Bleach Platinum Hearts RP
Would you like to react to this message? Create an account in a few clicks or log in to continue.
Welcome to The Platinum Hearts Scroller. Here you can find our most recent Of the Year and Of the Season winners. Happy Roleplaying! --- Member of the Year: Locke --- Character of the Year: Alastair Eisfluch --- New Characters of the Year: Mizu Morikawa and Igendai Gyakusuma --- Social Thread of the Year: A Letter for Hymn --- Combat Thread of the Year: Raise Your Spirits --- Member of the Season: Paradigm --- Characters of the Season: Byakuya Kuchiki and Klein Schwarzwotan --- Applications of the Season: Armina Willsaam and Klein Schwarzwotan --- Fight Thread of the Season: Search and Destroy --- Social Thread of the Season: Damage Assessment --- Event Thread of the Season: Midnight Assault
Go down
Sage
Sage
Lord of the Understream
Lord of the Understream
s_e stuff
Joined : 2013-11-04
Posts : 2340

Member Info
Platinum Points:
2 - Site Newsletter Issues Left_bar_bleue74095/1000002 - Site Newsletter Issues Empty_bar_bleue  (74095/100000)
Tiers:

2 - Site Newsletter Issues Empty Site Newsletter Issues

Sun May 27, 2018 3:55 pm
PLATINUM HEARTS NEWSLETTER


SITE NEWSLETTER ISSUE #1


I. Updates to the site and goals for the future.

Hello, member-base, and welcome to an upcoming and reoccurring project staff is starting up: the Site Newsletter! Here, we will formally address any changes we implement abruptly, discussions between staff and member-base, and most importantly, the topics of consideration in our staff meetings. The goal behind this newsletter? To better communicate the member-base of what our intents as staff are, and maintain a cohesion between staff and members, as we are all RPers for PH, and it's ideal that we work together to maintain and improve the site.

You can regularly expect these newsletters after every staff meeting, and we will strive to keep everyone as best informed as we can. Of course, we won't be talking about every little topic brought up in staff, especially ones where we'd like to slowly trickle down the information, especially if its pertinent to a future event or mechanic implementation that we don't want to prematurely release without appropriately plotting or writing the contents out.

Furthermore, you can expect dedicated newsletters for each organisation which focuses on more minute changes and updates for each organisation, whereas this newsletter is reserved for the site at large. The organisation newsletters are more for In-Character changes and motivations put forward--with the members that hold authoritative positions in the organisations having involvement in these newsletter as a huge priority, to further ensure that we're all working together as one team.
II. Site Updates


Mandatory Activity Checks: In the coming days, particularly at the beginning of some months, we will once again be reinstating activity checks; however, this time around, we plan to make this activity check mandatory. The main reason is, as you may have guessed, the recent Exodus from a few months back. While it's unfortunate that events transpired as it did, we're taking that as an opportunity to learn, rebuild and stabilise the site in a better shape than before, and these checks are one of the methods.

Why Mandatory?: We need to ensure that the activity checks are done due to their underlying purpose. A lot of members left site, and some have been inactive for a while, with no relayed intent to continually RP on PH--for the time being, at least. To be able to more accurately discern who intends to stay active, and who is priotising a break from PH, we need all active members to participate. Sorry for the inconvenience, but we promise it's with the intent of moving forward with the site in a better direction.

When can I expect checks?: Following the rules of our "inactive/active" states, with the activity checks taking over the determiner for a member's status as inactive/active (it used to be if you haven't visited the site or posted in over a months without explanation for not posting, you were considered inactive). Since these mandatory activity checks will formalise this system to put it more in member's hands to determine whether they are active or not, these checks should come at the start of every other month, bi-monthly. So, for the first one which should be coming next month: June (month 6), you can anticipate the next check coming in August (month 8), so on and so forth.

Any additional incentives?: Like other activity checks, there will be rewards. Though the rewards haven't been entirely determined yet--as we only have a general idea of what we can offer that's fair and balanced as well as valued and engaging--we view it as an opportunity to formally recognise and appreciate the activity and vitality everyone brings to the site. Thus, for the apps, content, and threads/posts you've made in the two months between activity checks, a corresponding reward will be available. If you have any ideas on how we should organise these rewards, please bring it to our attention. After all, and I can't stress this enough, we want to more heavily implement member input in our decisions.

Any impact on positions?: Absolutely. This is one of the most crucial reasons for the activity check beyond reorganising the site, and knowing what apps and threads we can archive appropriately. We're trying to kick PH into high gear this summer, and positions are an incredibly important part of doing so. Their authorities and sway in organisations, as well as obligations for holding leadership roles, will mean that characters sitting in impactful positions in organisations must offer and maintain a degree of activity. That said, we will be implementing a minimum post count for characters or members holding these positions, though the numbers have yet to be determined. Like reward incentives, if you have ideas, do present it to us. The goal is to ensure that organisations do not stagnate, as that has been a rampant issue in the past.

