Mod Announcement #1

[spoofer]

Mod Announcement #1

Posted June 23, 2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Calendar and Applications
2. Public Opening
   • Seeking Player Feedback
3. Second Wave Miniplot: Will O'Wisp Migration
4. Introducing Icebreakers
5. Instagram
6. Reminders

Calendar and Applications

Although a lot of things about this musebox are fairly DWRP standard, we are trying a number of different strategies that we may or may not keep and we're interested to know what you think is working. Please give us feedback, by PP (xistentia), PM or here in the comments!

As of the date of posting, our current 'model' involves:

1. Test Drive Meme 1x/month. Additionally, we're open to feedback about what TDM type works best. At this point, we have tried two different options:
   • First, the crash log (or initial arrival) of characters as the Test Drive, with gameplay starting as they settle in;
   • Second, we had a settled in Test Drive scenarios, after the characters have been in-world for days or longer. A retrospective crash log then starts in game.
   • We can see the pros and cons to each option. If you have a preference for either, please comment below or contact us by PM.
2. Applications 1x/month, with groups of characters arriving together at the same time
   
   
3. Low-key mini-events approximately once monthly, some of these being permeating environmental effects
   
   
4. Large events/missions every 2-3 months; the first has not yet run. These will still be opt-out.
   
   
5. CR Meme every 2-3 months, TBD; at the current time, due to the small size of the box, this has not seemed important.

We're open to feedback on any of these points, as well as the fact...

Public Opening

We are currently considering opening the musebox for public applications in July 2017 (the TDM on 7/22, application and event starting 7/29), at which point invitations will no longer be required. Again please contact us with any questions, concerns, or suggestions.

Here's a handy-dandy form you can use to provide feedback on these issues:

Feedback Template
<b>Player Name:</b> <b>Characters Played:</b> <b>Preferred TDM:</b> Crash Log/Settled In <b>Event/OOC Meme Scheduling:</b> Good/I prefer[...] <b>Going Public 7/2017:</b> Yes/Wait/No <b>Other Feedback:</b>

Second Wave Miniplot: Will O'Wisp Migration

The second wave of arrivals will be introduced with their own mini-event. Enjoy this sneak preview below:

F.A.T.E.S. WARNING SYSTEM
Threat Assessment: Mild
Phenomenon Type: Native Creature Behavior
Predicted Duration: 24 hours

Due to the cosmic energy disruptions by D.E.S.T.I.N.Y., will-o'-wisps are engaging in unusual migratory activity. Residents are advised to remain in the city, or be on-guard against a low level of psychic influence. Wisps feed by creating visual, auditory, and olfactory illusions based on the viewer's needs and temptation. Individuals in compromised emotional states are more susceptible.

The migration will be complete in 24 hours.

Introducing Icebreakers

Thanks to suggestions from Mir and April, we're introducing "Icebreakers" to encourage network activity on the xistentia community. Icebreakers are similar to the quizzes and such that we players do on Plurk and other social media platforms. There are two types:

1. glitches (involuntary for the character, "software reality" errors similar to the latest TDM) and
2. memes (fully voluntary by the character ICly).

Note, both are OOCly optional.

Our first icebreaker will be the following meme:

EMPLOYMENT AMA
Preferred Alias: F.A.T.E.Y. F.A.T.E.S.

Worst Job(s) Held: Defender against the Apocalypse
Best Job(s) Held: Operating system and nurturer of the Multiverse worlds
Fantasy Job(s): Knitting instructor, chef, action-adventure video game with malleable protagonist

Current Job(s): Defender against the Apocalypse :( and Best DJ Ever

Ask Me Anything!

Want to try it? Paste this template into your entry—
Template
<raw-code><br /><div style="background: #b7d1ae; width: 90%; padding: 1px; margin: auto"> <div style="background: url('http://i.imgur.com/m5GzmXX.png'); width: 80%; padding: 15px 15px 15px 15px; margin: 20px auto; border: 1px dotted #d10045; font-size: 11px; text-align: left"><span style="font-family: Courier New, monospace; vertical-align: middle"><center><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: 3px; font-weight: normal; text-transform: uppercase; color: #D10045"><b>EMPLOYMENT AMA</b></span></center> <br /><b>Preferred Alias</b>: <br /><br /><b>Worst Job(s) Held</b>: <br /><b>Best Job(s) Held</b>: <br /><b>Fantasy Job(s)</b>: <br /><br /><b>Current Job(s)</b>: <br /><br /><center><b>Ask Me Anything!</b></center></span></div></div><br /></raw-code></center>

Instagram

Is now available for your social media needs, thanks to the request submitted to F.A.T.E.S. ICly by John Murphy (rekt). If you don't know what Instagram is, you can read about it here. Note that for our purposes, daemons can be used to take pictures and create posts, as well as access the site in general. Generally, they accomplish this with a holographic popup, unless the daemon happens to appear as a standard touchscreen device.

