simpathis: (Default)
Empatheias Mods ([personal profile] simpathis) wrote in [community profile] empatheias_ooc2016-06-18 07:37 pm
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Mid-Month Announcement: June

— MID-MONTHLY MOD ANNOUNCEMENT: JUNE —



» CALENDAR


Here are the dates you should know for the rest of the month. The main calendar spreadsheet can be found here.

  • 6/17: Test Drive.
  • 6/22~6/23: Arehtei Q&A
  • 6/24: Activity Check starts; Reservations open.
  • 6/30: Activity Check ends.
  • 7/01: Applications open.

No unusual weather, just typical sunny days with some seasonal rain.


» EMOTION TRACKER UPDATE


As always, it's kind of early to tell where the Emotion Tracker is going.

As a reminder, this is just a "mid-month" check to give everyone an idea of where the Emotion Tracker stands. If you haven't had a chance to submit your threads, don't worry! You can still submit and have it count for the final tally at the end of the month.

Here is a screenshot of the stats:


As usual, the crystal is currently in the red. Looking at things, although there's more general positive points, the apathy may be what's dipping it down. For now, Peromei is not looking so hot.


» PUZZLE SOLVED


As many know, there has been a dedicated group who have worked hard on that strange crystal device that appeared as a result of March's emotion shift. After a lot of trial and error, they have figured it out and reported their findings. There's a bit to it, so here's our official summary of what's happening here.

  • Teleportation device. The entire device is essentially a complex mechanism that allows for mass transportation over long distances instantly. There are safeguards against unwanted "invasions," but—well if there are workarounds, those would have to be figured out. (Hint: anything can be hacked.)

  • Locations. Since this device just appeared on the island, it had to originate somewhere else. But there are more of them around the world. Whether they are active or destroyed, however, is a different question altogether. Although, during their tests, the group may have a few received a few clues already... One known location is Shaarnath.

  • Shaarnath. It so happens that there is a device near where Shaarnath was founded and after being told about what happened on the island due to Aiada, a few technicians had also gone out to work on it. After managing to get the communications working again, the two groups managed to figure out how to fix the connection between both devices and get it working. Shaarnath will send supplies to help aid the recovery and rebuilding effort, and then diplomats will follow.

  • Ambassadors. A couple of ambassadors will arrive and the group who worked on the device as well as representatives will be able to speak with them. They will eventually make more of a public face, but that will come later.

  • Security. The entire site is overlooked by Enforcers, and Elios is also going to station himself there to make sure nothing happens to it.

  • Future. This device is definitely not there for a one time deal. It is basically our ticket to expand the game world and allow characters to become more proactive in terms of going down and exploring. There's still a few things to do before we can get that arc going, but that's the plan.

And that's basically it! Huzzah, the puzzle has been solved! The ambassador meeting will be a closed log for those involved, and it will occur sometime early next week, before the Arehtei Q&A detailed in the next section.


» AREHTEI Q&A


We apologize for the delay, but various real life situations have made it difficult for us to be able to set this up on a date where we're all available. However, as indicated in the timeline, we have it set for Wednesday or Thursday, the 22nd or 23rd. We're shooting for Wednesday, but just in case we are unable, then it will be Thursday.

Those who signed up on the lottery, are locked in and we are not accepting any new sign-ups. However, we do wish for those who commented to re-confirm here. In addition, we are going ahead and asking players to at least think about the kinds of questions their character will ask, as well as which Arehtei they may be interested in speaking to. Of course they can speak with more than one, but due to the number of sign-ups, we're going to put a few criteria and restrictions.

  • All Arehtei. All of the current six available Arehtei will be there: Aiada, Elios, Daimonia, Peromei, Sosyne, and Thras. We are still debating if this will be a physical meet or telepathic meet, but if it's physical then Daimonia and Thras will have crystals set up instead.

  • Open forum. The format of the Q&A is going to be an open discussion. This means the Arehtei will be able to hear and answer everything, and the characters will also do the same. Both parties can also threadjack and do piggybacks off anyone. Branching threads will be acceptable.

