Off-topc from assets discussion Puciek and Vouxumuo

[Leech]

No amount of hiring is going to help you when the initial organization for a plot staff is not there.

Can you clarify?

To put it into context, this is something that I didn't realize until after I left and had a chance to really review how other plot staffers work. My feelings while a staffer may have been a symptom of this, but I didn't realize it at the time. I feel that I should also say that that post wasn't meant to be a bag against other staffers; they have a lot on their plate. The point of that whole thing is that well organized plot staffers shouldn't need to commit unhealthy amounts of time or effort to the game. I think I lost that point somewhere in there amidst some "survivor's angst," but there it is.

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Before I explain, let me say that I consider an effective plot staff (plural) one that can:

1. Teach and enforce (or model, depending on your MUD's culture) established theme via their RP.

and

2. Promote accessible metaplot(s) among the playerbase and progress the game towards a climax that pushes the theme and story forward and provides reasons for players to affect lasting change, whether to self, others, or their environment.

There are more things, but that's definitely a conversation to be had for more experienced people than me. TI: Legacy is unique in comparison to the more popular RP MU*s in the regard to story staff in a few ways. Primarily, you only ever get one person at a time committed to doing it. I'm not sure if I've ever seen that work for a population over about fifteen players on at peak, and especially not in a setting with as many different spheres as TI: Legacy. A lot of RP MU*s tend to split their story team up into spheres -- for example, Armageddon has one for every couple of clans, or a couple for a city. I definitely don't think Legacy needs to go that far into it, but I think a story lead (Temi by de-facto!) with one, or maybe two people split between lawful and unlawful RP spheres would be good. That brings me to my next difference: what these storytellers actually do.

Plot staff in other games generally have much more variety in their roleplay. They puppet NPCs that characters interact with dynamically, they enforce the theme by modelling it to precision in the actors that they bring to life. This can be either on the fly: some places have a system in place that echoes all interactions targeted at an NPC into a staff-viewable channel. Other places have players who want to interact with an NPC flag those plot staffers in some way by which these requests can be organized and used to hold players accountable to their requests. Staff storytellers aren't just concerned with making those large scenes with huge turnouts and involvement. It's not about the 'monster of the week' so to speak, but about enforcing the theme, as stated in point one, by modelling it. By simulating the world you want your players to be in.

A short anecdote: my best memory as a story staffer here was not doing any of those big-budget scenes, but rather my best memory was the time I possessed a crow and had them caw over a group of players and creepily stick around. Thematic, realistic, and creepy. I loved it.

[Rabek]

...

1. Teach and enforce (or model, depending on your MUD's culture) established theme via their RP.

...

While I've developed other issues with TI over my lengthy time here, this has always been the number one issue I've had with the game, and the biggest area where I think it needs improvement.

The theme needs taught and cultivated from the top down. Even among long-time players, the theme is basically nonexistant other than a slight change in vocabulary. Theme and code are really the only constant things a MU* can do to distinguish itself from all the others. TI seems to not give a damn about its own theme, so all it has is code. I love the code, and it kept me here this long, but now I've seen all the code has to offer and there's just nothing more for me to do on TI. There's no theme to explore because everyone either doesn't know it or doesn't bother following it. Not that I can blame them, since half the playerbase is so clueless they'll accuse you of heresy and demand you burn at the stake for believing superstitions from the Erra Pater.

I think a plot staffer who focused on this, even without actual big plots (just handling NPCs sometimes, like mentioned in the preceding posts), would help immensely.

Really, the staff taking a bigger role in the NPCs of the world and making sure those NPCs act thematically with some integrity rather than bending over backwards to support players acting against it, would do wonders for the game.

The biggest blow to my faith in the staff here was when I wrote the NPC cardinal a letter (as the Archbishop) explaining that the GI was overstepping their bounds by trying to do my job for me and forbidding me from doing it myself. To support this letter, I sent the staff a note quoting from numerous help files. A lengthy note, many paragraphs long. The cardinal favored the GI and the help files were changed to support the GI's actions instead. Not only does this break theme for the sake of one player and at the expense of one of the prominent roles of the game, it removes a potential source of interesting conflict between the two branches (clergy and inquisitor) of the Order.

Without some integrity to its theme, TI is just an interesting code base that can only hold attention for so long before people get bored. Theme is where the long-term interest and roleplay originate from.

[Famine]

I really want to submit plot ideas, but just for myself and others who get caught up in it. I need to start submitting things and see if anything sticks from the criminal side.

[Leech]

Redacted.

[Temi]

Enacted a small rewind and removed several posts as the reminder to get back on topic did not work and things were escalating. We'd love to continue on the topic of productive things that can be done to improve the game in this topic. Anything which needs to be aired out is probably better done privately on all sides.

Please feel free to resume, politely.