IMPORTANT: CHANGES, POLLS & NOTICES

[irrigo]

Hello, Drama Drama Duck! Please direct your attention to this post, because this is an EXTREMELY IMPORTANT MOD POST announcing some changes, some reminders, and also asking for vital player input! (Forgive the non-mod account, but there are polls to be done.)

Following the Mod HMD/discussion post we put up at the end of last year, all of us got together and had a big talk about making adjustments according to what we had heard in the post. While we have made some decisions on our own, there are other things that cannot be changed without consulting our players! This is where everyone comes in. We want to make sure that the majority of our playerbase is comfortable with things that affect the game as a whole. Just so you can see what's going down in here, this is what we'll discuss in this post:

→ changes to the applications system
→ potential changes to the activity check (POLL)
→ potential changes to the community tag system (POLL)
→ announcement about mod changes
→ hiatus policy and monitoring
→ future plans: semi-annual discussion post, "state of the RP" announcements, other miscellaneous things

Because this is an important but also kind of large post, everything will be broken down into sections for ease of reading. With that out of the way, let's get into it!

APPLICATIONS

DDD's applications have been the same format for a long time now, although they have increased in length and standards. However, something we have always had discussions about is the mandatory history section. This came up again in the HMD, and when we talked it over and considered both sides, we came to the decision that it was worth giving it a try - the current history section will be removed, and replaced by the option to link to a wiki page or other source instead.

People also asked about possible changes to the sample options available! Understandably, there are sometimes struggles with the journal-style first person sample when it comes to certain characters. So, we're going to offer two alternatives to the current first person sample format: thread samples and Q&A samples. I'll explain both of these, and also the current specifications/rules that we have decided on for them.

THREAD SAMPLES: Just what it sounds like - instead of writing up a post, you play out a thread with a character and offer that as your sample. It can be easier to draw out a character's voice when you're bouncing off someone else, so this is often a preferred sample option! However, this would only replace the first person sample. We will still expect a prose sample for the third person. The rules for this will all be on the application page, of course, but here's the general lay-down of it:

→ No threads from other games. Development happens in games, and this makes it too difficult for us to judge your understanding of the canon character.
→ We will be willing to accept musebox, Dear Mun (or similar communities) and meme threads (provided the meme does not alter the character in any way, and is not a sex meme).
→ There will be a rough comment minimum (something like 15 - 20+ comments).
→ The thread must be finished (or at least meet the comment minimum) when it is presented. We won't accept in-progress threads, nor will we participate in them ourselves.
→ The thread must show substance; what we're looking for in this is the character voice, which means style of speech, personality, etc. It's fine to have action brackets and internal thought process, but that's not what we're judging by!
→ If a mod thinks that the thread doesn't provide enough to judge by, they may request an additional journal-style sample.

Q&A SAMPLES: Again, it's pretty simple! We will have a list of questions that are intended to draw out a character's personality, and you answer them ICly, just like someone was asking your character those questions. We'll have a bunch of questions sitting there, and you pick a number (likely 8 - 10) of them to answer in place of a journal entry. Once again, mods will not participate in this, and reserve the right to ask for a journal sample if they think it's necessary.

NOTE that this is a trial run! If everything goes fine and everybody's happy, the changes will stay. However, if the mods decide that it isn't working out for whatever reason, it can be vetoed. Just a warning.

All of these changes will be added to the applications page very shortly, and we will inform you when it's done so that you can take a look and read the rules. As soon as that announcement is made, the changes are in place, and you can start using the new options! For anyone that likes the application format just the way it is, don't worry; all of the old options will still be available, with one small change: the third person sample will be bumped up to a 250 minimum word count. So, to summarise -

→ the history section is being removed; applications can now use links instead.
→ there are two new options for first person samples: threads and Q&A.
→ the third person sample will require a minimum of 250 words.

ACTIVITY CHECK

This one is really, really important, so everyone please pay attention to this and give us your honest opinions here. There will be a lot of explanation, so if you're confused by anything at all, don't hesitate to speak up!

