11-26-2012, 06:37 PM
Greetings, COTH! It's been a while since I made a blog that serves the whole server. I sincerely apologize if I come off as selfish.
A few updates on life: Family's leaving for the Philippines once more, but I have no set date. Usually when they do leave, they're gone for 2.5-3 weeks. That means not only more time to myself, but especially more time to arrange for RP. Originally, I had hoped to use whatever Christmas bonus I'd get from work to head over to North Carolina, and that maaaaay still happen. But that'll have to happen once family comes home, as I have been tasked to not only housesit, but make sure the plants don't die and dust doesn't collect. I love family.
During their absence, I fully intend to launch the Gnomeregan Campaigns as promised. However, I cannot do that if there is no interest. Should I get enough interest, I will begin planning ASAP. We're probably looking at a week's worth of daily events, similar to how I ran the Love Festival and the Sports Fair.
Refer to the poll if you wish to see a Gnomeregan-based event chain this coming Christmas season. Now onto guilds and stories!
As of current, I lead 3 Guilds, plus I co-lead in 1. They are:
1.) The Aldor. From the looks of the forum histories, this guild has been held before, and given how I was able to grab the guild title, it's just about dead now. This guild is meant to be a collaborative project with The Scryers, headed by SachikoMaeda. We hope for conflict RP, though so far, I haven't been able to find the time to do a recruitment event. My work hours, sadly, are the server's peak hours, so any time I am available will be the hours most of the server are asleep. I have no plans at the moment in the long run except any Sachi and I will be making together. If you feel you'd be able to run the guild better, or at least help, please refer to the main guild thread.
2.) The Love Exchange. My bread and butter for RP, used to start up and create social RP as well as give something for RP couples to do. Lately, TLE has been doing other events and RPs that focus on non-romantic aspects of social togetherness, such as arts and sports. There is a very subtle story going on here, but you won't know what it is unless you involve yourselves with the workers and employees. Due to the nature of this guild, this is used to encourage character development in regards to love, family, and a world perpetually stricken with faction and racial war.
3.) The Red Glove. From the guild of love to the guild of crime, RG was created as a result of frustration with the lack of crime RP (and I LOVE crime RP
). This crime differs from most other crime guilds in that every single mission and event tells and develops an overarching story; thus, this guild is meant to promote character development by providing heroes and victims the bad guys to defeat.
4.) Though I do not lead this guild, I do consult for and assist The Grandbell Knights. Though they are currently involved with RG, Grandbells are intended for just about any heroic RP, especially for wandering paladins and other hero types with no purpose.
Now, there is a purpose for this blog. Of the guilds I lead, only the Aldor is lore-based. I am comfortable with leading the Aldor, as well as doing anything draenei related, but the problem with leading a lore-based guild is the pressure of getting Warcraft RP going consistently. This is something I'd really need help in, and it would take the effort of all Aldor-loving player characters to get involved. Of course, conflict cannot happen if there isn't a fair number of Scryers. The direction I'd likely take with The Aldor is historical and survival RP. I don't have a story yet.
As for TLE and RG, a few things:
THE LOVE EXHANGE:
Let's face it: I haven't really done any matchmaking. One part is because players keep disappearing on me; I had to withdraw a few profiles because the players left the server or became inactive. Another is because player schedules don't match; one potential match I made cannot come to fruition because the players' schedules hardly match at all (and Skype RP is not an option in regards to their date). Thirdly, the waiting time is too long before a match is made. More often than not, when I catch up to a player and his/her client character, that character found love on his or her own.
I am grateful for the help, I really am, and I appreciate my employee players for helping me in matchmaking. We got a couple of matches made, and I will announce it soon. However, I am not holding my breath, because a few are that of players I haven't seen in a while.
It dawned on me; while TLE is absolutely fun, and I love RP matchmakers with their own recurring issues with love, TLE is a business that works best with a far larger server population. The clientele relies on quantity over quality; it's the actual date that provides quality. As long as our numbers are low, TLE can't make any really adequate matches on a timely manner.
For this reason, I am considering retiring matchmaking altogether come the next year. We'll still be doing romantic dates, counselling, and advice, but the profiling system will be eliminated. TLE would be more event focused than casual RP. I have received complaints, however, that my events tend to be too large. That's fine, and it's a legit complaint. On the level of smaler levels, what I could do is probably have mini-events where there is a restricted number.
