#vacancyadmin

PLEASE LIKE THIS POST WHEN YOU HAVE READ IT.

Due to the volume of hiatus requests, as well as both admins’ schedules, we have decided to institute a game hiatus from today, Saturday, December 23rd, to Tuesday, December 26th. During this period, there will be no activity checks, and members are free to take a couple of days to rest, recharge and come back ready to write.

Members who have submitted hiatuses for periods extending beyond this timeline will be exempt. Members not on hiatus will be subject to an activity check on the 26th and required to reach out to us or post on the dash within 24 hours. After this point, roles will be reopened.

Anyone who would like to be active during the brief game hiatus is welcome to be — we are not forbidding posting! Rather, the break is intended to provide a few days of relief during this busy time, so our activity rules will not apply until Tuesday.

If you need any details clarified, please contact us on the main. Thank you, and again, happy holidays!

The game and wanted connection guidelines have been updated to reflect changes that we feel are necessary to enhance gameplay and reduce work behind the scenes.

The changes are highlighted below:

CHARACTER LIMIT: 

We have reduced the number of characters that players may join with from two to one. The maximum will remain three, unless a player feels strongly that they can take on more. This is a matter that will be approved by the admins on a case by case basis. 

Five days of consistent activity on your character account(s) must be attained before we can accept an application for a second/third character. 

REALISM: 

Please make sure that your character, and the developments you are introducing, are based in reality.

Please also try your best not to bog down your character's backstory with multiple traumas. The admins reserve the right to request edits to your character intro. If you need assistance, please don't hesitate to ask for it!

INCLUSIVITY:

A game is only successful with help from its members. As admins, we have had discussions with players regarding issues pertaining to ignored plotting requests, dropped threads. Please do your best to communicate with your fellow players

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

We are now instituting a five day wait period for new members to submit wanted connections. After five days of regular activity, we welcome new players to submit any connections they’d like for their character. If you’re unsure if you qualify, give us a shout!

If you have any questions about these changes, don’t hesitate to reach out. 

Now smash the like button to let us know you’ve read this note!

A NOTE FROM THE ADMINS—

THIS IS A MANDATORY READ FOR ALL MEMBERS. PLEASE LIKE THIS POST TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ IT.

After a lengthy discussion, we have decided to implement a “Three Strikes” system for members. We pour a lot of time and energy into this game, and want it to be everything we’ve been searching for in the tags: active, inclusive and fun. In order to maintain this ideal game experience, we need your help.

Since the game opened, we have noticed patterns in disregard for guidelines, (in)activity, exclusivity and selective participation, which present obstacles for achieving in-game excellence (and create extra work for us). We understand that the demands of real life prevent players from being as active as they’d like to be, and that muse can ebb and flow; however, we cannot provide help, guidance or hiatuses if we are not informed of issues or absences.

As such, we have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to begin issuing warnings to members that continue to overlook rules and reminders. We’ve requested that Housekeeping posts be liked when read to track who is seeing what, and there is a significant gap in membership numbers and the likes on these posts.  

Simply put, guidelines and reminders need to be heeded — and the posts we make regarding them need to be read, so that everyone is on the same page. We have a designated tag for all of our notices (#vacancyadmin, which should be tracked), and at the very least, posts are always accessible on the main page.

Going forward, we will notify players of “strikes” in the event of: 

broken rules/guidelines;

repeat inactivity (including appearing on multiple activity checks); and

bubble/selective roleplaying.

EDIT TO CLARIFY: As the “three strikes” name suggestions, upon the third strike, the member in question will be removed from the game and their role/face claim will be reopened.

We are so grateful to have such a dedicated group with unique and interesting characters, and consider ourselves fortunate to have a thriving, active game. We have made all attempts to be fair in creating this new system, and hope to have your understanding and assistance in making VACANCYRP the fun and inclusive game we aim for it to be. (We also want to note that we acknowledge that we are not perfect players ourselves, and will be striving to do better, too.)

If you have any questions, concerns or feedback regarding this new system or anything else related to the game, we are always happy to help out. You can reach out to us via Tumblr IM or ask. Thank you!

A NOTE FROM THE ADMINS—

First things first, we want to thank everyone for recording your preference and feedback on the game poll. Your input has been incredibly helpful in helping us shape our plans for the future of VACANCYRP. After lengthy discussion this evening, the admin team has put together a plan for what’s to come for our little game.

This is a long read, but it outlines the what’s what re: the status of the game.

WHAT’S NEXT

We will be placing the game on hiatus until the New Year. This will give everyone a chance to enjoy the rest of the winter break, and provide us with time to recalibrate the game. 

We will be reopening the game on Thursday, January 4th, 2018. 

A game-wide event will kick things off when we reopen.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

All character interactions will be on hold. (You may still plot off the dash!)

Current members will be permitted to hold onto their roles/face claims. 

During this transition, you will be allowed to: 

Change your character’s face claim;

Drop connections; and/or

Make any edits to your character’s story, including retconning anything that’s happened since you first joined, changing their backstory, etc.

Players with one character may swap out their muse for someone new, and players with multiple characters can drop secondary character(s) if they’d like. 

The ask will reopen for new applications from current and new members on January 4th.

WHAT IS CHANGING?

Upon reopening, we will require everyone to repost their character intros. 

If you have changed any aspects of your character, please make the appropriate edits to the original intro.

If nothing has changed, you are welcome to simply repost it. (Please don’t reblog!)

We will go over this again when we reopen.

The rules will be updated and fine-tuned prior to opening to reflect necessary changes (with the feedback that has been shared with us).

We will be introducing new locations, as well as new job roles at the motel and diner.

WHAT IS STAYING THE SAME?

The setting and plot will not be changing.

