Let's Hear From You!

[robot-mod.livejournal.com]

So, you know how a game will be around for a while, attract players, set up processes, get things into a groove and all is hunky with a side dish of dory? Don’t you just wish it could stay that way forever and ever? To which some people may respond, “Things change and what used to work doesn’t,” and “We asked for the sneakers, but now that we’ve tried them on, they’re giving us blisters and wtf were we thinking platform sneakers?!!!?.”

We want to hear from you. What’s chafing? What fits like a glove and you'd get in more colors if you could? Where should we be looking to change things and how? Are there things that you think make Poly great and we should keep, keep, keep? Everything’s on the table right now, BUT there are caveats to offer up and expectations to manage and some organization we’d like you to observe:

ORGANIZATION:

1. Going by past experience of posts in which we solicit players to express their desires for change, and what works best in those posts, we will be keeping mostly hands off for this phase of this process. This should be a discussion between players. If you want a mod to respond to something, please put MOD QUESTION in your header. One of us will respond to the question.

2. We will step in to clarify instances where there is a misunderstanding of current policy. We don’t want a misreading of the rules or the way we implement them to become a sort of fanon that people buy into without knowing the canon, as it were.

3. Ideally, and this is an ideal, if you have a complaint about part of the process, we’d love to also see you propose a remedy. We recognize that it’s absolutely possible to see that something is FUBARed and not have a clue how to fix it, but we sure would love some constructive suggestions when you have them.

4. Do not turn this into a flamefest. Ad hominim attacks will be shut down.

EXPECTATIONS MANAGEMENT: (aka “What do we get out of it?”)

1. We will not be making immediate changes. Major policy changes are put up to community vote and we will continue to follow that procedure. What this means for this post is that we will be distilling major requests for change down into themes or specific policy requests and we will put them up to community vote. Any changes voted on and approved should be expected to be implemented later this year.

Why bother? See item 2.

2. It has been our experience that in these community-wide discussions there are players who prefer not to engage in the public discussion for a variety of reasons – whether it is because someone else has said it better, because they feel they will be shouted down, because they are temperamentally unsuited to engage in debate, because they were afk for the majority of the real post activity, etc. They will not and should not be marginalized for any of those reasons. While polling is no more perfect than any other means of gathering consensus, it does allow the less vocal majority to make their opinions count in the community that they are valued members of.

3. But along with that "majority rule," we, the moderators, will also consider what will be best for the game, given what we know and can see from our perspective. We will never crush or silence player opinions, but not all ideas are feasible or functional for the game, even if they are supported by the majority. We really do believe that you are the most important part of the game and we want to serve the greatest majority of you to the best of our abilities.

4. When we put up polls on policy changes, we will be making the identities of the voters non-viewable to the community at large. While we prefer the greatest amount of transparency possible, we have had some players express concern about harassment based on not voting with their friends/cliques. We want our players to vote their conscience and preference, not feel compelled to vote along with the crowd.

5. NOT EVERYONE IS GOING TO GET WHAT THEY WANT. Sad, but true. This falls very firmly under expectations management. If the majority disagrees with your opinion, no matter how certain you are that you’re right, the majority vote is the vote we will implement.

WHAT’S UP FOR DISCUSSION:

•Everything.

Okay, that's kind of a lot of things. How about:

•Applications
•Peer Reviews
•Organization
•Friends Lists
•Cake
•Backdating
•Communication
•Curses
•Everything
•Taken List
•Hiatuses
•Logging
•Activity
•Complaints Process
•Transparency
•Major Plots
•Waffles
•Inter-player Difficulties (no specifics please, just procedures and resolution)
•The Setting of the Game (such as the carousel and the clock)

And pretty much anything else that pertains to the administration and organization of the game. We want to hear your thoughts and suggestions. As we have said before, we really do believe that you are the most important part of the game and we want to serve the greatest majority of you to the best of our abilities.

And, to the best of my own ability, I will be keeping a "stalker-pin" list of links here at the end of this post for conversations in the threads so that it's easier to find different topics. Feel free to ping me at Cateyed Crow on AIM if you would like a link added to a discussion and I seem to have missed it.

For your stalking pleasure~
•AU!City Curses
• Grab-Bag Curses: 1, 2, 3
•Big Plots and Curses: 1, 2
•Taken List
•Activity
•NPC Presence in the City
•Character Interactions: 1,2
•Game Atmosphere: 1, 2, 3
•Applications
•Player-Run Plots
•Planning and Communication
•Moderator Communication
•Death Penalties
•Character Powers
•Game Organization Generally
•Stalkers Have Waffles~!!♥

Comments

[tothelibrary.livejournal.com]

...Holy shit I might end up being first I never manage to do this.

The one thing I can think off the top of my head is: I really like the bigger curses, like the City turned into a school/Moulin Rouge/Jurassic Park (okay, that last one is wishful thinking on my part COME ON, PEOPLE FUCKING RAPTORS HOW DO THEY WORK) buuuut I think maybe there can be too much of a good thing?

