MOD ANNOUNCEMENT AND DISCUSSION

[futurologists]

REGARDING APPS Hello players! As the game reaches a record 92 characters the mod team has come to realize the player cap hasn't had the effect we've intended. We've had the same, steady amount of drops, but the influx of characters has been higher than anticipated. When we proposed the idea of changing to a player cap, a concern that was frequently brought up was that the game would begin to feel unwelcoming -- however, the opposite has been true. Our queue continues to grow, and while we always appreciate your love and enthusiasm, the uncontrolled growth has been difficult to keep up with. And it's only been six weeks! However, we did tell you that we would experiment with a player cap until the Perdition's Rest mission came to an end. So we're asking you for input: would you prefer us to switch back to an 80 character cap now, or wait until the end of the mission to see if things stabilize? Obviously, the more immediate consequence to this would be waiting for the character numbers to lower again; switching the cap later may exacerbate this. We'll be taking opinions for a week, during which time the queue will be closed. In related news: we're going to be rolling in a system for second characters resembling the one we have for thirds. Meaning, if you want to apply for a second character, you'll have to provide proof of double AC for the last two months -- as if you already had a second character! You may use bonus bank threads for this. This will be going into effect immediately. In other news: we've sometimes received apps with too-short samples. We'd like to remind players that samples should be AC length at the time of submission, not at the time we process the app. Once again, we thank you for your patience and insight as we figure out our team's best practices!

Comments

[secondnature]

I'd prefer if we waited until the end of the mission to see if things stabilize.

That said: is there increased new interest in the game than there was before? It looks like it, but it's hard for me to say because I don't really study the application page. If so, it seems like lowering the character cap isn't going affect things much.

[futurologists]

To clarify, we don't plan on lowering the cap! We'll be switching back from the current player cap to a character cap. The issue we're facing isn't the size of the app queue, but rather the number of characters in-game.

As for interest, the amount of apps we've received from new players has remained fairly steady, regardless of the type of cap we have implemented.

[secondnature]

Oh, no, I know re: the clarification. My concerns largely revolve around the 12 extra characters, especially since a number of them were players who felt comfortable apping a second under the new conditions.

[futurologists]

Apologies, we may not have been clear in the post, but this would not involve cutting down on existing characters. We would implement the 80 character cap, then hold off until there are enough drops to process again. While this is an unfortunate wait, we feel that delaying this change until the end of the mission may increase the number of characters in the game and exacerbate the issue further.

[secondnature]

All right, thank you for the clarification on that! I would still advise holding off, but I can see the worry about the number of characters. In holding off, I do worry about the people who apped into the queue not expecting such a lengthy hold time. Is there any way this can be revisited in November after the AC period closes? Perhaps close the queue during the month of October to see where we stand (keeping the apps that are in there in there, of course) after this month passes.

[futurologists]

We haven't decided yet, but we'll discuss further and take that into consideration c: Thanks for taking the time to leave us feedback!

[secondnature]

No problem—thanks for always being open to discussion like this!

[digophelia]

Personally, I think it's best to wait until the end of mission but I'm also leaning towards leaving it as is. New blood reinvigorates interest in the game, I feel.

[daimeinashi]

I think we should wait until the end of the mission! Personally, I like the player cap better than a character cap in general, since there's no competition between new players and old for slots if someone wants a second

question, though: i'm slightly confused by the wording of the new 2nd character rule. Can we still submit extra threads to the ac bank or are we effectively "cashing in" those coins in for the privilege of apping a second?

[futurologists]

Thanks for your feedback! While we've seen merits to the player cap system during its trial period, we feel as though the character cap better manages the size and workload we're comfortable with in the long run.

Also, you will not be required to cash in activity to app a second character -- you can still submit threads used on applications to AC Rewards.

[forcevisions]

This post seems to take the switch back to character cap as a given/an inevitability. With that in mind, I'd rather make the switch back right away for this specific reason outlined in the post: waiting for the character numbers to lower again. We'd likely go MONTHS without any new characters at all if we waited too much longer and still swapped to our 80-character cap again.

[ex_adept136]

Having heavily considered a second character myself, given the system currently in place, I'm a bit torn now. I'm completely good with the activity requirement for a second, and wish it had been in place from the time we converted to player cap, but hearing that we may be converting back sooner than originally put forward I'm a bit reluctant. I don't want to take up another if it means somebody else can't have that space, especially since I do have friends who are excited about apping a first character.

Concerning those who are currently in the queue and those I personally know have been preparing for app submission (TDM, drafting applications), changing back immediately would be a little unfair to them. If indeed we are changing back to the old system, I'd either suggest raising our character cap to 90 (to bring the current total closer and prevent a huge delay in application processing) or giving a month's notice for those who were taking the opportunity to apply in under the new system.

Maybe those who get their apps in during this period could be processed under the player cap system, so they're not put under conditions they hadn't submitted their app under (unless it proves less efficient for processing those apps). In that case anything posted after the cutoff period would revert to the old system. I think the rule in place for second characters should help throttle things in the interim.

Whatever is done, I strongly suggest giving notice on the applications page and giving people the opportunity to submit apps before any reversion to a system that puts us 12+ characters over the cap.

Thank you, as always, for taking the time to touch base with us and ask for our feedback.

+1

[asscan]

Not much to add to this but this (along with the pragmatic yet somewhat painful suggestion from Fef's mun below) are both reasonable suggestions.

+1

[onethousen]

Also curious if this means you cannot apply for a second character before you've been in the game two full months to meet the double AC proof; technically not a problem if you have double ac even in that first partial month you are accepted, but as one of those wood been working on an app for a second, it's be great to know if I'd have to wait for next month regardless!

