Aungier House OOC

Okay, so here's how things are panning out.

Right now, Rachel and I (aka, the mod team!) are starting to wonder if this game really has legs. This absolutely isn't a slight against any of you lot- you're all really lovely and have made it worth running the game so far! But the Night Terrors event has been up for just about a week and is pretty much a dead zone right now, and given that this is a plot heavy game that requires a fair amount of participation to make the most of it that's flagging up a few warning signs for us- if this is us in our first month, how are things going to be further down the line, when participation is really going to count? It might seem premature to start making calls, but this event was scheduled to finish on July 27th and, given the pace of the game thus far, we're not really sure that bodes well. On top of that, we have very few reserves and even fewer apps, which means that it seems unlikely that any new blood will be significantly livening things up any time soon. The fact is, we're not entirely sure that so few characters can really sustain the plot.

Ultimately, this game was always going to be an experiment- running a memory loss game that also involved AUs that was also a prose game was risky from the start- and some experiments just don't pay off. We wanted to do a lot with this game, and maybe we were just overly ambitious with what could be achieved. While Aungier was designed to be fairly slow, between the plotting, events, day changes and general day to day stuff, it does take a lot of work and energy to mod, and if your interest is waning we'd really like to know so we can call it quits gracefully rather than waste everyone's time by dragging it out. As it is now, we feel like we're putting a lot in without anyone really responding to it- which itself says a lot about whether or not people are actually enjoying themselves, which is the whole point of playing in the first place. If the game isn't working, things aren't interesting or we aren't giving you enough to do, I'm not sure if we'd know how to remedy that in the future.

At present, our feeling is that we should bow out now while things are in the early stages. Your honesty would be hugely appreciated, and don't feel bad at all about being brutal. There's probably a lot we could have done differently, and some things just don't work out! ♥

EDIT: This is the Head Mod (Claire) here. The long and the short of it is, I'm going to be stepping down. I'll post a comment below explaining myself, apologising profusely and outlining what's going to happen. I'm really sorry for being such a useless mod. You all deserved better.

Hi! This is just a short update on what's been going down: we messed up. We were unclear with players and with each other on what was and wasn't acceptable in AU histories and ended up applying uneven standards to apps- which resulted in confusion and upset for our players. We're a new game working through an untested game mechanic and none of us have ever modded before, and so weren't really sure what people were going to throw at us. That doesn't excuse the mistakes we've made, but we're all committed to learning from them and not making them again.

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Thank you all for your patience with us, and please don't forget that you can always come to the mods, either via our personal contact or the concerns page, where all comments are screened.

Now that there are a few players kicking around and starting to settle in, I thought we should start to get a little more of your input regarding the manor since it's your characters that will be inhabiting it. As you probably all know by now, we have a separate page for descriptions which you can find here. What I'd like are some descriptions regarding your characters' rooms.

For example, if your character is one of the children, you can pick one of the bedrooms and write a short description for it and I'll put it on the Descriptions page for everyone's reference. Characters in roles such as the governess and tutor can also have a say in how they arrange the schoolrooms and servants can add a little personal detail (do they have letters from home or any small trinkets and so on?) to whatever bedroom they're staying in in the appropriate quarters, etc. This applies to rooms that characters have control over themselves and therefore does not extend to rooms such as the library and dining room but, if you're not sure whether you're allowed to customise a room or have any other questions, please feel free to ask.

This isn't compulsory but I think it would add a level of interactivity with the setting whilst also helping to realise the house for anyone looking for references.

You can either comment here or, if you'd prefer, send a PM!