Bo Jones. Or maybe Dennis. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nookiepowered) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh_ooc2015-03-05 10:55 am
nookiepowered) wrote in fandomhigh_ooc2015-03-05 10:55 am
Entry tags:
February 2015 Open Forum Round-up
Hi folks! Welcome to the round-up for February's Open Forum! This is where we revisit, summarize and address those topics that got discussed, if they weren't directly addressed right there in the comments or if we think the subject needs a recap for everybody in the game.
Communication and Response Times
It's been rightly pointed out that the Admin Team has recently fallen back to slower response times when we reply to e-mails and other communications. We'll be striving to do better on that front, and also, as suggested, make sure we get some sort of initial "We got this, thanks, and we'll get back to you once we've had the chance to discuss it!" confirmation out to you, so that you know we're working on it and your question didn't just get devoured by hungry gremlins. The same goes for LJ comments that we can't respond to right away for various reasons (the person who knows the answer isn't around, it requires discussing with the whole team and half of us are asleep because timezones, and so on) -- we'll try to at least ping back quickly to let you know what the deal is!
We've also made sure to schedule two more Open Forums for this year, one in August and one in November, so we get back to the three-per-year schedule that makes for a more comfortable atmosphere in which we can all discuss game concerns with each other. Those dates will go live on the public plot calendar as soon as we nail down the specifics of exactly which weekend will work best.
When We Say No To A Plot Idea...
It looks like we need to explain our thinking a bit more clearly when it comes to this -- both in general and in individual situations -- because we never want it to seem like we're not giving your thoughts and ideas the consideration they deserve.
So first, some general stuff about how and why: When we say no regarding ideas/questions/is my character eligible in BDEs and plots, it's never automatic. We always consider "how are people going to potentially use this idea" before making a decision. Sometimes the answer may be quick, but that's usually because we'd already thought of that situation or question and had an answer in mind should it come up. We try to write the initial information posts in such a way that those things are covered, but sometimes it's a matter of "Let's only address this if someone asks, because including all the variables in the main description is likely to get ridiculously long and/or confuse people."
The basic reasons we do tend to nix an idea are:
a) Allowing it would change the plot in some major way that would complicate or conflict with other planned events/setups.
b) Saying yes to that particular request might not have a huge effect on things, but it potentially opens the door to numerous similar requests that we've foreseen could cause problems.
c) The request goes against the basic concept of the plot or situation, or could easily be accommodated elsewhere.
As an example of that last one, as well as an acknowledgment of where we didn't get things right and how we can handle this better in the future:
The idea behind Ghost-Con was that the guest characters were meant to be established ghosts that we had seen acting as ghosts -- not just dying -- within their canon. Characters that have set powers, behaviors, and personalities when acting as a ghost, in other words. An exception was offered for dead Fandom High characters only if that character's death had actually been played out in the game -- it was meant as a specific little treat for those players who did the work to write/roleplay that death, which is fairly rare in the history of the game. We figured if you took it that far, you deserved to try playing them at the next logical step of their existence, as a ghost. There's also already a recurring event for dead characters -- FH and otherwise -- to return and interact with loved ones in a non-ghostly way, which we're planning to run again this year.
While we could have explained all that in the initial plot post, that's a lot of space to devote to a potential question that not very many people were likely to have, because the number of "probably eventually went back to their canon death but got dropped without establishing that in-game" characters is very small too.
Where we could have done better, though, and where we'll try to improve in the future, is in explaining our reasoning, once the question had been asked. The player who asked the question did get basically the explanation outlined above, but it was sent as an e-mail to personally reassure them that there would still be an upcoming opportunity to accomplish the same thing. It didn't occur to us that hey, other players -- who didn't ask because one person had already been told no -- deserve to get that explanation too!
So yes, definitely: in the future, we'll try to be more aware of explaining a little bit about our thought process if we have to say no to an idea, and explaining it in a way that other people who might be affected by the decision will understand, not just the person who asked the question.
Character Information, Directory, Website, Admin E-Mail Address, and Ch-ch-changes!
Whoo, this turned out to be a big one, because general concerns about how to get up to date information dovetailed with our own similar thoughts on the matter and with some behind the scenes organization issues too.
We absolutely agree that there needs to be a better way to know who is playing which character, how to get hold of that player, and which categories and fandoms the characters fit into. (While still preserving the privacy of those players who like to play new characters in "stealth" mode, at least initially.)
At the same time, the FH website, while visually shiny, is built on outdated software, was designed by a player no longer in the game, and is kind of breaking to pieces on the back end (which is part of the reason we've been so bad about regularly updating the directory). The webspace and fandomhigh.net domain also cost about $75 a year to maintain, which just isn't worth the investment when everything it does can be (and in a lot of cases already is) duplicated elsewhere.
So! First things first, we've taken the spreadsheet that the admin team already uses to keep track of characters behind the scenes, and created a shiny new Public Character Directory!
It's both sortable and filterable, and if you want to download a copy and play with it in Excel for your own nefarious purposes, you can do that too.
Stealthed characters have their Character E-Mail listed instead of the player's regular contact e-mail, and have [Private] shown in the Player Name field. There's only two characters currently being stealthed -- we quadruple-checked including looking up infoposts in journals to see which characters were openly listed as belonging to the same player -- so maintaining this shouldn't be difficult going forward. However, that trip down the research rabbit-hole was a one-time only deal - if you bring in a new character in stealth mode, you're going to remain listed as [Private] for that character until you contact us and tell us otherwise!
If there's a different name you'd rather we list you under, or a different e-mail you'd rather we use, just let us know.
Second things second, we have a new admin e-mail address that isn't tied to the fandomhigh.net domain: fandomhighadmins@iambicnut.com. The old administration@fandomhigh.net will stop working soon, so please switch over to the new one for contacting us! We've updated all the major pages and links that list the e-mail address, but if you run across one we missed, just let us know and we'll get that fixed right away.
Third things third and last, we've un-linked the contact page, character and plot apps, player handbook, and pre-play coder from the FH website, in preparation for taking it down completely sometime later this year, and re-created them either on MP's webspace, on LJ, or as GDocs.
The Pre-Play Coder is here and still works the same.
The Character Application is now limited to the GDoc version, which is actually safer to send to us by e-mail than submitting through the website was, anyway. It also contains updated information and instructions.
The Plot Submission form -- same deal: now exists in a GDoc version that can be pasted into or attached to an e-mail, with updated info and instructions.
The Contact Post has been re-created as a screened LJ post. The easiest way to communicate with us is still to just send an e-mail -- that way we can also answer you! -- but if you want to contact us anonymously, you can do it there. Anon is on, IP logging is off, and the comments will remain screened.
The Player Handbook has been re-created in the FT Directory. Most of the information in it already existed in the Directory, often in slightly more modern form, so it's not really a new thing -- just a single page that arranges links you already knew about in the same overview setup that used to be presented on the website.
We've gone through the FH Profile page and updated all the links to point to the new versions (as far as we can tell; again, if you see one we missed, yell!) and new addresses, and just generally updated the information pages that already existed as well, to get things as current and accurate for you as we possibly can.
We hope these changes make things a lot smoother for all of us, going forward!
Plottery Brainstorming Posts
This was a player-run project that eventually faded away, but a number of folks have expressed interest in having those happen again, which we're all for! We've got asucker mwhahahaha volunteer to get the whole thing going, so watch for further information in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fhplotterywheel when she's had the chance to organize her plans.
Aaaaaand now this is finally the time on Sprockets when we shut up. But if you have questions, further discussion, or corrections about anything, we're here and happy to help!
