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 Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 9:24 am
I'm pretty sure you guys will like this. And that this will hopefully help avert the disasters of the past, possibly sort out some questions/concerns/ideas you guys have in a way that allows everyone to be heard reasonably, us to know how to adjust things to make DD a better place, and hopefully without any side feeling ignored, stepped on, shut out, etc.
Quote: Things are going to be different this time around. I think before my first accidental hiatus back last September, people were mostly happy with the rules back then. Maybe not totally happy, but...well...mostly.
That said, from when I first wrote the rules back in the summer/autumn of 2010, a helluva lot has changed. We've gotten bigger and more diverse, new templates, new breeds, new staff, new regs, new herds, new stock edits...the whole shebang.
So what will this thread be for?
This will be a suggestion thread. I want to know what ideas you guys have for what can be done differently this time. I want to take the chance to smooth out and refine and change rules as necessary.
This thread will be made anew when we rebuild shop and guild.
Will I respond to your suggestions? If you see this at the bottom of your post, it means I have responded and considered your request seriously. I may take you up on it. In some cases, I was actually planning that or something similar, just didn't get around to it before. I will consider your suggestions and ideas to be a priority as we rebuild, as they absolutely should be.
So, please, join me for this long-winded ride through suggestions and rule changes/adjustments/etc?
--Posted by elfstar89 June 26, 2013
All quoted text in this thread was from a temporary home for staffers and regs who worked with me to get DD back on its feet again this summer. Responses will be included, so you guys have a sense of what I've responded to already, where new things can be brought up, what new things can be brought up, etc. At this juncture, we're looking at a little over two pages of this shindig, so I'll try to consolidate the posts. Please bear with me, and do not post until I say otherwise.
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Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 9:37 am
Quote: Shop Rules
Anything you want changed here? It's the stock stuff of no being a whiny b***h, no harassment, be a good customer, etc. Any specifics you guys want enacted here?
Quote: Event Rules
Again, pretty standard. Don't recall the auction rules off the top of my head for items, but I believe it's tektek daily lows. Any specifics you guys want enacted here?
Quote: Custom Rules
Pretty simple, from what I recall, one custom I think every month or two. Any specifics you guys want enacted here?
Quote: Breedings Rules
More complicated here.
Crossbreeding: Does result
Cross-herd-breeding: Allowed
Lifemating: Allowed
Flings: Allowed
Mock-Ups: Allowed
Mixers: Allowed
Number of Times Bred: Unlimited
Number of Foals/Breeding: 1 - 6, depending on parents and dice
Homosexuality: Allowed
Incest: Discouraged, but not outright banned
Any specifics you guys want enacted here?
Quote: RP Rules
Generally not formalized or officiated much.
Breed Abilities: Allowed, within breed limitations
Homosexuality: Allowed
Death and Destruction: Allowed, with consent of all involved
Incest: See Breeding Rules
Religion: Anything the Stars believe is potentially valid
Guild RP: Encouraged, primary form
Thread/Chat/PM RP: Allowed, counts for RP stats only if logged in guild
Any specifics you guys want enacted here?
Quote: Herd Rules
Long as it's got five Stars, including the leader, and is accepted by the Powers That Be, it's a herd.
RP Mandatory: No
Herd Leaders: On elder lineart; no elder magic allowed, unless earned
See RP Rules.
Any specifics you guys want enacted here?
Quote: Elder Rules
Stars who have achieved getting their RP stats to 100% across the board and preferably showing character development and a bit of leadership are eligible for the lineart upgrade.
Only these Stars receive elemental magic based upon their Sign, which is effectively divine-granted magic by a god-type Star who blesses the new elder.
Owners are allowed to choose a Sign for their Star.
We wanted to limit the number of Ophiuchans as opposed to other types, but couldn't work out a satisfactory way to do it.
Any specifics you guys want enacted here?
Quote: Sign/God Rules
Yes. We have them. Deliberately vague and nebulous, but there.
Stars are created as gods. There might be occasion to ascend some worthy Star to godhood, but generally, this won't be the case.
The core pantheon is the 13 Signs, a collective of 14 Stars (Gemini was a double!) that really do exist, at least one or two will be hanging around the other mortal Stars. These 14 are opposed by another evil deity, I think associated with destruction or something, IDK. Gey remembers more of the details about him.
There may be other gods. There's probably at least the 13 of the East Asian Zodiac (Fruits Basket, anyone?), maybe more. What powers they grant is up for grabs; I'll probably angle the East Asian Zodiac closer to the East Asian elemental system of earth (or air, can't remember which), metal, fire, wood, and water.
The Great Star Council was the gods before this; they're now the gods of the ancient ancestors, cuz they decided to pass on the torch to younger, worthy Stars.