Alternatively, I can create dates with randomly generated NPCs that all result in disaster dates. The pros to that, hey, matchmaking is happening, and you get a fun RP session with your date. The cons is that this makes for bad business, and our matchmakers are better judges of character than that. I am not against NPC dates, but TLE was all about making RP couples, not one-way romances with a soulless NPC.
We'll have until the next year before I would decide to eliminate matchmaking altogether. Until then, I hope for suggestions on what I can do in lieu of a server population needed to make my matches.
THE RED GLOVE
RG is coming back! Though the server's numbers are dropping and hitting dreadful stagnation, we are getting new blood through grunts and newcomers, and I am not one who idles on her bum, twiddling her fingers, and hoping something exciting happens. I make it happen.
Red Glove will be getting a face lift. There will be new ranks, though we'll still be going by animal code names. Missions will be provided for small numbers (probably no more than a full party), and the story will take a different direction. We'll still be world hopping, and there will still be named enemies to eliminate for all you hero types.
What will be different is how RG RP works. Previously, I would make up missions, wait for RPers to chose them and pick it up, then we would arrange for a time to do it. This, however, resulted in playing the waiting game, due to my work schedule and my inability to RP in peak times. Even doing this in Skype wasn't an option. So instead, I do this: Red Glove missions are designed depending on where and what the leaders are focused on ("Lambs of _____"). That location will have its own self-contained story, but the myth arc will be developed only piece by piece. Players won't chose their missions--I will assign them strictly. As far as schedule goes, I will do a mission on a day I leave work early to do paperwork at a coffeeshop. You're looking at 5:30-8:00 PM Tuesdays and Wednesdays, my lightest work days. That time slot is narrowed and rushed, but this is why I want only small parties--to get the RP going faster.
I'm always about choice, so instead of just letting players choose missions on their own, I'll let them select which mission line to pick. What they will be, I'll announce it later.
More details are to come, but the poll is provided so that I can garner interest and discussion.
EDIT: Poll was left out, had to put it back in. Refresh your page.
A few updates on life: Family's leaving for the Philippines once more, but I have no set date. Usually when they do leave, they're gone for 2.5-3 weeks. That means not only more time to myself, but especially more time to arrange for RP. Originally, I had hoped to use whatever Christmas bonus I'd get from work to head over to North Carolina, and that maaaaay still happen. But that'll have to happen once family comes home, as I have been tasked to not only housesit, but make sure the plants don't die and dust doesn't collect. I love family.
During their absence, I fully intend to launch the Gnomeregan Campaigns as promised. However, I cannot do that if there is no interest. Should I get enough interest, I will begin planning ASAP. We're probably looking at a week's worth of daily events, similar to how I ran the Love Festival and the Sports Fair.
Refer to the poll if you wish to see a Gnomeregan-based event chain this coming Christmas season. Now onto guilds and stories!
As of current, I lead 3 Guilds, plus I co-lead in 1. They are:
1.) The Aldor. From the looks of the forum histories, this guild has been held before, and given how I was able to grab the guild title, it's just about dead now. This guild is meant to be a collaborative project with The Scryers, headed by SachikoMaeda. We hope for conflict RP, though so far, I haven't been able to find the time to do a recruitment event. My work hours, sadly, are the server's peak hours, so any time I am available will be the hours most of the server are asleep. I have no plans at the moment in the long run except any Sachi and I will be making together. If you feel you'd be able to run the guild better, or at least help, please refer to the main guild thread.
2.) The Love Exchange. My bread and butter for RP, used to start up and create social RP as well as give something for RP couples to do. Lately, TLE has been doing other events and RPs that focus on non-romantic aspects of social togetherness, such as arts and sports. There is a very subtle story going on here, but you won't know what it is unless you involve yourselves with the workers and employees. Due to the nature of this guild, this is used to encourage character development in regards to love, family, and a world perpetually stricken with faction and racial war.
