MOD ANNOUNCEMENT

[theearth]

As many of you are aware, there has been a recent incident involving ourselves and a few players. We wish to address this matter here.

Firstly, we apologize not only for our delay in speaking on this, but for our own behavior during this. We do take fault for having been too inflexible on the matter which started everything. All of us are to blame for this inflexibility and we all take responsibility for it; not just one mod is fully to blame for anything which happened. The plot the player desired should not have been dealt with in the way that it was. Our reasoning had been that we had not seen evidence that the plot had been set in stone, we had not been given reason why change was necessary to reconcile the plots, and that the details behind this plot/what was needed to occur to bring it to fruition were not brought to us. We offered one compromise, it was not taken, and we should have been more flexible about offering further compromises. We are, again, sorry for that inflexibility on our end.

Secondly, to prevent any risk of this sort of situation ever happening again, we are discussing a frankly overdue new system of accounting for, organizing, and simplifying coordination between planned plots, both meta and player. Details on it will be coming soon.

And thirdly, the mod with the most concerns voiced about her has been issued a warning, and will be taking far less of a stance involving plot-related issues for the time being. We will monitor her behavior to ensure a repeat of this kind of situation does not occur again and, should it, she will be dealt with. In line with those concerns, while she will still be involved in plotting and whatever issues may come to us, the other mods will have far greater a say, and will be considered the figures of authority where directly addressing player concerns and needs is concerned.

However, what we stand firm about is that ganging up on a person while refusing their own comfort is not permissible. The mod in question had become extremely uncomfortable having so many people, including one not in the game, on her all at once while she was not feeling well. This was the reason warnings were issued. We do, however, concede to having been too impulsive in issuing warnings to all involved, and once more, we do apologize to the parties who had been warned without having acted severely enough to warrant a warning. All but one of the warnings has been lifted.

Finally, not all the mods are experienced mods, and even the more experienced mods will acknowledge they can always use some help. So please, we ask that if any of you have any suggestions on how we might improve to come and tell us.

Thank you and, once again, we all apologize for our respective parts in this situation.

Comments to this post are enabled. At request, they have been unscreened. If you have left a screened comment and would like it unscreened, please indicate so! As per the suggestion of Guin, if you would prefer to leave us a screened comment, please do so on the Mod Contact post.

We will make a second post addressing those concerns, resolutions, and invitation of a second round of feedback as soon as we're able.

UPDATE - 5/3:

The StE modteam is currently planning to come together as a group and discuss all the issues brought to them on this post. Linda and Guin will be present while we are all on to continue discussion as a full team in order to ensure that all points and issues are thoroughly addressed.

This discussion will be happening as soon as possible - but coordinating schedules has proven difficult, so please bear with us.

This post will be edited accordingly once the discussion's day and time have been set.

UPDATE - 5/3:

The discussion will begin Sunday, May 4th, 5:00 P.M. CDT/3:00 P.M. PST.

UPDATE - 5/4:

The discussion has begun and is underway; it's proven to be more intensive than anticipated and hasn't yet ended, but will resume tomorrow and continue until concluded.

In the meantime, screencaps of the discussion thus far are posted at Linda's public Plurk; further updates will be made on this post and the linked Plurk, including the date, once set, of the second post.

UPDATE - 5/5:

Discussion has now concluded - we're sorry for having been quiet for so long!

Formal address of the points brought to this post as well as a second OOC post and a mod apps announcement will be coming by the end of tomorrow - Tuesday, 5/6.

- THE STE MODS: Anduin, Blue, Mini, and Olga

Comments

[andshoes]

Excuse me, but I'm concerned about the fact that just a warning has been issued despite repeat offenses on one mod and people being uncomfortable across the board with the mod in question being in power.

A ban warning was issued to players based on a plurk where they were asked to help a friend, and to see that after multiple concerns were brought to you about someone, considering the term you used was "the most," with no real consequence is concerning.

Fran offered the same excuse when she was banned--that she didn't feel well. You threatened players with their position in the game, essentially holding their fun hostage because at most four members felt uncomfortable with their conduct. And your excuse was "we felt ganged up on" and "I didn't feel good."

Here I'm seeing that at least a dozen are very uncomfortable with the way you handled yourselves, and you can't even issue a real apology to us for causing wank in the game that we have helped build. And yes, you caused the wank. We're certainly not mods, but without a playerbase there is no game, and without the fantastic players we have here and their engaging threads the game would not be near as popular as it is.

