CALENDAR ANNOUNCEMENT
Hi, guys! We've received some concerns about waning momentum in the months before Season 2, so we decided to make this post to address them. As a side note, we encourage all players to come to us with any concerns they might have! We always appreciate getting feedback from a direct source.
One of the suggestions was to reach the S1 conclusion sooner and open S2 earlier than originally planned. The completion of the current arc is necessary to bring us into Season 2 (it's all connected!) so we can't skip it, but we can attempt to speed it up a little. However, there's also the problem of December -- the holidays are difficult, and we can't re-open the game during them. We've tried to come up with a schedule that will work for everyone, though, which we've detailed below:
| OCTOBER 12: | Return to Oska log. |
| OCTOBER 19: | Mission dossier drops. |
| OCTOBER 21: | A season finale plotting meme is posted. |
| LATE OCTOBER: | Endgame part I log. |
| EARLY / MID NOVEMBER: | Endgame part II log. |
| NOVEMBER 18: | The last HMD of Season 1 is posted. |
| LATE NOVEMBER: | A more concrete timeline from then until the opening of Season 2 will be posted. |
| EARLY DECEMBER: | Season 2 info pages go live. |
| MID DECEMBER: | Season 2 Test Drive Meme goes up. It will be game canon, but will not be required. This will allow for players who will be around to be able to start playing without a long wait, without making it required for players who might not be around. We understand this is not ideal for all players, but given the difficulties of the holiday season, it seemed the best compromise we could come up with without having to open S2 in February. |
| EARLY JANUARY: | Reserves for returning characters will be open for 72 hours, allowing all current players to ensure that no one else apps their character. Afterwards, applications will be open to returning players only for approx. 48 hours before opening to the general public. This is subject to change, but is the current guesstimate. |
| EARLY / MID JANUARY: | Apps will close and a CR meme will go up. A few days later, we will put up our first log of Season 2. |
If this schedule looks acceptable to you, the players, it's what we'll be going with. Don't hesitate to let us know your thoughts! We're posting this because we want to hear them. |
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futurologists) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
axiology2017-10-06 07:02 pm
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Foremost, I want to say that I appreciate all the hard work you put into the game, and that you recognize the game has veered off from what you envisioned, so you want to get it back on track, so to speak! The schedule also looks good to me, I appreciate the shorter timeframe.
However, I am concerned that many of the recent mod decisions are making the game seem unwelcoming and discouraging to newbies and to some players still in game, and is contributing to the waning momentum the game currently has. From closing apps for nearly two months when the queue was long and people had already been waiting for months, to mandating a reapp for the whole game (the mod responses that characters who apped in Futuro's infancy may not be suitable for the game also made me a little nervous), to now not allowing doubles (assuming it's another canon version of the character and not the same character played by another person - I am not sure if the rule encompasses both cases or not) and characters who went home to participate in the finale. If characters who were in the game for a very short period of time are allowed to return for the finale, why not doubles? After all, they were apped before the rule was put into place. Also, while I understand that the AC system is maintained to be fair to mods and players alike, September was a very difficult month for a lot of people, some were without internet due to hurricanes, (and considering the amount of people we've already lost, there are plenty of spots left) so I feel in this case it would be fair to at least let the newbies who idled out reapp or participate in the finale.
Furthermore, while I understand the game mechanic of going home means that they've earned their rest, so to speak, if it was a volunteer process (IE: Zymandis is a huge and powerful organization, so ALASTAIR could put out a call for help for "one last mission" and characters who would ICly respond to the call could be reapped, similar to what you have planned for Season 2). The players who had their characters choose this unique mechanic had no idea a finale was upcoming, so it's possible they could have chosen the regular drop mechanic if they had known. Therefore, I believe it would be fair and healthy for the game to allow these characters to participate in the finale, and I hope you will reconsider your stance. I was also wondering when more information on the IC incentives for Season 2 would be disclosed, as there are many players who are uncertain of whether they can maintain their characters or not.
no subject
First off, we'd like to thank you for coming to us with your concerns; they're all very reasonable and we completely understand where you're coming from. We're going to elaborate on our perspective a bit, but please don't think that by explaining where we're coming from we mean to dismiss your concerns in any way. Instead, we hope this will help clarify why we've done the things we've done, and create a dialogue wherein all the parties have all the information.
