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aather_ooc2011-09-10 07:13 pm
machiavellianiue) wrote in aather_ooc2011-09-10 07:13 pm
Entry tags:
Activity Check FAQ!
. . . or, not even FAQ, but questions you might have that I am trying to pre-emptively answer!
So, there has been some confusion expressed recently with how activity checks work and the finer points thereof! We'd like to clarify that a little bit so that everyone is absolutely on the same page, and so there are no surprises if you get an activity check email, both for the peace of mind of all the players and for the mods as well.
The actual activity policy is here.
What are the activity requirements?
Each character is required to play once a week, and have at least one thread per week that is significant, ie: 15-20 comments long.
This is 15-20 comments from that character, with one other person. So, tagging out once for 8 comments would not be legit! Neither would four 5-comment threads. If you have two or more 10-comment threads, the area starts to get a little bit gray, since that is technically more activity than a single long thread: however, we ask for at least one "long" thread per week in order to facilitate some method of moderating, for lack of a better word, depth of play.
Characters are also expected to play with their teammates at least occasionally to maintain team CR, and knights are expected to try to diversify their CR to include a variety of teams.
The 15-20 comment thread requirement seems confusing! Why don't you just have a minimum per week/month?
We did try that once! It did not suit the needs of Aather at all. Essentially, Aather as a game needs not only a minimum activity level but also some degree of consistency. This is why we switched to weekly checking instead of bi-weekly or monthly: the pace of the game makes it so that if your character is not around for several weeks or even large stretches of days at a time, you will miss a lot. This impacts not only your character, but those on your team.
We also are not necessarily saying that we believe that short threads are useless or do not build character, but simply that expecting a minimum of one long thread a week gives us a way to moderate activity if someone is "around" but rarely getting past the "hi, how are you" stage of threads, which is not ideal in a consistent atmosphere like Aather that relies on participating and building CR within your team and with others.
So far, the weekly method of checking has been very good at identifying those who are playing at low activity in a way that negatively impacts their team. We feel that a monthly or biweekly comment count check would not be as effecive in that it would allow for people to vanish for long periods at a time, during which there would be IC issues of "well, where was so-and-so for several IC days?"
These activity requirements are really harsh.
That isn't a question, but I wanted to talk on it: the requirements are tight, but generally aren't something that the majority of players seem to have trouble hitting. A lot of weeks go by where we don't actually have anyone to tap for the once-a-week tag. That means at least 108/108 characters are semi-consistently tagging out once a week, which is fabulous. In the occasion that someone misses a few week and we activity check for that, it very rarely occurs again, and was just an off week with things coming up.
We also usually only have maybe 5-10 characters maximum that do not meet the thread length requirement in any given week, so again, almost everyone does fine on this most of the time. And, if you have been activity checked for this lately, well . . . so has Zazzle. So, sometimes it happens, but most of the time everyone is really good about it. It doesn't seem too unreasonable, given the number of people that make it easily, and it also doesn't say anything bad about those that do get checked for it.
Why can't you lighten the activity requirements?
We initially made activity checks more difficult because people were too easily "meeting activity" while still hardly being around and having a detrimental effect on their team as a result. Since we changed the requirements back in April, we have largely found that the problem of "my teammate is never around and I don't have CR with them" has been pretty much eliminated. So, as far as character relations go, it has been really effective.
There is also the matter of the number of applications we have waiting. With so many applications waiting to be accepted, we feel it's important to stress activity to avoid frustration from those who are waiting with apps in queue: nobody likes to be waiting while knowing other people are on teams but inactive.
And again, the number of people who get idled due to not meeting our activity standards is actually really, really low: fewer than 10% of our drops were due to us actively idling someone. We would certainly be more flexible and open to changing the requirements if the number of people failing activity each week was significant, but right now it seems to be a set of requirements that at least largely accurately reflects how much people are actually playing and not setting the bar too high.
Does playing in games count towards activity? Why/why not?
Yes and no! If you are playing in the mingle and the endgame, or if it is an in-"aather" game (on the main comm) then we will absolutely count that for activity.