My advice to you is this: either learn to change your toxic and inflexible attitudes and actually prove it, unlike how you said you would change and give us more of a heads up on things, or step down and let people who can actually handle conflict take the game. You are not doing yourselves any favors with this post, and you continue to put blame on others while refusing to say "I was wrong" without a caveat. This is terrible behavior on the part of the mods, and you are hurting our game with it.

feel free to unscreen my comment.

[hollowleg]

I'll be frank. Having read everything available about this incident, I believe Mini should be suspended, not just warned. She's broken that newly added inflexibility rule pretty badly. The party was a plot that had already been established and had many people participating, and it would not have hurt her to move the death back 24 hours. At all. Nothing would have changed.

But what's worse than that inflexibility is the mod response after. I believe you've understated how detrimental the wording of those PMs were. This is the main problem with what happened, not the original plot conflict. They were bullying, plain and simple, giving out warnings and threatening banning for bringing up concerns. That's ridiculous and quite honestly makes me worry about ever bringing any issues to your attention, especially about the mod issues. I don't want to get banned or warned for not liking a mod's behavior. I will grant that the PP was a little strange (inclusion of ONE other party for moral support is understandable, but not 3-4, and not someone outside the game. I know how scary it can be to go to mods all by yourself) but I will not concede that Olga was "ganged up on". It was her choice to enter the conversation with anything more than "I have a headache and I will get to this later". Anduin was also included in the PP but Anduin is apparently never around. Not a good showing for the mods.

I'm glad you guys have decided to address this, it's a step in the right direction. You guys need to learn to communicate better amongst yourself and do a much better job of communicating to players. And not make passive aggressive, vague posts about respect to the OOC comm. Mods are certainly offered more respect than the average player, but they also have to earn it by being professional, unbiased, and as fair as possible. Additionally, I think it may be time to open up moderator applications. It's clear from a player perspective that the current team is overwhelmed by the size and speed of the game. Additionally, you need to come up with a way to hold mods accountable when they screw up.

Sorry if this is a little disjointed. I really do want to see this game continue and thrive, and help you guys to be the leaders I know you can be.

But I have another bit of complete honesty; I won't be surprised if this comment also lands me in the dog house in terms of my pending plot request. I am afraid to post this because I think it might impact my ability to do things in the game. I think that speaks a lot to what kind of mod/player atmosphere you've fostered.


EDIT: Oh and I just learned that someone did indeed bring the issue of one of the mods possibly fudging AC for a castmate and friend to the mod contact post, and that was not addressed. I hope you guys do decide to investigate that accusation seriously.

EDIT THE SECOND: unscreen this comment if you please

[pianistofraielin]

Considering the fact that speaking to each of us individually through PMs felt like a silencing tactic, I would suggest that comments to this post be left unscreened by default to provide accountability in the mod responses. Right now you guys need transparency more than anything.

Since comments on the mod contact are already screened by default, you can direct players who don't want to speak publicly to that post instead.

Please unscreen this comment.

ETA: Thank you.

[detectivetroll]

I will admit I'm honestly not sure what happened here and I've never had a problem plotting with anyone involved, but have you thought about maybe taking on one or two more mods to help out?

Maybe even having mod specialities like approving echoes, or coordinating player plots, or dealing with player concerns, or something?


EDIT: I'm okay with this being unscreened.

[eso_si_que_es]

You've still failed to address how the Jake/Snow, apparently a friend of Anduin's, has been sliding by without making AC properly for months with little to no reaction from the mods.

october: http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/119755.html?thread=3275467#cmt3275467 first check they're in is fine, just accepted
november: http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/132199.html?page=1#comments no comment
december: http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/153304.html?thread=4163288#cmt4163288 hiatus, guess they're excused
january: http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/170374.html?page=1#comments no comment
february: http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/188608.html?thread=5215168#cmt5215168 comments but those threads are of a length the mods would have asked anyone else for more threads/made them take a strike
march: http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/197228.html?thread=5525868#cmt5525868 strike"

Don't screen this, I already have a cap of it anyway.

[occasus]

Shiro mun has basically said everything I wanted to, as well.

