Isabelle Lightwood (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
seveninchmotto) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh_ooc2014-04-06 11:50 pm
seveninchmotto) wrote in fandomhigh_ooc2014-04-06 11:50 pm
Entry tags:
Open Forum Round-Up
Hi folks! Welcome to the round-up for March's Open Forum!
Summer App Changes
As mentioned, starting this summer, we are only going to have one application session during the summer months, so new students and teachers can only arrive at the beginning of the first session. Everything else will remain the same: there will still be two seven-week sessions of classes, students and recent grads can stay for one or both sessions, and townies can choose to teach during either or both sessions if they would like. (If you come up with a brilliant idea for a new teacher during the first session, remember you can always app them as a townie during that time, then submit their class proposal when the second session comes around.) So, get those applications in if you want to play someone new!
BDE Concerns
There were a number of concerns brought forward about how BDEs have been going lately. We've been trying to do more slow burn BDEs to give people time to play with whatever is happening, but we're aware that the pacing is important, and we need to take into account that some characters have been here a while and will catch on quickly that new weirdness may equal something awful. Also, in trying to take some steps back to let non-admin characters have freedom to make things happen, the admins may have stepped a little too far back and haven't given as much in-game guidance as folks would like.
We still think alternating between slow burn BDEs and quick invadey BDEs is the way to go, but we'll work to be better about keeping the admin characters visible and involved in taking care of the island, so the other characters have a direction to look to when they have concerns. Players are welcome to come to us if you want something to happen, and want an admin to manage it, but we also really, really love when you come up with crazy thing you want to do on your own, and we will really not be insulted if anyone emails to ask if they can do something to mess with the BDE situation. We try not to give everything away at first so you guys get fun surprises, but we're also aware that since we know the entire puzzle, it's sometimes hard for us to find the line between not giving things away and not giving folks enough information to play around on your own and come up with things you want to do. We're going to try to be more conscious of this in the future, so everyone can have a good time with the events.
Misc. Concerns/Suggestions
- Recently, responses from the admins have been slower than they should be (to questions, e-mails about plot plans, applications, etc.). We're aware that we've been running a little slow, and we're all trying to make sure we get the pace back up to normal.
- Running some traditional weekend events during the week instead: This was a great suggestion and we agree that it could be a nice change and a good way to make sure folks have time to play/SP things out, so look for more during-the-week events to happen in the future.
- Running too many events in too short a time: The good news is, we have a lot of awesome events in this game! The bad news is, there are only so many weeks in the year, and many of them involve holidays like Christmas and Canadian Thanksgiving and the High Holy Days of Comic Con. We're aware that things sometimes get bunched up into being one weekend after another; we're going to try to space things out as much as possible and look at what can be shifted to Fall. Hopefully, running some events during the week will ease the bunching as well.
- Faculty meetings: This was something that fell by the wayside due to lack of participation, but we're totally willing to bring it back, so starting in the summer, there will be monthly faculty meetings for everyone to get together, talk about their students behind their backs, and possibly share drinks, because goodness knows the teachers deserve them.
- Getting new members: With most RPs moving to other journaling platforms, there aren't many places on LiveJournal for us to advertise to get new members anymore. If you find communities that are still open for advertisements, please feel free to talk about Fandom High! Word-of-mouth seems to be the most effective method of getting new players, so talk to your fannish friends who might have a little extra time to spare.
- More utilization of the multiverse for break weeks: We think this is a great idea. As we plan for the summer and for future breaks, we'll be sure to add multiverse locations to our list of potential destinations.
Summer App Changes
As mentioned, starting this summer, we are only going to have one application session during the summer months, so new students and teachers can only arrive at the beginning of the first session. Everything else will remain the same: there will still be two seven-week sessions of classes, students and recent grads can stay for one or both sessions, and townies can choose to teach during either or both sessions if they would like. (If you come up with a brilliant idea for a new teacher during the first session, remember you can always app them as a townie during that time, then submit their class proposal when the second session comes around.) So, get those applications in if you want to play someone new!
BDE Concerns
There were a number of concerns brought forward about how BDEs have been going lately. We've been trying to do more slow burn BDEs to give people time to play with whatever is happening, but we're aware that the pacing is important, and we need to take into account that some characters have been here a while and will catch on quickly that new weirdness may equal something awful. Also, in trying to take some steps back to let non-admin characters have freedom to make things happen, the admins may have stepped a little too far back and haven't given as much in-game guidance as folks would like.
We still think alternating between slow burn BDEs and quick invadey BDEs is the way to go, but we'll work to be better about keeping the admin characters visible and involved in taking care of the island, so the other characters have a direction to look to when they have concerns. Players are welcome to come to us if you want something to happen, and want an admin to manage it, but we also really, really love when you come up with crazy thing you want to do on your own, and we will really not be insulted if anyone emails to ask if they can do something to mess with the BDE situation. We try not to give everything away at first so you guys get fun surprises, but we're also aware that since we know the entire puzzle, it's sometimes hard for us to find the line between not giving things away and not giving folks enough information to play around on your own and come up with things you want to do. We're going to try to be more conscious of this in the future, so everyone can have a good time with the events.
Misc. Concerns/Suggestions
- Recently, responses from the admins have been slower than they should be (to questions, e-mails about plot plans, applications, etc.). We're aware that we've been running a little slow, and we're all trying to make sure we get the pace back up to normal.
- Running some traditional weekend events during the week instead: This was a great suggestion and we agree that it could be a nice change and a good way to make sure folks have time to play/SP things out, so look for more during-the-week events to happen in the future.
- Running too many events in too short a time: The good news is, we have a lot of awesome events in this game! The bad news is, there are only so many weeks in the year, and many of them involve holidays like Christmas and Canadian Thanksgiving and the High Holy Days of Comic Con. We're aware that things sometimes get bunched up into being one weekend after another; we're going to try to space things out as much as possible and look at what can be shifted to Fall. Hopefully, running some events during the week will ease the bunching as well.
- Faculty meetings: This was something that fell by the wayside due to lack of participation, but we're totally willing to bring it back, so starting in the summer, there will be monthly faculty meetings for everyone to get together, talk about their students behind their backs, and possibly share drinks, because goodness knows the teachers deserve them.
- Getting new members: With most RPs moving to other journaling platforms, there aren't many places on LiveJournal for us to advertise to get new members anymore. If you find communities that are still open for advertisements, please feel free to talk about Fandom High! Word-of-mouth seems to be the most effective method of getting new players, so talk to your fannish friends who might have a little extra time to spare.
- More utilization of the multiverse for break weeks: We think this is a great idea. As we plan for the summer and for future breaks, we'll be sure to add multiverse locations to our list of potential destinations.