We do not count threads in dramatispersonae when we are doing our checks! This is for several reasons:
1. There are no character tags in dramatispersonae, and everyone is in separate posts. Trying to track down characters and going through every post would be incredibly painful for your mod team and so we don't do it.
2. Game threads are generally very short, with people coming in and out, and group discussions. Trying to find a way to regulate these would be problematic and probably not worth it.
3. If you are absolutely going to fail an activity check other than that one game you played in, we probably want to email you anyway and ask about activity. HOWEVER, exceptions are absolutely made: for example, heart games, or long intensive games, etc. Which leads to:
What if I played a LOT in games this week and/or could only make game times?
We will probably still email you but it is totally okay to email us back and be like, "hey, I know I didn't play in the comm at all this week, but I was pressed for time, and this is all the stuff I did in games" or "I was running a heart game!!" and provide us with links to your various threads. In which case we will be like "okay, cool!" and have that as a reference to look back on. No harm done.
What about backdated threads? I was threading with so-and-so for like two weeks and got activity checked for not playing!
We tend to look at people tagging out once a week in new posts, and would like to see that happen. However, if we tap you for not playing in a week, or for not having a long thread, and you know you have one that was just backdated forever, just link it to us! It's cool. We DO want people out in new posts once a week, but AJ's not going to kill kittens if you are still tinkering in a post from last week and can point that out. A lot of the time we do go looking for timestamps, but sometimes we miss situations like that. So just let us know.
So if I was backdating/playing in dramatispersonae and let you know after you activity check me, that means that the activity check was not valid?
Yes and no. We have it on record and will keep it in mind, but it doesn't count as a strict failure, no. You will never be idled out of the blue without us giving you several strong warnings, and these kind of checks are not considered strong warnings in the slightest.
What happens if I get sent an activity check email and I think it's unfair?
Just talk to us! If you can point out where you've been playing, or if you've just had a rough week, or if you missed tags, were extensively backdating, or could only play in games, please just let us know. We are sympathetic to situations and can roll with basically anything. We absolutely don't want anyone to feel bad or frustrated with it or with us—we want to help make sure you're playing enough to have a satisfactory relationship with your team and other players and keep everything flowing smoothly. Explanations of situations or things we missed are always, always welcome.
Do I have to reply to activity emails?
No, not really. If you want to let us know that you got it, that's cool, or just be like "okay yeah I had a rough week, I'll get back on it" then we are fine with that. We do like a simple "got it," even, since we've had a couple instances where activity check emails have been lost in the ether, but it's not a big issue either way.
Why do you activity check if I missed a week but immediately got back to playing again? Isn't that pointless?
Because we do activity checks generally the same day every week, it's possible for a week of inactivity to fall "between" checks, so you're already playing again before we notice it. Even if you have begun playing again by the time we do our next check, we still email regarding the week before so that we have some record that that period of inactivity exists, in case it becomes a reoccurring situation.
This all seems very complicated and difficult. Why not simplify it?
You guys are all super active and super excellent. Basically, in order to keep everything running smoothly and nicely, with the limited number of slots and the nature of the teams that basically drives Aather, we have to have an unusual activity policy. We have deliberated at length as to how to manage activity for maximum benefit and have ended up with this. Although we have considered other means, we keep coming back to this as what works best for the game. We hope it can largely work well for you as well, but if it doesn't and you have an alternative idea on how to manage things in a simpler manner, we would be more than happy to discuss it.
. . .
IN GENERAL, if you're playing regularly, it's unlikely problems will occur! Similarly, if you're having a period of low activity or drive but are regularly talking to your team and your mods about how often and when you are going to be available to play, there is equally no reason for there to be a real unmanageable issue.
Playing should be a stress-free thing, and we hope that the activity/hiatus policies are set up in such a way that the majority of you can basically ignore their existence entirely. The activity check is really our way of keeping in contact with players about the consistency of their play, not an actual penalty: it only becomes a problem if there is no consistency for multiple weeks in a row/in a two month period. So, it really is just a check, and only enters into danger zone if it happens frequently or consistently.