[heyya]

This is not an apology. You are the ones entirely in the wrong here, don't go "but but but look at what those players did!"

Furthermore, people aren't as concerned with your inflexibility as they are the blatant abuse of mod power ala issuing ban threats to people who come to you with issues, in addition to the gross mod favoritism as demonstrated by a) mod (as players) plots being prioritized b) mod friends not needing to pass ac.

Personally, when I've communicated with the mod team in the past, I've always felt as though I was being treated in a manner that would not be considered remotely acceptable if brought to the public eye, precisely because I was in a position where I could not do so. That, to me, is revolting.

"-the mod with the most concerns voiced about her" Mini? Anduin? Olga? This is the opposite of transparency. Tell us what is actually going on - mentioning that the ban warnings have been rescinded (minus Batty?) would be a good place to start.

Finally, nobody was "ganging up on" a mod, as you keep insisting. Nobody was demanding that their concerns be addressed there and then while Olga was ill and Anduin was absent. Olga was the one who persisted, when a simple "I'll get back to you tomorrow when I've talked this over with the others" would have been readily accepted. Olga did not attempt this. What she did attempt was the making of a new plurk involving the two mods whom the complaints were being brought against, with no regard for the repeated mentions of discomfort from the players and worries that such a thing would not be productive.

Do not screen.

+1

[sockwall]

Mini should be suspended.

[pianistofraielin]

Personally, when I've communicated with the mod team in the past, I've always felt as though I was being treated in a manner that would not be considered remotely acceptable if brought to the public eye, precisely because I was in a position where I could not do so.

This has been my experience as well.

[ursoreckless]

This is worded better than what I could come up with.

[sitvisnobiscum]

I also must agree with this. That a group of players find that sockpuppet journals are necessary to safely bring these concerns to light speaks volumes to the abuse of authority expressed in recent events. Without concrete proof, I am uncomfortable accusing Mini of anything definite, so I will refrain from that.

Regardless of who made which decisions, this behavior is unacceptable. It would be unacceptable had this happened among a group of players, and should be held to the same standards after having happened among a group of moderators. Moderators are not above their own rules.

+1

[sucrosity]

To add to this: My largest concern is not directly about the immediate issues with Batty, though I am concerned about the way she's being treated in this post, but rather that this sets a very concerning and worrisome precedent: that a player who received mod approval for a plot idea was then basically told 'too bad, a mod wanted to do something that day'. It ended, in this case, in a compromise. But what happens if there isn't a compromise or other non-conflicting solution possible? What happens if someone has to move things? Is it always going to be players giving way to player plots from mods?

There is absolutely no reassurance here that a player who disagrees with a mod is going to be faced with civil discussion that actually involves conversation and negotiation when possible, because Mini is being protected. Mini needs to be suspended from the modteam, in my opinion indefinitely. Her behavior is at the heart of this issue, and her behavior is unacceptable for a player with as much power as a member of the modteam.

Finally, to suggest that the management of player plots, rather than the hostile treatment of players who hadn't actually done anything wrong, is the issue at hand here is a deliberately obtuse reading of the situation. It's insulting to your players to suggest that the problem here is not rudeness and disrespect directed at your playerbase, which is especially galling after the passive aggressive "treat your mods like people" post from the other day.

[godsavemysocks]

Pretty much everything the others have said.

People don't care that you have been inflexible so much as you've revealed a broader issue: Your mods, on a whole, do not know how to mod, and are unable to effectively mod because of this. You also don't know the value in transparency.

To give a quick lowdown:

Transparency: The outing of mod actions and player concerns in full. This needs to be done whenever possible, especially when players distrust you. This proves to players you're willing to sit down and tell them the truth, instead of skirting around it. By screening the comments at first, you actually went anti-transparency: you forced people to get answers on their own, got to pick your battles without judgement, and inversed the complaint you made about players. In an open environment, you locked off all people from discussing the problem with you as a group. You, as a mod team, however, are not one entity, as you've consistently proven. This means that any players who did respond could pretty much be ganged up on, in a group of 4 to 1, and that strongly discouraged players from talking to you honestly or publicly. Transparency is important to encourage trust in mods and an open conversational environment where people feel free and unsuppressed. You threw both of these concepts in the trash with this post, trying to skirt around actually stating anything that meant anything, and initially screening the comments in a way that made people felt cut off from each other in a way they didn't like. -20 points.

