Expiation Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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expiationooc2025-05-29 02:23 am
expiationmods) wrote in expiationooc2025-05-29 02:23 am
Extra mod announcement
Hello all players of Expiation. The spring really came in like a wrecking ball and the mod team has noticed that the game has significantly slowed down during these past few months. We would like to get some further feedback which direction the game should go. The poll from March did give us a general idea of what the players might like, but we would love to hear in more detail what do you guys think works in the game and what doesn’t. Let’s get the conversation going! How are you feeling currently in the game? Are there mechanisms you’d want to implement in the game? What kind of events do you want to see more and what less. This also included general feedback towards the mod team.
With things slowing down and the game becoming smaller, the mod team has been considering shifting our focus to be more personalized towards the existing player base and characters. For an example: The mod team has plans for the upcoming months that would focus more on world exploration, which would allow characters to visit various places and other cities. If this is something that your character would be interested in, please let us know so we can start working on including them in the plot.
We originally planned this announcement to be part of the State Of The Game post that goes up on the weekend, but decided to bring this up now so that we can start the conversation as we move towards the summer's adventures.
With things slowing down and the game becoming smaller, the mod team has been considering shifting our focus to be more personalized towards the existing player base and characters. For an example: The mod team has plans for the upcoming months that would focus more on world exploration, which would allow characters to visit various places and other cities. If this is something that your character would be interested in, please let us know so we can start working on including them in the plot.
We originally planned this announcement to be part of the State Of The Game post that goes up on the weekend, but decided to bring this up now so that we can start the conversation as we move towards the summer's adventures.
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i don't know if that will help with attraction, but who knows! maybe the people who read "Text Drive Meme #15" for June think that particular test drive can only be tagged into for the month of June, when technically, anyone can still go back and tag to that test drive and test the waters even when it's not app cycle time.
of course if we do this, the prompts need to be something that will effect the game for two months for the June/July TDM to make sense.
like maybe the critters of the forest keep breaking into the inn, homes, or establishments for shelter because the simulation decided it's hurricane season, so the characters are constantly dealing with storms and stuff.
or a pipe bursts somewhere and everyone has to use water responsibly and/or the council expects the chosen to do the right thing and share water with your neighbor.
i'm just spit-balling. but yeah i don't know if that will be helpful at all but it's an idea!
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I want to preface it with, obviously I have no problem with current AC standards. You can probably tell by looking at my AC and rewards. lmao.
That said, with our smaller playerbase, maybe the comment count would be worth reconsidering? As far as I'm aware Expi has one of the higher ACs in our realm of DWRP, and it's worked for the game for a long time, but it could be another factor that keeps prospective players from looking in?? (It is part of why I didn't consider it for a long time, admittedly.) Plus with fewer people around, it could be harder for the people already here to make AC
especially if everybody keeps getting hit by trucks every other month, are you guys okay :(. I'd think maybe somewhere between 8-12 comments could work better? MAYBE...?? idk. It's a thought.As another little thought, I have been enjoying the RNG stuff the past couple months with giving little specific tasks and things that encourage people to reach out and play with more people, especially with the game being smaller. I guess it's kind of like an extension of sentencing in that way heh. Thank you for your hard work!
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I know there's been a lot of discussion about AC in the past, but with how the playerbase has gotten smaller, I think it might help having a smaller amount of comments required per month? The pace of Expiation is generally slower and it might help draw in more players if we don't have 15 comments as our standard anymore? Especially since from some of the games that I've seen opening recently, their requirements for AC are a lot lower.
Also I agree with Ryoko about the smaller specific tasks that are geared more to interacting with other players has been nice! Like the specific crimes targeted at people during last month's event was neat.
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Every game where I've failed AC has been one with low or no AC at all. Nobody tagged me, so I had nothing.
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That said, in my view an average of 10 comments is not low AC. I would categorize it as medium, and pretty much every game I've been in with that level has had a lively cross-canon CR atmosphere as far as I could tell. Stuff like cliques can be mitigated by mod oversight/rules/warnings like Expi already has in place.
