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tushanshu_ooc2013-11-10 02:53 pm
ironwood) wrote in tushanshu_ooc2013-11-10 02:53 pm
Entry tags:
Mod | Item Request Clarification & Administrative Changes
Greetings, oh wanderers of Turtletopia! Alex here with some clarifications about what constitutes an item request, as well as some administrative changes that we are implementing as a result of the anniversary discussions held back in August. Both Roy and myself apologise for the delay on the latter; we decided to hold off on some of the changes until we'd had a chance to recharge and come back to address the issues without the looming burnout of the time. You'll note that some of these changes have already been implemented, but the rest will come into place commencing today!
First, however, we wanted to clarify a bit about what constitutes a valid item request for characters to find during a landfall event.
Item Requests - Clarification
Questions have been raised as to what constitutes an item that can be requested for a character and so we've decided it's time to provide a bit more structure to this portion of the game. An request item should adhere to the following structure:
While we note that there may always be an exception to these rules, we ask that you contact us via the mod email (tushanshu of the gmail variety) to discuss the item first if you feel that it toes or crosses one of the lines mentioned above.
We are also asking everyone to follow a guideline for a maximum of three items per character, per landfall. This is not being policed at this time, but is being brought up as a matter of fairness for all characters. And please remember to provide information about the item being requested, as that assists us greatly in our approval process.
These clarifications have been added to the item requests page for future reference.
Administrative Changes
We opened a series of anniversary discussions in August 2013, just after we hit the one year open mark. While we implemented some changes in the wake of these discussions, we have more changes to implement and we wanted to summarise the changes that came out of these discussions (as well as discussions between Roy and myself about what we felt fit best with the game).
So, without further ado! Here are the changes implemented in the wake of the discussions:
Applications
Application Cutoff
We opted to remain with a once-weekly application cutoff, but moved the cutoff itself to midweek to better jive with the expected schedule availability for both Roy and Alex this winter. Application cutoff is now 21:00 PST on Wednesday nights, with verdicts to be posted by 21:00 PST the subsequent Friday.
Application Quality
Rather than changing the set precedent for application quality in the game, we implemented a three-party application mod team. These app mods have been working within a set of standards determined by the applications that have previously been accepted. We will be monitoring the verdicts that the app team comes to and may raise the discussion of application quality standards in the next set of discussions (tentatively planned for the 18 month anniversary).
Application Cap
We are currently sitting at 178 characters, with a maximum of 240 allowed due to game mechanics and suite availability, therefore this may seem like a low priority issue, but we're going to continue monitoring the numbers to ensure that we take appropriate measures as (or if) the game nears its cap. Currently, we plan to close apps around the 235-240 mark and then reopen reserves after we've dropped down to 210-215 -- with apps to reopen one week after reserves do.
The reserve system will become important as we near 235, as we will honour current reserves over unreserved or expired reserves. In the event of received accept-quality applications that would put us above the 240 mark, they will go first to the reserved applications and then to the unreserved/expired reserves. This framework is very vague at the moment and will be finalised if and when we reach more than 225 characters in-game.
For the record, a count tracking the number of suites available versus the total suites is being kept on the suites tracking spreadsheet. This may be moved to another location in the future, but for now, we will provide a link to this spreadsheet at the top of the applications/reserves pages.
Activity Check
Activity Requirements
There are no changes being made to the AC requirements for the game at this time. The current system seems to be working for y'all and it is definitely working for us, so no news is good news on that front.
Reclaims
We have instituted an auto-reclaim system in which you may request a reclaim for any character which has insufficient AC when you submit your AC for the month. The character will be automatically reclaimed when the initial results are compiled, so long as they do not have an unexpired reclaim on record. If they do, then they are ineligible for any reclaim treatment.
Character Cap
Three Per Player
We will not be changing the three-per-player cap at this time. Once again, this is a system that appears to be working. A reminder that you may request to apply for a fourth character if you make double AC with all of your current characters in a given month. Note that if you do have four characters and demonstrate repeated failure to meet AC, you may be asked to drop down to three characters.
Canon Cap
This point generated the most discussion in the post and the membership appeared mostly split on whether or not to adjust the canon cap. After a great deal of discussion between Alex and Roy, focusing on the points raised in the anniversary post (which is another reason this took so long), we've decided to make a change to it and monitor how it impacts the casts and game as a whole. Therefore:
The canon cap will be lifted from ONE character per canon per player to a maximum of TWO characters per canon per player. These two characters must have minimal or no interaction with one another in their canon AND should not share anyone in their top three canon CR. Example: Alex plays Ororo-1610, a character with Hank McCoy, Charles Xavier, and Marvel Girl as her three most important in-canon characters at her pull point. She wants to play Magneto-1610, but could not as (A) Ororo has frequent interaction with him and (B) Magneto shares Charles Xavier in his top three canon CR (sorry, Pietro, you're not one of the three). Therefore, Alex cannot play Magneto from the 1610 universe.
