okay so firstly... I am among one of the many who had no idea this change was being made, I am in a completely opposite timezone from everybody and so the fact that this was only announced on plurk ONCE with a week to go before AC was like... not... ideal. so I appreciate that y'all are aware of that and going to do more in the future to make the playerbase aware of changes before they're made.
someone upthread a bit said that it sounded more like "y'all can talk about it if you want but these changes are still happening," and honestly I kind of agree? I definitely understand that you can't poll the whole playerbase on every single change that's made, but activity check certainly seems like something that is important enough that there should be some opportunity for suggestion and discussion before the changes are announced or implemented.
I've been around for only four months, and I don't even think I was here for the old AC system, but it's still taken me 4 months to understand the old AC system... and now it's like "bigger better and 300x more complicated!" and I'm admittedly a little @___@ about it. this is definitely a personal problem but it makes me feel dumb that I can't figure it out and that's a little discouraging tbh :(
I think there's also a lot about the current AC post that makes things confusing. I'm just going to type it out and if anybody wants to confirm or correct me please feel free
POINTS - network threads and inbox threads = 1 point per comment - log threads = 3 points for comment - top-level at an event (where at least one section is open-to-all) = 10 points - network or log post (where at least one section is open-to-all) = 10 points - cross-canon interactions = 2 points per character (applied once per AC round per character)
BASE AC: 20 points - no fewer than 2 but no more than 4 sources for base AC - inbox threads DON'T count - could be 4 threads of 5 network comments each, 2 threads of 10 network comments each, 1 thread of 5 log comments + 1 thread of 5 network comments, etc. - if threads go over 20 points, extra points are counted as bonus AC
BONUS AC: any points over 20 - this includes overflow points from base AC (so if you collected 34 points in base AC, 14 of those points become bonus points) - inbox threads DO count - cross-canon interaction points count as bonus AC??
assuming this is more or less the gist of it, then I guess I just have a whole ass ton of questions lmao
1. the way the post is currently laid out makes it look like comments counted for base AC are 1 comment = 1 point regardless of whether they're network or log comments. in the Jim example given, it first says "Total: 34 w/2 characters = AC MADE! :D" which, at least to me, implies that those 34 comments are worth 34 points. but later is written "34 total log comments x 3 for each comment = 102 total - 20 required = 82 bonus points."
Q: if log comments are 3 points each when counted for either base AC or bonus AC, shouldn't the first example reflect that, like "4 log comments (12 points) / 30 log comments (90 points) / TOTAL: 34 comments (102 points) = AC MADE!"
2. what about network threads that become action threads? do they count as network comments or log comments? if they are counted as log comments, then does that mean players have to choose whether to use the network portion or the log portion for AC? another rule is that players can't provide 2 proofs with the same character, but if network-to-log threads are counted separately I think it needs to be made clear either that a) we can provide proof from the same character in that case or b) we can calculate the comments' value according to their content in the same line (e.g. "THREAD with Sean, 10 network + 5 log = 15 comments, 25 points").
3. as someone else said above, disallowing inbox threads as base AC as a way to keep players interactive and not in their own inboxes all the time makes sense from a certain point of view. however, I don't really understand what's different about an inbox thread vs. a closed log or closed top level. in both cases, characters aren't open to other interactions and are sticking with the same partner. so if inbox threads aren't allowed as part of base AC I guess I don't know why closed logs or toplevels would be allowed for base AC. this isn't a question mostly because I'm not sure I fully understand it RIP
4. are cross-canon points counted exclusively as part of bonus AC now? or maybe it has always been that way and I just never noticed because all interaction is cross-canon interaction for me lmao
anyway I know that modding is a super thankless job sometimes and I know you guys are doing your best, I just think that this move in particular is not really helping to make things more clear and I don't appear to be the only one struggling with it, so I hope that we'll be able to have some productive discussion and clear things up!
no subject
someone upthread a bit said that it sounded more like "y'all can talk about it if you want but these changes are still happening," and honestly I kind of agree? I definitely understand that you can't poll the whole playerbase on every single change that's made, but activity check certainly seems like something that is important enough that there should be some opportunity for suggestion and discussion before the changes are announced or implemented.
I've been around for only four months, and I don't even think I was here for the old AC system, but it's still taken me 4 months to understand the old AC system... and now it's like "bigger better and 300x more complicated!" and I'm admittedly a little @___@ about it. this is definitely a personal problem but it makes me feel dumb that I can't figure it out and that's a little discouraging tbh :(
I think there's also a lot about the current AC post that makes things confusing. I'm just going to type it out and if anybody wants to confirm or correct me please feel free
assuming this is more or less the gist of it, then I guess I just have a whole ass ton of questions lmao
1. the way the post is currently laid out makes it look like comments counted for base AC are 1 comment = 1 point regardless of whether they're network or log comments. in the Jim example given, it first says "Total: 34 w/2 characters = AC MADE! :D" which, at least to me, implies that those 34 comments are worth 34 points. but later is written "34 total log comments x 3 for each comment = 102 total - 20 required = 82 bonus points."
Q: if log comments are 3 points each when counted for either base AC or bonus AC, shouldn't the first example reflect that, like "4 log comments (12 points) / 30 log comments (90 points) / TOTAL: 34 comments (102 points) = AC MADE!"
2. what about network threads that become action threads? do they count as network comments or log comments? if they are counted as log comments, then does that mean players have to choose whether to use the network portion or the log portion for AC? another rule is that players can't provide 2 proofs with the same character, but if network-to-log threads are counted separately I think it needs to be made clear either that a) we can provide proof from the same character in that case or b) we can calculate the comments' value according to their content in the same line (e.g. "THREAD with Sean, 10 network + 5 log = 15 comments, 25 points").
3. as someone else said above, disallowing inbox threads as base AC as a way to keep players interactive and not in their own inboxes all the time makes sense from a certain point of view. however, I don't really understand what's different about an inbox thread vs. a closed log or closed top level. in both cases, characters aren't open to other interactions and are sticking with the same partner. so if inbox threads aren't allowed as part of base AC I guess I don't know why closed logs or toplevels would be allowed for base AC. this isn't a question mostly because I'm not sure I fully understand it RIP
4. are cross-canon points counted exclusively as part of bonus AC now? or maybe it has always been that way and I just never noticed because all interaction is cross-canon interaction for me lmao
anyway I know that modding is a super thankless job sometimes and I know you guys are doing your best, I just think that this move in particular is not really helping to make things more clear and I don't appear to be the only one struggling with it, so I hope that we'll be able to have some productive discussion and clear things up!