mod post: announcements re: minor cast cap change, strike policy, & mod contact!

[asgardmods]

Hi-ho, neighbors! Autumn here with two quick policy changes and a request from us, so please take a moment to read this over.

Change to Cast Caps:

Firstly, we're making a minor change regarding cast caps. Currently, all casts in game max out at 25 characters, and each canon 'universe' falls under that same umbrella (e.g. combined, the casts of all of the Assassin's Creed games could not exceed 25 shared characters.) We have recently decided that, in the interest of fairness, some spinoff series' may be given a separate "secondary" cap of ten characters. Right now, this will only directly affect the Torchwood and Doctor Who casts. (The reasoning behind this policy change is that while we still fully endorse the cast cap rule, we felt that it was slightly unfair to the Torchwood cast - it is its own fully established canon with 40+ episodes, and we didn't like the idea of the cap being hit and locking out main characters from it from apping at all.) Further cap splits will be judged on a case-by-case basis, so we hope you will come forward if you're worried about this rule negatively affecting you or your cast.

The two cast caps are now completely separate, though not entirely equal: Doctor Who and other spinoffs are still at 25, and Torchwood, as a massive spinoff sharing a universe with another canon in game, will have one of 10. If you have any questions, comments, or complaints, please feel free to address them here or via any other suggested method of mod contact! We definitely want to make our rules work for our players and not against them, so as always, make sure to let us know what we can do for you.

Change to Strike System re: Hiatus Passes:

Secondly, we have a minor change regarding the strike system and activity checks. Hiatus passes will no longer count toward clearing a strike. Strikes must now be cleared with two months' worth of submitted activity and not just by passing AC for two months. Ex: If you have a strike from January, submit 30 comments in February, and then pass with a hiatus in March, your strike will NOT be cleared until you provide 30 comments in April. Again, this is not a policy change that will affect most of you, but one we felt it would be best to announce before we began strongly enforcing.

Mod Contact on Plurk:

Finally, we love contact from you guys! Feedback, criticism, compliments, complaints - they're all great! We just want to ask that you please do not private plurk the game/modplurk! We only sign into it when we need to make announcements or link to things, and plurk notifications are often spotty at best. We don't want to miss your communication or questions - it makes us feel like jerks to leave you hanging! So please, if you need us for anything at all, use one of the other methods to reach us listed on the mod contact page. PM, email, and comments to that page are definite ways to make sure we'll see what you have to say.

Thanks again, guys! And if I was too confusing (let's face it, I probably was), definitely feel free to ask questions (or leave awful puns, I love awful puns) here.

Comments

[becauseichooseto]

I don't want this to sound like a criticism, especially as, let's be real, AIN'T NOBODY GOING TO BIG FINISH US UP IN HERE but it's a bit odd that you've chosen to separate Torchwood, who only has four seasons, and not Bernice Summerfield which has been going since Doctor Who first went off the air with the Seventh Doctor, with books and then has at least thirteen seasons and a reboot of its own?

Is it because of the aforementioned obscurity, or did you not know this, or some other reason? I just want to be clear, as I've said, I doubt there will be a demand for a separate section for it.

[asgardmods]

It's sort of a c) all of the above situation! We separated out Torchwood because - as I said - this cast cap "extension" is strictly on a case by case basis. Someone from the Torchwood cast came to us directly with concerns, so we evaluated the situation and the need and request and came to this decision. We could theoretically pre-separate things like Bernie Summerfield from Doctor Who or Angel from Buffy or Stargate Atlantis from SG-1, but unless there a specific need to evaluate a limit/cap, then we don't really see a need to!

And don't worry, it didn't sound like criticism. We want to be as transparent as possible, so questions like that are just fine!

[becauseichooseto]

I've been accused in the past! Thanks for the clarification!