Discussion Post Summary and Followup

[devotedtothecore]

So here's a rough summary of the things that were brought up in the discussion post! I think I nabbed everything that was key, lemme know if I missed anything.

Things That Got You Interested

- events that drag a whole bunch of people together who don't necessarily have existing CR, to work towards a common goal - some large group, plotty, exploring posts
- events that have strong openers to creating new CR
- dynamic priesting/priesting that gives opportunities for developing characters or stimulating them
- both mod-run plots (like flood) and player-run plots (like Yukari/S'vx shenanigans)
- events with longer-lasting impact that give some traction to the game and to characters living in the gameworld
- characters making mistakes and bad choices and being Characters really hard, and affecting the backdrop as well as other characters as a consequence
- things besides FIGHTIN' to be able to do in plots/events

Things You Would Like To See

A) GOD THINGS

- GOD APPS
- more active gods: gods being present more, god "sponsorship", gods taking interest in individuals that ping them, also possibly bringing those together as a result for potential CR
- more dynamic priesthoods: beyond "behave this way get this power" - priesthoods which offer character arcs, or places on groups with fellow priests, or appeal to certain characters but give them something to struggle with.

B) NEW CR THINGS

- events putting people together that force them to look at things/themselves from different angles, move characters out of comfort zones, that really force player vs. player interactions (not necessarily literal conflict/competition), rather than player vs. world all the time
- MORE ACTIVE OOC ENCOURAGEMENT OF JUMPING STRANGERS
- posts that encourage/force mixup/intermingle across CR bubbles. Events that group cross-canon/CR together to go for a common goal, whether person or setting-oriented
- posts with "event runner + attendees" activity rather than the current pattern of "single comments to mingles + explores"
- more use of environmental prompts by players to create banding together situations
- using [OPEN LOCATION] comment titles to highlight OOCly that yes it is okay to jump this thread please do '^' and fostering an environment where everyone feels it's ok to dive into a thing. Moving on from impressions that posts are made for people to play with just existing CR. MOVING ON FROM BEING RIDICULOUS AND ONWARD TO ROLLING ON EACH OTHER FOREVER

C) EVENTS EVENTHING:

- more player plots: characters charactering hard and creating conflicts/subsequent chain reaction events as a result. Events driven by character desires/interests.
- overarching villain plots!!!
- IC conspiracy talk, discussion, theorizing, huddling, problemsolving
- mod plots (or Runner plots) which facilitate/make a good backdrop for the above three things
- project posts: projects which could generate hilarity either from the process of building itself or the outcomes (like giant catapults)
- POTENTIAL TIMESKIP IN THE VERY DISTANT FUTURE, possibly after the resolution of some final large event, but not without polling community long before in advance and working out coordination and comfortzones so people still have time to develop and play out what they want to play without offscreening a million otherwise fun things
- updated premise and worldinfo for possible future appers, getting new apps/players into the game

Things That Could Be Done Better

- Gods played more actively as characters and forces of nature, rather than tools for trade - conversations with gods themselves becoming Events with risks, benefits, consequences, possibilities etc. Potential for unpredictable things happening, things taking a left turn, etc. (EXAMPLE: God influences in their very presence/interaction with characters, esp. as they become stronger with IC time, to the point of their domains subtly influencing those who spend any prolonged time with them.)
- More things for non-American timezone people to play with

SO WHAT NOW, THUSIA. WHAT SHALL WE DO FROM HERE

and by that I mean does anyone have further thoughts or comments or points to add or etc

Comments

[devotedtothecore]

Also I realize I didn't actually add my own two cents into all this, though most of what I wanted to say was already said in way more articulate terms by everyone else and I love you guys '^'

MY FEELINGS ON WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE MORE IN THIS GAME ARE-- people playing. People being active in the game in general. I think much of what was brought up and talked about really boils down to "more participation", whether as a character or a mover of events or an NPC or a god or a mod or some combination of all of them. I realize Thusia's meant to be a laid-back game and a backburner game for many players, and it isn't meant to be another Aather or a new Sabra, but there's a lot that can only really be made to happen, in terms of shaping the game and invigorating it enough to be an interesting/fun game to be part of, by people playing in it and taking an interest in it to some level. It was pretty personally morale-raising for me to see the feedback that was coming in from so many people in that post, because lately I've been feeling like interest is waning, with activity slowing-- and I know a good part of that is actually in fact that September and RL has been punching a lot of players in the gut, and nothing to do with their actual interest in the game--- but still RIDICULOUS FEELINGS ARE RIDICULOUS AND EXIST, AND FOR THEM I APOLOGIZE anyway I digress. More participation, more play, and I know it's sort of a snake-eating-its-tail thing in that play needs things to play with, but things to play with need play to make them lively-- but that ouroboros needs to be kickstarted from some point, either way.