Depersonalization: At every turn, your mod team smells of taking complaints and concerns as personal attacks, allowing things to go on because you're personally friends with players (such as the questions about the AC issue), and overall just letting personal issues get in the direct way of being mods. It's prevalent with the warning and threats, the mistreatment of those with valid concerns, and overall just being willing to do whatever you can "get away with", since one-on-one chatter means people can't out your misbehavior on Wankgate without you potentially outing and banning them. This behavior, aka behavior that makes people feel unsafe talking to you and implies directly you're willing to be rude so long as nobody else knows or cares (IE, the way Blue handled Fran was airing out dirty laundry in public, but nobody minded because they wanted Fran gone, at the time), only educates us on your failings.

Bonus points: You are people, yes, and you have feelings, yes. But do you know what? An apology doesn't contain pointing fingers. An apology doesn't contain "I'm sorry, but these guys did...!". I wouldn't call this an apology by any means. Especially not with the subtle, unclear way you phrased your redirection, throwing blame and pretending that anyone held any stake in pretending ganging up on a mod was permissible. Like was stated, Olga was perfectly capable of stepping out of the spotlight to go talk with other mods; the players involved repeatedly insisted there was no rush, and said that the other mods made them uncomfortable, which you do: Mini is unapproachable and consistently overblown, and Blue has a habit of airing out dirty laundry in the open, making it unsafe to talk to her for risk of angering her. Especially for Batty, who was already taking Fran's position as a wank target on wankgate despite not doing anything worthwhile: many people suspected Blue's boldness was because of wg's support. This might be true or not, but it's a reasonable reason for Batty to have been uncomfortable with the other two mods talking to them directly. The assumption this wasn't true, a lie, or otherwise an excuse to gang up on Olga makes me believe that Mini was involved in that suggestion: She constantly appears to believe the players are scum and liars who are willing to say whatever to get their way. -40 points.

Aggression: This is part of the previously mentioned problem with Mini, and that problem is that, in general, players feel they are at risk of attack when approaching you or otherwise are being actively ASSUMED to be godmoding, powerplaying dicks who will sink the game whenever things go south. Most of this comes from changes and decisions and wordings that I personally associate with Mini, and the ban threats are no different: overall, it feels to me that the person who needs to be suspended, if not asked to step down, would be Mini, for her aggressive behavior, silencing and bullying actions, and in general poor conduct.

For the record, actively attacking players or thinking they'll game the system if you give them even a slice of slack... is rude, and players will notice. This is the major concern you completely overlooked, and for that, -60 points.

So, in result, the total is 0 points out of 100.

You guys need to lower the aggressiveness and approach this professionally rather than outright attacking players. You need to be able to recognize what times you need to put on your professional face, step back, and say "I'm going to go talk with the other mods." You need to be able to recognize what times you treat players like powergaming dirt, and stop.

My personal suggestions:
- Don't try and solve the original incident, but rather what the incident's become. Act transparently, and show us we can trust you. In case it wasn't obvious, a lot of people, sans those that are already on bad terms with Mini, are actually legitimately afraid to air out their concerns. Some people are hoping a duplicate game happens just because they can't trust you guys, and that says a lot about how people feel about you all and why.
- Suspend or remove Mini from being a mod. The wank has pulled up more than enough reasons about why she shouldn't be in power, and many people feel extremely unsafe because of how Mini acts and is. (This is mostly why socks are prevalent here.)
- Overall, understand that, even though this is a hobby, you need to treat this like you are a professional with a reputation to uphold, not by bullying and silencing, but by failing to provide any reason for your reputation to sink. I think you should take on an explicit PR mod or otherwise someone who is skilled at talking with others and being patient.

Also, talking to Anduin: Nobody thinks you've done anything in a long time. Are you going to step down, or could you be transparent and explain what you've done recently? If you haven't done anything, I would step down and provide your spot to someone else; there is strong wank about you, and if you aren't doing anything helpful for the mod team beyond favoritism towards your friend, then I think you should willingly let yourself be replaced, or you're at the risk of causing StE's reputation to sink further into the mud or otherwise letting it risk being replaced with a clone game and die.

[sirsocking]

I've had the same experiences. I've had questions outright ignored and any polite requests for clarification met with outright hostility, it's made me really uncomfortable with the mods and having any dealings with them.

