Kim Sato wrote: 24 May 2022, 21:57 Ah gotcha.

But sure, if you do decide to implement it, I can definitely help out if you want?
How do I find a list of all the classes available for all the years?
Is there a forum for that where it's listed?
Can I access it through my report card for all the years, even though I'm a first year?

Thanks for responding!

You should be able to see the classes at the top of the report card. You can't access the lessons but you can hover on the symbols at the top to get the names.

1st years take the core classes of Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, DADA, History of Magic, Astronomy and Flying
In 3rd year, students have the options of taking CoMC, Runes, Muggle Studies, and Divination in addition to their core classes

This may be a long post --

Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood wrote: 16 May 2022, 16:31 Note: I have not come up with a proposed solution, so please forgive my post if it is not actually helpful at finding a solution.

I miss the ambitious main story the site had going on previously. I feel demotivated to do homeworks after the removal of main story threads as a reward. While I'm very excited about the Hexiwizard Tournament's eventual arrival, I wonder if there isn't some way to add more main story into the site in general while still remaining all-inclusive. The recent ball threads have not been the same without a sense that the world is going somewhere. Several people who aren't speaking up publicly have expressed to me pretty substantial disenchantment with the site because it no longer feels like the world is going somewhere, no matter how much they try to develop their characters.

It was nice that the recent ball had mini-games, but they didn't feel to me like they carried weight the way previous main story threads did. I have a lot of hope that Hexiwizard will do a lot to fix this, but even when Hexiwizard is gone it might be worth continuing to figure out a way for the world state to progress in a way that players can interact with.

I'm very sorry I don't have a solution to propose. My main wish is just to have more opportunities for players to progress the state of the setting, as in a main story line. I believe this can still be done in an inclusive way.

Actually a large issue with Main Story is reflected in the answer you got by Kim. It was the presumption that Stories were for winners only. The winning house got some sort of adventure or incident. The problem was sometimes these events were happening in the summer and one of the people that earned a substantial amount of the points for the house decided that they were not attending summer camp. They did not get the reward. In addition, this past fall a story happened on the first day of school. Because some members had forward-dated and had met their friends in other threads, they did not want to participate in the event, however they had again contributed a substantial amount of points towards the win. They had the right to choose to not interact and they did not. Some of these members got together and submitted a complaint to the administration.

Kim Sato wrote: 16 May 2022, 17:28

Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood wrote: 16 May 2022, 16:31

Reducio

Note: I have not come up with a proposed solution, so please forgive my post if it is not actually helpful at finding a solution.

I miss the ambitious main story the site had going on previously. I feel demotivated to do homeworks after the removal of main story threads as a reward. While I'm very excited about the Hexiwizard Tournament's eventual arrival, I wonder if there isn't some way to add more main story into the site in general while still remaining all-inclusive. The recent ball threads have not been the same without a sense that the world is going somewhere. Several people who aren't speaking up publicly have expressed to me pretty substantial disenchantment with the site because it no longer feels like the world is going somewhere, no matter how much they try to develop their characters.

It was nice that the recent ball had mini-games, but they didn't feel to me like they carried weight the way previous main story threads did. I have a lot of hope that Hexiwizard will do a lot to fix this, but even when Hexiwizard is gone it might be worth continuing to figure out a way for the world state to progress in a way that players can interact with.

I'm very sorry I don't have a solution to propose. My main wish is just to have more opportunities for players to progress the state of the setting, as in a main story line. I believe this can still be done in an inclusive way.

I was not present at the time when HiO had main story progression and I feel like I missed out! But yeah regarding main story progression, I kind of don't like how (when it was going on) it's ONLY meant for those who WIN. A main story on a site should include EVERYONE or else it seems to be unfair and players might feel there is favoritism involved, especially if only the higher years end up winning all the time, thus they are the only ones who ever get involved in main story events.

Also I heard that even if you don't take part in the main storyline (as in you were excluded bc you didn't win), your characters IC can't even KNOW about what took place, which kind of seems weird to me. If it's part of the main storyline, even if you weren't directly involved, you would have at least HEARD something about what happened. But that's just my opinion.

So. I did come up with an idea.
If you guys ever decide to bring back the main storyline in any capacity in the future...

I do think that the ROLE you play in the main storyline could be up for grabs. Like EVERYONE participates in the main storyline. But if you WIN you get a bigger or larger role in the main storyline. That way it's fair to everyone, everyone can get involved in the main storyline but those who WIN get an even bigger role in the main storyline. What do you guys think of that? I think it would entice people to do homework in order to win and get a bigger/larger role in the main storyline but it would also entice people to stay on the site even if they don't win. Because you'd still get included in the main storyline but in a lesser fashion.

Upon further reflection after I too suffered demotivation that continues to this day as it was my main contribution to the site beyond back-end work, one of the members who signed the complaint actually said (paraphrased) part of the issue was we felt that the main story was for winners. In truth it gave them an opportunity to participate if they chose. Every player, even those that did not win was involved in some small way in main story.

Logan Baird wrote: 16 May 2022, 17:40

Reducio

Kim Sato wrote: 16 May 2022, 17:28

Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood wrote: 16 May 2022, 16:31

Reducio

Note: I have not come up with a proposed solution, so please forgive my post if it is not actually helpful at finding a solution.

I miss the ambitious main story the site had going on previously. I feel demotivated to do homeworks after the removal of main story threads as a reward. While I'm very excited about the Hexiwizard Tournament's eventual arrival, I wonder if there isn't some way to add more main story into the site in general while still remaining all-inclusive. The recent ball threads have not been the same without a sense that the world is going somewhere. Several people who aren't speaking up publicly have expressed to me pretty substantial disenchantment with the site because it no longer feels like the world is going somewhere, no matter how much they try to develop their characters.

It was nice that the recent ball had mini-games, but they didn't feel to me like they carried weight the way previous main story threads did. I have a lot of hope that Hexiwizard will do a lot to fix this, but even when Hexiwizard is gone it might be worth continuing to figure out a way for the world state to progress in a way that players can interact with.

I'm very sorry I don't have a solution to propose. My main wish is just to have more opportunities for players to progress the state of the setting, as in a main story line. I believe this can still be done in an inclusive way.

I was not present at the time when HiO had main story progression and I feel like I missed out! But yeah regarding main story progression, I kind of don't like how (when it was going on) it's ONLY meant for those who WIN. A main story on a site should include EVERYONE or else it seems to be unfair and players might feel there is favoritism involved, especially if only the higher years end up winning all the time, thus they are the only ones who ever get involved in main story events.

Also I heard that even if you don't take part in the main storyline (as in you were excluded bc you didn't win), your characters IC can't even KNOW about what took place, which kind of seems weird to me. If it's part of the main storyline, even if you weren't directly involved, you would have at least HEARD something about what happened. But that's just my opinion.

So. I did come up with an idea.
If you guys ever decide to bring back the main storyline in any capacity in the future...

I do think that the ROLE you play in the main storyline could be up for grabs. Like EVERYONE participates in the main storyline. But if you WIN you get a bigger or larger role in the main storyline. That way it's fair to everyone, everyone can get involved in the main storyline but those who WIN get an even bigger role in the main storyline. What do you guys think of that? I think it would entice people to do homework in order to win and get a bigger/larger role in the main storyline but it would also entice people to stay on the site even if they don't win. Because you'd still get included in the main storyline but in a lesser fashion.

Other students were able to know about what happened depending on what had occurred. Information is spread easily in schools, students will talk if something has happened. For example when the Hufflepuff common room was attacked/blown up, it would not be hard to hear about it because people would have most likely talked about it the next day to their friends and others would have heard.

As referenced by Logan, incidents such as the Hufflepuff Common Room blowing up were talked about. There was a cause for it and they could figure it out. Jake Morris was the firebug actually and his roleplays and interactions with the community as a player granted players an opportunity to interface with that aspect of the story and try to figure it out. It ended up ending quickly off to the side due to activity issues as well as the loss of MS unfortunately but while it was in place I know that there were a few users that were actively involved in that portion of the story.