Organisation Shifts: There's going to be a LOT of changes to organisations. Though its ultimately up to the organisation leaders to determine their structures, in an attempt to better match the quantity of organisations to the number of active characters and member on site, as well as simplifying the available organisations based on the intents and goals of the organisations so we're not dividing the options by hairs, we will be consolidating organisations together or abolishing inactive and unused organisations. Furthermore, there will be waves of movement in each organisation to better represent their status on site as a result of member propelled events and changes through In-Character threads and roleplay.

Shadow Fall: The biggest point to draw from Shadow Fall is that there should be some civil unrest. The actions of Mana Asthavon have grown more and more menacing and indiscriminate of those around her, especially following the emergence of Black World and the destruction of the moon. Additionally, wars between nations, such as Inami Asthavon invading Sirsa, Nami Asthavon defecting to K-World with Vicara under her dominion, or the rampant flares of arrancar supremacists and separatists in Hueco Mundo, Shadow Fall is having quite a bit of internal conflict. For staff members to approach on Shadow Fall events, you may want to talk to either Frost, Dark, Chi, or Shizuo, for their expertise on Shadow Fall as well as being the staff members tasked with SF matters. You can still talk to other staff member on these matters, as we're all generally well informed on all organisations, but those staffers are the ones delegated Staff-related responsibilities over SF.

Gotei United: The Gotei has come a long way from its repeated invasions and setbacks, and now we can comfortably say that it has stabilised. After Demon Incursion, the changes in leadership, bursts of activity and mini-events for the Gotei, as well as the emergence of old and new characters with considerable strength taking up impactful positions in the organisation; all these things have led to the Gotei being strong enough to look past rebuilding itself. That said, there's an expectation for a wave of missions to come about, drawn by the captains (staff and members alike) to take a more active role in events and situations beyond the scope of Soul Society alone. For Gotei matters, Henrex and JJ are the experts to approach, given their roles as captains, as well as both having many Shinigami-based characters. Just like with SF, you can approach any staff member concerning questions or suggestions, etc., but they are the staffers tasked with the Gotei specifically.

Guild of Heroes: Its status is ambiguous right now, especially since a large quantity of its characters are no longer active. Additionally, the structure of the Guild of Heroes isn't the same as what's generally expected of an organisation. That in mind, there's a consideration for the guild to be downgraded to a faction, though they will keep their assets and resources since those have been formally established and built up reasonably. Another possible outcome is a merger with other earth-based protag orgs. Frost is the main staff member responsible for the guild, so approach him.

Yayjuu/Vizard Corps/Vanguard: The Karakura trifecta, and the bulk of the earth-based protagonist organisations. They've all operated closely for so long now, and the discussion has been a public matter for over a year now, so it's no surprise that the intent to merge the Yayjuu, Vizard Corps, and Vanguard is closer to becoming a reality than ever before now. We fully intend to go through with this, though not immediately. All three orgs aren't particularly active, with almost the sole exception of Kai actively trying to keep the Vanguard involved and afloat. There will be discussions with members of each organisation and how we intend to progress with the merger's structure, the assumption being a three-pronged leadership between the previous leaders of Yayjuu, Vizard Corps, and Vanguard. Go to S_E and Frost for the these matters.

Iramasha Union: Not much change with the Iramasha Union. The priority for them is to get more active, develop incentives to make Iramasha characters and members of the organisation, advertise them, and most of all condense the entire organisation since it's structured way larger than it needs to be. Go To Frost with interests in the Iramasha, with S_E as a secondary.

K-World: Pretty much, we're just waiting on word between Frost and Kyle for their vision on where they want K-World to go. That said, go to the two of them for information.

Sugiuran Hierarchy: One of the biggest changes on-site. With no active Sugi characters, no involvement in any on-site plots whatsoever, and the whole idea of the Sugi Realm only really being accessible to Sugis or those traveling with the Sugis, there's no activity or reason to involve the Sugiuran Hierarchy, and more importantly, the Sugi Realm. That said, we're planning to just have the Sugi Realm sealed off, and the organisation inactivated. You can still make Sugi characters, though they won't have their organisation or realm available for RP, as in its current state, leaving it up is useless. Go to S_E for Sugiuran matters.

Monsuta: Speaking of abolishing organisations, we also intend to do away with the Monsuta, effectively getting rid of all "neutral" organisations for the most part. Their purpose is murky, the activity generated by the Monsuta is at an all-time low, and what it offers the site isn't quite on par with what's necessary and expected of an organisation. The plan is pretty much to establish an IC thread where the Monsuta's destruction is an actualised event, so unlike the Sugi Hierarchy, it will be much harder to reestablish the Monsuta. Shizuo is the staffer in charge of Monsuta matters.