How the mythology will be dealt with in the future is up for discussion and suggestion. Gods not run by shop staff will be run by regs via RP contest is the shop inclination. Probably a wise idea to keep 'em rare.
But any type of Zodiacal event...ain't happenin'. Sorry. This is a matter of shop mythology and gods and s**t. Gotta take them more carefully.
Not all constellations, however, will be gods. I still wanna play with the rest of the night sky in future events.
Any specifics you guys want enacted here?
Quote: Metaplot Stuff
SPOILERS IN THIS POST, WE APOLOGIZE FOR INCONVENIENCE.
The original plan was for the shop to have two simultaneous metaplots. One would be the occasional big set piece for the whole shop in the form of the shop/staff-run meta. The other was the ongoing, everybody-run metas known as cross-herd plotting and RP, especially among the leaders.
Where was all of this going? Well...never ever wanted to force the everybody-run meta...but the Signs were going to move down among the other Stars to defend them against this one evil god. Further than that? Buttkiss. Believe me, all the staff was in on this, especially those employed longer than five or six months. I had posts on this up in the staff subforum. Staffers were reading and posting. Probably the only thing that was vague was the villain, who'd be recruiting from among the evil mortal Stars. That was mostly speculative talk that wasn't cemented.
Any specifics you guys want enacted here?
Quote: Other Stuff
We had only sort of discussed familiars, and I lazed out on putting together the item shops. We intended to offer both.
Lots of plans and suggestions can go here.
Any specifics not listed elsewhere you want enacted?
Quote: Suggestions and FormsSo you guys can actively participate. For each section for which you have suggestions, please submit a separate form. All forms can be submitted in the same post, however. [size=18][b][color=green]I Have a Suggestion/Idea![/color][/b][/size]
[b]Name:[/b] Username
[b]Section:[/b] Which post do you want this under?
[b]Suggestion/Idea:[/b] What's your suggestion/idea?
[b]Reasoning and Inspiration:[/b] Why do you want it changed/added? If it's OK, I'm curious where you came up with the idea for the solution, since I'm not everywhere in the B/C! ^^;
The contents of many of these posts have changed based on suggestions that I'll be quoting and adding to this thread. I stand by whatever I said in the bolded dodger blue text. I stand by whatever staffers edited in, too, which wasn't much, but still appreciated.
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Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 9:41 am
Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea! Name: Rune Schulte Section: Shop Rules Suggestion/Idea: I'm just going to copypasta what I said in the main DD thread about some of the rules. Quote: I noticed a lot of people were complaining about how they're afraid to speak their mind for fear of being banned, because of these rules(and having been threatened with banning): Quote: "No begging, whining, or annoyance of any kind.You're wasting your time, and annoying others. Don't complain at all, or act like veruka salt."I want that now daddy!" is not good behavior, no matter how you live." The problem with these two rules is that it's the same rule with harsh tones, and they're completely redundant. Suggestion There's a rule before that that says "Treat people how you want to be treated", that is literally all you have to say about it. Maybe change "No jerks allowed" to "Please be civil", as the former is already a hostile tone and the latter sounds more objective and reinforces the idea that people are welcome. Get rid of the "Don't complain" rules altogether, and instead change the rule before that that says to only PM the mule to say "If you wish to issue a complaint, please PM the mule". Example: Quote: Follow Gaias TOSSimple. No explanation needed. No art thievery or editing of any kind!Edits for signatures and journals allowed if you own the pet in question or have permission from the pet's owner. Treat people how you want to be treated.Please be civil. PM the mule with complaints.Ideally, if you are complaining about someone else you would talk to them first, but you can always PM the mule if you wish to have a third party or mediator. Please do not PM staff. If you don't name and claim your pet within 3 months it can and will be rehomed. Mostly because during the whole blowout it was the way the rules were worded that allowed Aps and Lost to twist it around and prevent the customers from feeling like voicing complaints wouldn't land them on the ban list, which was really the catalyst. Everyone had been holding all of their complaints in for fear of being browbeaten or banned, being threatened with being banned and having their pets rehomed, and when someone finally said something the floodgates opened. That and I feel hostile language in the rules section of a shop to be very off-putting; it feels like the owner doesn't trust their patrons to be decent human beings unless they're explicitly told that behavior that isn't