Idea Post!

[livebait]

Hello Aather! In the interests of making Aather the best game it can be, we'd like to toss around some potential ideas for what you'd really like to see in the near future!

Since the game has been running incredibly strong for over 3.5 years now (///), we want to make sure we're keeping things bright and engaging, while still staying true to the game as it is and what's made it what it is.

We've had more open slots recently largely due to a lot of characters moving to Happy End or Legacy after being played for several years, and game turnout is a little lower lately (probably also because some of us have been doing this game thing for longer than we've lived in any one place in real life, I don't know about you); and we've also dropped down to a bit of a quieter pace that's a better fit for the playerbase at the moment—but some of these are fairly big changes functionally! so we want to make sure we can continue adjusting and growing the game to fit that.

The mods have some ideas for things we want to do in the future (and I'll make note of some of them in this post!), but we'd also like to hear:

❥ Game or event ideas you'd like to see! Games that we ran two years ago you really liked, or just "a secrets game" or "a costume game" or anything like that. Things we haven't done in a while you wanna see again, or things we've never done that you have a good idea for.
❥ Plot hooks or directions you'd like to go in. "I want to find out more about why there's always a tree in the Ring" or "I want more helping Personae break roles" etc.
❥ Elements that would help you or your characters be more engaged!
❥ Other things that would be cool—quests? Abilities? Themes? Laser beams for Burupya?

At least for this post, we would really just like to hear ideas and suggestions—nothing will be definitely going to happen and someone might have an idea that you don't think would work for you, but that's okay! We are also not looking at making any changes to activity/game structure & functions at the moment—just gameplay, please!

For now—please help us with suggestions about what you'd like to see and we will do our best to make some things happen! If you have multiple ideas, please feel free to leave them as separate comments if they're about fully different things.

Thank you as always for being such a stellar playerbase, and please do always feel free to come to the mods in private if you have questions or concerns or suggestions or pictures of kitten paws.

Comments

[idkmybffnirvash]

i see what you did there . . . . . .

[sobstory]

I for one fully support our resident baby dragon mascot obtaining extremely lethal laser powers.

[badnewsboy]

HI THIS IS RONI

/o/

can i call for more darkness plots? i love darkness plots, and i love that it gives the heroes something that's not the personae to feel bitter toward. so i'd love love love anything that's darkness related! either a big attack, or something where there's an infection in the heroes/knights, anything like that.

it's late and i'm coherent.

[takeabow]

Since I tend to play reticent/contrary characters, games where they're forced to share, or forced to act counter to their instincts would be fun! I know they're difficult to balance (consent vs ooc fun is hard sometimes) but! i find they tend to help spur interaction and keep things from getting too comfortable. I don't think Aather is particularly supposed to be comfortable!

[livebait]

MY MAJOR IDEA CHILD that I am making happen in the next couple weeks is allowing knights to run some mini events and revitalize fancy questing a little, and be able to win memories by doing this, so they don't have to be so reliant on games, and then also knight players can make more interesting mingles and small events and everybody wins. I hope.

[aristocritical]

In preparation for some Darkness-fighting miniplots I plan to run in the future, I'd like to know what sort of balance the players would like between straight-up combat events and less conventional methods of "fighting" that function more like quests and exploradoras. I'm hoping to use both for fighting the Darkness, but I'm considering how to balance the two!

[appleofhiseye]

PLAGUE EVENT I'm gonna do it, I'll make it happen

when I get people to help

[heteronormative]

Feelings share game!

[glorious]

I actually would be genuinely interested in why there's also a tree in the Ring. We've already established there's some sort of connection between plants and...anti-Darkness with hope flowers and I've been assuming the tree is along similar lines BUT ACTUALLY KNOWING WHAT THE TREE IS ABOUT! WOULD BE EXCITING!! So I'm making this comment to be a +1 to that mystery being solved somedaaay~

[idkmybffnirvash]

Okay, I am ready to multiple comments of spam . . .

I WOULD SUPER SUPPORT HAVING ACTION RESULT IN TANGIBLE RESPONSE. I am not saying that we have not had that before or recently, but I will slam that down and say that it would be good to always have that. Sometimes, it's hard for me to connect actions by characters to results in the game, or I get confused on how to act appropriately with a character in a situation, or I don't like the feeling of jumping through a hoop given to me rather than being able to do something creatively with a character. There are two sides where I should learn how to ask for something, and be proactive which should be encouraged in player-base. You know, also, having investment in the action and successes of other characters, too. But there is the flip side in letting some open-end leak onto the other side where the structures are left open . . . Maybe, something eventful happens completely outside of a game . . . ? It's a thought, brain storming, run with it . . .