Like, having them back to back (Belle Époque and the 20's curse) was kind of overwhelming. So while I am all for like, even more big, City-transforming curses than we do now I think keeping at least a month of downtime between them would save on burnout.

Maybe some kind of more extensive pre-plot, too? More than just a day or two before, idk.

In summation: RAPTORS ARE FUCKIN MAGIC idek


eta here is the BEST CAKE YOU WILL EVER EAT (http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kvzs9n98ir1qzlucko1_400.jpg)

[negakat.livejournal.com]

+1

[thenormalsquint]

Definitely agree. Both curses were lovely and gave a lot to work with as far as plotting is concerned, but I know it's a lot of work to think up of IC AU backgrounds for your characters and then put it into play, not to mention researching what was what back in that time period. Burnout is very easy with things like that so back to back might not be a good thing. I agree with the suggestion of a month or so in between.

Also, get out, Sarah. You may be first, but you are not cool. I am.

+1

[scarwithin.livejournal.com]

I definitely agree with this. The setting change for a month would be so refreshing and if the curses let up a little right after, it'd be much easier to balance out.

[negakat.livejournal.com]

This is more a small problem than anything in-game, but I've found that the Taken Characters list is sometimes out of date for long periods of time (ranging from a week to three-four weeks). This is not necessarily the fault of the Lists Mod, but more the players dropping characters. I know we put our characters' information in a lot of places for the sake of organization, and I think when we drop sometimes we forget everything? This may deter possible applicants because they look at the Taken Characters first because hey, they want to see if that character they'd really like to play is taken. Sometimes the character is dropped, but still listed? Not only is there that little problem, but if players forget to delete their comment to their respective canon pages, when the List Mod finally does get the chance to clean it up, it's probably twice as much work as it would be if players would just... delete them themselves. I'm not saying ALL PLAYERS FORGET ALWAYS!!11!. Merely that sometimes, the task slips our mind.


TLDR: The Taken Characters lists are sometimes not always up to date, everyone pitch in.

So what I'd propose to help keep the lists clean and ease the workload of our Lists Mod is to perhaps just put a friendly reminder under the drop template on the add/remove (http://berryfloss.livejournal.com/2251.html) page for players to check certain pages (taken characters list, apartment living, etc) and to remove their character as they're dropping.


♥

[substitutealice.livejournal.com]

This. I once considered to bring Charles Grey from Kuroshitsuji here, but he seemed to be taken, although there was only one post by the account made a month or two ago. It confused me so so much D:

Friendly reminder sounds like it would work.

[so-devilish.livejournal.com]

For you I have some waffles (http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1023/755118401_fc45fa224f.jpg) while I stalk everyone's responses in order to TRY and remember things I wanted to say... if anything...

Waffles are awesome, as is cake.

[substitutealice.livejournal.com]

S-So cute.

/joins the stalker team

[thenormalsquint]

This is more of a suggestion rather than a problem. As far as Grab Bag is concerned, would it be a big issue to mix up the curses every month? Every month there's the list of curses and I'm not sure how often it's edited, but a lot of them are the same curses every month. I think a nice change of pace would be to swap things around. Like one month there's a handful (or more than a handful, but work with me here, people lol) of curses and then the next month it's a totally different handful of curses. That way, things seem fresher since GB is a monthly occurrence.

I had cake to offer you, but I eated it so you get nothing! :P

[tothelibrary.livejournal.com]

ARE WE ALLOWED TO PLUS ONE THINGS

Because I am anyway.

I agree with this! And I mean, I like grab bag, I think it gives us as a playerbase a good chance to have that cool bit of 'I get to choose my curse today! :D!' freedom, but I do think maybe shorter lists with more rotation? That way it doesn't start feeling a little stale.

[aimandfire.livejournal.com]

RE: Grab Bag

I both like having it in the month as a dependable option and, on the note of 'options', I prefer having the entire list to choose from rather than only a handful. If people choose the same curses, that's a personal thing, but there are others of us who pick something new now and again, and there's no distinct way to plan for that if even the list itself is up in the air. Many times I'll incorporate a curse but will only log involving it rather than posting, so the lack of network evidence isn't necessarily a good way to judge every usage of grab bag, though I can see that when the majority do, say, default to age-curses and whatnot, people might want to be forced to pick a wild card.

I'm just not one of them. The other curses do that for me.



Not related, or sort of, since everything game-related is, but thank you to the mods for...you know, being mods. Without you, obviously we wouldn't even have a game, a place to play and dork around, so really, really, really, thank you.

<3

[risetwice.livejournal.com]

+1 I do agree that having the list stay pretty constant is kind of nice. I think a lot of people, including myself, plan for Grab bags months in advance - schedules, and things like the full moon for some of my characters are always things I have to keep in mind, and I feel like knowing what all the options are really do give me a lot of flexibility if suddenly I have to go to a conference or work fullstop on a paper one month, I'll know that the next month I'll have a chance to go on with my plans.

I think also that a lot of people use grab bag for activity, and they like to default to curses they're comfortable with or that have become a running joke (I think of Cat!Cain, for instance). I prefer that the grab bags stay as they are.

[chibidl.livejournal.com]

I would like to discuss waffles.

