Did You Know?

Damonicus

So what you're saying is....Use Ison as a meat shield again?

Slyphe

Did you know that during our event-planning-spitballing-OOHTHATSOUNDSGREAT stage we almost always try to incorporate different ways in which the event could end so that player involvement is accounted for? Obviously some events are made to bring about a specific purpose so they can be a bit more rigid in the ultimate outcome than others, buuut my point is this:

When an event's going on, please don't assume it's supposed to be a cutscene of some sort! It doesn't matter if there are 5 gods in a room or if it's just a single mob being possessed, we love to see you guys emoting and taking part.

@Damariel especially is known for starting events with a basic premise and purposely leaving them rather open-ended to allow it to be something that's shaped by player reaction, and it's a trend that's been wildly successful.

Have an awesome idea? Present it while it's happening. Have a creative way to handle a problem that's occurred? By all means try to make it happen and we'll do our best to run along with it.

tl;dr We don't like the idea of Divine cutscene events either, and they're never intended to be that way. Don't be shy, throw in some emotes with us in the midst of the craziness during the next event!

EDIT: I deleted my old post and made this new one because no matter how many times I furiously mashed the enter button for some spacing, it condensed everything into one wall-o-text.

Omei

tl;dr it's sad when more than one of us are visible in a room and players go silent.

Moirean

We're all just secretly hoping you'll kiss.

Omei

Alexina

Honestly, it feels really weird to try and emote in a room of 2-3 gods and 10-15 players during some important event. Like... that demon Ruin or whatever, there's just tons of people in the room and if you say something it'll just get drowned out or someone will start huffing about one thing or another. Just doesn't feel like public events is the right place to start pushing character agendas, but that's probably just me.

Aarbrok

I mean even when things are crazy and assigned a way, like say the Demon Blade event, I kept trying to pick it up, it was not able to be picked up.

Eventually they noticed I was trying and let me pick it up, but not until after I emoted going for it, or made an RP based action, so I felt that was a scenario in which the interaction was acknowledged by those running the event, hey this Cabalist is speaking on his Guild channel about warding the blade, and is interacting with it in a manner that isnt purely baseless...lets give it a go.

Those sorts of interactions have seriously built roleplay out of a character alot deeper than one would think is. Same with Niuris hand, and other things Aarbrok has managed to get into.

I am glad the Gods do it how they do, thank you for helping me solidify a path for Aarbroks actions.

Slyphe

Also addendum:

We can see it when you use the <think command! If you're looking to participate in the RP, especially in bigger situations like that where I can understand it's a little intimidating, feel free to utilize that if not just to let us know we've still got you're attention and you're interacting!

Toz

Some NPC jacked my idea during an event recently. > : (

Irruel

I usually figure it's so spammy the best I thing I can do for everyone is do my bit to cut down on the spam.

I usually find myself watching the screen and wondering if I could get away with forcing certain people to shut up (usually the more immersion-ruining people).

But that's just during the "everyone is now in the one room getting answers from X" stage. Like the lycan->shapeshifter day. Ouch.

Omei

That's the thing, though. We don't care about the spam. We want you to "spam". It's not spam - it's character development! When we see people being quiet out of respect for the event we get frustrated because we want you guys to join in. Please don't be afraid!

Rashar

Meltas had it figured out the -whole- time.

Omei

Okay well if I can be naughty for a second, we'd prefer if you not bust out 7-liners about making an ice chair.

Ianea

Omei said:

That's the thing, though. We don't care about the spam. We want you to "spam". It's not spam - it's character development! When we see people being quiet out of respect for the event we get frustrated because we want you guys to join in. Please don't be afraid!

Though I have to point out that when you continually try in front of a bigger group and you're just completely ignored it's discouraging and sometimes embarrassing(like you're not good enough to be interacted with because the bigger names in the playground are there). Though I suppose that is its own sort of character development, knowing you have no voice no matter how high you jump up and down, waving your hand. Though the think command is interesting and I may make use of it more often.

I much prefer the smaller interactions and I feel I get so much more character development and growth in. I have had a number of these smaller interactions and I've enjoyed them immensely. Because of them I have grown very attached to Aetolia and Ianea. (For example I will forever associate Omei with a foul mouthed troll vomiting live moths until dead. Ianea has only ever grown more terrified of Omei since that day, each time she thinks about it.)

Haern

Sometimes it's lost in all the chatter that's being done in the Pools, not even factoring in the in-room chatter and actions. I know I've been overwhelmed before, so don't take it personally!

Damariel

When we're running any kind of event, there is a LOT we end up having to keep track of - your average God that's visible and running an event is often tracking two to three rooms, anywhere from one to a dozen mobiles, coordinating with other Gods helping to run the event, and responding to four or five conversations at once. We do our best, but sometimes we slip. Don't take it personally!