[hunting]

I am a big fan of having more games based off actual games as opposed to conversation things. Conversation things tend to have a lot of trouble holding me lately because there's so much distraction. But games with a clear win structure stoke my competitive fires and make me more committed to staying through the long haul. Also, I genuinely enjoy them.

I'm not saying get rid of discussion games since I know they are good for team-building/CR, but purely from a playing standpoint, I'd like more normal games.

Also, maybe more chances for normals to gain non-normal powers like magic quests with Firebird and Unicorn and whoever?

ALSO, more effects events/things that are not games so people can play with them for longer and not have objectives to meet with them. I prefer effects not be games because they are also less restrictive that way.

[idkmybffnirvash]

Um, game ideas that I have, but I am not married to running . . .

+ I would like a game much like Sea Witch's where people are forced in close circumstances with each other to decide something very difficult. However, I would like the twist to be with unfamiliar or distant characters rather than with close CR. I think it would work best if you do a survey before hand to find people at opposite ends of thought to put together. They don't even necessarily have to be two on two (though that would be best for timezone purposes ... ), if you can balance out the views represented, like Good-Neutral-Evil. Ideally, there would be a Big Moral Discussion or a Big Moral Task, but it does not necessarily have to be maim or murder each other. It could be for something like deciding what to do with a Personae or about a situation in Aather, or about hypothetical situation that may not be completely hypothetical . . .

+ I would like to see a game that plays with the lack of team members and knights. In my mind, it would blank everyone's keys, so that they have protection but they can't access their cabins. People can wander off and sleep solo, or stay in the provided big area with the group as a whole. The idea would be to question why to stay with your team. Are you indoctrinated to wanting to be with these people? Would you like to be on another team? Do you want to be a knight? Why? Obviously, doing a huge shuffle may be unreasonable, but it could be interesting in allowing characters to, perhaps, be given access to another team like knights, or have the ability to give out quests but only for other teams, or let teams connect with Personae . . . Knights could forge stronger bonds with teams that could be represented to. Maybe, they win with a particular team? Or they can serve as a Personae-team-patron medium? Mainly, I came up with the idea in order to explain team shrink, but it could be put to any number of ends.

[glorious]

For a suggestion on my end, I would actually be interested in more ways to just boost Personae/Hero and Knight CR in general, outside of having big plotty shake-downs. Mad Hatter's tea party game where Personae participated in the game was one way to do it. Nimue's Q&A game also allowed heroes and knights to directly offer questions to individual Personae to be answered as well. There are probably more examples as well, but more games like those may help.

I also planned on having Van attempt to run a Personae meet-and-greet with the intent of encouraging heroes and knights to form bonds with different Personae sometime next week, to have a more mingle-y option to try as well, though really just more posts to encourage that sort of CR-building in general (sort of like Lloyd and Mithos' Personae call) would be aces to me! o7

[foreignflight]

I have a few ideas but the most solid thing I'd like to see is something to help teams regain memories. By that I mean while they definitely have a larger way to regain because of multiple team members there is, however, a definite change in a number of people being around and playable. For example, Turquoise especially lately-- even more so now, sorry guys-- has a difficult time with turn-out because of being low on members. And I know I've noticed Tiger's Eye not being able to make games and Carnelian. While it's not such a worry for my teams, but it seems unfair to like Turquoise in this example who has far few members able to get people to appear at games to regularly get memories.

I guess what I'm trying to say is it'd be nice to see accommodations for teams who are consistently unable to make games? Like I know that's what Loser Games are for! But when games conflict with a schedule for a month or even if one teammate shows up to a game or two and still loses the chances are they will still gain one memory a month. Or in the case of Turquoise again right now... apparently no memories in a month.

It just feels like with how few players and how many empty slots there are and in the above cases to be a little unfair so I thought I'd bring it up! Sorry if it's a dumb thing and like I said I know loser games are supposed to help a bit but I think it would be a nice thing even for a temporary fix of some sort until teams are more up there!