Vastime: In exchange for consolidating multiple organisations as well as abolishing some others, there's potential for Vastime to be formally recognised as an organisation on-site. It already has the resources and In-Character influence, the only difference for the most part is for Vastime to be advertised as an organisation and officially supported by the site.

III. Upcoming Events


Central Plot: It's been building up and bubbling for a while now, nearly a year now since we've aimed to go through with a site-wide event once more, something as large as previous events such as WW3 and the Ender War. This summer, we're planning to really put those aims into gear and actualise something tangible. All the updates with the organisations is also for the sake of preparing this event.

What can I expect?: Right now, the majority of build-up for this upcoming event is being developed very organically. The formation of Vastime, rebuilding of the Gotei, destabilisation of Shadow Fall, inactivity from various other orgs less involved with Earth, will all culminate to an all out war that honestly won't surprise anyone. In fact, we may just slip into a global conflict so smoothly, it'll take a minute to really recognise that. For now, just be updated with worldly matters and events, and you'll be more than informed enough of the direction of the site. Furthermore, this event can easily spark into a chain of events which eventually expand the scope of the war and change PH lore forever.

The purpose for pushing this forward?: We want something to actively engage everyone on-site, really spark some activity, and offer an opportunity for power shifts on-site. Much of the old-guard characters have been in positions of power for excessively long durations, and we're taking this event as a pressure to ensure that powerhouses do not grow complacent, or they'll soon lose their heads. Additionally, it will create opportunities for new members to rise up, take leadership roles and accumulate IC feats, recognition, and status across the entire board, or opportunities for new and old members alike to do something new with their characters, have a chance at a reset or accelerated progression.

END THE INFORMATION THREAD HERE





2 - Site Newsletter Issues 8Bvy1N8


NIGHTBURST BADGES:

casual post:
Sage
Sage
Lord of the Understream
Lord of the Understream
s_e stuff
Joined : 2013-11-04
Posts : 2340

Member Info
Platinum Points:
2 - Site Newsletter Issues Left_bar_bleue74095/1000002 - Site Newsletter Issues Empty_bar_bleue  (74095/100000)
Tiers:

2 - Site Newsletter Issues Empty Re: Site Newsletter Issues

Sun Jun 10, 2018 5:28 pm
PLATINUM HEARTS NEWSLETTER


SITE NEWSLETTER ISSUE #2


I. Topic of the Newsletter

Yooo, new week, new staff meeting, and following it up is of course a new newsletter. Most of the topics we discussed are some quality of life changes to the site mechanics as well as formal decision on subjects brought up in the last newsletter. Though there were a lot things we talked about, the majority of them were brief, so this newsletter will likely be a lot shorter. Largely because the topics will inevitably have their own, brand new threads dedicated to their changes. So, without further ado, let's dive right into it.
II. Site Updates


Platinum Points: That's right, folks--you heard it here first! We're finally transitioning PH into a Pay-to-Play and Pay-To-Win dynamic! Not really, but we did finally come to a decision to be implemented ASAP regarding the revamp on PH's currency. Previously, we had Yen, with Awesome Points as a secondary that in reality acted similarly to a secondary currency with just more focus on IC supplements--mostly upgrades. For the most part, Platinum Points will be following that IC supplement focus more-so than being a global currency.

So how do they work?: Platinum Points operates as a replacement for both Yen and Awesome Points, and beyond that, something similar to an EXP system. The awesome points system code-wise will just be replacing Awesome Points, where they will be manually added, and in turn increase that bar under your avatar and profile information.

How do you earn them?: The easiest method is being awarded PP through activity checks. Since activity checks will become a regular thing, there will always be a stable and cemented method of earning PP. You will be rewarded the points based off the threads you've made and participated in, apps you've created and furthermore finished, events participated in and IC impacts you've made, etc.

Outside of the activity checks, as the primary and sole currency as well as a rewards-based allotment, you can earn points through participating in events (separate from mentioning them in your Activity Checks), completing missions, or even just outright completing a dank thread and submitting it into the Awesome Points board (will be renamed, obv), where staff will go through the threads you've submitted, acknowledge the progressions and character development you've done, and correspondingly award PP.

On top of that, holding positions in organisations is another method, though they won't just be a steady salary like it used to be with Yen. Making missions for your organisation, coordinating plots, and meaningfully acting with that position to create more content and interactions on-site.

What can we use it on?: As the sole currency, Platinum Points can be spent on color changes, buying titles, buying boards--but surprisingly, not equipment. Generally, equipment is obtained either IC, through plots, or having a sensible relation to whatever supplier can offer that equipment to make it reasonable that your characters possess that equipment. Of course, there can be exceptions and certain equipments depending on their scope and application may require Platinum Points, but it'll basically operate off on a case-by-case basis in that instance.

