End of Year Discussion Post

[animusmods]

It's the beginning of the end of the world of 2012, Animus! The game has been open for about eighteen months, and since it's the end of the year, let's have a discussion post. Here's how this is going to work: this post will be divided up into subcategories, and you guys can discuss among yourselves and with us whatever you want about the topic in question. Tell us things you want to see, tell us things you want us to stop doing, tell us things we're doing right if you want!

Please remain civil in your discussions; we will be watching the post and will step in if things get too heated anywhere. Respect each others' opinions even if you don't agree with them. Anonymous commenting is currently enabled, but will be disabled if abused.


Topics: Questions | Plot | Gameplay | Activity | Miscellaneous

Comments

[egotist]

I think minimum activity requirements are a little too lax. Ten comments is something most people should be able to make in less than a week, some even within 2-3 days. They could probably be raised or offer IC rewards for those who do more than just the bare minimum.

Thank you for listening to my concern.

[thousandcurses]

I disagree. I like that it's lax. If it were a fast-paced game, I'd agree with the in-less-than-a-week, but Animus is not. Some people will make that in about two or three days, but I know people in this game who are making ten in a month because of offline obligations and quite like that they don't have to worry as much about AC because they can meet that requirement with ease while, says, working a job and going to college. I think that a higher AC will just encourage a much faster pace and we run the risk of losing a lot of people who can keep up with the current pace fine, but not the pace that would be set with a higher AC.

[warriorscribe]

I agree with Izanami-mun here. I'm terribly slow on my tags just because of RL - I work retail and it's December now, and I have school - even though I only have one character (who wants to help everyone...) and one game. If the AC requirement was higher, I don't think I'd be able to keep up even here, and I enjoy RP too much to drop it as a hobby, and I adore this game too much. All my friends are here.

[miseris_socios]

Yeah, same. I have five characters here, (possibly soon to be) five characters elsewhere, and I have senior-level classes at college and a bunch of other obligations to get through.

[egotist]

My issue is that it can enable squatting. However if they kept the AC and added a reward system (I think Asgard does something like this?) it wouldn't harm anybody who's slow and would encourage others to be more active.

If there was a higher comment count, it wouldn't necessary make the pace faster but encourage others to tag out more.

I realize this is a terrible month for most of us. Hence if there was any change to the AC system it would be best to wait another month or two.

[thousandcurses]

There is very little anyone can do to counteract squatting. I have never seen an actual solution to this, as upping the comment count assumes that there still won't be squatters. I have seen squatters at games with a much stricter AC.

A reward system might work, but I can't think of how to work it in to the current way Animus runs. Characters keep their powers, and regains are tied to events, so there's little left to earn, IMO.

[egotist]

This is true, no AC system is perfect. There will always be people who skim on by.

Thank you for your comments. I do adore the backtag friendly nature of the game as I do sometimes slip behind on tags.

[thousandcurses]

Thank you for considering what was said!

[atlasia]

Agree with the other two people who have posted, I like the fact AC is 10 comments. Mainly because with my current schedule I can only tag a few times a week meaning it takes longer for me to meet the 10 comment count compared to people who have more free time.

[derping]

I'm also going to agree that AC does not need to be raised. The current AC encourages a reasonable pace for the game, and gives some leeway for people who aren't very fast taggers. Animus has, for as long as I've been here, been a slow-to-medium pace, very backtag-friendly game, and a lot of players have come here for that very reason. I see no reason to change that at this point. There are plenty of very fast games with strict AC requirements, and Animus doesn't need to become one. Yes, most of us don't have any trouble making ten comments in a very short amount of time...but the fact that something can be increased doesn't mean that it should be. Activity check is meant to be way to make sure that people are participating in the game, not as a way to count how many comments you should be making in a month.

I'll also disagree with the idea of offering IC rewards; maybe I'm biased, but from what I've seen in my time RPing, such systems just create an uncomfortable divide between the people who write fast/have a lot of time to RP and people who don't - it's a setup for a lot of bad feelings OOCly that I would hate to see affect the environment of Animus.

Anyhow, that's my two cents on that.

[keybearer]

I also respectfully disagree. One thing I enjoy about Animus is its low-stress AC requirement. While I understand that squatting is an issue, it happens even in games with higher AC requirements.

I also don't see how IC rewards would really work in a game like this. With Asgard, there's an in-game reason for it, but since threaded activity isn't necessarily the only action a character gets each month, it's just hard for me to imagine.

[always_lies]

I disagree. I find the AC reqs fine for a game the size and pace of Animus. They do not need to be raised. Backtagging is allowed and many people will backtag into infinity here, making it even less necessary.

Additionally, they were already raised recently from 5 comments to 10.


If your issue is character squatting, then you should probably approach them and ask what the problem is and if it is that they need help getting CR, offer it to them. Some people will squat no matter what happens, and if that's the case the best thing to do is bring it to the mods. Sometimes it's just a case where they don't see openings to get their character out there or having trouble establishing.

If your issue is that people need to tag out more, then I suggest you approach players with whom you want CR and start writing up prompts for interaction.

[egotist]

I did not know about the recent raise. Thank you for informing me of this!