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I do not personally find 15 comments unreasonable, but if people really wanted to drop to 10ish I'm not gonna raise a fuss about it or anything.
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Personally, I think whether a game will function well on low AC is more of a case by case thing, these days. I think a game as established as Expi is, where most people know each other, wouldn't suffer from a lower AC. It might also ease the pressure for some players who felt the need to drop, which could bring activity back up if they consider returning.
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my character jinx takes loss (characters dropping) very hard, and she tends to resort in isolating herself, neglects self-care, become nonverbal, and does other unhealthy depressive methods. and while jinx is stronger and louder than rogue, she isn't strong mentally (i think rogue will be okay - she will view people leaving/dropping more in a positive and optimistic way).
that alone, i am going to struggle a little with her getting active this upcoming month, and to get her communicating with people. which is fine! i knew what i signed up for - for picking up this kind of character, and i'm up for the challenge!
it's just, you know, i won't be sweating as much to try and push jinx through this if the AC was a little lower, haha!
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One thing I wanted to bring up with this month's event is that it felt like the characters who weren't swayed by the snakes were an afterthought in the planning. There wasn't even an option on the poll to say that anyone was trying to combat the crime or general chaos that would've broken out. I was honestly ready to sit the event out entirely until I saw the plotting about the training grounds fire and had an in there for Morph to get involved with that.
I'm one of the few people who did not vote for crime and punishment themes in the March poll because... well, Morph has a fairly non-serious crime. I'm sure I'm not the only one in the game who has a character with a crime that's silly or bullshit-y. I fully realize that crime and punishment is baked into the game's premise, and I don't have a problem with it being addressed often, just don't forget about those of us playing goody two-shoes characters.
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Second, I've found that in-between events, there's usually a lull and I feel like a lack of incentive to do things until the event drops. This might be mitigated by a quest board or some highlights of stuff that people can do in the meantime. They don't necessarily have to be related to the event, but can also just be other activities that people can turn their attention towards.
And if something like that already exists, I apologize, but maybe I just lose it in the monthly mod posts. I find sometimes the information there can be a bit oblique as to what's going on in game.
I admit that I have been struggling a bit and May was certainly a Month, but I do like the idea of opening up the world and seeing where things go from there.
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I'm also up for Echo doing specific things in a few more months, as I'll be busy in the next couple. But maybe don't go too hard in the personalized direction either? I worry that new players may not feel like they can work themselves in if things are geared too much toward the current characters/players. I know I can hesitate to join new games if it seems like all of the story and/or relationships are already set.
Keep up the good work, I love it here!
Late with Starbucks, as the kids say
FIRST: Exploration! I would love to get involved. Which is probably apparent given Fandaniel yapping about just that earlier this month.
NOW FOR MORE IMPORTANT STUFF...
Player churn, I think, has been a huge problem. Some old timers felt there was nothing to do and quit the game. This has led to a slowdown that has been a turn-off for new players who join, receive very slow tags, feel unwelcome, and then quit. If they do feel welcome, they find it hard to get traction because it's hard to know how your character's introduction to the setting went if you are getting one tag a week per thread, if even that. So new players quit.
What to do about it? Some thoughts!
PWM: Plot With Me early in the month is a good idea, except that it is so far from the event that people don't know what they want to do yet when it goes up, and may not post to it at all. It also isn't set up great for finding new CR. I think adding sections for "Desired CR" and "CR I Can Offer" could help people find each other. It would probably also help to have an event-specific plotting post that goes up a couple of days before the event or on the same day. To reduce mod load, this could even be a template copied and pasted each month, where people state their plans and what they'd like to do.
EVENTS: Looking back on the last year, most events have been centered on revealing character's traumas or creating new traumas by having them attack the locals and/or each other. This leads to fallout that can feel pretty samey. I like events like this, but maybe we should vary things up a bit: I hear that before I joined, there was a tower in the middle of Aldrip that people had to explore. Exploration events could be fun! Events with immediate, noticeable setting impacts (they reveal a new permanent map location, for example). Events more focused on fighting monsters and/or protecting things so heroic characters can shine. A good variety makes things more exciting!
