IMPORTANT Announcements! + Current App Count: 9th Cycle

[hughes]

All righty! Everyone who can see the f-locked entries in the damned_mods comm already knows about this, but I'll repost the start of the discussion for you guys:

Basically, Katsu and David suggested that we should move up the number of M-Ued patients to 5 instead of 4, and that they'd make sure to RP the extra doctor that we'd need if we did that. We wanted to know what you guys thought of the idea, and also whether you, as NPC mods, would be willing to take on an extra patient as well.

We also discussed the possibility of bringing up the number of M-U slots to 6 (the amount of disciplinary rooms we have), but we then realized that might be too much of a strain on you guys and would also make getting SC more "valuable" than getting M-U. We then considered the possibility of upping the SC slots or having SC every night (at 3 slots), but couldn't get around the fact that we'd then be way overcrowded with antagonists.

I'm also unlocking the MOD DISCUSSION POST so you guys can see all the excellent input everyone gave. (Thanks, guys! <3) Basically, all our mods underlined the issues that have arisen in past Nightshifts--the amount of rescue parties in the M-U hall, how antagonist overcrowding is a definite concern, and possible ways to prevent those problems while at the same time trying to get through SC and M-U faster for everyone. They proposed a variety of solutions which you guys can see there, so many, in fact, that Court and I decided we needed a much more extensive poll that the entire community could participate in.

However, we also know we can't delay Nightshift too much, especially considering how bad we've been delaying the intercom posts this past Dayshift, so we decided that while we'll do a poll in the next few days (possibly couple of weeks, considering that we need to get through them apps), whatever outcome we get from the poll will affect next Nightshift, not this one. Still, we put off randomizing players for M-U because of the discussion, so we're extending the dinner shift by just ONE DAY so we can organize that. In addition, Court and I decided that an easier way to randomize for M-U and SC would be to put up a master list poll where people could tell us if they wanted SC or M-U and which character they'd want to volunteer for it. It'd be a little hard for us to properly randomize for at first, but I think it'd make the randomizing more efficient in the end, so be aware of at least that one definite change for next time!

Okay, so, BOTTOM LINE YOU CAN SKIP DOWN TO IF YOU WANT: While there will be changes next Nightshift, as dictated by the outcome of an upcoming comm-wide poll, the only change this Nightshift will be that there won't be any monsters or antagonists of any kind in the M-U hall. While we're unsure what we'll do in upcoming Nightshifts, we feel we should hold off this Nightshift until we figure out what would work best for everyone.

Anyway, that's the whole rambly backstory, so if you guys have any comments/suggestions/questions you want to put forth before we put together the poll, PLEASE COMMENT HERE WITH YOUR INPUT! Your guys' ideas are greatly appreciated, and while we might not be able to respond to everyone, we will read everything and try to take everyone's opinions into account when we put together options on the poll.

Also, one last thing: Since it was requested, we're bumping up the current app-reading count and posting it here.

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Final app count: 68
Final character count: 66
Final fandom count: 51
# of new applicants: 21

(By "new applicants," we specifically mean applicants who have never been players in the game. This includes people who have applied before and been rejected, but it does not include applicants who were in the game, dropped, and are now re-applying.)

# of apps Court has read: 16
# of apps Erin has read: 30
# of emails sent so far: 8

Last Updated: NEW POST HERE

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Sorry, as always, for suckage in reading. I'm afraid things won't be much better this weekend, at least for me, since I've got an essay due on Tueday. D8 HANG IN THERE, PPL. Though at least I'M WINNING SO FAR FUCK YEAH Also, THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO'S GIVEN US SECOND OPINIONS! ♥ ♥ ♥ We appreciate it BUNCHES. :D

Comments

[jennifer.livejournal.com]

I really, really appreciate the "no monsters in the MU hall" rule. It's going to help things for both NPC mods and players. (Not that the occasional thread of doom can't be fun, but it can be a royal PITA to get stuff organized when you have 6 or 7 people plus a monster and they're all going after the same thing...)

♥

[zalia.livejournal.com]

Well first, I have to agree that on SC nights especially, it's getting really difficult to get anywhere at all without getting embroiled in a huge fight with either an SC character or an NS character. While it's cool to be able to get into fights, it gets kind of wearing if you're being attacked by something huge and dangerous and near impossible to kill in pretty much every single room (usually if you're trying to get to the Basement or cafeteria, no matter which way you go, you're guaranteed at least 2, usually 3 NS/SCers in a row). It makes it seem like more of a chore. So in that case, I think it might work to have SC night not have NS characters.

