Plot raffle.

[Reiloth]

It's gonna be weird seeing people with custom tattoos and scars, and thinking "oh, the Staff pet."

I'd prefer the incentive be Karma related, account note related, or otherwise invisible to the rest of the populace.

I'm not against this but I would and will ask to not participate.

[Delirium]

After some consideration, I'll say that visible IG perks are my primary reservation.

I think that custom scars/tattoos, while cool, should be the realm of a special app/mastercraft and not "plot perks".

[BadSkeelz]

Why are you under the impression there are no Staff plots anymore?

Just perception. Probably has more to do with where I'm currently playing than anything. Though really I'm not sure where I even implied this.

It's gonna be weird seeing people with custom tattoos and scars, and thinking "oh, the Staff pet."

I'd prefer the incentive be Karma related, account note related, or otherwise invisible to the rest of the populace.

I'm not against this but I would and will ask to not participate.

Yeaaaah that's a concern. I'm not saying I would see someone with a "special tattoo" and think "Oh, staff pet, extra points on the PK point scale" but I'm sure there are those who would. I'll stick with current rewards. Safer and more enjoyable.

[Malken]

It's a raffle and anyone can enter, how does that make whoever wins a staff pet?

[Reiloth]

Oh I meant raptor Dan above you, not you BadSkeelz. Should've quoted.

[Reiloth]

It's a raffle and anyone can enter, how does that make whoever wins a staff pet?

Because it implies you participated in a Staff program for Staff granted incentive, rather than playing the awesome game we already have for the purpose of playing the awesome game we have.

Program may work for some, or be the incentive they need to plot. It certainly doesn't appeal to me and I won't participate, and that's okay too.

[BadSkeelz]

It's a raffle and anyone can enter, how does that make whoever wins a staff pet?

Because the Request tool is biased in favor of those who can write better reports/that Staff like/who can be arsed to actually use it/etc.

I'd be OK with physical rewards if you received them on the PC who initiated or ran the plot (assuming they survived). A wicked scar seems like a reasonable reward for running a combat RPT.

Oh I meant raptor Dan above you, not you BadSkeelz. Should've quoted.

ah okey

[Delirium]

It's a raffle and anyone can enter, how does that make whoever wins a staff pet?

Dude have you heard those conspiracy theorists over there? Or heck in this thread already?

But all that aside, I actually don't care about that. What I care about is an effect that is visible, IC, that tells me, "This player is special" - because they have submitted enough plots to win a raffle. In a way, that could be a good thing. It tells me I want to gravitate toward them for interesting roleplay. But in another way it's jarring, and takes me out of the game, and makes me think OOCly rather than entirely ICly, and that's what I don't like.

I'm a cranky old lady RP snob, bear with me.

[Reiloth]

It's a raffle and anyone can enter, how does that make whoever wins a staff pet?

Dude have you heard those conspiracy theorists over there? Or heck in this thread already?

But all that aside, I actually don't care about that. What I care about is an effect that is visible, IC, that tells me, "This player is special" - because they have submitted enough plots to win a raffle. In a way, that could be a good thing. It tells me I want to gravitate toward them for interesting roleplay. But in another way it's jarring, and takes me out of the game, and makes me think OOCly rather than entirely ICly, and that's what I don't like.

I'm a cranky old lady RP snob, bear with me.

I agree. It seems like one more reason to play the request tool rather than the game itself.

[Malken]

I'm a cranky old lady RP snob, bear with me.

No problem, I'm usually the first guy to find faults with new ideas and I don't find anything wrong with that idea, which is what boggles my mind as to how you guys can see that as a bad/annoying/more work change

If seeing a scar/tattoo that relatively seems original to throw you off your IC game and leaves you reeling with jarring angst for a minute or two, I -guess- I can see that happening, maybe?? But then, I play Armageddon while watching TV and playing video games on my other monitor so I never really had that problem.

[BadSkeelz]

Even if you have misgivings about the rewards, I still think these guidelines are a good thing to use when submitting your Plot-requests. Even if they're just a heads-up and not a request for Staff action - there's even a section for saying whether you would like help or not. I'll be using them next time I think of a plot. So thank you for that.

I think Akaramu's point from the first page could use a little exploration though: what IS An acceptable plot to run?

An alternative way of having more player run plots would be to allow for more stuff to happen if it doesn't disrupt the game balance. I had (somewhat recently) a plot idea that would eventually (if it was allowed to develop) involve the Byn, several trips to locations outside Allanak, and involve a bunch of PCs / clans. Staff said 'no' and that was the end of it. Maybe some transparence on what is and what isn't possible would help?

We just got these awesome new guidelines for mastercraft submissions. Would be great if we could get something similar for plots.

[Rathustra]

Jesus Christ.

