[ confidential contact ]

[simpathis]

— CONFIDENTIAL CONTACT —

If you have any issues regarding the game, the mods, or other players, please contact us! We want to ensure that your time here is an enjoyable one and will do whatever we can do to help if possible. There are several ways to contact us:

Mod email: empatheias.mods@gmail.com
Comment to this entry
PM the journal

The mods are as follows:

Laena
Steve

Please do not contact mods individually regarding game issues! By keeping player concerns on the mod account, we are better able to keep track of them and respond in a timely manner.

If you are submitting your concern via e-mail or to this entry, please fill out the following form:

<b>[ Player Name ]</b> <b>[ Characters ]</b> <b>[ Type of Concern ]</b> Is it a player issue? Game? Character? Mods? Something else? <b>[ Details of Concern ]</b> We request that you be as detailed as possible and provide proof or examples of what caused the concern. The more information we have, the better. <b>[ Contact ]</b> Best way to contact you.

All comments are screened and our responses to your comments will also be screened, so we can communicate through the entry if preferred. Everything will also remain confidential, but if another party is involved please realize that we will have to disclose some information if we have to contact them. We'll always double check before doing so, but please keep that in mind and make a note if there is anything you are uncomfortable with sharing.

We will try to be as fair as possible and do as much research and as many discussions as needed.

Responses will be given within 72 hours. In the case that we haven't responded to your query past this time, please send us a message! Thank you.

Comments

[simpathis]

Since this is anonymous, our response is public so that the anon can see our reply.

As we said in our above reply to the previous anon, we recognize that our events won't satisfy all players. We do try to design them so that the majority will enjoy them, but we include opt-outs or opt-ins because we also realize that there will be those who will not want to participate for whatever reason. This will be especially more common due to this event having a certain mechanic to it rather than it being a general event like most of the others. Because of this, we also realize that, like you, some may feel left out. That's not our intention and we do try to make events encompass as many players as possible, but the truth is it's impossible. What you may like or think would make for a fun event may make a different person be in the same spot you are now.

Then there is the OOC/IC issue. Even if 100% of the playerbase thinks an event is fun, what their characters may think will be different due to the varying personalities. The only way we can have participation in that situation is if it's forced—and that's not something we want to do unless the game situation itself forces that scenario. In this case, Thras is in a much better place compared to Elios and Sosyne, and Peromei probably had the best "middle" when it came to being forced ICly but easily to opt out OOCly. But there were issues in that case as well, with some players still unable to participate due to their characters not having an IC reason to be in that location. Thus, there will always be differing opinions and hangups from both ends, unfortunately.

Now, we have an honest and earnest question that we would like to ask you, and hopefully you will see this. It does seem that a lot of the problem comes from the use of character creation. Just so you know how this event came to be, it was actually based off a player suggestion and, to be clear, it wasn't anyone from the mod team. Te original scenario had the hero-captive plotline, but Thras would have been more of a cartoony villain if his "fear" threshold was higher (he wouldn't be cowardly, but he would be fed up with all the fear and would try to invoke more courage and bravery). Since this event clearly already has an "RPG" vibe, the use of a "party system" was also already conceived although the use of actual roles was yet to be determined/implemented. We have since altered the game's storyline so that the original idea was tweaked a little to fit more with the game's current situation, but as you can see it hasn't changed too much.

You used the term "meta" and we are assuming you mean the use of the d20 system as a reference system and the rulebooks handed out. Putting the character creation aspect aside, is that the part that you don't like or are you opposed to the entire event itself? To also clarify, we only used that kind of system because we thought it would help players more easily understand rather than try to construct a system of our own, and the rulebooks that Thras is handing out isn't explicitly the same as a tabletop RPGs. They are really just his rules/instructions for the challenge and he wants those participating to play certain roles in the sense of battle position and not necessarily character.

That said, we can see how the use of the word "character" can give different implications, and we also compared it to an LARP, but that might not have been correct to do so either. The real point was the role or "class" of the character, not so much creating some kind of personality or backstory. If that's the case, we can definitely clarify that once more in the November announcement since we need to post a summary of the details for newer players regardless. If players (or characters) want to create a different persona, that would still be doable, but not required. Ultimately, we do not mean that Thras is playing tabletop RPGs.

Hopefully this addresses the issue, or at least is a better whack at it. We do put the character and player base into account when devising events. But we can at least try so that even if there's one part you might not like, there could be something else that could provide better enjoyment for you. If this is an issue of personal preference, however, then unfortunately we cannot say that we will be able to fulfill them, especially since this isanonymous and we have no idea how we could cater events to better fit your character and preferences. But again, we hope this helps a little more.