singularitymods: (Default)
Singularity RPG Moderators ([personal profile] singularitymods) wrote in [community profile] singularityooc2012-09-14 01:37 pm
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Open Forum: Game Plans & Discussion

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, [plurk.com profile] 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.
forcewalking: Taken At: Ziost Shadow (Attentive)

[personal profile] forcewalking 2012-09-18 08:37 pm (UTC)(link)
They're essentially events with a specific objective to achieve, with mods acting as the 'game master' (i.e. controlling NPC's, throwing obstacles in the players' way, and other things in which the players themselves must come up with ways to successfully overcome them) for the event. For example, in this game, the station could be attacked by space pirates, the they could discover something on the planet they want to bring back to the station, or Hypatia could suddenly come back, or worse.

At Exsilium, and at another game still back on LJ, a post is made in advance giving a brief overview of what the mission will entail (without spoilers), and people sign up ahead of time to fill X amount of open slots for characters. They then schedule it in advance, on a date most people can agree will work for them.

Think of it sort of like a tabletop game, with the mod/GM constantly throwing things at you that you must overcome. Depending on whether the players are successful or failed, the aftermath can be played out after, and the station will have either gained or lost something. Going back to the space pirate example, if the players succeeded, the players can board the pirate ship and rob them instead, gaining new supplies. If they failed... the pirates run off with our supplies and we face a food shortage after.
articletwelve: (✦ a special folder marked secret)

[personal profile] articletwelve 2012-09-19 01:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooh, I really like this from a mod standpoint, at least as far as running it goes -- it could very easily tie into some of the plot ideas we've had. We're talking about how we might implement this, but if you have any links to missions over there I could look at (both OOC and IC posts), that would be really appreciated!
unchimerical: (Default)

[personal profile] unchimerical 2012-09-20 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
Second on this! I think it has the potential to both give moderators a lot of flexibility with running the system, as well as making jobs actually tie in with relevant in-game actions. One of the problems I've had with the job board here is that there was no incentive to actually have any interaction or play anything out unless you just happened to feel like it; it sort of comes off as mildly bullshitty handwaving just for the sake of having an economy, but felt too OOCly constructed to have much in-game impact.