3.) The Red Glove. From the guild of love to the guild of crime, RG was created as a result of frustration with the lack of crime RP (and I LOVE crime RP
). This crime differs from most other crime guilds in that every single mission and event tells and develops an overarching story; thus, this guild is meant to promote character development by providing heroes and victims the bad guys to defeat.4.) Though I do not lead this guild, I do consult for and assist The Grandbell Knights. Though they are currently involved with RG, Grandbells are intended for just about any heroic RP, especially for wandering paladins and other hero types with no purpose.
Now, there is a purpose for this blog. Of the guilds I lead, only the Aldor is lore-based. I am comfortable with leading the Aldor, as well as doing anything draenei related, but the problem with leading a lore-based guild is the pressure of getting Warcraft RP going consistently. This is something I'd really need help in, and it would take the effort of all Aldor-loving player characters to get involved. Of course, conflict cannot happen if there isn't a fair number of Scryers. The direction I'd likely take with The Aldor is historical and survival RP. I don't have a story yet.
As for TLE and RG, a few things:
THE LOVE EXHANGE:
Let's face it: I haven't really done any matchmaking. One part is because players keep disappearing on me; I had to withdraw a few profiles because the players left the server or became inactive. Another is because player schedules don't match; one potential match I made cannot come to fruition because the players' schedules hardly match at all (and Skype RP is not an option in regards to their date). Thirdly, the waiting time is too long before a match is made. More often than not, when I catch up to a player and his/her client character, that character found love on his or her own.
I am grateful for the help, I really am, and I appreciate my employee players for helping me in matchmaking. We got a couple of matches made, and I will announce it soon. However, I am not holding my breath, because a few are that of players I haven't seen in a while.
It dawned on me; while TLE is absolutely fun, and I love RP matchmakers with their own recurring issues with love, TLE is a business that works best with a far larger server population. The clientele relies on quantity over quality; it's the actual date that provides quality. As long as our numbers are low, TLE can't make any really adequate matches on a timely manner.
For this reason, I am considering retiring matchmaking altogether come the next year. We'll still be doing romantic dates, counselling, and advice, but the profiling system will be eliminated. TLE would be more event focused than casual RP. I have received complaints, however, that my events tend to be too large. That's fine, and it's a legit complaint. On the level of smaler levels, what I could do is probably have mini-events where there is a restricted number.
Alternatively, I can create dates with randomly generated NPCs that all result in disaster dates. The pros to that, hey, matchmaking is happening, and you get a fun RP session with your date. The cons is that this makes for bad business, and our matchmakers are better judges of character than that. I am not against NPC dates, but TLE was all about making RP couples, not one-way romances with a soulless NPC.
We'll have until the next year before I would decide to eliminate matchmaking altogether. Until then, I hope for suggestions on what I can do in lieu of a server population needed to make my matches.
THE RED GLOVE
RG is coming back! Though the server's numbers are dropping and hitting dreadful stagnation, we are getting new blood through grunts and newcomers, and I am not one who idles on her bum, twiddling her fingers, and hoping something exciting happens. I make it happen.
Red Glove will be getting a face lift. There will be new ranks, though we'll still be going by animal code names. Missions will be provided for small numbers (probably no more than a full party), and the story will take a different direction. We'll still be world hopping, and there will still be named enemies to eliminate for all you hero types.
What will be different is how RG RP works. Previously, I would make up missions, wait for RPers to chose them and pick it up, then we would arrange for a time to do it. This, however, resulted in playing the waiting game, due to my work schedule and my inability to RP in peak times. Even doing this in Skype wasn't an option. So instead, I do this: Red Glove missions are designed depending on where and what the leaders are focused on ("Lambs of _____"). That location will have its own self-contained story, but the myth arc will be developed only piece by piece. Players won't chose their missions--I will assign them strictly. As far as schedule goes, I will do a mission on a day I leave work early to do paperwork at a coffeeshop. You're looking at 5:30-8:00 PM Tuesdays and Wednesdays, my lightest work days. That time slot is narrowed and rushed, but this is why I want only small parties--to get the RP going faster.
I'm always about choice, so instead of just letting players choose missions on their own, I'll let them select which mission line to pick. What they will be, I'll announce it later.
More details are to come, but the poll is provided so that I can garner interest and discussion.
EDIT: Poll was left out, had to put it back in. Refresh your page.