mod post: monthly state of the game

[riverviewmod]

monthly state of the game

Hi everyone! Welcome to January's State of the Game post! This won't be a long one, but has some updates on a minor mod team update, handling of the application queue now that we've exceeded the game cap, and application standard clarifications.

list mod addition

While there are no major changes to the running of the game, a player who will go by the alias Blue has kindly agreed to help me with list updating. Going forward, Blue will be updating the general lists while I will still be processing anything that requires mod judgement.

A Breakdown:

● Blue will update the Taken Characters, Reserves, Housing, Occupations/Businesses, and Perimeter Guard pages, and may be helping with processing drops.
● The Mod will be handling Rules/Procedures questions, Activity Check, Activity Points/Rewards, Exploration, and be processing Hiatuses. All plot approvals and mingles, calendar events, and other general modwork will be staying with me.

While we're adjusting to this change (and while Blue gets used to my messy coding), please bear with us regarding any coding weirdness, and let us know via PM if something has been missed or a link is broken anywhere! Welcome to Blue and thank you for the assist!

application queue

Now that we've hit character cap and there are characters in the application queue, I thought I would do a quick roundup of how things will work with regards to application processing going forward!

● Applications in queue will be processed as drops happen, on a first come, first served basis. They will be processed in this way even if the application cycle is not open so that players who have apped can start playing as soon as possible.
● Reserves will open and close as usual. Reserved applications will be processed as they are posted, with unreserved applications being placed in the queue. Reserved applications in excess of the character cap will be placed in queue ahead of the unreserved applications from the same cycle.

● Applications in the queue from previous cycles will always be processed before applications from the next cycle even if the newer applications were reserved and the ones in queue were not. The only exception is if the queued application is for a cast that is at cap, in which case the application will remain queued until there is a space in that cast.

I understand the wording might be confusing, feel free to ask any questions and I will explain to the best of my ability!

application standards

While processing this most recent application round, I have noticed that there seems to be some confusion around application standards. I just wanted to do a few clarifications on application standards that I have seen be misunderstood:

● Strengths/Weaknesses: This section is a stand-in for the usual personality section and should relate to the character's personality strengths and weaknesses. These sections should not include anything related to abilities and the weaknesses should not be 'positives in disguise' (for example, stating that a character has a weakness to iron because they are a fairy would not be an acceptable response to the weaknesses section, nor would stating that a character is too generous). Every character has good and bad personality traits, and the mod would like to read about both!
● Word Count: Strengths and Weaknesses are allowed to be a maximum of 300 words each, for a total of 600 for both sections combined. Applications that are in excess of this will receive a revision request.
● Clarity vs. Lack of Content: While the word count limit is in place to ensure that players understand the character they are applying for and can explain their personality in a concise and clear manner, this should not be used as an excuse to skimp on content. There have been quite a few applications in he past couple of cycles that have offered only a sentence or two for each section, and these sorts of applications will more often be declined than have revisions requested going forward.
● Minor Characters: While this concern hasn't come up much, with many of the more popular casts starting to get bigger, it is worth clarifying. Applications for minor characters in existing canons should not contain excessive headcanon - if a strong personality (strengths/weaknesses) cannot be written without the inclusion of headcanon, then the character is more than likely not appable. These will be judged on a case-by-case basis.

Questions are more than welcome!

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