OUTSIDE EVENTS: I think people feel like there is nothing to do outside events. Now, I play a busybody, and I know this isn't true. Y'all are great about letting characters have side projects. But since activity is so event-centered I can see why people might think downtime is just downtime. A questboard could help, but it could also help for mods to be very open about players being welcomed and encouraged to do their own thing when there isn't an event happening. You could also have things happening in the setting that are more low-stakes. Festivals, street fairs, holidays, etc, that players can use as a backdrop for other things.
Thank you to anyone who read all that.
I love this game and want everyone else to love it too.
Re: Late with Starbucks, as the kids say
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- lack of IC & OOC focus on crime/punishment, which is a main aspect of the game. other than the sentencing, which as a player that has been around for like six months idk what the pattern/schedule is for that at all. and while it's personally tailored to the characters as I understand it, I do think it needs to be folded more into the worldbuilding, plot and events. For example, completing or not completing sentencing should impact more than a character and (possibly) their cr, it should impact the environment as a whole imo.
- related to this, game theme seems like. muddled...? is it sci-fi or fantasy? or both? neither? I think it can be both! But rn it seems unclear and these elements should be blended in a more cohesive way. rn it seems like the world itself and the AI plot aren't really connected? I don't know how to explain it other than as I understand it, the AI plot was added later on in the game's lifespan and it really does show and feels disjointed.
- lack of plot movement for the past 5-6 months. I think the snakes and the garden are great movement toward this, however, and I think more plots in this vein would be great going forward. And also ia re: a lack of things to do/explore between events. I mentioned before that the world seems rather empty and I think tying world expansion to the crime/punishment would be great.
- AC! I think it's both too high and not especially helpful re: boosting activity. I also think it's discouraging apping in because it's so much higher than any other game I've seen, and I say this as someone who doesn't really have any issue making AC monthly.
Anyway, that's a lot... my suggestions would be along these lines:
- Mods sentence 2-4 characters on a rolling schedule? The sentencing is more involved than it is presently, and whether or not they succeed or fail determines aspects of the events/world building. the poll aspect i think decentivizes threading a lot but then the pace of most players is, euphemistically speaking, leisurely (which is fine it's not a big game). so i get why mods have the polls but i think tying events more to character action (or inaction) in regards to their sentencing would be better to encourage cr and player investment in what's going on.
- I also think sentencing should surround rehabbing areas of the setting. like character has to for example, form bonds with others, and this is connected to some obstacle in the setting. i.e., the only way it can be removed is if bob, for his sentencing, teams up with carol and andy and forms a genuine connection w/them. bonus is that it fleshes out the world and gives characters more to do + the players will be more invested in the setting. I think the businesses and shops are a lot of fun but playing a character who is not and will never be business oriented kind of pigeonholes me... I imagine many others are the same.
- to give characters something to do between events, missions & quests as the world expands! Something like Aefenglom's old quest boards would be a great idea. Having these quests separated into perhaps categories? Like some quests involve moral decisions (so crime and punishment), some are about the AI mystery, etc and so on
- speaking of the AI there's a lot of melding of sci-fi and fantasy settings that can be done here... glitches, viruses, weird pop up ads lol
- AC change! Knocking it down some comments? Focusing more on that "what sort of major or minor ethical/moral decisions did the character make this month" question and allowing players to link ongoing threads in a lil paragraph of what they did for ex:
"This month, Bob and Andy worked together on a quest where a wealthy merchant in Rumpitar asks them to retrieve a monster egg (ongoing thread linked here). Both characters were promised a valuble item in return for retrieving it (quest link here), but upon reaching the monster's den, they saw the monsters had been killed by something unknown and the egg was left alone. Instead of selling the egg, the two feel uneasy and decide to bring it back to Aldrip to care for it." Something along these lines... these are all involving moral decisions that will impact things later on.