Anonymity can create a bit of a wall between players and mods, but we are only human. We spend our free time doing the best we can to make the game both fun for our players and true to our vision, but we aren't perfect. Any decisions made that make the game seem unwelcoming were not made with the intent to make anyone feel like they don't belong; we debate all decisions as a mod team before enacting anything, so we assure you there is thought put into all of them, but sometimes we make mistakes or make decisions that will displease some players. Human error isn't something we can ever truly fix, but we promise no decisions are ever made out of impulsivity or malice.
Getting into the specifics: the two-month queue lock was plot-related, as we had thought it would be fun for characters in a game that are constantly moving to be "trapped", so to speak, and the plot required that characters be unable to be rifted in or out. If we were to do a plot like that again, it's likely we wouldn't carry it out in exactly the same way knowing what we know now, but back then we had no idea how the plot would turn out! It was never meant to be unwelcoming; it was meant to be a fun experience for our current players, and if we fell short on delivering that to some players, that is a mistake we'll have to move forward from.
As for the re-applications, this is not meant to be any sort of gatekeeping or way to filter anyone out! The application will be different, as many of the mechanics of the game will be updated in the jump from S1 to S2, and it will be important for characters to have the new applications filled out in order to play in the game. We realize this sounds a little vague at the moment, but we promise it will make more sense once all of the information is out, which will hopefully be as soon as possible! Tying this back to your question about incentives, like we told Anne above, all the information is expected to be out at the beginning of December, but we are aiming for as early as possible, so keep an ear the ground! Our telling someone that there are no guarantees of acceptance was never meant to make the players as nervous as it seems to have; we can't guarantee acceptance to anyone, ever, because there is no telling what kind of application someone will submit. If someone doesn't fill out all the sections, submits an empty application, submits an application far below our quality standards, etc. then we will not be able to accept them, regardless of if their original application was award-worthy. We don't mean to threaten anyone or make them anxious. Our quality standards have not changed since very long ago when we instituted a word cap (which is also when we instated a new app team) and we don't plan on suddenly changing them to be wildly different than they are right at this moment.
As for doubles, this is something we held a player poll on in April after having player concerns brought to us, so we simply feel it isn't fair to the majority of players who voted against having doubles to allow them, even if it's only as a guest star. We aim to please our current players most of all, and as they are the ones who don't want doubles in the game, that's why we chose not to allow them as returning guest characters.
With regards to AC, we do our best to be fair when it comes to strikes. Although we won't go into detail due to respect for player privacy, several players have been granted strikes due to the hurricanes and various other unforeseen circumstances this month. We often grant at least one per month, if not more. We are always more willing to work with players when they come to us asking for strikes before the AC period is up, but on occasion we are willing to work with players on the idle list as well, depending on the circumstances. Any player on the list is welcome to PM us to discuss it with us.
Finally, special dropped characters! The meta reason for characters being brought back to participate in this final mission is that all of ALASTAIR's teams will be working on it; the guest characters will not be returning to Audentes, necessarily, but will be working alongside them. As special dropped characters are not part of ALASTAIR at all, having returned home due to player request, they wouldn't fall under this category. We understand this might be disappointing! However, we have always been very clear that special drops are permanent, and that any player who utilized it would never be able to bring their character back, because retaining their game memories upon returning to their canon world would create an AU, which we do not allow in-game. Every player who has taken advantage of the special drop feature has been aware of this and specifically sought out the option. We truly understand that some players might regret their special drops and wish to bring them back, and have debated at length possible options for accomplishing this in the finale, but the mod team could not reach a consensus on an acceptable way of carrying this out. This is not out of a desire to diminish anyone's fun or punish anyone, but to abide by the laws of the universe we have created.
We hope this has shed some light on why we made the decisions we did. We understand it's likely you will want to discuss this with us further, but as this post is meant for discussion of the proposed schedule, we would like to ask that you take further discussion to the Mod Contact post, where we will be happy to continue.
no subject
I saw that the reserve/application timeframe was subject to change, but 2-3 days seems like a very short window, especially around holiday time where people may be unavailable. Is there any chance these windows could be extended, (maybe a week for each, respectively?) and/or put to a playerbase vote?
no subject