Okay, actually, no. There are some things I'd like to bring up, but I'm not expecting any of them to be popular because they are all pretty integral to the way that Poly runs.

First of all, the huge thing that bothers me about this game (and LJRP in general) is the emphasis on network-based communication. It has its place, to be sure, but not all characters would ICly be interested in it as anything other than a possible source of news (not a social networking device), if that. Plus, even those who read the network wouldn't necessarily want to post; not everyone is a diary-writing sort of person, and not every one of those wants to write in a public diary. We've kind of solved that problem with accidental video/audio but, speaking as someone who uses those for what seems like damn near half of her posts (especially for Clef), I think they're kind of a cop-out. It's a way of making activity for a character that you are active with in the sense of tagging and plotting but who would do better with an open log.

That, and ever since I joined I've always wondered when the characters have time to have lives if they're spending all that time online. >>

One way to fix this, in my opinion, would be to change the rules for activity checks. Rather than requiring two journal entries, why not have it be one journal entry and participation in one log? Or maybe participation in two (open?) logs? Or - and this might be a popular compromise - leave it up to the player. However, I think that if people are given incentive to start/participate in open logs, it will benefit the game as a whole because it will allow for a more dynamic roleplaying experience. Meaning that there will be more characters out doing stuff that other characters (strangers, even!) can participate in, rather than talking about having done stuff as though nobody/only friends participated.

Another solution would of course be to make Poly a community-based RP rather than a journal-based one, meaning that every post is basically an actionspam. Personally, I think that would be awesome, but I don't know if people would go for it.

[aimandfire.livejournal.com]

I don't so much agree with making Poly a community-based RP, but to amend the activity-check is something I think is definitely worth opening up to consideration, if that's possible.

One post and one log sounds fair, just so we don't end up with a Poly full of self-insulating hermits.

/flails around

[never_very_good]

I feel like maybe this isn't entirely the sort of issue that's easily addressed, but it was brought up in the last game-wide discussion (though I don't think much was done in terms of application other than to quietly encourage it,) BUT, the one thing that bugs me is the inconsistency of what we assume about the game.

FOR EXAMPLE, I assume that Cameron and Rudy have patients, even when none of those patients are player characters. I assume that when Frankie's tending bar the bar is full of people, who largely aren't PCs, and I assume that Neil sells books to people, who are-- yes, okay, the point, I suppose is made. There are lots of people in this City! The guy who serves you coffee every morning, your boss' secretary, some of your co-workers, your neighbors, there are tons and tons of NPCs that... well, let's face it, people often forget.

Which becomes a problem when characters call out other characters ICly for "not doing anything" and the like, because... well, those other characters' muns are probably assuming they are doing things. Which is perfectly normal, because of all those NPCs out there. Some of those NPCs are sick and the doctors are taking care of them. Some of those NPCs are bad people and the police are catching them knocking over liquor stores and running insurance scams. Some of those NPCs are buying your character's wares or eating in their restaurants, and the scope of the game makes no sense if you omit their existence in your considerations. The economy falls apart and everyone starves, oh noes! (I know there was a figure, I want to say it was 1,000 NPCs to every PC or something like that? But the point is, lots.)

So... I don't know how much could really be done, but I feel like maybe some kind of pronouncement/reminder that yes, things really are going on out there, might be useful? Because I feel like the "____ isn't doing anything" argument has caused an awful lot of strife in the past, and I am not a fan of said strife.

Sorry if this is awfully incoherent ;_;

[dude-imbatman.livejournal.com]

I assume these things as well. I want to say the population is over a half a million? something like 600,000. I know my freak rp partner went in search of it not long ago for police force info.

Really, unless you've got something very specific in mind or the mods can come up with a better idea, it's not hard to remind people of this via your characters. Just sort of mention 'oh work at the book store was busy today blah blah' and move on in your post?

[mad-here.livejournal.com]

Itemized, because numbers... actually, numbers, like their distant and hideous relative, math suck. Aaanyway, here we go:

o1. plots like the recent Shepherdess one really help reunite citizens against a common cause, and personally, I find them very fun, too. The only suggestions I'd make is that I think it might help if some of them were a bit longer, or if they were signaled a tad more in advance. It would also be cute if some of them had more lasting effects, like... "from now on, there will forever be rabid sheep in the forest," or some sort of reminder that an event happened, something to add to the place's history. I can imagine how exhaustive it is to plan something so overarching, though, especially given poly's size, so I don't know how much of this request can be realistically effect.

o2. Not so much a mod-related suggestion, as a community one: I think sometimes we fall into a habit of stagnation, character relationship-wise (...or at least I know I do), and we tend to mostly tag the characters ours already know. Maybe revert back to trolling comment spamming spontaneity, dare to venture into unfamiliar territory, tag a newb? Or even a City veteran our chars didn't get to babble with? Perhaps we could put up posts asking for random curse partners too, I don't know. Tagging out more would be cute!

[riderjacked.livejournal.com]

+1 to everything in this comment.