ANYWAY THESE ARE MY THOUGHTS ON THIS GAME THAT I HAVE BEEN ENJOYING and I want to play more in and with all of you '^'!! and have fun together

[foil]

*pats*~

ADDENDUM: on worldthings and player initative

[devotedtothecore]

OKAY ANOTHER POINT THAT ACTUALLY WASN'T RAISED THAT I FORGOT I WANTED TO TALK ABOUT

I realize that player initiative is super encouraged in this game when it comes to things to play with, but in terms of worldbuilding and messing with the world, I feel like the... the degree of freedom with which players are allowed to make up stuff about the world, or wing things? Has often been hard to gauge. It's difficult to do things on one's own even when there is initiative, if we have to constantly PM a mod to doublecheck to know what we're dealing with in terms of investigating an object, or messing around with a computer.

Like I have an ongoing thread right now with Chrys and the solar panels on the roof, so I had to ask for some details about the thing that turned out hadn't been fully fleshed out yet at the time. But I would've been just as happy to come up with some of my own ideas on how the thing worked/looked/operated as I would've been to hear it from word of mod, but I wasn't sure that was okay to do necessarily? Would it step on some other bit of relevant world info that the mods had already planned in advance? And that kind of slows things down sometimes in terms of play momentum, because the mods are also pretty busy, again understandably.

Not only that, but a lot of interesting things that could be fun for a person to play with, the minor details about the world-- let's take the computers, for example-- I think there are those who would love to play with them as a world device, but feel that they can't without someone to doublecheck with about the details, because those details might've already been written. And they can't just handwave that they examined the computers without checking in with mods, because what if something about the computers' technology was really bizarre or of interest to them as a character, or a pertinent clue about the world?

There's really less of an implication that players should take the initiative to build things and more like... they are to play within the bounds of a set environment, and the details of that hasn't yet been fully revealed, and need to be asked for and waited on, if that makes sense.

Also I would really like to see more... mm, info on the basic details of the immediate environment. We have a lot of really detailed stuff on species, but as to non-nature stuff-- the lights, the walls, the interior of HQ, the feel and texture and appearance of things-- those don't feel as deeply presented, in a sense? The info that it's a generally "steampunkish" sort of building atmosphere is there, but it's less interesting for a character to notice and interact with a "steampunkish" aspect than "all those heavily-rusted pipes on the walls with broken gauges here and there" (to make up an example, not to say it's an actual Thusia thing). The presentation of that info also makes a difference in terms of engage-ability, I think--- bite-sized bits of flavour text that give more of a picture, and are introduced IC, are more intuitive to play with (like the flood came with some of that, and that was great).

Basically, in a game that revolves heavily around the world being a thing to interact with, more in the way of consistent flavor that is flavorsome could go a long way. And clearer ideas on whether that flavor can be generated, and to what extent, by players would be awesome '^' BECAUSE HONESTLY I AM STILL NERVOUS ABOUT WINGING THINGS EVEN WHEN TOLD TO FOR INSTANCES, WHAT IF I CONTRADICT A THING. etc.

Re: ADDENDUM: on worldthings and player initative

[devotedtothecore]

god yes good job claude way to tl;dr

Re: ADDENDUM: on worldthings and player initative

[fill_the_blanks]

WELL we did talk about getting an HQ FAQ up specifically for these sorts of questions like HOW DOES PLUMBING WORK but obviously life-punching and like... list of other pressing matters have cropped up so that hasn't happened yet.

BUT GENERALLY we encourage players to take something they see either in the mingles or the info pages and bring it into play. You are always allowed to expand on what's there and wing the details! You are also always allowed to ping at least Aviy or me on these subjects and we can get back to you pretty quickly if you want to double check what something does. I'll admit on stuff like the solar panels and the computers we do have some specific plans for them and how each affects the HQ, even though they're locked down right now so like... I REALIZE IT PROBABLY DOESN'T HELP WITH THE WINGING THINGS but I guess that's the line for the time being until more is revealed? EXPANDING ON WHAT HAS BEEN SEEN OR MENTIONED IS ABSOLUTELY OK, we also do try to build flavor stuff into various mingles when we can. Like, does anyone remember there seem to be balconies outside the 4th level apartments, even though the walls are sealed off? The more people see these and run with them, the more the environment becomes fleshed out to everyone in the sort of collective idea of the world.