This will be on a case by case basis with the player required to email the mod inbox (tushanshu; gmail) with the name of the same-canon character that they would like to pick up and a comparison of the characters' top three canon CRs so that we can ensure that it fits within the qualifiers of the rule.
The canon cap lifting is in BETA MODE and may have adjustments made as we work on implementing it.
Game Information
Resource Pages
The resource pages were updated in mid-October to reflect the current state of affairs in the game, including tweaking the location information and providing a large update to the events summary. We have opted not to add to the information pages at this time so as to keep everything as central as possible for reference and updating purposes.
Metaplot Direction
Event Frequency
We are going to continue experimenting with the frequency of events without adhering to a specific schedule. While this may create a few closer-packed events, such as this coming December, it should also create some longer breaks, such as is currently happening based on the event calendar.
Event Duration
The length of events will generally remain at least a week. This relates to consistent feedback received during events that they run longer to allow for more time to focus on and wrap up threads without overlapping into non-events. We will avoid running largescale events longer than two weeks so as to provide for a greater variety of things and to avoid event-specific burnout.
Event Content
The content plans of the events and metaplot will remain unchanged as the majority of feedback indicated that almost everything has been positively received.
Other
OOC Comm Memes
We will not schedule other memes outside of the CR With Me and test drive memes, but would like to remind players that they can always approach us via the mod inbox with meme suggestions that they may have.
Test Drive
The test drive meme will resume being posted shortly before ATP each month, so as to give interested parties a recent forum upon which to test out the setting and characters before making their decision as to whether or not they will apply.
That concludes this mod post! Thanks for reading the text wall and, as always, feel free to direct any questions to the comments of this post.
First, however, we wanted to clarify a bit about what constitutes a valid item request for characters to find during a landfall event.
Item Requests - Clarification
Questions have been raised as to what constitutes an item that can be requested for a character and so we've decided it's time to provide a bit more structure to this portion of the game. An request item should adhere to the following structure:
- The item may be something of importance and canonly indicated to be possessed by or strongly associated with that character. Examples of this include a Green Lantern's specific power battery, a pet or similar companion associated specifically with that character (such as Naga for Korra), or weapons/armour that the character is stated to have/is seen in possession of during their canon material.
- It may be an item of minor consequence and that is relatively associated with or of interest to the character as established in canon. Examples of this include ambrosia for the demigods, favourite foods, or books.
- The item should not result in a significant skew of the power balance between the various PCs in-game; this is to ensure that the maximum number of characters have access to and ability to impact the plot. Examples of this would be Tony's Iron Man Suit Army (IM3) or a completed (on arrival) Cerebro chamber.
- The item should not break the game or plot mechanics as established thus far, nor provide a simple answer to major conflicts (such as Malicant). Examples of this would be any such deus ex machina item that provides a simple wrap-up to complicated issues (see: the genie lamp in Aladdin solving the Jafar problem with an itty-bitty living space).
While we note that there may always be an exception to these rules, we ask that you contact us via the mod email (tushanshu of the gmail variety) to discuss the item first if you feel that it toes or crosses one of the lines mentioned above.
We are also asking everyone to follow a guideline for a maximum of three items per character, per landfall. This is not being policed at this time, but is being brought up as a matter of fairness for all characters. And please remember to provide information about the item being requested, as that assists us greatly in our approval process.
These clarifications have been added to the item requests page for future reference.
Administrative Changes
We opened a series of anniversary discussions in August 2013, just after we hit the one year open mark. While we implemented some changes in the wake of these discussions, we have more changes to implement and we wanted to summarise the changes that came out of these discussions (as well as discussions between Roy and myself about what we felt fit best with the game).
So, without further ado! Here are the changes implemented in the wake of the discussions:
Applications
Application Cutoff
We opted to remain with a once-weekly application cutoff, but moved the cutoff itself to midweek to better jive with the expected schedule availability for both Roy and Alex this winter. Application cutoff is now 21:00 PST on Wednesday nights, with verdicts to be posted by 21:00 PST the subsequent Friday.
