Post by ELIZA MARIE CUNNINGHAM on May 6, 2012 15:36:47 GMT -5
Okay, so we had the survey and thank you to everyone who took some time to fill it out. (: It was very helpful. <3 No one posted in the thread, but we did get some via PM, so thank you for taking the time. (: If you still wanted to fill it out and send it to be, that would still be helpful. Even if you just have general thoughts on how you feel about the site [first impression, changed impression?, layout of boards, etc.]. <3
Anyway, I wanted to talk to you all about the results and how we feel that we should progress as a site. We're not going to be drastically changing or something and any additions can be ignored if it's not your cup of tea and you can still have the same experience here. <3 However, we have been around for over 5 years and I feel like we really should try to direct our energies on how we want TB to be.
Of course, our whole purpose was kind of like an experiment, going through the books with the addition of original characters and the changes that would make.
CHANGE IN TIME PASSING
Now, the last time we were finished with the books, we sort of lost direction and interest, eventually. Since a lot of us, our characters got old, tainted and kinda boring. We obviously don't want that to happen and to have to go back to 1991 again. So we will be officially slowing down our years to 6 months. Technically right now, we should be having a new month every 5 days. That's obviously not even happening and it's about 6 months per year anyway. We're just making it official. <3 So that means that it'll be a new month every 2 weeks. That gives everyone time to thread within the same month without starting one in September and having it be February by the time it ends. But at the same time, time will go by quicker than real time, so I think it's a good balance. If you disagree, PM me! Seriously would love opinions. <3
GENERAL CHANGE IN DIRECTION
Like I said, these additions won't change your experience here if you don't like them. But I will just say now that the general way we want to go is how we were more in 2006-2008, being more interactive and encouraging members to make their own plots a reality. That's how we always have been, but I feel like it hasn't been advertised/said a whole lot in the past while, so people don't quite know about it. But if there's something you really want to do with your character that would involve a lot of people or even the whole site [even the fate of a whole country], we encourage that. The only thing is that we also encourage you to be more realistic. So if you really wanted to make 'the next Dark Lord', that is fine. However, we would ask that you roleplay them building up into that for a few roleplay years first [1 - 1.5 real years] to be realistic about it. <3
The interactive part will be explained later, but we want it to just be really fun here for everyone and for you to not feel like there's a difference between staff members and regular members. This is a roleplay by and for you guys. Just like how you can create and roleplay the main plots, there are other aspects of the site you can really get involved with, if you want to. <3 I don't know about everyone else, but I like a site more if I can get more involved than just posting threads and playing in the Games.
NEW LEADERS
We don't need a billion staff members to run the site, but we are going to have a system of 'Leaders'. They're different from staff members and you can feel more open about it, if you are a Leader. Leaders would be 'responsible' for doing certain things, depending on what you're the Leader of. You'd have it in your custom title and there would be a link to a thread listing our current Leaders in the sidebar. <3
Some examples of Leaders we would have:
-- Head Editor of Weekly Prophet [student run paper, organize & put together an edition of the paper every real month or two <3].
-- Quidditch Captains [would post Quidditch practices].
-- Chair/Leaders of Clubs [would post meetings - multiple leaders, a leader for each club <3].
-- Leader of Contests [could help with posting contests in the OOC Contests board].
Etc.
You can also get involved by just being active in those activities, like writing an article for the paper, or being on a Quidditch Team.
Also, if you wanted to be a Leader, it would be a very open sort of thing, so if you didn't want to be anymore, just say so. No penalties or hard feelings at all, of course. (: <3
CHANGE IN APPLICATION PROCESS
This is pending everyone's opinion. Applications are quite an important manner and may be no one will agree with this. May be some will, but not others. We'll see once you read this. So if you don't agree, PLEASE SAY SO! <3 Because if a bunch don't agree, but also don't say anything or ask questions about how it would specifically change, then there would be a lot of people unhappy and we wouldn't even know it. ):
This is how I would love for it to be. <3
So, when we first started, we didn't have separate threads for our applications. We just had one thread for students [Sorting Ceremony] and one thread for adults [Adult Application]. It was a very simple sign up, saying name, age, hometown, pet [if any], three words to describe your character and a roleplay example. Then, you were sorted [we chose the house based on what you said to describe your character], and could start roleplaying. It was a very fast process, no crazy coding, etc. I would like to go back to this.
Now, before you explode into your no, no, NO!, hear me out on how this would work. That would be in the Registering board. In the main part of that board would be those threads. But then there would be sub-boards for applications [just like how we have now]. The applications then would be a little different and more of a record of what has happened to your character over the years, plus anything else you want to say. So it wouldn't be like now, where pretty much you post your application and never touch it again. It would be a good record, so you'd be able to edit with what your character has done since joining [ex. If after a few months of being here, your character joins Quidditch, falls in love, gets their heart broken and then joins the Death Eaters]. Then you could add that in to the timeline [sort of like how we have in the history section now a list of what your character has done, rather than wanting millions of paragraphs].