I just don't feel comfortable in this game anymore.

[sockwall]

The mods keep telling us to be kind to each other and be kind to the mods. Those points are valid. But when the mods no longer uphold being kind to their players and abuse their power, to the point of players (like myself and others on this post) feel like they need to use a sock account to make any kind of comment instead of risk being banned, it's no longer an equivalent exchange. Whether the mods have realized it or not, it makes them out to be more like dictators than moderators and fellow players. Because one person asked if a death announcement (not the death itself) could be moved, the mod(s) got s defensive that anyone "complaining" about the refusal got sent a ban notice. That's enough for me to want to drop this game entirely. You're moderators of an online rp game in a tiny corner of the internet, not the fucking gestapo.

Next time you apologize, make sure you don't point fingers back at players involved too. It just makes you seem like even larger babies who can't take criticism and can't take being backed into a corner because people pointed out that you were wrong about something. Mods are people, but they are mods. The players come first, and you should know this. The players involved maybe should have handled the situation better but your reactions have overshadowed all of that. As stated above, I really do think Mini should get a suspension and be taken off of the mod team.

This game is no longer a safe place for its player base. I hope you realize that.

+1

[godsavemysocks]

This.

If you're going to tell players to be nice to mods and each other, be nice to them, too.

It's not rocket science.

[godsavemysocks]

For the record, mods: The proper reaction here isn't to just ban Jake/Snow.

The failing is on your end for enabling this behavior. Explain how it was enabled. Don't just throw him out because you got caught.

[godsavemysocks]

(To be clear, though, he should be dropped for failing AC. He shouldn't be banned or otherwise fucked over just because one of you made it so he didn't need AC.)

[gobybessie]

For the most part, I haven't had many complaints about your work as mods. Or any complaints at all. But the fact remains that plenty of them have been brought up, whether directly to you or not. I'm not very familiar with any of that, honestly. But it's never been that big of a deal before.

Now it kind of is. Like many have already pointed out, when it's gotten to the point where so many people feel that they need to use sock accounts to be comfortable talking to you, and when there have been apps rescinded that probably have to do with this considering the timing, and when people are saying they'll drop and people who might have entertained the idea of apping are now saying they won't, there's a serious problem.

I've been a mod and there are a few situations where, in hindsight, I wish I would have approached them differently. Me and my team fucked up and issued apologies too. We contributed to people dropping the game. Now, I wish that we'd dealt with it in another way than we did. It felt a lot like we just brushed it under the rug, and I'm ashamed of that.

Don't make that mistake. Players are uncomfortable and it's your duty to make sure they're comfortable again, to make sure that your game is a safe space for everyone. Being irritated that echoes or apps aren't being processed quick enough or that there was lack of a heads-up regarding a plot or whatever, is something entirely different from people wanting to drop and make a clone game with other mods. It's bad.

I pretty much agree with everything that's been said here, and it's clear that it's not a new problem. I think you should set clearer boundaries, scrutinise your team, have a serious discussion or several about what your players have presented as their wishes here or elsewhere, and do whatever has to be done to ensure the players of this game can feel safe again. However drastic that is.

[sockemanons]

I will be honest, I've talked with at least Blue on several occasions, and when communicating with her, I've never thought that I was being treated in an unprofessional or unacceptable manner. While it's true that Blue lost her cool with Fran, I've never really seen any other incidents of Blue "airing dirty laundry" or anything being leveled against them. Anytime I've talked with Blue she's been more than willing to chat with me, if admittedly slow (which I don't fault, because everyone has their own lives to deal with.)

If nothing else, I think the complaints against Blue should be taken with a grain of salt. And in defense of Olga (who, you're right, should have backed off and is at fault for staying in the conversation), iirc someone who wasn't even part of the game at this point was brought in for "moral support", and that's at least as much of a faux pas as Olga not backing off. If players have concerns, that's fine, but the fact that there was an unnecessary cheerleader in the mix can definitely have added to feelings of being ganged up on. :/

[fae_of_the_rose]

I am going to be perfectly honest: even though I had no idea there was a problem of any sort until this post was made, this sadly doesn't read like an apology. Had you left out the paragraph about a mod being ganged up on, it would have read much better. I don't think it would have prevented so many people on this post right now being upset and angry at the mods, but it would have been an actual apology. As it stands, it reads like a "we're sorry but" and that does nothing but make people feel even more unwanted and unsafe. Are you guys the sole problem? No, of course not.