Communication and Response Times
It's been rightly pointed out that the Admin Team has recently fallen back to slower response times when we reply to e-mails and other communications. We'll be striving to do better on that front, and also, as suggested, make sure we get some sort of initial "We got this, thanks, and we'll get back to you once we've had the chance to discuss it!" confirmation out to you, so that you know we're working on it and your question didn't just get devoured by hungry gremlins. The same goes for LJ comments that we can't respond to right away for various reasons (the person who knows the answer isn't around, it requires discussing with the whole team and half of us are asleep because timezones, and so on) -- we'll try to at least ping back quickly to let you know what the deal is!
We've also made sure to schedule two more Open Forums for this year, one in August and one in November, so we get back to the three-per-year schedule that makes for a more comfortable atmosphere in which we can all discuss game concerns with each other. Those dates will go live on the public plot calendar as soon as we nail down the specifics of exactly which weekend will work best.
When We Say No To A Plot Idea...
It looks like we need to explain our thinking a bit more clearly when it comes to this -- both in general and in individual situations -- because we never want it to seem like we're not giving your thoughts and ideas the consideration they deserve.
So first, some general stuff about how and why: When we say no regarding ideas/questions/is my character eligible in BDEs and plots, it's never automatic. We always consider "how are people going to potentially use this idea" before making a decision. Sometimes the answer may be quick, but that's usually because we'd already thought of that situation or question and had an answer in mind should it come up. We try to write the initial information posts in such a way that those things are covered, but sometimes it's a matter of "Let's only address this if someone asks, because including all the variables in the main description is likely to get ridiculously long and/or confuse people."
The basic reasons we do tend to nix an idea are:
a) Allowing it would change the plot in some major way that would complicate or conflict with other planned events/setups.
b) Saying yes to that particular request might not have a huge effect on things, but it potentially opens the door to numerous similar requests that we've foreseen could cause problems.
c) The request goes against the basic concept of the plot or situation, or could easily be accommodated elsewhere.
As an example of that last one, as well as an acknowledgment of where we didn't get things right and how we can handle this better in the future:
The idea behind Ghost-Con was that the guest characters were meant to be established ghosts that we had seen acting as ghosts -- not just dying -- within their canon. Characters that have set powers, behaviors, and personalities when acting as a ghost, in other words. An exception was offered for dead Fandom High characters only if that character's death had actually been played out in the game -- it was meant as a specific little treat for those players who did the work to write/roleplay that death, which is fairly rare in the history of the game. We figured if you took it that far, you deserved to try playing them at the next logical step of their existence, as a ghost. There's also already a recurring event for dead characters -- FH and otherwise -- to return and interact with loved ones in a non-ghostly way, which we're planning to run again this year.
While we could have explained all that in the initial plot post, that's a lot of space to devote to a potential question that not very many people were likely to have, because the number of "probably eventually went back to their canon death but got dropped without establishing that in-game" characters is very small too.
Where we could have done better, though, and where we'll try to improve in the future, is in explaining our reasoning, once the question had been asked. The player who asked the question did get basically the explanation outlined above, but it was sent as an e-mail to personally reassure them that there would still be an upcoming opportunity to accomplish the same thing. It didn't occur to us that hey, other players -- who didn't ask because one person had already been told no -- deserve to get that explanation too!
So yes, definitely: in the future, we'll try to be more aware of explaining a little bit about our thought process if we have to say no to an idea, and explaining it in a way that other people who might be affected by the decision will understand, not just the person who asked the question.
Character Information, Directory, Website, Admin E-Mail Address, and Ch-ch-changes!
Whoo, this turned out to be a big one, because general concerns about how to get up to date information dovetailed with our own similar thoughts on the matter and with some behind the scenes organization issues too.
We absolutely agree that there needs to be a better way to know who is playing which character, how to get hold of that player, and which categories and fandoms the characters fit into. (While still preserving the privacy of those players who like to play new characters in "stealth" mode, at least initially.)