Activity and "clique behaviour" were things that were heavily discussed in the HMD, in regards to the game as a whole. There was a lot of talk about the level of concern, and the possibility of solutions that might help to encourage more openness in CR and threading. Obviously, we're not here to control who you thread with or anything, but it was such a large concern from some of our players that we decided to take it into serious consideration, and we tried to come up with a solution that encouraged branching out without being overly controlling: some small changes to the requirements of our Activity Check.

Right now, the DDD Activity Check is pretty lax, but we've always found that it's good enough, and we don't want to make it stressful or demanding. That's why the adjustment that we've come up with (with the help of anonymous players on the HMD post) is this:

Twenty (20) comments, but spread across a minimum of two (2) threads on separate posts with two different characters.

This isn't too complicated, and it is also still an easy-going activity requirement! Let's break this down for the sake of clarity and any little rules that would be attached to it:

→ A total of twenty comments! Still the same as the current AC. Comments can come from community posts, journal posts, event threads and any meme threads that have been agreed on as canon by all players involved.
→ Separate posts. So, you can't take two threads out of the same post; this includes events. Any combination is fine, they just have to be from different posts!
→ Different characters. This is where the "encouragement of branching out" comes in. It's still fine to provide two threads from close CR, but we would just like to make sure that no one is going through the months only interacting with a single character. We're not going to check up on the characters involved - the requirement stops at "the character in Thread A is not the same as the character in Thread B".
→ A post and all comments involved would count as one thread/proof. So, your character's post + a thread on another character's post is acceptable. In this case, it's okay if the second thread is the same character as one who replied to your post.
→ We would prefer that the threads are close to evenly balance; i.e. not fifty comments in one thread and two comments in the other. (That brings us to another point which I am about to discuss.)
→ ADDITIONAL SPECIFICATIONS. To prevent thread-dropping along with this, we have two possible options that we could add onto this new AC.

(A) A minimum of five (5) comments per thread.
or (B) A maximum of five (5) separate threads.

If all of that made sense, then please proceed to the poll below! If it didn't make sense, or if you have additional questions or concerns, please jump down to the comments section and let's chat.

Poll #12654 [IMPORTANT] Activity Check Changes

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 39

View Respondents

Which of the following (if any) changes would you prefer for the Activity Check requirements?

View Answers

Twenty (20) comments and a minumum of two (2) threads with different characters. No additional changes.
25 (64.1%)

Twenty (20) comments and a minumum of two (2) threads with different characters; PLUS a minimum of five (5) comments per thread.
7 (17.9%)

Twenty (20) comments and a minumum of two (2) threads with different characters; PLUS a maximum of five (5) separate threads.
4 (10.3%)

I don't want it to change at all.
2 (5.1%)

I have other comments, questions or concerns that I will discuss in the comments section.
1 (2.6%)

If anyone is panicking about this, don't worry! Keep in mind that NOTHING IS CHANGING YET. This is all, at the moment, a possibility, but we absolutely will not make major changes without the majority of the community behind the idea. We would very much like to hear everyone's honest thoughts on this matter, so please be open with us.

TAG SYSTEM

At the moment, DDD's tag system is pretty much the bare minimum - when you make a post, tag it with your character's name. However, a lot of games employ a system where you also tag your character's name on the posts that your character comments on; this is for Activity Check purposes, and also for people who want to see where their (or someone else's) character has been lately.

In the past, we've tried to implement this, but it sort of fell flat. It has a tendency to run for a few weeks before it dwindles out and everyone gives up on it. However, we're willing to give it another try on one condition: we see that people are actually behind this idea and willing to keep it up! So, here's a really simple poll, just so we can judge this possibility.

Poll #12655 Tag System Changes

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 38

View Respondents

Do you want to implement a "tag as you comment" system, as described above?