So applications would still be there. But then you could start roleplaying faster. We'd have a few options for applications too, so you could either just post one about the timeline of what has happened to your character, or you could post one that is the full one like right now, with list of family members, personality, etc.
CHANGE: We would have an option for 'preferred house' in the registration form. As long as the three words to describe your character go with it, then you'd be put in the preferred house. <3
LEVEL OF ROLEPLAYING
We have always and always will be an all levels roleplay. Because our name starts with 'Beginning', some people tend to think that we're a beginner's roleplay. But that's clearly not true, as all of you who have seen the threads here can see. Some are beginners, some more intermediate and some more advanced. We really are all levels. <3 And I would love to encourage this more, of course. <3 Even between ourselves, we don't need to class each of us as a certain level. Sometimes I love to have threads where I'm posting 700+ words every time and other times, I like threads where I just want to have fun in a faster paced way and post 200-300 words every time. So, we will have another sub-board in the Registering [or possibly called Registration?] board. It would be called Member Directory, where we could have the list of members and who plays whom pinned at the top. Then, we could all post our own thread about ourselves and our roleplaying. Ex. Timezone, if you want, how much we [actually for real] like to write in each post on average, if we like plotting before or just seeing how our characters go in the thread, etc.
CHANGES IN QUIDDITCH
Right now, scoring with the Quaffle/catching the Snitch is based on how many words [as a whole] are posted in the thread. But we will change it to how many posts, so you won't have to write a novel just to get the Quaffle in. To be specific, these are the changes:
-- Random number generator to see how many posts must be made before Snitch is caught [range: 50-75].
-- Random number generator to see when Bludger hits someone [range: 10-35].
-- If Beater doesn't block within 3 days, random number generator will be used to see how badly they get hit [1-7: minor; 8-9 major [hospital wing]]. Minor injury = sit out of game for 1 day to heal.
- Quaffle scoring is strictly roleplayed, but if the Keeper doesn't post about blocking or letting it in after 5 days, it will automatically go in [because we tend to have a problem with Keepers going inactive in the game for some reason, and then everything's kinda halted because people are waiting on them before they can do anything with the Quaffle again].
So if you have any questions, comments and opinions about anything above, please let me know. Either post here or PM me, if you don't want everyone to read what you have to say. I'd just love for you to say whatever you think, even if you agree. (: <3
Anyway, I wanted to talk to you all about the results and how we feel that we should progress as a site. We're not going to be drastically changing or something and any additions can be ignored if it's not your cup of tea and you can still have the same experience here. <3 However, we have been around for over 5 years and I feel like we really should try to direct our energies on how we want TB to be.
Of course, our whole purpose was kind of like an experiment, going through the books with the addition of original characters and the changes that would make.
CHANGE IN TIME PASSING
Now, the last time we were finished with the books, we sort of lost direction and interest, eventually. Since a lot of us, our characters got old, tainted and kinda boring. We obviously don't want that to happen and to have to go back to 1991 again. So we will be officially slowing down our years to 6 months. Technically right now, we should be having a new month every 5 days. That's obviously not even happening and it's about 6 months per year anyway. We're just making it official. <3 So that means that it'll be a new month every 2 weeks. That gives everyone time to thread within the same month without starting one in September and having it be February by the time it ends. But at the same time, time will go by quicker than real time, so I think it's a good balance. If you disagree, PM me! Seriously would love opinions. <3
GENERAL CHANGE IN DIRECTION
Like I said, these additions won't change your experience here if you don't like them. But I will just say now that the general way we want to go is how we were more in 2006-2008, being more interactive and encouraging members to make their own plots a reality. That's how we always have been, but I feel like it hasn't been advertised/said a whole lot in the past while, so people don't quite know about it. But if there's something you really want to do with your character that would involve a lot of people or even the whole site [even the fate of a whole country], we encourage that. The only thing is that we also encourage you to be more realistic. So if you really wanted to make 'the next Dark Lord', that is fine. However, we would ask that you roleplay them building up into that for a few roleplay years first [1 - 1.5 real years] to be realistic about it. <3
The interactive part will be explained later, but we want it to just be really fun here for everyone and for you to not feel like there's a difference between staff members and regular members. This is a roleplay by and for you guys. Just like how you can create and roleplay the main plots, there are other aspects of the site you can really get involved with, if you want to. <3 I don't know about everyone else, but I like a site more if I can get more involved than just posting threads and playing in the Games.