Hopefully this helps and clarifies any questions or concerns people may have had (and does not actively bring up new ones). And of course, if there are lingering questions, please email us (aather.mods@gmail!)
So, there has been some confusion expressed recently with how activity checks work and the finer points thereof! We'd like to clarify that a little bit so that everyone is absolutely on the same page, and so there are no surprises if you get an activity check email, both for the peace of mind of all the players and for the mods as well.
The actual activity policy is here.
What are the activity requirements?
Each character is required to play once a week, and have at least one thread per week that is significant, ie: 15-20 comments long.
This is 15-20 comments from that character, with one other person. So, tagging out once for 8 comments would not be legit! Neither would four 5-comment threads. If you have two or more 10-comment threads, the area starts to get a little bit gray, since that is technically more activity than a single long thread: however, we ask for at least one "long" thread per week in order to facilitate some method of moderating, for lack of a better word, depth of play.
Characters are also expected to play with their teammates at least occasionally to maintain team CR, and knights are expected to try to diversify their CR to include a variety of teams.
The 15-20 comment thread requirement seems confusing! Why don't you just have a minimum per week/month?
We did try that once! It did not suit the needs of Aather at all. Essentially, Aather as a game needs not only a minimum activity level but also some degree of consistency. This is why we switched to weekly checking instead of bi-weekly or monthly: the pace of the game makes it so that if your character is not around for several weeks or even large stretches of days at a time, you will miss a lot. This impacts not only your character, but those on your team.
We also are not necessarily saying that we believe that short threads are useless or do not build character, but simply that expecting a minimum of one long thread a week gives us a way to moderate activity if someone is "around" but rarely getting past the "hi, how are you" stage of threads, which is not ideal in a consistent atmosphere like Aather that relies on participating and building CR within your team and with others.
So far, the weekly method of checking has been very good at identifying those who are playing at low activity in a way that negatively impacts their team. We feel that a monthly or biweekly comment count check would not be as effecive in that it would allow for people to vanish for long periods at a time, during which there would be IC issues of "well, where was so-and-so for several IC days?"
These activity requirements are really harsh.
That isn't a question, but I wanted to talk on it: the requirements are tight, but generally aren't something that the majority of players seem to have trouble hitting. A lot of weeks go by where we don't actually have anyone to tap for the once-a-week tag. That means at least 108/108 characters are semi-consistently tagging out once a week, which is fabulous. In the occasion that someone misses a few week and we activity check for that, it very rarely occurs again, and was just an off week with things coming up.
We also usually only have maybe 5-10 characters maximum that do not meet the thread length requirement in any given week, so again, almost everyone does fine on this most of the time. And, if you have been activity checked for this lately, well . . . so has Zazzle. So, sometimes it happens, but most of the time everyone is really good about it. It doesn't seem too unreasonable, given the number of people that make it easily, and it also doesn't say anything bad about those that do get checked for it.
Why can't you lighten the activity requirements?
We initially made activity checks more difficult because people were too easily "meeting activity" while still hardly being around and having a detrimental effect on their team as a result. Since we changed the requirements back in April, we have largely found that the problem of "my teammate is never around and I don't have CR with them" has been pretty much eliminated. So, as far as character relations go, it has been really effective.
There is also the matter of the number of applications we have waiting. With so many applications waiting to be accepted, we feel it's important to stress activity to avoid frustration from those who are waiting with apps in queue: nobody likes to be waiting while knowing other people are on teams but inactive.
And again, the number of people who get idled due to not meeting our activity standards is actually really, really low: fewer than 10% of our drops were due to us actively idling someone. We would certainly be more flexible and open to changing the requirements if the number of people failing activity each week was significant, but right now it seems to be a set of requirements that at least largely accurately reflects how much people are actually playing and not setting the bar too high.
Does playing in games count towards activity? Why/why not?
Yes and no! If you are playing in the mingle and the endgame, or if it is an in-"aather" game (on the main comm) then we will absolutely count that for activity.
We do not count threads in dramatispersonae when we are doing our checks! This is for several reasons:
1. There are no character tags in dramatispersonae, and everyone is in separate posts. Trying to track down characters and going through every post would be incredibly painful for your mod team and so we don't do it.
