We are aware of feelings of both harassment and being ostracized, and we are doing what we can in those circumstances as they come to our attention. Unfortunately, we do not have eyes everywhere, and in many cases we cannot help unless we know someone wants or needs that help in the first place. We have recommended to players feeling anxious of the possibility of being harassed on personal HMDs to enable IP tracking, to disable anonymous commenting, or to overall disable commenting entirely and instead direct any constructive criticism to be left here, on our community-hosted HMD. To members of our game, we this month made an announcement addressing the harassment we've been made aware of, and recommended both preventative measures to be taken, as well as what to do in response to receiving such messages. For obvious reasons, we can't exactly take action against negative actions if we do not know when they are being committed, or by whom—and we will not turn this into a witch hunt, where players would be punished on suspicion of wrongdoing rather than proof of such. We do ask, however, that you—that everyone—do what you can to combat negativity with positivity. Unfortunately, no matter what the circumstances, there will be people in game presently, formerly, and those uninvolved, who will seize opportunity to take potshots at those they dislike, who they wish to make unhappy, or drop, or even who they simply consider an easy target. And while I can understand feeling frustration, or hurt, because of the actions of someone else, we do not condone the use of anonymous bullying or harassment as response to such roots, and ask that you not engage or give any credence to such tactics. If there is problem or conflict, or harassment, or any other matter such as these, we ask that you do bring them to our attention immediately. We may not always be able to come up with perfect solutions, or fix things in a matter of minutes, but we are doing what we can to make C&C a safe, fun environment for its players. We are here for you, and we want to be here for you.
With regards to apps and drops, this is something we've noticed—I am happy to say that we're already taking steps to encourage new players to join, starting with overhauling our approach to such venues as ATP and the test drive meme, and will be working through updating our various OOC information posts to be more up-to-date and accessible. As far as player-characters go—"be less complex" seems a little harsh, but perhaps if we had a meme or something similar where players could briefly discuss their characters' developments in-game, and, perhaps, provide a link to that post/comment on their journal profiles, so that such backstory could be quickly accessed as needed, do you believe would something like that would be a help? Or would that only serve to make things seem more complicated? We have also started the open plot discussion post earlier this week, in an effort to help players come up with fun ideas to slate for the coming month; if you have any comments or suggestions regarding that, we'd be glad to hear them, as we're sure there will be plenty of room for improvement with each successive one.
And while it is true that the game has slowed down this past year (which had slowed from years prior, I feel, in part because of our aging playerbase and the changing amount of free time we collectively have, but also the shift in focus to longer-form logs and longer periods of backtagging), one line in particular here caught my attention. You say, quote, there is also a large number of players (and mods) who have openly expressed apathy toward the game in recent months — could you please clarify what/who you mean by that, at least as far as moderators go? I mean, it's a pretty heavy accusation you're making here, that someone on the current mod team is apathetic about the game, and I wouldn't want anyone to think that we are anything less than fully committed to this game's success and continuation, based on a faulty conjecture or an unsubstantiated rumor.
At present, we're definitely more in the mindset of improving and growing anew, rather than closing down. Things may have slowed down from their former paces, and while some of our dear friends have gone for now, I know C&C still has a very vital heart, and so long as our players still love and care for the game, as I and the other moderators do, then we want to do everything we can to fix what problems we have, improve what we can, and move forward. It still seems premature to me to close; we may not be at an Olympic sprint, but that was never the goal from the start, and it's not the standard by which we should measure our success. If things change in the future, I and the other mods may need to reassess the needs of the game in this regard, both among ourselves and with you the players, but as it stands now, we're here to stay, and we hope that we all can support one another in continuing forward.
I want to thank you for your patience—this took way longer than I was expecting to write, even after the first time I mentioned it—and for bringing your concerns and feelings to our attention. We're going to do what we can for the things we can affect, and in turn I hope you, and other concerned parties, will keep direct communication as a first resort tactic in mind. Again, if there's anything I missed, that needs clarification, or if there's any further comment you'd like to make, please do bring them up—but overall, I hope this does help.
no subject
With regards to apps and drops, this is something we've noticed—I am happy to say that we're already taking steps to encourage new players to join, starting with overhauling our approach to such venues as ATP and the test drive meme, and will be working through updating our various OOC information posts to be more up-to-date and accessible. As far as player-characters go—"be less complex" seems a little harsh, but perhaps if we had a meme or something similar where players could briefly discuss their characters' developments in-game, and, perhaps, provide a link to that post/comment on their journal profiles, so that such backstory could be quickly accessed as needed, do you believe would something like that would be a help? Or would that only serve to make things seem more complicated? We have also started the open plot discussion post earlier this week, in an effort to help players come up with fun ideas to slate for the coming month; if you have any comments or suggestions regarding that, we'd be glad to hear them, as we're sure there will be plenty of room for improvement with each successive one.
And while it is true that the game has slowed down this past year (which had slowed from years prior, I feel, in part because of our aging playerbase and the changing amount of free time we collectively have, but also the shift in focus to longer-form logs and longer periods of backtagging), one line in particular here caught my attention. You say, quote, there is also a large number of players (and mods) who have openly expressed apathy toward the game in recent months — could you please clarify what/who you mean by that, at least as far as moderators go? I mean, it's a pretty heavy accusation you're making here, that someone on the current mod team is apathetic about the game, and I wouldn't want anyone to think that we are anything less than fully committed to this game's success and continuation, based on a faulty conjecture or an unsubstantiated rumor.
At present, we're definitely more in the mindset of improving and growing anew, rather than closing down. Things may have slowed down from their former paces, and while some of our dear friends have gone for now, I know C&C still has a very vital heart, and so long as our players still love and care for the game, as I and the other moderators do, then we want to do everything we can to fix what problems we have, improve what we can, and move forward. It still seems premature to me to close; we may not be at an Olympic sprint, but that was never the goal from the start, and it's not the standard by which we should measure our success. If things change in the future, I and the other mods may need to reassess the needs of the game in this regard, both among ourselves and with you the players, but as it stands now, we're here to stay, and we hope that we all can support one another in continuing forward.
I want to thank you for your patience—this took way longer than I was expecting to write, even after the first time I mentioned it—and for bringing your concerns and feelings to our attention. We're going to do what we can for the things we can affect, and in turn I hope you, and other concerned parties, will keep direct communication as a first resort tactic in mind. Again, if there's anything I missed, that needs clarification, or if there's any further comment you'd like to make, please do bring them up—but overall, I hope this does help.