capeandcowlooc | (no subject)

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Hey, gang. Gabbie here, bringing you some small rule changes that will be important to know come April. Aren't you just brimming with curiosity?

With regard to our bi-monthly HMD, after repeatedly receiving suggestions like this from players and deliberating the matter, it will now be mandatory to participate in at least two of the game HMDs per calendar year. This change goes into effect with our next HMD next month, with this "year" beginning not from January but from each player's last instance of HMD participation. If you already participate regularly, this change will not mean much to you; however, if extenuating circumstances prevent you from doing so, we ask you to please speak with us!

As always, our HMDs are anon-enabled but IP-logging enabled as well. We use this as a security measure to protect players from bullying, harassment, or outright "trolling" behavior; anyone who uses the game's HMD for such purposes will receive immediate disciplinary action. We do not check or match the IP-addresses unless there is clear evidence of such going on. The modteam at CNC is very supportive of constructive criticism and of our playerbase working as a team to help each other improve and succeed where applicable. We would like to give everyone the opportunity to let themselves be heard as long as they're constructive and respectful while doing so.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this change, you may leave them in this post or contact a moderator privately.

Thank you!

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Are the mandatory months picked by the mods?

Nope! What months a player chooses to participate are up to their own discretion as long as it's twice in the calendar year.

What was the reason behind doing it that way? It seems like doing that way is just extra work to keep tabs on who has participated or not and a set month might be simpler. Mostly just curious, hope I'm not coming off as holier than thou haha.

We wanted to institute a system that would encourage some form of mandatory participation each year without pigeon-holing people into specific months that might not work for everyone across the board; because of our player directories on each HMD post, keeping track of who posts when is significantly less work for us than trying to find a date that works for every player.

Oh, that's true, hadn't thought of the directory!

hi i like this.

Sounds good to me!

This is fantastic! :D

this is super fair, mods! c:

cool, cool, cool cool cool

Would there be a specific month chosen by the mods? Say you've been in game for four months and haven't posted yet or something like that?

As I mentioned to

sunburnedhair, which months of the twelve per year (depending on when a player joins) a player chooses to participate in are the player's choice. If three HMDs pass with no participation, we will PM those who have yet to post with a reminder.

I just worry that some people will abuse this and sort of do an app/drop thing to avoid it, I guess! But thank you for clarifying this for me!

If it seems like people are dropping out of the game entirely simply to avoid the HMD, we're definitely open to discussing further alternatives if we can see that it is becoming a pattern. Additionally, if a player is being particularly difficult to reach using alternative methods and you bring this fact to us, depending on the circumstances we may encourage or require participation from them in the next coming HMD. These are just the general guidelines across the board, barring extreme or disciplinary circumstances!

Once again, thank you for getting back to me! I really hope that it doesn't come to anything silly and extreme.

No problem! We hope so too, but we'll be keeping an eye so that the new system doesn't get abused.

I really like this. Thanks for the update, Gabbie!

I'm liking this, mods, thank you!

One of the reasons I do not participate in HMD posts is because I disagree with the anonymous commenting feature. Forcing me into this makes me even less comfortable.

The anonymous feature on our HMDs is logged to prevent abuse and bullying, but you are also welcome to mention on your post that you do not want anonymous responses. This rule is not intended to single any player out but rather to give everyone a chance to hear feedback and to be heard since we do not mandate journal HMDs as some games do, and we keep our HMD as safe a space as possible. Harassment on HMDs is strike-worthy and since we've taken disciplinary action on it the past, we will continue to do so. We do understand some players do not feel comfortable using game HMDs; two HMDs is a third of the amount held per year (which is six) and we felt that was a reasonable compromise.

I have no doubt that only the best of intentions were in play when this change in policy was created, but remain unconvinced that IP logging is an effective means of addressing and deterring harassment.

It has been utilized effectively for discipline on our HMD in the past, and doing so has in fact curbed abuse of the anonymous feature. It has also encouraged players to leave crit signed in more frequently! That said, we personally monitor the HMD so that we can step in to freeze any abusive threads if/when they happen and tell the commenter that their conduct is not acceptable. I hope that helps abate your concerns at least a little bit.

I wish that I could say that it did, but I'm afraid that it does not.

I appreciate the point of HMD, in that it gives us all a forum from which to receive constructive criticism. What I disagree with is the idea that such OOC conversation be mandatory. It takes an interesting exercise in evaluation and turns it into a trip before a firing squad. Especially seeing as it's rather easy for someone looking to start a problem to fabricate an IP address and escape censure.

I appreciate you hearing me out.

In the event of someone using a fabricated IP address, we will certain step in and freeze the thread immediately if the comment is abusive (and screen the comment, depending on the circumstances); however, I should point out that turning off anonymous would not deter people from fabricating IP addresses and using sock-puppet journals, so if someone is utilizing that method it won't matter if anonymous is on or not. IP-logging is to instill a form of accountability to the best of our ability, but turning anonymous off will not guarantee accountability anymore than our current methods do, unfortunately. As I mentioned before, we work hard to keep our HMD a safe space so that it doesn't feel like a firing squad, but rather a forum to voice and listen to feedback as a community.

That said, thank you for mentioning your concerns and I'm sorry if I'm unable to allay them adequately at this point in time.

This is a good plan and you guys are really fantastic!

Sounds good to me.

I try to participate in HMDs as often as I can, so this doesn't really affect me one way or the other. But I'm glad that the mods are taking an initiative to mandate more OOC communication between players. I feel like so many misunderstandings and concerns can be addressed this way.

EDIT: never mind. I was in the middle of typing this out before I saw the comment above.

Edited 2012-03-19 01:10 (UTC)

Thank you! We agree about the importance of OOC communication and that's really a driving point behind our decision.

Yes, there is. We leave IP-logging on in the event that if someone is abusing the anonymous function to harass or bully another player we can take disciplinary action, which usually involves issuing a warning in reply to their comment, freezing the thread, and giving the responsible player a strike.

ETA: Whoops, no problem! Hope this helps either way.

Edited 2012-03-19 01:15 (UTC)

It does!

I'm not particularly worried; respectful criticism is always helpful when playing in a large game with such a wide range of personalities while disrespectful, unwarranted criticism only makes the critic look bad. I was just curious how that worked. But thank you for answering my question regardless~

I am pleased with this development and think it an acceptable compromise.

In the past I had worried about anon, but I have found mods are extremely responsive to harassment problems, to the point where I no longer feel concerned.

My two cents!

Just throwing in my two cents that I love this change. Keep rocking guys <3

I think this is great!

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