The chatbox has been hidden for this page. It will reopen upon refresh. To hide the CBox permanently, select "Permanently Toggle Cbox" in your profile User Settings.
This chatbox is hidden. To reopen, edit your User Settings.
At Aeipathy, we believe that finding that right activity balance is key to a successful forum and happy roleplayers. We never want to push or force members to write (where's the fun in that?!) and we never want to see other members feeling out of sorts and bored because their partners aren't replying fast enough. At the same time, we don't want to navigate around those players and have them feel left out or left behind or cause stress or mental health problems because people are desperate to keep up! So, where is the balance?
We'd love to be able to tell you that Aeipathy has the answer. That we have that magical formula that sees all of our roleplayers happy, all of the time. We can't tell you this. In fact, the only thing that we can tell you, with any great certainty, after running our lovely home here for several years, is that such a magical formula does not exist. Instead, it is an on-going challenge of trial and adjustment to fit with the expectations of our member base, at any one time.
What we can tell you, however, is that our Staff Team work incredibly hard to see that Aeipathy has the best possible system in place for their current community. We work hard to enforce just the right amount of expectation and required standard and balance it with fun and engagement and a sensitivity to real life engagements that our members might have. This makes for a detailed and slightly complex activity system that is entirely unique to Aeipathy. You will not find another system out there like this. Our system is developed solely for us and the way our community best likes to write.
We never hold activity checks on Aeipathy. This has been a new update since November 2019. Whilst we have used Activity Checks in the past, our staff have found these checks to be frustrating to those who post with regularity and disruptive to story-telling and writing when we are forced to remove a small but noticeable chunk of characters from game-play upon their conclusion. As such, Aeipathy runs a unique and exclusive system that checks its members activity without interruption or hassle to its active members and with an aim to encouraging the return of activity in absentee characters - not the removal of them. In the worst case scenario where characters are removed from our site, it is done on an individual basis so that only one or two characters are ever removed at one time, ensuring that the impact to the story-telling on the site is minimal. The following is the unique Aeipathy Activity System...
Disclaimer
Before we go into the finer details of our Activity System at Aeipathy, please allow us to confirm one simple thing. We advertise ourselves as an active, intermediate-to-advanced roleplay forum. This means that we expect our members to reply to threads in a timely manner that is appropriate for that thread and for those characters and for those members' needs. You can't put a timeframe on this expectation. Some threads are time sensitive, others are not. Some members require a thread that might not be time sensitive to you but they need it to be concluded so that they are able to write one that is urgent. We all have different expectations and requirements for each thread, character, post, member or plot. Which is why any over-arching system is always doomed to fail.
However, with every single post having a subjective determination on whether it is a priority or not, it becomes impossible for a Staff Team to moderate activity based solely on 'whether it seems okay'. Without some form of finite system or set of rules in place, all of our members would be forced to accept whatever a single person - a staff member - thinks about their activity. And that's neither fun nor fair. Not for the staffer who is attempting to know when to play the bad guy, with whip in hand, and not for the member who may have a different opinion on what is a 'suitable' wait time is on a post. It is not fair to moderate a community like this. Rules must be placed in order to give balance to both sides. To ensure that a staffer isn't following only their personal opinions on activity levels and to help give members the reassurance that their activity falls within a certain, acceptable remit.
This all sounds very ominous and boringly technical but we believe that it is important for our community base to know that this Activity System is not in place for the staffers. It is not here to become a means of waggling a finger at 'slow' writers. It is a means of ensuring mutual harmony for all players. If every member on Aeipathy was content to do a post a year, we would have no activity system bar that. But this is not the way our community operates. Our activity requirements alter depending on community need. They are for you, our members. They are for us, the community.