typically endorsed in any situation, isn't going to be tolerated. Feels like they think we're a bunch of immature spoiled kids. Great idea! I'm always open to people making the shop more open and accessible and friendly to people. heart Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea! Name: Rune Schulte Section: Herd Rules Suggestion/Idea: Another suggestion I had in the main thread. Quote: And I think herd activity would be good as well. A herd based event or story line for the herd members, all user run. Not a full shop event, mind you. If a herd says they celebrate the birth of foals or permanent mating rituals, those need to be RPed in the RP subforum with herd members, or else it's just people putting stars in herds for herd benefits(I have seen none of this being done, but you have to acknowledge the possibility of it happening and prevent it) and not doing anything else. How active herd members have to be is entirely up to the herd creators. It was mostly another Aps issue since she had so many that were never set up and used, but I thought that having herd activity would make herds more attractive. There's nothing like going to a herd/pride/clan/tribe subforum and only seeing one or two out of ten threads being active is a bit disheartening. I think encouraging the herd creators to keep their herd thread updated, like when herd members breed make an announcement and show the offspring, show new couples being lifemated, whatever thing is stated to be an important event in the herd being actually kept up with when it happens. Let's give this a whirl. If we pick up an RP manager, we'll see if we can pick someone creative and plot-happy, yis? 8D Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea! Name: Kally Section: Shop rules or RP rules? Not sure. Suggestion/Idea: Allow humans not in the main DD world but in other worlds. Reasoning and Inspiration: Stars come from several different dimensions. Some backgrounds don't make sense without humans. My Shiva, for instance, was a summon. Summons were called by summoners. They were human...Now I'm at a loss for how to portray Shiva. Secondly, somethings in DD don't make sense without humans. We have horses with guns. They can't even pull the trigger. How would they make a gun? Humans had to be involved. Saddles, too. It just doesn't make sense to me. Plus it allows shop goers more freedom when they can have humans in their characters backgrounds. I don't want them in the main DD setting. Just some things don't make sense without them. Hmmm...up for discussion with the managerial type staff. Including an RP manager, if we pick one up. My main stipulation is that I want the Stars to continue living free of possession by humans/humanoids. We can also discuss whether we'll do this Soquili-style (no art), or some other way. All up for discussion. But still a great point to make, and something we never satisfactorily dealt with. Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea! Name: Hoshi Lockhart Section: Herds Suggestion/Idea: Herd subforums or a separate RP guild, which I know you were in the process of doing. Reasoning and Inspiration: It's easier. It's organized. I hate having all those RPs jumbled together like that and everything in a single herd thread. SoA is a good example. They have separate threads for joining, pride information, and sometimes things like a sticky for looking for a mate. Some have a meta watch. Etc. It keeps things organized and less messy. It also makes doing herd metas easier when we can put a big ORP in the herd sub and have it visible by everyone for a long time. It helps us to know which prides in SoA are having metas by just looking in one and seeing the ORP tag. And, in response to Rune's breeding announcements for herds, that's another reason separete subs make this easier. Some pride's have you announce breedings, but since DD is smaller, the herd owner(s) could do it. Something we wanted to deal with, but never completely got around to. I'm actually increasingly in favor of this, so I plan to at least give all active herds their own subforums. Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea! Name: Hoshi Lockhart Section: Elder Suggestion/Idea: Maybe a few Elder upgrade events only in the case of the Ophiuchans? Reasoning and Inspiration: Kind of like Soq has it for Elders in general. That would cut down on the 13th sign to exactly how many a year you want or in comparison to how many other Elders there are. Have people answer questions to make sure their Star truly represents what Ophiuchan is about. It would also be nice if a Star wasn't touched at all unless they posted in the conversion thread. Like I don't like having the art before I'm ready to play the stage. Such in the case of Nyomi. She was nearing 2-3 months left, but she has so much more to go through before I consider playing her as something that's supposed to represent wisdom and leadership. I was really tempted to do this in the beginning. But back then, we didn't have the customer base or any Stars ready to upgrade like that. Now that we do, we will definitely implement these suggestions, too.
