State of the System + Call for Feedback: WtA

[kai]

Hey, everyone. I'm putting this in the OOC forum because I want to make sure the entire playerbase has a chance to see it, even if (like me) they minimize or ignore forums for games they aren't playing in.

As I was standing on a street corner last week breaking open container laws and observing the Super Blood Moon Eclipse, I thought to myself, man, this would be such a great excuse for so many fucked-up one-shots. My next thought was about Denver WtA, and how it's essentially non-existent right now. No fucked-up one-shots there.

I could write a very long forums post about that, with reasons and explanations and self-recriminations and philosophizing, but I'm not going to do that just yet. All I'm interested in at the moment is one question:

Do you want to play WtA?

I'm not going to make this a poll to gather Yes and No answers. I just want to hear from the players we have on this site to find out what interest there is, or isn't, rather than making any assumptions about how people feel.

So please reply here and let me know if you're interested in playing WtA. If you want to, tell me why you aren't currently playing (regardless of whether your answer is yes or no). If you don't feel comfortable posting it publicly for whatever reason, send me an email (werewolf [at] woddenver [dot] com) or a forums PM. If you don't have anything to say about this... well, that's kind of an answer, too. And that's okay.

Thanks, everyone.

[Damon]

I totally want to play WtA. Arguably I am playing WtA, but what I mean is: I really miss playing open scenes with larger groups.

As for why I'm not currently doing that: it's a mix between being too busy and not wanting to make the effort (which really applies to all forms of group/open-scene RP, not just WtA). Sometimes I'm literally too busy to get online and do something. But sometimes even when I'm not too busy to RP, it often seems easier to just do something tried-and-true. I.e., play one-on-one scene, or watch a movie, or binge netflix, or play a game, or whatever. It's a sort of activation-energy thing: it's a lot easier to do one of the aforementioned things than to scrounge up a scene.

All of which kind of leads to reason #3 I'm not playing WtA much: the system is quiet (as obviously we all know), which means it's that much more effort to make something happen. Which is obviously a vicious cycle, cuz then... if nothing happens, then the system is quiet, and then it's harder to make things happen, etc etc.

I'm sort of rambling on stream-of-consciousness here, but I guess I want to bring it back to the original point, which is: yes, I do want to play WtA. I'd love it if other people wanted to play too, and if we can get some group interaction going again.

[Jacqui]

I love WtA. It was, for a very long time, my jam in WOD, without question. I think for myself, it's really really a question of where the people are at and where my interest, likewise, is also falling and I think those two things just mesh together.

I'm pretty sure everyone will nod along if I say without a real muse for a concept or character, it's super hard to get into a system and I have always struggled to just create characters. It's a whole rumination process for me where I have to really think about them and build a story and, well, you get the gist.

And also, not unimportantly, as Damon mentioned, time and energy, too. Both of which are limited for me these days, too. I guess it's to no small extent that catch 22 of, you want to play in a system where you know you can get interaction but how do you get interaction without first building a roster of characters.

So!

Would I be into trying to recapture some of that zest for WtA, though? Oh, heck yeah. I think with the right lure (storylines, a concept I dug, a pack coming to town, etc) I could find that again.

[HDub]

I do want to keep playing WtA. I really like my character in the system.

[jamie]

Pret' near every time I've made a werewolf in the last like nine years it's because someone else has already had a character or a concept and were like JAMIE YOU WONDERFUL HUMAN BEING COME DO THE THING WITH ME.

I came back to the site because a) going to the doctor instead of self-medicating what ended up getting billed as a "severe depressive episode" meant I had interests and energy and the desire to do something besides practice drinking myself to death again! yay! and b) I wanted to play Mage. Maybe 80% of B had to do with the fact that people who shall remain nameless wouldn't stop talking about Mage the entire time I was sitting it out. I'm sure if everyone had been playing Werewolf the entire time I was sitting it out that's where I would be playing now.

TLDR: Nobody was like OH SHIT JAMIE YOU'RE BACK LET'S GO WEREWOLF so I didn't think about it until now. I could be convinced. Not all of the people with whom I enjoy playing have Mages right now.

[vesta]

For me, it's the lack of time to spare another character and the lack of knowledge of the system. Saying that, WW does appeal to me more than Vamp. And I said the same thing about time before I made another Mage PC. If the system does pick up a bit, I may well dip a toe in and see how it goes.

I've recently introduced Mecklar (*waves madly*) to the site, and he's been a keen WW player in the past. And he has some friends who might be interested in joining up too.

