ANNOUNCEMENT.

[futurologists]

ANNOUNCEMENT Hello, everyone! As we near our second year (!) anniversary here at Futurology, we'd like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has been with us past and present, no matter for how short or how long, as we look to the future with some upcoming changes. If you want to reminisce, you can view our brand-new mission histories or check out our mission dossiers and their respective epilogues. THE FUTURE(OLOGY) The modteam at Futurology has always tried our best to be transparent, so we'll start off by explaining our reasoning behind this announcement. Over the past several months, we have felt increasingly that we’ve strayed from our original vision for the game. The basic foundations of the game have always been (and will continue to be!) action, adventure, and teamwork. In our attempts to please everyone, we have lost sight of our original goal a bit, and we don’t want to give you a game that isn’t us giving 100%. Rest assured, this is not the end of Futurology! We’re still going strong, just making a few changes that will hopefully make us all happy. In the coming months, we will be winding up our current metaplot to a climax, leading to a conclusion of the struggle between ALASTAIR and Zymandis. If you’re curious to see our tentative scheduling, please see below! What does this mean for the game? Well, we'll be introducing a new metaplot and new game mechanics, as well as new ways for characters to get involved. We're still working out the kinks, but rest assured that we will continue to be a mission-based action/adventure game and characters will continue to travel to other worlds. Internally, the mods have been referring to this next phase as "Season 2," taking a cue from published media: the key to media longevity is to shake things up or there is a risk of getting complacent with the status quo. We're excited about the changes coming, and we hope you will be, too! WHAT TO EXPECT Since we're still in the planning stages, we can't share specific details about the meta, but we can talk about mechanic changes! We will be moving from a standard "jamjar" premise to a "volunteer" premise, which means that characters will have to willingly join up to partake in missions. We understand that this might not work for all characters, but in order to foster the concepts of teamwork and camaraderie we hope to see in Season 2, we decided this change is necessary. There will be incentive for characters to volunteer, however, so don't fear; the vast majority of characters will be appable. (There will be an option for current/former characters to volunteer, so don't worry! We will also have an option for characters to return home at the conclusion of the Season 1 metaplot.) Because our new meta will require volunteering, we will be updating our application form to include sections in relation to this feature. Due to these changes, we will also require all players who wish to continue on with Season 2 to resubmit apps; we are currently discussing how to handle a "reserve" system for returning/continuing characters so no one loses their chance to continue their character's arc in the Season 2 storyline. Please note that although we will of course welcome all our players past and present, it is still an application process, and applications will be judged by current rules even if they were previously accepted, so please make sure to read the application guidelines carefully. We will also be changing how characters are allowed to gain items and powers; we will be combining our bonus bank system with our bounty board in order for activity rewards to be more narratively satisfying and less like a form of OOC currency. We will allow Season 1 powers, pets, items, and weapons to cross over into Season 2, but the bonus bank system will be redone at the end of the current metaplot. This means you should spend all those coins you've been hoarding before the "season finale" gets here, because they won't cross over! APPLICATIONS As you all know, applications have been on hold for meta reasons. For the curious, this was unrelated to the game changes we are discussing here, but we’d now like to discuss what will be happening with apps going forward for the rest of “Season 1," from August to December 2017. We don’t want to have anyone in the queue who doesn’t end up getting in, so application submissions will be on hold for the latter part of 2017. However, we also want to give anyone who wants to apply a chance to do so. Currently, our plan is to open applications again, but for a limited amount of time in the hopes that, once we close submissions again, we’ll be able to make our way through the entire queue. Because we can't predict how many apps will be submitted, we don't have a definite date when we will close them again, but rest assured we will keep everyone notified! If a character doesn’t make it through the queue, don’t worry: the "season finale" mission will involve other teams of ALASTAIR! What does this mean for you, the players? It means that previous characters (who are not currently in game and were not perma-dropped) will be able to return, and any characters in the queue who have not been processed will be able to participate in the final mission. We understand that the idea of a finale might encourage some players to hold onto the game even if they aren’t feeling it, for the sake of closure. But we assure you that even if you drop now, you will absolutely be able to return for the finale and finish any character arc you want to. We want this to be satisfying for everyone, including players who might have dropped. TENTATIVE SCHEDULING SEPTEMBER 2017 ★ NEW MISSION START. After a break in Oska (starting August 12th), we'll be starting a new mission in mid-September, this time leading ALASTAIR recruits into enemy territory. OCTOBER 2017 ★ RETURN TO OSKA. Midmonth, characters will return to Oska in preparation for the "season finale" mission. NOVEMBER 2017 ★ NEW MISSION START. In November, we will start our final mission of the "season". At this point, previously played characters and anyone left in the queue will be allowed to join the mission. DECEMBER 2017 ★ THREAD WRAP-UPS. There will be no new logs this month to allow everyone to finish up their threads. JANUARY 2018 ★ NEW CONTENT. We'll be posting our new and improved info pages, as well as a brand spanking new TDM. FEBRUARY 2018 ★ GRAND RE-OPENING. Applications will open at this time, first for returning characters and later for new characters. QUESTIONS? While we are firm in our decision to move the game in this direction, please feel free to ask any questions you may have! However, please keep in mind that we cannot answer questions about the new metaplot itself, nor are we taking suggestions for the game direction at this time.