Feel free to utilize this template or whatever you prefer! Please post the Instagram to your own journal. We will include an Instagram field in the CR Meme.

Reminders

1. Applications open tomorrow, 6/24/17 @ 4:00PM PST, 7:00PM EST, or 11:00PM GMT. This will be our second wave. Again, sorry for the postponement!
   
   
2. The Will-o'-Wisp event featured above goes up once the first acceptances are processed.
   
   
3. The Amenities Request deadline has been suspended for the First Wave! Check it out. Feel free to participate if you tagged into the mingle log. This remains optional, however.
   
   
4. Updates were made to several information files, including Setting/Introduction and Mod Contact, crediting some behind-the-scenes helpers. The Business Directory also went live recently. Permanent entries for game locations will be going up shortly. Thanks!

Comments

[thehunger]

Player Name: Chris
Characters Played: John/The Hunger
Preferred TDM: options for both arriving and being settled!
Event/OOC Meme Scheduling: Good
Going Public 7/2017: Yes

Other Feedback:
your coding for these posts, while pretty, can be hard to read/manipulate on smaller screens. maybe provide a code-light option?

[spoofer]

Can you elaborate on what types of posts could use a code-lite option? Would potentially a bigger font be helpful? Thanks!

[thehunger]

on this post, the content box is wider than the background, and I have to scroll horizontally to read it bc it's fixed width (I think)

on the meme network posts the fiddly background is pretty but something that would be less code and more content I feel like would be more accessible

[spoofer]

That's awesome feedback XRIS thank you. I think I tweaked both those things just now, can you have a look and let me know what you think? If you prefer we can also talk about it on PP (amaebi).

[thehunger]

o7 looks much better!

[vexy]

Player Name: April
Characters Played: Vex
Preferred TDM: whatev! I doubt I'll be TDMing much in the future since I'm trying to keep my roster small so I don't really have strong feelings about this.
Event/OOC Meme Scheduling: Good on every-other-month CR memes, 3 months seems too long? Big events once every 3 months is fine by me, mini-events once a month is cool too.
Going Public 7/2017: Yes!

Other Feedback: uh lbr i slam you with feedback on the regular, you'll certainly hear from me if i can think of more

[hangingtree]

Player Name: Jenny
Characters Played: Katniss Everdeen
Preferred TDM: I think alternating would be a good idea! I know a lot of people like having the arrival-style TDM prompt, especially if there's the possibility of keeping TDM threads as game canon, that way they don't have to play out the arrival of their character twice. Also as the game goes on and we have more events, I like the idea of using old events that have happened in game as a TDM prompt.
Event/OOC Meme Scheduling: I think the current schedule is good. I do have a question re: apps, though. On the app page it says that you place a reserve and have up to seven days after posting that reserve to get your app in. Do those seven days extend past when apps close?

So, for example, someone places a reserve two days before reserves/apps close; do they have another five days after reserves/apps close to still post their application? If not, I'd maybe suggest breaking up reserves and apps rather than having them happen in the same week.
Going Public 7/2017: I'm fine with going public whenever; ultimately it's up to when you guys as mods feel comfy!

Other Feedback: Thanks for all your hard work. <3

[helical]

Player Name: charlie
Characters Played: alec
Preferred TDM: i think settled in options give more room for players to really try out the setting itself and have fun with it and seeing if they find their character to be a fit/like the atmosphere. if there's going to be a crash log for every new wave of new characters on top of the tdm it might get repetitive but i think giving players options is always the better choice, so doing a mixture of both would be ideal.
Event/OOC Meme Scheduling: that scheduling sounds perfect to me!
Going Public 7/2017: Yes

Other Feedback: i am happy to be here and feel we are in good hands with this mod team!!!!

[tangleofgarlands]

Player Name: Ember
Characters Played: Arthur Stuart
Preferred TDM: Both seems like a good option, but if that's hard to swing I guess my answer would be 'no preference'.
Event/OOC Meme Scheduling: I like the idea of mini-events between big ones, but I agree with some others that every three months is a bit of a stretch--I'd find it hard to keep up motivation. That said, mini-events in the two months between big ones seems like a good compromise!
Going Public 7/2017: Yes! Fresh blood is always good. :D

Other Feedback: None at the moment.

[drehnifusbahi]

Player Name: Moony
Characters Played: Vanyel/Dragonborn
Preferred TDM: I'm kind of in the same boat as April (don't have plans to app in anyone else at the moment), but maybe alternating/both? Settled in does give people more room to see how their characters will work in the setting, but I can see benefits to being able to carry over 'arrival' prompt threads too...
Event/OOC Meme Scheduling: Echoing what everyone else has said - 2-3 months for big events with smaller ones monthly sounds good to me, but maybe slightly more often for cr memes and the like?
Going Public 7/2017: Yes
Other Feedback: