Character Reports: what is the point?

[Desertman]

I often feel like a huge wang when I send in a report that has nothing of "interest" in it.

If nothing is going on with my character, even if I am playing a leader, I feel like I am wasting someone's time by sending them a report that basically says, "Hey you guys, business as usual.".

I usually try to wait until "something is going on", before I throw another request in the workflow.

I'm not sure how staff feels about that when stacking it up against the mindset of, "try to throw one out once a week".

[Barzalene]

That's a good point overall:  it is a bit like office work if you strip out or summarize most of the IC stuff (leaving only relevant and concise IC things) and get down to the basics that staff needs to know.  Reports are meant to inform staff of what your character is doing and to some degree what the player is doing.  They need to get that information across in a clear, summarized, concise manner.

It would be better if they were more like fun and less like office work, so I propose we tweak the template to a format like mad libs. It might take a few tries to  get the points across, but it should go fast and hilarity could ensue!

[Nyr]

I often feel like a huge wang when I send in a report that has nothing of "interest" in it.

If nothing is going on with my character, even if I am playing a leader, I feel like I am wasting someone's time by sending them a report that basically says, "Hey you guys, business as usual.".

I usually try to wait until "something is going on", before I throw another request in the workflow.

I'm not sure how staff feels about that when stacking it up against the mindset of, "try to throw one out once a week".

How would your staff know that everything with your leader PC is "business as usual" or "nothing has changed" unless you tell them that?  Reporting even that basic amount lets staff know several things:  you are still playing, you are still reporting, and nothing has changed as far as you know.  It also provides a handy avenue for staff to respond and say "hey, we are setting up an RPT for your clan, what dates work?" or "this PC is trying to reach you, here are their playtimes" or "we've been meaning to talk to you about Kevin" or "the last 10 reports of yours have said the same thing that nothing has changed, why are you playing a leader if you're not doing anything?"

If you don't even do that, you are likely wasting your staff's time.

[Nyr]

That's a good point overall:  it is a bit like office work if you strip out or summarize most of the IC stuff (leaving only relevant and concise IC things) and get down to the basics that staff needs to know.  Reports are meant to inform staff of what your character is doing and to some degree what the player is doing.  They need to get that information across in a clear, summarized, concise manner.

It would be better if they were more like fun and less like office work, so I propose we tweak the template to a format like mad libs. It might take a few tries to  get the points across, but it should go fast and hilarity could ensue!

It would be better if players and staff spent less time working on character reports.  If you have a suggestion here for a change that would accomplish that end, feel free to provide a template.

[Bushranger]

I stabbed him in the face with my face-stabbing knife

Now I want a face-stabbing knife!

Are leaders supposed to be submitting separate PK reports? Whenever I've played a leader I've just included it in my weekly leader report as a separate section.

[whitt]

It would be better if players and staff spent less time working on character reports.  If you have a suggestion here for a change that would accomplish that end, feel free to provide a template.

Question before I dive in - How do you envision information being captured in a Bio Entry being less of a drag on staff than the same information being captured in a Player Report?  That would help in crafting a template that meets the needs of staff while also presenting the opportunity for players to continue to update staff in a way that they are comfortable with.

[Marauder Moe]

Question before I dive in - How do you envision information being captured in a Bio Entry being less of a drag on staff than the same information being captured in a Player Report?

For starters, bio's don't warrant a response.

[whitt]

Question before I dive in - How do you envision information being captured in a Bio Entry being less of a drag on staff than the same information being captured in a Player Report?

For starters, bio's don't warrant a response.

Understood, but a report that basically amounts to:

Report Header
  Topic 1 - pointer to bio entry A
  Topic 2 - pointer to bio entry B
  Topic 3 - pointer to bio entry C

Seems very much the same as plunking all that information into the report, no?

[aeglaeca]

The issue appears to be that there is a lot of extraneous information in character reports and that the imms would prefer you err on the side of too little info rather than too much. Putting thoughts and feelings into your bio as opposed to your character report seems to be the general consensus.

Reading and writing bios is still optional.

[Marauder Moe]

I think the idea is unless you're a leader or have something actually important to say, don't send in a report.

[whitt]

I think the idea is unless you're a leader or have something actually important to say, don't send in a report.

So put another way?:

If you are informing staff of something, but don't necessarily need feedback  = Bio
(eg What your character is doing, why, and with whom)

If you are asking staff for something that does require feedback = Report
(eg OOC assistance with a pRPT or plot goings on that (v)NPCs might react to)

If you've Bio'd a significant # of things / time has passed = Report
(bi-weekly/monthly non-required reporter heads up)

Using the above, most of my character reports would be bio entries in, basically, the same format with a simple character report out to let the clan staff know I've updated and see if clarification was required.

There are a few downsides to taking this path:
1) The "warm fuzzy" that comes from having a staff member respond meaningfully to your "bio-entry in character report format" may go away -  diminishing the desire for players to report at all, which diminishes the amount of information available to staff and may reduce the incentive for some styles of players to engage. 
2) I don't believe this reduces the workload on the staff, other than (assuming staff will read the bio entries at some point) allowing staff to clear their character reports outstanding queue faster because they can close the report quicker.
3) It may revise how staff can determine if a newer player will be a good and responsible leadership reporter.   Currently filing consistent, meaningful, character reports can be a marker for consideration in future roles and allows staff opportunity to engage with the player to provide feedback beyond the account notes request.

[Nyr]

Question before I dive in - How do you envision information being captured in a Bio Entry being less of a drag on staff than the same information being captured in a Player Report?

For starters, bio's don't warrant a response.

Exactly correct.

Understood, but a report that basically amounts to:

Report Header
  Topic 1 - pointer to bio entry A
  Topic 2 - pointer to bio entry B
  Topic 3 - pointer to bio entry C

Seems very much the same as plunking all that information into the report, no?

We are requesting more things than just "put all of your IC crap into a bio."  Here is what was suggested:

Q:  What should be in a report?

A: The goal of reporting is to inform staff of things that they would either need to or want to know about regarding your character's activities, as well as any specific support you need from your clan staff.  In this case, provide the relevant basics and provide more details if requested.  If you are a leader, there are some basics we do need to know about that will help us out.  Recruitment, use of clan accounts, specific leadership-related things from the past week, and then any needs or questions for staff.  We have a suggested report template for you to use if you wish.  Keep in mind that reports (while useful, and in some cases, very much required) should not take the place of playing and role-playing.

Q:  What should not be in a report?

A: Anything that could instead be placed as a biography entry.  Before, we have allowed this to be in reports.  We would prefer that players spend more time actually playing than reporting, or (if you want to write about more personal, emotional, relational, or historical details) place that in a biography entry.  Instead of detailing some IC feelings in a lengthy manner in a report, you should instead create a biography entry and then reference the name of the entry in your report so that staff can go read it if need be.  This will also be provided in an example and template.

In the template, it mentions this for both leaders and for non-leaders:

Interaction and Report

• Who, What, When, Where, Why and How:  Provide a summary of what happened over the past <period of time>.  If any particular description seems as though it could be (or might become) verbose, it may be better to put it in as a biography entry and reference it instead.
• Plots and Plans:  Briefly describe what you plan to do next <period of time> or in general.
• Questions, comments and/or staff needs:   Ask any questions you might have, comment about previous reports and let the staff know what you currently need.

Key points:  provide a summary.  If you feel like you're getting verbose, maybe best to put it as a bio entry instead.  You still should summarize.

If you have Topic 1 - pointer to bio entry A, you've essentially done nothing to tell staff anything and are requiring the same amount of work for staff to chase down the information you have sequestered in a biography entry.

You would instead do this:

Topic 1 -- short, few sentences (at most) of summary for topic 1.  Pointer to bio entry A if you have more on it.

[Nyr]

I think the idea is unless you're a leader or have something actually important to say, don't send in a report.

So put another way?:

If you are informing staff of something, but don't necessarily need feedback  = Bio
(eg What your character is doing, why, and with whom)

Not quite.  Inform them via a summary.  If you have enough you want to write about, summarize it anyway and put the verbose stuff in an IC bio.  

Using the above, most of my character reports would be bio entries in, basically, the same format with a simple character report out to let the clan staff know I've updated and see if clarification was required.

Please don't do this.  It should be possible to summarize a report without just linking to biography entries and saying "here's what I did".

There are a few downsides to taking this path:
1) The "warm fuzzy" that comes from having a staff member respond meaningfully to your "bio-entry in character report format" may go away -  diminishing the desire for players to report at all, which diminishes the amount of information available to staff and may reduce the incentive for some styles of players to engage.

As alluded to in the original posts, we don't think that warm fuzzy is worth the amount of time it takes to provide it.

2) I don't believe this reduces the workload on the staff, other than (assuming staff will read the bio entries at some point) allowing staff to clear their character reports outstanding queue faster because they can close the report quicker.

See previous responses.  I've also already seen some players use this format as requested and sure enough, I was able to process the information in the report much more quickly.  They still provided the basics that staff needed, but this time, it was better summarized, easier to read, and did not go into IC tangents.

[Down Under]

Having to separate IC from OOC from IC Reporting to OOC speculation to IC Speculation is a bit of a nightmare for me in my character reports. Removing the IC speculation (Bio worthy), that only leaves the IC reporting, and that makes me happy, because it's less confusing. I would often write a report, and then go back and separate sections based on being my speculation as a Player, my speculation as a Character, or my reporting as a Character, or my OOC reporting as a player. It got convoluted.

If I am playing a character than writes, I sometimes like to 'act out' the letter that I am sending to my superiors, because I otherwise don't get to interact with them (See: Not too many boss animations unless it warrants them). I typically don't plop the whole letter in a mass of text -- I do excerpts that are applicable to the section being reported, typically 1-3 sentences.

I think that's probably the best 'middle ground', so it allows a bit of entertainment/creativity, while the meat of the IC Speculation is reserved for Bios, and it feels less like a TPS report.

[Barzalene]

More seriously (and I am disappointed you didn't laugh at my joke), whatever you guys need to do to make things work within reason should be fine. That said  I would remind and counsel you that most people have a real need to feel heard and understood. I know you know that. My point is whatever method you go to has to meet that need. I think that's the key to success.

It sounds as if a lot of anxiety come back to some acknowledgment of the bios. Can that be addressed?

[Delirium]

I'm all for organization. But I do worry that over-formulaic responsibilities and expectations lead to this game feeling like work.

[bcw81]

I'm all for organization. But I do worry that over-formulaic responsibilities and expectations lead to this game feeling like work.

In some leadership positions at some times it definitely -does- feel like work.

That said, I think there's still a ways to go before everything turns to feeling like work. I really do love getting staff responses on my reports and it really does help motivate me to keep moving forwards if only because I know other people are seeing my story and saying 'Yeah, cool!'

[nauta]

Hi,

I totally get the worry that the new report system might be impersonal, but here's a counter-thought: rather than spending the time to respond to you in the report, staff can spend that time animating the world and actually getting involved in that storyline, which should totally give you the fuzzles, amiwrong?  At least I suspect that is the goal.

[Marauder Moe]

Yeah.  Everyone may need to find some other sources of warmth and fuzziness outside of the request tool.  Staff have a game to run.

[Barzalene]

Yeah.  Everyone may need to find some other sources of warmth and fuzziness outside of the request tool.  Staff have a game to run.

Well, that will make less work for staff, but do nothing to keep communication flowing. I think if this is now part of the game it has to be at the least inoffensive. 

[Marauder Moe]

But again, I think the idea here is actually to reduce communication.  We've been over-sharing with the staff and apparently it's sapping their time (even if they enjoy it).

[Barzalene]

Very true. Maybe the system could put a little read symbol next to bios that had been accessed.

[whitt]

I totally get the worry that the new report system might be impersonal, but here's a counter-thought: rather than spending the time to respond to you in the report, staff can spend that time animating the world and actually getting involved in that storyline, which should totally give you the fuzzles, amiwrong?  At least I suspect that is the goal.

Its a different thing - Seeing cool things in game and feeling like your contribution is part of that coolness because someone says "this is neat".  

With the restriction on discussion of IC events (which totally makes sense) among players the only feedback a player is likely to get about their character's performance is from staff.  The window for that feedback is either via character reports or account notes.  The other option is kudos from other players which, are awesome, but scarce.  Character Reports, potentially being a two way communication, can create a sense of being a part of the larger game for the player - especially if something in a report also spawns activity in game.

Because of the outside the game nature of Character Reports, that can happen at any time the PC has time to check e-mail, and at staff's convenience for responding to reports.  IG "awesome" requires both parties to be IG at the same time and focused on the same interaction.

I think the "goldilocks" spot of the Character Reports is keeping the player feeling heard and engaged (per Barzalene) without overburdening the staff in need to wade through novels of fluff to get to the key response points (per Moe) - the way that is communicated goes a long way to not missing on the first point.

[Desertman]

Am I the only one that really only hopes I don't get some sort of negative feedback on my report?

I don't want warm and fuzzy feelings from them. I'm happy just to not get any criticism in general.

If I get a, "Thanks for the report, we appreciate the information.", and nothing else;

I usually call that a huge win for me.

(Which really makes very little sense as staff has been more warm and fuzzy in my responses than not.)

[Tetra]

Am I the only one that really only hopes I don't get some sort of negative feedback on my report?

I don't want warm and fuzzy feelings from them. I'm happy just to not get any criticism in general.

If I get a, "Thanks for the report, we appreciate the information.", and nothing else;

I usually call that a huge win for me.

(Which really makes very little sense as staff has been more warm and fuzzy in my responses than not.)

I see it the opposite way.  If staff take the time to give you constructive criticism, it's like they actually took the time out of their day because they care enough to tell you.