CALENDAR ANNOUNCEMENT.

[futurologists]

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.

Comments

[webdesigned]

hey mods, thanks for the calendar! its exciting to have more info on the endgame.

I will mention a concern I have, though. I think we've all noticed players leaving and having issues with motivation in the game right now. While there could be a dozen reasons for that, I think it's important to consider what we can do to alleviate those problems.

My personal suggestion is that we make these last few months as easy and fun for everyone as possible. To be honest, mention of HMD seems really unnecessary when we are supposed to reapp in Jan anyway. I feel like requiring proofs is kind of a hard act to police, too. Players want to interact with returning characters but then have to juggle ac at the same time? That could deviate from the desire to interact with as many of our old cr as possible. On top of that, when we are going to have to ultimately reapp, then I think that the motivation to hit ac is sort of deflated. It seems as if many people are dropping because of an inability to get into current metaplot, which feels a little geared toward a select few, only to sign on as a guest where they won't have to be involved with the metaplot to begin with. If there was no required ac they could just focus on what is fun for them while the game continues on the path you have devised for endgame.

Personally I think letting go of stringency on ac and procedurals (HMD) would make this easier on a lot of your players. We are already out of a game for a month, promised no guarantees in getting back into a game we devoted time and investment in, and required to reapply to a game that already accepted us. I hope that you will think about maybe making this period of transition less stressful and more approachable for your players, because I think right now a lot of us could benefit from that approach.

Thanks!

[futurologists]

Hi, Katy!

Thank you to coming to us with your concerns. While we understand that players dropping may be alarming, we certainly do not wish for anyone to stay in the game who doesn’t want to; if a player finds they no longer have interest in the game, they are welcome to drop. In this vein, if players cannot make AC due to disinterest, we don't feel as though removing AC will do anything to motivate these players to tag. For this reason, we will be maintaining our current AC schedule. However, our final AC will be a half AC, requiring only one proof instead of two.

Regarding guest characters, we're sorry if this was unclear, but you may make AC by tagging a guest character! It's only guest characters themselves that do not have to make AC.

Regarding HMD, the mod team had previously discussed whether we should keep it on schedule for the reasons you mentioned. Ultimately, we decided to keep it because of the players here who plan on returning for Season 2, and because communication is something we like to stress here at Futurology. HMD is not intended to be a punishment; it's meant as a way for players to communicate with each other in a scheduled, expected format, as well as a way for players to communicate with the mod team. Often, players feel more comfortable bringing their concerns to others during the HMD than at other times, and we don’t want to take that away from anyone who has been waiting for the opportunity.

Finally, we'd like to address your concerns about the current plot only being geared toward a handful of people. We certainly did not gear the season finale plot towards anyone in particular; it was created with the hopes of being fun for the entire game. Several opportunities have been given for all characters to participate in the plot, and we always try to make sure there are things for everyone to do in every log and event, regardless of their personal interest in the metaplot. If we have failed in piquing anyone’s interest, there is nothing we can do about that, but we always attempt to find ways to involve characters of all skillsets, backgrounds, and personality types. However, we have learned in our time modding that unfortunately, you can’t please everyone.

We genuinely do appreciate your suggestions! When we make decisions (such as whether or not to have AC or HMD, etc.) we discuss all the options, and these were certainly considered. Ultimately, we felt it was best to keep it this way; we understand this may displease you, and that is reasonable. We hope that you can take us at our word when we say we absolutely did not make this decision with the intent to increase stress on our players in any way, though, and that if it does, it is an unwanted, unintended side effect.