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[lucetimods]

The results for the Activity Check are in. Please note that the following characters were either inactive, didn't post to the activity check, or failed to speak to a moderator about their activity. Also added were characters who have dropped, and usernames not on the friend-add list, for your convenience.

Copy-paste the following here:

friend remove arcticdungeon friend remove bang_ihaveagun friend remove blue_velocity friend remove brewinthunder friend remove dressedinflame friend remove evolvedadere friend remove felltohate friend remove idle_magic friend remove nightsofrain friend remove promisebreaking friend remove sofar_sogr8 friend remove thesearepants friend remove tobecomeaknight friend remove tsuntrader friend remove undertheanchor friend remove willbeawinner friend remove nowordsrequired friend remove paishoplayer friend remove valorandwisdom friend remove moonlightoutlaw friend remove wanderingsnail friend remove god_is_a_dude friend remove lunarwit friend remove awaitingalbion friend remove ihasacutout friend remove mothercuts friend remove soulphile friend remove shieldsroyalty friend remove fireinherheart friend remove realivewire friend remove 4000gropes friend remove temperateheart friend remove 4000ages friend remove most_talented friend remove eeeek_a_rat friend remove wildconqueror friend remove pinkbedwetter friend remove nottanzanite friend remove healing_yellow friend remove verisprit friend remove bluffgenius friend remove a_honeysuckle friend remove dayofcentury friend remove salvationfound friend remove falenansun friend remove quitewright friend remove youmademebleed friend remove tornadomechanic friend remove tionysus friend remove cryology friend remove rupturedbabylon friend remove praygenius friend remove intobrightness friend remove spiralwitness friend remove ofzero friend remove consultmybooks friend remove invidia_keeper friend remove gustareion friend remove die_wiederkehr friend remove mybossisbetter friend remove esper_flight friend remove undertheanchor friend remove andheavenknows friend remove dressedinflame friend remove tobecomeaknight friend remove harveyinmyhead friend add seleniahymn friend add heavenslament friend add entaiho friend add winged_moon

A number of you passed the activity check, but barely. (You know who you are.) Try to pick things up, as it's no fun to character-squat.

If there are any mistakes here, please let us know! Additionally, if your character was removed and you're still active, feel free to appeal to one of us about keeping your character. However, please remember next time to stay active and post to the Activity Check. Thank you!

And as always:

HMD

How's My Driving?

This is a crit post for both the community and game and for your characters. If you have something you'd like to see us improve upon with the game, PLEASE TELL US HERE! Anon commenting is on, but if anything gets really nasty there will be warnings and thread-freezing. This isn't required but everyone is encouraged to take advantage of the advice of your fellow players!

Just some pointers: no taking cheap shots, no dragging personal issues into things and for the love of all that is wise and great, please double check your replies and comments before posting them. Sometimes a change in phrasing can make all the difference between a helpful tone and a condescending one.

Comments

[wise_maiden]

For a while it wasn't exactly common knowledge on how to do so, since there was secrecy involved. But I don't think the fact that John could remove them has been a secret for a long while now, and the best way to take initiative would either to ICly have Vash make a post filtered to John (or someone else acting on his behalf), if he WANTED the penalty removed, or to ask questions if it was possible if he did not KNOW such a thing was ICly possible. And just indicate when you want it done or whatever -- maybe something like this could be updated for that penalty removal post in general, also.

And if none of this is clearly stated in the guide, kick me and I'll try to verify that also. That just gets painful for me to look at after a while and I know it's sorely in need of updates in general, but that's a whole nother issue I guess.

[chibiremlover]

Oh, I've actually assumed Vash would know IC-ly that penalties can be removed. (If I remember right when he first woke up with it someone mentioned it getting fixed to him.} I've just been debating as a mun between what Vash will do IC and what I want OOC. I feel like I haven't gotten to play around much with his DP, but at the same time Vash would probably want it removed now that Legato is here - BUT at the same time he doesn't really like the idea of being poked and prodded at by someone he doesn't trust.

