state of the game.

[acatamods]

I ▫ main IV ▫ premise       XI ▫ applications XIV ▫ activity II ▫ logs V ▫ rules VII ▫ bestiary   IX ▫ canon updates XII ▫ taken XV ▫ drop/hiatus III ▫ ooc VI ▫ faq VIII ▫ setting   X ▫ mods XIII ▫ reserves XVI ▫ players a mod post. Please read this post carefully, we have updates. Hi, everyone! First and foremost, thank you for being a part of our game. We created Acalalepsy to tell a fun, world-hopping D&D-like story through DWRP. Planning creative new events to throw at you guys, and then seeing how you react to them gives us a huge amount of satisfaction and we honestly love that we have the chance to do that. Our game is currently at less than half size, and the mods have been discussing what adjustments to make to accommodate that change. As a recap, over the last few months we have implemented several changes based on the player-base’s suggestions, including: ➜ Added a regular game HMD ➜ Added an intro log ➜ Restructured OOC posts to make them more user-friendly ➜ Shortened worlds to make them less busy ➜ Wrote more opportunities/hooks for players to be involved ➜ Changed to more backtag friendly AC requirements ➜ Added helper mods to ensure our game, administratively, runs much smoother These have all added to the quality and ease of play here, but we also want to brainstorm how to improve player retention and event participation. We have observed that the first event logs of a world get the most traction, but then activity peters out. We would like to address this, and are looking to implement a lot of radical changes to how Acatalepsy is run as a game, after the next world. Each of the changes below are to help make the game into something players can interact with and play with if it were their own. As of right now, these changes are going to be implemented into the next chapter of Acatalepsy. But we are always interested in your feedback, so please feel free to comment and discuss with us! We cannot promise that we will be able to address each and every comment, but we do want to know how everyone is feeling about these changes. ➜ We are shifting from the long-stretch world jump model to a shorter, event-focused and mission-focused model. Every jump will have one specific goal to fix, and will be run on a much shorter schedule with one log, instead of two. ➜ The Temple is going to become the main location of Acatalepsy. Characters will be able to choose to participate in these world-jump missions, or remain in the Temple to flesh out that world. This is to accommodate whether they don't want to participate in a world-jump, or just need a break. ➜ Because the Temple is going to be constantly accessible, we are shifting from a bi-monthly application schedule to have applications always open. All of our caps will remain in place. If we hit 100 players, applications will close until there is more room in the game. Applications will be processed on a weekly basis. ➜ We are going to shift the Game HMD to a quarterly schedule in lieu of how the game is going to work from now on. That means the Game HMD will be posted once every three months, rather than after every 6-8 weeks. ➜ All of the changes to the schedule of Acatalepsy and the new world jump mechanism will be explained with IC connections once the characters return from World # 6. Look forward to it! ➜ All game-setting pages will be updated to reflect these changes once our IC reasons are made public. These changes will be implemented after the upcoming world, World #6. World #6 is the last "long" world jump for the foreseeable future. All of the above changes will have IC connections once the Circle returns from World #6. Consider World #6 the end of Chapter One of Acatalepsy, because it's about to become very different. Again! If players have any questions, concerns, or opinions about these changes, do not hesitate to use this post to sound-off and ask us about them. This counts for prospective players, too -- we know we are heading into a new app round (and Acatalepsy's last "official" app round), and we want to make it clear to new players how the game change will affect them, too. Our goal with Acatalepsy is to deliver on an overarching plot RPG! Our hope is that these changes will mend some issues players (new and old) seem to have with the world jumps and the game structure. Stay groovy, Travelers. - Acatamods.

Comments

MOD QUESTIONS.

[acatamods]

If you have specific questions about any of the policies, feel free to consolidate them here. Otherwise, you can sound-off below in the post at your leisure.

[moneytwin]

As I mentioned on discord, thank you for keeping us in the loop. I've really appreciated that the mod team have done their best to keep a finger on the pulse, and the things outlined so far look like a really healthy change for going forwards after the next world.

I would definitely agree that people seem to lose momentum when the second half of a world visit hits; I've seen a few folks comment that they find themselves floundering in part 2 without being able to put a finger on why. I think Faerun's fourth wall and party made that one more active ones we've had recently, but I admit, I felt the same on the Horologium. However, it's hard to give feedback on that when it's a bit of a nebulous feeling and you don't have any suggestions on how to fix it -- but here you guys are, already planning ways to tackle that and more, and I for one really appreciate it!

I'm very much looking forward to seeing how World #6 leads into this new chapter.

[elegant_and_proud]

One thing I would like to suggest for player retention and improving event participation would be reduced minimum AC requirements, but also introducing bonuses for additional AC.

