X-Men: Retribution's October Newsletter - February 2nd, 2006

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
Site of the Month
Code Updates
Plot Info
State of the Plot
In the Margins - bits and bobs
Feedback Loop - your letters
Classifieds

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Paradigm Shift

To Log or Not to Log

I've noticed that not many of our players have been submitting logs
lately. While it certainly is your prerogative to share your private RP,
I thought I would take a few moments in this month's newsletter to explain
why posting logs can really help benefit the game.

1) It's Good PR. As a fledgling game, we must always be thinking how to
attract more players. I'm not interested in making us the biggest X-game
out there, but I do want us to be the best. That means maintaining enough
active players so that RP is always available when someone is looking.
And one way prospective players judge our game is by our posted logs. An
active logs page suggests that the game is active, and quality logs are
probably some of the best and most influential advertising we can do.

2) It Helps Staff Keep Up to Speed. We try to stay involved as staff, but
we can't keep track of everything going on. But I read every single log
from start to finish before I send it through to the list. This gives me
a way to see where there might be gaps in plots or things to do. It gives
me an idea of what areas of the grid are popular, so that we can build
more areas like that. It also provides good backup if you apply for an
upgrade. Without logs, we have to assume your character has done the IC
work necessary to get them from point A to point B, but we have no real
way to see how true this is. You don't have to provide logs to back up
your upgrade requests, but they certainly don't hurt your case. Posting
plenty of logs also gives us the impression that you are an active and
involved character and it may mean a bigger role for you in future plots
as we can see that you're able to handle the responsibility.

3) It Keeps Other Players Involved. Even when they're not RPing with you,
letting the other players have some idea what's going on with your
character can keep you on their radar. Perhaps they see that you've come
up with an interesting new angle on your character and maybe now they
think they'll make that extra effort to seek you out for RP. Perhaps a
teacher or leader sees that your character is excelling or struggling with
something and works to arrange a one-on-one session with you. But people
can't know if you don't tell them.

4) It Builds a Sense of Community. XMR is a cooperative effort. Each and
every one of the players has an equal opportunity to have an influential
role in shaping the plot of the game. When lots of players are submitting
their logs, it helps the game mesh better. Otherwise, sometimes the left
hand doesn't know what the right is doing. ICly and OOCly, sharing what's
going on with your character can help make other people feel connected,
even when they aren't RPing themselves.


Now, I will finish out this article with a few caveats. These are common
sense, I'm sure, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as
they say.

- Always make sure that the other players are willing to have the log
posted before submitting it to the list, at least if it contains any
sensitive information about their character. We're including a new field
in the +finger to help with this; see the code section further along in
the newsletter for more information.

- Make sure logs have an appropriate rating. Some people are more
sensitive to things like language, sexual innuendo, violence, and gore.
We're not saying you can't post logs containing these, but a proper rating
and warning in the header information just saves everyone a lot of
headaches. A few swears aren't going to shock anyone, but if your
character is running off at the mouth like a sailor on leave, just stick a
note in there warning people.

- Don't post explicit sexual content. In other words, please no TS logs.
What consenting adults do in the private areas of the grid is, frankly,
their business and I would like it to remain as such: their business.
Aside from being rather sensitive in nature, TS logs usually aren't nearly
as interesting for others to read as those who were taking part. Fade it
to black. If they wouldn't show it on network TV, keep it out of the
public logs.


But please, don't let these warnings scare you off. If nothing else, I
can sincerely say that I am personally interested in seeing what each and
every one of you is coming up with. There's no greater reward for running
a MU* than seeing players having fun with it and making it their own.

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Site of the Month

MUstats login tracker v0.8b

The MUstats login tracker is a most interesting site that I stumbled on by
accident one day while looking through the system logs for XMR. What
Brent Stocking has done is created a code that logs into nearly every MU*
out there once an hour and dumps their WHO count into a database. Sites
are then averaged on their peak four hours and ranked according to that
average.

So, if you're ever curious what our login numbers are like throughout the
day, you can see the visible WHO count for the past two weeks here:
http://bristol.riverdark.net/tracker/sheet.php?mud=X-Men:_Retribution

And if you just want to see the rankings themselves, you can do so here:
http://bristol.riverdark.net/tracker/tracker.php?sort=wp&start=1

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Code Updates

This month we've added a new field to the +finger listing. You can now
set your 'logs' field with '&logs me=<text>'. You can use this to note
that you post all logs unless told otherwise, for instance. Or you can
use it to indicate that you give your consent for any log that you're in
to be posted. Alternatively, you can request that people ask you on a
case-by-case basis, and so on.

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Plot Info

And Intro From the Plot-Wiz
by Alice


Greetings!

For those who don't know me, I'm Alice, XMR's plot and building Wizard. I
have been MU*ing for just over twelve years and have worn a variety of
"staff hats" on quite a few different games. Admittedly, this is my first
staff position on an X-Men game, so I hope my experience serves you all
well!

I'm hoping to deal with plots in a few different ways on XMR:

1. Personal Plots:

I would really love to work with you all on any personal plot lines you
might like to explore. Does your character have any loose ends in their
background that you would like tied up or at least explored? Have you
recently had some RP that opens up problems for your character that you
would like to solve or dig deeper into? Perhaps your character wants to
'come out' to her parents about being a mutant or mutant-supporter... or
even an anti-mutant person.

Whatever your more personal plot might be, I'd love to work with you to
get these things either dealt with, muddled up more, or just explored. And
remember, the more the merrier, so we can try to think of ways to drag in
a few people around your character, if those players are interested. If
there is something going on in your character's personal life, it's not
going to happen in a bubble. Others will feel the ramifications from it,
certainly. So just @mail *PLOT with some of the details and I'd be happy
to work with you on it.

2. Public Plots:

Here and there, I will be running public scenes that anyone who may be
interested can join. These may be festivals, parades, shows, conferences
or any other social events. In some, there might be a "big bad" tossed at
participants. With others, it might just simply be an opportunity to get
out and mingle with other characters that you may not normally get a
chance to RP with.

These scenes may be announced ahead of time on the bboards, forum,
mailing list and LiveJournal or they may occur more spontaneously if I see
a bunch of people logged on and no one's out RPing. I may either hop onto
the Public channel or do a MUSH-wide announcement at that point suggesting
that anyone who would like to RP may join me in a specified public
location on the grid.

How do you get into one of these planned or spontaneous scenes? Just
show up!

Now, some of the scenes I run may seem "one-shot" at the time but keep in
mind that you can always dig deeper, follow-up or investigate/ask
questions on anything that seems interesting, amiss, strange or 'off' to
you if you wish to. All you have to do is @mail *PLOT with your query or
request to do something about the plot and I'll get back to you on how to
proceed or what your options might be.

It's that simple. Really!

I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Alice
~ "It would be so nice if something made sense for a change."

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State of the Plot

Over the last month or so, we have had the following items spring up on
the grid:

1. The Christmas Spectacular Disaster:

When: New Year's Eve
Synopsis: On one of the biggest nights of the year for Radio City Music
Hall's "Christmas Spectacular" show, something went terribly wrong during
the performance. The entire line-up of Rockettes jumped off the stage into
the crowd, high-kicking a bloody path through the hall.

Loose Ends: Authorities were finally to subdue the dancers but were
baffled by the event. None of the women remember the ordeal and were quite
distraught by the news. Extensive tests are still being conducted.

2. Bear-Napped!

When: mid-January
Synopsis: A bear (which had been captured a week or two before by animal
control for allegedly trying to maul a boy in the city) went missing from
the Brooklyn Zoo. There was evidence of human intervention but the
authorities have no leads on the culprit or the bear. Zoo officials feel
that if there have been no reports of the bear at this time, it has either
escaped or been set loose in the wild or has, sadly, perished.

3. Bringing in the Ox

Synopsis: All over the world, Chinese are celebrating the birth of a new
year in the lunar calendar and New York's very own Chinatown is no
exception. Celebrations began just days ago and will continue for a total
of two weeks, ending with the Lantern Festival with fireworks, a parade
and lots of good wishes for the new year. Several establishments are
offering special deals and meals, and invite all to come down to celebrate
with them.

How to get involved: Players are encouraged to find their way to
Chinatown, explore the two new shop locations and consider adding the
festivities as flavour in their RP. Ask Alice to run NPCs or background
noise/ambiance if she's around and free to do so. All are invited to the
Lantern Festival scene on Sunday, February 12th/06 at 9/10pm EST; @mail
*PLOT if you intend on attending.


Anyone wishing to follow-up on any plots should @mail *PLOT with their
intention, questions, strategies, etc.

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In the Margins

Brianna and Rahne are tied for top +salutes with 17 salutes each.
For more information on +salutes, see '+help salutes'.
--
+thought as of February 2nd: "I have something to say! It's better burn
out, than to fade away!"
To set your own +thought, see '+help thought'.
--
+roster stats as of February 2nd:
- Xavier's: 10 members
- Brotherhood: 4 members
- X-Men: 2 members
- Independent: 3 members
- No team set: 9 characters
We have 29 approved characters as of February 2nd
--
No +birthdays for January or February.
To set your character's birthday, see '+help birthday'.
--
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 14 logs submitted to the list in January. Thanks you guys!
Keep sending 'em in and let's see if we can't get even higher next month!
You can view our logs here: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/xmr-logs/
--
Earn +tokens to compete for prizes. Submitting a log gets you two and
staff may toss out additional ones for exceptional RP, being a nice
person, or in response to mini-challenges. @mail *STAFF for more details!

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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.
--
No classifieds submitted yet.