Firstly, we sincerely apologize for failing to respond to your questions regarding Tsukiyama. On checking, Laena discovered she had not responded to your plurk as she believed she had. Our intention was not to single you out, but to instead include cannibalism under the umbrella of “IC behavior which can result in undesirable consequences to the game” -- an emphasis we are adding for the sake of clarity. We did not mean that as ‘consequences to your character’.
(On this note and speaking generally to the entire game, we encourage all communication to our mod team to go through the mod contact post or PMs. Communication sent through these channels is tracked; private plurks to one member of the mod team is not. We are much less likely to fail to respond to something if we as a team have it, rather than one individual mod.)
In response to your statement that we encouraged your plotline in specific and others in general, let us be clear: We can and do appreciate individual plotlines on their own merits, but at the same time, we can be concerned about the accumulation of plotlines in a period of time. The nature of the deaths also counts -- over time, they have shifted from situations like illness or killings during events when extenuating circumstances exist to direct and uninfluenced murders.
We understand that we haven’t been clear in our original post, so let us try to restate our intentions more clearly:
The number of death plots, particularly murder plots, that affect both PCs and NPCs has increased significantly during this year and especially over the course of the past few months. If this continues, we would struggle to credibly maintain the current cautious welcome that Otherworlders have on Empatheias. We would see laws passed to restrict them, curfews and restrictions on weapon ownership, various other restrictions and prejudices surfacing… and that situation would inevitably break down as PCs understandably chafed at this treatment and rebelled against it. What the consequences would be, we don’t know - but we do know that this is not the game we have presented Empatheias as.
At the time we reached this conclusion, some months back, we believed that providing an IC reason to discourage death plots would be sufficient deterrent, while also contributing to the metaplot and encouraging questioning, exploration, and curiosity. Thus, we began moving a setting element into place to provide that IC reason and initially was going to be an element brought out in-game first. Since we began that, however, the number of requested death plots continued to increase, to the level that we felt we needed to discuss the problem OOCly as well so that everyone had an adequate warning of the changes.
Which brings us to your concerns about the Kylo Ren plot. First, this plot was originally pitched to us prior to the increase in death plots which led us to feel OOC commentary was necessary. It was also given to us, in full form save for our own additions, prior to Ryoko becoming a mod, and was not changed in any form when she was brought on the team nor was it given any preference because she was brought on the team; it has played out as it was developed prior to that. Other characters that had engaged in death plots leading up to this one were also given leads into it; Kylo Ren received the actual visitation solely due to timing both in his death and the time the plot was submitted to us.
While this plot has received attention from us, we would have given it the same attention had anyone else been in his position, and Kylo Ren was not the only character to participate in this plot. Further events of this magnitude, which are relevant to the plot and setting and thus of interest to the playerbase at large, will continue to gain mention in mod posts as necessary.
Have we encouraged death plots? Yes, absolutely. We have welcomed exploration of the environment, testing of the metaphysical boundaries, personal goals, and character arcs. Moreover, we do not want to just directly say “No matter how much this plot makes sense, you can’t do it for purely OOC reasons”; that seems unfair. Are we now asking people to consider their plots more carefully than before, and being more restrictive in what we allow? Again, yes, because the volume has grown past where we can simply continue to absorb it without the sense of NPC reactions and behavior past credulity. We have to make some changes to preserve the game in the state that we and, we believe, the majority of the playerbase want it in. We have to change course, and that means, as you said, we are now encouraging less and asking for greater restraint.
So to clarify some things from the post: when we say we haven’t pulled the trigger to make PCs uncomfortable in Verens, it is because we do not want to pull that trigger, and we are actively looking for ways not to do so. Providing significant IC consequences for killing is our first step in that (and a potential way to avoid cannibals NEEDING to kill for food, as we note). Being more restrictive on plots we approve is also part of that, but we would rather provide IC motivation than simply OOC restriction. If it becomes necessary, that motivation can go all the way up to permadeath; although we truly do not wish to invoke that, we have to consider the health of the game as an option.
no subject
(On this note and speaking generally to the entire game, we encourage all communication to our mod team to go through the mod contact post or PMs. Communication sent through these channels is tracked; private plurks to one member of the mod team is not. We are much less likely to fail to respond to something if we as a team have it, rather than one individual mod.)
In response to your statement that we encouraged your plotline in specific and others in general, let us be clear: We can and do appreciate individual plotlines on their own merits, but at the same time, we can be concerned about the accumulation of plotlines in a period of time. The nature of the deaths also counts -- over time, they have shifted from situations like illness or killings during events when extenuating circumstances exist to direct and uninfluenced murders.
We understand that we haven’t been clear in our original post, so let us try to restate our intentions more clearly:
The number of death plots, particularly murder plots, that affect both PCs and NPCs has increased significantly during this year and especially over the course of the past few months. If this continues, we would struggle to credibly maintain the current cautious welcome that Otherworlders have on Empatheias. We would see laws passed to restrict them, curfews and restrictions on weapon ownership, various other restrictions and prejudices surfacing… and that situation would inevitably break down as PCs understandably chafed at this treatment and rebelled against it. What the consequences would be, we don’t know - but we do know that this is not the game we have presented Empatheias as.
At the time we reached this conclusion, some months back, we believed that providing an IC reason to discourage death plots would be sufficient deterrent, while also contributing to the metaplot and encouraging questioning, exploration, and curiosity. Thus, we began moving a setting element into place to provide that IC reason and initially was going to be an element brought out in-game first. Since we began that, however, the number of requested death plots continued to increase, to the level that we felt we needed to discuss the problem OOCly as well so that everyone had an adequate warning of the changes.
Which brings us to your concerns about the Kylo Ren plot. First, this plot was originally pitched to us prior to the increase in death plots which led us to feel OOC commentary was necessary. It was also given to us, in full form save for our own additions, prior to Ryoko becoming a mod, and was not changed in any form when she was brought on the team nor was it given any preference because she was brought on the team; it has played out as it was developed prior to that. Other characters that had engaged in death plots leading up to this one were also given leads into it; Kylo Ren received the actual visitation solely due to timing both in his death and the time the plot was submitted to us.
While this plot has received attention from us, we would have given it the same attention had anyone else been in his position, and Kylo Ren was not the only character to participate in this plot. Further events of this magnitude, which are relevant to the plot and setting and thus of interest to the playerbase at large, will continue to gain mention in mod posts as necessary.
Have we encouraged death plots? Yes, absolutely. We have welcomed exploration of the environment, testing of the metaphysical boundaries, personal goals, and character arcs. Moreover, we do not want to just directly say “No matter how much this plot makes sense, you can’t do it for purely OOC reasons”; that seems unfair. Are we now asking people to consider their plots more carefully than before, and being more restrictive in what we allow? Again, yes, because the volume has grown past where we can simply continue to absorb it without the sense of NPC reactions and behavior past credulity. We have to make some changes to preserve the game in the state that we and, we believe, the majority of the playerbase want it in. We have to change course, and that means, as you said, we are now encouraging less and asking for greater restraint.
So to clarify some things from the post: when we say we haven’t pulled the trigger to make PCs uncomfortable in Verens, it is because we do not want to pull that trigger, and we are actively looking for ways not to do so. Providing significant IC consequences for killing is our first step in that (and a potential way to avoid cannibals NEEDING to kill for food, as we note). Being more restrictive on plots we approve is also part of that, but we would rather provide IC motivation than simply OOC restriction. If it becomes necessary, that motivation can go all the way up to permadeath; although we truly do not wish to invoke that, we have to consider the health of the game as an option.