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rakuen_ooc2012-07-24 07:10 pm
straightupzorra) wrote in rakuen_ooc2012-07-24 07:10 pm
Activity Check Poll
Hello Rakuen! There have been some suggestions on how to make our activity check better or more efficient! So we're going to have a poll about it:
A stricter AC would most likely be 10 comments spread however, rather than the one post or two comment threads it is currently.
If you have any more suggestions about AC or any other aspect about how the game is run, please let us know.
Poll #11245 Changing AC
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 16
Should AC be stricter?
View Answers
Yes - I'll tell you how much in the comments
5 (31.2%)
No
9 (56.2%)
Other - will explain in comments
2 (12.5%)
Should players need to ask for second chances rather than get it automatically?
Should we set cast limits?
Should we rule that threads with cast mates dont count towards AC
Should PDAs be given upon arrival?
If you have any more suggestions about AC or any other aspect about how the game is run, please let us know.
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I have no preference on cast limits? Probably for selfish reasons tbh since I'm part of the largest cast in the game and there are still canonmates I'd love to see. I wouldn't be opposed to a limit though. Maybe a limit on how many versions of a character we can have, though? Since that's probably contributing to the Homestuck cast explosion which, let's face it, is the issue here.
I don't think threads with castmates should be excluded from AC. For one thing, what if you make a post that's open to everyone, and only castmates happen to reply to it? That's hardly your fault. idk. But maybe some kind of rule that if you link multiple threads for your AC, they can't all be with the same person?
And I don't have any feelings on the PDA thing. IIRC back when Utopia Academy was a thing, the PDAs were just supposed to be an optional bonus and that's why they cost money, but they've become a lot more ubiquitous as time has gone on. So. I don't know.
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And yeah, Rakuen 1.0 was mostly supposed to be like face-to-face, wasn't it? It kind of evolved since then...
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Sometimes you can post around to others and not get as much because of how the charas interact with each other. Heck, you can even do the Only one thread can be with a castmate of yours.
The PDA is another things I'm kinda eh on. With some people, it's an auto get but with others it isn't. If it was made to be more of a big deal in the welcoming party, maybe it would work but at the same time it would be good to give them out too so I'm kinda on the fence about that. I know most of the people from canons that don't use technology or it's very rare/only certain species have it will most likely not even think about a PDA until later on.
Okay. I'm done rambling, I promise!
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But I don't think the base requirements to pass AC should be changed at all. But requesting a second chance and, if you don't, therefore idling out faster seems reasonable to me. The Player/Weapon ratio is critical for a smooth round, and that ratio can't be accurate if a significant portion of the game is characters played by people that have dropped off the earth for months. If you're not going to do the game the favor of letting them know what's up, why should the game do you the favor of holding your spot?
But as far as cast limits are concerned, maybe a temporary hold on Homestuck might be in order. So things could balance out a bit. Not permanent, and not like an umbrella cap, like no more than 10 from any one case ever. Maybe just temporary to let a few rounds go by for some other casts/LCWs to flow in.
I think threads for canonmates should count, because as Ketsu said, it's not necessarily the poster's fault if a post that has potential for wide appeal is only tagged by canonmates. But maybe if someone's entire AC for a character is threads with one other character/within their cast, without extenuating circumstances (hiatus/plot reasons), a friendly reminder to try to tag around could be left. But mostly everyone needs to tag other people more. Myself included. /player of most insular character EVER/
As far as the PDA, it could be given out as an intro thing. Sure they were harder in 1.0, but there was less money going around then than there is in this session. I would support it being handed out right away, but it's generally accessible from a starting point of view anyway. I do think the video/audio addon should be more accessible in some way, though. It's kind of like giving characters without thumbs a handicap as far as getting those first upgrades are concerned.
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As for PDAs I'm neutral. It could be more clear that there are ways to access the network without one, though. I'll leave it up to you, mods.
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Cast limits: For me, part of the fun of Rakuen is the potential for a ton of AUs. Most places limit AU slots and this has the unfortunate effect of restricting potentially fun alternates. It's unfortunate that the huge Homestuck cast is intimidating, though. Perhaps limit the number of characters appable per round from series with more than (number between 5 and 10) characters currently in play?
AC (Cast mates): I don't think threads with cast mates shouldn't count towards AC, because there are some new characters who, if a cast is present, wouldn't want to interact outside the cast at first. Realistically, one month IRL approximates 2 weeks in game; even some real people, given the chance, would not want to interact with people they don't yet know, and even with the first AC check waived 4 weeks might not be enough time.
