The Chat Thread

[Fatebreaker he/him]

3 minutes ago, Sorana said:

What changes are possible? I'm a bit at a loss. Do you mean investiture or cd?

Almost anything is possible. Characters could remain mostly unchanged, or they could have completely new lives. I’d say to keep the changes focused mostly on CD, as everyone trying to get new characters approved would be exhausting for the Mods, so maybe don’t add powers or abilities, but rather swap them with powers of the same level or remove powers. The idea for this arc is that most of the character changes would be up to the individual rather than plot requirements. 

Just now, kenod said:

It might also be good for the Guild leaders (and members) to start brainstorming on the effects on their guild.

Indeed. The idea is that the guilds would have their power greatly reduced in terms of resources and manpower. They might still have some muscle, but no one is gonna have an army. 

[+Sorana she/her]

1 hour ago, Fatebreaker said:

Almost anything is possible. Characters could remain mostly unchanged, or they could have completely new lives. I’d say to keep the changes focused mostly on CD, as everyone trying to get new characters approved would be exhausting for the Mods, so maybe don’t add powers or abilities, but rather swap them with powers of the same level or remove powers. The idea for this arc is that most of the character changes would be up to the individual rather than plot requirements. 

Would it theoretically be possible to introduce a new character that hadn't existed before, and maybe keep that character afterwards? In that case it would be an easy way to introduce children without the need of a 20 year timeskip.

[Voidus]

12 minutes ago, Sorana said:

Would it theoretically be possible to introduce a new character that hadn't existed before, and maybe keep that character afterwards? In that case it would be an easy way to introduce children without the need of a 20 year timeskip.

Yeah that was one of the thoughts we'd had, easy way to ensure that everyone would be able to play the characters that they wanted.

[+Sorana she/her]

On 17.7.2019 at 2:24 PM, Voidus said:

The 'only a few' is mostly just an expectation that most players will want to be involved in the main thread and that this is probably going to be very light in action and combat and so it may not appeal to many people to participate in directly, not an attempt to try to create an exclusive group or anything.
As for the difficulties on spying on the DA, that's actually one of the parts I'm kind of interested in exploring. Infiltrating into the Alleys and eavesdropping on a planning session between the Department heads would probably be impossible, but tailing a Denizen who's heading out from the Alleys to collect information or materials wouldn't be. And the DA would also probably try to keep an eye on the other guilds to make sure they didn't learn anything so there could be a 'spying on the spies' type of thing going on, not sure how it'll pan out, but I think if we start RPing it we can see where it goes.

Sorry for my late reply to that, I had to think about it for a while.

I agree that we'll have to wait and see how it works out. I have to admit, that to me it sounds like it will end with following a whole thread without a possibility to act for a weeks, until someone leaves an alley, but in the end that's something that could be steered easily.

I'm not sure if it will work, but in the end I personally would like to interact more with most DA players, but atm that's more or less impossible, so maybe there will be a good opportunity for that.

[Fatebreaker he/him]

It will take definite effort on the part of the players with DA characters to make sure there is an engageable level of interactivity outside of the Alleys.

Edited July 19, 2019 by Fatebreaker

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

@Sorana I know that I'm 100% on board to put in the effort needed to make this work with my DA character and have it be fun for others. Interactivity is fun and I'd love to rp more of that!

[+Sorana she/her]

7 minutes ago, ZincAboutIt said:

@Sorana I know that I'm 100% on board to put in the effort needed to make this work with my DA character and have it be fun for others. Interactivity is fun and I'd love to rp more of that!

Well given that we've got a plan for two of our characters, I already know that

Still, thank you. I'm simply worried, that's everything. I'd like to have an rp, where we can all interact, if we want to (and if it fits the characters), although I know that the guild affiliations often make that difficult.

[Fatebreaker he/him]

2 hours ago, Sorana said:

Still, thank you. I'm simply worried, that's everything. I'd like to have an rp, where we can all interact, if we want to (and if it fits the characters), although I know that the guild affiliations often make that difficult.

That’s a large motivation for the upcoming arc and the scaling back of the guilds, to allow greater interaction between individuals of different guilds. 

[AonEne he/him]

I would like to start a petition that we stop locking threads, even when they end. This is for a couple simple reasons: 

• You can’t quote or edit locked stuff, and I don’t know if that annoys anyone else, but it’s caused me a great amount of annoyance. 
• People may want to finish an interaction they had going in that thread, and even if it’s a main plot thread and they can return to their interaction in the next thread, it could be confusing to newer members, outside observers, or those who read it after it ends. 

Also...is there any reason to be locking them in the first place? I think it’s allegedly for organization, so we can all move on to the next thread instead of having people post on an abandoned thread, but I don’t think that’s an issue we really need to worry about. So long as everyone knows we’re moving threads, they can wrap up what they’re doing and switch to the new thread. 