Likewise agreeing that whatever decision is made, warning for it on the app page and allowing a submission period before reversion would be nice.

[keystaff]

Yeah, I'm gonna +1 to this. If we change back, the sooner the better since there's going to obviously then be a wait, but not too much if we raised the character cap to 90. Which would be the ideal. Else it could be a good while until people in the queue or preparing to app (I know a couple of friends wanting to app in that are still working on their apps) to wait, when it is usually around a week or two most of the time with drops and such, unless longer for plot related reasons or cap is reached and they just miss out to wait for the following week. I totally get it if mods want it at 80 and there's usually a decent trickle of drops to get some new apps in each week or so, but. 12+ is gonna be a lot otherwise.

But definitely there should be something on the app page to let people know! Potential appers might miss this on the ooc comm, if there isn't already (I haven't checked since I haven't apped or anything in a while myself, so ignore this if you already have some information there on this potential change.)

[futurologists]

Thank you for your input! While we understand that waiting for 12 slots to open is disappointing to new applicants, our reasoning for switching back to a character cap is that a large amount of characters makes things unwieldy from a plot perspective. With this in mind, we unfortunately do not think that raising the cap to 90 will solve the issues we've encountered during our experiment with player cap.

[fintastic]

My vote would be on something somewhere in between "immediately" and "wait until the end of the mission". I would propose to keep the player cap and close apps until the current queue clears out, then reopen them under the character cap. If the switch is made immediately, those waiting apps are going to have to wait for 12 characters to drop before slots even start opening up. Keeping the player cap for those last 10 apps will let them process sooner, and won't really raise the number of characters in the game anyway, since 1 player slot = 1 or more character slots. Closing apps will be rough on people who are in the process of apping, but I think it'll be a rocky switch regardless of how you do it.

...I hope that makes sense. tl;dr let the current apps process under the player cap rules then switch back.

+1

[cachemoney]

I think this makes the most sense!

+1

[fateality]

I like it!

+1

[ofobedience]

This seems like a good compromise to me!

I'd also just like to say that I'm glad to see more people have become interested in the game rather than less since the player cap, I was one of the people concerned that it would have the opposite effect! But I've also always liked that this is a small game and I think 80 characters is plenty, particularly if the mods want to be able to keep up with plots that are more specifically tailored to the characters they have in game. Create too much work for yourselves and you'll stop having fun :(

+1

[figureitout]

this definitely seems like the best compromise to me, too.

[cachemoney]

Since I'm the creepy one who tracks the drops page and keeps a spreadsheet updated to reflect drops/apps, I can safely say we have been getting more apps than drops since the switch to player cap was implemented. (I don't have the exact numbers because I'm not that obsessive, just a little obsessive ok.) Since I only have one character right now and don't really plan on apping more for some time, I don't really have strong feelings either way (I think Tess's solution above seems to be the best so far).

I'd also just like to say how refreshing it is that you guys are always adjusting the game based on what's happening c: I think it's cool that you guys are open to changing things immediately instead of adhering to your schedule. (Proposing we switch back to player cap now instead of later, proposing we end Nalawi early, proposing we extend the timeline shenanigans event to reflect player interest, etc.)

Also also, a question! I have seen some confusion over whether the reversion is due to greater amount of modwork from a higher amount of characters, I'm wondering if this is the case just for clarification?

[futurologists]

Hello! To clarify, Futurology has always been a small game and has always been intended to be a small game; we started off with a character cap of 70, and then later raised it to 80. Keeping the game small is due to several reasons, of which administrative work is certainly a part, but primarily it's because we hope to ICly foster an intimate environment between characters -- they are all part of a team, after all! We did not anticipate the player cap raising our amount of characters to this degree, and the continually growing amount of characters is moving us away from our initial small game foundation.

[sereneflame]

As someone who's been preparing to app a second OC in here... I say go with whatever will stop you burning out. If the workload is getting overwhelming and you need to get a handle on what's happening, do it immediately. I'd much rather have mods who aren't overloaded than my character in quickly.

[heroforhobby]

I vote end of mission to see if things stabilize as well, especially if many of the new characters were people already in game apping another. I think the plan of proving AC ability before apping more characters can help, but perhaps if there were other limits, like the per player cap being just 2 instead of 3 characters?

I'm all for a small game, but new blood is still important. (Though, I may be biased since I am new, but it's how I feel about any game.) And the player cap rather than character cap helps foster new blood and making things less insular or stale.

+1

[ex_adept136]

I'm in agreement on the per-player maximum being 2, with respect to the amount of characters allowed in the game. I also hope we keep the AC-proof condition for apping a second character.

[onethousen]

Another +1 for changing player caps to two while grandfathering in anyone at three right now.

[futurologists]

Thanks to everyone in this thread leaving their thoughts -- we'll definitely consider dialing the max number back to two!

We also want to clarify accessibility regarding new players and caps. On our last post, there were concerns that the player cap would discourage new applicants, as it makes it easier for preexisting players to submit more apps. Ultimately, this did not seem to be an issue, but we do not believe a player cap inherently encourages more new blood than a character-based one.

[heroforhobby]

I should clarify when I said encourage new blood I meant in terms of physically getting a new player in, since a player cap doesn't mean an existing player will be taking up another slot a new player could have when apping in a 2nd or 3rd character. I should have been more clear on that, haha.

On the other hand, if someone with 3 charas dropped in a character capped game that frees up 3 slots rather than just 1 if it were a player capped game. So it's hard to say which is ideal, but is also why I think keeping the new system a month or two longer may help to solidify if this was a good change or not, especially with the new rules in place for apping in a 2nd character.

[friendlykillingmachine]

I think you should do whatever you need to do to make the game manageable for you.