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Log of OOC Meeting - 12/15/18

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 11:37 pm
by Starstarfish
Kinaed states, "Before we start, staff discussed last week that players have raised a few times that the OOC Chat can be uncomfortable due to people raising quite recent events in ways that can be uncomfortable to other people."

SilverMoon states, "I wasn't there for that one, unfortunately"

Temi states, "This was just in general, not necessarily just related to last week."

Kinaed muses, "We wondered if something like an agreement between staff and players might help, so I was wondering what do you guys think of something like: Regardless of what we discuss, we understand and truly believe that everyone on TI does the best they can, given what they know at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand. We agree to be respectful of one another at all times?"
Kinaed nods at Temi.

SilverMoon claims, "Sounds like an apple agreement, but yeah, I agree with that."

Kinaed says, "This comes from what Scrum teams typically say to one another when doing a retrospective."
Kinaed nods at SilverMoon.

Tasker slowly kicks his revolution banners under the table
Temi grins.

Evhor claims, "Agreeable, yes"

Kinaed says, "Well, if no one protests - let's try to keep that in mind when talking about difficult subjects, both as people who may feel like someone's picking them out and also as someone talking about situations that occured that we're trying to work through for the benefit of the game."

Tasker says, "Sounds fair, I thought that was always the unspoken agreement. "

Kinaed pontificates, "Thanks guys!"
Kinaed nods at Tasker.

Zoot_Suit asks, "Would you make it like a palace search and seizure accept?"
Kinaed says to Tasker, "It should be, I agree. Saying it reminds people who might not know"

Kinaed chuckles.

Zoot_Suit asks, "Like we're dropped in a room before here and Agree Don't Be A Butt to join the OOC chat?"
Kinaed states to Zoot_Suit, "An alias might be enough, and I can add it to my typical weekly introduction."

Kinaed declares, "Okay, thanks again, everyone!"

SilverMoon shivers with cold

Temi says, "That's probably a bit much for OOC stuff when staff are here. The accepts are more for being able to go back and check."
Zoot_Suit nods.

Kinaed states, "Moving on to Staff Topics - this last week, I handled some minor policy cases, posted an update for the Blackballing policy for player feedback, and ... I think that's about it for me. I've passed Turf Wars to... I think Temi. And Jail Automation remains on my desk."
Temi nods at Kinaed.

Kinaed says, "That's it for me."
Kinaed exclaims to Azarial, "You're next!"

SilverMoon asks, "Remind me what black balling is?"

Zoot_Suit queries, "Sorry, what is turf wars?"

Azarial claims, "I've been trying to finish up the mods to liquidation requests, but niamh keeps crashing things and sending me on a goose chase."

Tasker claims, "Dammit Niamh, trying to take the game down from the inside. "
Kinaed states to Zoot_Suit, "A system to allow players to 'control' zones and get special benefits for doing so."
Kinaed smiles.

SilverMoon states, "Poor niamh"

Starstarfish says, "Is there any thought on plots being finalized? At the moment if you start editing you have to drop link to cancel out of the plot system."

Kinaed states, "Every crash bug we find is one we can kill. It's the ones we don't find that are bad. For some reason, they always creep out at 3am when no one is around to bring the game back."

Temi says, "Az finished the basic spec on plots, and I've done some testing of it and sent him some bug notes to fix up."

Evhor asks, "So still not working?"

Temi claims, "You should be able to store your plots, though."

Kinaed says, "It sounds like it's not finalized as of yet."

Temi says, "It's functional, but not all streamlined yet."

Temi claims, "So still some rough spots."

Kinaed says, "Apologies for the difficulties, everyone. Thank you for your patience while we resolve."
Kinaed states to Temi, "Your turn :)"

Temi states, "I added gemstones to the generics system, added a few new gemstone imports, and have added several new resources to the asset resource system, including those. I did that initial testing of plots. I've also started working on a spec for security, fluctuating population and control, which will include both turf wars and the idea we discussed before about knowing how many vnpcs should be around, etc. This should also have an affect on how likely things are to report to the guilds in question."

MrDowntempo pontificates, "Cool!"

Temi claims, "Coming up this week, I'll be going for the holidays with my parents, rather than at/after the actual holiday, so I'll be a bit scarce."
Kinaed smiles.
Kinaed nods at Temi.

