I'm writing this on like 5 hours of sleep, so I apologize in advance if it's kinda rough.
I joined this game for the plot. I had a fantastic experience in Agoge, as far as the mods fostering player creativity and allowing us as players to ask “What would challenge my character? Where do I want to take them?” then helping us to actually do that. William specifically is a character who can stagnate (or lose his goddamn mind) very easily if there's not a metaplot that he can impact and that builds toward something. Very few games fit this bill (see what I did there...), and until WY came along I was pretty much resigned to sticking to memes.
Maybe because of my experiences in Agoge (or maybe because of the type of character William is—he will try to either find or CREATE meaning wherever he can, and I get that that is absolutely not true of everyone), I haven't been confused or frustrated by the plot set-up in WY. There's been plenty of stuff for my character to pursue, plot-wise—the shadows, the mirrors, the mystery letters. I don't have a lot of free time (to the point where, if the game had gotten more people apping, I probably would've held off on joining until my life calmed down) so I haven't been able to pursue plot things as much as I'd like, but I'd been looking forward to using some bonus points to have him discover a new feature of the world. (“Why do you use the past tense? Are you dropping?”) WELL THAT BRINGS ME TO THE MAJOR PROBLEM I'VE ENCOUNTERED
I have had a hell of a time—and this is not directed at anyone in particular, like clearly it's something we need to work together to fix—getting other people to plot with me. It's honestly been super discouraging. The first log went well, I made plans with quite a few people! We were mostly successful with playing them out! After that, though, it's really been difficult. I get that the game is small, I get that not everyone is interested in the same things I am (or lmao in William, which...fair), but I've made comments to ooc posts that have gone unanswered, I made a post inviting people to plot or play whatever they wanted with the letters that largely wasn't tagged, I've put out general and specific plotting calls on discord and I'm really not sure what to do at this point. I want to do plot stuff! My character wants to do plot stuff! But because of my schedule/writing speed, it basically takes me a week to put together a top level (while sidelining all my old threads) and...I do currently have plans with one person, but other than that, when I post to the new event there's a chance it's just not gonna get tagged and I'm kinda like ?????????????????????
I could just have William go off and explore on his own—that's IC! But while it's the plot that drew me to this game, I'm here for character development—William could discover all the mysteries of the setting and I could not give less of a crap if it doesn't translate into CR. Which is why (well that and DID I MENTION I'M MOVING RIGHT NOW) I've held off on using my bonus points to do anything plot-wise—if no one's going to engage with it, well, what's the point? I love that this game is player driven, I get that people probably aren't used to that—because in a lot of games “player-driven” means “sometimes we'll let you vote in a poll”—but lately it's been so hard finding anyone who even expresses interest in doing anything. I don't know what's wrong, I don't know how to fix it, but there it is. I really don't want this game to become more “traditional”—in a more traditional game William would probably end up being assistant manager at a bank (or, like, dead), and let me tell you how little interest I have in that. I'm not here for NPCs that hold all the answers or events that just happen for the sake of something happening. I'm not even here for shitposting on the network (though I do enjoy it). I'm here for a genuinely player-driven plot, I just...if it's me, please tell me what I can do to work with everyone to make that happen. I just feel like I've hit a wall, and if it keeps up, I'll start just turning to the people I know want to thread with me to plan things, which is how people get left out.
Also re: Discord, I am 100% sure I contributed to the problem—I used it to stay in touch with the game when I was on break at work or otherwise couldn't tag. I'm genuinely sorry if those bursts of activity were off-putting to people or made them feel like they couldn't gain any traction in game. I'm not sure what can be done to turn it into a more open plotting platform at this point—I've been trying to keep my comments tied to stuff actually going on in game, but I really enjoy (and miss) just generally chatting about where my character's coming from and what he's interested in, which often plants the seeds that can leave to plot. I'm also not sure where this all-or-nothing mentality came from when it comes to discord—I never got the impression plotting was banned there, just that an effort needed to be made to include everyone in (and make everyone aware of) any plots.
