Rift Saga: Feedback, Questions, Complaints

[+ZincAboutIt]

Making this a public forum discussion makes me feel awkward, especially since I was specifically pinged as someone who had some less-than-great opinions of the last plot thread. The poll was also public in that everyone could see how everyone else voted. I guess this is how things are done but it’s pretty uncomfortable imo. 

[Grey Knight]

2 hours ago, Ax's Boyfriend said:

Also, I don't appreciate that you changed them without asking. You could have come to me about it, instead of changing them.

Dude, he's a mod. He doesn't have to ask your permission 

[little wheel]

19 hours ago, Silva said:

Especially as, as was previously stated, non-OP characters have real problems in a world like that. 

I agree with this wholeheartedly. Even though you were given the 'right' to create OP characters, Ark/All Bureau Members, doesn't mean that everyone can keep up with them. You got those characters so that you could make a better plot, but so far, all they've done has caused an absolutely dead plot with a severe lack of anything enjoyable. I got an OP character for my character as a person. He is there solely for story purposes, while the Bureau characters all seem to exist just to make this plot unnecessarily hard and no longer the fun Alleyverse that many people (especially me) joined for. I remember back when we had Lopen around here, with his insane love for waffles and being not serious. Now, we have: AAAHH DEATH AND DARKNESS WE ARE BORING AND LACKING IN CREATIVE EXECUTION.

Edited June 14, 2019 by bees?

[Grey Knight]

17 minutes ago, bees? said:

I remember back when we had Lopen around here, with his insane love for waffles and being not serious. Now, we have: AAAHH DEATH AND DARKNESS WE ARE BORING AND LACKING CREATIVITY.

To be fair, not everyone liked Lopen's level of silliness. It got in the way of telling the story sometimes. And I distinctly remember one person leaving the RP because of it.

[little wheel]

Well, you do have a point. 

[Clyde Froggins]

I think we need to find a balance between the weird silly stuff and the serious plot stuff, that's actually why I recommended the bird headed people with frying pans to Ark, a weird creature that could still harm you if you got careless.

[kenod]

So, my opinions on this.

Re: OP characters

I personally don't mind OP characters, but only if they are rped responsibly. With this I mean either of the following:

1. The person using them realizes the impact the character has and makes sure that they don't directly affect the plot, unless the other participants agree, and in this case only uses the minimum amount of power necessary to resolve it. I'd say Voidus is good example of this. Under this I'd also classify characters that were allowed by the mods but have the potential to become OP because of how their powers and skills work.
2. The character is meant for a specific plot, and is deliberately OP to give a challenge to the other players. This is the place most BoV characters fall in. I'd say the biggest thing here is that the character's level of OPness is properly balanced to make sure that they provide challenge but not steamroll everyone. This also includes giving them weaknesses that can be abused to defeat them that the other players are aware of, or at least able to logically deduce.

As for my own feedback for how everything's currently going:
I personally feel like the plot is being railroaded too much. While a bit of railroading can be good to make sure the plot stays focused it's currently too much. Right now it feels as if we can't really do anything in the plot. We don't have the knowledge to advance it ourselves and the advancement that does happen only goes in small steps. I've noticed this is being worked on though, so that is good.
Another issue with this however is that it currently feels as if nothing we do has any actual impact on what's happening. Most of what we're doing seems to be interacting with other people to kill time until the BoV decides to do something. At the same time I haven't seen a single time where our actions have actually caused anything to shape the plot. The biggest thing interaction I can think of is Mike's and Bellatrix interaction, and even that hasn't created any larger consequences for the plot in general. Currently it feels as if we can do whatever we want, because it doesn't mean anything for the plot, which is kind of disheartening and boring.

Keep in mind that these are my own observations, it's possible that the others have different opinions or observations on this.

[xinoehp512]

Just now, kenod said:

So, my opinions on this.

Re: OP characters

I personally don't mind OP characters, but only if they are rped responsibly. With this I mean either of the following:

1. The person using them realizes the impact the character has and makes sure that they don't directly affect the plot, unless the other participants agree, and in this case only uses the minimum amount of power necessary to resolve it. I'd say Voidus is good example of this. Under this I'd also classify characters that were allowed by the mods but have the potential to become OP because of how their powers and skills work.
2. The character is meant for a specific plot, and is deliberately OP to give a challenge to the other players. This is the place most BoV characters fall in. I'd say the biggest thing here is that the character's level of OPness is properly balanced to make sure that they provide challenge but not steamroll everyone. This also includes giving them weaknesses that can be abused to defeat them that the other players are aware of, or at least able to logically deduce.

As for my own feedback for how everything's currently going:
I personally feel like the plot is being railroaded too much. While a bit of railroading can be good to make sure the plot stays focused it's currently too much. Right now it feels as if we can't really do anything in the plot. We don't have the knowledge to advance it ourselves and the advancement that does happen only goes in small steps. I've noticed this is being worked on though, so that is good.
Another issue with this however is that it currently feels as if nothing we do has any actual impact on what's happening. Most of what we're doing seems to be interacting with other people to kill time until the BoV decides to do something. At the same time I haven't seen a single time where our actions have actually caused anything to shape the plot. The biggest thing interaction I can think of is Mike's and Bellatrix interaction, and even that hasn't created any larger consequences for the plot in general. Currently it feels as if we can do whatever we want, because it doesn't mean anything for the plot, which is kind of disheartening and boring.

Keep in mind that these are my own observations, it's possible that the others have different opinions or observations on this.

You said it better than I could.

[Voidus]

On 6/15/2019 at 1:14 AM, Ax's Boyfriend said:

I apologize that they were taken that way. They were in jest.

Also, I don't appreciate that you changed them without asking. You could have come to me about it, instead of changing them.

I assumed so, but at the same time perception is important. It's something of a staple in most customer service business' that you never attempt to discredit or shame someone for providing negative feedback, even as a joke. It just creates an even worse experience and makes it less likely that people will even bother providing feedback next time.

As mentioned that's not how moderation works. When something gets reported we deal with it, we don't message people to change it themselves unless it's a behavioural thing which I seriously hope this is not.

[+Ark1002]

On 6/14/2019 at 3:07 PM, kenod said:

As for my own feedback for how everything's currently going:
I personally feel like the plot is being railroaded too much. While a bit of railroading can be good to make sure the plot stays focused it's currently too much. Right now it feels as if we can't really do anything in the plot. We don't have the knowledge to advance it ourselves and the advancement that does happen only goes in small steps. I've noticed this is being worked on though, so that is good.
Another issue with this however is that it currently feels as if nothing we do has any actual impact on what's happening. Most of what we're doing seems to be interacting with other people to kill time until the BoV decides to do something. At the same time I haven't seen a single time where our actions have actually caused anything to shape the plot. The biggest thing interaction I can think of is Mike's and Bellatrix interaction, and even that hasn't created any larger consequences for the plot in general. Currently it feels as if we can do whatever we want, because it doesn't mean anything for the plot, which is kind of disheartening and boring.

Keep in mind that these are my own observations, it's possible that the others have different opinions or observations on this.

Both of these things are the main problems we hope to deal with this phase.