Mod post

[taxonmods]

Hey, Taxon,

First off, our biiiig modly apologies for the lack of clear mod communication from us on the end of the plot there. We had some mixed communication going on our end, but we hope that we learned from it and that we can improve in the future to make player-run plots go more smoothly. Sofie and I have both been a) really busy and b) wrestling with some personal frustrations, which is by no means an excuse-- life happens, and we have to be able to still give you guys consistent mod direction even when it does, because you guys deserve that (you really do, you're lovely players, all of you)-- and we can only try and do better in the future, and hope that you'll stick with us. While we know it did not end as smoothly and neatly as we would have hoped, we do thank Jess for running it, especially with her demanding work schedule, and we hope that everyone had as much fun with wacky candy shenanigans as we did.

That said, we're going to get back on track for the body-changes plot as was discussed in our last huge plot-shindig-talking. If you need the refresher on that, it's here. We'll put up an in-game post soon describing what happens, but the cliff's notes is that characters will basically all black out, and then wake up in their beds (even if they weren't in bed the last time they recalled). And the subtle differences can start being noticed.

Feel free to discuss, ask questions, list complaints, or... the usual.

-dien and sofie

Comments

[genequeen]

Thanks Dien.

Let me know if I can help at all.

[taxonmods]

Thank you Kat, you're a trooper. <3

[untoldtale]

Thank you guys for checking in, it's appreciated. Life happens, we're just going to pick up and keep going from here, it'll be fine.

That said...bear with me for a little critique, Monday-morning armchair quarterbacking, whatever you want to call it ("flagrant hypocrisy" works too because lol my history with pulling off plots is the opposite of stellar). Below is all that was stated publicly about the mechanics of the candy event. It was in the middle of the huge plot-shindig-talking-post on August 8, between two slices of metaplot:

And they'll kick off a back-burner scenario they've had of Taxon as, essentially, a 1980s morning cartoon with a candy theme. Taxon Candy Mountain. Peppermint People. Gumdrop cars.

Which is good for a teaser, gets people interested and ready for a details-filled plotting post. Except we didn't get that plotting post, we didn't know going in that characters would literally be turning into candy, we didn't know there would be impending doom that the squabbling citizens would have to band together to avert.

(And yes I know the literal candy-people thing is my particular issue but I went in expecting Strawberry Shortcake or Rainbow Brite - some ridiculous theme costuming, some silly candy-related superpowers, and maybe annoying but adorable animal companions - and instead got what was for me unplayable bodyhorror with no option but to sit it out.)

My main issue with this is it looks like some people *were* prepared, they knew what was going on and had worked out their plans ahead of time. RP is supposed to be spontaneous, yes, and there do need to be some surprises, but this was like showing up to drama class to find out half the cast was in costume and ready to go for opening night while the other half hadn't seen the script yet. I just want to reiterate the importance of OOC communication for future plots, I know there aren't many of us but it's still true that the wider the information net is cast the more of us you'll catch and the more fun we can all have together.

That aside: Jess, please please do NOT be discouraged! This was a great idea and people DID have fun with it, so take it for the learning experience you said it was and your next plot will be fantastic. Thank you for the work you put in, I'll be jumping in with both feet next time ♥

All right, I'm rested, ready to go, and it's my fourth Taxiversary today. Let's do that voodoo that we do so well~

[dien]

Life does happen. I wish it didn't. T____T But thank you for offering critique, and here's hoping we can all jump back into the swing of things.

Regarding the candy glitch and your specific concerns: I agree that, in hindsight, a clearer OOC communications post about what the glitch would entail should have gone up. Without trying to sound as though I am speaking for Jess, I think that she (and I) assumed that everyone DID have an idea of what it would entail, and, obviously, that was not universal. So we formed a misassumption due to the amount of talk that was happening in the OOC chat about the plot that we were all equally on board with it, and that assumption was incorrect-- but also wouldn't have resulted at all if we'd had a clearer OOC discussion, in the official OOC community, ahead of time.

So! We learned. It'll be an informal rule from now on that any plot/glitches, whether player-run or GM-run, need a post in the OOC comm specifically, just to make sure that everyone sees it, and so it's not as dependent on the vagaries of the chat room.

Thanks always for your feedback, Keri. And Happy Taxiversary!