NEW LEADERS
We don't need a billion staff members to run the site, but we are going to have a system of 'Leaders'. They're different from staff members and you can feel more open about it, if you are a Leader. Leaders would be 'responsible' for doing certain things, depending on what you're the Leader of. You'd have it in your custom title and there would be a link to a thread listing our current Leaders in the sidebar. <3
Some examples of Leaders we would have:
-- Head Editor of Weekly Prophet [student run paper, organize & put together an edition of the paper every real month or two <3].
-- Quidditch Captains [would post Quidditch practices].
-- Chair/Leaders of Clubs [would post meetings - multiple leaders, a leader for each club <3].
-- Leader of Contests [could help with posting contests in the OOC Contests board].
Etc.
You can also get involved by just being active in those activities, like writing an article for the paper, or being on a Quidditch Team.
Also, if you wanted to be a Leader, it would be a very open sort of thing, so if you didn't want to be anymore, just say so. No penalties or hard feelings at all, of course. (: <3
CHANGE IN APPLICATION PROCESS
This is pending everyone's opinion. Applications are quite an important manner and may be no one will agree with this. May be some will, but not others. We'll see once you read this. So if you don't agree, PLEASE SAY SO! <3 Because if a bunch don't agree, but also don't say anything or ask questions about how it would specifically change, then there would be a lot of people unhappy and we wouldn't even know it. ):
This is how I would love for it to be. <3
So, when we first started, we didn't have separate threads for our applications. We just had one thread for students [Sorting Ceremony] and one thread for adults [Adult Application]. It was a very simple sign up, saying name, age, hometown, pet [if any], three words to describe your character and a roleplay example. Then, you were sorted [we chose the house based on what you said to describe your character], and could start roleplaying. It was a very fast process, no crazy coding, etc. I would like to go back to this.
Now, before you explode into your no, no, NO!, hear me out on how this would work. That would be in the Registering board. In the main part of that board would be those threads. But then there would be sub-boards for applications [just like how we have now]. The applications then would be a little different and more of a record of what has happened to your character over the years, plus anything else you want to say. So it wouldn't be like now, where pretty much you post your application and never touch it again. It would be a good record, so you'd be able to edit with what your character has done since joining [ex. If after a few months of being here, your character joins Quidditch, falls in love, gets their heart broken and then joins the Death Eaters]. Then you could add that in to the timeline [sort of like how we have in the history section now a list of what your character has done, rather than wanting millions of paragraphs].
So applications would still be there. But then you could start roleplaying faster. We'd have a few options for applications too, so you could either just post one about the timeline of what has happened to your character, or you could post one that is the full one like right now, with list of family members, personality, etc.
CHANGE: We would have an option for 'preferred house' in the registration form. As long as the three words to describe your character go with it, then you'd be put in the preferred house. <3
LEVEL OF ROLEPLAYING
We have always and always will be an all levels roleplay. Because our name starts with 'Beginning', some people tend to think that we're a beginner's roleplay. But that's clearly not true, as all of you who have seen the threads here can see. Some are beginners, some more intermediate and some more advanced. We really are all levels. <3 And I would love to encourage this more, of course. <3 Even between ourselves, we don't need to class each of us as a certain level. Sometimes I love to have threads where I'm posting 700+ words every time and other times, I like threads where I just want to have fun in a faster paced way and post 200-300 words every time. So, we will have another sub-board in the Registering [or possibly called Registration?] board. It would be called Member Directory, where we could have the list of members and who plays whom pinned at the top. Then, we could all post our own thread about ourselves and our roleplaying. Ex. Timezone, if you want, how much we [actually for real] like to write in each post on average, if we like plotting before or just seeing how our characters go in the thread, etc.
CHANGES IN QUIDDITCH
Right now, scoring with the Quaffle/catching the Snitch is based on how many words [as a whole] are posted in the thread. But we will change it to how many posts, so you won't have to write a novel just to get the Quaffle in. To be specific, these are the changes:
-- Random number generator to see how many posts must be made before Snitch is caught [range: 50-75].
-- Random number generator to see when Bludger hits someone [range: 10-35].
-- If Beater doesn't block within 3 days, random number generator will be used to see how badly they get hit [1-7: minor; 8-9 major [hospital wing]]. Minor injury = sit out of game for 1 day to heal.
- Quaffle scoring is strictly roleplayed, but if the Keeper doesn't post about blocking or letting it in after 5 days, it will automatically go in [because we tend to have a problem with Keepers going inactive in the game for some reason, and then everything's kinda halted because people are waiting on them before they can do anything with the Quaffle again].
So if you have any questions, comments and opinions about anything above, please let me know. Either post here or PM me, if you don't want everyone to read what you have to say. I'd just love for you to say whatever you think, even if you agree. (: <3
