fandomhigh | PA Announcement

Current Mood: gloomy

PA Announcement

"Students, faculty. I am unhappy to inform you that one of our students, Katherine Pryde, has been declared missing, presumed dead. Until we are able to determine further details, a curfew will be enforced in the dormitories. All students should be in the dorms by 10PM. Mayor Red is applying a similar curfew in Fandom Town.

"I am aware that many of you knew Ms. Pryde. Tomorrow, all morning classes will set aside some time for an open dialogue on the matter, giving all students and faculty a forum to talk about what they're..." he pauses. "...Feeling. I myself will be leading one in the Student Council meeting room for any who wish to join."

[OOC: Kitty will be making an OOC post letting everybody know what the heck is going on. I'm not running this plot, I'm just trying to keep it tidy]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[OOC: At this juncture, I'm just working to keep a plot that has snowballed past the creator's original intent in line. The people behind said plot will be making an OOC post shortly informing people of what the hell is going on.]

[OOC: I can't help but feel this is metagaming. We've had countless students, teachers and townies just disappear. I've assumed, IC, that bad things have happened to some - or all - of them. The only difference here is that Lockheed's given us some evidence that Kitty didn't just go home. But the police department was already investigating

washwaslaconic - why is everyone reacting so strongly?]

((There's more evidence than that--George Laas reaped Kitty's soul.))

[ooc: True. But it's a surprise to none of us that Bad Things happen in Fandom Town. Still feels like this is an over-reaction, given that nothing was done IG for so many of the missing. Don't get me wrong, I love the plotline - I'm just surprised people are going 'omg, bad stuff' over it. *shrug*]

_{[ooc: because they can. And they'll continue to do so, probably.]}

((OOC: I agree with you on the whole school wide thing and "forcing/having" reactions etc.. I have kept Maia thankfully detached from the entire thing because it would be in her IC to do so as she 'sees' death all the time and has to detach or go crazy but it did affect some plots I had lined up for tonight and have since had to have them moved or moved to a later date because people ,as you say, have to scramble to find explanations for not leaving the school or show a somber attitude instead of previous plots or ideas. it is somewhat annoying as well because when other characters disappeared it was only shown or explained in a few threads if any and this one is all over and seems to be slightly out of hand for a character nobody was really that familiar with.))

OOC: My feeling is that if you don't like a plotline, it's OK to ignore it. And as this is a game with, what, over 200 people? Not everyone is going to like the same things or enjoy the same plotlines.

I, for example, have Janet totally ignoring the JA and the fact that there's a Goa'uld teaching at the school. And she only runs into Replicarter occasionally and then angsts her way through it isntead of trying to destroy RC for being a fake!Sam. Why? Because I don't feel that the options available would be fun for Janet--or me, as a player.

My personal feeling is that no one will blame you if you let the plot slide for your characters. And you play Grissom too, right? You can always have him rationalize it by being aware that there's a townie PD and we have Jordan, whom you can always have him respect because he's heard glowing things about her or something. I'm not saying that these have to be things that you have your characters believe; they're just suggestions.

[ooc - I think in terms of reacting to the other disappearances, it's less that this plotline (the reaction to it, I mean) is metagaming, as it is that we've all been metagaming all along, through necessity, just because of the nature of the game. Heck, in terms of dealing with certain characters even existing together.

Canon!Xander would be on the first bus outta here the second he laid eyes on Angelus, for instance, running to grab his own version of Buffy and drag her over here if FH's version wasn't into staking or souling Hairgelboy. But because of the intended (or at least apparent) comedic genre of the game there's had to be a lot of "Look, over there, the Goodyear Blimp!" when the question of "Why haven't you guys done anything about him" arises.

So if nothing is outright stated about Bad Things having happened to people who vanish, I at least have been proceeding on the assumption my character isn't meant to think real monsters lie around every corner; the rest of the atmosphere is farcical, so students and teachers for the most part react to disappearances and monsters under the laws of cartoon physics. An actual report (or even rumor) of a death is a different critter, though; there's no Goodyear Blimping that.

(Not a commentary on whether switching from cartoon to drama physics is a good or bad thing, at all; I love the plotline too. Just my take on the RP aspect of it.)]

[OOC: *nods thoughtfully* Yeah, you're right. This is an honest reaction, the metagaming was the other stuff. Thanks for the perspective check. (Tara, btw, drinks holy water every sunset. As far as she's concerned, zombie attacks mean this place is as much of a Hellmouth as Sunnydale.)]

[OOC: Maybe because Kitty was more well known than many of the characters (like Wash) who vanished?]