Application Quality
Rather than changing the set precedent for application quality in the game, we implemented a three-party application mod team. These app mods have been working within a set of standards determined by the applications that have previously been accepted. We will be monitoring the verdicts that the app team comes to and may raise the discussion of application quality standards in the next set of discussions (tentatively planned for the 18 month anniversary).
Application Cap
We are currently sitting at 178 characters, with a maximum of 240 allowed due to game mechanics and suite availability, therefore this may seem like a low priority issue, but we're going to continue monitoring the numbers to ensure that we take appropriate measures as (or if) the game nears its cap. Currently, we plan to close apps around the 235-240 mark and then reopen reserves after we've dropped down to 210-215 -- with apps to reopen one week after reserves do.
The reserve system will become important as we near 235, as we will honour current reserves over unreserved or expired reserves. In the event of received accept-quality applications that would put us above the 240 mark, they will go first to the reserved applications and then to the unreserved/expired reserves. This framework is very vague at the moment and will be finalised if and when we reach more than 225 characters in-game.
For the record, a count tracking the number of suites available versus the total suites is being kept on the suites tracking spreadsheet. This may be moved to another location in the future, but for now, we will provide a link to this spreadsheet at the top of the applications/reserves pages.
Activity Check
Activity Requirements
There are no changes being made to the AC requirements for the game at this time. The current system seems to be working for y'all and it is definitely working for us, so no news is good news on that front.
Reclaims
We have instituted an auto-reclaim system in which you may request a reclaim for any character which has insufficient AC when you submit your AC for the month. The character will be automatically reclaimed when the initial results are compiled, so long as they do not have an unexpired reclaim on record. If they do, then they are ineligible for any reclaim treatment.
Character Cap
Three Per Player
We will not be changing the three-per-player cap at this time. Once again, this is a system that appears to be working. A reminder that you may request to apply for a fourth character if you make double AC with all of your current characters in a given month. Note that if you do have four characters and demonstrate repeated failure to meet AC, you may be asked to drop down to three characters.
Canon Cap
This point generated the most discussion in the post and the membership appeared mostly split on whether or not to adjust the canon cap. After a great deal of discussion between Alex and Roy, focusing on the points raised in the anniversary post (which is another reason this took so long), we've decided to make a change to it and monitor how it impacts the casts and game as a whole. Therefore:
The canon cap will be lifted from ONE character per canon per player to a maximum of TWO characters per canon per player. These two characters must have minimal or no interaction with one another in their canon AND should not share anyone in their top three canon CR. Example: Alex plays Ororo-1610, a character with Hank McCoy, Charles Xavier, and Marvel Girl as her three most important in-canon characters at her pull point. She wants to play Magneto-1610, but could not as (A) Ororo has frequent interaction with him and (B) Magneto shares Charles Xavier in his top three canon CR (sorry, Pietro, you're not one of the three). Therefore, Alex cannot play Magneto from the 1610 universe.
This will be on a case by case basis with the player required to email the mod inbox (tushanshu; gmail) with the name of the same-canon character that they would like to pick up and a comparison of the characters' top three canon CRs so that we can ensure that it fits within the qualifiers of the rule.
The canon cap lifting is in BETA MODE and may have adjustments made as we work on implementing it.
Game Information
Resource Pages
The resource pages were updated in mid-October to reflect the current state of affairs in the game, including tweaking the location information and providing a large update to the events summary. We have opted not to add to the information pages at this time so as to keep everything as central as possible for reference and updating purposes.
Metaplot Direction
Event Frequency
We are going to continue experimenting with the frequency of events without adhering to a specific schedule. While this may create a few closer-packed events, such as this coming December, it should also create some longer breaks, such as is currently happening based on the event calendar.
Event Duration
The length of events will generally remain at least a week. This relates to consistent feedback received during events that they run longer to allow for more time to focus on and wrap up threads without overlapping into non-events. We will avoid running largescale events longer than two weeks so as to provide for a greater variety of things and to avoid event-specific burnout.
Event Content
The content plans of the events and metaplot will remain unchanged as the majority of feedback indicated that almost everything has been positively received.
Other
OOC Comm Memes
We will not schedule other memes outside of the CR With Me and test drive memes, but would like to remind players that they can always approach us via the mod inbox with meme suggestions that they may have.
Test Drive
The test drive meme will resume being posted shortly before ATP each month, so as to give interested parties a recent forum upon which to test out the setting and characters before making their decision as to whether or not they will apply.
That concludes this mod post! Thanks for reading the text wall and, as always, feel free to direct any questions to the comments of this post.
no subject
re: items. would 4 of a single item type (like 4 bracelets) count as 4 separate items or 1 item?
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject