sorry that people are sick of your majestic mcus

[socksuke_uchiha]

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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Comments

ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

Experienced mods of Dreamwidth, what advice would you give to new mods? What mistakes would you avoid?

(Preferably not just "don't mod", I know some ex-mods feel that way and that sucks but I'm more asking for actual game modding advice here.)

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

never let everyone and anyone in just for the sake of having a big game out of the gate

there are some people in this hobby that are just toxic even if they aren't "established" wankers and you're perfectly within your rights to say no

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

+1 mods should be more discriminating against toxic personalities, and if it is your game you can and should say no to them

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

About to launch a game and curious as to what the best way to handle this is, specifically if the player is just a pain in the ass and not an actual harasser. Is there a nice, vague way to dismiss the app or reserve like "The mod team does not feel you are a good fit for this game."?

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

there is literally nothing you can do that will please everyone, so just make sure you are running a game that you enjoy.

+100

[(Anonymous)]

added to this: anon comments are neither a reliable source of information nor indicative of your audience's prevailing opinions.

+1000

[(Anonymous)]

Please don't announce your game and then cave in to every complaint you get on plurk. Some feedback is valuable and it's perfectly fine to accept and incorporate it, but there's a difference between valid criticism and people trying to strong-arm you into catering to them.

Watch for comments like "aw, I love the setting but you don't allow OCs/the AC is too high for me/you have anon mods/etc. so I can't play here". You don't need every single player in DWRP apping to your game.

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

Pick your co-mods carefully. Delegate tasks/roles and make sure you stick to them (ie. don't volunteer to do tasks that aren't yours unless asked to help). Don't work with co-mods who are going to enable each other into being lazy.

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

Please, please, please have actual app standards. Do not skim and rubber stamp every single app. You don't have to be elitist about it, but speaking as a former mod and current player, I'm sick to death of trying to tag folks who can barely string a coherent sentence together.

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

I see some mods need canon familiarity, but does approving an app also mean checking for writing quality, and maybe checking the journal to see what else the character has been in? How deep do you dive when proccessing new ones?

+1

[(Anonymous)]

and as i had comods who struggled with this: if you let in ocs, the key to grading their apps is consistency. you can have standards with ocs.

personality aligns with writing samples and history, the history makes sense and the timeline is reasonable. if their personality says they're shy and insecure and their samples have them bantering with even the scariest of villains with a smirk, revise or turn them out on their ass. if their history says they're bad at magic but also says they mastered a magical art at age 12 and are dueling wizards by age 14, revise or turn them out on their ass. shit like that.

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

Following up to this: how would you enforce actual app standards? The more technical aspects of writing (canon accuracy and spelling/grammar) are easy to enforce but plenty of people are competent in both of those areas and cannot do "creative writing" worth a damn.

I can tell from TDM samples if someone is this type of player (their tags are just flat and unengaging with no real personality or anything to play off of) but most players probably wouldn't just accept something like "your writing doesn't meet our standards" without objective criteria they can use to improve.

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

When starting the game, do not accept all apps without question just to fill in the numbers. It's difficult to resist, because it's exciting to have people interested in your game, but nothing kills enthusiasm for a game quicker than prospective players seeing well known pains in the ass or awful writing everywhere.

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

- Do prep work. Do not write your event posts at the last minute.
- Find someone who can do basic editing. I am in several games where the repetitive writing and run on sentences make it so difficult to follow what's going on.
- Related, relaying information is a different style of writing than prose. Separate INFO and FLAVOR TEXT in your mind. Separate it in your posts. Use bold, use colors, use bullet points.
- If your co-mods aren't doing what they're supposed to, replace them.
- Make expectations clear well in advance and don't change things at the last minute. If people misunderstand or are disappointed and you think there are fair changes to make, admit to it and lay out your plan for what you're going to do better next time.
- Don't take questions on discord/plurk. Tell them to go to the FAQ where both the question and answer will be preserved for other people to see.
- Don't only announce things on discord/plurk. People do still use the OOC comm to see announcements and it's the unified place where everyone can get to it. You could even suggest people track the OOC comm/announcements tag.

I feel like I could go on all day with the shit I see people do... I'll just stop there.

[(Anonymous)]

+1 to editing.

If you're the main or writing mod, consider asking your other mods (helper or not) if your posts are easy to read and grasp. You want to cut down as much pointless questions as possible, because players might get confused trying to read for the relevant information.

What might make sense to YOU definitely doesn't mean the average player might get it.