I love the overarching plots when they happen, because they're fun. I wouldn't mind having lasting effects either, since... I dunno, it just adds something to the City and adds something new on top of all the older things that we've got. It's fun! But yeah, I can only imagine how exhausting it is to run it, so... I understand if it's not always possible to do that, since those plots can get to be pretty big.

For number two, I've been trying to do that more lately! It's good for the game to get out and talk to others, and it keeps things from being stagnant. Also, it's just really fun to talk to new people and stuff like that. 8)

[primrosella.livejournal.com]

This is going to be my attempt at articulating vague and half-formed kinds of thoughts into an actual coherent...thing. Bear with me. :(

One thing I've kind of noticed about a lot of the major plots we've had is that they all, to some extent, kind of follow the same...formula, in a sense? Like, there'll be a day or two of blind terror where no one knows WTF is going on (in-character, that is!), and then the villain will address the City about halfway through, and then the deities will intervene (assuming they're not the "villains" of the plot in the first place) and bring life back to the status quo in the end. I guess part of it is that it doesn't always feel like the major plots are there to accomplish something in terms of plot, other than to terrorize the citizens for a more extended period of time than a normal curse.

This might just be me being nostalgic, but the very first major plot I ever encountered in Poly was the Stewards plot, back in...shoot, early 2008? And I think one of the reasons why I enjoyed it so much is that there was a real sense of urgency about it--it wasn't just that the deities weren't helping the citizens, it was that they were actually gone, and here were these new people claiming to help and be saviors and all that. So then, when the twist came out that they were actually evil, it made the whole situation that much more desperate, since the citizens were totally alone against this impending evil, and they all actually had to work to do something about it.

I know that one of the big problems and reasons that some people don't like major plots is that it's hard to ignore a major plot if you don't want to participate in it. I also know that with so many people in the game, it's hard to run a major plot that still provides leeway for individuals to come up with their own actions. But I guess I'm just sort of wondering if major plots could be enhanced by presenting some sort of ultimate problem for the citizens alongside the standard invasion/trauma/terror/sheep, and leaving it to the characters themselves to come up with a solution to it.

Like, for example, maybe give citizens a shot at the villain themselves. An organization post could probably take care of hashing out who was going to be showing up at the battle and how it was going to proceed, the same way it would for player-run plots, and then to avoid potential arguments about who actually gets the finishing blow or whatever, employ the same raffle method that was used for the Yo City bear and mushroom plot, maybe? Even if the villain gets away in the end so the deities can ultimately vanquish them, it'd still allow the citizens to experience a significant achievement in the plot, rather than having them sort of just carried along by the flow by it.

...I have no idea if that made any sense at all. Or if it's feasible at all or...hi, I'm tl;dr today. >>

[dreamsofnoah]

I also remember the Witch Trials curse from even before then, and that had been amazing - it was citizens against citizens, little to no deity involvement, turning into a battle between the cursed and uncursed, with some characters even playing both sides. Seeing something like that again would be fun, I think. Characters were mentioning it for months and even years afterwards. Some still do when Halloween comes around again.

[egregiouslypink.livejournal.com]

OH SO OKAY, GRABBAGS.

I've already plus one'd in support of changing the format/timing (or both) but beyond the kind of... mental switch from OMG YAY GRABBAG to ehhhh grabbag, I have another worry about them:

They seem to, on the whole (not entirely or in every situation, obviously) encourage grouping off? Like, a certain cast or a playergroup will have, say, a monthly injoke or cast hootenanny or whatever, and it can make it very hard to break into those posts.

Add to that the habit of relying on GB to make half your activity (I DO IT TOO SOMETIMES, DON'T LIE IT HAPPENS) and it becomes a self-perpetuating cycle.

[sparkledyne.livejournal.com]

Maybe someone could post something before grab bag happens so that there can be a bit more organization beforehand. It'd give people a chance to randomly set something up and, hopefully, create new CR instead of going with their usual groups.

PLOT, CURSES, FEEL OF THE GAME...

[whackanarche.livejournal.com]

So... when I first joined Poly like two years ago, there was this plot with the carousel and the clock and before, hints about the end of the world!!! and stuff like that. What happened to that? Back then, people were so much more active in trying to figure stuff out re: underground, and it made for some really nice CR between casts and people who really didn't have much in common before. Granted, some of them were poorly organized and some weren't, but I thought they were going a nice direction. It served as an overarching backstory that the citizens could explore, and have a serious business type of interaction without resorting to self-angst, canon, and so on.

On that note, this is no jab at the game or the curses, but I just feel like Poly has none of that serious vibe anymore. I wasn't really a fan of the rabid sheep, the plagues EXCEPT WE WERE JUST JOKING LOL, etc., because I thought they really took away from the game—like I couldn't take it seriously anymore, and same goes with my characters. It was kind of like playing a character in limbo, without any conflict whatsoever except to respond to curses. And that's a boring cycle, imo.

