(03-26-2019, 11:16 AM)Durandal Wrote: I posted this in the regional story Discord (the one which we use to communicate with OFLs on the regular) last night, but it doesn't lose any relevance here.
Quote:9:57 PM] Durandal: Dumping an announcement here to say that I'm very aware that communication with the story team has been spotty and that not everyone is doing their best job of documenting planned changes right now. I largely fault myself for this for having stepped back from this chat. If people could @mention Durandal in any of the regional chats here for things which have been neglected, etc, I would greatly appreciate it.
In addition, we are working on a Roleplay Canonization Request system. "Player driven" is a buzzword being thrown around a lot lately, and while we do wish for players to have an impact upon the storyline, a trend which started with Teerin, no hard and fast rules were ever set about what that level of impact actually is, or what the best way to achieve it is. We cannot simply canonize roleplay which has been done without regard for planned story elements, meaning when someone writes or does a thing, presents it to us, and says "put it in the game", we look like dickheads for saying no. We aren't trying to be dismissive or ignorant, but to make this work we need to have a proper infrastructure in place for documenting and integrating your own narratives into ours.
Sometimes we will not be able to, but many times we will. I also want to point out that anything you submit is and always was subject to change. Just because you say your faction is going to do a certain thing, that doesn't mean it's always going to happen, or happen in the way you intend. This can be for gameplay reasons (such as the Ageira gate site in Honshu), for narrative reasons, (such as the IMG not being allowed to self destruct Aland), et cetera. It does not mean we are being willfully ignorant or inconsiderate of your wants and needs.
[10:00 PM] Durandal: It takes a lot of effort to keep track of all the changes that happen here, and manpower has always been at a premium. Despite this, it isn't always as simple as hiring more people and throwing them at an issue. Please make an effort to be patient with us, and communicate in a civil manner with us. We do reserve the right, as the development team, to change things, and the story is never going to be 100% player driven. But if you make an effort to work with us and we all make an effort to communicate with each other like adults, then WE will be able to better assist you in having a more profound impact upon Discovery's various plotlines, or canonizing your own.
Another topic I wish to raise is Gallia. The war must end, and will end, with a decisive victor (I swear to god that doesn't mean Bretonia wins). To get to that point, unraveling ten years of ancient history our predecessors have left for us with absurd concepts such as Gallia not having ZoI outside the Taus for the entirety of 4.85, or Teerin's starvation doctrine, certain things must be rushed and forced, perhaps moreso to an extent than we would like at times. I think there is an opportunity for a much more dynamic roleplay environment and for us to better consider player input upon the conclusion of the war. I acknowledge that things are bad right now, and I expect them to get worse before all is said and done. But I still need to urge everyone to try to be their best selves, and allow cooler heads to prevail. There is a light at the end of the tunnel here.
[10:03 PM] Durandal: Once again, regarding the concept of a more player driven story, I implore you all to turn your attention towards the Sigmas. I made a post the other night in which I explained that the war between Kusari and Rheinland was open ended, and that we had actually been hoping to see a greater level of player impact there. As I mentioned previously, developments around Bretonia and Gallia are probably going to feel pretty artificial until things are resolved. If you want to really try your hand at changing things, the Sigmas, Kusari, and to a lesser extent the Omicrons and Rheinland, are the place to be.
[10:07 PM] Durandal: I suppose that's pretty much all I have to say right now. There's more, but I don't want to drag this out or seem like I'm beating a dead horse. All I can really do is call for solidarity, and leave a bit of a reminder. We're all supposed to be in this together, as characters in a game world. Discovery was never meant to be chess, and it isn't about one upping each other. It's about existing in that universe and playing things out. Instead of reacting with outrage to a change and asking "why?", or refuting it, perhaps come at it from the perspective of a character, and you'll find yourselves in a less hateful and more intriguing world. Let's be our best selves, think before we speak, and let cooler heads prevail. That goes for all of us here, gold or any other color under the Sirian rainbow.
Regarding the twitch/podcast thing. I jumped the gun about that because it needs to be done, and in doing so I didn't consult any other developers first meaning it isn't going to happen immediately/not everyone was on the same page. I'd like to get at least three of the dept heads sat down together on voice to address the issues we're facing right now, but you may have to settle for just me and @Unseelie. I think it's likely to happen sometime next weekend.
The asking why is due to the lack of communication from the devs towards player base
I'm glad you acknowledge there's a problem regarding it and probably much of the refuting or the asking why will disappear with this problem solved.
I'm sure everyone understands that story can't be 100% player driven, it wouldn't make any sense, besides it wouldn't work, but compromises can be reached if people talk and exlpain the reasons why.
I can give an example of how things don't work
The Belfast thingy was poorly handled from both sides
First form Dev side as they said Belfast is gonna be lost to Galics, conquered by Embrun, no reasoning no nothing, just this will happen because we want to (to this day i still don't know the story reason of this)
From my side was poorly handled because i could been more calm addressing the thing and explain my point of view in a better way but i admit i ravaged as the dev team ignored player RP around Belfast tha could have been solved with a simple beter communication.
I can't even imagine how did bret guys felt when they received the information of the loss of southhampton, or Leeds for that matter.
Another thing, the rheinland kusari war that nobody cares about, there is no information on why this is still happening
This is pure lack of communication and transparency that can be avoided.
You say to enter the prespective of a character, that was what mollys done with Belfast and again here i prolly failed in expressing my point of view, inside mollys way of living the only possible outcome would be the destruction of Belfast, which happened after with the retcon, that could have been avoided if there was communication.