With regards to minimum AC, I think lowering the comment count to 10 comments would help with retention. While 20 comments doesn't seem like a large amount, the size of the game, plus the tagging availability of many people in the playerbase, all make that requirement more of a challenge. I hiatused for May largely because I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make the AC requirements. I've been contemplating dropping because of the AC even though I enjoy the game and the plot, to be honest.

Then for encouraging event participation, activity bonuses might work. I'd suggest 20 comments as the minimum activity requirement to qualify for any bonuses, and also requiring that the tags all come from event participation. You could even have bonus tiers, like 20, 30, 40, and cutting off at 50 comments.

Maybe to get the highest bonus tier, your comments must come from at least 8 different characters, to encourage tagging around to many people. Some characters get far fewer replies to their top levels and posts than others, and that's likely a factor in player retention as well. It is a bit discouraging to be in that position, after all.


Some ideas for what people could gain from AC bonuses:

-A return of canon powers for a period of time (perhaps 1 hour for the lower bonus amount, and 1 day for the highest?)
-Being resurrected from death beyond the 1st free pass without paying a price to Astoria
-Being able to bring more back from a world than what can be carried in one's arms
-A boost of one's Astoria' granted powers for a period of time (same rules as canon powers)
-The ability to understand all writing on a particular world
-Metaplot clues

[acatamods]

Lex,

Thank you so much for this super detailed suggestion! We wanted to comment and let you know that the modteam is going to have a longer discussion about this and address our higher-comment AC policy, so you weren't left hanging for a few days.

As always, we very much appreciate both your dedication to Acatalepsy and your valuable input. And if other players feel similarly to you, they can feel free to sound off on this comment and give us a better idea on how players feel regarding the 20 comment limit.

[moneytwin]

I really like this suggestion, particularly with the smaller player base rn! However, I do still like the idea of splitting between at least 2 people, to ensure that people are still getting that sweet sweet RP cr from multiple sources.

The amount AC can always be raised for discussion (for increasing) again at a later date, I feel. I also especially like the bonuses for threads hitting certain lengths OR a consolidation of multiple threads to show activity.

Some expanded thoughts/suggestions to build on that:
• During Faerun, people had to comment to say they did threads for XYZ tasks with people. There could be an option to do that again for new worlds, with a requirement to link threads of a minimum length to gain a bonus metaplot clue, location or useful(?) item.
• Temporary bonus powers that may be active for the next world visit only - for example, Vex's main Astoria power is her bargaining gift to always have enough money. After submitting proof of at least 20 comments for her month's AC, she gets a bonus ability to Always Tell if someone is being a liar or truthful - and the strength/extent of that bonus gift's abilities might be increased with more comments, per Mod decree. (Whether mods would be open to players suggesting the power or would prefer to provide their own is at their discretion, and as it would only last for 1 world, the choice to "use it or lose it" is always handy to encourage use.)
• Option to request a Mystery Gift - this can be a boon OR a curse, at the Mods' discretion.

[glitzandglamour]

Re: the 20 comment requirement. In my first two months here at Acata this wasn't difficult to achieve. May was a bit different: I got the amount with some ease, but I had to refer to more than 2-3 threads. Granted, I had a bit of a slow month last month due to work, but I also don't mind the thought of reduced AC across at least 2 threads/2 characters.

Re: bonus AC. As someone who likes to keep tabs on my monthly tags, I enjoy bonus AC opportunities whenever they're implemented. I had a lot of fun doing bonus AC in the past where bonus AC incentives included the items Lex mentioned: an item of varying size from their home world, the ability to gain new powers, and my favorite: metaplot clues or involvement. Since it's an optional thing, it shouldn't be anything hugely game changing for an individual character, but I've always liked opting in for plot stuff.

[valuedstrength]

I would support lowering AC. As the playerbase gets smaller, it's been increasingly hard to get those twenty comments. It's adding on a pressure to rush threads or feel like you're the reason someone dropped because you weren't tagging them fast enough. I'm still good with ac being split between two threads those since it does encourage people to branch out.

I also love the idea of AC bonuses! The metaplot clues I feel would be really motivating along with items from home.

[spaceforged]

I also support lowering ac and potential bonuses. I like Farli's suggestions as well. Don't have anything else to add at present, but if I do I'll add it in a separate comment.

[elegant_and_proud]

And now for my comments on the proposed changes, because I wanted to keep my suggestions for retention and participation separate from my feedback on other things...

All of these proposed changes sound fantastic. I particularly like the option to explore the Temple, because it's effectively characters' home base. It gives characters a chance to get a little more settled in, get to know each other better (because they don't need to focus on saving a world), and the option of becoming more familiar with their surroundings and thus be better equipped to explain things to new arrivals.