Character Reports: what is the point?

[LauraMars]

No, people thought that you needed to report all the time (even if you weren't a leader) to be considered a good player/get karma.  But the point of this thread is to tell you that that isn't true.  Leaders need to send in reports every week but other people shouldn't feel stressed out about it and just report if something "crazy" happens.

So for instance I've had my non leader character for months and have sent probably one report, cause nothing has really happened to be worthy of reporting.

[Talia]

LauraMars is correct. Nyr was saying that the idea that you'd get karma because you sent in reports was an incorrect expectation/assumption. While communication is an area that you can get karma for, you can't get to 8 karma by sending in reports.

Leaders are required to send in reports weekly.

Non-leaders should not send in reports more than monthly. They don't have to send them in at all if they don't want to.

There is nothing about reporting in and of itself that will get you karma, or that will mean you are overlooked, either.

[roobee]

Still confused on who a character report benefits and how for non-leadership characters. Is it primarily for staff to read interesting stories? An avenue for staff to interact with my character if we both happen to be online at the same time? A way to prove myself a reliable character in order to get karma?

[Saellyn]

It's a way for staff to interact with you and know what's going on. If you keep the mapprised of plots you can expect that there is a possibility they may help to further that plot along.

[Inks]

When playing a hired killer/ killer it is good to list your targets in a character report and the reasons why i.e: X paid me, because you will be able to refer to this should you suddenly get an opportunity to murder them.

It also keeps imms apprised of various parts of ongoing plots. For instance a pc of mine killed a Kurac guard NPC for plot reasons, so I sent a report in about that since that is pretty relevant, a witness may have seen my description etc.

[Mordiggian]

Character reports benefit the people who take the time to send them!

If you were playing a tabletop RPG like Pathfinder or Numenera or D&D, whoever is helping you tell your story by playing the role of dungeon master needs to have a clear picture of what is going on, what you would like from them, etc. Obviously, if you're sitting down at the table every couple weeks, your dungeon master knows everything going on in the campaign! But if your roleplaying world is accessible to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and your DM isn't always there, they need to stay apprised somehow if you want them to provide the best experience.

Non-leader/non-sponsored PCs certainly aren't obligated to send character reports, but if you're one of those players that prefers to fly under the radar and do your own thing, and then you wish up asking for <insert major animation here> you probably won't have a lot of luck, because I may or may not know what you're talking about, and if I have no clue what you're doing, I can't help you.

Non-leader/non-sponsored PCs who do provide character reports also demonstrate that yeah, they make an effort to communicate both ways and let us have a clearer picture of their PC, their goals, motivations, etc, so that when I sit there wondering "Will this guy be as good a Byn sergeant as he says?" or "Can this guy be trusted to play a nilazi who doesn't use zombies to recreate the Thriller dance scene?" I have some reference material!

[Jave]

I will randomly animate more things for you and help your story along if you tell me what you're trying to do.