2. Game threads are generally very short, with people coming in and out, and group discussions. Trying to find a way to regulate these would be problematic and probably not worth it.
3. If you are absolutely going to fail an activity check other than that one game you played in, we probably want to email you anyway and ask about activity. HOWEVER, exceptions are absolutely made: for example, heart games, or long intensive games, etc. Which leads to:
What if I played a LOT in games this week and/or could only make game times?
We will probably still email you but it is totally okay to email us back and be like, "hey, I know I didn't play in the comm at all this week, but I was pressed for time, and this is all the stuff I did in games" or "I was running a heart game!!" and provide us with links to your various threads. In which case we will be like "okay, cool!" and have that as a reference to look back on. No harm done.
What about backdated threads? I was threading with so-and-so for like two weeks and got activity checked for not playing!
We tend to look at people tagging out once a week in new posts, and would like to see that happen. However, if we tap you for not playing in a week, or for not having a long thread, and you know you have one that was just backdated forever, just link it to us! It's cool. We DO want people out in new posts once a week, but AJ's not going to kill kittens if you are still tinkering in a post from last week and can point that out. A lot of the time we do go looking for timestamps, but sometimes we miss situations like that. So just let us know.
So if I was backdating/playing in dramatispersonae and let you know after you activity check me, that means that the activity check was not valid?
Yes and no. We have it on record and will keep it in mind, but it doesn't count as a strict failure, no. You will never be idled out of the blue without us giving you several strong warnings, and these kind of checks are not considered strong warnings in the slightest.
What happens if I get sent an activity check email and I think it's unfair?
Just talk to us! If you can point out where you've been playing, or if you've just had a rough week, or if you missed tags, were extensively backdating, or could only play in games, please just let us know. We are sympathetic to situations and can roll with basically anything. We absolutely don't want anyone to feel bad or frustrated with it or with us—we want to help make sure you're playing enough to have a satisfactory relationship with your team and other players and keep everything flowing smoothly. Explanations of situations or things we missed are always, always welcome.
Do I have to reply to activity emails?
No, not really. If you want to let us know that you got it, that's cool, or just be like "okay yeah I had a rough week, I'll get back on it" then we are fine with that. We do like a simple "got it," even, since we've had a couple instances where activity check emails have been lost in the ether, but it's not a big issue either way.
Why do you activity check if I missed a week but immediately got back to playing again? Isn't that pointless?
Because we do activity checks generally the same day every week, it's possible for a week of inactivity to fall "between" checks, so you're already playing again before we notice it. Even if you have begun playing again by the time we do our next check, we still email regarding the week before so that we have some record that that period of inactivity exists, in case it becomes a reoccurring situation.
This all seems very complicated and difficult. Why not simplify it?
You guys are all super active and super excellent. Basically, in order to keep everything running smoothly and nicely, with the limited number of slots and the nature of the teams that basically drives Aather, we have to have an unusual activity policy. We have deliberated at length as to how to manage activity for maximum benefit and have ended up with this. Although we have considered other means, we keep coming back to this as what works best for the game. We hope it can largely work well for you as well, but if it doesn't and you have an alternative idea on how to manage things in a simpler manner, we would be more than happy to discuss it.
. . .
IN GENERAL, if you're playing regularly, it's unlikely problems will occur! Similarly, if you're having a period of low activity or drive but are regularly talking to your team and your mods about how often and when you are going to be available to play, there is equally no reason for there to be a real unmanageable issue.
Playing should be a stress-free thing, and we hope that the activity/hiatus policies are set up in such a way that the majority of you can basically ignore their existence entirely. The activity check is really our way of keeping in contact with players about the consistency of their play, not an actual penalty: it only becomes a problem if there is no consistency for multiple weeks in a row/in a two month period. So, it really is just a check, and only enters into danger zone if it happens frequently or consistently.
Hopefully this helps and clarifies any questions or concerns people may have had (and does not actively bring up new ones). And of course, if there are lingering questions, please email us (aather.mods@gmail!)