I ABSOLUTELY HAVEN'T GIVEN UP ON THIS GAME, I still think it has a lot of potential and I love everyone here. It's just been such a struggle lately, and with the new event log being as empty as it is and crickets on the plot front, I'm really not sure how to proceed.
no subject
I joined this game for the plot. I had a fantastic experience in Agoge, as far as the mods fostering player creativity and allowing us as players to ask “What would challenge my character? Where do I want to take them?” then helping us to actually do that. William specifically is a character who can stagnate (or lose his goddamn mind) very easily if there's not a metaplot that he can impact and that builds toward something. Very few games fit this bill (see what I did there...), and until WY came along I was pretty much resigned to sticking to memes.
Maybe because of my experiences in Agoge (or maybe because of the type of character William is—he will try to either find or CREATE meaning wherever he can, and I get that that is absolutely not true of everyone), I haven't been confused or frustrated by the plot set-up in WY. There's been plenty of stuff for my character to pursue, plot-wise—the shadows, the mirrors, the mystery letters. I don't have a lot of free time (to the point where, if the game had gotten more people apping, I probably would've held off on joining until my life calmed down) so I haven't been able to pursue plot things as much as I'd like, but I'd been looking forward to using some bonus points to have him discover a new feature of the world. (“Why do you use the past tense? Are you dropping?”) WELL THAT BRINGS ME TO THE MAJOR PROBLEM I'VE ENCOUNTERED
I have had a hell of a time—and this is not directed at anyone in particular, like clearly it's something we need to work together to fix—getting other people to plot with me. It's honestly been super discouraging. The first log went well, I made plans with quite a few people! We were mostly successful with playing them out! After that, though, it's really been difficult. I get that the game is small, I get that not everyone is interested in the same things I am (or lmao in William, which...fair), but I've made comments to ooc posts that have gone unanswered, I made a post inviting people to plot or play whatever they wanted with the letters that largely wasn't tagged, I've put out general and specific plotting calls on discord and I'm really not sure what to do at this point. I want to do plot stuff! My character wants to do plot stuff! But because of my schedule/writing speed, it basically takes me a week to put together a top level (while sidelining all my old threads) and...I do currently have plans with one person, but other than that, when I post to the new event there's a chance it's just not gonna get tagged and I'm kinda like ?????????????????????
I could just have William go off and explore on his own—that's IC! But while it's the plot that drew me to this game, I'm here for character development—William could discover all the mysteries of the setting and I could not give less of a crap if it doesn't translate into CR. Which is why (well that and DID I MENTION I'M MOVING RIGHT NOW) I've held off on using my bonus points to do anything plot-wise—if no one's going to engage with it, well, what's the point? I love that this game is player driven, I get that people probably aren't used to that—because in a lot of games “player-driven” means “sometimes we'll let you vote in a poll”—but lately it's been so hard finding anyone who even expresses interest in doing anything. I don't know what's wrong, I don't know how to fix it, but there it is. I really don't want this game to become more “traditional”—in a more traditional game William would probably end up being assistant manager at a bank (or, like, dead), and let me tell you how little interest I have in that. I'm not here for NPCs that hold all the answers or events that just happen for the sake of something happening. I'm not even here for shitposting on the network (though I do enjoy it). I'm here for a genuinely player-driven plot, I just...if it's me, please tell me what I can do to work with everyone to make that happen. I just feel like I've hit a wall, and if it keeps up, I'll start just turning to the people I know want to thread with me to plan things, which is how people get left out.
Also re: Discord, I am 100% sure I contributed to the problem—I used it to stay in touch with the game when I was on break at work or otherwise couldn't tag. I'm genuinely sorry if those bursts of activity were off-putting to people or made them feel like they couldn't gain any traction in game. I'm not sure what can be done to turn it into a more open plotting platform at this point—I've been trying to keep my comments tied to stuff actually going on in game, but I really enjoy (and miss) just generally chatting about where my character's coming from and what he's interested in, which often plants the seeds that can leave to plot. I'm also not sure where this all-or-nothing mentality came from when it comes to discord—I never got the impression plotting was banned there, just that an effort needed to be made to include everyone in (and make everyone aware of) any plots.
I ABSOLUTELY HAVEN'T GIVEN UP ON THIS GAME, I still think it has a lot of potential and I love everyone here. It's just been such a struggle lately, and with the new event log being as empty as it is and crickets on the plot front, I'm really not sure how to proceed.