I don't know the entire story, but I've no doubt that both sides have legitimate concerns--especially since I'm a mod at another game and I know that it's not easy and sometimes it's overwhelming and every little thing will sometimes come off as a personal attack. The bigger the playerbase, the more overwhelming it's going to be. Screwing up is totally expected and honestly no player expects perfect mods (and if they do they will be sorely disappointed). It's how you handle the screw ups that matter.

Like others have said, despite the "we're sorry but" feeling to the post, making the post and allowing feedback is a step in the right direction, though that half the playerbase had no idea there was even a problem until now isn't a good sign. You guys messed up. From the sounds of it, you messed up pretty badly. But take the comments on this post to heart, consider what the players are saying, and rethink a few strategies. If it were me, I would personally remove the mod who's been warned (as a mod, she should be held to a higher standard and where a warning might work for a regular player, a mod isn't a regular player), work to be more transparent and open with the players, and consider opening up applications for a support team of sorts, perhaps one specifically for plots. The game is huge and complicated and compartmentalizing might be a good idea. I would hate to see this wonderful and elaborate game crash and burn and I hope that you guys take the feedback offered on the post to heart.

Editing to add: I would also seriously suggest never looking at rpanons or wg, both as a mod and as a player. Literally nothing good can come from it, and sometimes it just makes problems worse.

[onecream_fivesugar]

Hey there!

Been talking to some people on Plurk and we came up with a neat idea for the whole handling planned plots here. How about a Calender? Paradisa has one and it was a pretty easy way to see when something was going on when I played there.

http://paradisaooc.dreamwidth.org/6296942.html#cutid1

You could always color code the events between meta-plot and player plot, whether it's happening in Locke or Vegas, and OOC stuff.

+1

[fae_of_the_rose]

It can always be kept vague, too, beyond "stuff happening here" if you wanted to keep aspects of the plot a surprise

[onecream_fivesugar]

Exactly. You don't have to give everything away right off the bat. But just a mention that there might be something happen on some day would be good.

+1

[purestambition]

In the end, as has been pointed out in many varying forms, what things come down to is communication. The calendar I think is a fantastic idea, if we want to move forward.

One problem I've noticed in the past is that we never quite know WHEN something is going to happen. There is an element of surprise to be considered sometimes, sure - I definitely get that. However, plot posts appear without warning, and it can make it very difficult to plan player plots accordingly.

As well, the spread of information rarely feels even among players. This is not something I feel is intentional or even malicious to any degree. I have seen comments just today to the effect of it seeming like your involvement in the game can depend on who's on your Plurk timeline, and there have been incidents - both major and minor - in my time here where it felt as if information that SHOULD have been available to all players at hand simply wasn't.

I don't expect all plot details to be revealed, certainly not - I don't want them to be. So that's not what I'm saying. But what's known to be going on should be something that is more evenly distributed among players, and focused. Such things are not just contained to the plotting posts, which makes discovering them not the easiest thing in the world sometimes, depending on who you have on your timeline.

Some players have expressed they just don't know where to even put forth any involvement in things, and I can't blame them. That can feel daunting at times, even if you're active and making a conscious effort towards things. It is extremely easy to feel out of the loop sometimes, even if you read every single comment to a Plot Post, because things seem to spread out in so many different directions beyond that, and even then digging through the Question & Answer portion of the Plot Posts can be just as daunting.

A good for instance to that is the fact that, in one of the Plot Posts in the past month it was asked if a Vegas Vermini would trigger an echo. They could, and that was awesome - yet the next, subsequent Vegas-focused plot post made no mention of this in "potential echoes." So someone who just apped in might not even be aware that there was a potential echo right at their fingertips if they were in Vegas. It wasn't until the last Plot Post this was added in there, but it would probably have been helpful to people to have that clearly stated and up front already, since it was still a factor.

It's a small example, but it's what comes to mind off the top of my head.

This distribution of information applies not just to Player Plots, but things which reflect upon the world plot as well.

I think focusing the spread of information, knowing when we CAN focus in on our own plots or when we need to be ready to focus on the Game Plot would be helpful, in the end.