can we retrieve our stored PCs more often?

[Harmless]

Character storing is not hard to do; it's usually the fastest responded-to request I get. However, the irreversibility of the decision is really challenging to bear with. Regret is a common feeling. Boredom, waiting around in a character you're less than interested in playing at the moment, is a common problem. Not logging in is a usual consequence of the above dilemma; store or not store and play on.

Classic example, the recent new guild system role-call announcement. Not gonna apply for it, not willing to store my PC...haven't logged in much for a while, kinda bored with my PC, but don't wanna store it either due to  unfinished semi-recent storylines, but other characters involved are hard to reach/sync playtimes with, etc...so I don't log in for another week and do other things with my free time.

What if we had an automatic system to store and then later retrieve our PCs? Maybe it can only be done once per PC...you get one break with them, that's it. Perhaps to add further limitations, and to prevent SNAFUs with people auto-reviving long-stored weirdos of the past from auto-storage, you need to retrieve any auto-stored PCs within a certain time span or else they get perma-stored and are no longer obtainable.

Staff have manually facilitated this exact thing for us before; there are gladiators, most recently. If something like that were always available (and wasn't gladiators...not interested in playing a gladiator at the moment), I think I'd log in more and be able to enjoy the game a bit more free-form.

[Grapes]

I would personally like to be allowed to unstore stored PCs at some point at a later date, as the OP said, sometimes you're just not feeling it and need a break for a while, but the permanence of the decision is really daunting.

[TheHandmaid]

Having played on MUDs where this was a thing, I am not excited to see it. It was common on those others game to see a PC disappear exactly during a situation or time that they were needed, like when they committed a crime or did something stupid, only to make a new character and have fun. When they thought the storm died down, they reemerged from the darkness of nowhere and acted like nothing was amiss. Is this an extreme example? You betcha. It would drive our Staff crazy having to monitor and deal with these situations because yes, they would pop up.

That said, I would like to see more un-storage consideration and exceptions given for PCs stored for sponsored roles, to take Staff, to help with the new Guilds, etc.

[Armaddict]

Not in support of this.

I like 'hard' rules.  They are unyielding and unforgiving given certain circumstances, yes.  But they are also equal.  Whenever we reduce a 'hard' rule to a 'soft' rule, we just end up making things to argue over.  Interpretations.  Favoritism.  If they did it, why can't I?  Why would you allow it for this previous character, but not for this one?

Hard rules are easy to know.  Right now, we know that if we store a character, it's not coming back.  And that makes it something that you need to consider before doing so.  It's not a light decision, and generally, not one that I don't think should be made based off of level of boredom.  And it's a reliable one, where we don't reduce a policy down to subjectivity to get irritated over.

[seidhr]

No way I could ever get behind this, and you'd feel the same if you saw how often people submit a storage request and then cancel it.  It's just more admin work, in addition to potential IC fallout.  If you want to store your PC, do.  If you don't - don't.

(FYI we "usually" don't store people immediately when they send in the request, giving them the chance to cancel the request, if it seems like they might change their mind)

[ShaLeah]

The only way I'm in support of this is if the storage request comes with a request to unstore in the future. Let's say you get a sponsored roll, you wanna app but love your char.  Send in a request.
The worst they can say is no. 

[Lizzie]

Agree with the naysayers, for the same reasons they say nay.

Especially the "hard rule" comments by Armaddict. You want to return to the OMGFAVORITISM nonsense, this is a great opportunity to do so.

There already exist steps available for sponsored roles to unstore previous characters. The staff will either a) state right in the sponsored role post that it's a temporary role and current PCs can be temporarily stored, or b) the staff will discuss privately with you any other opportunities that might or might not exist to unstore.

I've had a character temporarily stored once in the years I've played. It was enough to convince me that it was a dumb idea then. If you really LOVE your character, don't store. If you really want to move on to something new, store.

Think of it this way: If you really wanted to move on to something new, and storage wasn't something this game offered as a choice, you would've suicided. And then your character would cease to exist, and the staff wouldn't be able to bring him back a month later when you decided you liked your suicide character better than the new one.

So just pretend that when you store, you're basically suiciding your character. He's dead. Move on.

[Harmless]

I don't disagree that we need to avoid favoritism as much as possible, which is why I was suggesting we try to design something automated that incorporates enough restrictions that it's not likely to be abused...such as a hard limit to how many times it could be done in a year.

The perspective of the staff was interesting. I had often wondered if staff intentionally waited on certain storage requests for a while to see if a player would cancel it, as I have cancelled some of mine in the past, and kept playing until a later death. Thank you for confirming my suspicion on that, but also proving my point that with the current system, staff have to invest some of their precious administrative time managing people's boredom, dissatisfaction, or whatever-reason they have to store.

In other words, the problem is complex, and has multiple elements. Currently, the system requires staff to work hard on the simple issue of "do we like our current character." Ideally players should be able to manage their own happiness with their characters and their game experience themselves, without a staffer weighing in...but, currently we see that staff use some of their time to manage our rights to put away characters or start new ones.

I know that the above is kind of a melodramatic way of describing our current character storage system, but I am trying to support an argument -- not so much that I strongly feel that the proposed idea in my OP is a good fix, but just to state that no system is or will be perfect, but it might be good to analyze how we handle storage and retrieval as we continue to make changes that improve the game.

[Grapes]

Ahem... if I store, it doesn't mean my PC is dead, it means they return to interacting with the virtual population...

But I get where worries about favoritism could come into play. Granted, my PC COULD die on their virtual adventures. That said, sometimes you just need a break from a PC, not because the players are bad, not because the plots are bad, but simply because you can't stand to play them at the current time anymore, no one has to be trying to kill you (and if people ARE trying to kill you, please don't store, that's the WORST), and in my experience, it has nothing to do with avoiding IC consequences. It would be nice sometime in the future to explore that character, but you don't get that option at all, but hey, it's fine, you knew what you were getting into when you stored...

But I read this thread as "Wouldn't it be neat if you could..?"

[In Dreams]

It's easy to see the concerns on both sides!

Sometimes I've wished I could take a break from certain PCs without having to leave their stories behind forever, but it's also easy to see how a privilege like that could be abused or cause headaches for our staff that already has lots to deal with. I would say I would appreciate if it could be more possible without breaking the system, particularly if one is taking on a sponsored role.

Using myself for an example, I've always been afraid to apply for a sponsored role for fear I wouldn't like it or wouldn't live up to the constant pressures of leadership. If I could possibly come back to the PC I'd been playing before in the event that it didn't all work out, I might have tried a sponsored role at least once by now.

Instead, I haven't and probably never will. My PCs tend to be long-lived and role calls come by only in short windows.

[Brokkr]

Given that you are talking about a situation where someone could store, interact with their previous friends/enemies in any variety of ways, then un-store, you are introducing a level of potential abuses that you would need to provide solutions for in order for anyone to seriously consider this.  In the current manual, and very rare, un-storage situation (which we have agreed to with the player beforehand), this is something staff monitor to make sure doesn't occur.

[Grapes]

Just an idea to toss out there, if unstorage were ever to be considered as a widely available option (not expecting it to be for the reasons outlined in the posts of others, which, are sensible), then what if it cost a point of CGP or two?

[Riev]

Just an idea to toss out there, if unstorage were ever to be considered as a widely available option (not expecting it to be for the reasons outlined in the posts of others, which, are sensible), then what if it cost a point of CGP or two?

I think the point Brokkr is getting at, is that the few times they've entertained the idea in the first place, it took a lot of staff resources to ensure the UnStored PC wasn't using information the player gleaned from another PC. CGP or not, it would still require that extra time, because we as players cannot be trusted to maintain that divide of IC/OOC information.

[Namino]

Given that you are talking about a situation where someone could store, interact with their previous friends/enemies in any variety of ways, then un-store, you are introducing a level of potential abuses that you would need to provide solutions for in order for anyone to seriously consider this.  In the current manual, and very rare, un-storage situation (which we have agreed to with the player beforehand), this is something staff monitor to make sure doesn't occur.

That's all well and good but have you considered that allowing us to store whenever we want will allow me to pull off the ultimate bamboozle?

1) Get PC into relationship
2) Store PC
3) Use new PC to seduce old PC's partner
4) Store new PC
5) Return with old PC, harp on about this betrayal forever