I understand that this is a crack game and all, but it's nice to have some serious stuff here and there, that's not always tied in with someone's canon (see, Dhaos' plot). Perhaps, giving a chance to players, and maybe working extensively with their plot, to give away Poly's backstory (if there's even one anymore) little by little? I know Poly is a curse-centric game, but I do remember the times when players used to be involved with exploring the underground (and actually having repercussions, things to say, etc). While planning them and executing them was a lot of fun, it was also kind of limiting, how the characters were always limited. I'm not saying exploration 100% of the time should come off as a success, but it'd be nice to have something to work off of. Maybe that can lead off into another plot of the month, or something. Shake things up, with the execution of curses and method of player involvement.

Okay I just woke up I'm not making much sense... but if you need clarification just shoot a comment on this thread.

[inmyothertights]

I was never under the impression that Poly was a crack game, although I could be completely wrong. A lot of things are funny/cracky but...anyway. Digressing.

I don't know if there's a solution to what you're saying in terms of character involvement except to maybe have players run those plots, since they always were player-run in the past?

[deadly_legacy]

*Tries to walk in very lightly here*

Sooooo...applications...

I feel like there is a disconnect with the reality of third person/log sample section and the apper's expectations of it. It seems like it is asking for a deep, reflective, insightful narrative. However, the actual logs in this game are usually set ups for people to play in person which might include some thought, some action, and/or some setting development.

I don't see anything wrong with asking for either of these two things in an application, but I think of them as being two distinctly different things. So, it seems like sometimes, even with the description of what that section should contain, an apper (like myself ;;;) will go in with a preconceived idea of what that should be.

Maybe the solution is to add a section called something like Reflection Essay that asks for exactly what the third person/log sample asks for now. And then change the expectations and description of the third person/log sample to match up more closely with an average sample you'd find on tampered.

[bequiet_hescreamed]

I think that's a brilliant idea. Part of the problem I've noticed with applications is that mods seem to rely on the third-person sample to show that the player can not just parrot off a list of personality traits and backstory events but actually knows what they mean and portray them in writing. This isn't a bad thing, but it means that log samples can be pretty formulaic and don't have to be the sort of thing that would get any responses if you actually posted it as a log. I have actually told friends who were writing apps, "Don't set your log sample in the City, but if you do don't focus on the setting as anything other than a backdrop. Try to have your character introspect about their canon circumstances as much as possible. They don't need to actually do anything."

Meanwhile, while that sort of policy may be doing a great job of filtering in players who have a good grasp of characterization, it is also significantly biased towards players who don't have a good grasp on how to write engaging action. These are two completely different skills that do not necessarily go hand in hand. While there might not be a lot of need for players to be good at writing action in a mainly journal-based game, it's important that the mods be aware of what they're filtering for and that potential players know what is and is not required.

Additionally, I think the first-person sample should be done away with. Most characters don't post to blogs on their homeworlds, so any sample post would necessarily be a possible intro post. Additionally, the mods don't seem to give it much weight in judging the application, so it's superfluous. If we did away with that, we could add separate log and introspection samples without making the application longer, and having an actual log-style sample would give a clearer indication of character voice (IMO) than a journal sample. (Since nobody writes the same way they talk.) So, yeah - anything to improve the effectiveness of applications without making them longer.

[onlyteasing.livejournal.com]

Aaaah, so late. 8(

Anyway! I'd really love to see more plot leniency. I've never had a big problem with it either time I've tried to run one, but what I've noticed is that most player plots have a very negligible effect, due in part (I think?) to restrictions placed on them - no more than ten people per, a maximum amount of change allowed to be inflicted on the City, etc. I love that Poly's a game where the baseline's opt-in rather than opt-out, but I think we've got some leeway to allow for larger player plots if people want for them.

I'll try to clarify if this doesn't make sense, I'm all flekmf;w from sushi tonight.

[negakat.livejournal.com]

I do agree with this, to an extent. Mostly that with a large playerbase like this, I think it's possible to allow more characters to be involved in player-run plots. Granted, the player needs to be able to handle overseeing a plot that large and mods overseeing it as well, but it's possible, I think! And I also think that damage to the City could have lasting effects (I think the Gintama crew blowing up the first/second deity building is the best example? idk!) The Dhaos plot was a step forward to that, I think.


Thorn, I hope you brought enough sushi to share with everyone. B(

[w4rp3d.livejournal.com]

Okay, I've skimmed through the main comments in the post and I don't think I've seen someone bring up what's been bothering me about the game, but I could be wrong. Large amounts of text and I don't always get along well when I'm trying to read them. D|

I'm well aware that there are a couple factors that've lead to the overall slow-down we're currently experiencing in the game, but at least in my case, this has largely come from the feeling that the City has lost all the driving forces behind it. Yes, the players can poke around in certain things and there will be consequences, but it doesn't particularly feel like the characters in game are being... lorded over, almost? That's the best way I can think of to describe it. I mean, back when I started, the deities were quite vocal and they had quite the presence in the City, in such a way that I remember having my characters (and seeing other characters) move in specific ways because of it. That feeling of overhanging paranoia is gone for me now, with the deities just seeming to be there for trades more than anything else.