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Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 9:44 am
Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea! Name: Rune Schulte Section: Metaplot Stuff Suggestion/Idea: While I love the tried and true war versus good and evil I think there's more layers we could add to it other than "There's an evil god that shows up and recruits stars to take over the world", which seems to be as far as the thought has gotten. I don't know how you planned to do the meta-plot(one big event that lasts for a while or not) but I think it would be neat to give it a slow build over a period of time(how much time I don't know). Depending on how the evil god is played they could descend to the world of the mortal stars and begin recruiting himself, or have his very own envoy and ambassador/recruiter do it for him. That way there could be a character that can enter into several RPs that can get the word out ICly and raise suspicion among the more righteous and watchful stars. Perhaps random acts of marauding violence begin to happen more and more as a result of the recruiting and that's what causes the other gods to come down and investigate. Perhaps there's a plague that begins to come across the land that kills the vegetation and morphs the land, further heralding and setting the mood for the brewing evil; could be a result of the god just being around and their aura changing everything or the god could have a 'plague agent' with their own small band whose goal is to make sick the land of their enemy to weaken their forces. A slow build like this gives opportunities for mini-events that could be had, introducing new stars into the shop. Marauder Events could be "flash" events, where 2-4 stars are raffled off over a short period of time or the RNG game is used, and in response another flash event could occur sometime later with 2-4 stars defending against a marauding band, and another mixed flash event with a 'battle' where it's a mix of the marauder stars and defending stars. This is mostly to get fresh and new bloodlines into the shop and to hopefully generate more outside interest. Maybe a marauder could be a 'plague bearer' from the plague agents and take death in the form of disease with them. That way stars that aren't fighters but healers have things to do during the event; fighting off a plague could be the first wave in the battle. Reasoning and Inspiration: I love role playing war. Unfortunately most of the time it's very one dimensional when it's being played out, there's the good guys versus the bad guys and they only meet on the battle field and that's where everything is won, but war can be so much more interesting and appropriately dark than that. Sometimes it's a sudden thing triggered by a singular event, but there's more sneaky and subtle ways to start a war before the enemy realizes they've been under attack. OMG, I seriously love you and what you said. This is absolutely great stuff. I love thiiisss sooo haaarrrd. Gonna adopt it. But this stuff will probably not supplant herd metas. heart Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea! Name: Nikkichomp Section: Other stuff? (I guess) Suggestion/Idea: I think we should keep a suggestions thread in the guild Reasoning and Inspiration: It keeps drama out of the main thread, but still lets people be heard. A huge problem that we all had individually was not being able to voice our opinions under Aps, and none of us knew the others felt that way because there was nowhere to talk about the issues - any discontent was quickly squashed. Having a suggestion thread will also allow issues to be headed off before they blow up. I've heard there's one in Soquili and that it gets ugly but that it also always ends up resolved, and they've managed to stay open for *so* many years! I have already established that this will be a thing in DD, and will STAY as much like this right now as possible. heart Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea! Name: Nikkichomp Section: Shop Rules? Suggestion/Idea: I think that staff should all discuss changes/updates/etc and be aware of what's going on before the news is dropped on the main thread. Similarly, I think that most shop changes and updates should go on behind the scenes and be announced to the public once they're ready to be implemented. Reasoning and Inspiration: We suddenly and unexpectedly went on a "semi-hiatus" due to "things needing to be done really badly" and the only info we really got on what needed to happen was template cleanup. It was unfair to customers to feel the shop was falling apart, and it was unfair to those of us who were staff and planning events and were completely blindsided by the whole thing. I would have been willing to set aside other projects and focus on the templates and could have had them done in a month or two, max, while other events went on in the meantime and customers still had an active shop to hang out in. I probably still have a few of the updates that I did if they're not in the dropbox files that Heart has. Or, I can re-update them wink EDIT: Obvs, that is what is happening here - a discussion etc. The point is just that I really hope it continues and that the shop won't have to close again if staff has work to do. It'd be awesome if there were some guidelines for how situations like template edits will work (e.g. 1 month of edit work alternated with 1 month event work) Great issues to bring up. This thread will continue even after we reopen. I promise. Gey and Ripple, two of the stronger voices on DD staff in this guild since closing will actually be brought to greater responsibilities, and we'll try to work out how to do things. I know there's been suggestions for both staff and shop chat. Both are good ideas. Sure. Once we're ready, we'll work out how to set those up so we can do that.
To be honest, we were ALWAYS updating and tweaking these things before. We're not the only shop like that out there. A significant proportion of the changes that I *personally* knew were coming as of early March should NOT have been enough to shut down the shop. Rip had been regularly cleaning templates. IDK why it was felt that template work meant the shop had to close. Not unless the whole lot was being replaced or redone or something, which I had no knowledge of, let alone had NEVER given permission for. I, elfstar89, am still the sole owner of the lineart. I do not know what sort of work was being done, so the previous sentence is pure speculation.
Personally, I tried not to bring things out of the woodwork unless it was either complete, or directly and immediately affected the customers. The metaplot? Not completely planned, and not in the offing to happen for several months; I had only generally worked a few bits out, and shared them in the staff subforum. Events? Released only when we had enough work done to open, though freebies and one auction and some raffle pets could be late. All flaffles but one could be late. But we had to have some of each done first, so I could make the graphics, do set up, and open and run things. I did almost all of that work when I was present.