The biggest change will be that submitting power upgrades will also require Platinum Points. When you submit an upgrade thread, normally you include reasons why your character deserves that upgrade, what sort of stuff you're adding onto them, and the threads or proof of basically earning that upgrade. If it gets approved? Then we'll also deduct points from your account equal to the contents of your upgrade. Though it can feel limiting in terms of submitting upgrade applications, one of the reasons is to moderate the amount of upgrade threads going through. This ensures qualitative changes to your character, promotes bulkier upgrades instead of spamming the board with small changes or additions, and most of all emphasize the importance of extensive character development to supplement and justify those upgrades. Especially since those threads are also how you earn Platinum Points to begin with. The work you put in reaps its rewards.

Activity Checks: The discussion we had over activity checks was mostly just coming to formal decisions and better outlining the specifics. Not much has changed from the original plan and information we put out in the last newsletter. You can expect the first mandatory activity check to come out by this weekend, as it'll be the new month by then.

Rewards for the check?: It was already mentioned earlier, but basically the reward comes down to Platinum Points. Since these points also govern over upgrade threads as well, it becomes dramatically easier to offer rewards since the wide variety is all consolidated through one system. Exceptional activity noted in your activity check could potentially garner special rewards outside of PP if a staff member particularly recognises the amount of work you put into the past few months or since the last activity check.

Post Limit for Positions: Those who hold positions need to hold it properly, as sitting in it when another character could potentially hold that position--and the owner of that character expresses interest in utilising that position to do some work with the organisation and really take advantage of its role and fulfill their responsibilities--would be unfair to both them and the organisation as a whole. We're not going to make any excessive demands, but at least some sort of assurance that position holders actually do something with their role.

So basically, we're going to ask that you at least have five posts within those two months with that positioned character, and put it in your activity check post. This first activity check will be exempt from that requirement, and beyond that there will be some exceptions and leniency based on circumstance. Namely, members who hold multiple positions, so maintaining at least five posts with all of them can be difficult and tasking.

Some other exceptions include but aren't limited to: notifying that you'll be going on a sabbatical or have some sort of IRL reason (like going on vacation, troubles, etc.), having positions that either aren't super highly valued or sought after, or having a position that has a lot of other available sister positions at the same level of authority. Since, if there are vacancies, there's no reason you really have to specifically go for an already filled role if your intent is to just offer some activity or plans of your own for the organisation and pushing a site-wide plot forward, so on and so forth.

Basically, if you feel like there's a good reason why you couldn't or shouldn't have had to maintain those 5 posts minimum in the span of two months, just let us know and we'll hash things out and come to a decision.

Memberbase Meeting: Frost already put out a notice for when we're having it, what we plan to do, etc.. This topic is mostly just being mentioned here since it was a topic of discussion during our staff meeting. There are also a few smaller points that would be nice to let you guys know ahead of time, so when the event actually goes down, you'll know what to expect.

Text-Channel: For a limited time, we'll have a new text-channel up on the discord in preparation for the event, where everyone can input their thoughts, concerns, ideas, pretty much anything with the intent of improving the site, staff team, or community as a whole. To make sure the inevitable sidebar conversations and cluttering messages won't override the main points mentioned in the channel, we'll also pin the decisions or responses offered to the suggestions and concerns in the chat.

Voice-Channel: We'll also be hosting a voice call, though it'll be heavily moderated. At most, only one member will be unmuted at a time to avoid clutter in the voice call and have some clarity and order. Please do try to limit or at least condense the amount of stuff you want to convey through the call, as there may be others waiting to get their voice out on some topics. If you have a lot to say in bulk and all at once, it may just be easier to have that all put out all at once in the text-channel.

Transcribing: Staff members will basically transcribe the contents of the call and put it into the text-channel as we go, simplifying what's said to the main points that address the suggestion, question, or outlines the decisions we've come to and responded with. That way, it'll be figuratively written in stone and available for quick and easy reference for people who missed what's been said, so on so forth.

Discord Roles: Frost has already gone ahead and given a Tenure designation, show-casing a member's experience on PH. We also already have roles for people who are in organisations, and now we're going to be adding some other designations that'll point out some things a member has under their belt.

Roles to be expected: We're planning on adding in roles for members with expertise in certain areas, who are recognised by the community to have that experience with these areas. Namely, members who are better at advising or informing people on things like the specific races, organisational activities, or historical expertise. For example, Henrex would be particularly knowledgeable on the Gotei and Shinigami as a whole; Gin would be real good with Arrancar, Kyle with K-World and Rakshasa. There may also be roles that denote a special position a character of yours holds.

The purpose for these roles?: Besides just flexing on these newbs or even veterans on how you're a subject matter expert or have a lot of influence in certain organisations, more than anything it's for people with questions or suggestions, with roles making it easier to find who specifically would be a respected authority on the subject. That way, they can address it towards the people properly relevant to it, and members with that expertise can appropriately answer the people. As, if you were interested in Vastime, but didn't know who the regent authority on Vastime matters was? Or that stupid fuck Morph changed his name again? If you wanted to know about something to do with Iramasha and Frost is unavailable, but that lazy ass S_E goes ahead and changes her name to something else like she does every other week so you have no idea how to mention them because they show up as offline? Well, you get the point. It also serves as an achievement to offer a sense of pride and accomplishment kappa.