Temi claims, "But I'll be back again Christmas Day"

Kinaed says, "I hope you have a lot of fun."

Temi states, "And that's about it for me."

SilverMoon claims, "Yaaay christmas day"
Kinaed says to Temi, "Right in time for me to be officially gone for the holidays. I'll be out from Dec 22nd to Dec 28th or so."

SilverMoon says, "I won't my loves, I am going over to my aunt's that day"
Kinaed nods at SilverMoon.

Kinaed wonders, "Okay, I think that's all of the staff members available today. :) Moving on to Player Heartbeat... how was the game this week?"

SilverMoon states, "It was good."

Kinaed questions, "RP fun? Anything shitting you?"

MrDowntempo says, "I've had quite the good time this week"

SilverMoon states, "Last week I cried over thinking my marriage wouldn't go through on another alt, but all and all, wonderful."

Kinaed claims, "I have no player topics registered, by the way. If I forgot to ask, I'm sorry. Send me a tell."

SilverMoon claims, "LOL, I was crying for her, mainly. :P"
Kinaed comforts SilverMoon.
Kinaed states to MrDowntempo, "So glad to hear it"

Evhor claims, "Rather intense, good stuff is going on. I'm quite happy with last week."
Kinaed says to Evhor, "Awesome to hear :)"

SilverMoon claims, "As for this week... I admit I've been a bit scarce but hat rp I do get is great."
Kinaed nods at SilverMoon.

Tasker claims, "Had a really, really awesome scene earlier. Cool casual get together of some guildleaders with the merchants."

Jiraiya fell asleep

Kinaed gives Tasker two thumbs up.

Tasker states, "Many sexual innuendos, so the pyre will be quite busy during this period. "
Kinaed comforts Jiraiya.

Starstarfish claims, "Or the confessional."
Temi grins.

Tasker says, "No, straight to the pyre. "

Tasker claims, "It's like a fast pass system"

Kinaed claims, "I've got a few topics coming up in tells, logging and will raise them when we get to the next part of the chat."
Nyx is idle.

SilverMoon claims, "I love sexual inuindos"

Kinaed says, "It sounds like most people are having a good time, or don't want to tell us if not :)"

SilverMoon says, "I'm having a good time, but I admit I've been a bit bleh this week."
Kinaed comforts SilverMoon.

Irwin says, "Everyone I've had a chance to rp with in game has been really nice"

SilverMoon states, "Watching NCIS"

Kinaed says to Irwin, "I'm very glad to hear that."


Kinaed says, "Well, thanks everyone. I now have... 4 topics."

Kinaed states, "Let's kick off with... MrDowntempo."

Kinaed claims to MrDowntempo, "Please introduce us to your topic. :)"

MrDowntempo states, ""We have won the reddit r/MUD Mud of the month. I nominated us, but don't really know much about what their process is and was curious if the r/MUD mods got in touch with any of the immortals. It appears that it is scheduled on their site for January 4,5,6 and we should expect and influx of new players trying out the mud. I've no idea how many to expect."

Tasker states, "Oh damn"

SilverMoon says, "Jeeze"
Tasker bares her sword.

SilverMoon says, "Tasker, stop stabbing"
Tasker raises a damascus steel bastard sword with an incise floral motive in salute to MrDowntempo.

Kinaed claims, "I received an email this morning asking for an advertisement, but they said they'd take our website tagline for now."

Kinaed wonders, "Can someone link me to the post?"
Tasker sheathes her sword.

Temi asks, "Is it normal to do something special for the visitors or just expected to be business as usual?"

MrDowntempo claims, "Https://www.reddit.com/r/MUD/comments/a ... on_legacy/"

Kinaed claims, "No one contacted me prior to our being nominated."

SilverMoon claims, "I'd just do the same thing we always do. Help the new people"

Kinaed claims, "Https://www.reddit.com/r/MUD/comments/a ... on_legacy/"

Starstarfish nods.

Kinaed queries, "I wonder if it'd be worth the Reddit users in our pbase to make a comment or anything like that?"