I do quite like the idea of having a main SC night with 3 or 4 people, and then maybe one SCer every other night, just to add a little variety, and as has been said, get through the roster faster.

I'd fully support having more MU slots opened. Even with apps only happening every 3 months, there's still a huge number of players to get through and it would be nice if everyone had their chance and maybe, eventually, a second chance since it'd be fun to inflict this on more recently picked up characters.

This is especially true if someone's wanted to turn down SC or MU because it didn't fit with their characters (some characters aren't suited to SC, or it wouldn't affect them enough, and some characters would find SC more traumatic than MU).

Ummm, rambling, sorry ^^; Might have more to say later

[famira.livejournal.com]

I think upping the idea of MU and SCers would be awesome, especially considering Landels does keep growing and it'd offer more characters a chance to try out MU and SC (also, a second chance for other characters of a player would be cool too). I'm seconding Zalia's input on it cause she makes some really good points. :O

[continuum.livejournal.com]

Also seconding Zalia's points.

Plus, a lot of those NS/SC threads require us as players to try to find ways to stay out of it for practical reasons because it's so huge at the time -- but it's hard to make IC excuses for certain characters not to join in on an already large fight thread if the number of NS/SC characters makes it difficult to avoid any of said fights in the first place. I mean, some characters don't have a problem sneaking by and leaving others to their fiery doom, but then there are those characters (read: the hopelessly heroic types) where it'd only make sense for them to not help out in a fight if they never see it in the first place.

So, uh, I guess what I'm trying to say is, having more antagonist-free hallways would help in reducing the amount of particularly complicated navigations that sometimes needs to be done just to avoid adding yet another group of characters to an already giant SC/NS thread.

B-BUT YEAH. I HOPE THAT MAKES SENSE? And good luck to you mods with sorting all this out and the apps and everything. ♥♥♥ AND GOOD LUCK ON YOUR ESSAY, TOO.~

[boot-i-licious.livejournal.com]

Well, for most hallways it's easy to excuse because the place is supposed to be pitch black save what you have for flashlights, and the sounds of combat should be everywhere, so pinning down a specific fight in your area isn't always going to happen...unless it's good for plot, of course. XD

Dunno, does that make sense about the antagonist-free hallways bit?

[blurred-divide.livejournal.com]

.......YOU KNOW WHAT, THAT'S A GOOD POINT. CLEARLY, I FAIL AT LOGIC. Pls to be ignoring me. 8D;; ♥ Yay, simplicity.~ \o/

[contentincloset.livejournal.com]

I'd love that there be more M-U slots, but I think I'm only for that because I'm looking for M-U over SC for my pup. I think it's a good balancer since there are more SC nights as well.

As for SC (we're OK to comment on that too, right?): I don't think it would be too terribly bad if it was every night, but only if it ran alongside the NS characters as well. For example: 2 SC patients and 2 NS monsters would be out each evening. The math (so far as I can figure) would give more chances for both sides to play their characters, just not collectively on the same nights. Since there's generally 3-4 (I think... aren't there usually 4 NS characters during M-U nights?) played characters aside from NPCs, I don't think it would be too much of a hassle either.

-4 night by 3 SC charas (and on the reverse, 3 nights by 4 NS charas) = 12 SC and 12 NS out per week, total of 24
-7 nights with 2 SC and 2 NS = 14 on each side, total of 28.

That's 2 players extra for each group and 4 overall, which is still small and might not be worth changing how things are done over, but it would help with a faster rotation through the SC list perhaps? Just a suggestion.

Whatever happens, you're all doing a great job!

[kanara.livejournal.com]

NO monsters in the M-U hall is going to creep the hell out of my little shinigami this nightshift, more than PHead being in there would.

Seriously, not knowing if you're going to have to fight someone in that hall is more psychologically wearing than having to do battle after battle. Perhaps have there be no monsters for a few M-U nights in a row and then throw one back in after the patients start to think there isn't going to be an antagonist and then go back to nothing?

Randomizing it like that will increase some of the horror factor, in my opinion. Especially if you've just fought something big and bad the previous rescue and then all that happens this next one is a single rat that jumps out and scares the crap out of your character. It also make splanning for the rescues harder because we don't know what will be in the hall. At this point, the characters are expecting big nasty creatures guarding it.

[wyna-hiros.livejournal.com]

Just a question, semi-related:

Is there going to be any change allowing people who had MU a chance to get SC ever? (unless I'm reading the rules wrong, but I'm under the impression that if you had one, you will never have the other).