View Answers

Yes.
25 (65.8%)

No.
13 (34.2%)

I have other comments, questions or concerns that I will discuss in the comments section.
0 (0.0%)

Just a note for clarification on the use of tags: unfortunately, we can't change the way we tag things. Some games do things like tagging with fandom name, or using different tags for posting and commenting, but as some of you may know, we run out of available tag space way too fast for this. (On that note, please take care with tags to help out with that! Don't use multiple tags for your character, and don't include tags for characters who aren't in the game.)

(This is just an intermission note to say congratulations on making it this far!!! ♥ You guys are champions and I love you. I'm so sorry that this is such a TL;DR post, oh my gosh.)

MOD CHANGES

Though it has mostly been behind the scenes thus far due to getting everything settled, there has been a bit of a shuffle going on in the DDD Mod Party! Positions and duties have undergone a few changes, so here is a little announcement of exactly what went down.

CND has stepped down to modpole. She's still sticking around on the team, just doing what she needs to do to adjust! She will be working on applications again when she returns to us with more free time on her hands.

SUKI has decided to step down as a mod entirely. Thankfully, we'll still have her around as a player, so there's no need to say goodbye! We at the mod team are very grateful for everything she's done, and we would like to thank her for helping the game run smoothly over the past couple of years.

Lastly, ICHI has been promoted to full modship! I'm not going to talk about myself in third person, so I will be taking on Suki's duties as applications mod. I hope that I can continue to help out the game as much as possible, and that I can be a mod that you guys will be proud of.

All pages and profiles will soon be updated to reflect these changes.

HIATUS THINGS

Yet another section to inform you of a fairly minor change that has been brought on board in consideration of the discussions from the HMD: we're going to be monitoring the use of hiatuses more closely from now on! We've always kept an eye on it, of course, but we're actually implementing a spreadsheet system so that we can see if anyone appears to be taking excessive or suspicious absences (e.g. every second month). This will be maintained privately by the mod team and will not be available to players, of course.

So, rest assured, that's been organised and we will do our best to minimise character squatting or extended inactivity! Keep on trucking, friend, you are nearly at the end. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

FUTURE PLANS

There were a few other things that were discussed with us on the HMD post, and one of them was this: a STATE OF THE RP POST. This will be more of a casual thing than a rigid update schedule, but basically, it's just to let you know what's been going on and what is happening in the future, both in-game and behind the scenes. It will turn up on the OOC Community either monthly or bi-monthly (it may shuffle between the two depending on if we have anything to say that month), and we will be open to suggestions on what to include - so, when it happens for the first time, if there's anything you'd like to hear about, feel free to chip in!

Secondly, from now on, we plan to include a MOD-SPECIFIC THREAD on the regular game-wide HMDs, so that you can bring any critique or concerns to us fairly frequently, in an open and anonymous-enabled setting. We also plan to have a SEMI-ANNUAL DISCUSSION POST/HMD for the mod team and the game as a whole, just like the one we held last time. There will be one in the middle of the year, and another one towards the end. Please utilise these to your heart's content! We hope that this will help the game to continue improving, and also minimise discomfort or problems that may exist within the game.

Thirdly, in regards to the PLOTTING/CR MEME and LOVE MEME - these will be regulated from now on. The mods will post the plotting meme every two or three months; as for the love meme, we won't be taking control of that, but we ask that anyone who wants to post it run it through a mod first! Just send them a quick message on Plurk or PM them, and it can be posted once you have mod approval. Sometimes, it happens on several months in a row, so we want to get it spread out again.

And lastly, coming soon is a GAME PLURK. This will be a mod-run Plurk, and it will be used to direct you towards important game-related announcements, and to remind you of viruses and events when they start! We'll announce it as soon as it's set up so that you can follow it, if you'd like to.

And guess what? You've made it to the end of the post. Thank you very much for your time and opinions, and we hope to have some announcements about the results ready for you soon! If you have anything at all to say, no matter how small or silly it may seem, then please leave a comment and we will get back to you ASAP. Anonymous commenting is enabled if you really feel the need, and while discussion is fine, please be polite to your fellow players above all else!