So while I've been wishy washy on my choice, I've sort of decided I'd wait and see if I got the permission from a mod to remove the pentatly rather than seek them out going: Could I get this removed, please?

It's been awhile since I went and looked up how the DP removal works IC and I think I mostly just asked other players so I'm not sure how clear/unclear that is. I just mostly agree with the above anon that it might be nice if something is changed so that the player will know if the mods have seen their question or if they should point out their request to them over AOL or PM. As that was the part I wasn't sure on. How to set up the OOC stuff rather than the IC.

And yeah - I can see how the guide can be painful to the creator, but I must say I have it linked and do go back to it often! So thanks for gritting your teeth and keeping it as updated as you can! It must be a lot of work.

[wise_maiden]

I think the idea of having the list is that -- you die, but you can't get it immediately removed. So there's about a four month wait. As long as you give that four months a wait and if you character says "Hey John, can you fix this kthx" ICly either during that time or when you want it done -- it was easier when John used to make more posts and you could tell him there, but he hasn't really made posts frequently during this past while, so I can see where that would be confusing.

Also I don't think people had been dying as frequently during the while, the most recent removals I can think of -- that hadn't even posted to the list -- was Terra. And there was a bit with Sonic too, when he just asked around and Raine said "ask John about it", but that's still when it was more of a secret until Bil found out. Now it should be no biggie.

And from there it's mostly just a handwave. When I had Raine's DP removed I had it done when I went on hiatus, for example. But honestly? I think if you guys really want answers sometimes, the mods are usually around on AIM, and very easy to reach. If this is something important to you, the player, then just ask them, especially if it's something outstanding. They're not all knowing, all seeing, after all; they're human.

[goldenglasses]

Oh, I know you need to wait the four months. Vash has had his DP longer than that when I did sign up and I knew that before he died. I know how DP's are set up IC-ly. I know the rules of it all for the IC handle of it, but because there's a list that is suppose to be a DP removal list I read it as I had to post there and get mod permission before I could have it removed IC.

Not that I'm really worried about getting a mod permission as I'm sure it's just more of a check to be sure you waited the four months and I have, but it still feels better to me to get the mod go ahead when there is a list then just going: You know what? I have everything I'm suppose to have, I'm just going to go ahead and do it without hearing back from a mod. I'd just feel better about getting an okay as that's what it looked like the people above me were doing.

And I know they're around on AIM. I've talked to them on AIM now and then. As I stated at the beginning I know I need to take the initiative it this was something important to me, but for now it's not so I haven't. Unless something IC came up that pushed Vash past his discomfort of the idea of someone he doesn't trust AT ALL doing things to him I was just going to wait it out and let the mods get to my request when they could. Maybe I read the part where you post your request wrong - maybe it was just a place to list to say: Hey! I'm posting here that I'm removing Vash's DP, and it's been long enough, just so it doesn't look like I magically cured Vash! But back when I first signed up I read it more as: I'm looking for permission to do this; this is the criteria you said I needed to do this; so may I do this? Then wait on an answer type of a thing.

I should go back and re-read it I guess. It wouldn't be the first time I read something wrong and misunderstood what it was really for.

[wise_maiden]

It's been a while since I've looked at it/since it came up, really, so I could probably be wrong on those details.

This crit really seems sort of aimed at yourself though for being "wishy-washy over what you wanted", instead of the mods for not 'getting back to you'. Things go a lot smoother when you, the player, takes initiative. I suppose in a sense like this - bringing up that it exists is one way to give it notice again, maybe to ensure that things are better worded because it's been a while since that post went up and many things changed since the initial creation of it.

But again: player initiative. I know it's hard, I know it's scary, because believe me, I always feel like I'm bothering someone -- even replying to you here like this, I feel like you must be going "ugh why is she replying, she's not even a mod type person". But if you don't take that step, you won't know either way. I guess that's just the point I'm trying to make. It was honestly bothering me that none of the characters who had died recently seemed to be making any effort ICly to find out more about what could be done about deaths too, so I guess this was my "oldness" showing itself in that not everything is really obvious. So I apologize for that as well.