Or vice versa for the people who had SC.



Also seconding the idea of upping the numbers of MUers and SCers, just because the game is getting so big.

[demyx.livejournal.com]

Ah, it's more of, if you get one, you are also taken out of the pool for the other until everyone has had a chance to get MU or SC. So, theoretically, once everyone has had one MU or SC session, you would have a second opportunity to get another. Of course, this will probably take forever since we have so many players and new people coming in every three months. XD;

Yeah, it kinda sucks... I hope the extra slots will allow people to get second chances.

[wyna-hiros.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what I thought. (well, minus the part where "never" was wrong, thanks for clearing that up)

I'm just curious if there's going to be any change to that particular rule, especially because it sounds like it's already pretty much impossible as it is.

More slots might be an answer, but then again, they might not, just because there will always been more people on each app period. So it might be just the same result in the end.

[0bnoxious.livejournal.com]

I agree with zalia, as well. She definitely has some good points. We do get more characters (and players) each app cycle, and with the comm growing as much as it is, it wouldn't hurt if there were more slots so more players could get either SC and M-U, so that the character/player rotation gets done quicker. No NS-only characters during SC nightshift so the amount of SC could be raised sounds like a good idea, as well. But then again, I'm not playing anyone's that's NS-only, so I'm not sure how those muns feel about this??

I also think kanara has a good point. Characters (and their muns) expect a very tough creature to be guarding the M-U hall right now. Not knowing what will be thrown at you will definitely increase the horror stuff. If there will be no monsters (save for a rat or something) in the M-U hall, characters might be lured into a falls sense of...'safety'?

But there might still be the possibility of whenever there's a tough monster guarding the M-U halls, even if it doesn't happen every night, it'd be another thread of doom. I think splitting up the threads might work? One tough monster/Nightshift-only character and several monsters? The suggestion of having multiply threads that don't happen at the same time (but then again, it'd might be an issue for the player to reply to multiply threads, as only one person keeps track of them).

I hope that made sense? D:

Either way, good luck on sorting this out (and reading the apps). And the essay too!

[mikasaigo.livejournal.com]

I'm mostly gonna echo what other people have said, but I'm for having more slots for MU and possibly spacing out the NS and SC people. Like Zalia suggested, maybe doing one night with 3 or 4 but then just pop in 1 of them the other nights? so it'd still have more slots opening up in the long run, but they're spaced a little differently so it's not too crowded. SC and NS are wicked fun and I liked when it wasn't too over-crowded and you only found them once in a while because it was a surprise and not something every other hallway :(

As for thread crowding, I'm not really sure how you can avoid that. I felt bad when my chara had SC because with their powers, they weren't likely to allow people to pass them by, but I hated holding people up :( So I'm not sure where the happy medium is. Especially when we have heroic types who want to jump in to save the others, and etc, and so on. That can get really slow especially in the "rescue" threads for MU.

I'm curious about Wyna's question too. If more slots open, and we do them based on who wants SC or MU for their character with a randomizer every time, will it be possible for a mun who's already had a character in SC or MU to get the other? That probably sounds a little greedy, but I got my SC early on and it fit well for the character, but now I have 3 more people here... and it'd be fun to get MU for one of them. Ah... but I know others have been waiting for a long time and haven't had a chance at either one :( SO... yeah. I don't know if my opinion would be different on that if I hadn't had a chance at either yet.

But... yeah, I guess my vote is for upping the numbers. I'm not sure exactly how, but with the game getting as big as it is, it looks like it's inevitable. ^^;

[1mperturbable.livejournal.com]

While it is completely saying the same thing as pretty much everyone else, I agree with no monsters in the MU hallway. It's a HUGE drag and seems to waste a lot of people's nightshifts away waiting for their turn to post. Also, it would be much more traumatizing (in my opinion) for rescue parties to actually have to pound on the doors to no avail, knowing that their best efforts aren't good enough to stop the torture of their friends/comrades/lovers/etc. It would dampen everyone involved in MU down and crush their spirits... which is the point it seems.

More MU slots would be nice as well. I think as long as it doesn't weigh down too much on the NPC Mods that have to do the threads, it would be a good choice to make. The more slots, the more torment, and the more fun for everyone.

I also agree with the fact that there should be a cut down on SC and NS-only characters in some areas. It is really frustrating to have a character have an agenda in mind, but not be able to get anything done because they are stuck in battle after battle. While battling is fun, it drags and when it happens every nightshift, I feel it builds frustration in not only the players but the characters as well. Feeling productive on the shift that takes the longest in Landels is what makes things fun.