MrDowntempo says, "Well anyone is free to nominate any mud, then there is a raffle to pick which mud is chosen for the month"

Jiraiya trails off, "I said Yay..."
Kinaed nods at MrDowntempo.
Kinaed claims to Jiraiya, "Thank you :)"

MrDowntempo says, "It probably wouldn't hurt if some other Redditors made a good impression in that thread."

Starstarfish states, "I'm happy to post something there as well."

Kinaed nods at Starstarfish.
Kinaed nods at MrDowntempo.

Jiraiya states, "There's someone ranting about jews to downvote too"

Kinaed says, "Okay, I have an account so will make a welcoming comment."
Kinaed nods at Jiraiya.

Kinaed claims, "I tried to report it, actually."

Zoot_Suit says, "It's song lyrics."

Zoot_Suit says, "Not a rant."

Kinaed says, "Anyway, thank you for raising our attention to it, MrDowntempo. And thank you to any TIer willing to post in support. :)"

SilverMoon asks, "A song lyric?"
Kinaed states to Zoot_Suit, "Ahh, I'm not familiar with the song. Not that I think it makes that better."

Kinaed states, "Okay, the next couple of topics are anonymous ones."

MrDowntempo claims, "It's reddit. You gotta kinda expect some trolling and what not. Thankfully, their upvote/downvote system usually gets that kinda stuff out of the way"

Alessa claims, "I'd just caution people to not pull a Syndome. I mean, the way that they respond to negativity in their threads is a mess."

Kinaed asks, "From two anonymous players: Hey kinky. question 1 is could we get custom short descs for the astral please? the number of identical short descs in some larger scenes becomes a problem"

Alessa says, "I have no affiliation with that game or its subsidiaries but the way that people respond to negativity in a game thread makes or breaks it for me. *shuts up*"

Kinaed muses, "So my understanding is that anyone can fill in a custom one over the base?"
Kinaed nods at Alessa.

SilverMoon states, "I have played that game before... twice. They have made me cry on occasion."

SilverMoon shuts up

Temi states, "So, the system is slightly more generic now than it was, but not really a whole lot more than previously"

Temi states, "Mainly it uses more generic-sounding words than actually tons less options"

Zoot_Suit claims, "Mel Brooks."

Zoot_Suit exclaims, "Whoops, my screen was scrolled!"

Kinaed says, "Some clarity: The difficulty is that every mage who is a bird is just "an avian" so in an Astral RP scene you can't target people when everyone has the same keywords, as you can't remember folks in the Astral or set your own desc/keywords."

Kinaed says, "Okay, that sounds like a big issue, so we'll make a note to resolve ASAP."
Kinaed starts writing a note. (This is an OOC action)

Zoot_Suit claims, "I thought there was an update to let people set custom stuff? It was in a help news file I think."
Kinaed finishes her note.

Starstarfish muses, "Perhaps just let people set their own sdesc and keywords like you can on a regular on-grid bodyguard or other pet?"

Kinaed claims, "We've created a bug note to address it."

Kinaed trails off, "Okay, next anonymous item..."

Kinaed asks, "Could there be an rpxp bonus in the astral to offset not having class, cyan, etc bonuses there?"

Jiraiya nods to star and says, "that would make sense."

Kinaed claims, "I don't know - we'd far prefer that mages find a good reason to meet up in the physical realm. I'd prefer it wasn't innately superior across the board or even the same level of RPxp. The Astral is designed to help mages find one another, but at some stage, we'd like the RP to move into the "real world""

Kinaed claims, "Well, I would prefer. :)"

Kinaed states, "I can't really speak for all staff on that one."
Temi nods in agreement.

Kinaed says, "I can certainly throw it up as a Staff Talking point for discussion."

Jiraiya questions, "Doesn't the whole teaching thing cover mages having to meet up?"

Temi states, "It's a cool bonus to have an extra safe place, but having a reason to move it into riskier areas can be good"

SilverMoon nods

Kinaed wonders, "Okay, on to our final topic - Starstar, you said you had a topic from another player who couldn't make it?"

Starstarfish states, "If I can word this, one is a concern wherein the new liquidation rumor posts inspire folks at times to conjecture or comment about characters who are no longer about in ways that can feel awkward. "

Kinaed asks, "Is it happining IC/OOCly?"

Starstarfish says, "Ah, ICly, it can lead to folks essentially presuming the off-grid RP of other people's characters."