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

i know someone already mentioned preplanning but i'm going to emphasize it again anyway. preplan your events. do write ups for your events early. don't wait. being chronically late to posting up information on events or even just the state of the game kills momentum. players leave over that.

other things to keep in mind:

- if you don't know a canon ask a friend out of game who does. it avoids people getting in who are completely tone deaf to a character without you knowing because you don't know the canon.
- keep it simple. info pages should cover all the information necessary without being fifty pages long. sometimes less is more.
- if you decide to update and change the rules for things like redeeming items for a reward system or adjusting death consequences grandfather those who have already put in requests before making an announcement for the new rules. it's one thing if a player isn't even following the original rules but i've seen mods do this to people who did. it's a dick move.
- understand that unless you have a set plan for the game to only last a few months you may be in for the long haul and this is a time commitment that requires you to be consistent. find a good way to balance your mod work into your life in a way that you don't feel like you're living on dreamwidth but you aren't going days on days ignoring the game either. i've seen so many mods just ghost on their own playerbase due to mod burnout.
- adapt adapt adapt. if you're running a plot and the players don't seem to understand it and aren't picking up on any of the hints you're dropping it might be time to give them more information or scrap it entirely depending on what it is. if you put up new information and people seem lost rephrase it. some mods get so caught up in an idea and how cool it is to them that they fail to realize that the playerbase is struggling and frustrated.
- as others already suggested pick reliable co-mods who are on the same page as you. be sure to communicate with them about event plans, game plot, and anything going on as far as player management. that way if you are unavailable at any time for any reason you will know that your co-mods can manage without you.

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

+1 prismatica was infamous in its early months for updating or outright changing rules and faqs and game setting stuff without telling anyone

it sucked, don't do that

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

consolidating some advice i posted from like a post or two ago regarding exploration games or sign-up style plots in particular;
https://rpanons.dreamwidth.org/85878.html?thread=258303606#cmt258303606
https://rpanons.dreamwidth.org/85878.html?thread=258321782#cmt258321782

- keep good organization with plotting. keep it all in the ooc community. keep a FAQ subthread in your ooc plotting posts. answer questions only on FAQ subthreads or the FAQ post. direct players to these places if they're asking in other avenues such as plurk or discord.
- when throwing up ooc plotting posts, use sub-threads and organize them with labeling the headers, especially if you're doing voluntary group sign-ups.
- do NOT cater to anyone who wants to sign-up for something after the deadline. STICK TO DEADLINES!
- keep group sign ups to three or less. ime i've found that 4+ players is too cumbersome and takes too long for the group to get through a round of tags and make progress. 5-6 players frequently have threads that stall or take all month just to do a little big of progress. players also get too focused on "complete thing" instead of having character-to-character moments which especially sucks if that takes up, again, the whole month of tagging.
- letting players make their own groups is ideal but always offer a "rng" sign up header for people who don't care or are willing to roll the proverbial dice.
- "first come first serve" sign-ups work best if they're big (20+ players, indirect plot influence). otherwise set a deadline and use rng to assign groups after that deadline passes. first-come first-serve style can screw players over who work or live in different time zones. players hate this.
- having said that, rng is fun but as a mod you can still override that. fudging sign-ups under the table is actually a good thing, especially if you think the group dynamic is going to work better one way or another. for example, pair up the faster taggers with each other, or pair up the players with similar writing styles, or players who have repeatedly expressed interest in signing-up with each other on prior events. this is entirely dependent on how well you know your playerbase but things like this can and do go a long way making or breaking an event for someone. it is really frustrating to be on the butt end of true RNG and getting paired up with The Game Flake or a character that is very incompatible with yours.
- don't have "dead ends" in your plots. players hate this. if players/characters are asking in directions that are outside the boundaries of what you have planned, throw them a bone and come up with something on the fly. improvise.
- "wrap up" posts after a plot are great and use the same advice some of the other anons in this thread are giving about consolidating it to bullet points, or to use bold text to keep the plot results clear and easy for everyone to understand at a glance.

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

unless you want a big game, put a player cap in first. even if you don't think the game will hit more than 30 people, put a limit in. don't be left having to change your rules because you ended up with way more characters than you expected.

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

don't take advice from people who have tanked multiple other games and think they get to tell everyone else what to do

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

if you have a tdm, post if after you open reserves so people don't get the idea that posting in the tdm is a de facto reserve

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

just reiterate that it's not. a tdm is to see if your char would fit in that setting, so having the ability to play to see that before you reserve isn't a bad thing. wanky entitled opinions on stuff don't make it a bad thing in general. sometimes i tdm someone and from a thread or two figure out they're not as good of a fit as i wanted, or that initial excitement wears off when i realize i'll have to play them in it with specific dynamics that might not work. i might try another or wait until i have a char that suits better. not to mention getting samples for apps are better with a relevant source to pick from that plays to the game itself instead of tfln or au memes.

most people know that tdms aren't a guaranteed reserve. the people that are going to complain about sniping are going to do it regardless. because they plurked/mentioned it somewhere, so you should have known they wanted it first. whiny tittybabies gonna tittybabe.

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

Screen your reserves and apps. It will save you so many awkward situations.

+10000000

[(Anonymous)]

All apps should be screened as a courtesy. It gives mods room to be discerning, it gives players the privacy of saving face over a rejection. If people want to post their apps publicly that's their prerogative but discretion in the app process takes a lot of pressure off people.

Re: ADVICE FOR NEW MODS

[(Anonymous)]

I would advise to unscreen reserves once processed and added to the list though. I've seen games that didn't and there were some accusations of them cherry picking who got in and playing favorites. Think about the people who bitch about reserve sniping and imagine that being worse because there's no clear evidence that the accepted reserve did come first. If you're concerned about the possibility of accepted reserves being bullied into not apping, then wait until the app round ends or the reserves expire.