Skill Sheets: Likely one of the biggest updates to the site! Earlier in the year following the Mass Archival, we made an update to the Skill Sheets and increased it from five levels to ten levels. Since then, we've decided that ten levels was excessive, though an increase in general was still a great idea, as considering the progress and expansion PH has made, five now seems insufficient.

SO, we've decided to retain two of the new levels: Untrained, and Elite. Untrained, as there wasn't really something that appropriately defined a character entirely lacking in the respective skill with the original skill sheets, and Elite, as having an in-between for the original Master and Grand Master would do well to fill the overwhelming skill gap and once more re-emphasise how rare and powerful Grand Master is.

Other than that, the original skill sheet levels will retain their same proficiency originally denoted (though we're still going to be revamping some of the skill levels, like how Frost had already revamped the General Skills). The racial skill sheets in particular are split up and assigned to different staff members, so if you'd like to ask questions about those skill sheets, please approach the delegated staff members.

    Arrancar Racials: JJ
    Demon Racials: Frost, Shizuo, Dark
    Human Racials: Chi
    Iramasha Racials: Frost (Nature - JJ)
    Quincy Racials: Shizuo
    Shinigami Racials: Henrex (Vizards - JJ)
    ___

    General Skills: Frost
    Will Skills: S_E


END THE INFORMATION THREAD HERE





2 - Site Newsletter Issues 8Bvy1N8


NIGHTBURST BADGES:

casual post:
Sage
Sage
Lord of the Understream
Lord of the Understream
s_e stuff
Joined : 2013-11-04
Posts : 2340

Member Info
Platinum Points:
2 - Site Newsletter Issues Left_bar_bleue74095/1000002 - Site Newsletter Issues Empty_bar_bleue  (74095/100000)
Tiers:

2 - Site Newsletter Issues Empty Re: Site Newsletter Issues

Sun Jun 24, 2018 1:28 am
PLATINUM HEARTS NEWSLETTER


SITE NEWSLETTER ISSUE #3


I. Topic of the Newsletter

It's about time I put up another newsletter, and this one will double as being a recap of all the topics discussed in the memberbase meeting, as well as topics went over by staff in their subsequent private meeting--though many of the topics in the staff meeting were about answering the memberbase meetings. Nevertheless, there are a lot of topics to cover, so let's just jump straight into it. By the way, if you want the logs on the discord memberbase meeting textchannel, we have that too.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/i31oo7j6kk5sv5q/Bleach_Platinum_Hearts_Server_-_memberbase_meeting_text.html/file
II. Intrapersonal Recap


Current Staff: The first topic brought up during the memberbase meeting, and a real important one to assess how the current roster matches up to the members from their viewpoint. There was some good stuff gone over, some stuff we could work on, but for the most part the reception seemed positive. I'll recap what was said for each person mentioned and general things staff have done well on or can improve.

General Opinions: MWD said he wanted Xat back, but thankfully since it's MWD we can just outright invalidate what he said (Kappa). That aside, it seems like most of the members who commented are at a consensus that we've been doing well so far, with some minor logistics and improved interaction with the memberbase to pick up.

Frost: Someone said they'd like to see him interact with the members more. This is something Frost has been working on for a while now, and in spurts he gets engaged, though a lot of the time IRL loads have him preoccupied, which is understandable. IRL will always take precedence over RP. Hopefully this summer he can get some time to interact with the member base more.

S_E: People mainly said I do well with application checking, and that I thoroughly look through the apps without outright denying portions, and instead working to get these abilities at an approvable status as well. That said, I still feel like I can work on getting people's apps to meet the standard at which they wish to be able to RP at, despite it being a larger workload for both of us. Other than that, I feel like I need to work on my IC activity a lot more.

Chi: People just flamed Chi, smh.

What can we improve on?: It's been said there's quite a bit of clutter on the board, specifically in the character creation section in terms of racial specs being split apart more than necessary, or the organisations being all over the place with their information. In response, Frost and I have worked on condensing the boards and threads, over all cleaning up navigation on the site.

Outside of that, the Mass Archival situation is still there. To answer that, we moved the board into the normal archives board, and I personally went through a large amount of MA apps, as well as coordinated the Activity Check to know which apps needed to be archived as the people who owned them would no longer be active on PH.

Another subject was a disconnect after joining, mostly referring to not knowing what to do once the first character has been approved. In response, we've been working on a FAQ guide, some synopses guides, as well as information guides to just generally make it easier for newer members or those with lesser understanding on the site more better consume the information and integrate into the community.

Someone commented on staff members not being as expansively involved with the orgs, which is something harder to fix. Especially since we've taken the staff members and had them put more focus individually on the organisations they have characters in, so it makes it easier from both an OOC and IC standpoint to get involved and spark activity. Hopefully in the coming weeks we can get more characters or events out there for everyone, not just staff members, to get more involved in everything across the site.

