Second Season Scheming

[DarkSpark]

I'm going for terrorsaur then, audition posted :3

[Blackrosefencer]

Phoenix wrote: The closer to the script we stick, the less popular (and thus slower progressing) the episodes tend to be.

Naitokate wrote: I'd say the slowness isn't from popularity, but rather from the size of the group. When you have 10+ people trying to have character development together, it will take a longer amount of time for interactions, combat, or anything else. There isn't a problem with that, but that is generally the case for this and any other roleplaying game.

I think I agree with Phoenix. I think that the popularity and interest in the story line definitely plays a much bigger role in the slowness of the story's pace than the number of people involved. Parts of the story that only involved one or two players have progressed just as slowly as parts of the story that involved ten or more. It all depends on how interested players are in the story line. When there isn't anything for their character to do, then people disappear for a while. We end up waiting for those players who disappeared to wait out a drawn out portion of the story and don't realize that the story moved on without them.

I think when we're weighing the choices of posting in the forum and doing real life things the choice we make is highly dependent on whether or not we have anything to say. I mean, if we know that the story is wrapping up and there's not much for our particular character to do anyway, then why make a point to hop on the forum in our free time? One day you say, "Well, no one responded yesterday and I don't really have time to check today, so I'll hop on tomorrow...there will be something to do by then." The next day and the next day, you just keep saying the same thing without actually checking the progress of the story. I think people disappear when they don't feel involved in the story and then just forget to come back and check. Let's face it, we all could make the time to jump on the forum if we really wanted to. Who hasn't popped online just to see who responded to your last post even if you don't actually have time? Parts that were high in interest have sometimes flown by so quickly that OOP has to ask us to slow down....and sometimes they involved many players.

Don't get me wrong...Sometimes players are actually busy in real life, but I think if someone doesn't feel involved....then even if there are a few moments of free time, they won't spend it posting. If someone is really busy, but has an interest in the story line, they will find a way to post somehow.

[Mystrea]

I agree with some of your points Blackrose, but I'm not sure about others. NK's point is valid. The more people involved the more likely we will have to wait for said person or people to respond. Anyway, on to this interest point. I went thorugh a good learning curve. Which was having my interest go beyond the reply to my post. Playing the game like that will ultimately get you fustrated because at some point you will have to wait for someone. It used to fustrate me, now it doesn't. I haven't posted in weeks and I can tell you that I'm still interested. I'm interested in what the other characters are doing and to see how much we can wander from the original story line lol. I think that many may have made the mistake of depending their interest on their involvement, which is a shame.

This is why I think the rule which is put in place for moving on due to a lack of response should be enforced more. I'm not saying it isn't just that it seems that we get held up quite a lot. It's like a week or something isn't it? Thats fine, just as long as it is followed through. If its a cannon character with specific involvement then someone can be tasked with handling that role until the player returns. If you're busy, you're busy thats completely acceptable but your punishment should simply be that its up to to you to catch up. It's not fair on the rest of us.

Just my thoughts.

[DarkSpark]

We could probably think up new mission scenarios surrounding new characters who pop up after the first three episodes of season 2, unless everyone wants to premier their OCs right away, or come up with new alien sites to explore, or alien threats dropped down upon us....I do have one idea for a mini arc perhaps, but it would require a pred OC that's really only in the concept stages at the moment (and her threat level depends on how many insect themed baddies we have in game).

[Venatrix]

First, I think the "Code of a Hero" will end up in a loooooong episode.
I cant wait fir the eps the run directly towards that one faithful ep

Second, I'm working on a secondary character for season 2, who i'll lovingly name "Snaptrap"
Though his main goal is to be ended by a bit of fire and a big "BOOM" when i resurrect my second main
I hope i will make some of you sad to see him go.

[Alak]

So if we're going for more OC episodes than canon episodes, am I allowed to bring in Rampage sooner?

[Venatrix]

Alak, would you mind having Snaptrap as Rampage's "brother" as in "old and possibly only friend"?

*rubs hands* Wazzzpinator haz planzzz.

[Alak]

Sure, I wouldn't mind giving that a shot.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

So if we're going for more OC episodes than canon episodes, am I allowed to bring in Rampage sooner?

The way I see it, Alak, is that we're pretty much doing our own thing for season two, except for certain episodes that would benefit character development or whatever. So, yes, Rampage can be introduced whenever just as long as it's after Primal's return so he can answer everyone's questions about him and take the heat from anyone that might develop disappointment in their leader's secret.

[DarkSpark]

Is Blackarachnia still gonna fall in love with Silverbolt? Or is she gonna stay bad from beginning to end? I only ask because the arrival of Rampage was the episode in which she and Silverbolt really began their little affair, and the episode "Tangled Webs," in which Blackarachnia breaks free of Tarantulas' mind control & first witnesses Silverbolt's chivalrous ways, takes place long before Rampage's arrival.

