WEEK 1 ( FEEDBACK POST )

[crossingout]

Hello, everyone! This is Len - again, on Zange's account due to yet another poll - with several announcements. First of all, activity check is now closed and we will be keeping track of who got strikes and who passed the check.

Thank you all for your cooperation; it means a lot to us as a mod team.

Now, we'll be sharing our thoughts on the happenings of this week and how we personally feel about what's been happening:

Taskboard

This is actually becoming a lot more noticeable in the last two weeks, and we want to hear from you guys, in regards to tasks: I know you all enjoy them, but would you rather prefer to take down the 5 comment minimum and rather have at least two comments (top level included) from your character in regards to the taskboard? The reason for this being due to the fact that some threads seem to lag quite a bit due to timezone differences and the threads potentially be between three players.

While we heavily encourage tagging - especially for bonus AC! - we don't want characters to miss out on candy opportunities and end up as potential last place because of it.

It might have also been because it was a slow week for everyone in general, but this is definitely something we're thinking about possibly implementing if problems arise.

Investigations

We, as mods, actually spoke on the matter of investigations and we've decided together, for future investigations and plurks regarding the murder: no last minute changes to the case. I'm going to be transparent and admit that this is primarily for my sanity so I don't have to keep clarifying back and forth about things that were brought in last minute, or come up with solutions to problems that weren't there the day of the investigation. Clarifications on things that are already there to begin with are fine, however.

I also would like to apologize for the few mishaps personally on my part in regards to the investigation - there were some things in the murder document that I was reading that was rescinded in the final form of the case, and I admit that was sloppy on my part. It shouldn't happen again, as we will all do a double check of the murder document on Thursday, but I would like to put that out there publicly so that you are all aware.

Trials

Now, we were having a bit of a bumpy road in the trial, but we managed to get through it successfully and that much I'm actually rather pleased about. But if there's anything you had problems with in regards to the trial, whether it's about the timing of the trial or anything else, please let us know. We tried to make this case as simple as possible and admittedly a lot of it seemed to come down to circumstantial evidence -- although his alibi and obsession with the letter B were the big things in this case that we wanted you guys to get through, and you guys managed pretty well.

Now, the reason for the poll. There was a bit of a struggle in regards to the room searches being up so late in almost everyone else's timezones, since yesterday's room search was from 8-9 PM PST; which admittedly is early in my timezone, but not necessarily to others. Which is why I have a proposal in regards to shifting the room search times. We either do it at 6 PM PST/9 PM EST on the first day or we decide to have it be the first thing done at the trial on day two.

Poll #18114

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8

View Respondents

What time would you like the room searches to be conducted?

View Answers

6 PM PST/9 PM EST ( day one )
5 (62.5%)

Beginning of Day Two trial
2 (25.0%)

Other (comment below)
1 (12.5%)

If there's anything you would like to discuss, please feel free to leave a comment; this is essentially an open forum post for any input everyone might have. And if there's any personal feedback that you would like to give to us in private, feel free to hit up our contact post!

The poll closes on Friday, March 31, 2017 and our next feedback post will be on April 3, 2017 as a heads up!

Comments

[sedatedkiss]

tasks

I think a two comment minimum on tasks would be easier since while tasks are fun, I don't want them to detract from the main CR and purpose of the game, which is murder. I think that's why tasks are slow because it feels like there are two different kinds of genres of games going on crammed into one on top of trying to be a fast paced murder game.

Basically, it feels like too much going on at once if we need to focus on tasks and getting cr and murder, etc etc. Though I do believe tasks would be a great way to explore and investigate and perhaps that is their desired intention.

trial

I can't say much since I was non-existent the first day, however, the trial did move rather slowly and I think that was because, as mentioned, players new to murder games, time zone differences, though I'm going to offer kind of the exact opposite of what was mentioned above. I think different characters are going to notice different things about evidence depending on how observant they are and it's sometimes hard for us to visualize, though perhaps that can also be ICly probed depending on the character and if they care to look further into how the evidence looks at the time. I suppose something of a compromise for that?

