![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
STATE OF THE SHELL SURVEY | DECEMBER 2018
✽ GAME UPDATES AND PLAYER INPUT SURVEY Hello Dreamers! Khu Ioduan has now been running for about a year, and it's time to do take a look at where we're headed next year! This post contains a few process changes that will be implemented next year, and a player survey that will be a required component of December AC. You can reply to the survey any time between now and when December Activity Check closes. • PROCESS CHANGES • AC CHANGES - Starting January 1, the AC requirement for all active characters in game will be reduced to ten (10) comments from that character per month. These 10 comments may be accumulated across up to 3 separate threads on any qualifying network post or log, with any other player's character, as per our existing AC policy. All other aspects of AC will remain unchanged. EVENT MANAGEMENT - We are going to be implementing new management for large plot events based on some player input. Prior to the posting of an IC log, an OOC post will go up explaining the details of the event. The OOC post will have sign-ups for individual players to lead one or more specific quests or mini-plots within the broader plot we have planned. The player(s) who sign up as leaders will OOCly be given all the things that needed to be uncovered IC, and will be able to direct the gameplay within their thread(s) that way. It is our hope that this will reduce the need for regular mod input on threads and allow players more independence to interact with a plot. NOTE: Characters played by individuals who sign up as mini-plot leaders are NOT automatically 'leaders' of their team(s) of characters. That character can take a leadership position if agreed upon ICly, of course. We encourage all players to sign up to be a mini-plot leader at least once! OUTREACH RESOURCES - As we move into 2019, we hope to ramp up recruitment of new players and appreciate the efforts of our existing players who regularly visit comms like ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small} enablemeplz to show off our game. To help make this process easier, we are going to be adding an 'elevator pitch' or talking points about Khu Ioduan, likely to the Game Ad.We are also going to change how we solicit Wanted Characters from current players. Instead of a monthly Wanted Characters OOC post, there will be a static page with monthly comment headers where players can submit a request at any time during that month. There will be posted reminders in the monthly agenda where players will be directed to the new comment header. • PLAYER SURVEY • Our initial plan with this survey was to present an outline of our metaplot plans moving forward for player consideration, but with some reflection we decided that it would be more beneficial for the modteam and the game to better understand your individual narrative (IC) and OOC objectives. We believe that this will provide us with stronger guidance of what our players wish to do in this setting than asking for input on specific elements of the metaplot, and allow us to provide paths for your objectives more effectively. Your answers aren't binding in any way, and if you do not have a clear answer that's alright! Just write down your initial thoughts, and you may be as succinct as you wish. NARRATIVE/STORY OBJECTIVES (IC) - These are the goal(s) you have for your character(s) in-game, or the overall objective(s) you may want them to achieve through the metaplot.
OOC OBJECTIVES - The reasons behind why you wanted to join Khu Ioduan and why you stay may have changed over time, and we are dedicated to providing an enjoyable, supportive player experience. Some of you may play to decompress, to experience something new, or to exert some control over life in a chaotic, unsure world. Knowing what draws you here and what you hope to accomplish OOC will help us make the game more welcoming. And you can have multiple goals!
METAPLOT AND REAL LIFE - We are living in a time of great uncertainty and we want to be sensitive to the circumstances of real life when building metaplot. Aspects of our metaplot that make for complex and rich storytelling may also hit too close to home depending on how they are rolled out (e.g. the past war and standoff with the Chihuelans). Tl;dr: we don't want to make things too dark. Please use our Content Opt-out post as needed!
Use this form to answer the survey questions about IC and OOC objectives. You may be as succinct as you wish; please try to answer all the questions in your response. A response to this post is required as part of December AC. A line will be added to the AC Check form to link to your comment here. If there are aspects of any questions which you would like to answer but do not feel comfortable commenting on publicly, please use the Mod Contact page to submit your answers instead. Mod Contact • Calendar & Plot Suggestions • Game Navigation |
game HMD!
(Anonymous) 2018-12-22 02:31 am (UTC)(link)First of all, I am really enjoying playing in Khu. The changes you guys are making to the way events are run, as well as the lowering of AC, are really encouraging and seem like great ideas. I'm definitely excited to see how the events will be implemented.
I'm also happy to see that game outreach will be prioritized. I don't think I'm alone when I say that Khu has a very small active core, and this is never more noticeable than when three or four of us all have major life events happening at once, at which point the game just... crawls. More players would be SUPER welcome.
My suggestion also has to do with AC, although not quite in the same vein. Right now, Khu's model for AC is very standard; in every DWRP game I've looked at, the only thing that changes is how many threads you can use for AC and how many comments you need. Most notably, threads from previous months cannot be used toward next month's AC unless they are eligible for AC amnesty; that is, if a post is made in December, no comments from it, even those made in January, can count toward January's AC.
This is quite a workable system - that's why it's standard! Unfortunately, with such a small active core, it may take as many as two or three weeks before network and log posts are made on the IC comms, which significantly limits the amount of tagging that can be done on such threads. Since these threads are worthless after the month ends, it's highly incentivized to simply start threads and drop them after the minimum AC requirements are met... meaning a significant amount of CR and interactions get handwaved. Even if someone wants to continue backtagging a thread, backtagging can add up quickly, and it takes away from more promising threads that can count toward the month's AC. Although some players don't have this issue, thanks to last-minute boomeranging or short, easy replies, that's not true of all of us.
I propose allowing certain amounts of backtagging to count toward the current month's AC. Although it makes total sense to emphasize current months for AC, it seems equally unfair to punish continuous tagging and developing CR, especially when dropped threads may be plot-relevant. For example, perhaps every five comments added to a previous month's thread count count toward one comment for the current month? This would encourage tagging in the current month without wholly discouraging backtagging.
The easy flaw with this plan is that it encourages tagging characters with whom a great deal of CR already exists. To handle this, it seems logical to make a requirement that at least one AC-eligible thread be with someone you didn't tag in the previous month (since Khu is so small) or with someone new (when Khu grows a bit more).
Obviously the idea needs refinement, but given that Khu is rather unique in pacing and populace already, it may be workable, and I hope the mods take it into consideration!
Thank you for running such a great game so far!