Open Forum: Game Plans & Discussion

[singularitymods]

Hello, Sing! Larissa here with an update about the game and its status. As you can see, the mods have decided to turn the game over to me, and I’ve pulled together several more mods to help run the game. I’d like to thank the previous mod team -- Nie, Dash, Vic, and Carolyn, along with everyone on the app team -- for all their hard work in running Sing over the past few years and building up the game we all know and love, and they’ll definitely be missed both as mods and players.

I plan on filling the position of headmod and general cat herder, with a focus on running events, working on the metaplot, and playing NPCs as necessary. To that end, I’ve found what I feel to be an excellent group of mods to fill the rest of the game’s needs. Charlie (Zelgadis/Marco) is taking on the position of admin mod and will take care of updating lists and general inquiries. Varis (Kaidan/Bethany) will focus on plot and NPC work. Alex (Violet) is staying on the app team and will be joined by Tai (Clove/Arthur), with other mods jumping in to do app work as needed.

Now, this is the important part of the post: we need a headcount. If you’re planning on staying in the game, please comment under “Staying” below . List all characters that you plan on keeping, even if you’d like to drop them during the Hypatia plot. This is mandatory, and will be open for one week, until next Saturday, 9/22 -- we’re going to use this list to update the taken page and comm members, and anyone who hasn’t commented by that time will be removed. Please be sure to contact anyone who might not check the OOC comm! There will also be reminders in the mod plurk, singmods.

Please note: if you dropped a character since August 1, you can reclaim your spot. For characters dropped before that date, you will need to reapply.

Lastly: applications will close until sometime in October at the end of this app round. There’s no way we can deal with apps at the same time as overhauling the game, and it’s easier to run the Hypatia plot without worrying about incoming characters, at least right now. There will be updates about this in the meantime, and reserves will stay open.

I know there’s been a lot of uncertainty about the game recently, so to get it out up front: the game is continuing for the foreseeable future. The immediate plan is to run through Hiku’s Hypatia plot, which is about to start and will follow the outline laid out in the last post. If interest is waning at that point, it can be run as an endgame event, but in going through all of the information available about the setting, it can also very easily transition into a new stage for the game focused more on Asphodel, with the Resistance serving as a more direct threat in Hypatia’s absence.

More on that later, though, because what I really want to talk about is what you, the players, want from Sing. I know that there have been issues with the game, some of them more longstanding than others -- a lot of which I’ve had myself, even. But the very last thing I’m interested in is taking the game and turning it into what I want -- I want it to be what you want. The game is nothing without its players, and the number one thing I want to do is to make it what you guys want it to be.

What that means: I want input. Any input, positive or negative, about everything from how the game works to what you’d like to see in the metaplot to information about the setting. If there’s anything that’s ever bugged you about the game -- and if there are things you really like and don’t want to see lost -- then consider this an open forum to discuss it. I’ve gone ahead and set up a couple of headers below with notes about the kind of things I’d like to do, but if there’s a certain topic not already covered feel free to put it up; I went with fairly general areas the mods have discussed so far.

This doesn’t just go for this post, either. Above all else, Sing is a collaborative game -- the wide variety of indepth player plots we’ve had over the past two years prove it. If there’s something you’d like to see change about the game, or if there’s a way you think it can be improved in any aspect -- apps, plots, general maintanence, anything -- you’re welcome to bring it to me or any of the other mods at any time. We’re here to do the heavy lifting of organizing plots and coordinating people, but at the end of the day we’re all here to be players first and foremost, and to have fun.

So while we’ve put up comments below with our ideas about how to continue from this point, we want to hear from you. You’re all just as involved in the game and what happens as we are! Think of this as a big brainstorm session for the game as a whole -- there are no bad ideas, just ideas we haven’t thought of yet.

Anonymous commenting is on, but if you have a question, complaint, or comment you aren’t comfortable airing in public, you can reach any of us privately (the mod contact page has been updated), and your concerns will be kept confidential.

Comments

COMMENT TO STAY

[singularitymods]

If you’re interested in staying on at Singularity, please comment under this thread using the following format. This will remain open until next Saturday, 9/22.

Please note: If you dropped from the game since August 1, you can reclaim your spot here; otherwise, you will need to re-app before the close of this app round or wait until the next one.

