10-05-2015, 10:19 PM
I'm going to chime in and answer my own questions, but I want to keep hearing from anyone who has thoughts on it. I'm not looking to get (or give) a 'final word' on this. I am also going to copy liberally from my neighbors:
Things I have liked:
- Breathing room. Time and space to explore character interaction and development.
- OOC flexibility, spontaneity, and collaboration (especially when characters are being rigid and not cooperating with each other).
- Group scenes with no plan or specific purpose; people drop in and out and we just see what happens.
- Group scenes where we know exactly what we're there for and it still goes haywire.
- Sexy angsty drama ZOMG.
- Packs, and inter-pack conflict (and intra-pack conflict).
- Interaction with the spirit world and spirits and all manner of weird things. Like time travel.
- An overarching goal/purpose that drags characters together because the Wyrm is a thing and survival is sort of important. Go team yeah!
- Garou and Kin interactions.
- I hadn't thought about it til other people in this thread mentioned it, but the sense of urgency. ACTUAL DANGER.
- Shared living quarters open to both Kin and Garou where you don't have NPC sept officials quashing anything interesting that might happen.
- I'm really glad Kenna pointed out diversity in the demographics. I tell people to play what they want, but if there are already 7 Theurges...try something new.
- Regular one-shots as well as shorter storyline arcs that stimulate character interaction/development.
- Player investment and direction in making stuff happen. Dovetailing there: admin/player collaboration! This is huge to me.
- Rage.
- Conflict.
- Risk-taking.
- Spooky stories to tell in the dark.
- Gratitude between players because even if we're not STing, we're giving up our off time to entertain each other and that's worth appreciating vocally.
- Proactively taking responsibility for creating and sharing the RP you enjoy.
Things I have not liked:
- Constant, heavy, system-wise SLs. I disengage when it feels like the only way to stay involved is to chain myself to my computer (or there's no time for character interaction).
- Too many storylines going on at once.
- Chuting and scripting scenes, whether from the ST or from rigid OOC ideas about how a scene should go in order to be 'good' or get a certain thing done.
- Excessive focus on The Writing. 'Good Writing' should never come at the expense of 'Good RP'. They often go together, but they are not the same thing.
- OOC nastiness and gossip and us-vs-them mentalities. I think we're more or less past this, as a group, but it's easy to fall into so it's worth being careful about.
- Yeah: too much IC cooperation.
- Wall-hugging and waiting to be asked to dance. Don't make me hold your hand, beg you, or twist your arm to come play.
- Combative player/admin relations.
- Lots of stuff you guys have already pointed out that I just happen to agree with.
I could go on (obviously the 'things I have liked' list got a bit out of hand). But I love WtA and I am looking to get things started right away, or at least soon. One thing I've noticed is how guilty I am of some of the stuff on my own 'things I have not liked' list, and some of the stuff on other people's lists. But that means I can do better. But I also think that clearly, those of us who are interested in this game are interested enough to have played it under some pretty unpleasant conditions.
The reason I want to know all this isn't because I want to come up with a checklist to create the perfect system. That's not going to happen. But I didn't want to start coming up with ideas about how to get things going and base those ideas on assumptions about what I think matters to other people. As it turns out, I think it's pretty clear that we like a lot (if not most) of the same things when we're playing WtA.
Since, as I said, I actually do want to get things going, I'm going to take all this (and anything that may be added here, or in email, or in FPM) and let it marinate a bit in my brain. If you guys have specific ideas you want to share, please do. Email is probably best for that for now.
Discussion's not over. Keep chiming in on what's already been talked about here. There will be more to come.
Things I have liked:
- Breathing room. Time and space to explore character interaction and development.
- OOC flexibility, spontaneity, and collaboration (especially when characters are being rigid and not cooperating with each other).
- Group scenes with no plan or specific purpose; people drop in and out and we just see what happens.
- Group scenes where we know exactly what we're there for and it still goes haywire.
- Sexy angsty drama ZOMG.
- Packs, and inter-pack conflict (and intra-pack conflict).
- Interaction with the spirit world and spirits and all manner of weird things. Like time travel.
- An overarching goal/purpose that drags characters together because the Wyrm is a thing and survival is sort of important. Go team yeah!
- Garou and Kin interactions.
- I hadn't thought about it til other people in this thread mentioned it, but the sense of urgency. ACTUAL DANGER.
- Shared living quarters open to both Kin and Garou where you don't have NPC sept officials quashing anything interesting that might happen.
- I'm really glad Kenna pointed out diversity in the demographics. I tell people to play what they want, but if there are already 7 Theurges...try something new.
- Regular one-shots as well as shorter storyline arcs that stimulate character interaction/development.
- Player investment and direction in making stuff happen. Dovetailing there: admin/player collaboration! This is huge to me.
- Rage.
- Conflict.
- Risk-taking.
- Spooky stories to tell in the dark.
- Gratitude between players because even if we're not STing, we're giving up our off time to entertain each other and that's worth appreciating vocally.
- Proactively taking responsibility for creating and sharing the RP you enjoy.
Things I have not liked:
- Constant, heavy, system-wise SLs. I disengage when it feels like the only way to stay involved is to chain myself to my computer (or there's no time for character interaction).
- Too many storylines going on at once.
- Chuting and scripting scenes, whether from the ST or from rigid OOC ideas about how a scene should go in order to be 'good' or get a certain thing done.
- Excessive focus on The Writing. 'Good Writing' should never come at the expense of 'Good RP'. They often go together, but they are not the same thing.
- OOC nastiness and gossip and us-vs-them mentalities. I think we're more or less past this, as a group, but it's easy to fall into so it's worth being careful about.
- Yeah: too much IC cooperation.
- Wall-hugging and waiting to be asked to dance. Don't make me hold your hand, beg you, or twist your arm to come play.
- Combative player/admin relations.
- Lots of stuff you guys have already pointed out that I just happen to agree with.
I could go on (obviously the 'things I have liked' list got a bit out of hand). But I love WtA and I am looking to get things started right away, or at least soon. One thing I've noticed is how guilty I am of some of the stuff on my own 'things I have not liked' list, and some of the stuff on other people's lists. But that means I can do better. But I also think that clearly, those of us who are interested in this game are interested enough to have played it under some pretty unpleasant conditions.
The reason I want to know all this isn't because I want to come up with a checklist to create the perfect system. That's not going to happen. But I didn't want to start coming up with ideas about how to get things going and base those ideas on assumptions about what I think matters to other people. As it turns out, I think it's pretty clear that we like a lot (if not most) of the same things when we're playing WtA.
Since, as I said, I actually do want to get things going, I'm going to take all this (and anything that may be added here, or in email, or in FPM) and let it marinate a bit in my brain. If you guys have specific ideas you want to share, please do. Email is probably best for that for now.
Discussion's not over. Keep chiming in on what's already been talked about here. There will be more to come.
my whole life is thunder.