MOD POST ↠ IC NEWS CHANGES

[faderifting]

MOD ANNOUNCEMENT: IC NEWS CHANGES

We’re going to try something new with the news!

One thing we’ve struggled with for basically the entire history of the game is how to best deliver news about what's happening in Thedas to players between major events. What we’d like to try now is delivering pieces of news to individual players to pass along to the rest of the game. Here’s how it will basically work:

1. If you’re interested in your character hearing and passing along IC news, you can sign them up for up to two different categories of news.
   
2. When we have an IC news update in one of those categories, we’ll send that update to the character at the top of the list.
   
3. That character will relay the information to everyone else via a rookery post of some kind.

We’re hoping that this will make things better and easier for everyone. We’ll be able to send news out as it arises rather than trying to compile piles of news all at once, which will also let us provide NPC reactions to player plots or missions more frequently and more quickly. Everyone else will be able to read and react to single news items instead of sifting through big posts. And the person sharing the news gets a free open post prompt. Win win win!

You can keep reading if you’re curious about the specifics. If you’re not curious, sign-ups are over here.

SIGNING UP

You can sign each character up for two categories of news. (If you want; participation is optional.)

Signing up for a category means that your character is paying at least some attention to what’s going on and you think it would be fun for them to relay information about that topic. They don’t have to have any inside sources of information or specialized knowledge.

Don’t stress about what categories you choose. It’s an OOC mechanism, not a commitment to your character caring about these two things and only these two things forever. For example, you can have a character who’s obsessed with elf business signed up for Chantry and Qun news instead, if you think it would be fun to relay that news from their perspective.

For the first set of sign-ups, we’ll randomize the list orders, so it isn’t first-come first-served with one person at the top of every list just because they happen to be at a keyboard when we post this; after that, the list orders will be set and we’ll work through them in order.

You'll still be able to sign up after the initial window has closed, and we'll add your character to the bottom of the list. If at any point you want to opt-out and remove a character from a list or change which category's list they're on, just let us know. Otherwise we'll continue to cycle through each list indefinitely (if we have enough news to do so).

GETTING NEWS

Once the lists are set, we’ll start with the first person listed under each category.

Before we forward news to a player, we’ll check in to confirm you’re currently available and will have time to do a post within X days. Some news items will need to be shared more quickly than others. If you aren’t available when we reach out, we’ll move on to the next person, and you’ll keep your place at the top of the list for next time.

If you tell us you are available and then don’t do the post, we’ll cry. And then we'll give it to the next person on the list or just do it ourselves, depending on the urgency. You'll also get bumped to the back of the line, so please be honest about whether you have time when we ask!

SHARING NEWS

You’ll be required to share the information you receive publicly, unless otherwise noted.

If you receive a news item and decide it wouldn’t be IC for your character to share it publicly, for whatever reason, you can let us know and we can try the next person. But the vast majority of these news items will be information that is (or is about to become, if Riftwatch has some advance warning) widespread and publicly available, rather than things anyone could benefit from keeping to themselves or only sharing with a select group.

If your character is so secretive, shy, or otherwise reticent that they would be reluctant to make any public news announcements, then they may not be a good fit for this.

You can share it through any kind of rookery post: a crystal announcement, a report, a magic book entry, a sign put up in the common areas, etc.

You won’t have to relay the news we give you word for word, as long as the facts are covered. If you want to use it as a jumping-off point to have your character complain about something related, make jokes, etc., you’ll be able to do that, as long as the news is getting out there in a way others can understand and work with.

THAT’S ALL

Sign up here if you’re interested! We’ll randomize sign-ups we receive within the next week or so (so before September 26) to get started, then add any future sign-ups in as described above.

Comments

[tender]

this is real fun i like it

[faderifting]

Fun: it’s what’s for dinner.

(Thank you!)