, and happy turtling!

Comments

[ironwood]

This is very helpful!

I can see what you mean re: the wrap-ups. Many of them were intentionally left open-ended so that characters could follow-up a month or two down the lines, or so that these avenues could be explored further in a later plot. Or, in cases, so that there would be threading potential. Should I make that clearer in the future?

Also, regarding the "threading for the sake of it" comment -- do you have any suggestions on how we could change that to make threading a more appealing? There definitely was a trend noted that not a lot of threading happened immediately, so we'd love feedback on how to improve that.

[urbanmagic]

Nah, it's cool! That makes more sense to me.

I think a problem I personally had with the contents was that it gave you an idea of a start and a finish depending on the choice, and with that-- that's it. You know what happens, you wait for the next clue, so a thread would be pretty much just the conversation that happens in between. It's a problem I think with regular choice games because it makes people anticipate the results rather than the development, so I think maybe it would help if it wasn't overly detailed in the first place? That also ends up as a problem for the mods with the details since I figure this also means you're racking your brain harder than us which can't be fun.

But for what I meant up there, say... okay option a.) go here, option b.) go there, option c.) go there there. You give us the options first, then when we choose it, that's when you give the result? Because then we realize SHIT WE CHOSE WRONG and then we can have a different dynamic and it might not end as well. or it could be AWW YEAH WE DID RIGHT and then characters react accordingly, if that makes sense. Basically, since we already know what's going to happen if we choose something, we end up choosing too easily and not really thinking about the inbetweens so much. So maybe option first, wait for a reply, give the verdict, then characters can go SHIT OH GOD WHY and I will hope this makes sense.

And then repeat it for the next scene because now people are anticipating the oh how do we fix this for the mess and oh what's the reward if it works.

[ironwood]

Okay, I'm starting to understand how that would work. Thanks so much for providing that clarification! We'll definitely keep this in mind for the future.

[urbanmagic]

No problem! Glad to help whenever I can, and sorry for the rambling. You guys are awesome and I anticipate whatever future decisions you make.