A big subject is making more missions, especially for lower tier characters. As it is, some have said it's difficult to participate in larger events without a zero-tier, and this has been an issue before in the past, so we'll definitely be getting more missions catered to a lower tier crowd to be able to get them progressed as characters as well as more involved. And this shouldn't just be done for lower tier characters, but with neutral characters as well.

What are we doing well?: People have said we've done well to greet new members and maintain activity on site. We've also done well for the most part in terms of checking applications, and just generally being on top of our responsibilities as a whole, performing professionally, not exhibiting favouritism, and getting things done in a timely manner.

Old Staff: A bit more of a touchy subject, but one Frost brought up--I presume for closure and to end any speculation or floating words in the air. And, most of the opinions stated was that things felt too serious, as if this wasn't a place to RP but some place where you had obligations for. Which, in a sense was understandable, and there's an expectation to responsibly handle what you signed up for, but at the same time PH ultimately is an online community where we have fun as a hobby and connect with one another, and I suppose moving forward we should really focus on that aspect.

III. IC/OOC Changes


What Orgs and Races need help?: A subject we went over to see which areas on the site could use some improvement and activity to help interactions throughout flourish better. We got some good feedback on this, and are jumping towards getting things moving along in response.

Race: One of the races we were told need some focus on helping is the Iramasha, which makes sense. They've been a longstanding race on here, and in construct are beings that easily rival Shadow Fall and demons as a whole; it's unfortunate that attention hasn't been put on them, and hopefully we'll be able to do something with this by making the information on their race easier to understand and easier to create.

Another race were Quincies. As it's known, I personally don't care about Quincy, they're the abominable cousins of the Human Master Race, but it's a race of interest that members have asked for hopefully seeing more activity for them, and that being said, we'll be looking to get them out more and better describe their evolution as a race apart from canon, since they're comparatively underdeveloped and much of their higher-tier content revolves around the 1000 year war arc from canon that never happened on PH.

Finally, werebeasts, another abominable sub-race of the Human Master Race that I personally don't care about. That said, just like Quincies, it was brought up as a race of interest, and in light of that Crow has noted getting on making them better equipped for 2018, hopefully with the help of JJ as the co-creator of the race.

Organisations: Naturally, if Iramasha are a race of interest brought up, the Iramasha Union are to follow. We'll be trying to get them active as one of the few orgs that would on equal terms be capable of contesting with Shadow Fall, and furthermore put them as key parties in the upcoming events, as well as condensing the information in their org threads (which we've already started on) to make it easier to make characters for them. Frost and I have discussed what we should do moving forward, and we'll be implementing these actions in the coming weeks.

Another organisation of interest is K-World, and thankfully there are some people with interest in it, to include myself and Taichou, as its the only other antagonist organisation on site at the moment, though their relationship with Shadow Fall is best described as "rocky". I've discussed things with Kyle in terms of what he's comfortable with moving forward, and for the most part we can begin to get the ball rolling for K-World, so hopefully there's some activity and further interest generated there.

Vandenreich is another subject of interest, though they aren't an organisation but a faction. The parties involved, namely Crow, Owl, and Shizuo, as members with positions in the Vandenreich, will be in charge of getting them to move forward, and discussions on their inclusion with the upcoming events has already been discussed with some conclusion.

Finally, the Vanguard, Vizard Corps, and Yayjuu were all discussed, but seeing as there will be a merger coming around, the anticipation for activity to be generated in them as an Earth-based protagonist force seems like a given, so once that gets done and their overall revamp is put into play, we'll see where things go before getting on with putting additional efforts.

Events for the races and orgs?: You can expect all these orgs to have things along the lines of recruitment missions, for both new and existing characters, and condensation of their information threads to make them more accessible. The rewarsd involve Platinum Points, tier leniency to match up to the positions, and in general some missions for them to get started off in the orgs and inspire activity.

People for Positions: During this subject, we talked about who was interested in getting positions in organisations and who people recommended for these positions, mainly to give them an IC status that helps promote activity for the organisations, as well as giving them opportunities to have some decisions and say in the way the orgs move. The intent is to help keep organisational activity organic and allow members opportunities for management and leadership roles, give them easier access to creating missions and events for the org, and overall promote activity for the whole site.

Recommended People: Gin was a recommendation, seeing as he has org-leader level characters as well as an interest in hollow independence from Shadow Fall, a large factor in the chaos revolving around the organisation. Things have been discussed with Gin in terms of getting his side of the event moving forward, and it's mostly a waiting game for other important prologue events.

Kai as the de facto leader of Vanguard more or less, as well as the most active leading character in the organisation, and especially with activity revolving around Vanguard; unfortunately, with Extinguishing Hope and the upcoming Summit, it's also a bit of a waiting game to see that move along.