This is long but that's all I got so far... anyway none of these are like, YOU HAVE TO DO THIS!! simply suggestions and things I was thinking of! I also mentioned adding more native species/allowing players to add more native species/enviornments etc, mainly to take the load off of you guys and to again help the players feel more involved.
Thank you to whoever read all my tl;dr... I love this game and I want it to succeed and be loved that is all...
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I'm hoping to kind of add some commentary to what's already been said here, mostly. I have more, but this is all I have the brain power for tonight so I'm going to add another comment later.
Including my previous comment from April for reference.
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You could also use locations that aren't impacted by the current event, for lower stakes options, maybe. For instance, if the monthly event occurs in the forest, the TDM could focus on the docks which might be completely uninfluenced by whatever is happening during the event? You could even incorporate plot armor concepts to make this work “the effects don't seem to extend to the docks, hm...” which could tie into whichever fantasy or sci-fi element is causing things to happen.
One game I was in rolled out Month A prompts and went back later to edit Month B prompts in as a second portion for newer top levels. That is more work, and you're basically writing one mini TDM a month instead of getting the bi-monthly break between TDMs, but they would be smaller.
I'm not saying to do either of these things, but maybe it'll spark discussion and get some ideas flowing that could lead to a solution which does work for you guys. Brainstorming, player suggestions from others reading this?
● I am in agreement with people voting for lower AC. I would be happy with 10 comments, personally. I've been doing 15 in one thread pretty consistently since I got here, but that's a lot harder to pull off with how much smaller the game is now, especially with any variety of characters. (I know we don't NEED to do it in one thread, I'm just saying I could easily before.) I may vanish for a week at a time, but even then I'm not typically struggling to get AC as it is. I AM thinking it could help players who are to reconsider dropping. It might even bring old players back who weren't comfortable making 15 comments every month, especially paired with the engagement discussion also happening here. I have more on that too.
When I think about AC, I don't think in terms of getting myself a minimum of so many comments, but am I able to get OTHERS enough comments for AC? For me, that's a better metric of how much I'm engaging with the game.
● I see some suggestions about moving the plotting post later, but I think that was addressed by moving the events earlier to make AC more manageable as well. the event was late this month, after that change was made so we didn't see it this time, but I think this issue has already been addressed? Obviously, correct me if I'm wrong and the gap is still too wide, but I think moving the event earlier makes more sense than moving the PWM later.
● Personally, I'd like to know more about the event before plotting for it, sometimes I've made plans based on what the event seems to be, only to change them when the post itself goes up because my plans don't make any sense lmao. I did like someone's suggestion of doing a mini ooc check in the day before the event, maybe people could link or update plotting plans. I do know I prefer to hash things out on plurk/discord and then move what I brainstormed to the OOC plotting post, because once someone replies you can't edit that comment anymore. This can also sometimes feel too late by that point, which becomes another issue. This could give people a chance to confirm, update or change plans with more informed direction.
Reminders for the PWM done on plurk/discord after x number of days could also help. I would do a week, but that's not very useful if there's less than a week between PWM and the event itself.
● My other suggestion on this topic was for players to start posting links to their PWM comments for last minute plotting in the event top level itself, and some of us already do this!
● I would also personally like to see more communication about RP styles and speed. With my vision problems and migraines, it's hard to do brackets because of the change in font size and I can't clearly read the default texting font everyone uses. I'm also one of the slower taggers in the game. If there's a section in the PWM form to mention Preferences for those things it might help make it easier to discuss. I'm used to games having style and speed in the player section of the CR meme but I was out of games for like 4 years before Expi. As it is right now, I'm asking people individually before I tag them, and hunting down permissions posts for reference. I might not be the only one with this issue but it's hard to tell if no one else seems to be talking about it.
Like I said, I do have more (the more plot specific stuff, especially) but I'm going to read it over and try to organize it some more before adding it here. Probably after some sleep.