mod post: monthly state of the game

[riverviewmod]

monthly state of the game

Hi everyone! Welcome to August's State of the Game post! There's a few things I'm looking for fedback on a couple of issues, so please check out the rest of the post under the cut.

housekeeping/reminders

Nothing major here, just a couple of quick notes:

● Application Cap/Queue: We have not yet hit cap and after the Activity Check sweeps, we have (as of this post) 13 spaces still available with one app waiting to be processed. Applications are still OPEN, so if you or a friend wants to join the game, there's still space and time to get an application in.

● Cast Caps: We have a couple of casts that are close to cap: Marvel Cinematic Universe is currently at 14/15; Marvel Comics is currently at 11/15. While we have nearly 15 Original Characters currently in the game, there is no cap on Original Characters, since most of them come from different universes rather than having the drawbacks of being a cohesive cast.

● Player Information Changes: Over the past month, I've noticed a couple of players have had name or contact information changes. These are perfectly fine, but if you are planning to change the name that you are using in the game, please update your information on the Taken Characters page. It can be incredibly confusing to see names I don't recognize while processing Activity Check or doing other list updates, and while it doesn't make anything impossible, it does add to my workload.

● Amnesia Plot Reminder: Just a quick reminder that the amnesia/memory loss opt-in event is going to be in effect from August 12th to 19th, with a solution being part of this month's Test Drive Meme on the 20th. More information can be found in last month's State of the Game post. I will post a reminder on the day it begins, and plotting is welcome in this entry's comments for any new players wishing to get involved.

feedback request: bestiary

I have had a couple of questions from players about whether there would be a bestiary for the game. This is not something I had previously considered, as I didn't want to stifle player creativity by implying that there were only a limited number of monsters they could interact with, so I have thus far avoided anything specific so players can run wild and make up the type of monster they need for any scenario. However, it's been brought to my attention that some players would like a bestiary as a jumping-off point, for situations in which they are not feeling creative or don't have a handy reference.

I would like to ask for any feedback on whether the playerbase at large would like to see a bestiary, any thoughts on what effect it might have on your enjoyment of the game, and if one were to be created, what sort of format would be most useful (ie. pictures or no pictures, bestiary entries in comments, player-contributed or mod-posted only, etc.) for you guys.

Additionally, if we do end up compiling a bestiary, I would love to hear from any players who are particularly interested in the concept who might be willing to help with creating entries!

● Leave feedback on the Bestiary.

feedback request: exploration missions

As those of you who follow the mod plurk might have noticed, I've been doing a bit of work off and on at revamping the exploration page and its setup. I've noticed that this particular aspect of the game isn't getting as much traction as I anticipated, and I have been looking into ways to make it easier and more accessible to players who are interested.

Based on the feedback I got on plurk, I have done a revamp of the Exploration page, which you can find here. I've done my best to clarify some of the more confusing aspects, like how many teams can take a mission, whether it is repeatable, what the danger level is, and what kind of rewards both ICly and OOCly can be obtained by completing the missions.

I am still interested in more feedback on Exploration, though, and this revamp is nowhere near complete.

● If you are interested in participating in exploration, but have not done so yet, I'm very interested in your feedback, particularly. I'd like to know the specific things that are holding you back from claiming or following through on missions, whether that concern is addressed thoroughly in the Exploration Page revamp, or if there are other changes that would help you feel more empowered to take on missions and complete them.

● If you have claimed a mission but were not able to follow through, I am also very interested in your feedback. I'd love to hear what held you up, if there is any support I could provide, any guidelines I could clarify, or any other changes I could make to help you feel empowered to complete the missions you are interested in.

● Any other feedback on the original Exploration Page, the revamp, or anything else in the game is also more than welcome!

● Leave feedback on the Exploration Mechanic.

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Comments

EXPLORATION MECHANIC FEEDBACK

[riverviewmod]

Leave any feedback on how the game's exploration mechanic could be improved here.

[ragnarsson]

I've noticed one of the obstacles that seems to stand in the way of getting exploration threads done, and that personally makes me reluctant to participate, is that there's usually several characters that will post promptly. And then there's one or two that post sporadically, only once every two weeks, or never even get around to posting. Since most missions require at least four characters or more, it can slow the process down quite a bit or even cause the entire plot to stall.

While it might not be a popular tactic, I do think it might make for more flexibility if characters get dropped from the mission if they don't post to it in X amount of time (with exceptions made for hiatuses and extenuating circumstances), and replaced with characters that will be a bit more active, and get it done.

[antietam]

Jumping in with an idea―maybe when claiming missions people can add in their typical tagging rate/speed like they do on CR memes? So people who want to tag fast and might lose interest in the thread if it takes too long can be matched with other people who feel the same way, and people who want to take things slower and backdate can do the same. And obviously if extenuating circumstances come up, they can inform the other group members to work things out.

Since generally multiple parties can take on one mission, I don't think this would exclude too many players who want to get in on a specific one and it would give people who need to be slower but will backtag the ability to participate in missions.

[idolpire]

Possibly have monthly or every other month ooc comm posts where people can brainstorm up things to do for missions and what that would include. Part of the problem (if there's even a problem) is that not everyone uses discourse or plurk, or has everyone added on plurk. So the conversations sort of stay between a small group and it can feel a little bit like it's already set in stone and new parties aren't welcome, or that new parties don't even know about it.

I'm a big advocate of using the ooc comm for actual communication, since it's a location that everyone in the game should have added and has access to. So a 'what missions would people like/what exploration would you like to see/what questions do we need mod answers for before we progress' type of post every once in a while just to plot/plan things before they go up could help in just brainstorming something as well as having it be in an open area for people to add in their two cents or feel welcome to join in the discussion.

[de_evilise]

Seconding this for the same reason! :3

[alchemyfreak]

I agree on plurk planning being a go to a lot, which is why mine's public for ease of access for everyone. It's one of those majority rules things so I go with it because it seems easier but the chaos of plurk chat for solid plotting is not a thing I'm a fan of.