A FEW ANNOUNCEMENTS, 2 QUESTIONS & MOD APPLICATIONS

[theearth]

Hey, Earthlings! You have no idea how happy I am with our first week. That's what I call an explosive start.

A few announcements, mostly about clean up and clarifications across the game;

• Our FAQ has updated a little to explain a few things. If you think there are questions replied to in the comments that should be on the page proper, tell me and I'll do so. If you have other questions you think should be in there, ask them.

• I have added an expiration to reserves. I personally think it's pretty generous and might shorten it later if it proves to be too much so.

• We now have an info post guide. Take a look, there are some aspects I have made mandatory (but I think everyone in game put them in there anyway).

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A couple questions for yah.

• I want to test the waters on a matter that has been brought to my attention. Specifically, challenge apps. I've never been in a game that allows them (or if they did, I never noticed/have forgotten) and I wanted to ask player opinion of them. At present I'm inclined to allow them once I have other mods to discuss challenges with and only in unreserved applications. Opinions on the issue are most appreciated. I'm not opening a poll on it as such, but I want to see some potential angles I may have missed for or against I might have missed. Thanks!

• As many of you know we have a test drive community, saveyourbrain. It hasn't seen much use yet, but I wanted to see what people thought about having a regular date for a meme to go up to encourage its use and enable people, knowing you lot. I'd probably do it in pairs, an IC meme setting up a scenario of some sort and an OOC meme for asking advice or getting feedback on ideas. Good idea? How often would you like to see it?

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• Speaking of other mods, goddamn my respect for mods has increased at least two million percent just from setting this game up and one week. I am pooped! In a couple of minutes I'm going to open up applications for assistant mods in a separate post so that they can be screened. It'll probably involve an informal interview and everything, because I've gone mad with power. I've been really impressed with player involvement so far, so I doubt I'll be disappointed. At present I am looking for two more mods to ease the workload or a number of deputy mods and there's a good chance that later seasons will require (more) deputy mods to keep this boat afloat, because I promise it's going to go crazy.

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Peace out, Earth.

Comments

[iaijutsu]

I don't think it would hurt to have the policy re: fictionalized historical figures in the FAQ proper, although I admittedly have a lot of historical fandoms so I may be coming at that from a slightly biased position! But it's often one of the first things I find myself looking for in game info.

Re: challenge apps, I'm...of two minds about it, really. On one hand, I've always felt like apps for games are less about finding THE BEST (so-and-so) EVER and more just "does this person meet an acceptable standard to be here," which could make it feel like kind of a kick in the teeth to be good enough, have yours in first, and then whoops someone came along the next day whose writing is a hair better, sorry and better luck next time.

But on the other hand, I used to have really weird hours because of my job that meant I was coming late to everything, so I have great sympathy for the feeling of missing out on your chance at something you really wanted because someone else happened to be around when sign-ups/reserves/etc opened during peak internet hours and you didn't. Because man, that is disappointing as hell.

Were I in a modly position, I'd be inclined not to do challenge apps just because of the potential shitstorm, as mentioned above - but if you feel willing to take on that risk, power to you! I think there are fair points in favor of both allowing them or not, so it's really something I think is fair to go either way on.

[theearth]

Hmm. Good idea. I'll do just that.

An angle I hadn't thought about, the weird hours. I know I keep them and I can feel the pain just thinking about it. I have always had an attitude regarding quality that is essentially identical to what you've outlined, so I can see that point too. Food for thought, thank you.

[professorwolf]

That's less of a problem when reserves/apps are open indefinitely, though, right? There's no "apps open right now, get 'em in!" rush in a game when they're always open. If we had app rounds or limited times in which you could place a reserve, this would make sense. In a game with no limits n when you can reserve and apply, it's simply not as much of an issue, I'd think.

That's my two cents :3

[iaijutsu]

This is true! And something I was not thinking too hard about earlier. Games without app rounds are less common to begin with these days, so I guess I'm used to thinking about it from the angle of having them. (Though gosh I love that we don't, the wait period usually drives me up the wall once I know I definitely want to app someone!)

[professorwolf]

I love not having app rounds, too. My other games have open-applications, which is really really nice. It's just only feasible in small games, I think, or else mods get overwhelmed XD

If we moved to app rounds rather than open applications, I might support challenge apps. At the moment I just think they're unnecessary.