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acatalepsy_ooc2019-01-17 09:08 pm
acatamods) wrote in acatalepsy_ooc2019-01-17 09:08 pm
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GAME HMD #1
 game hmd. Hi, everyone! After receiving feedback and constructive suggestions from our playerbase, we have decided to institute a regular Game HMD. This is intended to give the modteam feedback about the game. We also plan on posting a Game HMD at the end of every world jump, to gain specific feedback about the world itself. That doesn’t mean your criticism has to be focused on the world jump! If you see something about Acatalepsy that needs improvement that doesn’t necessarily have to do with our world jump, you can leave it here. Please note, this is not the space to leave private player complaints -- comments here are going to be screened temporarily and will be made public to the entirety of the game. If you have a complaint that you want to remain private with the modteam, please visit our mod contact. Those comments remain screened permanently and will remain private. Here are a few points the modteam would really love feedback on! This is not an exhaustive list, so if we don't mention it here and you want to talk to us about it, please do! (1) Game Mechanics: We know the group mechanic in the very beginning of Akvos was not a popular mechanic. Our intention was to prevent the regularity of "oh no, we arrived in a new world again!" and to encourage new CR among different people. This had the opposite effect for a lot of people, and had a jarring start to Acatalepsy with our new players.Again, this isn’t an exhaustive list! This is simply what Dai and Chelsea got together, thought about, and really wanted feedback on. If you know of anything else, please drop a line and let us know! We really want to hear from you. :) Thanks again, and here's to the next World Jump! - Acatamods. |
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For the setting of Akvos, I think the biggest thing I really just struggled with was, outside of the more standard rp prompts in the first log which I actually really enjoyed, I just felt... very confused about what my character should be doing to actually have any impact. Which I think is definitely a bummer because I know one of the promises of Acata is that your character can affect the setting!
I struggled to find a direction in what my character could be doing that would matter or have an impact, both ICly and OOCly. There definitely was a lot of thought put into the world with all the political intrigue and negotiations and it was really cool to read about. However, I never felt really sure how my character would access that information and then act on it in a nature that had the possibility of making an impact in the world. This was also true for me as a player in general; I felt as though there was an intention in the information given to me in the OOC post that I should pick up on as to how I should have my character respond. But I just could not suss out what it was supposed to be. Or maybe there wasn't at all! It just felt like "I have this information and I'm supposed to something with it but... I just have no idea how to translate this into IC action". So my character ended up doing sort of rescue/crowd control two logs in a row which FINE HE'S A WANNABE HERO but it did make it feel like there was little to actually do but that I couldn't catch it.
Another thing is that I think perhaps some of the set up and subsequent pay of acting on certain prompts in logs could be better explained. For example, I had my character go into the rift because hey dwrp loves a good memshare plot and I'm a stereotype but I don't think as a player I really understood the clear consequences of how that would play out for my character. I know it was said on the OOC plot that it had consequences but it didn't seem as though my character was ICly aware of the consequences of making that choice. And I also think its hard when one plot is clearly... more interactive and the others less so? Regardless of consequences, I feel like I'm always going to go for what makes me more CR and that gets a little troublesome when there are different consequences to that action.
Finally, with the information I did have and could act on, I wasn't sure how to take the next step and try to make it something impactful. For example, on the second Akvos log, my character was exploring and messing around the depths but then the thread hit an impasse because we didn't know what to further do with it. It seemed like it was set up but it wasn't clear how to access the pay off. I do think this could maybe be an easy fix just by having a clear place in the OOC post to do "insert character doing xyx receive mod information/intervention" and making the OOC post sort of a living document and not just information dumped at the start of an event. Which I don't think it's intended to be that way but I just felt unsure of where to reach out to the mods to ask about what is happening when my character does xyz.
Tp respond to the other questions, I think having network posts for events would be cool? It seemed like in this world there was either not available or not really anything much to discuss. But I'd love for events to kick debates/shitposting/etc on the network because I think networks can be great CR vehicles with the opportunity it has for characters to showcase their personality in unique ways and hijack conversations.