Kim Sato wrote: 16 May 2022, 20:05

Aurelia Notrésvace wrote: 16 May 2022, 17:35 It'll be incredibly hard to moderate and structure an event with 100+ players on board. Which is why it was exclusive to the house who wins. It was homework incentive too, but now it's gone, we have other monthly prizes added recently. You can see the updates... Somewhere. Might be worth checking out.

Okay but what if just one House consistently wins all the time?

That would mean that none of the other Houses would ever get to participate in the main storyline, which is kind of unfair imo. Like Ravenclaw just won 5 months in a row. Let's say the main storyline was a reward for ONLY 1-5 months per year. That would mean only Ravenclaw would get to participate in the main storyline and the other 3 Houses would miss out. And it's not that the other Houses aren't trying, they are doing their best to win but it just so happens that Ravenclaw wins every time.

I still think there should be a limit as to how many times one can consistently win in a row. Like if you win for 12 straight months in a row somehow (not that this has ever happened before), I'd say you're not allowed to win for 13 straight months in a row, you'd be ineligible to win the following month. But then after that you can go back to winning as much as you want, until you hit that limit again.

Also regarding the whole time it would take to structure and code, I'm thinking maybe the main storyline could just be 1 month out of the year as a reward. It could be somewhat like the Ball event where everyone can attend but it's just one huge thread that includes everyone. And like I said, the House who wins gets a bigger role in the main storyline reward. The other Houses get minor roles. But it'll all take place in 1-2 main big threads. And since it would only happen 1 time out of the entire year, it wouldn't take too much time to set aside, plan and code. Hopefully, I'm explaining it right.

What if we just had it rotate through all the houses, so each house would necessarily have its turn to participate in main story? Then only the people who actually sign up OOC in that house to participate would have to be moderated over. This would also be an opportunity for each house to have its members bond with each other more.

This works too. Where each House would get a turn to participate in the main storyline. It's fair and gives everyone a chance to be included while not making it TOO difficult. And yes, having a sign-up sheet OOC in each House to see who wants to participate would be perfect. And the whole bonding with each other in each House is a great idea because usually that would never happen.

There were alternative options provided, yes. Honestly, I never had an issue with one house winning all the time when MS was a reward. Slytherin had its big win once MS was dropped, prior to that, 3 months in a row was the record. There was also the concept of rotation. The letter of complaint that caused me to step down had actually suggested that as well but there are dynamics that people do not often understand that come with rotations -- a rotation that is planned means that it would be one house then the next and then the next. If we did this it might be Slytherin - Fall, Gryffindor - Winter, Hufflepuff - Spring, Ravenclaw - Summer. This is cutting the year into 4 even pieces. Sounds fair, right? It actually is not because if a house falls on FALL for instance, they would every year unless we change up the order. The problem with changing up the order is that some houses may be going 1.5 or close to 2 years without interaction where others may end up with events very close together. If there is or is not rotation, the seasons are also problematic. As mentioned before, things like Summer Camp - some players choose to not participate in it. The spring time is a busy time of the year with exams (as we can see right now) which makes involvement hard for college and high school students. Winter is generally harder on most working adults because of all the holidays and having to satisfy our adult obligations near holidays is no easy task. The inability to participate in your house's seasonal event means that you will be left out of the story.

Elaine Pendrast wrote: 16 May 2022, 20:12 Your discussion shows one of the points why the main story was dropped: everyone had their own expectations for it, and it was impossible at the time to make people happy. A lot of different people wanted a lot of different things. Many of those weren't compatible, some not feasible, and others simply outside the scope of what Lear, as the one person running all of it, was able and willing to provide. This was a full-time job, basically.

The Hexiwizard Tournament is one way to bring back certain aspects of the main story in a different style/system that includes more people. The scope is bigger, but at the same time, other aspects are toned down to make it still possible to moderate it without having to invest all of our free time into it.

(If you would like other rewards for the house cup, please make suggestions. We went with what players at the time said they were interested in / what me had seen players enjoy.)