Kinaed asks, "Meaning that people see a rumor, know this means liquidation, and are 'filling in the gap themselves as they please, even if it makes no sense or the game at large would disagree'?"

Starstarfish states, "I'd say there are times it seems to be like that, yes."

Kinaed queries, "Or "might" disagree?"

MrDowntempo doesn't understand

Kinaed says, "Well, I imagine unless staff endorsed it, which for us would be posting an IC_Event, it could ICly be treated as bullshit."

Tasker claims, "Can I add on to this topic too, just thought of something. Can we introduce banned players to go through this process? I.E, a rumor having to be posted to explain their departure or absence."
Kinaed nods at Tasker.

Starstarfish states, "I'd agree with this, because the day a ban goes posted everyone like 'knows' what happened and the minute that goes up the conjecture begins."

Kinaed states, "I think when we ban a player, we may need to set up the Liquidation POLCA. Basically, it posts a rumor, then three days later, posts an IC event"
MrDowntempo nods at Tasker.

SilverMoon trails off, "Erm... I think that with one banned player it was posted as an IC Note, which made it easier to handle"

Evhor claims, "Yes, after assumptions had been ICly made"

Temi muses, "Why is it a problem if people are guessing to fill in off grid happenings on rumors?"

Kinaed claims, "So if people see a rumor and go gung ho, they'd be in danger of an IC Event popping up that is the world at large finding out what happened."

INFO: Denna has just created!

Tasker states, "Sounds fair"
Kinaed nods at Temi.

SilverMoon says, "Oh god"

SilverMoon wonders, "Denna from the sword of truth?"

Kinaed trails off, "If it's IC guessing, I imagine it's just someone ICly doing just that..."
SilverMoon nods.

Temi states, "Rumors are pretty much designed to be a kernel of truth with losts of guessing and supposition."
Temi grins.

SilverMoon states, "A very small truth. Like hardly"

SilverMoon says, "Which is why it's so fun to spread it around"

Zoot_Suit claims, "I've thought of a question that might not be something that can be answered today, but I wouldn't mind hearing if people think it's worth a forum post."
Kinaed claims to Zoot_Suit, "Sure :) We're out of topics and have 15 min left."

Zoot_Suit says, "I feel like there's a habit of thinking people aren't around if you don't see them on the who list and was wondering if there was maybe some better way of saying Yes, I'm here if you can't be logged in for long spans of time."

Jiraiya doesn't mind us ending early either. Merchants meeting coming up

SilverMoon says, "I usually post notes"

Kinaed claims, "I'm not sure I follow what you mean."

Zoot_Suit claims, "Not trying to call anyone out, just using myself as an example."

Zoot_Suit claims, "Like I tend to get minimal log time, mostly crafting and derping around casually and I'll hear something like hey, there aren't any blacksmiths."

Zoot_Suit says, "But I have ads up etc. and I've done what I can to have a presence even if I'm not online, and answer mail quickly."

Zoot_Suit asks, "Not a great solution but as an example of what I'm thinking, like... could we ghost ourselves on the wholist or something to remind people OOCly we exist?"
Kinaed nods at Zoot_Suit.

Kinaed says, "Ahh, hmm."

Starstarfish states, "That seems a bit unfair."

Starstarfish claims, "I mean if you are on the Wholist people assume you can be found and interacted with."

Zoot_Suit claims, "Not sure if any of that was clear."

Zoot_Suit wonders, "I think it's just an issue of Out of sight, out of mind, you know?"

SilverMoon says, "If you want to know if I'm around, send me a tell. It's the easiest way"

MrDowntempo queries, "Is the issue specificaly about players that want to make sure their services are available?"

Kinaed claims, "Yeah, I wonder about that a bit. I mean, people assuming another player's activity because of who they can see online, and not being interested in anyone outside of the who list. We've seen it not only with things like 'there are no X merchants around' but also 'This GL isn't active' when someone isn't in their timezone."
Zoot_Suit nods at Kinaed.

Kinaed states, "I suppose we could possibly add a section to the wholist of 'active characters not online'... but that may blow out the wholist a bit."

