Welcome to Gaia! ::

All right kiddies, it's time to lay some things on the table. As big as these changes are, we at least owe you the answer as to why we are making such big changes to our game. The general premise for these changes ultimately lie in the feelings of us hosts. As hosts, it is our duty to put our guests before anything else. We understand that, and we often times have to sacrifice our own wants and needs to do that. But it's slowly beginning to wear us out and quite honestly, stress us out.

These new changes we are implementing will be more strict, and stronger requirements will be put in place. The deeper reasoning for why will be explained for each change. So please read everything carefully. Thank you.



This will be our biggest change. We all love our little home in the Friends Chat forum, but if these changes are going to be put into place... we are no longer just a Friends Chat. We will be moving to Barton Town, the actual roleplay forum on Gaia.

Our Friends Chat will become strictly OOC. Some of us may still act in-character, but this will ultimately be a place for us to chat realistically speaking, and get to know the people behind the avatars.

Profiles

You know how Kyouya has that little black notebook that has all the information, on everyone and everything? Well, it's canon. Profiles will become a requirement and they will be going through an approval process. All current profiles will unfortunately have to go through the same process to keep things fair, and some things will be changed and added to the profile template to ensure we have the necessary information.

There should be no reason why Kyouya wouldn't have your information if you are a student. Even if you're some secret agent from an alternate universe, there's absolutely no way a school like Ouran would simply let a blank slate past its walls.

The approval process is so we can clear up any potential problems before they arise.

Also, you all already know about the hosts, so why shouldn't we ask the same of the guests?

Your hosts will moderate character applications. At the moment, the hosts in charge of applications are Tamaki and Shiny. Please do not submit an application until the new form is up and they tell you that they are available for applications. The new form will be up within the next few days.

Additionally, there will be no more rebooting of characters. It causes too much disruption in the game's history. If you are unhappy with how a character is working for you, your choices are to either work through it, or drop the character. It is not fair to the rest of the players to ask them to forget everything they knew about your character.

Rules

This is HUGE. Big. Big. Big.

While additional rules are still under discussion, some of the new rules that will come into effect are...

You must post something people can react to. If someone asks you how your day was, do you just say "It was good." and leave it at that? No. Not only are you leaving your RP partner(s) with nothing to work with, but you're being incredibly rude to them by doing so. If you want to interact with the hosts or other guests, you need to put just as much effort into doing so as you would in a real life conversation.

If you enter without saying hello and go sit in a corner alone, then you're going to be ignored. Simple as that.

Post formats must be limited. Everyone is pretty good about this one already, but we're not certain what to expect in Barton. Fonts must not be any smaller then size 11. Your text must be a color that doesn't completely blind us. And no images larger then 100x100 pixels, please. All that other fancy stuff? Keep it in a spoiler tag if you absolutely must have it. We have hosts and guests that use mobile devices on occasion and all the extra stuff kills us. In a nutshell: if the content of your post is smaller than the format, your format's too big.

Wait your turn -- and get involved. If a player -- whether that's a host or a guest -- is speaking with several people at once, please do not subdivide that player's attention further by posting solely to that player. Consider the concept of the hosting table as a model, and join the others at that table. Work yourself into the group conversation, and post in turn with the other players in that conversation.

If you really must have an exclusive one-on-one conversation with a host, please use the Mind Theater or Music Room Three, where the hosts can give you their undivided attention at a more leisurely pace.

Other Changes

Guest limit for each host. Each host will personally determine how many guests they can handle at once and then no longer take any more guests.

This can no longer be avoided. It has been proven time and time again in the thread that people will not play in thread unless a host is there. You know what? This is fine. That's what we're here for. But when a thread is empty all day and not five minutes after one host makes an entrance post--- four or five guests come out of nowhere and swamp that one poor host, this is not okay. This is stressful. This is beyond stressful. We like guests who join the thread even when we're not around, that enjoy interacting with the other guests.

So, no, your favorite host is not always going to be available to you now. Does this mean you shouldn't come in the thread though? Absolutely not. Please interact with the other hosts who might have open spots, or even the other guests. Everyone loves attention.

"Every time I come to the thread, _______ isn't available/is full!"

We are in the process of developing a designation system to ensure you a spot with a certain host. Please be patient. Until it is in place, please use Music Room Three to request a particular host if you want one-on-one time.

HINT: If you're in the thread before a host joins, they are more likely to come to you with one of those open slots when they join the thread.

Meeting Days. Ultimately, meeting days are days where the hosts are free from hosting and free to interact with whomever they please. We, as hosts, need this. We very rarely ever get to interact with one another, and that's definitely not canon. The whole show is based on the group and their friendships through-out the series. There is no reason why we shouldn't be allowed a day or two to interact among each other.

No, we aren't banning you from the thread on these days. But we're also not going to go out of our way to host you and we expect that you will let us have these days in peace to play with each other. Consider this a good time to get to know the other players as well as the hosts.

Chatroom Events This is something we are still discussing. We are considering taking advantage of Gaia's private towns/chat feature for quick roleplays on occasion.

The Joint Club Account The creation of the new thread and any future threads, and future donations to the club accounts will be assigned to the host club's mule account. This account will provide the hosts a means to change the thread title, add or delete polls, and change the first page without relying on Kyouya to do all the work. The account is still under construction. We will inform you of its name when it is ready.

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These are the biggest changes. Some other things might be undergoing changes as well. If you have any questions or concerns, please post them here, and we will clarify things to the best of our abilities.

First off, I absolutely love this idea and support it completely.
My only concern is the private towns/chat thing. As someone who only has access through a mobile device, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. We wouldn't be able to participate in those events.

Thank you for the support~! ^^

Naturally we can never have an event that everyone can make it to, and the private chats aren't excluded from that. I should clarify that when I said "event" I didn't mean our cosplay/trips/etc, just little hour mini RP's on occasion. It's more so like an extra/new thing, and in no way will take time from our usual RP'ing in the thread.

Again, it's still being discussed though and we're trying to decide on things that will work best for everyone.



Thanks for moving your questions in thread. c:

The new profile templates will be out soon and you can determine what information you'd still like to use and what you'd like to get rid of. I think a lot of your questions will be answered once we get the new template up and explained.

And the move does not have a set date as we are still in the midst of preparing information and for the move itself. We will keep you updated. ^^

I like the changes! I only hope I fit into all of them correctly and not give any problems to others. sweatdrop Also, what's exactly a profile? I'm thinking of my basic Gaia one which is essentially just me... Is it something I must submit to play the character of me? I can do that! I want to be clear in what I need to do to be of help.

Since meeting days are intended to increase guest-to-guest interaction (something I am completely in support of), I wonder how you guys will handle dealing with the few people who come only for the hosts. Do you guys have any other plans to help encourage guest-to-guest interaction on non-meeting days besides a person limit for each host?

So, for those days, only hosts will be allowed to post in the thread, correct? For some reason, there's still something about that system that I don't understand.

Aaah, I see! I interact with guests pretty regularly, so I feel a little better now. Thank you!