As reflected by Elaine, the truth of the matter is -- people wanted different things and had expectations of things well beyond my scope. The letter that resulted in my resignation from running MS was difficult and I honestly felt ashamed and like I failed. In truth my sentiment regarding the matter is irrelevant. Elaine is well aware that I have been brain-storming ways to make some sort of story that does not involve "winning" houses and the unintended resentment that it fostered. The set-up for it is a lot longer and more tedious on my end and a lot of the elements are beyond my control.

Pretty much all of Kim's have been implemented before.

Aurelia Notrésvace wrote: 17 May 2022, 01:17 Another reward suggestion: flying horse racing event when beauxbatons comes over? With consolation prizes possibly.

Easter egg/treasure hunt event for sweets. I remember I modded an 'official' one for gryffindor back in the day (2018/9).

Kim, the prize winners gets to decide on the ball themes and what to do with them.

A flying horse racing event is viable, it would be limiting if it involves primarily beauxbatons if I am trying to give something to a winning house but still, it is a good idea and worth pondering.

I am not sure if "sweets" will be enough to encourage players in an easter egg hunt since the amount of candy I would need to hand out would need to be rather large in addition to the activity of finding them. But I like putting players to additional work. I can do an alternative with this and possible potion components or even low-level potions with the approval of the potions professor. So a good idea.

TLDR; I am *trying* to get some sort of MS back on line. But it is not like it was.

______________

It was actually determined to be a mathematical impossibility for a Professor to teach all of the classes that they teach for all of the years (in response to the inquiries about times). For example: If Astro taught each year 3 days a week, the children would have a pretty unhealthy sleep schedule at some point. The stars are out only at night unless some of the years are "theory" only.

If would-be main story participants could enter their names into a pool and be selected at random, this would not systematically exclude any particular group through seasonal rotation. Anyone who signed up at a given time would be indicating in advance that they are available. If some people are simply more available than others, this should not detriment the overall community. Thus if no demographic groupings are made, it becomes no one's fault and no particular group would be excluded. This would follow the usual conventions where a person's lack of participation by flaking out would be covered by wait-listed individuals. Similar to being kicked off a quidditch team due to unexplained inactivity, there would then be actual meaning to the act of signing up.

What do you all think of this idea?

Also, I am glad to hear that, Lear, and I trust in whatever you're doing for the MS.


@Solomon Lear

Thank you Lear for providing us with such detailed explanations! You should be given an award for how hard you work behind the scenes! Along with everyone else with you doing the same things! Sorry for not being able to understand right away when something is explained, it's always been something I've had to deal with for me. A lot of other people tend to get things when it's explained to them instantly and I'm left behind feeling like I'm stupid as I don't get it but it seems everyone else does.

As for @Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood, I do like the idea of the random selection. I'd only add one thing. If the same person is selected twice in a row, the person who does the selection process should 'roll' again for a different name. That way everything remains fair for everyone.

Take your time about figuring out a MS that works for everyone!

Also if you ever need any help or ideas or suggestions, feel free to ask me, I'm always around.

I second the idea by @Kim Sato that Lear deserves an award.

There is no way to know why things happened if you are not around for them. A lot of what we know we are told. You are not stupid.

@Solomon Lear the randomized drawing thing she's talking about, isn't that the Hexwizard Tournament already?

That was not even a little random. >_>

I am not quite sure where to bring this up, so I'm gonna put it here.
I have dm'd Lear, and asked already. The answer would've been of restriction of images due to bandwidth.

But, still gonna make that suggestion.

Can we make the addition or add coding into the site, where we can put image signatures into our owls so we don't have to do it manually? Like, in the section of Account (under dropdown, where upon clicking it, you can change your profile picture, your ID information (the info section of your ID), foes, signature for posts, etc.)

I am not a huge fan of constantly pasting my signature image in as one like this-


so- I think that addition would be great, but too much coding and bandwidth, I guess I understand.

I can't speak for Zach on this one, but I believe that the addition of signatures would add more weight onto the site. Slow-down the site, be more that the site has to store and display.