Absentee and Crow have both expressed interest in things moving forward with the Gotei, as well as the recently returning Rawk as he's another captain in the Gotei; there's been discussion with both in terms of creating tangible progress and interaction for the organisation; you can expect actual things to happen in the coming weeks, though naturally they won't be publicly discussed until it actually happens.

Interested People: Taichou mentioned willingness to get involved in both Shadow Fall and K-World leadership, and I personally approached her asking about how she'd like to go about this. That said, thankfully since I also got into contact with Kyle concerning K-World, we can have some missions come up in the next few weeks to be involved in the event prologue.

Lillian expressed interest with Khalaism, and as JJ and Frost are the main members in the site dealing with the religion, it'll be up to them to be in contact with Lillian to see what sorts of things they can accomplish together.

Rook also expressed interest in K-World, and just like Taichou I personally got into contact with him to see what we can do regarding that.

All in all, we're still open to members expressing interest in getting involved, and for those who even aren't yet adapted or fully aware of all the things generally expected of leadership level characters to know, there's opportunities to be trained up to the appropriate level of understanding.

IV. Resolving Issues


Demons Overpowered: Several members earlier this month brought up a general concern with the power level of demons in general on-site. They have resources, they have a god on their side, and their main organisation at the moment is easily and uncontested the strongest organisation at the moment. So, it was a topic of discussion for staff, and here's what we have for that.

Why are they the strongest?: Well, demons aren't literally the strongest--in concept, at least. It just came up to be this way through organic development. Shadow Fall wasn't always the strongest organisation--in fact, they were built on the shambles of their predecessor org, so in a sense for some time they were the weakest. Additionally, their capacity to attack other organisations with little fear of consequence is a result of the organisation naturally being built stronger and stronger, with more characters and resources at their disposal than anyone due to activity sparking around them, and as a result attracting a lot of attention and thereon sparking more activity, so on and so forth. So, in a sense, it's difficult to answer their overpoweredness since it was done naturally, and one thing we value on PH is the organic development of characters and organisations.

What are we doing to answer this?: Nevertheless, it was a concern brought up by members, so we're not just going to leave it at that. Primarily, Frost and I aim to condense Shadow Fall similarly to other organisations, and furthermore better define Traditional Demons, as a part of the concern was their overwhelming freedom of thematic and general malleability as a race to do anything and everything. Of course, they're not solely the ones who can do this, as many races have a lot of that freedom, Humans and Iramasha are big ones. The other demon sub-races are generally more well defined and in a sense more restricted with how they can be built. So, Traditional Demons should be getting a bit of a revamp to better define them and answer this issue. On top of that, there should be a bit of work done on Demon Magic, as its largely considered their most powerful asset in that it allows obnoxious degrees of freedom with demons to basically do whatever the hell they want, and the only race with a similar freedom is the Iramasha's Aether Spells--which people seem to not want to get active with, so it really seems like Demons are the only ones and therefore overpowered as a result.

Understanding the Site: Another longstanding issue is for some people to better understand the site, the information on the board, and how to navigate or know everything about PH. Likewise with the last topic, there's reasons that this came about, and things we intend to accomplish to answer this issue.

Why is this the case?: A large factor for PH being complicated and difficult to understanding, to be frank, is member unwillingness to read a lot of the information threads we already have out. Time and time again, we come across questions asked by literally anyone, or even times when members and staff alike answer questions or make statements spreading misinformation, and a lot of the time this sort of thing is easily answered by linking the thread with information literally written out, information that people just haven't bothered to read.

What we're going to do about it: Unfortunately, this is also due to a lot of information being hard to find on the site, threads that are difficult to read and understand, and a lot of information that required being intuitively understood or grasped with time and experience on the site, since some stuff isn't clearly stated, also to be frank. As a result, myself and Frost have put out a lot of guides to get things straightened out and better understood, and we intend to get more threads out for this. This includes condensing information on races, organisations, getting a condensed plot guide out that explains what's happened in PH's history, better defining the changes to these races over time, writing an app-guide explaining what it takes for certain tiers, and even writing an ability guide better explaining how to properly construct one in a manner that makes abilities more easily reviewed and approvable. Over time, we'll get through simplifying everything or just having it outright stated so that there's no confusion.
END THE INFORMATION THREAD HERE





2 - Site Newsletter Issues 8Bvy1N8


NIGHTBURST BADGES:

casual post:
Sage
Sage
Lord of the Understream
Lord of the Understream
s_e stuff
Joined : 2013-11-04
Posts : 2340

Member Info
Platinum Points:
2 - Site Newsletter Issues Left_bar_bleue74095/1000002 - Site Newsletter Issues Empty_bar_bleue  (74095/100000)
Tiers:

