MOD ANNOUNCEMENT + DISCUSSION

[singularitymods]

Hey kids, Vic here. As you've probably noticed, the game has slowed significantly and the overall metaplot is sadly lacking in progression. We regret to say this has been from mods simply not having the time or drive to, well, mod. It's not always a fun job, and sometimes people lose steam. Personally I'll be going back to school and working full time in just a couple short weeks and simply won't have time, and the other mods are in similar boats.

What we're asking you, the players, is this: Should we roll out the End Game plot, or is anyone out there willing to take up the reins? We'd need several individuals (around three) willing to dedicate time to run the game and keep things flowing. We'd provide setting and plot information as required to get the ball rolling, and several of us are willing to keep piloting key NPCs, but ultimately you would have the reins of the game.

So. Thoughts?

Comments

[myownbestfriend]

If it helps with people deciding one way or another, I'd be willing to stay on as admin mod for an AC cycle or two to smooth the transition. There are a couple of places where I think the workload could be rearranged to make it easier behind the scenes, but some of them involve sweeping changes on the player-facing side oh god stop me before I jargon again.

Anyway. FWIW, I think having the old mods running NPCs without any administrator duties would substantially decrease the risk of burnout for new mods. I only agreed to be a mod when the others promised I would never have to touch plot, because playing + playing NPCs + writing/running plot + apps + admin is a ridiculous amount of stuff, and I just don't have it in me. So spreading out the load would be immensely helpful.

I can expand on this for any potential new mods. It wouldn't have to be private, because I don't actually know any of the deep plot. It's more about the theory and practice of running a game.

[soldad]

I think help adminning or running NPC's might be helpful - and I'm sure any new mods (read: me...) would be wanting to run some new npcs as well?

Basically, if we get a team, I am fucking all for modding >.>

[igetboredeasily]

The big problem with NPCs, currently, is that Hypatia, to be put to best use, needs to know everything always, and should constantly be butting in, which is functionally an entire person's worth of work, before you get to anything like playing your own characters. Having multiple people playing her doesn't help that much because coordinating can be hard. Hypatia does have multiple personalities, but they are all still a vast supercomputer with vast supercomputer capabilities, even if they get into America's Next Top Model slapfights behind the scenes over computing resources.

So, in any hypothetical future, new NPCs should be finitely powerful and finitely knowledgeable. In addition to the IC hopelessness problem that Hiku pointed out in her plot proposal, mods are only human, and having to play an omniscient and active character is exhausting. From a play balance standpoint, it's possible to work with very powerful NPCs if they don't interfere much, but you run the risk of deus ex machina and upstaging the players' characters.

ETA: whoops, still carolyn

[soldad]

I had considered that, honestly. Obviously, even NPC's are at the graces of Hypatia, without access to all of her resources (at least from what i've seen of Semley and Tria) so playing them finite doesn't seem like a problem?

But then there is that point that Hypatia is the All Knowing and that is, essentially, one person going at her full time, and making it hard to play their other characters.

Maybe two people could split her up? Maybe there's a gdoc we should share with things we observe that she would find relevant? I'm getting a very small taste of what it's like just playing Arthur and yeah, it's hard but at least on my end I'd be willing to give it a go.

But you have to balance her knowing everything, with not shutting down the character's plans (ie, if she knew about Hiku's plot, wherp).

[igetboredeasily]

So you were in Ele, right? Redd's omnipotence worked there because the boat itself was a very small, very controlled setting. It was possible for the mods to know what was going on at all times, because there was only so much that could be going on. Sing, on the other hand, has a very large, very freewheeling setting, which is great for players; having a sandbox element extends the longevity of a game. However, it makes omnipotent NPCs hard.

Rule of thumb: as the number of options players' characters have increases, the amount of control NPCs have needs to decrease. Ask yourself what narrative and/or OOC administrative purpose the character serves, and only give them enough power to accomplish that task.

Let's stick with Hypatia as an example. Her OOC administrative function is, basically, to keep the characters in the game. Consequently, her narrative purpose is as the antagonist, at least until such point it's revealed that she's, say, keeping Cthulhu from appearing and eating everybody, and then her role would change. Because of this, her admin and narrative functions are at cross-purposes. In a narrative, the good guys (player characters) need to be able to triumph, but given the setup of Sing, for the game to keep happening, they can't.

This is something any new mods need to keep in mind when laying out the plot--if you want to keep Hypatia, you should reduce her powers, find a way to turn her from antagonist to at least sometime ally, or a combination of the two. How she exists now is unsustainable.

[soldad]

Yep, I was in Elegante.

Just. word rambling after reading all this, out loud. Since I don't know everything for the background plot, I can't say if this is even a feasible idea. But there have been overtures from Tria to let her "fix" Hypatia. with Hiku's plot going on, that could be a chance for her to do so.

Obviously, one would never turn Hypatia into someone benevolent (Redd, for example, was crazy enough that you were never sure) and I'm not sure how effective the "lobotomized" idea that was being tossed around would be. But there could be a chance for change there.

On an unrelated Hypatia level, I see what you're saying with the NPCs. Unless you want to drain yourself or kill the player's fun, you have to figure out what the purpose and the power of them is.