  • Try not to repeat. Since this Q&A is going to be open discussion, if a question or topic has already been covered and is asked in a later thread, we will simply link to the original answer rather than cover the topic again. So players, pay attention to what's been asked! As mentioned, you can piggy back off already asked questions.

  • Aiada. We know everyone wants to meet the new one! But to make things easier on us, we do request that any questions asked to Aiada be more about her. We also request to keep casual conversations limited. You can have casual conversations of course! Aiada would appreciate it. But if there is anything important you want to be covered, it would be best to get that out first so they can be addressed quickly, and then more relaxing conversation can happen after.

  • General questions. Any questions about the world at large are going to be open to all Arehtei. For your edification, the older Arehtei will be better suited to ask those questions regardless as Aiada will not know the answers. If someone does ask Aiada a world related question, another Arehtei may jump in instead to answer.

And that should be all! We encourage players to take this as an opportunity to ask the big questions as we are at a point in the game's life where such questions can be answered. There may still be some vague answers, but not as much as before.


» SO LET'S TALK ABOUT DEATH


For quick reminder, Kylo Ren was taken by some strange black ooze, which he later reported to be a being related to death. We didn't say much in our first mod post as we wanted this to be ICly introduced first, and there will be more IC introductions made later. But we can now talk a little more about what this is and its purpose.

Basically, due to the uptick in death plots, we needed something in-game to dole out better suited punishments since the ones used by the locals don't really do anything for the characters. Its origins, backstory, and everything else about it will be revealed ICly, but the only things you guys need to know are that it's like Empatheias's version of the Grim Reaper, it exists, and if there are to be any death plots or killings in general—this is the thing that characters will have to deal with. More severe or at least more character focused punishments will be doled out, and they will all have the purpose of deterring characters (and potentially players) from repeating it or committing the act at all. This includes not making it very fun to play out.

Which leads us to the topic of death plots in general.

Overall, we don't mind them happening. However, we are growing concerned about the rapid amount of them and how this is affecting things in-game. Not only for characters, but for the local NPCs. We know it's easy to forget the NPCs aren't just game fodder. But dissension exists and while we haven't pulled the trigger yet due to the complications that would come from it, we can make it very uncomfortable for characters to live in Verens due to how locals feel about all of this.

Thus, we are going to be a little more restrictive and selective about death plots from here on out.

  • Event based. If an in-game event provides opportunities for character deaths, that's A-OK. We do ask players to consider whether the character has to die or if it's just for the dramatic effect, but otherwise no extra step is needed.

  • Out of necessity. We know we have cannibals here, and so they have a legitimate excuse to kill NPCs for food. That's allowed, but not without some IC consequences. As far as we know, the NPCs that are getting offed are those that no one would really care too much about so it's not a problem yet. But Mr. Death Reaper may try to offer alternatives later on regardless.

  • Player plots. We're going to be a more selective about player plots that involve deaths of any kind, including one-time murders. They are allowed in general, but we are going to need to know the reason why it is happening. Those that have an actual purpose or can help push forward other events will be allowed, but those that are in it for just personal dramatic purposes may be rejected.

Like we said, we don't mind death plots in general, but there has been almost one death a month. We realize that the lack of permanence is a large part of the blame, and that exists mostly because trying to make sense of how a permanent death affects canon timeline as well as not have people trying death as an easy way out of the game is mind wracking. However, we're going to say it now—we can make deaths permanent if necessary, including making a character no longer able to be applied into the game, and we have the in-game mechanism to do it. (In fact, there is an actual in-game reason why characters don't have permanent deaths right now.)

But for now, we hope Mr. Death Reaper will be enough of an interesting deterrent—or at least make people think a few times before doing so.