One final note: the mod team would like to remind you that we have a SUGGESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS post, and we really encourage its use. Really. Whenever you have a problem - whether it's with another player, a member of the mod team, the mods as a whole, or an aspect of the game - or a suggestion for something related to the game and its mechanics, then please, please, please take it straight there without hesitation. Nothing is too insignificant for us to hear. If you don't tell us about a concern, then we won't know about it, and we can't do anything. We want to limit hostility and discontent, because that's the stuff that leads to wank and explosions and unhappiness! Please just keep in mind that we want to help you, and that post is there so that we can do it at any time.

THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING, PLEASE ENJOY THE REST OF YOUR DAY/EVENING, YOU ARE LOVED. ♥

Comments

[unknownrival]

What if the character we want to app doesn't have a wiki or other infosource readily available - like, we want to app a book character or something? Will we still have to write a history, will we have the option to write a history, or will you mods just go without a history entirely which doesn't seem fair to you?

[irrigo]

In that case, yes, we ask that you write us a (brief) history! Also, if there's a source for the canon in general, but not the character, then you can use a combination of both link and written history; the link summarises the canon stuff, and you can just flesh out your character's personal history for us.

(Those are things that are mentioned in the updated application explanation, but I obviously forgot to add them to this post, whoops.)

[unknownrival]

Awesome, thank you!

[twotailmechanic]

I'm fine for increasing requirements for AC, though the "five comments minimum in a thread" sounds a little much since sometimes threads get dropped unexpectedly. I'm also cool with adding more tags in a post.

One question though, does anyone on the mod team have a Tumblr by any chance? Just curious.

Also, I love that Yami Yugi icon. So cute. <3

[irrigo]

The "five comments minimum/five threads maximum" options were suggested to limit early thread-dropping, actually! But we know that sometimes it does happen, which is why we thought that five was a safe number for a minimum.

I can't speak for the others; I don't know if they have Tumblrs and if they want to share them. I personally don't!

Haha, it's one of my favourite icons. It's adorable!!

[twotailmechanic]

That is true.

That's too bad. I'm starting to think I'm the only one in this game that uses Tumblr instead of Plurk. Oh well.

[mitsukuni]

*hugs to the mods* Thanks to your work and for keeping DDD a nice play to play! <3

[irrigo]

Thank you for sticking around and being great players for us to work with! ♥

[tranquilrhythm]

This is my second game, after a comm-only game where we added character tags to anything we commented on, so it's kinda reflex for me, plus adding character tags makes it so much easier to keep track of things.

I do support the idea of 20 comments in two threads, but I accidentally drop threads enough that I don't want to leave someone in jeopardy of failing AC because I derped. No further changes, I think.

I'm still somewhat new, so I dunno if that makes a difference, but...

[irrigo]

Yeah, I agree that it's a really good system to keep track of things, both for AC purposes and so you can see where a character has been lately.

We understand! Sometimes thread-dropping happens. We'll see how the results turn out, and if anyone has concerns with the winner of the poll, we'll be happy to discuss it.

(It doesn't! ♥ We like to hear from everyone, and it can be good to get a fresh perspective on these things.)

[tranquilrhythm]

Sounds good to me. Thanks for the updates, and good work out there.

[givesherflower]

Quick question for curiosity's sake! For characters who are anti-social or may not branch out to others for IC reasons, what would the new AC rule mean for them? Let's say, hypothetically, there hasn't been an event for the mun to force them into and talking to other people really isn't their cup of tea.

[irrigo]

They can still have threads with their close CR, which count as proofs! For example, maybe there are a few characters that they're comfortable talking to; they could have a thread with one of those characters, and another with someone new, or perhaps just a character that they don't talk to as often. They could also make a post at any time in the two months, and in addition to their close CR thread, that would meet the requirements. Don't forget that there will be viruses to encourage branching out and socialising, too! And if it's necessary, you can always use two threads with close CR, as long as the two characters are different.

