COUGAR RIDGE GAZETTE // SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9th, 2007
Good morning, Cougar Ridge!
Well, after a seriously dodgy beginning to the week, it looks like the game may have surmounted any hiccups, at least for now. Posting was obviously down for the last entry, and not just because we had a hiatus on Monday. I’m guessing there are a number of players in the process of thinning out their characters, and also that everyone’s a bit wary about treading on toes after the forum. Hopefully everyone still interested in continuing can now settle back into the groove.
A hearty welcome to new characters Ulva Christiansen (not Ulva Xiansen, for the benefit of anyone like me who was caught out by not reading the Directory first), Jake Brinkley and Emilia Olsen, and farewell to Jay Jay Fischer, Mama Mei Chen, Tim Carlyle, Tom the busker and Abe Hochschild - plus anyone I’ve forgotten who has slipped out the back door these past couple of weeks.
With regard to the Directory, there’s one problem with the forum suggestion that any amendments can be made as a reply to a character’s original bio; this problem is that LJ has a habit of condensing such replies when the post count gets too high, and that’s just tedious. So, I think we’ll go with the original plan. Which is: If you wish to make any amendments or add additional information to your character bio just delete the original entry and add a new one. This will obviously appear at the end of the Directory so we can easily keep track of who has updated. If you’ve inherited a character under a new account just let me know if you want the original one deleted, I can do that. You obviously don’t have to update if you don’t want to, but this is preferable to posting any important new/’previously secret but now public knowledge’ character info to your own journal, where it could easily be missed.
Again with reference to the forum, while a number of players seem to like the idea of cutting down on the supernatural theme, I want to stress that there’s no official change of direction for the Ridge. If you, in the voice of your characters, want to tread a certain line - be it romantic, everyday interaction over drama and thriller - then fine. However, those players who wish to continue to explore the darker, stranger elements of the Ridge are completely at liberty to do so. The original rules remain: subtlety is fine, but no vampires, werewolves, zombies, demons, psychic powers or outright magic. Obviously there’s been some stepping over the line with regard to those last three, but this is all a learning experience and is meant to be fun at heart, so let’s not get too bent out of shape about what’s gone before and instead move on. (That said, there will be an effort made this coming week to some way resolve the current long-running ‘manifestation of the beast’ plot, as well as the thief story hopefully, so the game can move on afresh over the holidays).
Thanks, by the way, for all the input into last week’s forum. Some players may have decided to leave and some may still be on the fence, but I think it was worthwhile just trying to clear the air on certain matters. One of the best comments made was, simply, that players should just always think before they post; this is not only to avoid mischaracterization but also the misrepresentation of storylines, I feel. There have been a handful of posts these past couple of weeks that have been constructed on story information that has been inaccurate, and this perhaps stems from not reading other characters’ posts as assiduously as necessary. Portray characters as accurately as possible, make sure you’ve got all the details about the story correct, and participate fairly in storylines rather than becoming overenthusiastic and therefore overwhelming, and I don’t think there’s much more that anyone can ask.
That’s all folks!