-------------------------

And that's about it. If you have any questions, concerns, or want things clarified, please comment here.
preybeforemeals: (VICTOR ♞ you need some better pets)

[personal profile] preybeforemeals 2016-06-20 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
I just need to say that there are several things that I definitely did not appreciate about this mod post:

1. The mod note regarding cannibalism that was incredibly obviously aimed at Tsukiyama. I asked you two (almost three) weeks ago if there would be IC consequences for things of that nature. You said there would not. I was then asked for clarification regarding his feeding habits, and I gave it to you. I received complete radio silence for almost three weeks after that, only to be vaguementioned at the bottom of a public announcement post, and said mention was also in complete contradiction to the answer I received. I would appreciate questions actually being answered to my face next time, as opposed to vaguely and in front of the entire playerbase, after almost three weeks of silence.

2. With regards to Kimbley committing suicide, I want it made plain that I was actively encouraged to do it when I mentioned it to the mods. There was literally nothing even vaguely discouraging me from doing it, the sentiment of "I was wondering when someone would try something like this" was stated in a very excited manner, and part of the reason cited for it being deemed as an "acceptable" death plot is explicitly because it would be seen as pointless to everyone but him - because he had a personal reason for doing it that he didn't expect anyone else to understand or see as valid. Or in other words, because it's "personal drama" and exactly what you're telling us to stop doing now. I was directly encouraged to take a course of action that you're now citing as the reason you're threatening to take people's Barbies away because you don't like how they're playing with them, and to say that I'm uncomfortable with this is a tremendous understatement.

3. As a mod team, you've been perpetuating the trend of death plots yourselves. Bluntly put, there's been a lot of mod favoritism toward Kylo Ren; he's been in nearly every mod post for three months now, he's constantly having attention drawn to him for how negative he is, huge amounts of focus were put on him for murdering someone, and the murder itself was for a really frivolous reason that was arguably not even that IC for Kylo. Kylo is also played by a mod, which makes the entire thing look worse by default - frivolous, drama-filled murder plots that span literal months are openly rewarded by being made a central plot for the entire game when a mod does it, but if the players want to do anything at all involving death then suddenly everybody needs to be punished. We also have to run all of our death plots by you first; if you encouraged the others as thoroughly as you encouraged me, you have no one to blame but yourselves for this and the fact that you're shunting all of the blame onto the players is blatantly unfair.

3a. You have also been encouraging us to kill each other and NPCs during events such as the Arehtei's - whether it's for "dramatic effect" or not, you've been actively perpetuating deaths there as well.

There have been a lot of shortcomings on the mods' behalf here, and I'm really, really unimpressed with the fact that at least one of those shortcomings is implicitly being blamed on me, even partially. If you want less deaths to happen in-game, it might be a good idea to stop encouraging them, before you start threatening your playerbase with permadeath in order to curb them.

(Anonymous) 2016-06-20 03:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I actually want to agree with some of the points on how Kylo Ren has been treated, or how his plot to kill someone has led to him being rewarded - or his player - in receiving game plot, and how this especially looks when the player is now part of the mod team.

From the mods' perspective I'm sure it makes sense: He was about to die, and he also killed a fair number of PCs during Aiada's event. But other alternatives could have been taken to introduce this plot to the game that didn't make him the centerpiece as this has.
preybeforemeals: (VICTOR ♞ you need some better pets)

[personal profile] preybeforemeals 2016-06-23 04:57 am (UTC)(link)
While I appreciate the clarifications in your response, I'm going to have to ask for another with regards to the basic message of what you've said here. Before I get into that, I would like to clarify myself that what I'm about to say isn't coming from a place of wanting more death plots and what have you; I am all for those taking consequences and being curbed within reason. However, the fact of the matter is that you threatened your playerbase (whether you want to invoke permadeath or not, the entire last portion of the modpost itself was an overt threat to do it, and there is no way to read it otherwise given the wording you used) and the reason seems to be "you're doing things that do not follow the narrative that we as mods want for the game." It sounds as though we cannot do anything that might run the risk of upsetting the natives, lest we deviate from whatever scripted narrative you're following - that is to say, we cannot do anything that could threaten the status quo or lead to the natives turning against us, or we're going to see further threats like that as you see fit.