Moirean

I just do what Moi's gonna do. Usually it's dangerous for the world at large - offering her blood to cray cray Niuri, picking up the demon blade, trading ancient artifacts for chocolate, lashing out and attacking a mob who gave her PTSD - and I think it's fun, but it definitely is controversial. I get a lot of flack from other players for being disrupting and derailing and stuff, so I dunno. Sometimes just watching the god show is less stress and makes you more popular.

Angwe

With the open-endedness of recent events and the Divine's explicit approval granted in this thread, I imagine people will stop seeing it as disruptive. I know I will.

Omei

I can't speak for anyone else but I would be really happy if you guys went a little more buck-wild.

Ianea

Haern said:

Sometimes it's lost in all the chatter that's being done in the Pools, not even factoring in the in-room chatter and actions. I know I've been overwhelmed before, so don't take it personally!

This is sort of my point. Things are already missed and though I don't take it personally, some may and even more chatter and actions are being encouraged.

I just wanted to bring up the other side of it and why some of us are more quiet. Some people need to be the centre - I'm content to be there to see things first hand and speak up only if I have something pressing to add. I still enjoy it very much and I don't have to look back thinking, if only they had noticed when I said this or did that, it would have been different. (If I'm not enjoying it or feel truly ignored after trying several times, I'll leave and do something else.)

Aishia

Last time I did something WILD AND UNEXPECTED at an event I got shamed pretty hard.

Moirean

Well, I think there are levels of what's cool. Stuff like messing with mechanics or just pitting an entire room without any buildup comes across like trolling and not story/character development. I also think, though, that as a community we're too quick to accuse RP of crossing into that more meta/trollish line.

Areka

I think it's also situational and which people are doing what. It's always frustrating when an event caters/more heavily involves one of your orgs and either enemies or non-members try to steal the show and make it about them and overstep other peoples' involvement. Thankfully those kinds of issues are relatively rare.

Edit: Though half the time I get the wrong <> for think emotes. Could we get it updated somehow for 'think' to become a workable alternative? It's much more intuitive/natural to 'think "Wow, that sure is a thing!" you muse', etc.

Omei

Areka said:

Edit: Though half the time I get the wrong <> for think emotes. Could we get it updated somehow for 'think' to become a workable alternative? It's much more intuitive/natural to 'think "Wow, that sure is a thing!" you muse', etc.

Yes!

Irruel

Omei said:

That's the thing, though. We don't care about the spam. We want you to "spam". It's not spam - it's character development! When we see people being quiet out of respect for the event we get frustrated because we want you guys to join in. Please don't be afraid!

It's not necessarily respect for the event even. I'll speak up if I feel I have something important to add, or a unique idea or whatever that Irru would never NOT act on...

...but rping in that sort of spam is just plain exhausting. Respect to you and the rest of the team for managing to do it as well as you do, but personally if I want to be involved, I'm more likely to try and branch off something a bit smaller.

An example of a failed attempt to branch off, if we go back a few years now, is during the Kerrithrim thing. I got my hands on a couple of Shastaan villager corpses, dragged a few necromancers to a room somewhere, and we tried to resurrect them (to ask them what the hell happened, as it was early on when it was all still a mystery). We failed to get the attention of the dev team that time but it didn't matter - that particular event in Irru's past still figures into his persona even now. Very few people know of it but it keeps me amused.

Gwenith

Say you have an idea, should you wait to bring it up IG or is alright to go "Hey God I have an idea" via messages or what? So far my small attempts have been met with silence and it just makes it fell awkward to do it. [Sorry I've been wanting to ask for hours but phone forums sometimes don't post]

Aarbrok

@Gwenith‌ - MOBMSG is a great way to RP to an NPC, and the gods running the event I would assume see those messages, just keep in mind those are IC messages.

Gwenith

mobmsg? How does that work? (I would look it up IG but since this is a topic for dishing out information about rarely known stuff an explaination here would be ideal!)

Rivas

From HELP MESSAGING:


Mobile Messages
---------------
You can leave messages for mobiles using the MOBMSG command.



So basically you can leave messages for specific mobiles.

Omei

Did You Know...

Gyle, Grul, and Sullivan were the individual works of three different Gods? We thought it'd be fun to make them independently of one another and see which one Spinesreach liked best.

That Gyle is a transplant from old-old-Minia?

That Grul bombed the Spirean outhouse on a level comparable to Dreikathi weaponry?

That Sullivan speaks in a gruff, exaggerated Mississippi accent?

That Sullivan's guitar is a weapon with 200 in each stat? Not that you can learn to use it effectively.