[idkmybffnirvash]

Personally, for me, I would like to be able to do more with Zen in being able to push plot, keep people from being hurt in games, and so on. He's a slow burn on the topic, but he's picking up speed. My biggest issue is trying to find IC involvement, though I don't want to negate the people who have been involved. (I appreciate you guys. ♥) But, yes, Zen wants to touch and talk to all the Personae . . . I guess, if I've missed anyone that wants to be involved, you can let me know here. That includes characters and Personae.

And . . . I guess, I'll be keeping an eye on this post to see what everyone else is pushing towards to get a better feel for it.

[itsjustafayz]

This is like the most unhelpful re: types of games, but I know for me I haven't been making it to games as much lately because of scheduling, and I would like to see more games with stricter time limits imposed! Like it's hard sometimes to commit to signing up for a game when it starts at 8 EST and I'm not sure if I'm still going to be playing at 2 AM when I have to get up early the next day. I totally get that imposing strict time limits on all games would be super frustrating but sometimes it's just as frustrating to be in the opposite situation.

As for like, types of games, I would personally love more strategy and room-based games! Super burnt out on mingle games lately, personally.

[glorious]

An idea I had just now so no idea of how feasible it would be but!: on the Darkness Personae, maybe more plots involving that potential line of mimicry? I'm thinking along the lines of Darkness Personae being something along the lines of Slenderman, who is without any real identity and comes from an ill-defined (and unconstrained) mythos; though any sort of creepypasta could maybe be used since so much of creepypasta is built through memetic power in a way that could be fitting for a Darkness' attempt at mimicking a story.

[simple_not_boring]

So, fights! I've been falling down on running regular posts -- I blame new job and shoulder dislocation but also my weak spirit -- but I'd like to get back into the swing of running Three's Cove/Wonderland style monster posts in some way. ICly, we'll work out a way to do this ( ^___^ ) but OOCly, what kind of timing and frequency are people interested in? Weekly/biweekly opt-in posts seemed to work well in the past, and I doubt more frequent would be possible, but is that about what people would be interested to play with?

Also, in Camelot we did a couple of experimental things, like MIDBOSSES (fights that last several encounters) and KEY ABILITIES for noncombatants in pivotal battles. How did people feel those went?

[yourewaitingforagate]

I HAVE NOT READ THINGS SO I AM SORRY IF THIS HAS BEEN MENTIONED.

But I would like to see more Relay-type plot events! ie: Smaller groups, contained to shorter time slots, that contribute to larger plot motions in a sort of rube golberg machine type way.

I know we've done some of this before, but in general for me I find that plot events have become really unwieldy as a player and for the runners as well. Basically, I'd much rather be put in a group of three-five people for a 1 hour intensively run thing that gets me somewhere and then get to sit back and watch three-five other people do something that's linked to that 1 hour thing instead of sitting in a group of 6-10 people for 2 hours doing an event that is both things combined.

I feel like smaller groups is a lot better for people to really feel like their characters are involved in the plot, and shorter time slots makes it easier for everyone who is very busy adults? Also if the time slots are shorter, it can be easier for the mods to tap out between groups. Especially if it's done in a sort of co-op feel where it's like Team A needs to hit the lever so the bridge is lowered for Team B to cross the river and then open the gate for Team C to storm the armory and do a supply drop for Team D to fight the dragon.

Each contribution itself is smaller, and there could be multiple threads going at once, but players and characters would get to feel they have more of an impact, and of course it can all get tied together at the end for epic massive boss fights or what have you. Essentially, I'd like to see plot events run more like games where each "round" is handed off to a different small group that effectively turns in their results and then sits out until the end.

[selfequipped]

Along the same lines as above!

I really did enjoy the plot from before where a bunch of small groups went into other, darkness ravaged worlds to find out things about them. I think we slowed down on that plot a bit as we left Wonderland and entered Camelot—in part, I assume, because Camelot was running two separate personae group plots at the same time—but I really enjoyed the plot there.

More than that, events where characters can go somewhere and find world understanding and advancement stuff would be great. I think at this point, a lot of things in Aather are a little ... I don't want to use the word "stale," but I do think we could shake it up a bit. Plots like these could help. If we introduce factors that shake up the story, that'd be great.

We could always introduce factors that explain why the stories are being shaken up. The darkness is warping the story itself to make it change, so what information we had is now different. Refreshing some things so that current (and future) characters can learn things and spread it out can help. I find that when a game has been around for a while, it hits a point where older characters are left going, "This is happening because of Y, so let's do X." I think that the forward movement of Aather and the evolution over time is super important and a big part of the setting.