I can hear the question “What about new people coming in after the fact?” already, but again, I don’t think that’ll be a problem. Most people would recognize that the thread hadn’t been posted in for a while or see the notice/talk about a new thread before they posted, and if anyone ignored that stuff and posted regardless, we could easily inform them of their mistake and direct them to the correct topic. I don’t think too many people would go digging in pages other than the first or perhaps second anyway while looking for somewhere to RP, because it’s just logical to bring in your character in a place where they can interact with other characters. 

Just an idea, but one I hope could be implemented. 

Edited August 4, 2019 by AonEne
Used repetitive language and we can’t have that

[Voidus]

41 minutes ago, AonEne said:

• You can’t quote or edit locked stuff, and I don’t know if that annoys anyone else, but it’s caused me a great amount of annoyance.

Multiquote should still work in locked threads I believe.

I'll wait for other people to comment before I give my opinion on the rest but given that that point has an easy fix and may be causing you some current annoyance, I thought I should mention it.

[AonEne he/him]

Thank you, but I just checked and you can’t multiquote either. 

[MacThorstenson he/him]

I’m currently in favor of locking threads, mainly because I don’t actually think people will stop posting in old threads. When we tried to get people to stop posting in old threads everyone always had to make one last post, and that sometimes was multiple posts.

I try leave time for people to make one last wrap up post for that thread for their characters, but if you are in the middle of an interaction it’s better to try and move it to the new thread than wrap it up in the last thread.

That said, it is annoying for threads to be locked and things to be moved, I am personally confused about why we have multiple threads for each main plot. Ideally we could circumvent the whole issue by having one thread for the whole plot. 

[AonEne he/him]

10 hours ago, MacThorstenson said:

That said, it is annoying for threads to be locked and things to be moved, I am personally confused about why we have multiple threads for each main plot. Ideally we could circumvent the whole issue by having one thread for the whole plot. 

You gotta get in all the cool titles you can 

But on a serious note, I agree with this - only downside is what we always talk about in the AV PMs, it might be daunting to new members. But seeing as how each thread is only like 20-30 pages, I don’t think it would be that bad, so yeah I agree. I still don’t think they should be locked, though. 

[+Ark1002]

15 hours ago, AonEne said:

Also...is there any reason to be locking them in the first place? I think it’s allegedly for organization, so we can all move on to the next thread instead of having people post on an abandoned thread, but I don’t think that’s an issue we really need to worry about. So long as everyone knows we’re moving threads, they can wrap up what they’re doing and switch to the new thread. 

 

You, Ene, should not be talking about how everyone stops posting when they're supposed to.

*coughGhostbloodPMcough*

[AonEne he/him]

45 minutes ago, RayOfSunshine said:

You, Ene, should not be talking about how everyone stops posting when they're supposed to.

*coughGhostbloodPMcough*

Okay, first, I haven’t posted there in months. Second, it was a joke because I’m in TUBA, and nobody else was getting offended except for you afaik. Lastly, I wasn’t in the new PM, which makes the situation vastly different yet again. 

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

I'd like to throw my hat in the ring for the "one thread for main plot" proposition. I think this is a great idea, we wouldn't have to worry about locking multiple threads and honestly, I think it would be way easier for new members to figure out what is going on if there is only one main plot thread to read through. Trying to find multiple parts, order them chronologically, etc. is a pain - I know because I went backwards and have attempted to read through a lot of the old threads. Multiple parts make things harder. Four threads each with 30 pages is the same amount of pages as one thread with 120 pages - and way less searching.

I'm a fan of locking the threads on completion, for whatever that's worth. Also, I don't think this is the place to call someone out for stuff that happens elsewhere. 

[+Sorana she/her]

I agree. Usually I miss the few hours until the thread is locked, most of the time mid-conversation with another character. One thread for the mainplot would be a lot better.

[AonEne he/him]

1 hour ago, ZincAboutIt said:

I know because I went backwards and have attempted to read through a lot of the old threads. Multiple parts make things harder. 

As have I, and I agree. 

27 minutes ago, Sorana said:

Usually I miss the few hours until the thread is locked... 

And this is another good point - there only being a few hours of notice is bad for anyone in a different time zone or even just anyone not on at that time. 

[MetaTerminal he/him]

I’d like to argue in favour of split threads, actually. This is mostly for reading up on old threads, I have yet to participate in main plot - but I find it far easier to read through four or so 30-page threads than a 100 or 120+ page thread. Similarly, it’s easier to mark the passage of time - you can say, ‘I got here around SDW or WoD or ALQ.’ Not, ‘oh, around 80 pages into the thread.’ How do you even measure that?

It’s helpful to divide stories into stages. You can say, ‘in this one there was just some small squabbling in the city. The second part was this off-world conflict, the third led up to the final battle, and then the final battle happened.’ And a new thread can be used to mark a monumentous occasion (eg Voidus is about to be released, y’all!)