As for future work schedules? Up for debate. We won't ever close, unless I personally deem it necessary to do some kind of total overhaul with the lines and templates; even then, I probably wouldn't entirely close. That's not fair to anybody. Discussion would be open first to staff, and if deemed necessary, we'd instate a partial closure in the form of fewer pets being homed. Further than that, I'm so far keeping things open. I'll work out a list of things we'll need done when I can. It may very likely include a fair bit of art. Even after we reopen, this will be an ongoing thing, as we deem necessary and have the time and energy to do so. Some ongoing stuff has already begun to be implemented by the following people:
Map of the world and lands of DD: Someone on staff, probably
Familiars: Sketches by Ice_Dragon_Demon, VG Cat; templates by elfstar89, Heavenly Snow
The familiars thing could go on for ages. I don't feel like making people wait that long, and, really, it's not crucial. Plus, familiars tend to be quicker than an entire Star. If anything, the drop-offs of customs and event pets involving familiars can be slowed down for brand new templates; that's fine, we'll just warn all participants. I did that when I was leading the effort to start templating stock edits a little over a year ago during the Spring Breeding Bonanza, and not only did we get a lot of work done, people were very understanding. It may be inefficient, but, hell, I told people this was going to be slow and involve templating, even as I did honest coloring work. AND IT WORKED. At the very least, that system will be employed again. Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea! Name: Ice_Dragon_Demon Section: Other things Suggestion/Idea: Mini shop subforum a place where some of the talent regulars can work like maging graphics for RP tags and doing fan art of the stars or making pets <3 Reasoning and Inspiration: Soquili I really love that idea it's a place to get art and continue building a good community <3 I really loved that Idea. And again though it's something to run through when a lot of the world building is done(I know we already talked bout dis but I want to post it for everyone) We had talked about doing this before. I like that particular structure in Soquili. Quite a bit, really, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. It's just that, among other things, I lazed out, got busy, etc. So it never got done. Depression didn't help, and with other things piling up, it kinda got buried under other stuff. When we rebuild, yes, this WILL be a part of the guild, and we will pick up either our promising trainee colorists, or dedicated regs, or both, to staff the shops in the section that involve the usage of official shop templates. Art shops dedicated to the shop? Sure, long as we work out a way to make sure the art shops aren't abused.... Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea! Name: Violoncella Section: Probably 'Roleplay Rules'? Suggestion/Idea: Technological specifications, por favor! Stars have ribbons and bows, stitched clothing, guns and other weapons; they live in caves or forests or thatched together homes so I must know -- what is the overall technological era that the Stars have fallen into? And how do they manage things they do not have the means (or thumbs) for? It's more of a question at this point, but I do have some suggestions of my own! There is the possibility that the more 'human-required' actions that Stars seem to be able to do (sewing, braiding, and other crafts that require thumbs - or at least hands) are handled by Elders. As much as it sounds strange in our world to have the more powerful beings doing mundane things like making clothes or braiding or making machinery or building homes, but because of the inability of the rest to manage such tasks, the talents would be revered. I dun'no, either way I agree with Kally that there's a need for, not necessarily humans, but some being with the power to do things that would otherwise require thumbs. Px As for the timezone, I wonder if there would be the possibility of them being able to hold onto material things of the life they lived previously (as seems to be the typical story of cosplays and such), but are transported to a world without the same luxuries as their initial one, a world that has only a low level of technology. I... hope that made all sense. Reasoning and Inspiration: Because it gets confusing sometimes, trying to figure out what to do with the horses that have clothing or this or that, especially if, say, a ribbon is pulled out of one's hair -- how do they braid it back up? D8 It makes me think that they should all just have invisible arms that come out of their backs like in Elfen Lied; simple, weird, magical solution. I can see that this is going to be part of an ongoing discussion this summer, so I'll try to set something up for that soon. I'm not sure what the technological era the Stars are currently living in is, but probably somewhere around Renaissance/Age of Gunpowder tech levels, at the highest. IDK. Dreamspace, where possible, I'd like to keep as a blank canvas that is open for RPers to work with and play around with. But we WILL work out some way to explain a lot of the hair, clothing, armor, and the weapon edits that Stars have.