While the new AC would be intended to encourage branching out, we know that there are a lot of anti-social or otherwise reclusive characters who make new CR slowly. That's why we tried to make it a small increase; we don't feel that two threads with two different characters is a lot to ask, even for quiet or anti-social characters. If the change does go through and you encounter problems with it, the mods will be happy to talk about it!

Sorry to jump in.

[grey_grief]

They could also make a post at any time in the two months, and in addition to their close CR thread, that would meet the requirements.

Am I reading this right? That a post that reaches twenty comments still needs a thread to go along with it? Or is my brain all screwy?

[irrigo]

Yes! Because the requirement is that the two threads are on two separate posts. A character's post + all comments on it = one proof. The second proof has to come from somewhere else.

[grey_grief]

Then my "no changes please" vote holds. Thank you for clarifying.

[chapter_behind]

Thank you, mods! I realize a lot of discussion and consideration has gone into this, you guys are awesome. <3

I'm a little concerned about the new AC requirements, just because, honestly, I don't see it addressing the issue. I mentioned this before, on the discussion post: as a player, I tend to link close CR on the AC check because those are just the easiest links to find that make it to the 20 (or 10) comment cut-off. I don't really forsee that changing if I'm linking two threads instead of one, and I can even see it looking even more cliquey (cliqueyer?), especially if I link to two threads with different characters by the same mun.

On the other side of things, I just really hate AC comments that are broken down into "3 + 3 + 7 + 5 + 2". When I'm posting my AC, it's just a pain in the butt to track them all down, and when I'm the volunteer counting AC, it's a pain in the butt to count and date check on a bajillion different links. I realize this is an exaggeration of the new system, but I think the concept still proves valid. It just seems like creating extra complications for, as I mentioned above, what I don't see as much of a pay-off.

What I said before, and I really feel is he best way to deal with cliqueyness or the perception of cliqueyness, is that I think it would be a lot more motivating to encourage new CR through randomized events and importing memes as miniviruses than through AC. If anything, I think the new AC rules might have the reverse effect. I realize the requirements still aren't taxing, but this is RP, and it's supposed to be fun. I think we all know how easily burnout can set in, and this just seems like one more thing to worry about.

(Unrelated note: I think I may have voted in the poll as tinybitmad. Sorry! That was me.)

[hatesthefood]

I completely agree with everything here! I'm glad someone else was able to brain it all so coherently as that seems to be an issue for me lately.

[lockon2urheart]

First off, thank you for this thoughtful comment; it means a lot that you'd put so much effort into helping. <3

The most important thing to get across here is that this isn't the only thing we're going to do to encourage new and varied CR. In fact, I know I (and Tay as well, in the most recent viruses) are always on the lookout for ways to encourage new CR, or chances to randomise partners in an event. We've also have upped the number of viruses, worked to get these things all on time, and are even increasing the number of non-party events. Unfortunately, we've also found that people will, when given the opportunity, often stick to what they know even when given the opportunity, and there's nothing we can do to regulate that. We're going to keep offering the chances, and continue always looking for new ways to push different characters together, but ultimately that decision will always be in the hands of players. We cannot force players to play with other people that they have not approached, after all, we can only create opportunities for interaction.We definitely try to make sure viruses and events are on the whole not based on existing CR - the last event, the Soul Eater virus, even stated that your partner might not necessarily be someone who you are close friends with due to personality inconveniences. We will be trying to come up with even more open events, but as the events come from player suggestions and are upon community vote, we can't force people to participate in events outside of their comfort zone or to plot with specific people. As for the memes, players always have the options of accepting them as game canon if both players agree! But a great deal of players prefer them to be not game canon, and so as mods cannot force people to blur that line.