One thing we could do is merge the different plot threads into one locked one after the fact (ie when people stop posting well and truly in the old threads, maybe after a week), and link in the OP to which page has which section. So if you know you have to read over Rivers of Blood, you know where that begins and ends. That cleans up the thread count a little. (We could also do that with old plotlines as well, possibly. But I’d be concerned if that... disrupts things.)

[+Ark1002]

20 hours ago, MetaTerminal said:

I’d like to argue in favour of split threads, actually. This is mostly for reading up on old threads, I have yet to participate in main plot - but I find it far easier to read through four or so 30-page threads than a 100 or 120+ page thread. Similarly, it’s easier to mark the passage of time - you can say, ‘I got here around SDW or WoD or ALQ.’ Not, ‘oh, around 80 pages into the thread.’ How do you even measure that?

It’s helpful to divide stories into stages. You can say, ‘in this one there was just some small squabbling in the city. The second part was this off-world conflict, the third led up to the final battle, and then the final battle happened.’ And a new thread can be used to mark a monumentous occasion (eg Voidus is about to be released, y’all!)

One thing we could do is merge the different plot threads into one locked one after the fact (ie when people stop posting well and truly in the old threads, maybe after a week), and link in the OP to which page has which section. So if you know you have to read over Rivers of Blood, you know where that begins and ends. That cleans up the thread count a little. (We could also do that with old plotlines as well, possibly. But I’d be concerned if that... disrupts things.)

This. Right an all counts.

[+Invocation]

21 hours ago, MetaTerminal said:

One thing we could do is merge the different plot threads into one locked one

I like this idea! Letting everyone wrap up their conversations in the old one before moving to the next one and then eventually squishing them all together seems like the best part of both arguments.

[+Ark1002]

On 8/5/2019 at 0:05 AM, MetaTerminal said:

One thing we could do is merge the different plot threads into one locked one after the fact (ie when people stop posting well and truly in the old threads, maybe after a week), and link in the OP to which page has which section. So if you know you have to read over Rivers of Blood, you know where that begins and ends. That cleans up the thread count a little. (We could also do that with old plotlines as well, possibly. But I’d be concerned if that... disrupts things.)

I don't like that idea, missed that part of the post.

I feel like it's better to seperate it, so you can look at the timeline. "oh, which threads happened back then?" "oh, A Shadowed Dawn, Trader's Union, and Sentinels." (no that isn't accurate)

Also, I just like keeping it as separate threads.

[AonEne he/him]

On 8/5/2019 at 1:05 AM, MetaTerminal said:

This is mostly for reading up on old threads, I have yet to participate in main plot - but I find it far easier to read through four or so 30-page threads than a 100 or 120+ page thread.

I don't think there's any difference - you're reading the same amount either way, aren't you?

16 hours ago, RayOfSunshine said:

I feel like it's better to seperate it, so you can look at the timeline. "oh, which threads happened back then?" "oh, A Shadowed Dawn, Trader's Union, and Sentinels." (no that isn't accurate)

Also, I just like keeping it as separate threads.

If they do stay as separate threads, which I still don't like, then I agree that they should stay separate the whole time. Especially the old stuff, cause it'd disrupt things. I think the newer stuff could be easily condensed and not lose what you're talking about, though, Ark.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

I realize that this would be complete madness but having a "main plot thread" at all isn't my ideal setup. When you have a specific thread set up for the main plot, everyone is sort of stuck there and it's harder to integrate all the other threads. But also, it would make everything even more confusing and harder to keep track of.  But still, it would make the story feel more like it's saturating the entire world.

Edit: After a few hours I realize that my idea is rather a bad one so please disregard this  

Edited August 7, 2019 by ZincAboutIt
came to my senses

[MetaTerminal he/him]

6 hours ago, AonEne said:

I don't think there's any difference - you're reading the same amount either way, aren't you?

If they do stay as separate threads, which I still don't like, then I agree that they should stay separate the whole time. Especially the old stuff, cause it'd disrupt things. I think the newer stuff could be easily condensed and not lose what you're talking about, though, Ark.

Would you rather read a book with one long extended chapter, or about twenty shorter ones? A show with one eight-hour episode, or eight hour-long ones? 

Separating things out allows for time jumps, marked changes, advances in the plot. We can more easily divide our stories and our attention to them. We can scan down the thread list and say, ‘I have a general understanding of the progression of the plot.’ With one long thread, everything gets... muddled. I wouldn’t want to read The Longest Thread all the way through, but I might read all the threads in here, one by one. It’s the same amount, more or less, but because it’s divided up, it’s easier to understand. (I also don’t quite understand how Zinc found it confusing - could you elaborate on that?)

We shouldn’t mess with old threads, I agree.