Is this what you're saying, or am I misunderstanding the situation you're spelling out? If I am not misunderstanding, where is the line being drawn? There are a lot of IC actions that could run the risk of upsetting the natives and garnering NPC resentment; should we see an 'uptick' in those as well, are those also going to be restricted for the sake of preserving the narrative direction that you, as mods, want to pursue?
preybeforemeals: (VICTOR ♞ you need some better pets)

[personal profile] preybeforemeals 2016-06-25 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
All right. Thank you again for the clarification; if that truly is the place you were coming from, that makes a lot more sense, and is generally more in line with the tone of the game thus far - the reason this received such a strong response from me is because of how this read to both myself and other players that I discussed it with. The impression the initial post gave off - again, to several people - was that of a direct threat if we did things you didn't like, and the response I received the first time did nothing to assuage those concerns any and if anything only seemed to confirm that particular interpretation of the initial post. That sort of departure from what we love about and have come to expect from Empatheias as a whole was jarring, especially since it seemed to come from nowhere; knowing what the intentions were behind it helps, however, and I really do appreciate the response detailing those intentions that you've provided here.

While I still don't agree with how certain things were handled, I would also like to apologize for my initial tone in responding to you; I believe I've explained my reasoning in this comment, but at the same time that doesn't excuse it and I acknowledge that I was entirely more abrasive than necessary and I'm sorry. Thank you for your continued willingness to listen and explain; again, it's greatly appreciated.
lostapprentice: (b: the dark side)

[personal profile] lostapprentice 2016-06-18 11:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Player: Ryoko
Character: Kylo Ren
Alignment: Aiada
Have they spoken with an Arehtei before?: N
Rep? N
Arehtei: Aiada
Question type: He's got some Things to talk about regarding the terrifying death creature. Also some yelling.
Anything else: He'll probably be willing to project his memory/sense of the thing to the Arehtei if they want.
creativenonfiction: (Tu 8:23 am fuck me in the ass)

[personal profile] creativenonfiction 2016-06-19 12:28 am (UTC)(link)
Player: Greer!
Character: Kunikida Doppo
Alignment: Sosyne
Have they spoken with an Arehtei before?: N
Rep? N
Arehtei: Aiada
Question type: Largely questioning the reason for the seeming lack of control the Arehtei exhibit and how they plan to deal with the consequences of their actions, etc etc. Also anything that comes up because of that.
Anything else: can't think of anything!
bondsofsuffering: ([Smile] Miserable - yes - but)

[personal profile] bondsofsuffering 2016-06-19 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
Player: Dani
Character: Hizumi Mizushiro
Alignment: Aiada
Have they spoken with an Arehtei before?: Y
Rep? N
Arehtei: Aiada
Question type: What she has been doing prior to her... 'appearance,' as well as questions about the life cycle of the Arehtei and Simpathis.
Anything else: does he get bonus points if he appreciates how cute aiada is
luxuriant: (heard enough)

[personal profile] luxuriant 2016-06-19 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
Player: Ash
Character: Zelos Wilder
Alignment: Piphron
Have they spoken with an Arehtei before?: N
Rep? N
Arehtei: All of them/Any of them
Question type: He's got a lot of questions about the state of the island, the way they're handling things, the role of representatives, etc!! Kind of more serious topics, even if he'll have his weird way of talking. He'll probably want to ask about Piphron too, even if he doesn't expect many answers there.
Anything else: Not that I can think of!
eyeswideopen: (There's no way I could decline...!)

