(Untitled)

[robot_mod]

Hello, Polychromatic!

Consider this an addendum. As per some discussion on our previous post, we have decided to make a list outlining some of the pros and some of the cons relating to each game format along with an examination of the proposed optional "hybrid system." We gleaned with information from the ongoing conversations about the

Comments

[halflost]

I'd ... actually vote for either journal- or comm-based before I would the hybrid system. No matter which wins out in the poll! It feels a lot like shoehorning journal-based entries into a comm-based system, and so less a compromise and more splitting the game up between styles. Even if it's optional, I'm not sure that it wouldn't confuse people new to the game into going, "uh, is there some tradition in posting style? Am I making some unconscious statement by posting in journals vs. the comm? Is one like wearing white after Labor Day?" Or it'll give leeway to blame lower comment counts on where they've chosen to place a post, and yeah, do not want that kind of feeling. '-'

I may be overthinking this! But yes, two cents.

[haring_to_go]

No, these are my thoughts as well. It might ease people in initially but after a few months, a year, I think people will be kind of looking at anyone still doing it (assuming we went to a community format) and wondering what the hell was going on.

I'm also afraid of how this would affect interactions OOCly in the long run as the current hard feelings of now might end up fostered longterm via a hybrid system as people would refuse to tag one kind of poster over the other, much as the Live Action vs. anime has done in the past. It may be a baseless worry, but I still wonder if a hybrid system would simply foster more animosity long term then simply transitioning fully into a new format or keeping the old one completely.

[punchedhitler]

I hope that we're all mature enough to not choose who we play with via what format they use. I know I don't like custom pages much, for example, but if I run across one in play and I'm having a good thread I'll keep going.

[haring_to_go]

I'm in 100% agreement here because I know I'll end up playing with whatever post sounds interesting, but sadly, I have seen similar things happen before.

[parsnip_chan]

One thing about a move to community is that even if you don't use your friends list to read community entries, you can still go to that community and choose to view in "Mine", "light", or "original" styles via the navigation bar at the top of the screen.

If you choose "mine," the community will appear in the style of the layout of the account you are logged into.
If you choose "light," the community will appear in a very barebones layout.
If you choose "original," the community will appear in the style of the original community (or if you're on a comment page, then in the default dreamwidth reading page style."

So you can still personalize the aesthetics of the community to suit your tastes via your character journal if you so choose. I hope that made sense!

And I should note that choosing any of the above three styles only affects how you yourself view things and not anyone else. If you keep the navigation bar (can you get rid of it?), it is very easy to toggle between all three of them.

[tmartian42]

I think the biggest advantage to the community-based system is having a game archive. I know it's less an issue for Poly since it doesn't really rely on continuity, but I think it could actually encourage a bit more continuity and player-driven plots with lasting consequences. I know there are times where one character referenced something that happened in the past but there was no way of going and finding that event because part of it happened in a journal of a character who was dropped and deleted, or whose username nobody remembers, or in several journals so it takes a bit of digging to find the entries from the right time period. Or for another example, the IC city guides were all written a while ago, but fewer and fewer people have those links while in a community there could maybe be a tag for entries that are icly meant to be important for the city as a whole

[iam_thebadwolf]

+all the numbers. Yes to this and said so very well.

[shiverandsing]

As a sort of addendum I think even if we change to community based, players should still be allowed/encouraged to set up phone/actionspam posts on their personal journals. I like having those.

[pirate_mod]

There's a reverse hybrid so to speak where the game stays journal based but uses the community for updates. In this case posting twice (one to journal and one to community) would be mandatory in order for the entirety of the game to see each other's entries. The FList maintenance would still be eliminated and a tagging system for the community would be set in place, but all content would be hosted on each other's journals and never on the community. No one has brought up this sort of model as far as I know yet but it's one we can definitely consider and include in this table if people are interested in discussing it.

In either case, as of now the mods are still discussing whether or not the inclusion of any hybrid will come down to a mod decision or another poll.

[iam_thebadwolf]

I agree with you that the reverse hybrid eliminates options plus it sounds like a ton of work to me. I've got 6 characters so I'm looking at 12 posts a month at the least (most of the time at least two or three end up with more than that) with the reverse hybrid that means more posting. It's a lot of work for something that's fun.

I'd also like to chime in and say, yeah if I had to choose between hybrid or journal, I'd absolutely go journal despite the fact that I really would love to see things go community.

[intheblanks]

Thanks for compiling the lists, they're useful