AN HQ FAQ WOULD BE FANTASTIC AND IT IS STILL ON THE LIST but in the meantime hrm... :|a would making a specific tag for "WORLD FLAVOR CAN BE FOUND HERE" posts be helpful?

Re: ADDENDUM: on worldthings and player initative

[ticking]

Hmmm =|aaa

This is honestly a problem I am aware we run into consistently. It is about equal parts 'the reason you need to ask is because we do have specific stuff you will discover if you ask, so we want you to ask!' and 'we really are totally fine with you winging it, but if you ask for a specific answer instead of "can I make shit up?" we will give you one'.

In the case of the former, technology and stuff is a 'reveal'! So it's not that a techsavvy person couldn't learn a bunch if they were so inclined? It's just that the info isn't all right there I guess because we do need someone to go look for it. But if anyone is every like 'Hey aviy what will my character learn if he haxors the computers' I would be happy to drop a block of info on you =|a

And I am not AT ALL against making that information more accessible, I suppose I'm just not sure how else to reveal it? Because in my experience paragraphs and paragraphs of info on what you MIGHT learn if you do THIS OR THAT will not go over well with the fact that most people are not inclined to do those things. So then the computer reveal post just turns into an Aviy essay and I don't think anyone wants that '-';

But if you have ideas on how to better facilitate exploration of important, plot relevant stuff that DOES need to be investigated to be learned from, I am all up for that.

OTHER STUFF: I really don't care, honestly \=D/ Animals, HQ design, stuff not directly related to Reveal Stuff (which right now I think is really JUST the old technology), I honestly don't mind if you make shit up. HOWEVER, if people come and ask me stuff like 'How big is X' or 'What is Y like' I am inclined to give them a specific answer? Because saying 'it doesn't matter, make it up!' sounds kind of... flippant '-'; I CAN GIVE GOOD ANSWERS I CAN!!! Also because maybe the person asking WANTS a specific answer, not to be told to run with whatever sounds right to them. Maybe for them that is just kind of confusing? So if you what you really want to know is 'Hey can i just make shit up regarding X' I would ask that =|a and honestly in most matters the answer will be yes.

And in most cases i really don't think you need to ask. AGAIN I think tech related stuff is the only things we specifically have shit for you to uncover so contradicting would be kind of awk. I am supre not going to get on your case if you accidentally 'change' the width of a room or the color of stone or the behavior of an animal.

And a lot of times people do just make shit up! And a lot of times what they make up contradicts what I envisioned. And then I just shrug and go cool because whatever I don't care, I am happy they are having fun, and it is almost never even remotely resembling a big deal.

THAT SAID. Yes a HQ faq that will have a lot of detailed answers is pending, it just got. back burnered badly by other stuff, one of those things was me failing at life but lol.

If you don't mind the FAQ starting out EMPTY I could get it up as early as this week and people could just start throwing questions there? I was planning to put it up with some default answers to stuff I know there are questions on (like lighting, plumbing, etc). but if you don't mind it starting out with just ASK HQ AND WORLD DETAILS HERE that could go up in no time.

[ticking]

claude u r biutipul

[devotedtothecore]

please don't make comments like that with tease icons it is like

unsafe feelings

[ticking]

ALSO ON A MOD NOTE:

I didn't contribute to the discussion in part because that is always kind of weird when you're a mod and also just because I really like seeing where players go! But I either read or will be reading everything, and it will all be SINCERELY CONSIDERED and I mean that legitimately I absolutely adore input, it is incredibly helpful.

That said the focus on player movement was also really heartening for me because player initiative is my number one favorite thing. MOST FAVORITE!!! And I've said this before but I will say it again, Thusia is here for you to have fun with so if there is a fun thing you want to do, don't worry about not being a mod or a god player or w/e, just go for it. (This is the perfect example actually, I had no heads up to any of this Claude just saw something she wanted to do and went for it and she gets FIVE GOLD STARS!!!)

I can say right now mods are focusing mainly on everything in category A + a few others, a lot of which will extend into hopefully addressing stuff in the other sections. My hope is that by pumping up god agency and brainstorming and various other stuff that will branch out into gods facilitating more player stuff! Hopefully, it will be a long term solution so that we stop having these giant lulls whenever the mods get caught up in life.

MORE ON THIS ONCE I AM DONE WITH ANNOUNCEMENTS. later. tonight.