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So basically the only problem I see with progressing rooms, you know stickying them and locking them, etc. is that you would need a mod on throughout the entire event helping constantly, but this doesn't always work. Look at how long it took the mod to close down the 7th Annual Ball.

Like I said previously we don't have to have just 7 rooms. Also on the note of your idea Valiae with the rooms, it could work, but you'd be needing a mod to be attending the ball throughout the entire event, and though some of them are very reliable they have a lot of work. So, that is why generally having already stickied rooms works best for them since we don't want to have to depend on them too much.

Also I once I find some time today I will update the post with the elaborations. surprised But I highly recommend us looking elsewhere for ideas mainly because it will be up to the new host to arrange the voting so we want to broaden our horizons and not get stuck on one idea too much. ^-^

Val hit the nail on the head! Close your eyes for a minute and try to block out everything and anything that we did this year or the years prior. (That's not to say we can't throw in something later that holds us true to a tradition.. but for now.. forget about everything and picture us working with a clear slate.)

Things that I'd rather us NOT say in this thread is 'We did that in (insert whatever year)." Because quite honestly, what year was the telephone and light bulb invented? We are still re-inventing those basic necessities. Making them bigger and better-- so, the same can be true with our theme ideas. As I am more than sure that even if we did say a murder mystery again.. it wouldn't be quite the same way that bliss did her wonderful plot.

Another thing is the outfit concern. I won't lie when I say that making a good pirate costume would be an expensive undertaking, but there are cheap alternatives to most everything--. There's very few outfits that cannot be made with a bit of imagination. And Gaia is constantly adding items each and every day to make even more outfits possible. So do not concern yourselves too much on avatar outfits just yet.

As for t-corps.. there is nothing set in stone that says t-corps has to be used. T-corps wasn't around in the first ball so there is nothing that says it has to be used in this one if we can't fit it in or don't want to fit it in.


The only limit is our imagination and being age appropriate and ToS infractions. But many ToS related concerns can be worked around. For instance id steampunk is a copyrighted name we'd likely need to come up with say a spin off which then makes it more than fine.
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And val, I like the concept behind having people migrate from a thread to another, however, I don't think we'd have to worry so much about closing a thread. If people didn't want to migrate when we did obviously its just as well to let them continue their RP and enjoy themselves as long as they understand the room is not going to continue to be staffed. I know some of the role players that were in the library later migrated to an unofficial thread to continue their RP that they had started while at the ball.

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If anything, as hosts are prime goal would be to "instigate" or "inspire" our guests to enjoy themselves and "branch out" if they felt inclined to. While still "leading" the main "party".

I'm not sure if any of you guys have been in a text based RPG-- where the "world" is some what predesigned in a way that motivates those who are playing to form their own storylines in that "world". But the basis in those rpgs is that there is a main plot that also provokes personal sub plots. The general gist of it is there is just enough structure to keep everything together, but also enough individual freedom to where people can do what they want within reason. But, its important to not get too carried away with structure that it doesn't allow very much flexibility. But, its just a matter of creating just enough balance to keep things sensible.

no, that is not me sweatdrop

The thing is Lady Angelishia-- the ironic part is this last ball we did ... didn't even have "rooms". Well.. at least the threads were not rooms. A castle would have had rooms, and a ship could have rooms, but this last ball people were calling the books rooms.. and they were not rooms at all. And with soooo many referring to them as rooms caused a tad bit of confusion to some guests. As the ball, in theory, was to be in the library, but due to the books being opened it turned the library into a portal leading to these books. A ball... typically having a ball room is likely where the term came from. Either that or the term stretches back to chat "rooms". The term "rooms" would make more sense had the ball been hosted in a library that led to various "rooms" that were designed like the stories they were replicating. But that wasn't the case, it was actual books acting as a portal into these threads.

