![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
riverviewmod) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
riverviewooc2017-07-08 05:51 pm
mod post: monthly state of the game
Hi everyone! Welcome to July's State of the Game post! There's quite a bit going on this month, so please read through all the information in this post!
game cap: app queuing, penalty for ac sweeps, tdm and other housekeeping
Despite my expectations to the contrary, we've actually hit the game cap with this application round! Conveniently, there were exactly as many reserved and unreserved applications accepted as there were slots available as of the 7th, so there is no one waiting. However, with the game cap filled at 150 characters, this means a few gamewide changes (at least temporarily) in relation to how the application process works. The changes and how they will affect the application process are outlined below:
Applications will remain closed throughout the rest of July, and will open as usual on August 1st at 7:00 PM EST, after which time they will remain open and stay open indefinitely. Application cycles will resume when enough character spots are available at once to sustain a resumption of cycles - around 30.
Reserves will be closed indefinitely, until such time as application cycles resume. They will not be opening on July 15th, and all applications submitted going forward will be processed on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Test drive memes will continue to be posted as usual, on the 20th of every month at or before 7:00 PM EST. This is to allow prospective new players to test the setting, interact with current players, and form CR that can be carried into the game (with both parties' consent) if they are accepted when their application is processed.
As soon as applications open on August 1st, applications can be submitted at any time going forward. Applications will be processed in the order they were posted to the application page, as spaces become available. For example, if a character is dropped, I will then process the next application in the queue. A list of all queued applications will be posted on the Application Page in a scrolling box.
Since there will be no regular application cycle, for each accepted application from the queue I will provide the date of that character's first AC in every acceptance notice. The smallest amount of time between acceptance and the first activity check will be 15 days.
Considering the character cap has been reached, there will be a penalty starting with the most recently closed activity check and going forward, for anyone who idles out as opposed to posting on the drop post. Since using the drop post as intended frees up a space for the next application much more quickly than allowing a character to be idled out, anyone who idles out of the game will be noted, and if that player re-applies, they will be required to submit 20 short tags, or 10 long tags for their first two activity checks back in the game.
memory loss event
Some of you may have already seen the memory loss/amnesia event on the calendar or mentioned on the mod plurk, but I wanted to give a bit of additional information! First off, I decided to make this an in-game event rather than a TDM event because it seemed like something that would be more enjoyable for characters with established CR. There will be a follow up in the TDM posted August 20th, so prospective players and characters can help solve the problem.
This event will be following the completion of the Lost Research exploration mission. While recovering the research, Jim Kirk and his team discovered that the scientists on the mission had been affected by the pollen of a plant that erases memories, with the effects worsening with prolonged exposure.
While the team's bodies, clothing, and all other supplies were decontaminated as thoroughly as possible, unfortunately some seeds and pollen were carried back in a tire crevasse and have taken root. Starting on August 12th, until August 19th, the pollen from these plants will spread. This will result in bouts of amnesia for characters in the game. This is completely optional - if you don't want to participate, it's easy to assume your characters didn't inhale any of the pollen. The extent and depth of the effects on your characters is also completely up to you. Whether they're forgetting everything including how to eat or brush their teeth, forgetting their life at home, forgetting their life in Riverview, only forgetting certain people but not others, forgetting an embarrassing incident...the extent is totally up to you. Be creative!
Feel free to plot a bit for this event in the comments of this entry.
exploration page cleanup
As some of you may have noticed, I recently went through the Exploration Page to free up any missions that were claimed but not yet completed. A couple were freed up, and there are a few others that haven't yet been claimed. Available missions:
● Carnivorous Harvest
● Civilization in the Lost Ravine
● Waking the Dead
● How to Train Your... (ongoing, can be completed by multiple teams at any time)
● Pride of Pestilence
● Waking the Deity (as far as I know, this was not completed on the most recent TDM)
I will also be adding missions as this month continues and I think them up, so if none of these appeal, keep an eye on the Exploration page for new ones.
The missions are great ways to stir up some CR and affect the setting of the game. The mission outlines are brief prompts specifically so the team who accepts it can organize it however they see fit, and choose their own outcome. While I never have a problem answering questions, the exploration missions are there to invite players to collaborate with me on the setting and player experience in the game.
Despite the game's lack of an overarching background plot, I am very open to outcomes that affect the world as a whole, and am completely open to player suggestions for missions, particularly ones that might enable expansion into the Abandoned City. The setting is definitely not static, and I would love to play around with testing the boundaries of its flexibility. That's honestly my favorite part of modding this game.
feedback?
I just wanted to give a quick thanks to all of you for being an exceptionally cool playerbase. I've received such well-thought-out feedback, suggestions, and ideas for the setting. Please, keep them coming. I like hearing from you guys, both about what works and what doesn't work, and I absolutely love questions about the setting, what you can do in it, and hearing new and creative ideas.
no subject
no subject