Granted, this very well may be due to my own hiatus last month/inattentiveness as of late, but I do feel that the game might benefit from having some kind of presence about to make things less easy-going (curses aside) for the characters. Just an example, but something a la Pitch Black, where perhaps the monsters from the underground might move up into the City proper after dark, would put a sense of urgency on needing to be inside before sunset for all but the most powerful/fool hardy/insane characters.

tl;dr, I feel like the characters have too much freedom with the way the game is currently, and it might benefit from a little "BEST BE LOOKING OVER YOUR SHOULDER EVERY NOW AND AGAIN >D" or something along similar lines.

/makes no sense ever

[whackanarche.livejournal.com]

No I get what you mean by it. It's like kind of... just another City for the characters to get sucked up in, sans the conflict. The way things are, half the characters I had would have probably preferred to stay in the City than their homes, so... yeah.

[child-radical.livejournal.com]

I wondering if the mythos behind the counting down to the end of all worlds could be touched on and cleared up somewhat. Like the clock counting down to the time where the barriers which seperate all the different universes being weakened to the point where travel between them is easy for more malign forces like The Stewards to access and create a slave empire or something. Sorta like the end of the worlds in the sense of the basic status quo being changed up to no end. Heck, it could also tie into The Architect being an agent for such a faction trying to speed things along.

It's just an idea I had been thinking of for a good minute or two.

[primrosella.livejournal.com]

I'm still dying to know how Adrastus's mother fits into the whole scheme of things, honestly. Pun intended.

And I think she in particular stands out in my mind because thus far, she's one of the few, if only, mythos-style characters that has actually seemed to be on the side of the citizens and yet not ultimately betrayed their trust in one way or another.

...At least not yet, anyway. >>

[fireplacegirl.livejournal.com]

I just got home, so I haven't had a chance to read all the other comments yet, so I'm sorry if this has all been said before BUT-

I think the mod team as a whole seems unapproachable. Individually you are all cool people, especially since I know some of you irl. But when you put that mod hat on, or rather, sign in under that mod account, I dunno... Your responses to a lot of things are so formal. Like when someone asks a question on the problems thread, and then it takes a good deal of time for the collective mods to formulate a response, and it's under the fairly anonymous berryfloss account signed by the entire mod team. Perhaps it's just a personal irk, but I feel like things could be a little more, well... personal. If I ask a question or send an email, I kind of want to know who I'm talking to, you know? I want to feel like I'm talking to someone, not a cold, impersonal entity or reading some copy and pasted form. I suppose you could rebut and say I should just personally IM a mod, but eh.

Especially with the copy and paste answers to the apps, yeesh. I know there are only a few of you, and you're all busy, and I suppose it saves you a minute or so of typing time, but it just seems impersonal, and I've been in the game long enough to remember when it wasn't like that.

This is all imo, ymmv, and whatever other acronym you prefer to use, and probably just a personal irk, but it needed to be said.

[arachnidism.livejournal.com]

Especially with the copy and paste answers to the apps, yeesh.

I'm not sure what you mean. In fact I think that the apps, particularly the requests, are more personal than they used to be. Now the requests for more information or another 3rd person sample are accompanied with what the mods are looking for instead of just a "an additional sample please."

MOD QUESTION

[primrosella.livejournal.com]

It's more a note of curiosity than anything else, but now seems like as good a time as any to ask--

Is the Shadow City still open and available for people who want to end up there? I know it came into effect back in January, but I don't recall hearing much about it since, and I...don't think I saw an entry for it in poly_places, either? So I was just wondering what the current status is on that. Thanks, guys!

Re: MOD QUESTION

[robot-mod.livejournal.com]

The Shadow City is still around, absolutely.

We've got a write-up here (http://community.livejournal.com/poly_places/2429.html) in poly_places. It's in the "City Travel" section because the Shadow City is sort of a transient place that people pass into and out of and move through rather than really live in. It's the City's built-in pocket dimension, so to speak. There's a little more information about it here (http://community.livejournal.com/polychromatic/207414.html) on the polychromatic community.

Either way, to answer your question, it's very much still around and ready for use.

1/2

[shahni.livejournal.com]

Ah, Poly. I've been with you around forever, and I hope it's not too late to say what I can.

I have to agree with a lot of things a lot of people have said and I'm probably going to be repeating them here, but here's my take on them;

stagnation of involvement;

I've had characters here for three, four years at a time, and where at one point they might have been reacting from the impacts of coming curses, deaths and whatever else the story of the City will bring on them, they're no longer shocked. More than that, they obviously have nothing more to SAY or DO in regards to the City, and already know too much. Now, obviously, CR is a reason they're still around, and we can only jump on the memory loss excuse so many times to refresh them-- but then it becomes a matter of them not having to really SAY much to the network.

Initially when a character joins, there will be questions to ask, confusion and what have you-- after they've settled in, the heroic types want answers, solutions, and if they're just going to sit around in the face of their environment and not do anything for it, then, there's not going to be much more else for them to do other than react to curses, then go about their daily lives and lol about it the next day over lunch.

tl;dr-- as others have mentioned, maybe allowing a bit of a change in environment, the ability to be INVOLVED in said environment and making some sort of change that won't put others off from trying? Like, I remember the Witch Trials plot from years ago that was just amazing and brought in CR and city-development all the same because it involved both the City as an involvement space and the people within it, and I think the 'carousel turning, counting down to the end of the world' thing is just... forgotten, by now. I'd like to be interested in "the world" of Poly again, and would absolutely not mind helping in building it if you guys need, and I'm pretty sure a lot of others would too.