Jiraiya states, "Whois kind of helps that to an extend if people know to use it. I feel guildlist X is a command more people should be aware of too"
say I think the difficulty is sometimes folks like the RP of ordering/discussing stuff and the only do crafting via mail thing isn't a think everyone feels.

Starstarfish states, "I think the difficulty is sometimes folks like the RP of ordering/discussing stuff and the only do crafting via mail thing isn't a think everyone feels."
Kinaed nods at Jiraiya.

SilverMoon claims, "Well, a letter to discuss things is also a solution... Write out a time for a scene, as it were."

Kinaed says, "Yeah, typing 'guildlist <guild>' actually shows who is active."

Zoot_Suit says, "Just an example, the issue more generally is in trying to make space for players who can't be on as much as they might like to not be forgotten."

Azarial states, "Whois should give a feel for activity, and you have space to post hen you are online"
Kinaed nods at Zoot_Suit.

Jiraiya states, "I've been working on updating the subranks on the merchants so that guildlist merchants gives you accurate info too"

Kinaed states, "What we can do - raise this on the forums like requested - and I can mock up what a wholist *might* look like to include active, not-online players."

Kinaed claims, "We'll see if players like it or not."

Starstarfish wonders, "It should be a different option from the main wholist maybe?"

Starstarfish states, "Like Who active or something."

Zoot_Suit says, "Cool! Appreciate the consideration. Forum might pull up some other suggestions too."

Kinaed states, "I think it's hard to say whether it'd be good or not without a mock-up."

MrDowntempo claims, "Well, I don't have a solutiong for the general case, but for the specific case.. maybe instead of only posting ads, coupons or a discount phrase could be posted to encourage players to contact you via mail. "
Kinaed nods at MrDowntempo.

Kinaed says, "That's a good idea too. Everyone loves to feel like they're getting a deal."

Kinaed exclaims, "Okay, we have seven minutes until the top of the hour!"

Zoot_Suit pontificates, "Thanks guys!"

Temi states, "I know I have limited amounts of time to do playing stuff, but I'd be glad to be around on any of characters if people reached out to them."
Kinaed smiles at Zoot_Suit.

Kinaed claims to Starstarfish, "Please, raise another topic if you've got one :)"

SilverMoon states, "I don't kow yur chars though k"

SilverMoon states, "Erm temi to"

Temi claims, "And I don't intend for people to know them. I'd like to be able to relax on them. But feel free to consider that often the case of many people who have limited availability"

MrDowntempo states, "Azarial is Temi's alt"

SilverMoon laughs and continues eating salad

Temi states, "Shhh"

Tasker claims, "I thought I was Temi's alt"

Tasker claims, "My life is a lie"

Jiraiya states, "Tasker always makes me think Takta TBH"

Kinaed says, "Temi is my alt. :/"

Kinaed says, "We're really all one person."

Starstarfish claims, "I was going to mention I think other folks label it 'RP leeching' but ... there seems at times to be a habit of folks going to public RP scenes and sort of idling or not joining in on the scene. Which can feel a bit awkward, I'm not saying don't come join scenes but some consideration that if you do that in popular public spots people who are there are likely wanting to talk to you etc."

Jiraiya says, "The many-faced-god"

MrDowntempo claims, "There's only 2 people on the internet. You and me, and neither of us are girls."
Kinaed nods at MrDowntempo.

SilverMoon states, "Lies"

SilverMoon claims, "I am woman"
Kinaed nods at SilverMoon.

Kinaed claims, "51% or so of TI's pbase is female."

Temi says, "That's just what a guy would say if he was impersonating a woman."

Alessa claims, "I know for me, sometimes I'm not sure of how to join in. I know that osunds dumb but it's true. If I'm at the door, and you are at the table, etc etc"

Kinaed claims, "Well, as of last polling."

Tasker states, "I identify as a wookie"

Kinaed questions, "Is this despite, for example, making some effort to target the incoming player? Eg, glancing their way with a small nod, or any sort of acknowledgement?"

SilverMoon claims, "Chewie get your head out of there"

MrDowntempo says, "Starstar, that can be annoying. I wonder how much of it though, is just people new to RPI muds, and not really familiar that the polite thing is to have your character leave a scene ICly before leaving OOCly"

Kinaed states, "The reason I ask is that if I enter a scene, I typically wait a round of emotes before saying what my character is doing to get a sense for what's going on."
Zoot_Suit nods at Kinaed.