Player Name:
Character Name:
Canon:
Character Journal:
Reclaim? Yes/No

<b>Player Name:</b> <b>Character Name:</b> <b>Character Journal:</b> <b>Canon:</b> <b>Reclaim?</b> Yes/No

[articletwelve]

Player Name: Larissa
Character Name: Agent Washington (OU)
Character Journal: articletwelve
Canon: Red vs. Blue
Reclaim? No

[alaspooryork]

Player Name: Anarin

Character Name: Delta
Character Journal: alaspooryork
Reclaim? N

Character Name: Emile-A239 (AU)
Character Journal: spaceracist
Reclaim? N

Character Name: Gibson (CRAU)
Character Journal: userless
Reclaim? N

Tai

[soldad]

Player Name: Tai
Character Name: Arthur
Character Journal: soldad
Canon: Inception
Reclaim? N

Player Name: Tai (again)
Character Name: Clove
Character Journal: puncturing
Canon: The Hunger Games (film)
Reclaim? N

/still danzy

[abrahamic]

Player Name: Danzy
Character Name: Loki (mcu(
Character Journal: flyting
Canon: Marvel Cinematic
Reclaim? Yes

Re: COMMENT TO STAY

[myownbestfriend]

Player Name: Carolyn
Character Name: Emma Frost
Character Journal: myownbestfriend
Canon: Marvel 616
Reclaim? N

[unchimerical]

Player Name: Charlie
Character Name: Zelgadis
Character Journal: unchimerical
Canon: Slayers
Reclaim? No

Player Name: Charlie
Character Name: Marco
Character Journal: baldwinboyfive
Canon: Animorphs
Reclaim? No

[edgeoflucidity]

Player Name: Empyreal Dragon
Character Name: Agent washington and Epsilon (AU)
Character Journal: edgeoflucidity
Canon: Red vs. Blue
Reclaim? No

Player Name: Empyreal Dragon
Character Name: Rinzler (AU)
Character Journal: enslavedslayer
Canon: Tron Legacy
Reclaim? No

[chozobloodrites]

Player Name: Sarah

Character Name: Samus Aran
Character Journal: chozobloodrites
Canon: Metroid
Reclaim? No

Character Name: Stephanie Brown (Canon)
Character Journal: dearbatdiary
Canon: DC Comics
Reclaim? No

[sarcasticpelican]

Player Name: Niriall
Character Name: 479'er
Character Journal: sarcasticpelican
Canon: Red vs. Blue
Reclaim? No

[guilloteen]

Player Name: Hydok
Character Name: Justin Law (CR AU)
Character Journal: guilloteen
Canon: Soul Eater
Reclaim? No

[allianceman]

Player Name: Varis

Character Name: Kaidan Alenko
Character Journal: allianceman
Canon: Mass Effect
Reclaim? No

Character Name: Bethany Hawke
Character Journal: fadedsunshine
Canon: Dragon Age
Reclaim? No

[personalbubble]

Player Name: Alex
Character Name: Violet Parr
Character Journal: personalbubble
Canon: The Incredibles
Reclaim? No

Re: COMMENT TO STAY

[conspirator]

Player Name: Wicke
Character Name: Marian Hawke
Character Journal: wilywilyways
Canon: Dragon Age 2
Reclaim? No

Character Name: Mohj'itus'stre (Jituss)
Character Journal: conspirator
Canon: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Reclaim? No

Re: COMMENT TO STAY

[urbaninja]

Player Name: Megan
Character Name: Roxas
Character Journal: swordisakey
Canon: Kingdom Hearts
Reclaim? No

[shipper]

Player Name: Len
Character Name: Nepeta Leijon
Character Journal: shipper
Canon: Homestuck
Reclaim? No

[whatever_it_takes]

Player Name: Krakatau!
Character Name: Agent Carolina
Character Journal: whatever_it_takes
Canon: Red vs. Blue
Reclaim? No

Re: COMMENT TO STAY

[hijackedbread]

Player Name: Kate
Character Name: Peeta Mellark
Character Journal: hijackedbread
Canon: Hunger Games
Reclaim? No

[stillshinigami]

Player Name: Imp
Character Name: Duo Maxwell
Character Journal: stillshinigami
Canon: Gundam Wing
Reclaim? no

[neverknocks]

Player Name: olz/madi
Character Name: York (AU)
Character Journal: neverknocks
Canon: Red vs Blue
Reclaim? No

Player Name: olz/madi
Character Name: Harry Lockhart
Character Journal: nippledetective
Canon: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Reclaim? No

PLOT

[singularitymods]

As mentioned above, the Hypatia plot opens up an area of the metaplot that the game as a whole hasn’t explored too much of yet: Asphodel and the Resistance on its surface. The Resistance is formed of Sacrosanct’s original creators, who were driven off the station and to the planet’s surface when Hypatia became corrupted, and have largely survived in the perils of the desert through cybernetic augmentations.

