mod post: quick check-in

[riverviewmod]

mod post

Hi everyone! Just a really quick late-month check in regarding a couple of things - a clarification on the timeline of the events going on right now, and a request for feedback.

event timelines: fire in the apartment building and bedshare

I've seen a bit of confusion about how the bedshare event is functioning considering the communal housing fire. The timeline is as follows:

● August 23: Fire in the communal housing building.
● August 24-26: Repair on the communal housing building. This will be very fast due to various powers users who are assisting (magic, alchemy, etc.) and the technology available in the Quarantine. Most repairs will be complete within this time period.
● August 26: Bedshare event begins. Most damage to the building will be repaired (possibly not pretty, but livable), but anyone who is displaced is able to stay in the common areas of their floors or stay in hotels. Whether characters are displaced and if so, where they stay, is up to player discretion.
● August 28: All damage to the communal building is repaired. This allows anyone who was displaced to be back in the communal building before the event is over.

Also, please don't forget: The bedshare event is not limited to the communal housing building - it can work for characters who share private homes, or who might be visiting communal housing, etc. Be as creative as you want!

game pacing feedback request

With the recent cluster of events all happening near the same time, and with several similar events coming up in the next month, I just wanted to check in with everyone and request feedback on the pacing of the game and how the events are being done.

Please let me know what's working for you, what isn't, and any ideas for how I might streamline the process!

eta: personal emergencies, natural disasters, and ac

I posted this on plurk but wanted to edit it in here:

Considering the emergency happening in Texas right now, I wanted to quickly assuage any concerns: If you are struggling and miss AC for any reason because of this or other emergencies in your real life, please don't worry. Take care of yourself, and your health and safety first, and tell me what happened after the fact. We can figure out keeping you in the game after everything is dealt with. I'm not going to kick anyone out or slap any wrists for extenuating personal circumstances or natural disasters. At the end of the day, it's an RP game, and the last thing anyone dealing with natural disasters or personal emergencies needs to worry about is making AC in a game. So I just wanted to throw it out there as a blanket reassurance so anyone worried can let go of it and focus on being safe.

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Comments

QUESTIONS

[riverviewmod]

Any questions for the mod can go here.

PACING FEEDBACK

[riverviewmod]

Please drop any feedback on the pacing of the game and handling of events here!

[dracolucmalfoy]

So far I'm alright with it? But I just joined, so... time will tell for me.

[spellslots]

I have no issue with the pacing in general, but I do wonder if the bedshare log maybe should have waited until it was closer to the IC timing, since both that and the fire went up within hours of each other despite being a few days apart. A bit of a buffer might've helped with some of the confusion over whether the housing was intact, too. Obvs nothing to be done now, but maybe something to keep in mind for the future when there are consecutive events?

[riverviewmod]

That was definitely my bad. I was going to do an OOC plotting post in advance of it then changed it to a log at the last moment, without realizing it was the same day as the fire!

I'll definitely keep it in mind for next time.

[ichimyatsu]

Game pacing is chill by me! I will say in the future player plots that widely affect other players should be discussed prior to their happening, as the fire event affected anyone in the communal housing and players were just informed it was happening, not asked about whether or not the whole thing was okay. There was an option to not be affected, which largely negated any serious issue, but things like that should probably still be discussed first. <:

[somnioergosum]

I'll second this one. It was a little weird for me to be on hiatus and trying to mentally work out a reason for my character to not get involved. I know there was a disclaimer that it might not strike their floor but his would have been affected since it's the first and there's no avoiding an evacuation. I generally like gamewide plots and would normally have participated in this one, but circumstances didn't align and I know not that not every plot is everyone's cup of tea.

I know sometimes another plot can be run alongside so people who aren't into one gamewide plot can go for that instead. It brings up the same problem but there are more options involved. Basically I just think it would have been nice to get a bit more planning in.

[riverviewmod]

Thank you for your feedback! I do like the idea of running a secondary plot alongside ones that might affect large swatches of the game to solidify the option of an opt-out. I understand that it can be difficult to come off of a hiatus into an event like this one, but the plot was announced a week in advance via a plotting post on the OOC community that was also plurked by the mod account. This advance warning was given so that anyone who did not wish to participate could make alternate arrangements.

[riverviewmod]

Thanks for your feedback! While I do understand that sometimes events that affect other players can be uncomfortable, these sorts of plots are part of the experience of being in a roleplaying game. This is exactly why opt-outs are provided when events like this happen. In this particular case, the player discussed ensuring there was an opt-out for characters who did not wish to participate in the event, and, as you mentioned, that was in effect during the event. Additionally, the plot was announced a week in advance via a plotting post that was replurked on the mod account, to ensure that anyone who wanted to opt out could make alternate arrangements.

Unfortunately, it is not viable for me to essentially ask the playerbase for permission before approving every player plot. In a game that is primarily driven by player plot that often will affect the setting in a variety of ways, it would prohibitively slow down the plotting process to post a poll before any player plot that might affect more than the player in question.

[ichimyatsu]

That's fair! And ultimately I'm not bothered I just didn't participate, it just seemed a little uncouth for there to be a "so the entire communal housing is going to be on fire!" as opposed to only affecting the player's room and allowing people to opt-in.

[riverviewmod]

As was stated in the original plotting post, posted by the player in question, the character in question started a fire in her own room and allowed other players to decide the extent of the damage.

If you wish to further discuss this, please send me a message privately, as the way you are speaking about your fellow player is inappropriate in this forum.

[ichimyatsu]

Oh that was my bad then, I didn't actually see that post. No harm meant, I just misunderstood!

[riverviewmod]

I understand, sometimes things like this are missed.

However, please keep in mind that all player plots like this are approved through me, so any complaints should be directed at and to me, rather than the player who came up with the plot.

[angelic_archer]

I'm okay with the pacing as long as backtagging and tagging in a little late is okay. Sometimes I need a few days to get on track with the events.

[thegreatninja]

I think that player events should be spaced out more. The fire event felt rather sudden and I really wasn't able to get into it. I need to stop trying to do every event personally (Which I know I do) but with things like the fire I wasn't able to get into it which is ooc for Yuffie who sticks her big but into everything.

[heirlift]

I don't have particularly strong feelings, but if I had to make a choice, it'd be nice to see events spaced out just a little more. It gets a little overwhelming if you're trying to balance your tag load, even if backtagging is thing.

[wingedman]

The only time I've felt like things are too close together are when player plots end up close to the end of the month - like the masquerade and the fire - and people are still busy tagging those threads when it's time for the monthly festival. This isn't too much of an issue, since the festivals themselves are usually long enough to wrap things up and have new threads going by the end, but I do feel like the player plots could use a tiny bit more spacing. I know especially with the flower festival, I saw people saying that they weren't going to do as much with that because they were still working on their masq threads. Maybe scoot other events closer to mid-month, more like the timing for the portal and the amnesia? (Although I know the amnesia required specific timing because the cure was part of the TDM.)

Other than that, I think everything is great!