But at the same time, offering something new—new story threads, new plot threads, new everything—with logical justification could be great. I see a lot of remarks on this post about impacting the world and actually changing things, and I agree that that's a direction the game can move in. I think coming up with ideas to shake things up would be great. We can still keep the foundation, but utilize that foundation to turn some stuff on its head. Stories evolve, and sometimes stories aren't written "correctly," so what if something comes from that?

I don't think major upheaval is necessary, but plots that challenge the current knowledge and solutions would be a lot of fun. Things that are unique to this era of Aather would be great. A lot of the stuff about the mythology in Marvel (which is partly what I'm inspired by) with the various pantheons is how malleable the stories are, and I think about that a lot in Aather. What if one particularly driven belief changes things, but doesn't make it less hopeful? What if there is a low before another high? I think this sort of thing would be a slow burn, but I think really introducing new information would be a lot of fun.

[truecaptain]

WRONG ACCOUNT BUT OKAY A FEW MORE THINGS

-The thing I struggle with most is times for games. Everything is pretty much centralized for EST evening and weekends. Especially weekends. Which I know is all about player availability, but I think it plays a huge factor in the issue I mentioned above about there not being enough characters to easily gain memories for teams! I WILL HONESTLY HAPPILY RUN DAY GAMES ALL THE TIME... I just... need to app a Persona for it, whoops. But if possible I'd love to see people consider doing games more at different times. I know AJ does that! And I know I will if I ever stop chickening out over this app...! But for me personally I'm basically on I guess GMT in terms of availability and so it's impossible for me to make games or I'm late/luckily off (and I know it's the same for a lot of people). But! Maybe it's a thing for Persona players to consider when they plan a game and their availability for it? If at all possible (this is more just a thing I'd like to see post since I know it's all about availability).

-I think it would be really cool if characters who go on like Legacy Quests or Quests to help a specific persona for whatever reason to have a noticeable effect on things. Like Legacy Character going on super awesome quest to fight Darkness!!! But no one can see anything. Like they're out of play, but a little gimmick of the characters currently in Aather seeing their friends having an actual effect on things now and then would be really cool.

-I'd like to see more games that encourage off team cr! Not like mingle games, but the past few trauma games and some of the exploradas recently is a good example. Not necessarily all the time, but I'd love to see it outside of mainly exploradas/squished teams. Like a really neat idea would be a battle of team morals, but instead of a full team together maybe tiny groups and the teams that have the most concise view/understanding might win! Or the most individualistic, etc. It would be interesting to play with!

-I will always, always love Aather plots so much. Mostly because unlike every other game I've been it's very inclusive and so great at being that. I think my major issue with it is kind of similar to my issue with games in that a lot of the major things tend to happen around similar times. I know the whole Darkness wave plot in Camelot I always came home to things being over/winding down so I never knew what to do. So maybe a bigger timeslot and/or like others have said a set time where people can sign up for what is easiest for them to make? (SELFISHLY I WANT TO MAKE IT TO AN AATHER PLOT ONE DAY ;U;) Again I would also happily help with daytime things here too if needed!

-This one is more of a question but is it possible to consider applications to be open permanently while there is such a huge gap in the team slots? Only temporarily until things fill up more and as things stand I don't think it's something that would be utilized a lot or too troublesome. But that way instead of consistently having no one to place each week there's a possibility someone new might app!

Honestly, I love everything about Aather. It has been such a great game and all of my concerns are super minor and more or less fall under the 'poor turquoise' and 'timezone' issue things. ICly the thing that is sometimes the hardest for me is how fast things move from trauma game to the next game. I know we had a few days after the last one and I think it'd be nice to continue that trend? Because I tend to play characters who DON'T COPE and when the next IC day they're having a fluffy game about hugs it makes them disengage and just not worry about it and so they never confront their issues (thanks ron). So maybe a buffer between trauma and regular games would be a good idea? But that's not a super huge issue either.

I REALLY JUST WANT THE CHANCE TO FRIENDSHIP AT THE DARKNESS MORE. SORRY NOT SORRY.