OOC: Ditto. In FH, Kiki has never once run across Kitty, so I'm not letting it affect Kiki at all - even though in RL, a situation like this WOULD affect such a small town and small school, and Kiki probably would be quite upset by it. Kiki doesn't pay any more attention to it than the several other plots that it would just be impossible for her to be a part of - even though, obviously, "realistically" it would be one of those tragedies that everyone is aware of/upset over.

And besides, there's nothing that says you must obey the curfew!

There really aren't 200 people playing this game regularly though. And a community of 200, that's just not that big.

I guess this is just the line for me personally, and this is obviously an issue I've had before. There's a certain amount of ignoring, justifying, etc. that this game requires and I have fully accepted that. Plus, I have a ton of fun with the really silly plots. I mean, zombies? Funny, and there was advance warning that movements were going to be restricted for a certain amount of time for characters that aren't so good with the magic/evil/time travel/cajones of steel. Townwide and school curfews make this all our problem, and the teachers really can't avoid it at all, at least the way I play mine I can't. I mean, I can write fanfic if I want to function off in my own little self-created world, because it doesn't seem like this plot is going away any time soon.

And to be honest, if it had been a townie, I would probably easily write it off, saying that it was a bigger city than just the players (lots of NPCs floating around, etc.) But what is turning out to be a very depressing and tragic plot that changes the whole make-up of the feel of the student body is just not the coolest thing ever. I think most of us here have finished high school and/or attended college. Sadly most of us know what it is like if a student dies, even if it is a complete accident, even if it is a big campus, nevermind these circumstances. And yes, Fandom High is not your average high school. I do understand that :) But some elements of the high school experience should be ringing through, or what the hell is the point?

I swear, I'm not trying to cause trouble! I have a vague idea of who has been working on this behind the scenes from the posts and I really dig all those players. But I'd rather say my piece than stew in my corner and be pissed off for a month+ because the direction of the game is being changed without half of us having the chance to say anything about it.

I will come up with something for my characters I guess, but I have to admit I am a little bit resentful of the fact I have to at all, because I feel like I try to be accommodating and I like to be respected in the same way.

I also have to admit it irks me that it seems like the admins, and even the players behind this, are kind of doing it by the seat of their pants. If this had direction, I would feel more at ease. Otherwise it is an enormous gym sock on my towel rod.

((I have Paige ignoring how other people are meant to be evil unless she gets some evidence herself (which is why she likes the pretty boy) ))

[ooc - You've got to wonder why all the BtVS characters didn't constantly carry holy water around in their Evian bottles!]

[ooc - and do. Constantly.]

One would almost suspect Dean Bristow had just said that the plot had snowballed way past it's original intent or something.

The admins are not responsible for player-driven plots. If this had been an admin plot hook, they would have warned us.

Bitching at them isn't helping. They've asked for a holding pattern so they can figure out what's going on, for something that got out of hand.

Give 'em a chance.

[ooc - And tattoo crosses on their throats!]

(ooc: Do it! More business for Red!)

Surpisingly enough, my brain stem is actually attached and I did catch that. And I have sympathy for players/admins who didn't realize the implications of this plot. I'm not bitching, if I was bitching, you would surely know it. I am stating my opinion so that it can hopefully be addressed and included when this is figured out, and considered in the future.

I have been giving this plot a chance for days, I will continue to sit by and wait for it to unfold with my characters hands parked firmly under their asses, and I don't think I can be accused of not giving them a chance. But your input and tone are always appreciated. (And yes, that was intended to be sarcastic, just in case the Internet made it lose something in translation.)

I also know the admins didn't intend this, and are forced to react to it IC and do something about it, which they decided would be curfews, etc. Also something I personally have a problem with. This isn't a holding pattern when plots are compromised, teachers are asked for certain things, etc. I will go with the flow for now and give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but I don't want to see something like this happen again if it can be avoided.

I promise that admin has learned from this. Trust me.

((Heh. Buffy does carry holy water and wears a cross))

Yes, miscalculations were made by the people who were involved in this plot. The extent of the reaction was misjudged because of various factors. Everyone involved is working serious overtime with FH to try and get things straightened out.

I give them all serious, major applause for doing damage control. (And yes, I like the Kitty plot, because it gives opportunity for cool RP to the people who want to emo!angst their little hearts out.) I feel bad for everyone that things spiralled out of control so quickly.

But everyone is always, always free to ignore what they don't want to deal with. Sadly, admin direction on how to do that isn't coming as quickly as you want--not because they weren't warned, and not because the people who planned this didn't put any planning into it. I've talked with the people who planned this. They put a LOT of thought into it. The level of player reaction was misjudged.

