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Ruby City Mods ([personal profile] rubycitymods) wrote in [community profile] rubycity_ooc2017-03-05 03:44 pm
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March Updates: A Mini-FAQ!

We've changed a fair number of things in this update, so here's a digest for players' information!



What pages have been changed in this round of updates?

In a brief overview, here's what's changed!

How has the Navigation Page been changed?

The Navigation Page has been slightly reorganized in order to make it easier to use for moderators, current players, and potential new players trying to figure out what the game is about! We have a Getting Started section (a reference section for new players and new characters), Gameplay (for current players), and an Out of Character section (for any out of character concerns).

Additionally, as there were several pages linked from the previous navigation page that were duplicates or redundant, we have streamlined the links a bit.
  • We have removed the Wall of Remembrance and Getting Started pages. As you'll note on the new Navigation Page, we are working on an in-character Getting Started page, which will be a physical brochure found at the train station and which (we hope) will be more useful and interactive to players. More information on this as we work on it further!

  • The State of the City Suggestions page has been removed; instead, we will put a toplevel up on future State of the City posts where players can put IC news they would like included on the next month's State of the City.

  • We have removed the Mailbox from the navigation page, but it is still an IC function. It will be linked from the State of the City in the future, and we will be working to find a way to make it a more active part of the game.

  • Since the Suggestions and Issues & Concerns pages served essentially the same function, we have merged them into one page. The new Suggestions & Concerns page now serves as your point of contact with mods for all game feedback, concerns, or suggestions.

  • We have removed the Permissions page entirely, since players are now linking their permissions from the Player Contact page.

  • The NPC Contact Page and NPC PBs Page has been merged into the NPCs Profiles page, so all NPC information is in one spot.

How has the Emporium Page been changed?

We have seen a big increase in players using the Emporium lately, which we're thrilled about! To make y'all's lives easier, we've clarified the Emporium guidelines a little bit. Specifically, we have divided Emporium requests into three categories to make it clearer which requests are automatically approved and which are up to mod discretion. We also have a category of prohibited requests, that is, items that will not show up in the Emporium at all. Although all Emporium items are ultimately up to mod discretion, this will hopefully make it easier to determine how difficult it will be for your character to get the item you're looking for!

How is the Game History page structured?

Ruby City is a very old game with a great deal of history which has gone through a lot of changes over the years and between its various mod teams. As such, we found that the best way of summarizing it in a digestible form was to divide it into eras, of which there are currently four. Information on the game history page is what is conceivably known to or discoverable by current player characters.

Will it be changed in the future?

The short answer: yes! While there are blank spots in the Game History, never fear, because we've filled them out and . . . hidden them, for players and characters to discover in the future.

How does this affect metaplot & gameplay?

It shouldn't effect gameplay significantly at all. We wrote the history for our current playerbase; as such, we have written it to conform to the game as it is now. Ruby City will remain a jamjar--there will be minor metaplot elements, but we aren't radically changing genres or anything like that.

Our goal is to keep the metaplot a background element to the game, but also to make it more coherent and accessible to the playerbase, as well as more fun for characters to discover new metaplot information. There are three specific ways metaplot information will be discoverable in the future: exploration of the greater island area, occasional metaplot-related events, and NPC interactions.

Regarding the third piece, please note that only a few NPCs will be active at once moving forward. While we do still have our seven Vice/Virtue NPCs, in order to remain as responsive as possible to our playerbase with regards to NPC interactions, we will be swapping out NPCs periodically based on the Vice/Virtue counter we tally up from Activity Check. There is an IC reason for this . . . but you're going to have to find it out yourselves.

Anything else we should know?

As a reminder, the first quarterly player poll will go up on March 15, with results and mod response/prospective adjustments and changes going up with the April State of the City. We welcome all players to submit poll questions we would like to include to the Suggestions Post by March 11. As always, thank you for your patience and continued feedback as we strive to make this game the best it can be for our fantastic players!