No matter how the ball is formatted this year, there will always continue to be "hosts" to some extent interacting with the guests in some way or another. It might not be set up like last year with a specific host and a co-host(s) assigned to a particular room, and it may likely even have an entirely different "title" attributed to the responsibility based on the theme we decide on-- but there is no way to eliminate the ball committee interacting with the guests unless we all woke up that day and decided we're not going to attend the ball at all >.>

But I would strongly recommend that the success of the ball not come down to any handful of people as we all know the struggles we had this year. And its those little fiascoes like an electrical storm kidnapping my internet at closing ceremonies that have led me to this conclusion.

I think the idea I shared with bliss on this subject was more or less creating a handful of mule accounts to take on the role of "hosting". And the pass codes given out on a need to know basis. Of course it would eliminate some of the "fame" associated with a player hosting a room under their own account, but it would make crisis intervention a lot easier. Mind you, these accounts would likely not be ones I'd recommend having a LOT of expensive things on them as we'd likely want them to be rather "disposable" (so to speak). But, it could potentially allow us easier round the clock room coverage while also allowing us to "attend" the ball as regular people on our "main" accounts without any stigma associated to hosting.

Like that of a nurses' station at a hospital. At times you might only be "on-call" where as other times you might be penciled in to work at a certain time. And best of all, you could potentially cover more areas of the ball that way so that things wouldn't be stale if you like a variety of things. Eh comparing it that of volunteering for a convention is prolly better than comparing it to a nurses' station, but hopefully the point is made.

I really like the idea of not having specific people in specific rooms. like val explained, a lot of rooms were having problems with host/cohosts this year. Thankfully there were a few people to step up and aid the ones who needed it. This plan seems rather solid though, so long as we can have people we can trust and rely on for it.

Well val. meebo was a good plan this year for everyone to get together and get involved with one another. As long as we stay on topic more I'm sure we can use it for meetings and chats again.

Again Val, we're on the same page. However, I will stress if the use of mules is used (which I strongly encourage for obvious reasons) that not everyone on the team has access to the passwords. I would honestly say that no more than 3-4 people should have access to the passwords UNLESS there is an emergency that requires covering one of those 4 people and THEN and only then sharing it with more people. I'd likely go as far as branching into like a tree like form of command. The person running the ball should have access to all the passwords-- obviously there should be a level of trust there that would allow for that. And then break things down into sub captains. With something like this its very important that the accounts are accessible, but not overly so. As the saying goes, to many cooks stirring the pot and you're bound to have a recipe for disaster. But I think the prime leader should have two people already lined up that can fill his or her shoes-- and furthermore I'd also recommend not having any of those people assigned to a "room" unless at the very last minute they had to fill in for someone-- like in the case of one of our hosts having to go to the hospital, etc.

I think the largest challenge I had as an acting host was trying to network with all of you while at the same time trying to run contests, answer questions and progress an RP. While all the while trying to be mindful of who's who. Meebo was truly a useful tool, and if used again, I would strongly encourage everyone to use their gaia name for meebo, stay on topic, and even incorporate monthly meetings and bi-weekly to weekly meetings as we drew closer to the actual ball date-- and also having an available list on the forum of just who is who and who is working were.


I picture lots and lots of spread sheets >.> I imagine I am drifting way off topic though, and into a realm that likely will depend on the choices the host will want to make when they are appointed.


But back on topic...

Random ideas - doing a cafe or a plaza (to encompass that fashion idea someone tossed out), a musical/play, but not in the sense of just putting one on.. but we'd be acting like we were.. actors.. of it. Like broadway or vegas.

A reality tv show or game show is also some things I've noticed to be fun on here, but that might be tricky to have enough people on for extended periods of time at the same time.. a survivor deserted island or something. Doing school rps seem to be popular, but possibly over done. If we do it late in the year again, there's also the option of like a Christmas in July theme. Gifting is a popular concept in almost every single one of the memorable threads I went into. Something wizard of Ozish would be fun if done in like the spring. Or if something sci-fi and space like.. doing something like the jetsans would be interesting. Gosh, its so hard to think of something a year in advance. Without knowing what will be the newest craze of that time will be. Maybe even something harry potterish could be good. >.> or beating a dead horse.. I'm not too sure on that. I'll ramble on again later.