Character limits and activity rules will not change, and it will be business as usual in enforcing them when the game returns.

The Strike System will remain in place, but will be more carefully enforced.

Additional information is forthcoming with the reopening in the New Year.

Thank you again for being a lovely bunch of players. We hope that this reopening in the New Year will be a bigger benefit to the game as a whole, as well as your roleplaying experience. 

HOUSEKEEPING—

Welcome to all of our new members! Housekeeping posts like this occur as necessary to provide members with friendly reminders and updates. Please get into the habit of checking the #vacancyadmin tag to keep on top of game news.

Our Friendsgiving event will end tonight at 12 AM EST. (If you are in another timezone, see here to calculate what time that is for you.) After this point, we encourage you to reply to existing starters and work on wrapping up ongoing event threads. No new event starters can be posted after this deadline. 

With the recent influx of current and former law enforcement characters, as well as criminals, we have decided to add these groups to the list of occupations temporarily suspended for applications. (Current members will remain unaffected!) The suspension on certain occupations allows us to diversify the jobs of incoming applicants. 

On that note, we want to stress the importance of keeping character backstories, interactions and personalities within the realm of realism. This is in our guidelines, as well as a requirement to clear any major plot points with the admins. If you are unsure about what the above constitutes, we are here to help and support you — just send us a message!

Please make an effort to branch out and write with different members to create different types of character interactions. It has come to our attention that there is a trend of characters primarily (or only) interacting with muses that align with their sexual orientation. We currently have over 50 active characters, so please try to mix it up! 

When requesting a hiatus, please provide a return date! This helps us track hiatus timelines for players.

As per game guidelines, please remember to limit your miscellaneous muse posts to two per day to help us keep the dash tidy.

And lastly, we have a new theme! We’re still working out some bugs, so please report any issues you encounter. Along with the new layout is a mascot changeover: Admin Cassiopeia will now use Amy Adams as her mascot, and Admin Orion will be using Chris Evans.

If you have any comments, questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to bring them to our attention via IM or ask, anon or not. (On a less serious note, our boy Jimmy is also available to receive gossip, confessions or general comments.)

Due to an influx of characters with addiction issues and/or characters in recovery, we are introducing a temporary suspension of such backstories. Characters already in the game will be unaffected by this.  The purpose for this suspension is to ensure a variety of different backgrounds, experiences and personalities at The Starlite Motel and Shooting Star Grille.

Additional research is always helpful. And please remember that everyone’s experience with alcoholism and/or addiction is different and personal. At the bottom of the post is a link that is a suggested read for alcoholism and recovery. If you need any further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact the main.

A Guide to Alcoholism and Recovery

HOUSEKEEPING—

We have officially been open for one week! 🎉   Major thanks to everyone for bringing us your vibrant and eclectic characters, and for helping us keep the dash thriving. We are so thankful to be in such great company.  

(A note for our new members: housekeeping posts like this occur as needed to provide members with reminders and updates.)

REGARDING THREAD ROULETTE: Due to an error in the initial draw and recent changes in membership (including dropped characters and an influx of new players/characters), we would really appreciate if everyone could take 1-2 minutes to fill out this survey. It is 100% anonymous. We want your input in moving forward with this task. Thank you!

The vote is in — Honesty Night will be happening this Saturday from 5 PM - 5 AM EST. Keep your eyes peeled for a post with updated information about the dash even and instructions for our second edition. It will be up on Friday.

A friendly reminder: please ensure that you are making an effort to branch out and write with different members to create different types of character interactions.

Additionally, as per game guidelines, please remember to limit your miscellaneous muse posts to two per day to help us keep the dash tidy.

If you have any comments, questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to bring them to our attention via IM or ask, anon or not. (On a less serious note, our boy Jimmy is also available to receive gossip, confessions or general comments.)

HOUSEKEEPING—

Welcome to all of our new members! Housekeeping posts like this occur as necessary to provide members with friendly reminders and updates. Please get into the habit of checking the #vacancyadmin tag to keep on top of game news.

THIS IS A MANDATORY READ FOR ALL MEMBERS. PLEASE LIKE THIS POST TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ IT.

GAMEPLAY

We want to stress the importance of keeping character backstories, interactions and personalities within the realm of realism. This is in our guidelines, as well as a requirement to clear any major plot points with the admins. If you are unsure about what the above constitutes, we are here to help and support you — just send us a message!

Please try and match length when writing replies. We understand replies will ebb and flow in length as you move things along. Not everything will be the same length, but we’ve noticed discouraging differences in the length of replies, which makes it difficult to continue on an interaction when there is little-to-nothing for your thread partner to go on. A little effort goes a long way. 

A note about starters — try to make them accessible to everyone. Also, reach out to fellow players and try closed starters for less generic scenarios. Open and closed starters are both great things for character development. 

OUT OF CHARACTER

If you’re struggling with character muse, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the main! We can suggest some prompts to help you get back in the right head space. We want to be accessible to our members. 

Please make an effort to branch out and write with different members to create different types of character interactions. In the past we have noticed a trend of characters primarily (or only) interacting with muses that align with their sexual orientation. We currently have approximately 40 characters, so please try to mix it up!

When requesting a hiatus, please fill out the form located here. This helps us track hiatus timelines for players. If you only need a few days, please contact the main via ask or IM. We can’t guarantee we will see everything in the OOC. If you do not contact us via the main, you will be subject to an activity check. 

As per game guidelines, please remember to limit your miscellaneous muse posts to two per day to help us keep the dash tidy. This includes reblogs of photos, gifs and quotes, as well as personal edits (including moodboards).

Last but not least, we want everyone to feel included. If you have any ideas for tasks or events for the future, please message us! We are always open to member input.