At the same time, the FH website, while visually shiny, is built on outdated software, was designed by a player no longer in the game, and is kind of breaking to pieces on the back end (which is part of the reason we've been so bad about regularly updating the directory). The webspace and fandomhigh.net domain also cost about $75 a year to maintain, which just isn't worth the investment when everything it does can be (and in a lot of cases already is) duplicated elsewhere.
So! First things first, we've taken the spreadsheet that the admin team already uses to keep track of characters behind the scenes, and created a shiny new Public Character Directory!
It's both sortable and filterable, and if you want to download a copy and play with it in Excel for your own nefarious purposes, you can do that too.
Stealthed characters have their Character E-Mail listed instead of the player's regular contact e-mail, and have [Private] shown in the Player Name field. There's only two characters currently being stealthed -- we quadruple-checked including looking up infoposts in journals to see which characters were openly listed as belonging to the same player -- so maintaining this shouldn't be difficult going forward. However, that trip down the research rabbit-hole was a one-time only deal - if you bring in a new character in stealth mode, you're going to remain listed as [Private] for that character until you contact us and tell us otherwise!
If there's a different name you'd rather we list you under, or a different e-mail you'd rather we use, just let us know.
Second things second, we have a new admin e-mail address that isn't tied to the fandomhigh.net domain: fandomhighadmins@iambicnut.com. The old administration@fandomhigh.net will stop working soon, so please switch over to the new one for contacting us! We've updated all the major pages and links that list the e-mail address, but if you run across one we missed, just let us know and we'll get that fixed right away.
Third things third and last, we've un-linked the contact page, character and plot apps, player handbook, and pre-play coder from the FH website, in preparation for taking it down completely sometime later this year, and re-created them either on MP's webspace, on LJ, or as GDocs.
The Pre-Play Coder is here and still works the same.
The Character Application is now limited to the GDoc version, which is actually safer to send to us by e-mail than submitting through the website was, anyway. It also contains updated information and instructions.
The Plot Submission form -- same deal: now exists in a GDoc version that can be pasted into or attached to an e-mail, with updated info and instructions.
The Contact Post has been re-created as a screened LJ post. The easiest way to communicate with us is still to just send an e-mail -- that way we can also answer you! -- but if you want to contact us anonymously, you can do it there. Anon is on, IP logging is off, and the comments will remain screened.
The Player Handbook has been re-created in the FT Directory. Most of the information in it already existed in the Directory, often in slightly more modern form, so it's not really a new thing -- just a single page that arranges links you already knew about in the same overview setup that used to be presented on the website.
We've gone through the FH Profile page and updated all the links to point to the new versions (as far as we can tell; again, if you see one we missed, yell!) and new addresses, and just generally updated the information pages that already existed as well, to get things as current and accurate for you as we possibly can.
We hope these changes make things a lot smoother for all of us, going forward!
Plottery Brainstorming Posts
This was a player-run project that eventually faded away, but a number of folks have expressed interest in having those happen again, which we're all for! We've got a
fhplotterywheel when she's had the chance to organize her plans.Aaaaaand now this is finally the time on Sprockets when we shut up. But if you have questions, further discussion, or corrections about anything, we're here and happy to help!
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You all rock, and thank you so much for the time and effort you put into this game.
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When we're coding our applications for you wonderful friends, should we continue using brackets? [i]Like so[/i]? Or will the new admin HQ be using standard HTML like we're used to on LJ?
(Or are you guys staying put? I just vaguely recall the admin stuff being tied to Nate's webspace so I figured that'd be moving as well.)
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Thank yooooooou!
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*from TOTALLY WRONG ACCOUNT*
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BTW, if you could please update Bob's e-mail addy, it's fh.hrothbert at gmail.
THANK YOU!
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What I'm getting at is will you do my taxes?
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Basically I WANT MY REFUND NOW. And therefore I kind of like doing my taxes.