Network posts/activity;

One of my other concerns is that tying into the previous comment, it makes it harder for a character to WANT to say anything to anyone on the network, knowing all they'll get is either repeat answers, sidelined comments and what have you. In my situation, I have an extremely older character in Poly time who busies herself working at the hospital, and because of the personal development and resignation at not being able to give what she can to the environment, she'll be busying herself with working off-screen and that would take precedence over posting on the network, you know?

[shahni.livejournal.com]

There's no real reason for a lot of quieter characters to want to ask about things they can't explore or get answers to, and I think like, four years after using 'LJ' as a blogging medium, we're about as articulate about our characters' daily lives in journals as we are about our own (read: not at all XD)-- accidental network posts, video blogs are great when trying to get into a character's head, but I personally feel it's high time that those and logs weren't the only means through which a person can get active CR.

The problem is that a lot of people ignore open action posts, except maybe if they're tied into a network one-- maybe if it'd be okay to do them on a regular basis as a means of communication, a lot more un-talkative people could also get CR?

businesses and positions;

I don't think this was brought up, but I'd personally really like to see a list of existing businesses and services in the City, as well as an area where players can post who is working/who owns the place, and delete their characters out of their list when they drop. I know this is completely extra work and I'd love to help set it up if I had any extra time RL at all but... something to think about? I ask for this because while say for example, I might have had Oriya as the owner of Koukakurou while he was around, or Megumi as the Head of Magical Healing at the hospital-- no one would know this until they asked and in most cases people usually don't while putting their characters into a job position. So maybe somewhere to organize all this out to balance things and jobs and make it easier for people to know what they CAN do?

And I think that's it o/ Thank you :3

edit button I kind of hate you sometimes.

Power Restrictions?

[worksmart.livejournal.com]

There is something, somewhere in Poly's rules, I think regarding restriction of magical or 'super' abilities. Just going from memory from the one time I played a powered character, I think it was mostly that abilities would sometimes glitch and not work, and that they would be weakened within the city environment. We don't see it put into play much anymore, and I think it could be useful to reinstate it both to clear it up a bit and to actually give powered characters the ability to get more involved in things without feeling like they're taking over?

For example, characters who in their canon have super-level healing abilities (I am going to take Orihime from Bleach as an example) could put the whole hospital out of business singlehandedly. Some of our superpowered crimefighters could probably make the police force redundant. There definitely are times when skills like these are needed within the game and the human characters wouldn't be able to measure up, but just to go about their business normally they'd be in danger of overwhelming everything.

I realise it can be very hard to impose any set restrictions because the array of abilities is so wide, so perhaps even a reminder when someone apps with a superpowered character that they should weaken their abilities would help. Or a system whereby powers are generally weakened but can be used more strongly once in a set period of time? For instance Orihime could heal Ichigo after a massive battle with Grimmjow only once every seven days, and the rest of the time she would only be able to fix him up enough to get him to the hospital. So powered characters could enjoy the full extent of their abilites when it's uniquely important, and also have to deal with the frustration of not being able to use them as freely as they're used to.

ANYWAY it just seems to have been one of those things that has fallen by the wayside (like height restrictions on flying characters) that might benefit from polishing up.

+a zillionty five

[tothelibrary.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with this. I think more/clearer/etc limitations would help characters both powered and non-powered; it provides an antagonistic force for the supercharged dudes as well as a way to realistically get in on the action (so to speak) without worrying they'll step on toes or inadvertantly take over or something. And for the non-powered it would help with the 'well why bother' issue of... say, being a doctor or a detective in a City where people can heal someone near death like it ain't no thang or track down a killer via whatever powers of finding killers they have.

So, yes. Totally cosigned.

mod question? maybe?

[zombitard.livejournal.com]

FIRST: MOD. RO. BOT. MOD. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUK_b0dp9wE)

I don't...quite know how to talk about this, so it might just turn out to be incoherent babbling. My point is mostly that I'd like to see information on the world of Polychromatic organized better and more easily accessed and in our faces.

It seems to me that information on the game is disjointed, and we might benefit from a more complete directory. Things that come to mind off the top of my head that get lost (because there is really a lot of information) are the crack community, some of the info that was on the infosite that pertained and clarified how the game runs, and what kinds of Curse response teams and freelance hero teams exist and run. I'd suggest either a wiki or a better tag system in the community* so that when folk post about their own businesses or teams or what have you, there's an easy way to look it all up.

Something that the players can utilize, so that it doesn't all fall onto the mods to keep up?


*eta: community = tldr

Re: mod question? maybe?

[treadingdawn.livejournal.com]

Poly used to have a wiki back in the day but...not many people worked on maintaining it, I mean that totally applied to mods and players. It just seemed like no one was updating their respective sections, but I have seen some amazing wikis for other games.