Also for the investigation, just reading through it, it felt like too much of a wild goose chase finding the body. I did like the fact that the dog lead them to the apartment, though, so that wasn't a giant chase. So mainly in regard to checking rooms, I mean. Perhaps some OOC indication on where to look for the body and evidence once the investigation starts rolling would be nice so it doesn't feel like we're just probing at random/forgetting to look places. Maybe you did do that, IDK, but just something else I observed. For someone who can't jump in investigations because of time constraints but would like to help, that would be nice!

In regards to evidence is there a way to compile it for easy access to it? I was never sure if it was discussed or if it was found, interpreted, etc etc. Like maybe something like this just to have a directory of some sort? It shouldn't add too much to your workload if we help with that directory.

My two cents for now!

[crossingout]

Duly noted on the tasks part.

In regards to the investigation -- I did have the dog show the crime scene because it was a bit of a wild goose chase; my intention was mostly to keep where the body was a surprise and I did want people to be searching through areas even though the clues in this particular case were only in the southern apartment buildings and the auto shop.

I did note that there was nothing in certain areas and I didn't want to make it too obvious where the body was, either. But I'll definitely keep this in mind and speak with my co-mods on the matter and try and see if we can come up with anything.

About evidence, however: it was actually something I had in the initial planning stages but decided to scrap it (since I had it in my last murdergame) but I can definitely add it back in for organization's sake and so people don't have to be waiting around for someone to bring down a certain piece of evidence to investigate it.

[sedatedkiss]

The evidence would be nice just for OOC organization so I know it's been investigated and know where to look. Naturally, it'd still need to be presented ICly.

[crossingout]

That definitely works for us! I brought it up with my co-mods and we pretty much got the OK so here's my official reply saying that we'll be going forward with it in the next investigation/trial.

We're leaning on having it in the trial primarily, but I'm OK with dealing with one or the other or both, if anybody has a preference.

[sedatedkiss]

Awesome! I just like the organization for reference. Even if it's just in the trial to have a directory, that would be great. After that, I recognize it's up to us to present/ICly discuss, etc. I felt like I may have stepped on toes when Joshua was going back and investigating since I had no idea what had been icly found and I tried to go through the trial, etc, which is why I had the suggestion.

Basically, I'm terrible at going through long threads and finding info I need. lmfao.

Also re:investigation, I respect your wishes and will not say anything more. It was just something I wished to bring up! o/ Thank you for addressing it, I do appreciate it.

[unidolize]

hi mods!

so, i'd like to bring up another point sort of related to the investigation phase, specifically about the OOC clues; i was a little worried with how dia's room in particular was handled? i know that the investigation of her room was dragged out a little longer even though there was really no evidence in there, and i'm just concerned that maybe the players involved felt disappointed that they'd spent all that time in there only to find that it was irrelevant to the case. i can see the intent behind doing something like that (building suspense, giving the players more reign to search where they please, etc.) but i would also be a little frustrated, as a player, who'd want to contribute some evidence to the trial, if that makes sense?

just my two cents! <3

[crossingout]

In regards to room searches, we're still going to have them whether it's relevant to the case or not but for the next murder, we've decided to plan ahead of schedule and tell everyone that room searches will definitely be something that is happening along, so our victim and suspects can prepare beforehand.

Honestly, it's my personal fault for not remembering the possibility that the rooms themselves would be checked and not saying anything.

Hopefully this will make things run more smoothly in regards to the room checks without removing the aspect of allowing characters to search through them to allow more freedom in where they're looking for evidence. At least, this is the compromise that I can come up with without losing too much on that part.

[unidolize]

that's totally fair! i think it gives victims and suspects more incentive to make use (or maybe even not make use of them for IC purposes, who knows) of the rooms when planning their cases. i think this will be a huge help; thank you guys for being awesome and so responsive to feedback!