[selfequipped]

In terms of games, I don't have anything precise, but I like games that are room-styled games that have a lot of team dynamics going on, and sometimes you're doing something against another team or for another team. Some of my favorite games have been story games where you have to tell a story to another team that you think they'd like, or games where you have to come up with a gift for them (and see if they like it). I like games that encourage not only team CR but also encourage teams getting to know other teams. Mingles are great for working with a lot of people and building CR, but what I love most is taking that built CR and using that knowledge in a game. If a character has a weirdly skewed idea of a team, sometimes it's funny what comes out of that. I know these types of games are sometimes hard to design a creative dynamic around, but I like encouraging knowledge of each other's teams.

To add to this, I think my favorite part of these games is that there is discussion that comes from it. It doesn't have to be heavy discussion, but I like when there's a really involved decision in creativity or thought processes that carry forward. They don't necessarily have to be games with heavy moral consequences ... but they can. Discussion-with-morals can get exhausting, but discussion-with-silliness is a lot of fun, and I think some of my best dynamics/CR/game aftermaths have come out of those scenarios.

[defenceservice]

I've only had a chance to skim so far but I wanted to get this down before I forget:

I'd love to see more take-home-style, 24-48-hour type games that aren't mingle-based. Like a popular non-take-home structure right now is asking a succession of discussion questions of a team with reactions in between, so maybe something where those reactions happen once a day and the team has a full 24 hours to discuss their answer in between. Or even just give a few questions at once. I think it might solve problems of people dropping off because they're falling asleep at their computer or rushing to get an answer in because it's taking forever to reach an answer. But I think something similar could apply to other game structures as well, with a bit of creative problem solving.

Also with games, I'd like more transparency about win conditions. I know people used to (and still do sometimes) put in reasons for winning when they post up memories and I really appreciate seeing that. Ideally I'd love it if the aim of the game was known when the game started but I know it can be extremely difficult to come up with game structures where it's possible to do that and then not have everyone end up in a draw. But it's nice to know why teams that win have won at the very least.

[defenceservice]

OKAY PLOT THOUGHTS:

I'm one of those people who tends not to do very well with exploration-type things so I'd really love more non-game plot events that aren't so explorey. Especially with the Personae plots, although I know they can also be engaged with by just threading with those Personae. I'm thinking of stuff like Jabberwocky's trial, for a really good example. But also the Darkness event with the moquitos was pretty great.

I'd also selfishly like more combat in plots but the kind where it can be mostly handwaved as just having happened as opposed to big boss fights that need to be played out. I know there's a worry about leaving out non-combatants but I mean, I played a non-combatant for like two years and never felt like I was lacking in ways to engage in plot. But I'm playing a hitter now and I don't think there's been a single opportunity for him to fight anything for real since he got the skill back six months ago (although they may have been and I just missed it or couldn't be there for it or something).

[lefthandpath]

THIS IS JEVA I PLAY DICK BUT I AM TOO LAZY FOR RIGHT ACCOUNT.

ALSO I ONLY SKIMMED A BIT SO IF I REPEAT SOMETHING, CONSIDER IT A "DITTO" OF WHOEVER SAID IT BEFORE ME.

Basically, right now, the thing that's hurting my playability the most is in fact time management. this has actually been an on-going thing with Aather for... idk since the Black Woods itself, really? Maybe a bit before that. MOSTLY with regards to games and time limits but even some plots have felt ridiculously drawn out? which I understand is supposed to catch stragglers, but it also makes people who hop on early have to drop out rather than stay to see it through which can seriously make the whole experience kind of womp womp in feels?

as I said, it's also a bit of an issue for games where a lot of the drive and impact can be lost because even though we're told there's a time limit, things drag. considerably. i know this is, again, to facilitate everyone getting what they want out of discussions and the like but I feel like I'm not the only one who feels like more can be gotten if people stick to the time limits? some of the more fun games i've had in aather have been the ones that start and end fast. messy or cleanly is something altogether different.

i think a solution to the games problem is moving away from mingles and the like for a bit? i'd also like some pvp action of competitive team vs team games--all in good fun unless it's trauma. though with trauma, i do wish there were some consequences that can be negative to it? a lot of them have positive outcomes which can be great when characters are put through the ringer, but predictability can make it feel like you're just going through the motions and stagnating.

in a lot of ways, I get plenty of personal drama through memories and the like but CR or team interaction can feel a bit repetitive if there isn't something new to change things up for them in the scheme of it? (though tagging out more may also fix that for me so haha idk)

but yeah, those are my issues right now when it comes to engaging the game. it feels like a lot of things are getting repetitious or dragging. going back to basics and competitive games (not necessarily as rough as the start of aather) where teams can interact within a set time can liven things up.