Theian OOC

Hello, dear players! In the interest of transparency, we wanted to just give you guys an explanation as we're certain some of you are wondering what's going on with all the changes and shuffling of things that have been happening recently. At its core, this game was the brainchild of one person, who found that they simply didn't have the time to run a game as a head mod as they'd originally planned. Unfortunately, this discovery was made after the starting date for the game was already set and close, and by the time the rest of the mod team was properly assembled and in the know, it was too late to change that to a later date without things looking very unprofessional. Thus, the game did open on time, but when the team as it is now was fully assembled, we found that there were a lot of little issues that needed addressing in regards to the logistics and fundamental processes required to keep a game running well.

This is why there have been so many little announcements and tweaks being made since the game opened. We know that rearranging a mod team and fussing with the basic game engine this soon after opening is kind of unorthodox, but we figured it was better to just get these hiccups out of the way than try and continue forward with the flawed system that was initially in place. While we are still a team of five, Lavender Town and Teke Teke are taking point on getting the wrinkles ironed out and making certain that things will run smoothly in the future. Hopefully the changes we will be enacting now will prevent such speed bumps in the future, so that events and new ideas can go off without a hitch.

We would like to assure you that the premise and overall purpose and theme of the game is not changing! Theian Nights will still be the same game you all applied for, we're just working on making it a more efficient machine, so thank you for bearing with us, and we hope to have all of the necessary changes made before we open applications for the next round. We ask that you please stay attentive and tuned for important game updates featured in the mod announcement channel of our game's Discord, here, and on plurk as applicable.

If anyone has any questions or concerns, please feel free to leave a comment here, or contact us via any of the means listed on the Mod Contact Page.

Good evening and welcome to the first official mod announcement from the Theian Nights team! As we kick off the start of the game, we wanted to reach out to you, our wonderful player base and any prospectives who may be keeping an eye on us, to give you a few updates about the game, some changes concerning the way we'll be running things, and to address the odd concern we've seen around about the fact that we've chosen to mod this game anonymously. Please bear with us through this announcement. We promise to get to the fun part forthwith!

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APPLICATIONS & RESERVES

As of now, we have updated the Application and Reserves pages with two fresh formatting and a clear outline of our rules and procedures. Application forms themselves have been updated as well and, most importantly, we will no longer be accepting applications via email. Going forward, all applications will need to be posted to the application page as comments, not as links to personal journals. This is a change being made in an effort to foster an atmosphere of transparency and accountability, and we appreciate your understanding as we work out the last of the wrinkles in getting the game running as smoothly as possible.

Regular application and reserve rules are now in effect. Reserves and applications are always open. Applications will be processed on weekends by11:59 PM PST on Sunday.

ACTIVITY CHECK: SEPTEMBER

Our opening activity check will consist of a check in posted on the first of every month. Going forward, all activity checks will occur promptly on the first of every month. For detailed information about what our activity check entails, please see the Activity portion of our FAQ page, which will be receiving an organizational overhaul in the future to increase the ease of navigation.

LOCATIONS

The Locations page has been updated with the information you will need to properly navigate the setting. Additional details and locations may be added as characters explore and come into additional information about the setting.

FUTURE UPDATES

Additional updates will be made to the game's various pages throughout the course of the game. Please be sure to add the mod plurk (theiannights) as these updates will be regularly announced there and may prove important information you won’t want to miss!

ANONYMOUS MODDING

Anonymous modding has gotten rather popular recently, as we all know, and like most things, it has its pros and cons. One of the cons discussed often is that anon modding gives said anon mods a carte blanche, if you will, allowing them the ability to behave however they see fit with no repercussions. That is absolutely not the case here. We would like to draw your attention to the mod contact page, wherein every mod has listed a title by which they can be called, the role in the team that they fill, and several means by which they can be contacted individually from the mod team as a whole. While it's true those titles are not our real names, we have listed every individual who works on this team, and detailed precisely what they do, so that if an issue arises, anyone may contact them regarding that issue just as they would contact someone using their actual name or handle, making us just as accountable as anyone else. If we had listed names like Shirley, Jim, and Bruce instead of these titles, it would have made absolutely no difference to the amount of accountability, visibility, and responsibility we are all prepared to shoulder while in charge of this game.

That being said, this is the system we've chosen to use not because we have something to hide, but because we have opted to maintain a strict separation between our roles as moderators and our roles as players. No one wants to mod a game they can't play in, but playing with one of the mod team always seems to create issues, in one manner or another. Mods are often accused of favoritism when their characters have close CR, or contrarily, of not liking certain players because their characters never interact. People treat mod characters differently, even if it's only subconsciously--mod characters almost never have negative CR, because no one wants to have negative CR with someone running the game, even if IC actions should have no bearing on OOC situations. Friends of the moderators suffer as well, in many cases, bearing the brunt of favoritism accusations and other such gossip, regardless of whether or not such privileges are being levied.

In order to allow us to play in the game as players, on the same level as anyone, we have therefore chosen to remain not anonymous, but simply to maintain the separation between those times we're wearing the Mod Hat, versus the Player Hat. We hope that this will assuage any concerns you may have regarding the situation, and if anyone has any questions, you are more than welcome to contact any one of us, via any of the channels listed on the mod contact page, or by utilizing this post.

CUTTING TO RIBBONS

The game is officially open for play and with this your characters will find themselves cordially invited to a Party hosted by the city's mysterious caretakers to welcome them home. A task board has also appeared in front of the fountain in the Shopping District and as an application on your communication device, but take care. The streets you walk are not always as empty as they may appear.