[kai]

From the sound of things we have (so far) a handful of people who are, more or less, down to play WtA. There may be more who haven't had a chance to reply yet, and I hope they'll chime in once they see this discussion, but right now a handful is good enough for me to start moving forward.

However, I don't want to make any specific plans or even brainstorm a bunch of concrete ideas. If you have ideas already, please feel free to continue making notes, but hold off on posting them here for now. At the moment, I just want to take a step back and get a broader view of what WtA looks like when we're enjoying it.

If you guys don't mind, I'd really love to hear about games you've really enjoyed in the past and what made them enjoyable for you. Also, if you want, talk about games where you were bored or disengaged and what you wished at the time was different. When you're having a good time, why? When you're not having a good time (or aren't even interested in joining), what would you change?

[Howl]

I have traditionally had a very hard time trying to maintain focus on more than one game system, even just as a player. Which makes me sad, because I enjoy all of the games and have loved the characters I've made (even the ones I never play) and I do miss doing scenes with the people who aren't involved in Mage. But realistically I know that there's no way I'd have time to pick up a new character in a different system right now, even if I wanted to. Admin and ST stuff tends to take up a pretty big chunk of my time and energy (especially trying to deal with this M20 conversion,) and when I have time to just be a player I usually want to focus on my main PC.

tl;dr I hope you guys can have some fun with the WtA system, but I don't have the time or interest right now.

[jamie]

I'm gonna bullet point the things I have either enjoyed about the game or tend to enjoy first:

• Stable yet dynamic setting so character growth/development can happen without things stagnating.
  
• All of the auspice roles being represented and necessary.
  
• A balance between progressive politics and tradition.
  
• Opportunities for players to run their own stories.
  
• Proactive Kinfolk players and Kinfolk-inclusive stories.
  
• A sense of urgency or personal danger in main storylines.
  
• Interpersonal conflict (IC, not OOC!) is always pretty dope.
  

And now onto paragraphs!

I play online with you goons bc I like the cooperative aspect of RP. As an ST I expect folks are going to be proactive and creative. As a player I hate feeling as if the ST is railroading us or that the effort I put in doesn't really have any impact. The games I've most enjoyed had everyone taking responsibility for things being fun and getting along and not taking this shit seriously. We're all doing this with what little free time we have because it's a fun way to do things we can't do IRL. Like turn into a nine-foot-tall killing machine and lay waste to some fire-breathing jerks or something.

Last year the biggest source of my not being engaged was being sick. But even when it was getting super duper bad I was able to deal with it for a scene because I felt like other people were having fun. I don't enjoy any multiplayer game if I feel like other people aren't having fun. So.

To piggyback off what Howl said: At this juncture (I just moved across the country, am staying in a house with multiple lifeforms in it, started a new job, have a PC in MtA that I'm actively playing, and I'm planning on running an SL here soon) I can't focus on another PC. Doesn't sound like anyone is ready to jump back in right this second but if we get to that point next year I'd totally be down to think about getting a game going again.

[Damon]

What I've liked:
- Big open scenes
- Interaction with PCs leading to PC-driven stories
- IC conflict (of the reasonable, non-ooc-grudge-driven sort)
- IC cooperation as well!
- OOCly chill, cool players
- Spontaneity
- Maximal player-impetus, minimal admin "interference"

What I dislike:
- Pretty much the opposite of above! But in particular:
- I hate it when the entire site is full of 2-person scenes with [Closed] in the tag. And yes, I realize I'm quite guilty of being in 2-person scenes ALL THE TIME, but still. I think that way lieth doom.
- Too-large, too-complex storylines that lock your char down forever. Fortunately, this is largely in the past, as I think most people today realize setting a scene on the day it ends is the way to go.
- Storylines that are overly planned-out ("chuting")
- Malignant ooc atmosphere (which can take the form of vindictive/control freak admins and/or aggressive posturing players)
- Sort of an extension of malignant ooc atmosphere: too much IC conflict, or IC bullying for OOC reasons
- And! Ironically: too much IC cooperation.

Of all the things on the negatives list, I think the only ones Denver has been guilty of were 1) closed scenes (but that's every site ever) and 2) too much cooperation. Which sounds ridiculous, but ... well. Every story is about a central conflict. And I think when we came over to Denver, we were all so happy to be on a cool site with cool people that we all made cool characters who got along coolly forever. And sadly, that was just... too happy.

So there's my two cents! And I'm totally down to get a game going now.