X-Men: Retribution's September Newsletter - September 2nd, 2004


This newsletter is posted via xmr-mush@yahoogroups.com. To join, send a
blank email to xmr-mush-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-mush/.

Alternatively, it is also posted at our forum, located at:
http://www.btvs.ca/xmr and our LJ group: xmr.

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Contents:
Paradigm Shift - a word from the head-wiz
New Characters This Month
Site of the Month
Code Updates
Plot Info
In the Margins - bits and bobs
Feedback Loop - your letters
Classifieds

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Paradigm Shift

This month, I'd like to spend a little time on the concept of consent
versus consequences. At XMR, we have both rules of consent and rules of
ICA=ICC (in-character actions = in-character consequences). Most times,
we try to let consent reign supreme, especially when it comes to combat
and other physical aspects of the game. Without consent, it would be very
difficult indeed to figure out what consequences are fair for which
actions. However, consent really relies on players being willing to work
with each other and sometimes accept that they will lose the battle.

But I think this is already made pretty clear in our newsfiles. More, it
is the matter of non-physical consent versus consequences I want to take
some time on. Generally, we try never to inflict consequences of a
non-physical nature without a player's consent. Bad things might happen
to your character, but we always try to provide an out. However, this
doesn't mean one should just completely disregard our policy of ICA=ICC.
Whenever you're doing something that may have serious consequences, you
should perhaps take a moment to consider how willing you are to accept
said consequences. For while we do our best to make sure everyone abides
by the rules of consent, sometimes characters can do things for which no
out can BE provided. Or sometimes providing the out can only be done by
being grossly unfair to other players who have done their best to play by
our rules.

So players should be aware that sometimes the rule of consent can be
overruled by our policy of ICA=ICC. It doesn't happen often and we don't
choose that path lightly, but sometimes it is the only way to be fair to
the greatest number of people.

Of course, this doesn't mean you should spend your time here paralyzed by
the fear that we may decide to do something to your character. Most of
the time we simply allow things to play out ICly, keeping an eye on them
through logs and the like. It is only those actions which have a large
effect on the game (shifting politics, power, or the like) or on a large
group of people within the game that we tend to step in on.

We are thinking of creating a +warn command in the future, with which
players and staff alike may warn other players of impending consequences
that may be hard to avoid is a certain path of action is maintained. In
the meantime however, I suggest you just stick to using common sense. If
you're particularly worried, you can always speak with staff. Most of you
will never need to worry about this.

Thank you,
Paradigm
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New Characters This Month

The following characters have joined us during the month of August.
Please do what you can to make them feel welcome:

Dakota
Falconis
Borden
Katerina
Caitlin
Rook

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Site of the Month

This month we're also going to promote another site of our own, because,
well, this is our newsletter. Last month I pointed out the forums
(http://www.btvs.ca/xmr) as a great place to converse OOCly with your
fellow players and staff. This month, I'd like to remind you all of our
LiveJournal community.

For those of you unfamiliar with the service, LiveJournal provides free
hosting of online journals. You can update it as often as you'd like or
use it simply to read journals of other friends and communities.

And now that they've done away with invite codes, you can always create
journals for your characters as well. Let us know what's going on in his
or her mind or just use it to post logs or chat OOCly. By all means,
don't be shy about posting to the community (though any really long
entries should really be put behind an LJ-cut, but there's plenty of
information on how to do that in LiveJournal's FAQ).

Like our forums, I'd really love to see our LiveJournal community grow. I
know there's some overlap between the two, but each can also provide
certain things that the other can't. The forum is more specifically
tailored to the game, providing places to put nearly anything you could
want to discuss. But LiveJournal gives you a place to put things
specifically from or about your character (or about yourself, if you'd
prefer using a personal journal) and you can add those of the other
players' to view all in one place on your friends' page.

You can visit out LJ community here:
http://www.livejournal.com/community/xmr/
To create your own account, follow the instructions on the main page:
http://www.livejournal.com.

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Code Updates

- a todo list object has been added to the Free Code Room.

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Plot Info

Investigations into the robotic beetles and the kidnapping continue.
Direct inquiries to Eeyore.

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In the Margins

Kurt maintains the lead in +salutes, now with 14. Nice work Kurt!
For more information on +salutes, see '+help salutes'.
--
+thought as of September 2nd: "Majority rule doesn't work in a mental
institution."
To set your own +thought, see '+help thought'.
--
+roster stats as of September 2nd:
- Xavier's: 11 members
- Brotherhood: 7 members
- X-Men: 5 members
- Order of Rational Parity: 3 members
- Mutancy Investigation Bureau: 1 member
- Independent: 1 member
- No team set: 13 characters
We have 41 approved characters as of August 31st.
--
August birthdays: No IC birthdays set in August.
September birthdays: Borden on Tue Sep 1 12:54:18 1992
Unity on Sun Sep 23 11:59:00 1990
--
Our Embassy on OGR is available for any game downtimes. To get there, log
onto OGR at: ogrmux.com port 6700, create a character bit, and then @tel
to #1867. The embassy can be used as a gathering place and up to two
additional rooms can be provided upon request for RP. We also have our
own channel there: XMenRetribution.
--
We had 36 logs submitted to the list in August. Thanks you guys!
Keep sending 'em in and let's see if we can't get even higher for
September!
You can view our logs here: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-logs/

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Feedback Loop

In the future, this will be a space for you to have your say. You can ask
questions or give opinions and they will be addressed here also by staff.
We will strive to include every question and opinion, but may need to
withhold or edit some for content or to reduce repetition. If your
question is not addressed here, you may always contact staff for a private
answer.

To submit a question, @mail or email (paradigm@...) Paradigm,
with the words 'Feedback Loop' in the subject line.
--
We still haven't received any feedback on our newsletter. Please feel
free to write in and let us know what you think. Is there anything that
should be included that isn't? Do you find it useful or no?

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Classifieds

In the future, this will be a space for players to post classifieds. You
can submit birthday wishes or other such greetings for specific players,
put out ads for characters/concepts you'd like to see played, bring
attention to sites or other games, or any other myriad messages.

To submit a classified add, @mail or email (paradigm@...)
Paradigm, with the words 'Newsletter Classifieds' in the subject line.
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No classifieds submitted yet.