2 - Site Newsletter Issues Empty Re: Site Newsletter Issues

Wed Jul 04, 2018 7:00 pm
PLATINUM HEARTS NEWSLETTER


SITE NEWSLETTER ISSUE #3


I. Topic of the Newsletter

Since this staff meeting was conducted abruptly and with very specific topics in mind to address, the primary topics we discussed are pretty few, and the bulk of our meeting was addressing these few topics with heavy consideration. That said, this newsletter's gonna be pretty brief, and chances are the next one will have much more stuff to cover and subsequently outline and spread out in another newsletter. So, without further ado:

LINK TO LOGS: Staff Inactivity and Grading Discussion Logs

II. Intrapersonal Recap


Staff Inactivity: This topic was much more direct and specific than any =interpersonal topic we've had before, but it needed to be addressed. The majority of the conversation was hashing out the concerns of the member-base regarding inactivity of individuals on the staff team. We had a few resolutions come from this, ones that will hopefully have a lasting impression and properly achieve the goals of our staff team, as well as reinstating some faith in the staff team in areas we've been lacking in.

Staff Issues Channel: The main resolution from our discussion was the establishment of the Staff Issues Channel. Right under staffhelp, the purpose is to give members a platform for which to address issues they have with staff in any sort of manner. Reason being, it can be hard to approach us for certain things, and some people outright don't know that you can approach us for these things. It needs to be known, while staff hold a lot of executive and administrative power on the site, it's ultimately for the benefit of the site, and as a result we also need members to hold us accountable for things we aren't doing, that we can and should be doing--or vise versa. Hopefully Staff Issues enables that better.

Grading Inconsistency: Another topic addressed that members brought up was the inconsistency of grading staff has. Though it's inevitable that we are going to have differences in our grading of characters, equipment, upgrades, etc., it's an area of concern that the difference is blatantly large, to the point where you could potentially ask a staffer to grade your stuff with the intent of taking advantage of their leniency, or conversely take advantage of their strictness if you're the self-critical type. To respond, within this week staff will have a character application picked out for all of us to individually and separately grade. Later, we'll compare and contrast the differences of our results, and use what we find to build a better grading guide and rubric, hopefully closing that gap as much as we can.

To-Do List: We made a to-do list for this week--and this may be a habit we'll carry over into other meetings depending on how it works out--as an outline of what work we need to get done individually in efforts to point out to each staff member what sort of things need to be done. Even with the staffhelp channel, it can be difficult to recognise what needs to be accomplished on site outside of long-term projects which won't see immediate results and fruition, so when unchecked apps or face claims is left empty, knowing what areas we can be proactive in can be difficult to pin-point. I'll publicise the To-Do List here to let members know what we're going to be getting done as well, this way it will be known whether or not we really did accomplish these tasks; as always, hold us accountable for our responsibilities.

Frost:
- Staff Bot
- Work on Traditional Demons and Demon Racials
- propel events

S_E:
- Work on characters
- plots, etc., my own member work
- Progress Iramasha Union and K-World once i get the two characters for them done
- Do the new site newsletter

Henrex:
- Shinigami Racials

Dark:
- finish Seha with Jay
- Grade Suzu
- mission for Shadow Fall with Arianda as a Grand Duchess
- discuss with Taichou and Lillian on participation in Shadow Fall matters
- make racial synopses on demons

Shizuo:
- Arrancar Racials
- Get Extinguishing Hope done and move on with Inami activity
- Get posting with Mana topic

JJ:
- Update Vizard Racials
- Make Gotei Mission for Stealth Force sabotaging Demon World
- Gotei Newsletter

Staff Changes: The reason for the To-Do List naturally correlates to the issues brought up with staff inactivity, and we've resolved to make some changes with our roster, most of these changes being potential, one of them having already been put into practice. In lieu of Chiraisu's inactivity as a whole on PH as a result of IRL priorities taking hold of most of her time, she's for the time being relieved from her staff duties. When life is more manageable for her and the opening is in place, she may be given another chance, but for the time being it's found by herself and ourselves in her best interest to not having Platinum Hearts be a place of duty for her. On the other hand, unless their activity is brought up to par and showcased, other staff members may be let go of as well, however this next week will be something of a warning period or second chance, as it's not fair to abruptly blindside them with an out of nowhere ultimatum without some degree of prior notice.

III. IC/OOC Changes


IC Consequences: Some members brought up a good point of many in-character interactions that generally make no sense, or wouldn't be conducted so frivolously or easily, going by without a care for the gravity of their situation. In general, there's been a lack of consequence for in-character interactions, and while there's going to be a level of leniency in keeping things consistent in-character, seeing as this is just an RP forum where we all gather to have fun and write in a foreign world, at the same time there still needs to be a level of sensibility held. For that, we're going to be addressing some characters and relationships, actions, or position on-site that would rationally speaking hold a level of consequence for it in response to some other aspect of the characters' lives.

END THE INFORMATION THREAD HERE





2 - Site Newsletter Issues 8Bvy1N8


NIGHTBURST BADGES:

casual post:
Back to top
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum