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[paradisamods]

Hi guys. We have an issue that we've been discussing a little bit, and we'd like to ask for your opinion on the matter so we can take that into account when we make our final decision.

Basically, we've been rethinking the way we've been judging activity for characters. We think that the activity of a character should be based more on their

Comments

[randomtology]

My characters are capable of making public posts (though Death has a tendency to make private posts because he doesn't have much to say to people), so while this doesn't really apply to me - it seems a bit unfair to force people who have characters who post privately to have to go find threads every single months. That tends to be...a pain in the ass.

Idk, maybe if a character is constantly making only private posts, you could look into it and suggest to the person to interact more in HMD or even email a warning? But sweeping someone just because someone makes private posts for one month seems a bit harsh. But that's just my own opinion.

[gracefulwoman]

IAWTC.

[blanchard]

I agree with this as well.

Especially when people are busy.. Private posts are the best way to keep your characters up to date. But if someone is constantly making private posts and barely interacting- Then yes, a warning would be fair.

[attaining]

IAWTC. Sometimes I am just too busy to handle public posts and would prefer to thread when I can. (Besides, I feel like this would lead to people just filtering to their friend to make the count -- which is that any better?) But yeah, if it's private every single time... then look into it?

[beavercountry]

I don't really have an opinion either way, but if the end results are close maybe you could compromise and have it so that one of the two required activity posts can be private.

[agentgreenway]

Question! What about journal entries that have large private sections, then "open" pieces after them for which anyone can comment? Would it only count if someone did comment to that post, and thus gave the post interaction, or would that not be substantial enough?

I'm honestly neutral on the idea in the first place, since it really wouldn't affect the way I tend to post here, but I know I've done something similar in the past.

An example of what I'm trying to ask would count or not would be... um: [private]
Blahblahblah emo angst Linkin Park /roof, etc.
[/private]
[some sort of action hoping to garner attention goes here, but no actual attempt to speak to other residents]

[paradisamods]

As long as it had the open part, it would count towards the activity check. :)

[fired_once]

Ehhh, but it still counts toward the players being ACTIVE and using the character. In other words, if they're making private posts, they're not character sitting, even if they're not getting in any interaction.

[artistictemper]

Personally, I think doing a private post for the sake of reaching quota is a bit of a cop-out... I can understand having naturally quiet characters, and doing private posts every now and again, but even things like open posts must be possible because the characters have to leave their rooms at some point -- and hey, even those random, evil-self-opening-journal sees whut u did thar entries? So. idk. To me 'activity' is interacting with other people, so I think monthly there should at least be a certain amount of interaction. :)

[fanfare]

Exactly. There are ways of having a quiet character interact with people, even if they're not making journal entries: open posts and self-opening journals. Open posts have gotten really popular lately and I don't think there are many excuses out of making two public posts a month. I feel two posts out of 30-ish days of the month is a small order.

[angelus]

I actually feel the opposite. Private posts are (from what I usually see) a lot more in-depth than public entries.

Now making a one sentence public entry just to make activity? That is more of a cop-out to me then an involved, character building private entry.

[nerdherding]

Character-building or not, it comes back down to activity. Personally, I would take a one-sentence public entry that has the potential of turning out several threads over an in-depth private entry. Not for characterisation's sake - which is a really good thing, obviously, and fantastic if you do them with your character - , but for the fact that the former means you're actually being active and using your character. I mean, if privates didn't count - which obviously won't happen with the way the poll's going, which is fine - and somebody was put on the list, they should at least have enough threads elsewhere to be safe, right? Otherwise... well, a person wouldn't be that active.