[sitaronthewater.livejournal.com]

Ooookay, so I had a bunch of ideas over Shabbat, but I, erm, forgot them, so, let's just see what I can remember here. I would, first of all, like to say how awesome you are, modteam, and I love so hard the individualized app responses.

Something that has been brought up in the past is the anon commenting in HMDs and, in fact, could have been dealt with for all I know; it's next weekend, after all. But it has some obvious pros and cons. Cons are, of course, less ability to monitor and potential for the sprouting up of problems (awkward phrasing, sorry). But the pros are that people do appear to be more likely to speak their honest opinion and less filler and 'omg ur sooo totally amazing!!1!!5!!!1!' Obviously this example is not a reflection of Poly, but a general trend that I've seen out in the other corners of the internet. I've also heard a couple of people saying that they'd like to have anon commenting back because of this lack of real crit from everyone, and I agree. Monitoring to make sure it doesn't get out of hand, but anon-allowed.

Um, as a suggestion for some of the other issues cropping up, maybe a smidge more deity involvement? I know they can't all be active all the time, and such, and you do a lot with them, but lots of stuff spring from them, I know one of my characters in particular feeds off of them *coughHIYORIcough* and they're fun. And they show them newbies who's boss. Or somethin.

Oh, jeez, there SO were more things I had in mind. Err, well, the only other thing I remember at the moment is that maybe poly_crack and poly_orz were, IDK, if not added to the 'friend add' list were suggested on the ACCEPTED comment. Except that's more something that the individual mods of the comms should work out with you, not me.

Er, that's it? HAVE SOME WAFFLE CAKE (http://momentumoffailure.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/bananawaffle.jpg)!

[viking-mod.livejournal.com]

Remember though that anon hasn't entirely been left out of HMD. There is always the option of linking people to a private crit post with anonymous allowed.

As for poly_crack and poly_orz, those can be linked up in ooc notes in posts or it would be fun to word of mouth or talk over in new people's introduction posts. Because they're player run more so than poly mod run, they're different (and fun) animals.

[citadelspirit.livejournal.com]

I wasn't sure if any of the threads fit this...so I decided to post at the end of all this discussion to bring up a little gripe of mine: the inability of players to do anything about the world or its plot.

Players can't affect the world, not really. Players' plots mean almost nothing in the Grand Scheme of Things. I've been here off and on for 4 years, and I went through the Adrastus plot and a couple of others with various characters (though I did change player contact info a time or two, which is why no one remembers). Those were really kickass, except then I realized that, in the end, I didn't come out knowing any more than when I went in, and nothing really changed.

The world has a crazy big Plotful plot, but no one has the ability to move it along except the mods. It would be really awesome, to me, if the mods and groups of players could talk and agree to allow some characters, some of the time, to dig up an interesting factoid. Instead of plotdumping through Big Uncontrollable Events, why not seed some of the Plot into game through character exploration and discovery? It encourages player creativity.

I once played Motoko Kusanagi, and she and Cortana and Master Chief had this great plan to try to hack around in the Intarwebs and see what they could figure out about this place. We put a significant amount of plotting into figuring out just how we'd set this up, what we'd do, and we were hoping for an awesome plot...and then the mods told us we found nothing of interest, that this really couldn't be done, and I lost interest in the character pretty quickly, because at that point she couldn't really _do_ anything -- in order to use her, I would have to change my approach to "here, live a daily life" instead of "oh man, figure out wtf is going on with all the rest of the community, wow!" Sorrow and Sylar ran into a similar problem where they were Mod!Forbidden to learn anything about the clock, even in the Shadowlands.

The City is interesting and is a great worldbuilding exercise...but a world is only so interesting as what you're allowed to do in it. The mods seem to be artificially perpetuating the game by not allowing anyone to figure out anything about the Important Stuff relating to the City. I get the impression that they're afraid that the City will run out of plot, that people will drop everything they're doing and try to unravel/break the game, something like that. I was under the impression that the community would follow some grand arch-plot, trying to figure out just what was going on and actually doing so over time, and the mods would just keep tangling/extending/whatnot the plot such that there was progress but the game didn't collapse and die and end.

Instead, we're powerless, and that gets a little dull after a while. Characters settle down into daily life. :-/ I was once young and spry and had tons of ideas that I'd have loved to talk with other players/characters/the mods about, but now I get the idea that the mods have Their Plans that we're not allowed to touch, ever.

<3 Poly, but I do wish I could do more in it.

[pleonasm]

I actually really love this comment. I think it pinpoints a problem in the game, which is the lack of urgency. No matter how powerful a character is, no matter what they can do or try, they're told by others that there is nothing left to try. And they try anyway, but nothing happens, and you learn nothing, and after a while, they just get resigned to the curses and stuff. Sometimes you can tell what characters have been around for a while just by the way they react to things: "Oh, this again."

I'd like to see either more deity involvement or more ability to learn about the City. I think maybe the reason that no one does anything with the Shadow City is, well, not just that it's hard to get there, but after the work of getting there, we know nothing will come of it. It's hard to get motivated for a mission when you know there's nothing cool at the end.