HMD | April 2012

[these_balls]

EVALUATE MY BATTLING!

TRAINER TIPS:
→ This is encouraged, not mandatory. We will not penalize you for not using it.
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→ MOD/GAME HMD

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

This is mod locked, though. An idea that the player base might live might get shot down due to a fluke and they would never know.

[meatysoviet]

... I thought that was what Plurking was for though?

It's a good idea for a group suggestion thread, don't get me wrong, but I thought Plurk was the big RP plotthingymajig.

[these_balls]

Well, plurk is more or less for those who wish to use it. It's much like AIM - it's a good tool but not necessarily the best place for generating plot ideas. Plus with the character limit, a general post or something the players can tl;dr to their hearts content may be easier in terms of discussion.

[(Anonymous)]

This.

How about making a mod plurk though? Even if it's just to post announcements and general reminders.

[these_balls]

Maybe! We're considering it but we haven't fully brought it to discussion just yet.

[meatysoviet]

I would have thought that would detract from the game itself though, if you're busy with things both on and off DW.

It might not, but I would have thought it would, unless a mod takes sole responsibility for it.

[these_balls]

It would, honestly, which is why I'm very hesitant on doing so. While it would be a good tool, adding that to things we already have to check makes it harder for us to maintain, especially since we'd have to designate one moderator to maintaining it for pings or personal questions directly to the moderator account. It's been easier having the players come to us specifically on our private plurks or to the places game-specific in general. We haven't completely removed it from the options, but we're leaving the idea of adding a moderator plurk as lower on the list of things we already need to do and are currently working on.

[(Anonymous)]

Keeping things to private, one-on-ones with you guys is part of a larger problem here. The same questions often get asked over and over, I bet even the same suggestions get suggested too. I can't be sure of that one simply because those are hidden from us.

This really seems to be the overarching theme with the modding style you've had over the months and years now. You take crit and ideas well, you do so with smiles and humbleness that make us all happy at the time, and everything is wonderful.

But when it comes down to actually implementing anything, the results just aren't ever there. Even now, it sounds like nothing minor is actually going to happen for a few more months, let alone the major things needed to kick this game into gear. Unless the new mods have just as much, or more, control than you and Ara, I worry if even a dozen new mods would matter at this point.

[combat_butler]

As someone openly recommending the mod plurk, I'd just like to point out--

It's been easier having the players come to us specifically on our private plurks or to the places game-specific in general.

I'm not sure why you're so hesitant about this if you have players already coming to you on your private plurks? I will freely admit I've considered adding some mods on plurk JUST to grab them for game related things from time to time, but that would seem shallow of me, so if there was a mod plurk I wouldn't feel like I was? You guys are nice and friendly and all, but I really would feel shallow as hell adding any of your because you're a mod.

Is this just an issue of you not wanting to have to log in to it once a day to check over everything? Really, all you would maybe have to do is log in, click the "private" tab to see if anyone sent you guys anything, and that'd be it.

I'm not saying it needs to be higher on the priority, but it really wouldn't be as much effort as you're making it seem... It's never detracted at all from any other games with mod plurks, only helped them from my experience with them.

[these_balls]

It's not that we have a problem with the idea of HAVING a mod plurk, it's the maintaining part that we're concerned about. With what else is already on our plates, adding more things for us to check might not be the best of ideas. That and we may forget to check it daily for questions, as well as the absence of getting pings.

It's usually been easier to check our actual plurks because we're already logged into them and we get the notifications individually. So if a player messages one or more of us, we'll all get the notification and we can check when we're around. And Ara and I plurk from our phones, and it's a hassle trying to log in and out of those - when it's sent to just us directly, it's right there when we check. We don't get normal notifications for things game-wise unless we've tracked pages. And for the mod plurk, nobody would get notifications unless we're all pinged or can find a way for plurk to message at least the three of us. That's why I said our personal plurks are easier - we already have a habit of checking those and we're around to get to them easily.

It's NOT us not wanting to have one or not, the concern is if we actually can actually REMEMBER to and have time to maintain and check it. As you've noticed, we've had difficulty in other areas, and we want to work with those first. We don't want to end up having one, accidentally having no one check it for a while, and having players disgruntled at us for neglecting it. So we don't want to add more things to maintain to our plates unless we know we can handle it. That being said, we're not dismissing the idea. We're just going to discuss it and see if its something that's doable on our parts.

[combat_butler]

Mmm, that's fair enough. I hadn't really thought about the fact only one of you could get the actual pings/notifications about private plurks being sent to the mod one. I mean, there are ways around that, like having it forward them to other accounts, or making a group one-- but, that depends on how you guys check your e-mail in the first place.

But yeah, I understand what you mean. I'm glad it's not that you're against it, though. As I really do think it's something that would help players keep track of things immensely, especially since plurk is a very RP heavy thing.

As a suggestion to consider if you do make it, you could always start it off with just being links to announcements, junk dates, CR/plotting memes, normal memes, the like. Maybe keep it just that for a month or so, then if you guys feel you're checking and using it regularly enough, you can officially make it "open" to badge requests and simple questions and such?

[(Anonymous)]

You're misunderstanding what I mean. That's for player plotting. What I mean is for mass brainstorming for game changes and suggestions and possible mod-run plots and such. If not a new community, monthly posts of this kind should be helpful.

A plurk couldn't do this because mods can't be expected to have every player friended and then read every single plurk - a community or post in one would be much easier, and all the players could look in on the post or posts and do the same.

[meatysoviet]

When you put it that way I get what you mean and agree with it. I know there's been talk of using the Slowpoke community to that effect below this thread, which seems like a good idea to me now that I fully grasp the problem.