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Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 9:49 am
Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea! Name: Violoncella Section: Herd Rules Suggestion/Idea: I know that the herds won't be roleplay mandatory, but I'm wondering about the incentives? The bonus to breedings, the herd familiar, stuff like that? Because from what I've gathered, a majority of us have had problems with people joining herds just for the sake of extra foals during breedings or the like. I don't think that they should be large requirements, just simple ones -- like having a particular roleplay to find/purchase/be given their familiar if they want to get a familiar (which, I imagine with the roleplay requirement, would be free), or having to participate in a herd ORP to gain the breeding benefits, even if they only make a few posts. Reasoning and Inspiration: orz I'm very accustomed to roleplay required shops, and I personally dislike when joining something is used only for the benefits of it, that everyone is given, regardless of how much they participate. P: Rewarding activity instead of copy-pasting ability, know what I mean? Discussed and laaargely worked out. Adopting those RP suggestions as requirements for foals and familiars. Individual herds may work out other stuff as it appeals to them, for example, something for lifemating rituals and suchlike. Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea!Name: Teh Roarie Section: Rules - In general Suggestion/Idea: All rules out in the open for everyone to see. No 'hidden' or 'unsaid' rules. Reasoning and Inspiration: There were a few different times where I saw this problem come up in DD and I've seen more than one rant over it. I guess the incest 'rule' was never written down and neither was the rule that colorist must always use the mule for dropoffs. My suggestion is that all rules, and I do mean all of them, whether they pertain to a customer or an employee be right there on the front page of thread or in a public thread in the guild. I say this because I've noticed over the years that even if an employee doesn't catch something, a regular who knows the rules might and then come to someone who can fix it. Regulars make great little 'police' if you will and if we trust them to help they feel more entwined in the shop and less inclined to leave. The rules that were set in stone were written down explicitly somewhere public, which I intend to keep going. Rules that either were not written in stone (like the incest rule), or were not run by me or any other involved staff (the entire Alcor status can be contracted through biting) were NOT official shop rules, which is why they weren't written down. The dropoff mule usage was an example of staff rules I should've policed and enforced better; staff rules were written down more privately, but those with repercussions that filter down to the regs should be more strongly enforced. We're going to work on that this time around.
I fully agree that rules should be posted publicly, especially as they pertain to everybody. Some of the staff rules, however, cover breeding rules, payment of staff, and the usage of shop mules. Well, actually, that constitutes almost all rules I actually had and enforced at all. I'm not entirely sure which staff rules you wanted written down somewhere noticeable, or how badly the staff-specific rules need to be posted publicly (except for the bit about the dropoff mule), but I can clarify during rebuilding that breeding results are to be rolled (# of foals, gender distribution, breed distribution, mutation distribution, and Alcor distribution), and that these rolls absolutely have to conform to the form filled out and won by any given breeding pair; I can also clarify that the dropoff mule is absolutely required for dropoffs, that both mules are free access within reason, and give some sense of the pay scale and stuff (though I'm not sure if the payment stuff's needed on a regular basis that badly by the regs...). Payment will ALWAYS be specified in hiring threads. Absolutely. Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea!Name: Teh Roarie Section: Herds Suggestion/Idea: Leadership Reasoning and Inspiration: I understand that a pet owner having multiple herds will happen. I also understand we all have lives. This issue came up with Aps. She had several herds and no time for any of them. Most/All were unfinished and poorly fleshed out with lots of misunderstandings. There need to ways to get around this is someone needs to go AWOL. Herd mules so other herd members can edit, embellish and flesh out things and ways to remove a herd leader if things don't go as planned. A way to replace the old herd leader with a new one if this herd is wanted to stay to together. I mentioned in the suggestion thread in the old guild that I liked the way SoAs prides were set up with ways to disband them if need be and/or put new blood into leadership with the old needed to be changed. I keep hearing about the amazing-ness of SoA's pride system, and I know that DD's herds were originally supposed to be based on the SoA system. However, I will admit that I'm not in SoA, not particularly interested in getting into a new shop that I'm concerned I won't pay enough attention to (feelings of guilt, please, go away...). Getting DD's herds back closer to the SoA system than it is now (which is probably more reminiscent of the Soq system, which I've mostly only glanced over up to now), yes, I'm cool with that.
Something that is a bit of a rule of thumb I've worked a bit with is the idea that, if an owner leaves/is absent/will be absent for a long period of time, and other Stars in the herd will be the same, then the herd may be handed over to the most active player of an heir to the leadership position, an IC explanation needs to be put up, inactive Stars will be officially listed as MIA, presumed dead or lost, and any restructuring may occur. That's what happened when moineau bavarde (kit), who ran the Shadow, and a number of other people decided to not come back when the shop revived the first time. kit gave me leadership of the Shadow, most of the Stars were listed as MIA, presumed dead, it was written off as the Sunflare, enemies of the Shadow, had launched some kind of successful attack, and I did restructuring that reflected a regime change.
