Plot Knowledge!

[Zeita]

Hi all,

So right now, we have a wonderful plot going on, which is seeing a -lot- of activity in plot advances. However, it has raised a question to myself and to some others about just how IC the knowledge relayed by staff is.

The current makeup of a plot allows you to copy others in under 'share' so that they can see the whole plot. However, it has raised a question to myself and to some others about just how IC the knowledge relayed by staff. A lot of the information that is relayed to the 'plot advance instigator' by staff is conveyed through private messages and personal contacts etc. However, the people under share can still see it, and if one can see it,the base understanding is that if you can see it, it is IC by default. On the other hand, I don't want to shortcut anyone else's RP by launching off of their plot advances before they've even had a chance to respond/deal with it themselves.

So this post is a) hoping to get some general consensus of how these things are treated AND/OR b) some guidance from staff.

One idea that I had is that staff replies are only visible to the plot instigator for the first 12-24 hours after they're written. Another thought was that future staff replies could potentially be made through new staff-written advances/other means, that only copies in those that would be in the know.

Thanks!
-TPB Margaux.

[Elzenn]

I am actually -chuffed- that this is being discussed, as I launched a solid 15+ responses to plot advances today and the thought crossed my mind that it might be too much information to too many people at a single time (seeing as the information, as those who are involved heavily in the current stage of the plot will notice, is quite compartmentalized in some places).

Although some of this information will now have broader distribution and some middle-folk can be cut out, I would still very, very heartily encourage all participants to let others deliver their personal snippet of plot, as everyone assuming they know everything may cause some cutting of RP for players who may not have similar schedules to others - and that would be terribly unfortunate.

While I have verified this before, but I have now conveniently forgotten, I believe 'Shared to' shows the plot advance, while 'Contributors' simply makes mention of people who would be involved, without the information, which gives some leeway as to who sees and does not see information shared in the plot. With this in mind, it's good to distribute those involved properly between these two categories so everyone does not get a heap of information all at the same time.

I am, as a whole, very interested to know what everyone thinks and will be happy to work on a solution everyone feels is appropriate.

[Voxumo]

I'd actually encourage something like this, and this coming from someone who is still not used to using plot advances.. However I will use the contributor versus share thing in the future, since I didn't really understand the difference.

[Dice]

I've always liked the idea that the submitter of the plot should be the only one who knows the info ICly until/unless they disseminate it. Why?

It encourages sharing plots so people aren't totally left out and stepping on each others' feet, while allowing the original poster to get 'credit'. It rather takes the wind out of your sails if you concoct a very elaborate plot advance and find our valuable info, only to find out the people you copied as a matter of courtesy suddenly know everything.

It also makes more sense to me ICly. With most plot advances many people are copied on, those people are NOT ICly privy to the full details of the plot, so them just 'knowing' strains credulity. I know there's an argument to be made there that maybe they shouldn't be included, then, but - I think it's helpful to have the knowledge of what others are doing (for reasons listed above) and it's nice to have a permanent record for people to consult later.

[Another]

I'm not privy to what, exactly, is going on, but might I suggest that, at the time of posting, you specifically state whether this would be common knowledge. Point out who, exactly, would know what if you must. Don't leave it up to interpretation.

[Temi]

As a main plot-responder on the staff side, my assumption is that everybody you put on the share list could possibly know the stuff, and they should know how they are linked into it and what they would know. I generally trust the players to know what makes sense for them to know and what doesn't. I don't like or make use of the assumption that sharing a plot is just a loose sort of heads-up to avoid giving a heads up in character. I still expect RP to be happening around all of that, and all of the people on the share of something might actually be involved with it. If something seems private beyond the general scope of what people doing the plot too would know, I'll certainly put it in the private section to not out the mage that added 'Oh, by the way, I'm listening in on their thoughts during this' or whatnot.