I think it would be more effective to require that the threads used for AC had to be with at least 2 different characters to count. Requiring interactions with more than 2 characters would create a problem when it comes to playing a shy character; these might not be able put forth the effort to talk to that many people in that timeframe while remaining IC.
PDAs: I'm torn on this one; I like the current system, but there are drawbacks when it comes to characters who might use a PDA if they had one but, because of their species/conditions on their homeworld/etc, wouldn't purchase one. The PDAs are used so often for communication between characters that, if nothing else, incoming characters should be told they exist, shown the functions of a regular and fully upgraded version, and then allowed to decide whether they want one.
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AC: Perhaps not stricter, but definitely do something about the second chances, since as Ketsu said, there are lots of people who haven't done anything in months and have just...been grandfathered into the game even though they aren't technically doing anything? I know I was the one that suggested a stricter AC, but even ten comments seems a little extreme considering the speed of the game. If the game gets faster then I would say definitely, but until then I think it might not be good?
I actually would like to see casts limited -- maybe not in a "THERE CAN ONLY BE TEN HOMESTUCKS EVER" type of limiting, but a set limit on "alright well until we get more out of cast people, only blahblah homestucks can be apped every month" or every other month or quarterly or what have you. And then if we get more people, we can open things up a bit. But I second Ketsu on how many of one character we can have at once -- I know a lot of my friends have said "oh I like the premise but...all of those Daves...and all of those Jades that's a lot of those characters." Maybe something like Animus, with the 1 OU and 1 AU, or 2 AU character rule? Two of each character in Homestuck is a lot of characters if we only count the eight kids + twelve trolls. Add in carapace and sprites and Hussie and Calliope etc etc and you get well over fifty, maybe close to a hundred.
I would actually say for the castmates and AC thing that you try something a little more like Facility -- the part about "each thread has to be with a different mun!" So you couldn't do two threads with Jade as part of AC because I am not two separate Aarons. Or maybe just one of your threads has to be with someone outside of the cast. But then again it's only recently that other non-castmates have become more active, so I worry that suddenly we might run out of things to hand over for AC if that was the case...? Some months are definitely better than others.
PDAs: yes yes yes yes yes a Million Times Yes! As someone who recently played a character who wouldn't touch it unless she was told what it did (because lol technology what), it was extremely hard to play in the game without one. Action logs are sparse or even nonexistent, and tend to be extremely slow and laborious. Especially because most of the active characters in the game are more comfortable with the textual, online format of the PDAs, a lot of plot has recently been driven around it. Aly would have never known about the tower opening (and in fact she didn't) because all of the IC plotting for that happened on the communicators, rendering her completely unable to get at it unless she knew what a computer was and how to use it, which she...didn't.
Stuff from the plurk Ru made
About AC:
- Making AC stricter will only serve to make the game slow down further.
About PDAs:
- The ratio of PDA posts to action posts is already too high; handing PDAs out for free may make things even more difficult for characters who don't know how, don't want to, or are physically incapable of using them.
- The issue of characters who "don't know how to use them" can be addressed with a computer class, either taught by NPCs, or taught by PC volunteers who are paid a little extra.
- The issue of characters without PDAs not having access to the network can be addressed with a reminder that each school has a computer lab. The schools have computer labs, you guys!
-- The PDAs are more convenient, but that's the reason they cost money in the first place.
- The PDAs come with a manual, right?
Other issues:
- A lot of important plot things are announced ICly over the network. In many cases it may be reasonable to assume information is also spread by word of mouth, but it would be good to actually specify that that's the case.
-- For example, Golbez announced the Conquest tower assault over the network, and I'd assumed the information would also be spread via word of mouth. Not everyone did, though, and so some characters who might have wanted to be involved missed out.
- More class logs would be nice! Lectures aren't that great for CR, but question-and-answer sessions, time set aside before and after class to talk with the teacher, group activities, and field trips are other options.
- Something I've thought for a while is that it would be nice to have a new plotting post each round. The one we currently use is always linked, but having a fresh one every few weeks would be easier for navigation, and psychologically would serve to remind people that hey, this is a thing!
Did I miss anything?
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- Like mentioned above, more class logs. Someone on Plurk mentioned study hall sessions, which would be great. That's pretty much all Conquest's astronomy class is because Golbez doesn't give any fucks, so I could probably try not slacking as much there.
- More action logs! If everything is done over the network, not only are your responses limited to people who can use the network, they're also limited to people who would ICly be interested by your post. Maybe some cafeteria mingling posts, dorm room mingling posts, etc? You can't go wrong with dorm-mate CR.
