All the news that's fit to...duck?

[shadow_spread]

You may recall that in the last state-of-the-game post we raised the idea of ic and ooc newsletters for the game. The poll showed a fair amount of interest in this, and we would really like to try it out! It should help keep people up on characters that aren't existing cr and help inspire ic discussion. Since, sadly, Shiro is leaving us, I will be taking charge of this (at least for the moment).

The big question, of course, is how to implement this! Since both newsletters would rely on submissions from the players, it's important that we do this in a way that's convenient and interesting for all of you! Thus, it is poll time.



("biweekly" here means once every two weeks and "bimonthly" once every two months. I'm sorry for the confusing wording, unfortunately I can't edit the poll itself)

Poll #14040 IC and OOC Newsletters

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 22

View Respondents

How frequent should newsletters be?

View Answers

weekly
0 (0.0%)

biweekly
6 (27.3%)

monthly
9 (40.9%)

bimonthly
7 (31.8%)

another interval, which I will suggest in the comments
0 (0.0%)

What format would you like to see an ic newsletter in?

View Answers

simple blurbs or quotes from characters
5 (22.7%)

links to existing posts with commentary
12 (54.5%)

something similar to a gossip column
14 (63.6%)

I have another idea! I will share it in the comments
0 (0.0%)

I did not include a question regarding the format of the ooc newsletter since I felt that a link and short description would likely be the most natural form for that. If you have another idea, however, please comment and tell us! The same goes for any thoughts you may have on this that haven't been covered by this post.

Once we have an idea of the time frame and format we are working with, we can set up submissions posts and nail down any further questions.

Thank you!

Comments

[archerartemis]

I like monthly best because it gives a chance for everyone to catch up before AC, and we've got a chance to plot out any interactions. Also, by having a gossip column with commentary, it's a great way to point our characters out to things and lead to snark and possible new CR, but links make it nice and easy to handle.

[notmynature]

So, I'm a bit on the fence about this. Sometimes, DDD is a little slow so I get why monthly would work out and agree with a lot of the arguments about why it would be the best choice. I know there are a lot of people who will use this to keep tabs on interesting CR - me included - so, for that purpose, it works well.

However, if it's to help inspire new CR (as in "Oh, I didn't realize this post had so much in common with my character and I somehow missed it, I should go tag it!") I wonder if monthly makes it too hard to still tag into the post.

Obviously, people can still use it for whatever purpose they'd like but is inspiring CR an actual goal for newsletter?

[selfished]

Just piping in that while I at first thought monthly would be better too, I think this is a good point - it'd be easier to still be able to tag the post before the newsletter comes out and it's a month too late by the time you notice!

[shadow_spread]

Do you think that maybe having the ooc and ic newsletters on different time tables (say, every other week for the ooc but every month for the ic) would help balance the cr potential without overwhelming the game?

[material_guy]

Alternately, staggering when they come out. For example if it's monthly, OOC comes out during week two, IC comes out during week four. That's effectively a bi-weekly listing.

[shadow_spread]

That was how I was planning to do it from the start. Both at the same time seems counterproductive to me.

[material_guy]

Thus OOC exposure will effectively be x/2.

[refinedvillian]

I do think that will help! It's a good balance between the two.

[tenminutes]

I totally agree with this, but the IC/OOC alternation like Orly stated (one a month IC, one a month OOC, effectively making them every two weeks) definitely sounds best. That way we don't overload on newsletters and we still get them in different ways frequently enough that it's easier to keep up with tagging.

[refinedvillian]

^_^ I agree, too.