This is why we're implementing this new system, as AC is one of the few places we do have the control to do something. Now, we don't have the time or the ability to enforce a system of making sure at least one thread is with new CR or anything like that, but what we can do is remove the ability for players to get by with just one other character for CR, or by making one single post and never commenting out. Our hope is that, while the vast majority of threads will still probably be with established CR, we will at least encourage a little more branching. Of course, the new AC requirements are subject to vote. The minimum of two links thing is important to us because it makes sure that you're not only playing with one person. The maximums or other changes are left up to the community to decide, and the bazillion links thing - which, as a fellow AC counter, I sympathise with - is the reason that there are required caps on threads up on the poll. It's down to the player base as to whether they want that change, in the end - we're not comfortable adding too much to AC without player input, and we hope that the two-threads minimum will actually lead to less links in the long run by making people more aware of their threading.

In response to your final point, while we were very aware of the low-pressure aspect of DDD's AC previously, the mods as a whole feel that two threads of 20 comments total over the course of two months is still not taxing. The amount of comments hasn't risen, after all, and hopefully all players will have at least two threads over the course of two months anyway!

Phew, sorry for the huge comment - we really do appreciate that you're trying to offer helpful suggestions, and thank you again. The fact is that unfortunately our hands are tied on certain aspects of the game such as who interacts with who - all we can do offer as many things as possible that leave potential plotting and new CR a lot of openings. And, of course, all our events and viruses are player-suggested; if you or anyone else who has this same worry have suggestions for events that you think might be fun to play, you are always welcome and encouraged to suggest them on the virus/events suggestion post!

[material_guy]

1. For AC, I don't mind any of the new suggestions. I can see how one may worry they wouldn't address the problem, but no matter what you set a thread minimum of, thread dropping could be an issue with that exact number, and as long as there is a bare minimum, some people will meet just that. If people want to tag out, there's nothing stopping them and there is always ample opportunity to do so yourself even for more cloistered characters, with viruses, the option to make memes canon, accidental posts, etc.

Make it too mandatory and there will always be that feeling of: "Am I just being tagged because there's this rule?" to an otherwise happy tag. The most that can be done is to make it an option for anybody to tag out, and I think that's being done.

Long story short: Cool!

2. Tag system - Not a huge fan of the 'tag with your character if they tagged into the post' thing. I can see the benefits particularly with the new AC, but ultimately I'd say nay rather than yay.

Consider things like anon memes or Secrets, where the sheer number of tags would make character tags just plain silly. As DDD is a journal AND community game, and as adddiction memes can become canon, it's not a particularly reliable method of tracking others' characters, as they may be and likely are playing around in personal journals just as much. It also removes the current utility of finding your own (or someone else's) last post quickly, which serves many uses.

Long story short: More work for either a minimal change in utility or even a net loss depending on how everybody else uses tags.

3. New Apps. Kick ass.

4. State of the RP. Awesome sauce.

[tenminutes]

YO. For the tag system, I actually have the answer to that because I was complaining about the same thing. But for looking up just other peoples posts you can uuuuse...

http://dramadramaduck.dreamwidth.org/?poster=username

So then the tag system becomes for keeping track of all threads, whereas if you just want posts (which I use a lot) you can use that URL.

Thanks for the support on everything else!

[material_guy]

Even with the new AC system, I question the utility due to the multiple interface structure of the game, though the same could be said for using any tags at all. It saves me a step to use the tag of characters whose usernames I don't know, but I've never had reason to do that until card making either.

Incidentally I assume the tags usually exist ICly (either with whatever fake name they're using or without canon tags, etc.) as every other aspect of DW/LJ has been played to the meta extreme (comments on the LJ->DW migration, comments when our duck image disappeared, talking about userheads, system downs, etc.). I know one time there was an explicit post about a character's last name being added to his tag because his last name was ridiculous (Cooldown), though that was a cast that actively and regularly fourth walled themselves. I'm not sure if that's a stalking fun time bonus or a minus in that kids these days will have it too easy to stalk.

In MY day if you wanted to see if someone was putting the moves on your character's sister/girlfriend/mother/dog, you had to read ALL the posts.

[croibhristeoir]

...Mmmmiiiiight have accidentally voted as vulpesvivus. Sorry about that.