rpanons | 008

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Rundown:

rpanons is an anonymous community for role-play related topics. This place serves as a forum for game discussions, canon discussions, RP solicitations (ATP, game ads, open memes), and advice. The occasional off topic comment is inevitable, but please keep heated social and political topics to their respective communities. Posting them here will only get them frozen. Subsequent threads made to bypass a freeze will then be deleted.

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Concerns?

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Huh?

AUs have pretty much been fine since they finally nailed down what constituted "better as fanfic" and gave some guidelines for them. The game has its share of problems, the AU rules definitely ain't one of them.

I guess it's not really the AU rules, I guess I just feel like the behind the scenes stuff is really, really unbalanced at the moment? Apps are a serious trial by fire, while AC is virtually nonexistent(you really can't call it an AC when we move in January and we won't have another until April).]

That, and I feel like some of the way the old guard treats any AU is kind of worrisome.

Well, I definitely agree with the AC thing, that's kind of a fucking joke, but I'm not sure what you mean about the AUs, and I don't think I will unless you give me some examples, cause I don't follow the app page that closely.

I'm going to guess the issue ayrt meant was the fact that AUs are still heavily restricted. You can't app an AU that changes more than one or two minor things or it makes the character "unrecognizable". There was a huge discussion post about it months ago that the mods blatantly ignored, and when they updated the AU rules all they did was explain it better. That's great and all, but the limitations are still bullshit. You can app a genderbend or change one event in a character's history that leaves them almost identical to the canon version, but you can't change the setting at all even if they're still IC and well written. The latter wouldn't even be looked at. They'd reject it outright on grounds of being too different for an alternate universe.

It's definitely not the worst issue this game has, and I'd rather they concentrate on the other problems first, but the AU rules are only good if you're apping a CR AU or a canon AU. If you're trying to make something original, good luck with that.

Well, now we're delving into the point where I think we'll just have to agree to disagree, 'cause...well, I don't really want to see a bunch of radical AUs floatin' around, personally.

See, that's the mods attitude here, and it's completely ridiculous. Allowing more variety in AUs doesn't make them "radical," it makes them fucking AUs. If someone apped an AU that was really so crazy and out there that it would be difficult for castmates to deal with, it would probably have a multitude of problems beyond having a change of setting. Making everyone a pirate, for example, isn't going to break anyone's brains, because it's still the same characters but in pirate hats and with pirate accents and boats and shit. If having a castmate come from a different setting is enough to make you uncomfortable, I'd have to wonder why you play in a game that accepts any AUs, or why you play in panfandom games at all.

And the bottom line is, this game has accepted way crazier AUs in the past, and that's because the original rules were more open to AU possibilities. I've never seen anyone complain about any AUs that've been accepted in the past. I've never seen a cast have difficulty interacting with an AU castmate. The rules didn't need changing, and they changed them without warning (several days into an app cycle with AU apps, too) or player input.

This sounds less like "There are problems with the AU guidelines that need to be solved" and more like "I don't like the current restrictions on AUs and wish they were less strict." That's your opinion, and it's fine to have it, but that doesn't mean that it's the mods' job to do anything about it or that the limitations are 'bullshit.'

It's called fixing what's not broken, and really, it was how they went about this change that bothered me most. When the mods change the AU rules partway through an app cycle and reject apps based on said rules before they're even posted, it tends to piss people off. Yes, it's my opinion that the current rules are too strict. I'm by far not the only one that has this opinion. I have yet to see a reasonable justification for the current rules.

But let's face it, it's the mods' job to do a lot of things they aren't doing. As much as this bothers me, I doubt it's ever going to change, and at this point it's easier for everyone to just app their AUs elsewhere. It's not something I really feel like getting up in arms over.

Fair enough. There's been a huge change in the mod team from the original mods who created the game to the current team, and I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with them changing guidelines/rules/whatever to better fit their vision for the game.

But I agree that the timing of the change could have been much better, and unfortunately the mods' communication with players has always been a weak spot.

Honestly, there are a lot of problems in the communication department. From the mods not communicating with each other to the mods not communicating with the playerbase to the fact that most of the mods are too busy with RL to actually run the game 24/7. I don't begrudge them, but they need help and don't seem to be willing to ask for it.

Actually, anon, the setting that I apped in is pretty different from canon. There were some pretty widespread consequences of Charles' AU. The mods did ask me to explain the changes as far as the world itself went, but they went ahead and let me in after that.

Charles isn't a CR AU or a canon AU; he's original, and I didn't have too much trouble getting him in.

I'm not familiar with your canon, so I assumed your AU was at least an extension of canon events. Maybe the mods' stance has changed a little since then and they haven't said anything? I wouldn't know. Maybe if more people tried to app original AUs it would be more clear.

Hmm, let's see if I can describe this. (Disclaimer on all of this: I'm new, I'm not all that familiar with the game and the mod's policies yet, pretty much all I'm really aware of is what's written in the rules, and the fact that I got in, so take what I say with a grain of salt!)

In X-Men: First Class, there's a brief bit with each Erik and Charles as kids (Erik's power being discovered by Nazis, Charles in America running across a tiny Raven Darkholme), then it skips ahead to events in the 1960s.

In my AU, Charles is older (born six years earlier), Erik's timeline is bumped up a couple years (so he's discovered by the Nazis earlier and younger). What leads on from there changes World War II (it ends earlier, it's more decisive) and then goes on to reveal the existence of mutants/people with superpowers earlier, which leads to a drastic increase in international tension. Also changes the development of Israel as a nation.

So I suppose technically you could say it diverges from the canon timeline, but it diverges from that timeline before canon begins, making it not quite an extension of canon events.

Huh. That actually sounds pretty interesting.

In that case, I guess the mods are more open to AUs that do major changes to the setting, too. That's an improvement if I ever saw one. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Thanks, anon! And I hope I get the chance to tag you -- I totally understand that AUs aren't everyone's thing, and the amount of people who have been willing to get CR with me has been really flattering. I'd love to have him reach out more beyond his own cast.

Same here, especially after the anon comment below this. Some of us really like seeing original AUs, even if they're few and far between in sing! I've been thinking about dropping lately, but if I decide to stay I'll definitely send some tags your way. Maybe everyone doesn't have to like your AU, but that shouldn't stop you from having fun with those who do. :)

Please do! And, don't worry, I'm fully aware that not everyone likes every character. I certainly don't insist that everyone like my random-ass AU.

In point of fact, not everyone is happy about this AU having been accepted, and they aren't mods.

I'm sorry to hear that. Anything I can do to help with that? -- I mean, in the way I play, in how I handle him. I'm happy to be accommodating; that's one of the reasons I put up a permissions post, so people could opt out of me tagging them.

This comment is... so ridiculous. Say who these mysterious unhappy people are or at the very least why they're unhappy, or shut up. There's no reason to make a new player believe that there are ~shadowy figures~ who are ~unhappy~.

This is exactly why we get a shitty reputation.

it's probably one of the old guard who hate on the idea of aus in general because ~its too awkward interacting with them~

someone please cry more

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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