- Prospit logs? I know it costs 12 raks for a dreamboat medallion, but we've got a giant golden planet in the sky for people to dream on. People who don't know Homestuck might be put off by it, but there's really not much more to it than "You go to sleep and are suddenly hanging out on a planet full of gothic yellow architecture."
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Gives some more reasons for others to buy the medallion
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(this is why we need more characters with Rules Lawyer tbqh)
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I'd even be willing to NPC some of the white chessboard pieces if anyone wanted that, since I know Prospit was kind of my buy/my explanation.
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The way the schools are set up probably doesn't help. It's not like there's no way to have interactions with people from the other school, but it seems to be enough more difficult that it happens less often.
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Second Chances Yes. Yes. Yes and Yes. It's unfair for people who check in and it makes it easy for people to get by without doing absolutely nothing. We're talking about Players who app and then never actually do anything. Activity check is to show they're active. People on hiatus are one thing, but when people aren't on hiatus, aren't checking in, and allowed to be given second chances? They can be taking up a spot where someone who's actually interested in being active and actually sticking around could have instead.
Cast Limit I'm neutral on this subject.
Threads with Castmates Please no. Just because someone uses a thread that was with a castmate doesn't mean they're not branching out. Also, I find it unfair? If someone isn't tagging only castmates, it could be brought up to them in their HMD or something.
PDAs Also neutral on this.
But I guess what can help with the PDA stuff is during the station meet and greet, Prefects can inform newcomers about the computer labs/read their manuals/ or the existence of the PDAs. What can also be implemented is a tour? I mean, it would be normal for prestigious schools to offer tours of the campuses, so maybe that can be fit in.
Ideas
This should be OOC volunteered, but maybe have prefects have jobs like helping the new characters fit in? OOCly, people with prefect characters will volunteer and ICly, the characters will be assigned jobs that help integrate the new student body into the schools. Things like tours or even study buddies. Something where the people who've been here longer and achieved Prefect status can inform the new people about how the computer labs work or what they can get from the store or just how to make things a little easier on themselves while here. Also it opens up potential CR and also opens up potential study sessions/halls or just overall a stronger bring back to the fact that they're at a school and are still learning in classes.
I personally feel like that other than greeting at the station, the prefects don't do much. Sure they announce the Warning Penalty, but I feel like they don't do a lot for having the title. I mean even logs like, prefects making rounds around the campus to make sure people aren't doing anything opens up an Action log and doesn't necessarily mean the character has to get into trouble but they can still run into that person.
Set up a club roster perhaps? Have people start making clubs that students can participate in. We technically have the ASL club as is, which Dave kind of runs on his own time, so maybe we can have some more clubs! It'll be easy to do Action logs open to everyone that way. If a club roster for when meetings happens and where go up on the bulletin boards, it's open knowledge that everyone has access too.
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Character Limit Honest to god, even I get kind of squinty eyed when we have an abundance of the same character floating around. I'd like to see a character limit. Like maybe Two of the same characters at one time, so you can have One OU and one AU or two AUs. At our size, I feel like allowing more than two of the same character is a little excessive. If we were a bigger game, I would feel more comfortable, but we're not. I felt like two of the same character was already enough, but having like Three Englands regardless whether they were OU/AU/Etc was kind of overwhelming. Especially since icons/usernames may overlap to some extent. Even when we had three Daves(including myself), I felt like there was a lot of just us. So I'd definitely like a limit to be considered.
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EDIT- Also, with those, Do a Prefect Logs doing assingments. Make us work for our spot more.
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And yes, they should ask for it. It makes cleaning up easier.
I think we should set a cast limit, at least only for a few months, because, let's face it; people not in sensible Homestuck timelines tend to get alienated. I've felt this with both Isabela and John, and I'm technically part of the cast. It's not fun.
Maybe 2 AU's and 1 OU could be the limit. That seems sensible to me, tbh. I dislike how Animus could have 2 AU's but no OU, since an OU is technically a bigger part of the general cast than an AU, so let's not adopt that here.
And yes; PDA's should be given to everyone. It's always irked me that they had to pay for it, since a lot of posts are online these days. It should be designed to accommodate those who can't use it, too, like animals. It's better if they have it with them and just choose not to use it, rather than they don't care enough to buy one and lose a ton of CR, period.
I mean, look at Isabela. She won't ever buy herself a PDA because she spends all her money on booze; OOC, otherwise. If I didn't just shrug it off and pretend she got some computer lessons, I would have to wait and wait for logs to throw her at, and most of them she wouldn't even be interested in.
/two cents
/if you can do that memory thing i mentioned months ago that would be great too
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Also Poptart I totally want to thread with John come here so we can do so. :c
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I'd comment on the rest but basically everyone's said what I was going to say already SO YUP.