The September Experiment
From FiranMUX
Good afternoon, Firans. It is I, Leia. For the month of September, we are going to try an experiment. Now with all Firan experiments, people usually really enjoy them or really hate them but often it is a mixture of both. This is my eighth year on staff so I hope you will accept that in eight years I've tried some really great things (and a few things we eventually said OMG that's the worse thing ever and we got rid of). As such, it's my hope you will approach this experiment with an open mind. One of the things I looked at in regards to storytelling on Firan was how much other work we often have to do as staffers. And while much of it is important, some of it could be held off for the sake of telling more stories. Ultimately, I think this work is very important and can admit I find it a little taxing when it builds up if we just stop doing it all together.
So I sat down to consider what would compel us to work on more stories and I came up with the following plan. The idea behind this experiment is to set better expectations for players in regards to plots, requests and jobs. Ultimately, I hope to discover what things players are willing to work out on their own, find ways around and be able to wait on while at the same time enjoying one week of unadulterated trouble making of the good kind.
Contents |
The Plan
Week One
August 31st-September 6th
This would be a regular RP week. Requests would be received in and out and players would RP as usual. Plots may or may not be run this week but it's really important to note that a regular RP week does not mean plots will not be run. Also, Palace District weekend would be this weekend (Sep 6-7).
Week Two
September 7th-September 13th
The @request command will be shut off allowing for staff members to catch up on outstanding @requests, @jobs and such. This should allow ample opportunity for wizards to work on code exciting code jobs, develop new tinyplots, CG outstanding characters, chat and mingle with players or even roleplay! The help channel will still be available for use but the expectation will be that any request type issues or requesting talks with wizards will be held until the following week unless it is an emergency. During this time, players are welcome to find alternatives to requesting and work with each other cooperatively if they cannot wait on an issue.
Week Three
September 14th-September 20th
This would be a regular RP week. Requests would be received in and out and players would RP as usual. Plots may or may not be run this week but it's really important to note that a regular RP week does not mean plots will not be run.
Week Four
September 21st-September 27th
This is a tinyplot week. There will be many tinyplots be they a couple hours, one day or a few days. The staff will have things planned to keep players busy. No new requests will be accepted unless they can be justified to be directly related to some story line or plot.
The Goal
Telling stories is fun, it is! I learned this week that I could create so much good things by initiating some exciting stories for people to work on and I've been so much more in a story mind set that this experiment is really cool to me. And as such, I'm okay with taking all the heat for us trying it. But, I think ultimately being a part of the arching story is so much better than having to wait seven days to put in a request that I think it's worth a try. I'm sure there will be a lot of questions so I'm leaving the rest of this wiki space to address them as they come up.
Questions
1. How does this experiment differ from the normal running of the game (excluding a single week w/o @requests and the PD Weekend)? a) To a staffer b) To a player
This is a confusing question to me as it seems that you are asking besides all the different things what is different about the running of the game which is nothing. If you took out the week where nobody can put in a request and the week where nobody can put in a request not directly related to a storyline or plot, the game is exactly the same for everyone. That said, I think those two weeks added are completely different for staff and players.