Besides, there is plenty of fun with character interaction and arguing about where to go than being bogged down with physical battles with Landels nasties all the time.

That's just my two-cents. Take it with a grain of salt if needed.

And I'm pretty sure I just repeated what everyone else said >.>

[osakapwnzu.livejournal.com]

Seconding the "No Monsters in MU Hall" thing! That'll help the rescue party a lot, I think. Especially if there are five slots? God forbid two or three really popular characters are taken and half the institute wants to go get them. DX Threads of doom ahoy.

I'm also in favor of upping the slots for MU and SC, mostly because the roster is so big and it seems to me like everyone is only going to get one turn, so we hold out for whatever we want. I'd be happy to not play ofazureflame less if it meant more people could get SC. Some people may complain that that means fewer big baddies around, but I think the whole point of this RP is character situation and event. Not necessarily trying to find PH so he can pwn your characters royally. XDDD

But uh, yeah... I felt the need to say something while it's still dinner shift. o_o; And I'm awake. XD

Question though: are the MU slots going to be upped this NS? Or is the consensus still 4, but no monsters in the hallway? *slightly confused*

[boot-i-licious.livejournal.com]

MU slots are NOT going to be upped, per Court. Any changes beyond "no monsters in the hallway" will take place next MU. <3

[katsu]

After chatting with Sin, I've also had another thought. It's very frustrating that at this point, there are always at least 2 monsters/SCers in the way of getting to the basement. And I can sympathize with that, because if you get SC, you want to be somewhere that people will go so you can have fun. That's why the big nasties all end up glommed together, because they want to be in the high traffic areas, and you really can't blame them for that.

I think what there needs to be is a reason for people to go to areas that don't get a lot of traffic - like the chapel. It also helps spread people out, because right now the vast majority of characters are trying to go to a very small set of locations. There really needs to be some kind of plot reason to get people to spread out more, with the PC population becoming as large as it has. Exploration isn't doing the trick any more, for the most part, because the maps have become pretty widely distributed.

[screwthegods]

Seconding this! I've had this talk with David a couple of times, since we're both the muns for club leaders. It's really hard sometimes when coming up with the "assignments," because overcrowding is an issue. Poor little Landel's got really full really fast, and right now there is basically one hot spot area to go to.

So, yeah. Good suggestion!

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

I'm sure plotty reasons to go elsewhere than the basement can be arranged. *EG*

[burningvigor.livejournal.com]

Good! We should discuss, since it's definitely a valid concern, and once I've been noticing.

[fyeonly.livejournal.com]

Grab me when you've got a minute, then! I'm kind of on and off, but aroundish. Aroundish enough for plotting. :D

[burningvigor.livejournal.com]

All right. I'm about to go to dinner, and I need to do the M-U assignments, but I'll see if I get a chance tonight. Otherwise we can do email correspondence.

[fyeonly.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to me! Right now, I tend to be on at night anyway, when I'm done with everything. I actually sent Erin an email about plotty stuff last night, come to think of it. ANYWAY! Yes, just whatever works!

[burningvigor.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's usually when I'm around, too. With spurts during the day. Ahh, yeah, she says she got it - she just hadn't had a chance to respond yet.

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty much not around during the day right now. But I seem to be settled in now, hopefully, barring anything out of the ordinary happening!

[screwthegods]

In addition, Court and I decided that an easier way to randomize for M-U and SC would be to put up a master list poll where people could tell us if they wanted SC or M-U and which character they'd want to volunteer for it.

Would we be able to change our choice? The reason being that for the longest time, I would've put any of my guys up for SC because I couldn't think of an MU for any of them...and now I've thought of MUs for two of them. So just wondering if we could at any point change it, or sign up for both if we want a chance at both equally?

[burningvigor.livejournal.com]

Yes, you would be able to change and be in the pool for both! We just know there are some people who are very set on getting one or the other, so yeah. :3

[laverinth.livejournal.com]

I mentioned this to Tad earlier, and she said maybe I should suggest it. What about this: You could have like... an "experimentation" night every so often. On those nights there would be a whole load of patients taken. Maybe it wouldn't be done in the regular rooms - they could be dropped off around the Institute randomly when they were done. That could give a lot more people the possibility of an MU in a shorter amount of time.

[subversive.livejournal.com]

THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME. DX W-waaaaaah. GO, ERIN, GO. AND GO, COURT, GO. WAHSADHASDJDJKJFDHG *explodes*