Comments

INTEREST CHECK.

[futurologists]

This is an interest check for returning characters only. If you plan to carry over a character you currently play into the next season, please respond here. All returning characters will retain their memories. If you plan to finish out your character's arc and app a new character, you don't need to respond.

This is not mandatory, nor is it binding, but it will be helpful for the mods to get an idea of how many characters will be returning!

Please fill out this form:

PLAYER: (Your name goes here!)
CHARACTERS: (Only the characters you plan on carrying over should go here. If you currently play a character but do not wish to bring them into the next arc, please do not put their name here.)

<b>PLAYER:</b> <b>CHARACTERS:</b> Name (<user name=journal>) & Name (<user name=journal>)

[aspearation]

PLAYER: Tess
CHARACTERS: Undyne (aspearation) & Feferi Peixes (fintastic)

[predomination]

PLAYER: Chris
CHARACTERS: Kisuke Urahara (predomination) & Peridot (slapfight)

[controlling]

PLAYER: alcy
CHARACTERS: bruce wayne ( controlling )

[heritors]

PLAYER: jay
CHARACTERS: lucina (heritors)

[pummelling]

PLAYER: Danni
CHARACTERS: Jin Kung (pummelling)

[catphishing]

PLAYER: Joey
CHARACTERS: Oliver Hampton (catphishing)

[boneafide]

PLAYER: Jean
CHARACTERS: Papyrus (boneafide) & Zenyatta (iomnic)

[selfimage]

PLAYER: veronica
CHARACTERS: Loki (selfimage)

[sheriffing]

PLAYER: Mary Beth
CHARACTERS: Emma Swan (sheriffing)

[perma_banned]

PLAYER: Dan
CHARACTERS: Ban (perma_banned)

[ofobedience]

PLAYER: Kam
CHARACTERS: Giovanni Rammsteiner (ofobedience)

[aspearation]

I'm really glad you guys are taking the time to realign the game, and all the work you're putting into it! And the transparency is really, really appreciated, and refreshing.

But I admit I'm a little nervous/confused about the reapp process. An approval process of some sort makes total sense, but since I play one character who wouldn't have volunteered straight from canon (but would absolutely do so now) and one character who was in no place to volunteer at her canon point, I'm not sure how it's going to work out!

I know it's pretty early too so the details might not be worked out, but will there be any grandfathering process for characters already in game who might not be appable in Season 2? Or separate apps for Season 1 characters?

[futurologists]

Hi, Tess! Thanks for your questions. There's no need to be nervous! Characters from Season 1 will not be going home in between the break; they will be going straight to Season 2. So, as long as they would (or are in a position to) volunteer right now, they're perfectly appable.

As for grandfathering unappable characters, all characters will have to be there of their own volition, but we're more than willing to help anyone figure out how they can make that happen for their character. There will be (personalized) incentives to volunteer, so it won't have to only be out of the goodness of their hearts!

We hope that answers your questions, but let us know if you need anything clarified or have more questions.

[dbag]

hi! i have a question: when we re-app, how much will we need to include of the "crau" aspects/futuro history? c:

[futurologists]

Hi! When re-apping a character from Season 1, you won't need to write a long history or new personality section. You can feel free to link the canon wiki and copy/paste your original personality (as long as it fits within our current word count parameters), just add on anything you feel is relevant at the end. We only really need to know about major changes, so don't worry about writing too much.

[heritors]

hello mods!! first off this is really exciting and fresh and i'm very excited to be going on this wild ride to the end of season 1 + towards season 2!! so as always, thank you for all your hardwork, dedication, and transparency. second of all i am absolutely jumping the gun for a plot that's literally 3 months away and asking:

if i had a character i made specific decisions for when i applied/got accepted — ie, north and his weird invisible belief mechanics — but want to participate in the last mission, am i allowed to go back on the said previous decisions — ie, make his belief mechanics go away?

[futurologists]

Firstly, thanks so much -- we're glad you're excited! Secondly, you definitely can! Whatever would be most fun for you.

[armigers]

Hello mods, if we're going into season 2, can we also canon update our characters in the re-app process and have them come in from a later point? Like say they return to their world after season 1 and then come back in season 2 and a bunch of new stuff has happened to them, etc?

[futurologists]

Hi, Evy! You can absolutely canon update between the seasons. Just remember that, during canon updates, memories are not intact. However, they will return when the character returns to the game!

[ofobedience]

Hello mods!

I understand if you're not in a position to answer this question yet, but I was wondering if you would maintain the drop mechanic where characters stay on with ALASTAIR but transfer to another team, just on a voluntary basis rather than because they can't be sent back? For characters who would basically be going home to only bad things/probable death, for example.

Not that I'm planning to drop rn! But considering the direction of Gio's current development, it'd be hard to imagine him suddenly deciding to go home in the future!

[futurologists]

We will be having a similar mechanic in place, yes!

[daimeinashi]

are we allowed to ask what kind of incentives might be available for volunteering at this juncture? :0

also, will canon updates be a possibility in s2 or leading up to it? (edit: sorry, I just saw the answer to noctis! in that case, will updates still be possible before s2?)

[futurologists]

Incentives will be personalized. While we won't be discussing hypothetical incentives at this time, as the next season approaches, we're happy to work with players to figure out their incentives!

Yes, canon updates will remain as they were before this announcement.

[secondnature]

Hi, I'm a little confused as to why you're asking us to reapply to the game between season one and season two. I'm genuinely not clear on the reasoning behind this decision. It really reads as a lot of unnecessary work for both the moderating team and your playerbase to ask them to reapply. Would it be better to ask for people who are interested in sticking around to put an incentive for volunteering, and have that be the only "reapplication" process? That way, it's less work for all parties involved. It feels like this can be streamlined rather than making it an official reapplication process for what is essentially a continuation of the same game and same mod base.

[futurologists]

Hi, Alison! The reason we decided to have everyone re-apply is because we plan on overhauling parts of the application as well as the rules and want everyone to be on equal footing, app-wise, rather than grandfathering anyone in. However, we will keep your comments in mind as we go forward.

[winces]

hello mods! first of all i want to say this is really exciting news, and i'm eager to see where you will be taking the game! i find your candor very admirable and inspiring, and i've no doubt the shift will go on smoothly and successfully! thanks so much for all this hrd work.

my question is this: if a character is dropped in s1, would they still be allowed to be re-apped in s2 with previous game memories/abilities/etc?

[futurologists]

Hi, Lena! Thank you for the kind words. :)

As for your question, we're sorry if this was unclear! Characters who were dropped at any point during Season 1 may be re-apped at any point during Season 2 (complete with abilities, memories, etc), provided they did not go home permanently via special drop. If they were dropped permanently, they may of course still be re-apped by the same person, but it will be with a clean slate.

[argenteums]

Hey mods! First of all, this is awesomely exciting! My question is sort of piggybacking off of Evy's, but with canon updates being allowed- is it possible to update a character to a portion of the story not explicitly shown in canon (but alluded to, obviously, since it's part of the continuity)? Like, there's a ten year time skip in FFXV that is only covered through a character explaining it ten years later. If say, I wanted to update Prompto to /right/ after the time skip happens, would I be allowed to? Obviously I wouldn't want to make up any details, so I want to keep him as close to that time period as possible (but not jump him to ten years later to when we see him again), but since we're aware of what comes after that point in the story!

I'm sorry if the question is confusing!

[futurologists]

In general, we don't allow apping or updating to canonpoints that aren't covered in canon, for the reasons you've mentioned (not wanting to make up details, getting into canon OC territory, et cetera). In this case, as long as it's fairly well laid-out what happened in the 10-year gap, this is fine with us, but please be mindful not to deviate from what's established in canon. Thank you!

P.S. Just to be clear, you can also canon update on this page at any time -- no need to wait until Season 2!

[daimeinashi]

hi again mods!

i'm not entirely sure if this can be addressed until more plot details are available and we know the shape of the playerbase that will be sticking around for season 2, but i had some slight concerns about the shift to volunteering which i was recommended to bring to this post.

basically in a nutshell, i'm a little worried about what the game environment is going to look like for characters who don't particularly care for ALASTAIR or its mission in the second season? with the shift to volunteering, it seems like the game population will be moving more heavily toward the altruistic types. while i'm not so much concerned with appability thanks to the incentives system, i am unsure what that will mean in terms of overall playability ic and ooc for characters that are more antagonistic or cynical, especially since s2 is looking to focus on goodwill and camaraderie among the team.

i totally understand if you guys can't discuss this directly right now, since there's still a long time to go until the season finale and a lot of work to be done before you're ready to unveil the new metaplot, but since there's a number of characters (especially the newly arrived) that view their membership in ALASTAIR as largely a cosmic accident and don't feel a moral obligation toward saving the multiverse, i thought it might be worth mentioning.

thank you so much for all your hard work, and for your transparency and honesty with the upcoming new direction of the game! i'm really excited to see how things will unfold, and definitely intend to be sticking around--either with my current characters or new ones c:

[futurologists]

Hi Batty! Thanks for bringing your concerns to us. Incentives will be broad and flexible enough to work with a variety of character types; if anything, it could help characters that would otherwise not be interested in getting engaged, as now they have a personal incentive to work towards! Being on a volunteer basis does not mean a character has to be there for purely altruistic reasons, and vice versa.

Ultimately, we understand that changing the system will affect playability in some cases, and we can't control the makeup of the game. However, we are not specifically catering towards any one side of the moral spectrum, so rest assured that there will be room for all kinds of characters.

[sentry]

So the more I think on it, the more I feel it's better to condense what I had to say. Apologies for the repeated edits, mods. All that time spent and I'm still a serial editor up to the last.

The crux of what I wanted to say is I appreciate all of your hard work, and that I hope the game reclaims some of the essence I feel it had in its earlier missions. I think this game has a ton going for it, but that time there was something I found particularly amazing. And I think maybe when you talk about straying from your vision, that might include the way the Zymandis event had this odd progression from the organization not being a factor at all, to NPCs giving sound reasons ALASTAIR wouldn't matter to them, to being in Zymandis' crosshairs all the time. I might be mistaken on that, but I've often felt it wasn't in-keeping with the measured nature of events that occurred prior.

Regarding the change from jamjar to a volunteer basis... I'm glad that the mod team is taking time to prepare everything, and I hope that time will mean the maximum number of people can still fit into the setting under that premise. As I expressed in my previous iteration of this comment, I can't think of any way that it would be IC for Eight to be a volunteer. I'm aware there are others for whom the change is going to be a tough situation, and not every character has a price per se, if they don't simply trust ALASTAIR to start with. So I hope some kind of plan will exist for characters who are tough sales.

As for myself, I'm commenting here rather than to the interest check since there's nothing for Eight to be offered as incentive. I chose his canon-point for the conflict, and I had fun playing with the potential I felt there was in him being separated from a unit to which he's belonged for as long as he can remember because of the fact that he wouldn't choose it. Since it seems like there's some emphasis on making room for people, and I don't see Eight having the potential to carry on once the premise of the game changes, I'll strive to make a determination about what to do with him shortly.

...No character-based pun intended.

[futurologists]

Hi, Ren!

To clarify, these changes aren't being made because of Zymandis. Zymandis has, in some form or another, been part of our planned meta since the beginning. However, two years is a long time for one story! We want to avoid getting stale, which is the primary reason for this change. Another reason is that we'd like to focus more on the core of the game -- the missions -- rather than characters being here against their will.

We believe that our volunteering mechanism will allow the vast majority of characters to be apped, given that the player is flexible. Again, we'd like to reiterate that volunteering does not require altruism or trust of ALASTAIR, just a willingness to risk it for the promise of a reward they very much want or need! However, we understand that this option might still be unappealing to you. We'll be sorry to see you go if that's what you choose, but we respect any player's right to leave the game if it's no longer what they want and we wish you well.

[feytality]

Hey mods! Thank you so much for your hard work on all of this, and letting us know well ahead of time about the changes! I really appreciate the amount of life and creativity you've put into the game, and you guys do a really good job of keeping on top of everything.

I did want to ask for some clarification on some points, tough!

Can you please clarify what the current standards are for applications, and why characters apped in Futuro's infancy may not be accepted come season 2? I apped in both Futurology's infancy and more recently and personally, the only big difference I can think of is suitability.

Furthermore, is suitability (and how willingly a character would go along with ALASTAIR) a grounds for app rejection? I completely understand the decision to switch to volunteering and the projected shift in game tone, but I know there are some IC mixed feelings on the organization itself, so I was wondering how much of a factor that would be in the new apping process.

If the entire game reapps, will the doubles who were grandfathered in still be allowed?

[futurologists]

Hi, Sipp! Thank you for the kind words.

Regarding apps, the mod who accepted apps in Futurology's infancy is no longer processing apps and our standards have since changed as a result. We have had the same app team for over a year now, however, so there won't be many changes from now to when Season 2 begins.

The suitability section is in place because we want applicants to be putting thought into how their character will fit in the game atmosphere; it wouldn't be grounds for rejection unless we feel it contradicts the character or if it simply states that character wouldn't volunteer at all and doesn't want to be here, which wouldn't be possible with our new volunteering format!

As for doubles currently in-game, yes, they will be allowed to re-app!

Thanks for your questions, and let us know if we can clarify anything else.

[pummelling]

A late question but it's related so I thought I'd ask here rather than on the general FAQ!

For previously dropped (but not special dropped) characters who return in the finale, will there be any possibility of canon updating them? In my particular case, I apped Lilith from post-Borderlands, but am considering bringing her back in the finale from Borderlands 2.

(....And as an addendum how much free reign are returning characters given for handwaving what happened while they were on different ALASTAIR teams? ofc I won't be going SHE BLEW UP A PLANET but i'd rather know your expectations for sure.)

If not, I'm happy to just reapp with a canon update in s2 as I see some other folks here are planning as well. :] tyty mods!

[futurologists]

Since these characters are effectively NPCs and not in the game, you wouldn't submit an official canon update for them. We trust that players will be reasonable about handwaving development 'off-screen' and won't be regulating this ourselves!