There are sociopaths and murderers IC in the game. The direction of the whole game isn't being changed. They're just getting a moment to do their thing. In Fandom High, the silly is going to outweigh the creepy a majority of the time.

And if you want the direction of the game to be silly, then go make a silly post. I wanted silly, last night I posted and four of us talked about vacations. Today in the library, we ate chocolate and discussed whether the library was sentient and liked coffee.

The direction of the game goes where the players as a whole RP. And I support silly RP as much as I support creepy RP.

If you're in the mood for silly, come out tonight and check out the hockey practice. Operation Disney on Ice has been implemented and there is much silly that will be had once the poor players get there and discover their equipment has been toyed with mischeviously.

Or hop in the library some time. We're very rarely serious there, it's less crowded than study hall, and there's always the chance to interact with people you don't normally RP with.

There is damage control being done, but at the same time it is not like this type of thing hasn't been discussed before. And I fail to see how people can miss how killing off a character would not have any sort of effect on the rest of the game considering the environment of the game for more than 2 seconds.

Also, if something was really being done about it, and the players were truly sorry, they'd find a way to wrap up the plot instead of dragging it out purely because they put the work into it. Tough, man. If your plot screws up other people's plots, you shouldn't be able to do it.

I would also have had no problem with it personally, really, if there had been advanced warning so I could plan accordingly. I'm the type of player that lets the game happen to me in a lot of ways, but I need a little bit of heads-up.

And I don't wish to box anyone or their plots out of the game. I like a wide variety of characters and plots, and that includes reading the creepy, evil stuff. BUT that shouldn't be able to overcome the whole school. That's why we have no weapons on campus. That's why we discussed not doing anything that affects the entire campus or is fear-inducing without permission. It is a game set in a high school. I've been playing balls-out subtext all day because I can't justify having my characters actually doing anything but being respectful and morose.

Ultimately, having a 'bonfire post' or a party and expecting characters to just forget one of the students was brutally attacked and killed, maybe by one of the other students, while a plot is ongoing about it for a month? Is silly, and bad gameplay.

I don't see what difference changing the timeline will make at this point.

Having a killer lose potentially among a student body of 150 people for a few days, or dragging it out for a month +? I'm completely befuddled as to how you couldn't see that.

We've had several killers loose among the student body since the beginning. It's just that now you can put a name and a face to a victim.

In theory, but the characters are not necessarily aware of that, and no one has been actually killing besides a few pesky zombies. Even when the curfew is lifted, you know the next thing is everyone goes back to wanting their guns back. And then... and then... There is a remarkable difference between accepting the multi-fandom aspect of the game and the characters' backgrounds, and dealing with this specific plot that was forced upon all of us by a few. Yes, Marty used to be a hired gun for example. And we all made our specific accommodations to deal with that IC, which were developed over time and cooperatively, How far can you push that before it breaks? It's part of the reason turnover in this game is so astronomically high.

Ah, the Domino effect. I've heard of that. I think the admins will keep things under control, though.

If you don't want your character involved in the plot, then step back. Don't get involved. She's missing. Presumed dead. For all anyone knows, she had a heart attack, or her mutant power spazzed out, or any number of possibilities. At the moment, there is no IC evidence except the testimony of a dragon.

I thought the reason turnover in this game was astronomically high was because of the intense time commitment required. I certainly haven't spoken to every person that's quit, though, so if you think that's the real reason, I see no reason to doubt you.

Well, not that I don't adore the admins, and really, the players in this plot, but you have to understand my lack of faith in this matter. There seems to be no memory recall on the part of anyone involved. Even in the grips of "Oh shit, we never thought it could go that way, oops, we didn't think this through, we didn't see how people would react" it is still being pushed ahead. And the players involved are still confused as to how it could go ever go badly. Umm, probably the same way this went badly.

And it's already spread too far to have characters realistically think she disappeared.

For example, Lisa lives with Alanna. There's one way she can't avoid hearing about it. She also has class with Marty and will see him freak out, everyone loves to run to her with Angelus gossip, and she works in the clinic and has access to the medical charts, and on and on. It just really isn't a reality that they could live in blissful oblivion for most of these characters.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

PA Announcement

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

OOC

no subject

no subject

no subject

Re: OOC

no subject

no subject

Re: OOC

Re: OOC

no subject

Re: OOC

Re: OOC

Re: OOC

Re: OOC

Re: OOC

Re: OOC

Re: OOC

Re: OOC