Kinaed states, "And I suspect I noted the wrong part of Starstar's query - yes, leaving should have more than getting up and walking out in an active scene."

Alessa says, "Yep, typically I am waiting. But then you might be waiting for me to pose, but I'm waiting for you to pose, and then we're just a bucket of textual waiting :P"

Zoot_Suit claims, "I think the game policy actually states that if you're there, you're there, but yeah, I do that too. So I can avoid cheerfully entering a scene that's actually a bloodbath or something."

SilverMoon says, "Whe I have to go I generally tell them oocly, then write out an exiting pose"

Kinaed finishes abruptly, "Can I ask players who notice players doing this just drop me a line - I won't be a dick, but I will let the player in question know 'hey, that's not how we do things here, please emote something in and out of a scene'"

SilverMoon says, "Or i just pose in and then wait to see if people notice me."
Kinaed nods at SilverMoon.

Alessa claims, "Oh wait, I think I'm talking about something different. :/"

MrDowntempo claims, "I may have gotten confused and spread my confusion/"

Kinaed says, "Just a note - I just got a query on Facade."

SilverMoon states, "Fassade is weirdly worded"

Kinaed says, "Apparently this is a bit complicated with Facade, where your character isn't supposed to recognize or even note someone with Facade on."
Kinaed wonders to SilverMoon, "What do you mean?"

SilverMoon states, "But they're right there... and it's a it weird for someone like me to ignore it."

Alessa claims, "I was just meaning finding it difficult to enter scenes sometimes. I just assume people think I'm the weirdo standing by the door."
Zoot_Suit grins at Alessa.

Kinaed claims, "I'd say in the case of facade, as frustrating as it is, it's probably fine for someone to come, sit, and leave with nothing special about them."
Kinaed nods at Alessa.

Azarial says, "They look like everyone else."

Azarial states, "Theya re completely unremarkable."
Kinaed nods at Azarial.

SilverMoon says, "Ok"

Alessa says, "...and having trouble just figuring out how to enter in to rp when I don't know that I'd just walk up to a noble or whatever."

SilverMoon says, "That was a bit of confusion"

Kinaed claims, "However, there are situations in which a facade would be broken."

Temi claims, "You're allowed to notice them, just not as standing out, and you can't connect them with someone else in a similar state."

Zoot_Suit says, "Not gonna lie, sometimes I go to a crowded spot to do some minimal RP and people watching. But I personally try to emote that that's what I'm doing, so I'm not just the creeper OOCly creeping on your RP."

Kinaed says, "For example, you're in a private room. A facade'd mage walks in. You can send a request for them to drop the facade because they've entered a private scene with no crowds. Mind, they could quickly say something like 'oops, sorry, wrong door' and it'd probably be valid, but they couldn't come into the private room and RP with you for 5 hours and assume their facade would hold."

MrDowntempo says, "Alessa, I find it helps to just imagine what you char would be doing. You char might not give a poop if there's other people there. You can have them just emote out what they order to eat, and if they scratch their but and what not. Usually if you at least look like you're actively emoting, others will attempt to work you into the RP. (usually)"

Kinaed says, "So if you think the facade would break, request it and say why."

Zoot_Suit says, "So if you're getting your weekly activity with some thinks and unobtrusive snoopery, maybe help out the group a little more and do some flavor poses - and keep an eye out for people actively trying to engage you because they think you might be shy."

Kinaed says, "Also, I have someone just ask me in a tell - can other mages who have the facade spell detect it? The answer is no."

Jiraiya has an IC merchants meeting to get to

Kinaed claims, "You may know it exists and what it does, but you won't automatically know a facaded mage."

Kinaed declares, "Oh, we're at the top of the hour!"

Starstarfish exclaims, "Oh no!"

SilverMoon exclaims, "Oh no!"

Alessa states, "Thanks. I'll do that. Y'all are great for the advice <3"
Kinaed states to Alessa, "Sorry if I missed anything of yours - please touch base with me after if you have any further queries. I tend to lose track of everything in the spam of this meeting (as i get tells, etc too)"
Alessa nods.

Kinaed declares, "Okay, have a great week, everyone! Catch you next week!"