While Hypatia will still remain as a plot force to some extent (once she’s reactivated), she’s become very unwieldy as the main NPC/antagonist of the game -- the characters have no way to win against her, and no way to escape. The Hypatia plot will take care of that, but that leaves the question of what to do next, and utilizing the Resistance seems like the obvious solution. They’ve been fighting against Hypatia for much, much longer, even including Otherworlders (people who came through the rift before the current PCs), and once they learn that Hypatia’s been taken out of commission they wouldn’t just sit idly by. Whatever they do is up in the air at this point, but even after Hypatia goes back online (to whatever extent that happens), this would become the main conflict of the game.

Obviously, this is a pretty big change, so we’d really like opinions on this part. We’ve built up the mod team to be able to play NPCs to facilitate this, and there may be the possibility of apping Sing-verse AUs of fandom characters (people who came through the rift years ago and joined the Resistance) in the future if there’s interest.

There are a lot of things we can do with the setting established here in Sing, and some slice-of-life elements will remain, but the overall focus of the game would have a higher focus on the metaplot than there’s been in the past. Player plots would still be welcome, as well as general teleporter malfunctions, but as a whole the metaplot would be a larger part of the game and have more chances for PCs to interact with it.

As stated in the post above, this wouldn’t be a game without a playerbase, and we’d like to change things up so that the playerbase has a larger role in the progression of the game’s metaplot. We’re here to moderate, but we’re all here to play.

[edgeoflucidity]

Can we possibly start up a calendar of some kind to give rough guidelines to when the mods have plans that might make it awkward for someone to do a small scale teleporter malfunction?(I'm not saying it needs spelled out what it is(Just "Something is happening") or that it must be set in stone, also, small stuff wouldn't necessarily need to be on it. Stuff like the Hypatia plot scale things would be on it ideally.)

APPS

[singularitymods]

We would like to revamp the AU section so that it’s more clear, but given that it’s been a point of contention in the past this is something we’d really like feedback on. What we want from AUs are characters that are substantially different enough from their canon counterparts to be interesting in an RP setting, but not so different that they’re unrecognizable. This is the gist of the current guidelines, but is there a way we can improve this?

We don’t have any plans to change the application past the AU section right now, and we still plan to accept canon characters, AUs, and CR imports as before.

[shipper]

If I'm recalling correctly the biggest problem most people had with the AU apps in the past was inconsistency in what the mods deemed an acceptable AU, so I think if you set down clear guidelines and kept to them you should be fine.

To that end, maybe putting up some sample AU applications could help people? That way they can see sort of what you're going for in the 'different enough to be an AU, but not so different they're an OC with a fandom PB' sort of thing.

Watch there already be samples up and I never noticed now, sob.

ACTIVITY CHECK

[singularitymods]

We’re not holding an AC this round; the game’s been slow as it is, and we’re more interested in keeping around anyone who wants to stay right now. However, the AC was increased to account for the increased activity earlier this year. Should we lower it back to one piece of activity, keep it as it is, or change it entirely? (We’re leaning towards lowering it back down to one.)

[alaspooryork]

I'm in favor of lowering it down to one, but this is not a make or break change to me. As long as it doesn't go UP from current requirements I'm good.

MODDING

[singularitymods]

Like I wrote above, the goal of the mods is to be moderators, which means coordinating plots for players and dealing with the administrative work required in running the game. That said, we’d like to hear what you want from us as mods. One of the things I’d like to do is have regular metaplot updates, even after the Hypatia event ends, so that players can keep track of what’s going on instead of having to read threads scattered across the comm.

[myownbestfriend]

Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar;
The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but, being in,
Bear 't that th' opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man.
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.

GAME MECHANICS

[singularitymods]

We’re axing the job board and money system -- one, money’s not really going to be all that important after Hypatia’s deactivated, and two, it’s kind of a mess. If the need for a system arises in the future, we can look into it, but for now, the mod consensus is that we don’t need it. If anyone does take issue with this, this is the place to discuss it, but it’s not something we want to keep.

We’d also like to simplify the plot request process -- if you want to do a week-long teleporter malfunction, you wouldn’t have to ask, you could just go ahead and do it so long as it’s not something potentially game-breaking. This is one of those “use your best judgment” things. If it impacts the game as a whole, you would need to ask, but otherwise feel free to use the teleporters for the plot devices they are.

Re: GAME MECHANICS

[hijackedbread]

I really liked that most events took place in specific locations, so you could participate or not depending on what made sense (IC and OOC).

I think that's a mechanic? idk.