Gosh, it is late and this might be a little rambling but I hope that it was in someway helpful. I know I seem quite critical right now but I really appreciate you guys reaching out to us players and trying to improve future events because despite my confusion (and like I said I may just be totally dense) I've really had a super good time in Acata! Thank you for all your hard work and I look forward to seeing the future of the game.
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I was going to ask if there was going to be a sort of conclusion log that people could use to reorient their characters as to what happened in Akvos so they can better catch themselves up ICly as well as make up some AC if they struggled. But then I noticed that it sounds like maybe the TDM is going to essentially act in that role. So I was wondering if the mods would consider allowing current players to use the TDM as AC if the TDM is going to act as a sort of conclusion or next step? I think it would help to give people a chance to hop back in and reengage if they struggled in Akvos but would like to try and continue in Acata.
Thanks mods!
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We do have “world interaction” top levels for any and all mod questions that are intended to be for players to ask us questions about where to go, what to do, and so forth! They are open and answered throughout the entirety of the events, so don’t be afraid to go back to the post and ask a question a week or two later if you want some guidance! We are definitely here for you on that front all throughout the event.
However, that might not be totally obvious to new players, so we are working on some solutions to make the questions a bit easier to understand and more accessible. We want to link the headers in the posts themselves, so they’re easily accessible instead of working your way through a ton of comments.
We also are considering different ways of organizing information in the comments section, to broadcast player plots that may be lost in the mayhem! For example, we’ve noticed that sometimes players pursue the same ideas and could work together on something cool! We want to broadcast those plots so that way, players can connect with one another and with the modteam in a more meaningful fashion, rather than just swimming in the dark.
While we are not putting up an open log for the post-Akvos fallout, a player has done so here! That being said, we hear you about the TDM not counting for AC! The modteam is going to discuss that particular AC rule amongst ourselves and we will give you an answer about that in a timely manner.
Finally, we are going to be posting our suggested suggestions in a subheading below -- please don’t take this solution as anything finalized! If you have further ideas, please let us know.
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On the world questions post, I did notice that there were questions but I seemed to read it as mostly just world question. While in other games I have been in have had OOC threads that were specifically for "my character is investigating/doing something/messing with the world, what happens?" and the mods would give quick narrative replies to help move the threads along and help players discover information. In my head I saw that as a little different than questions, but I can definitely see the questions thread could cover that base as well!
I'd definitely love to see a different way to organize the comments. And maybe just the information to the world in general where relevant information could be bolded or called out so players know what aspects can be further explored in terms of plot and what is just nice world building window dressing.
ALSO for the TDM I was mostly suggesting it as a one time thing because I think a lot of players are still wanting to play in the game but have lost steam in Akvos and so are in a situation to take a strike or drop and I think making the TDM count could help people who want to stay be able to stay! But I don't think it's bad to discuss it as a permanent thing either!
no subject
As for the TDM, we are discussing the AC rules as a whole among the modteam, but we will definitely take these concerns into consideration. Our AC proposals will be posted in the subheading below once we compile our suggested solutions. The game will know our decision on AC before the TDM is posted on Monday.
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Honestly I'm having a lot of fun with this having been a 'bad end' world, and I'm getting excited for how it might change Hank's attitude to world-hopping going forward. I'm happy with how it went. But it's true that going into the rift was the most fun thing we had an option to have characters do, to the point where some people were considering how to get their characters inside even if their characters wouldn't choose to go in. Whereas a character shooting magic at the rift doesn't provide any opportunity to do much with any other character, and doesn't strike me as an interactive enough prompt to base a whole thread on it.
It's true that we could have said our characters were doing the 'shoot magic at the rift to close it' thing on the ooc post and then just not worried about threading it out, and in that we did shape how this world ended up. But one option having mechanics that were far more interactive and more attractive on an ooc level did influence what people were more likely to pay attention to, I think.
So, yeah. I'm pleased with how it turned out this time but I just wanted to +1 that because it feels like something worth considering in future worlds.