[lordcooper]

Jesus Christ.

Sup bro?

[Delirium]

Jesus Christ.

Come on, dude. I like the philosophy behind the idea. I've got reservations about offering these sorts of character perks.

That doesn't mean I'm a brat for bringing up my concerns, which is what this dismissive post seems to imply.

You're better than this.

Meanwhile, I will be giving this a chance and keeping an open mind, my trepidation notwithstanding.

[lostinspace]

So do these plots have to involve our current characters, or can they be any kind of plot? I've been thinking about a plot that I'd like to do on a future character, but I am unsure if t will even be considered, especially because I haven't created the character yet, and hence don't know how many people I will be able to pull into a plot, just how many I WANT to pull into the plot.

Also I have always disliked in game bonuses from out of game actions. Now, if the characters that COMPLETED the plot got the McGuffin as a vanity item, could earn the scar during the plot, and afterwards have a better understanding of climbing, so they get a skill bump in it, that would be interesting to me.

[Akaramu]

Now, if the characters that COMPLETED the plot got the McGuffin as a vanity item, could earn the scar during the plot, and afterwards have a better understanding of climbing, so they get a skill bump in it, that would be interesting to me.

That would be neat  And no one would be tempted to store in order to get their vanity item and skill bump.

[TheWanderer]

I think a few of you guys are being a little melodramatic.

I'm all for things that incentivize some of the people I've met to plot. Some of you need it.

[FamousAmos]

For fucks sake, it's a fun initiative from Staff. Stop putting things into a negative spiral each and every fucking time. Staff's pet... we're all grown ups here aren't we? Sounds to me some people are already whining in advance.

[Rathustra]

Jesus Christ.

Come on, dude. I like the philosophy behind the idea. I've got reservations about offering these sorts of character perks.

That doesn't mean I'm a brat for bringing up my concerns, which is what this dismissive post seems to imply.

You're better than this.

Meanwhile, I will be giving this a chance and keeping an open mind, my trepidation notwithstanding.

I'm really not.

[wizturbo]

Whoa.  This has a lot of potential. 

If we take our focus away from the carrots, which are a distraction from the real value of this program, there's a lot going on here.

1.  There will be an up-to-date repository of active plots from all participating players.  This expands the scope of what's on the staff radar dramatically, as only sponsored roles are required to do reports, and frankly not all character reports are entirely about outlining active plots in terms of number of participants, etc.

What can staff do with this up-to-date repository?  Get more involved.  If Grebber Amos has a mining plot where he regularly rounds up a few other miners to toil on the sands, now his humble run of the mill plot is on the staff's radar.  They might make things more interesting for these miners.  Maybe they'll find a rare gem.  Maybe they'll find a rare monster that eats their face.  Maybe nothing will happen except a few flavorful echos that helps bring the world alive for these players and to recognize that their humble efforts are seen and appreciated.

2.  This quantifies the impact of player's on the world around them.  This can help staff be objective in their evaluations of how well a player is performing in a sponsored role, or what their potential is for future sponsored roles.  This can reduce the amount of perceived or real staff favoritism, because they'll have stats to back up things up.  Trying to decide between Player A or Player B for that sponsored rolecall?  Well, Player A has 120 plot submissions.  Player B has 20.  It shouldn't be hard to decide which to go with if all else is equal.

3.   This incentivizes players to do book keeping.  I don't know about all of you, but I'm terrible at reporting these days.  Why?  Because it is inherently not very fun, and felt quite pointless.  I spend hours of my free time writing a report and I get nothing for it but a "Thanks" or a very brief dialogue.  Now there's at least some potential reward, however small, to keeping up with this book keeping.  The more thorough I am at said book keeping, the greater my chances of getting these goodies.

4.  The raffle implementation method does two great things.  First, it makes sure anyone who participates could potentially win.  While leaders who work their ass off are more likely to win, Amos the Miner could win too.  That's good.  Second, it limits the amount of goodies the staff has to create to a finite amount so they don't suddenly create some enormous workload from this.

This is great stuff. 

Edit:  Moderators are awesome.  Thanks.

[wizturbo]

Since I've spent a chunk of the morning thinking about this, here's a couple suggestions for Cayuga.

Suggestion 1:  Add a second raffle using the same list to select a plot at random that will get a "surge" of staff involvement.  Notice I'm saying 'involvement' not 'support'.  The surge should be a minimum of 1 hour of staff time, but have no upper limit if it happens to be a plot that staff get excited about for some reason. 

This would do a few things. 

• It will insure that every single plot in the game, no matter how humble, has the chance to have staff involvement even if it isn't interesting to staff.
• It adds yet another big incentive to report plots.
• Creates an avenue for players to feel like the staff are giving back in exchange for all the effort the players put into this program.

Suggestion #2:  Do the exact same thing, but for staff involvement in plots.  Every time a staff member involves themselves in one of the plots entered into this raffle, they should similarly be entered in a raffle of their own!

• Start up a Patreon account to fund monthly prizes.  Anonymous donations from players only.  Producers are responsible for spending this dough on prizes.  The reason I say Patreon is because they have a monthly installment option, and this program only works if there's a steady flow of prize money.
• Storytellers, Builders, Coders and Admins only.  Sorry Producers.
• Prizes should be posted on a monthly basis along with name of the winning staffer.

[Reiloth]

I remember the days before the request tool when Staff was an invisible guiding hand to a bunch of cool plots. I'm confused what had changed to require such conjoined Meta incentive to get people to plot in the game.

I'm dubious of a "random" plot for Staff surge. That pretty much defines favoritism, unless you are literally using an algorithm to pick it. There will be bias when choice is involved.

I'll type more when I'm not on my iPhone in a delivery room! Lol.

[Delirium]

Whoa.  This has a lot of potential. 

If we take our focus away from the carrots, which are a distraction from the real value of this program, there's a lot going on here.

1.  There will be an up-to-date repository of active plots from all participating players.  This expands the scope of what's on the staff radar dramatically, as only sponsored roles are required to do reports, and frankly not all character reports are entirely about outlining active plots in terms of number of participants, etc.

What can staff do with this up-to-date repository?  Get more involved.  If Grebber Amos has a mining plot where he regularly rounds up a few other miners to toil on the sands, now his humble run of the mill plot is on the staff's radar.  They might make things more interesting for these miners.  Maybe they'll find a rare gem.  Maybe they'll find a rare monster that eats their face.  Maybe nothing will happen except a few flavorful echos that helps bring the world alive for these players and to recognize that their humble efforts are seen and appreciated.

2.  This quantifies the impact of player's on the world around them.  This can help staff be objective in their evaluations of how well a player is performing in a sponsored role, or what their potential is for future sponsored roles.  This can reduce the amount of perceived or real staff favoritism, because they'll have stats to back up things up.  Trying to decide between Player A or Player B for that sponsored rolecall?  Well, Player A has 120 plot submissions.  Player B has 20.  It shouldn't be hard to decide which to go with if all else is equal.

3.   This incentivizes players to do book keeping.  I don't know about all of you, but I'm terrible at reporting these days.  Why?  Because it is inherently not very fun, and felt quite pointless.  I spend hours of my free time writing a report and I get nothing for it but a "Thanks" or a very brief dialogue.  Now there's at least some potential reward, however small, to keeping up with this book keeping.  The more thorough I am at said book keeping, the greater my chances of getting these goodies.

4.  The raffle implementation method does two great things.  First, it makes sure anyone who participates could potentially win.  While leaders who work their ass off are more likely to win, Amos the Miner could win too.  That's good.  Second, it limits the amount of goodies the staff has to create to a finite amount so they don't suddenly create some enormous workload from this.

This makes me feel a lot better about this. Thanks for the perspective.

[wizturbo]

I remember the days before the request tool when Staff was an invisible guiding hand to a bunch of cool plots. I'm confused what had changed to require such conjoined Meta incentive to get people to plot in the game.

I'm dubious of a "random" plot for Staff surge. That pretty much defines favoritism, unless you are literally using an algorithm to pick it. There will be bias when choice is involved.

1.  It isn't incentivizing plots.  Those already happen.  It's incentivizing reporting the plots so staff know about them...because even with eyes everywhere it must be basically impossible to keep track of this shit.

2.  Random number generator.  100% zero human choice involved.  Someone's random Mining operation could be selected, or Lady Prissy's Strip-Kruth game might get the 'surge'...which come to think of it has some hilarious potential.  Imagine a bunch of senior nobles walking in on a game of strip kruth.  LOL. 

3.  This isn't about the 'surge' being the only winner.  Having plots of staff's radar, especially in advance so they can prep a little, is going to increase involvement EVERYWHERE if players denote that they'd be open to staff involvement in their submission.  Everyone wins. 

[Riev]

The way I see it, without wanting to sound too complain-y, is that staff can not and certainly DO not watch people playing the game nearly as much as we want or hope.

The amount of things staff DON'T know, without someone reporting it, is genuinely spectacular. As much as I like to imagine the iDB having posts dedicated to each plotline going on right now, I'd be willing to bet there are maybe three about staff avatars causing a ruckus, and not about how Corporal Riev is kanking that Terashi all night.

I mean, at least this is an incentive program that isn't OUTWARDLY favorable to veterans, etc. There's maybe 9 players that really actively engage other players in their shit, for the 200+ we get every week. Maybe this will increase a bit?