[zig_zag123]

Just to put your mind at ease right away: Don't worry! I don't think that way at all! Even if you're not a mod you might have some information I might have missed or misunderstood!

I was just trying to agree with the original anon that it would be nice if the post could be given a little more attention or tweaked in some way - but also knowing as a mun in the end it really is up to me to ask a mod about it, if it's been say - a week or two and I still haven't heard anything about it. I just personally haven't because I'm being wishy-washy. I know I can and if I wasn't wishy-washy I would have.

As for the IC thing, it could be that the newer characters themselves just don't know about it? I know with Vash he has heard about it and has been told, but has been having personal issues about how much trust he really wants to put into John to fix it. Things he'd keep to himself and not state over the journals/out loud. He actually did have a couple threads ages ago finding some of this stuff out, but he just chose not to act on it until recently. So he didn't need the IC search - he already did that. I was just working on the OOC permission.

However, if he was new right now, I'm not sure he'd even think to ask about having a DP removed unless a friend went to him and said: Dude, that's annoying, why don't you have it fixed? As in his head - dead is rather dead. It's impressive he came back to life. I'm not sure he'd go: Hey! I bet someone out there could fix this if I ask nicely! Or he might ask Bill if he ever did get that vague idea what he lost could be returned. So maybe that's the lack of some of the new people asking about it? As for the older ones, maybe they know, but like Vash aren't sure how they feel about being poked at and isn't something they'd openly discuss with others?

[wise_maiden]

Thanks ♥

I'll try to make that clearer in the guide, if it isn't as clear as I thought it was, since it's Raine's IC responsibility to make sure information is out there. Newer characters don't seem to ask questions of that nature as much, though-- sure they ask questions, but it usually seems like the same ones. So maybe it just doesn't really occur to them to do so.

Itt's probably just that whole secretive aspect. No one really likes talking about dying or admitting that they've died, even if it was fixed eventually. I could probably use Raine as an example in that regard, but I don't really think the newer characters are as familiar with her as the others, so it's a mixed bag really.

I just like people to have a clearer understanding of things and working together to achieve these goals \o/ I just don't like OOC ideals influencing IC ones, which is probably why things end up seeming too complicated -- understanding a concept one way doesn't necessarily translate to what the characters themselves want to do -- so yeah, I feel you on the "should I or shouldn't I", and getting the permission seems like a formality at this point.

Hopefully in the future things will be clearer? Maybe some reason will come up for it to be addressed so that people who have been waiting can get a move on as well. And I hope that original anon person feels a little better about this too.

[goldenglasses]

If you'll like when I have more time I'll go through the guide for the DP part and see if I think it could be anymore clearer for IC people! Right now though I'm answering tags between Mario Kart Wii rounds so I wouldn't give it a fair read though.

Yeah, and I have trouble expressing myself in text format. It's like I spit out words because that somehow makes it better when it just makes things more confusing.

[wise_maiden]

If you're up to it, that sounds fine o/ Honestly... the only reason I can think for it being mostly secret at this point is the big issue we were having with villains and people probably ICly not wanting them to be "allowed" to get the penalty lifted. Which honestly isn't even fair, but it's always awkward working things like that out anyway. I was pretty sure I listed it in the section about "John", but I guess I could stick it in a more "this is what to expect in Luceti" type area... yeah I really just need to go through it properly before january.


.... which is in four days what. fml.

[chibiremlover]

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you - some RL family stuff came up and I couldn't sit down and read things as I would have liked until now.

I think it's pretty clear in the guide. As it states that John can remove DPs. He has some criteria he needs filled first. The only other thing I could really think you could maybe add is that some people have been able to contact him and reverse their DPs? Because it doesn't say anything about what that criteria is or how to get in contact with John. But I would like to believe most everyone could figure out how to contact him.