However, this is one example to a solution. Gey has become my second-in-command, both in the Shadow, and the Sunflare, but the Sunflare has a lot of inactive Stars (at least a few of which were Aps' and will be rehomed, many of which are either unplotted, or belong to inactive or low-activity RPers). I'd really like to start trimming the fat there, I need to get back into the groove of the Shadow, I need to totally rebuild the monster hunter herd under Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing (who WAS the other leader), and I need to run some kind of recruiting drive for the Order of the Tree, so I'm not doing all the stuff in there all by myself. @_______________________@
I agree, it's just...I'm unfamiliar with SoA. I'm not involved, last I checked, the guild is only open to members, so I will need crib notes on how the pride system over there works. xp Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea! Name: Ice_Dragon_Demon Section: Breeding/Other(Mostly dealing with Alcor rarity) Suggestion/Idea: Possibly a Rarity type breeding slots for say those rarest breeds such as Alcor, perhaps to stop them from multiplying so quickly and return them to being one of the rarest things in the shop. This way it doesn't punish those who RP a lot for babies. Another Idea is to possibly revise the Alcor roll make the chance of getting one when breeding with a non much smaller again making them much rarer, and ever generation making it a lot harder if breeding with another Non-Alcor if the gene is there. A thing was suggested about Removing all of Aps's alcor sets and making out own collectively, So having to replace the Dragons(with another name of dragon alcor or remove them completely since solara are already large dragon type starborn who look like dragons) Wildkin(Rename mostly since they are just natural cat alcor) and Kalibyn with another set. A different type that Gains an extra form when they reach true elder like a complex alcor perk. So all the Kali's in existence will have one form until reaching elderhood(TRUE) then gain another. Give those with Kali's also a chance to switch alcor type as well when this happens if it fits their characters better? The Event alcors from Halloween, you mentioned the purification since technically that event shouldn't have even happened and was only meant to turn Lore into an alcor cause the rest of his family was. Ripple said something about the creature being just that a creature from another dimension or something that sort of needs to be explained a bit more, for purposes of RP and plots ongoing since it wasn't really explained. Customing... Alcors are supposed to be the rarest thing in the shop even above the solara. The selkie are sadly mostly forgotten something perhaps to get their population up a bit while keeping them still rare? like super rare custom slots or something and having the other quite large population not able to be customed except perhaps for high high bribes? edit: I had another possibility have breedings or something as well but with no passability of the Alcor gene for a while? Reasoning and Inspiration: because there are too many Wolf/Kalibyn and Sirdon floating around when they are supposed to be the rarest in the shop. We were discussing this all in the chat as well, so I decided to post this for remembrance. More discussion has gone on since, and we're now experimenting with other options, but still, thank you so much for posting this! heart Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea! Name: Hoshi Lockhart Section: Herds Suggestion/Idea: To keep the number of inactive herds down, include a section on the form for submitting RPs to prove the owner(s) will be dedicated and interested in their herd for more than just the baby bonus. Require people to have the majority of the herd's info filled in. Because things like herds should be earned through hard work. And DD is not like most animal shops. More work is put into it than your average sig candy shop and I feel it should reflect this with more RP encouragement. Reasoning and Inspiration: SoA requires a min of five RPs, don't have to be completed, per pride to qualify to make it official. A pride is disbanded if the owner's are inactive for too long, as had happen just last week. The owner's of U'W weren't active for 8 months and the staff disbanded it. And, yeah. Aps and her many herds, again. I'd be willing to experiment with that, too. ^^ I've always heard good things about the SoA pride system, but haven't been in a position to study them. Please, tell me more in the suggestions, so we can pattern them closely after the famed SoA prides! heart It shouldn't go over badly. Majority of us making herds already RP lots. I don't want to see another DD where information is half finished and/or confusing after making it official. Like I said, DD doesn't seem like it should be treated as your typical sig candy place. You've worked hard to give it a story and it should reflect this at the most that it can manage without keeping sig candy people totally left out. I like the idea of making the herd baby bonus a reward for RP. SoA's also on private, so you can go in and poke around for yourself if you want a first hand look. <3 SoA has a thread somewhere for posting prides to be made official. Before that, they're in the plot sub as I/Ts. They include complete history, ranks, rituals, and customs. Sikukuu is the one I was a part of and what they have listed is actually half as much as the more detailed prides include. Sikukuu also has the form down at the bottom if you want to see it. You'll notice they require you to tell them about the pride. Along with the background, symbol, and where it's located on the map. You need five current RPs with members which will be moved to the pride's sub once it's official.  