[personal profile] eyeswideopen 2016-06-19 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
Player: Sam
Character: Nagito Komaeda
Alignment: Peromei
Have they spoken with an Arehtei before?: Y
Rep? Y
Arehtei: Aiada and Sosyne, and Daimonia
Question type: With Aiada he wants to ask her more about herself and how she got down in the depths of the island. For Elios and Sosyne, world related questions. Specifically to further his knowledge about the present state of the world below.
Anything else: If Peromei needs any calming down or not, he can assist pretty quickly with that.
sobored: (Default)

[personal profile] sobored 2016-06-19 10:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Player: Steve
Character: Junko Enoshima
Alignment: Peromei
Have they spoken with an Arehtei before?: Y
Rep? Nope
Arehtei: ..I'm pretty sure Junko's always going to be interested in talking to Peromei above the others, but any of them are fine.
Question type: I think regardless of which one she gets, Junko's probably going to ask about the death thing floating around. Sorry, it's a topic she's pretty interested in. With Peromei, she'd probably also ask about her death and how Peromei felt about that whole thing because uh, sorry aligned Arehtei, she wants to know.

If it's not Peromei, and she doesn't feel a need to torment them, she'd also like to ask a fair bit about the Aiada event and what all happened there, and maybe throw some questions out about Piphron, since that seems to be the only Arehtei that hasn't shown up yet, and is probably next?
Anything else: I don't think so!
hadthehighground: (cloak and a beard)

[personal profile] hadthehighground 2016-06-20 10:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Player: Darkfeather
Character: Obi-Wan Kenobi
Alignment: Peromei
Have they spoken with an Arehtei before?: N
Rep? N
Arehtei: Any is acceptable really.
Question type: He will be asking about the death creature as well though considerably less yelling than Kylo Ren.
Anything else: He will be listening in on Kylo Ren's questions and answers and will keep quiet if everything he wants to know is covered there. But will interject his own questions if he needs to.
deathboss: (Emotion - Hearts Flutter Away)

[personal profile] deathboss 2016-06-22 09:12 am (UTC)(link)
Player: Pixle
Character: Eikichi
Alignment: Aiada
Have they spoken with an Arehtei before?: Y (and promised video games)
Rep? N (he would probably like to become one)
Arehtei: Any is acceptable but he'd love to be the one he actually already bonded with.
Question type: Dumb hero stuff that would probably be the same regarding of which: what can we do to help, anything that we should know, tips on making this place better, have any of his friends shown up here before, and for Aiada maybe questions regarding what she did with her spare time back in the day (gotta have some hobbies right?)
Anything else: He may show Aiada his Dragon snake
uncouthhatcher: (well i mean it was nothin so)

[personal profile] uncouthhatcher 2016-06-23 10:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Player: Peace
Character: Gold
Alignment: Aiada
Have they spoken with an Arehtei before?: Y
Rep? N
Arehtei: Aiada, though he wouldn't shy from Peromei, Daimonia, and Sosyne in the least. Hello, ladies.
Question type: He wants to know more about Aiada!! And show off his Pokémon to her like he said he would. He may also ask the other three Arehtei out on dates too, because they're girls and deserve nice treatment. Sorry Thras, Elios. If he hears topics that're interesting with these four, chances are he'll interject with a question of his own, too, since plenty of people are gonna be asking things.
Anything else: Nope!
trademark_skull: (Welp)

[personal profile] trademark_skull 2016-06-24 01:47 am (UTC)(link)
Player: Grif
Character: Emizel
Alignment: Peromei
Have they spoken with an Arehtei before?: Y
Rep? Y
Arehtei: Most likely he will be sticking around to Peromei if she shows any obvious signs that she's not doing well. But he is interested in anything that Aiada has to say
Question type: Seeing how many people are already going to be asking about death he's just going to listen to those answers instead. Though at this point Emizel would rather know how to talk to this death creature/spirit/thing personally.
Anything else: Uh, I don't think so
Edited 2016-06-24 01:47 (UTC)
feistytrader: (gold's hat is huge too)

[personal profile] feistytrader 2016-06-24 05:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Player: Cam
Character: Silver
Alignment: Aiada
Have they spoken with an Arehtei before?: Y
Rep? N
Arehtei: Aiada
Question type: He mostly wants to see if Aiada's okay and ask more about herself and Simpathis.
Anything else: Nope!