TEMPERATURE CHECK

[baymods]

⋆✩ temperature check ✩⋆

STATE OF THE GAME

Hello everyone! Welcome to our very first temperature check, where we discuss how things are going, what we like or don't like, what might change, and all related concerns about how the game is running. The game is brand new, but there is a lot that's flexible in how we are running things, so we wanted to open the floor for discussion on a number of things so far. There are currently 16 players in the game, which makes for a wonderfully cozy vibe oocly, while also welcoming even more direct character impact on the plot than you might experience if the game were, say, 50 players or so. So, with that in mind, we have a few things in mind.

PACING & SCHEDULES
We found that the early TDM made for a lot of downtime between TDM prompts and the actual application acceptances, so moving forward, we're looking to shift the scheduling on a number of things. First, rather than application rounds, we are interested in keeping applications and reserves open at all times. This would mean that the personalized acceptance notices can still get the attention they deserve without detracting so many days in a row of mod time. Reserves would have a designated length of time before expiring (1 week, probably) where mods would reply with the expiration date when confirming a reservation. With this method, we would still have a designated chunk of time to accept applications, but there would no longer be an ooc intro, and instead we would post regular bi-monthly plotting posts. We would like to hear opinions and feelings on this as a decision before moving forward with it!

Secondly, we had placed extra prompts for the following month into the TDM in order to try and make up for the distance between app acceptances and TDM, but it seemed to only create confusion. So moving forward, TDMs will only have prompts for the month of character arrival, with no specific time limits other than the arrival prompt itself. We still want to give just as much in terms of prompt amount, but the timing will be better. TDMs will also work as the event for the month for in game players, so will not solely focus on arrivals, either. TDMs are still planned to occur every other month.

Here is a rough idea of the schedule we have in mind moving forward:

TDM MONTHS
1st QUESTS POSTED (mostly smaller quests)
3rd QUEST SIGN UPS OPEN
10th TDM
15th-20th APPS PROCESSED

QUEST HEAVY MONTHS
1st QUESTS POSTED WITH OOC PLOTTING POST (heavier, plottier quests along with smaller)
3rd QUEST SIGN UPS OPEN
15th EVENT LOG (this would likely be just guilds doing smaller things, or if theres a festival, etc, and the heavier plot comes from quests, so no plotting post for this)

If this schedule seems to appeal to most everyone in game currently, then the calendar page will be updated to reflect it, and March will be considered a Quest heavy month. We will wrap results from the nightmare question on our last post into the quests, so look forward to that! EDIT: There has been a suggestion to make March a TDM month instead, so give your opinion here!

QUESTS
Moving forward, we would like to release quests and board rankings on the 1st of each month, with sign-ups opening a couple days later on the 3rd of the month. We would do this with the idea that quests could be threaded throughout the month. We also plan on increasing the number of quests, especially when it comes to rescue quests and exploration quests. The quest page may be adjusted slightly moving forward, as we would like to streamline rescue quests to have more "fill in the blank" RNG responses that still provide a customized experience that's fun to roleplay, but also don't take multiple days for us (the single mod) to write out. These may also be renamed to "help quests" or something else in the future to allow for more types of prompts, and varying additional rewards.

Those heavier, plottier quests would be exploration quests (or unique quests, in the future), and this month we limited those fairly heavily. In the future, we're considering making them unlimited, but with the caveat that you can only get points from each one once.

Essentially, with this and the rough schedule above, we'd go for an alternating "arrival, TDM + light quests" month and "heavier plot quests + guild activities/bonding" month.

FAQ/QUESTIONS
We would just like to make a note that most theoretical questions are handled on a case by case basis, so if you're looking to apply for a character that is unique in some way, or have some other unique circumstances, please make use of the mod contact post to work it out with us at the time of the TDM.

We also would like to mention that while we are fine with answering quick questions on plurk that may not apply to everyone, all relevant questions should be asked under question headers or in the FAQ so that others can see the answers. We will not always be able to view or respond to plurk questions in a timely fashion, and some questions are not suitable for plurk.

GENERAL FEEDBACK
Are we handling everything okay so far? Are we yapping too much? We're going for a very transparent and personalized approach that might feel different from most DWRP games these days, so we'd love feedback on anything and everything! Application standards, the app itself, quest content, anything we didn't cover in this post yet. And also, out of curiosity— do you prefer to have long posts collapsible, or just behind a cut but in full view?

For the above schedule, we have one main OOC plotting post, as the smaller quests we assume would be fine to reach out individually based on preferred contact listed on the taken page. Does this sound good? Would players benefit from the mod plurking a "plotting plurk" on smaller quest months for quick and easy plotting? Are players in need of additional options for plotting, such as a discord channel, or would this be uncomfortable for anyone? Keep in mind that if a discord channel is desired, we would not have time to moderate it ourselves and would appoint two moderators for managing the channel. Also please know that OOC communication will ALWAYS be placed on the ooc comms when relevant to the game, and that plurk or discord are not meant to be replacements, but just additional tools should players desire them.

CLOSING COMMENTS
Thank you all again for your patience. If you'd like to give feedback privately, the mod contact page is screened for your convenience. Otherwise, feel free to use this post for discussion, bouncing ideas off of one another, or however you'd like!

Ideally, we'd like to do a temperature check in another 6 months or so, but could do one in as soon as 3 months if it seems like things need discussion.

Lastly, thank you all for the patience in dealing with little bumps and delays! NPC threads and exploration quest results will come as soon as possible, but if you need something worked out sooner for IC reasons, please feel free to use the mod contact to speak with us about it OOCly. The mod is currently dealing with unexpected RL interruptions that will hopefully clear up over the next month, but we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused!

Comments

[baymods]

Thanks so much for the input!

I will be honest and say I would likely struggle at continuing to do personalized intros if I had to process apps more than once every two months. To be transparent about how I personalize them, I read the app, I take into account what the player mentions wanting to play with in suitability, and I also read through TDM threads to get a feel for what their character is up to in the setting! It's a very involved process relying on the timing of the TDM and I try to also balance what would be fun to work with, what creates an interesting dynamic between guild leader and character, etc...

Of course, if down the road people would prefer I drop that to focus on accepting more more quickly, I can shift! For the time being, I'm interested in trying this and seeing how it goes.

Also, to reiterate what I mentioned in the post, all communication methods outside of the OOC comms are and would be entirely optional!

[truthdecided]

Yeah, in that case, I almost wonder if having apps/tdm every other month would be better for the time being, simply just to make it easier to manage from the back end. The personalized acceptances are so charming, and it'd be a shame if it became too much to juggle with more open apps.

Another game I'm in basically does app/tdm month and plot/event month to balance the workload, which sounds somewhat similar to what you describe, at least!