If you want to see the cert, too. Vuli Clan at the bottom is something exclusive to Sikukuu. It means autumn clan. Some prides have an extra section under name for pride name, like the Gypsy or Demon pride. I think Sniper's sister runs the Gypsy pride. She'd be better for a SoA tour if she wasn't so busy. Anyways, I think that's the basic of it? If you want more on prides, I'll include it. There's a few other things I really like that they do. Such as the pride events. Sometimes colorists will open customs at a discount? for people to enter to get a group of SoA to host a contest. Entrants provide a theme per SoA and the colorist gets free reign to design something. Good for holding metas if you're missing some of the characters required. Some metas have a RP min you need to meet or the SoA you won will be rehomed, so that stops on people taking and using for sig candy. They also have a RP purge thread, which is more intended for those prides with unique lineart. Which DD obviously can't offer, but the idea of having to post a certain amount of RPs by the pride/herd owners a month is a good way to ensure herds are active and not just being used for the baby bonus. So we don't have more cases of Aps. There's also how, to get the pride cert, you need a completed RP in the pride to prove the SoA did join it. I feel like I mentioned that already, though. A new thing with that and litters, however, is the cubs are automatically a part of the mother's pride. Or rogue, if she has none. For cubs to follow the father, they need a joining RP. Can't think of anything else...Feel free to poke me if there's something you want more info on? SoA does have a nice way of doing things for RP animal shops. <3 I'm very much seeing why the SoA pride system is so respected. owo I'll certainly start experimenting with this. heart
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Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 9:56 am
Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea! Name: Hoshi Lockhart Section: Cosplays? Suggestion/Idea: Cosplay list. Unless you had one, 'cause I can't remember. As much as I studied DD, I still found it hard to name all the cosplays. Would help against duplicates. Also, since you're allowing one cosplay quest at a time, make them reservable? Unless you already did. Also can't remember... Reasoning and Inspiration: It's always nice to know who is already here. 'Specially for newbies. DD grows quickly and seems to be in the position to continue like the big cheese shops for many years. One was prepped...and never used. Possibly by Aps. For some obscure, stupid reason, it was in the staff subforum. I think we were vaguely thinking we should do one when I was present. And...either I'm DERP...or I don't remember ever putting in/agreeing to a rule about one cosplay quest at a time. Possibly cuz that aggravates me, personally, possibly cuz Aps didn't want regs taking too many cosplays she wanted. Ice did, if that was a rule, flagrantly avoid it, and we did the same for events, but I'm not punishing anyone.Ripple Edit: I made the list but it was just before things exploded and didn't have the time to compile and finish it. I started it as it was needed, ViVi was bribed with a number of cosplays that he was unsure existed or not, or if people at the time where questing, I highly recommend and encourage a new list made and finished when time permits. Elf did not bring in the rule about one cosplay at a time Aps did, though I do understand it's need to encourage people to pick one and their favourite one to quest to avoid others from getting it. This cuts down the amount of "Hurt" feelings and people questing up 20 Cosplays and them essentially being dibs away from others. In regards to MLP and transformers especially people where putting in custom forms of 3-4 different cosplays over a few months which discouraged people from trying themselfs. It left an iffy area where people were unsure what they could custom without stepping on others toes or hurting feelings. :3 Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea! Name: Nikkichomp Section: Shop Rules Suggestion/Idea: Guidelines for how frequently common/uncommon/rare breeds can be used Reasoning and Inspiration: Rare things will stay rare, and be more exciting when they come around! I Have a Suggestion/Idea! Name: Nikkichomp Section: ???? Suggestion/Idea: Pre-foal stage Reasoning and Inspiration: Cause why not?! Also a lot of shops have them and I think they're nice. We discussed in AIM the trinkets, also shooting stars. Quote: I Have a Suggestion/Idea!Name: Nikkichomp Section: Breeding rules? Suggestion/Idea: I think there should be a thread for owners to post if they feel their breeding is not up to snuff for some reason (not enough edits, badly colored, etc), so that staff can see and decide if the colorist has something to fix. Reasoning and Inspiration: Maybe I just want it for myself or other new colorists, but I think it'd be nice to have a forum for people to raise their hands and say "Hey I think this wasn't done right". There a lot of times under Aps (and granted, it was under Aps) that people were unhappy but didn't have room to speak up. I also did a couple of breedings that she happened to be a parent in and apparently I wasn't following the breedings edit rule (that I had been unaware of...probaly my fault, and another story) but instead of there being a "Hey FYI plz fix this" conversation, I got my a** chewed out for something I wasn't aware was even a problem. Long story short, I think it'd be nice for the customers to be able to let us know when they feel shorted, but where staff ultimately decides if the colorist pulled their weight or not. Obviously, I haven't responded to the last three posts. I will respond to them here. But they're all good discussion points. EVERYONE has brought up good topics. Some of these were also offered up to Aps...who gave you guys the worst reaction possible, by choosing to take your suggestions as attacks on your characters (and mine and others, too, really), even after setting up such a thread at your request.
GUESS WHAT. THAT s**t DON'T FLY WITH ME. SO IFF'N YOU GOT A GRIPE WITH US, POST IT HERE, AND WE'LL RESPOND LIKE CIVILIZED HUMAN BEINGS. SRSLY. xd
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Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 9:57 am
This is officially reopened to the DD public as soon as I change the title. ^^;
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