Just saying that if we are bringing Rampage in earlier, things will have to be played around a little to accommodate that (especially if the romance still happens, or if BA is still under Big T's influence while X is around).

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

Is Blackarachnia still gonna fall in love with Silverbolt? Or is she gonna stay bad from beginning to end?

I think that's up to una and Warwulf, and it could go either way. We could completely rewrite how Blackarachnia becomes a Maximal again, or TM2, IF una even wants her to. Maybe there's no love interest at all between them. You never know what could happen now.

Getting Tarry out of BA's head in inevitable because he will have a shiny, new body to play with, and maybe he won't even keep his control over her once he exits her consciousness or however that works. That part is kind of up to you, DarkSpark.

Either way, I still think things could easily be moved around and different characters could be involved with different missions so it wouldn't really matter what order things happen in. I always try to mix up the groups and have both canons and OC's involved with one thing and the others involved with another. We're pretty much rewriting this season.

[Blackrosefencer]

I haven't posted in weeks and I can tell you that I'm still interested.

That's great, but I don't think I said: "People who are not involved in the story directly are never interested in the story at all."

I simply meant that when people are not involved in the story directly and don't feel there is anything for their character to do at the moment, they tend to lose interest. Not saying they all always lose interest....just that, in that situation, more often than in other situations, there is a lack of interest.

I think that certain parts of the story where fewer characters were involved, did not necessarily go fast at all like one would have expected. Like I said: A scene with a large number of players, but high interest can go just as quickly as a scene with a small number of players and high interest. A scene with a small number of players, but low interest can go just as slowly as a scene with a large number of players in it and low interest. There are, obviously, always exceptions, but the common trend seems to be that when players are interested in the storyline, they participate a lot more than when they are not interested in the storyline. I'm not saying that the number of players involved in the story has no affect on the speed of the storyline, but it seems secondary to the interest of the group as a whole. And it's to be expected that interest levels will shift and fluctuate....not everyone is always going to be interested in the same parts of the story. That's just the way it goes in an RPG.

Paying attention to other characters in the storyline and reading other players' posts was not really a part of the whole argument I was intending to make. If there's nothing for a player's character to do that doesn't mean they automatically leave the forum for a hiatus. Plenty of people read other players posts and follow the storyline of other characters not their own. There are times when there might not be something for a player's character to do just at that moment. I simply meant that in a situation where there is not as much for a player's character to do over a long period of time, they are more likely to lose interest and disappear.

But I think deviating from the original storyline might help to keep players more interested and involved. It will be interesting to see what characters who originally were killed before season two will do in the next few seasons. It will give their owners more freedom to develop those characters...they sort of become like OCs after season two. It will also give players of cannon characters who were alive for season two more freedom to explore and develop their characters because they won't be bound to the original script. We might see more involvement from those characters than we did before. But I think there should definitely be some episodes we do that were part of the story....or maybe not necessarily the episode itself, just that particular plot point from the episode and fit it in where it seems to fit well.

[Mystrea]

I know you didn't say that and neither did I lol. Random quote.

i think you really are just stating an obvious reality. Players can't be involved all the time. There has to be down time and conclusions from time to time.

And also, lack of interest or no interest. I dont really care which of them it is, I'm more concerned about players affecting others by their absence.

[Blackrosefencer]

I know you didn't say that and neither did I lol. Random quote.

I didn't say you said it. I wasn't quoting you as having said it...more that you were implying that I was saying that.


So that brings me to a question I was meaning to ask earlier.

What is everyone's plans as far as the transwarp wave part of the episode? What I mean is: Do you plan to have your characters knocked out from the transwarp wave and then wake up in the same post? Or will players be waking up from the transwarp wave in a new post?

[DarkSpark]

I know you didn't say that and neither did I lol. Random quote.

I didn't say you said it. I wasn't quoting you as having said it...more that you were implying that I was saying that.


So that brings me to a question I was meaning to ask earlier.

What is everyone's plans as far as the transwarp wave part of the episode? What I mean is: Do you plan to have your characters knocked out from the transwarp wave and then wake up in the same post? Or will players be waking up from the transwarp wave in a new post?

Well, Big T will be in BA's head still obviously (Ghost Taranulas! lol), and as for Terry...I guess he'll find a way to hold on for dear life as the transwarp wave changes him into a transmetal . I thought maybe as the wave starts effecting him, his new transmetal clawed hands will enable him to cling to the pred base's bridge platform, or maybe he just changes into beast mode and uses his talons to hold on.

The trick is to keep him OUT of the lava this time , I was wondering if Alak would mind if Terry shoots or knocks Scorponok into the lava as he's about to collide with him in order to save himself this time around, otherwise he can just abandon his hover platform before they crash into eachother.