Blanket Expectations
1-2 Posts Per Week
The first and foremost rule to be aware of with Aeipathy is that we advertise an average/middling/approximate 1-2 posts per week expectation from our members. What this means is that we are fully aware that everyone has a real life - that everyone has times in that real life where RP is the last thing on your mind. We do not force our members to hold to 1-2 posts per week every-single-week-without-fail. We are not that tyrannical. But it does mean that we expect our members to be active, to post roughly 4-8(ish) posts per month in order to be an active part of the community.
Forgotten Threads
We love writers who are passionate and excited about writing. This means that, when we see players posting to one thread back and forth, over and over, we couldn't be happier! Such speedy replies means that you are loving what you're doing and that, after all, is the entire point of Aeipathy!
However, such love and passion comes with a caveat. And that caveat is that rapid fire posting is never a problem, so long as other members do not feel that it is impacting on your replies elsewhere. There's no maths or line in the sand to say when it is acceptable to rapid-fire and when it is not. So, we rely on our members to have a little empathy and common sense. If most of your threads are up to date, if a few of them have been waiting for a reply for say, a week? maybe two? And you want to rapid-fire? Then go ahead! Two days posting back and forth with your bestest bud is only going to add another two days to the other members' wait time. That's not a lot. And if you're often getting back to them speedily, what is the harm in indulging in your current thread obsession? It might even keep your muse high and engaged for when you tackle the other threads on your To Do list.
On the other hand, if you have a thread that has been waiting for over two months, that you've been nudged over and messaged about and members have made it clear they are waiting on that post? Posting a dozen times back and forth on a different thread can read as an insensitive insult and a mark of disrespect. Whilst we hold no strict pattern of posting - you do not have to reply in the same order you were given your posts - we ask that all of our members are considerate and respectful. Just because a thread might not be so important to you, that doesn't make it unimportant to someone else. So, we expect all of our community to put themselves into other writers' shoes and try to be considerate/aware of how long they make others wait for threads.
Significant Threads
Some of our members on Aeipathy play Canon Characters. These are the characters in our royal houses that were developed for the purposes of moving the main, global plot forward. As such, we expect the writers of those characters to post in all relevant Events or global plot threads. For example, if you are currently playing a princess of the realm and the king dies, you would be expected to place your character into the funeral thread. Our staff team work incredibly hard to see a range of Events and Provincial Stories posted on the site that will allow someone plenty of writing opportunity but not swamp them with too many Significant Threads at once. Whilst our Staff Team are always happy to listen to our members if they explain that they are overloaded with Significant Threads, we do generally expect canon writers to accept this as a requirement when applying for the character in the first place.
Moderating Activity
As described above, it is impossible to find the perfect system that works for all members and all characters. The basic idea is that, if you are meeting the above three expectations: posting multiple times a week, posting in and staying active in all threads significant to your character and are not letting any threads fall by the wayside, then you should never have any activity issues on Aeipathy. Ever. This is the general idea. But, our Staff Team, need something to moderate against. And we'd like to explain why with the following example:
Member A comes to the Staff Team and complains that Member B is ignoring their thread. Member B has posted twenty times in the last three weeks but has not replied to Member A's thread.
This seems like a simple scenario but there are facets. One blanket rule that Member B should not be able to leave a thread for three weeks does not help. Say, the thread in question is a non-urgent thread, set in the past and made for character development/fluff. And Member B is currently the central character in a large Global Plot with three active Events attached and four other characters to maintain. In these circumstances, it is understandable that they have written so much without replying to that one thread in particular. On the other hand, what if the situation was reversed? What if those twenty posts were all to one specific thread that was only for development purposes/personal plotline and the thread that has been left hanging for three weeks is a significant Event that is waiting on them to see the global plot move? Different scenarios make it difficult for the staff team to implement a single rule or restriction. It becomes example-specific on whether or not Member A needs to be reassured and told to calm down and not worry. Or if Member B needs to be politely asked how they can be helped to get that thread moving once more.
And if every scenario is case-specific, how do we avoid that staff-subjectivity we talked about earlier?
Well the best arrangement that Aeipathy has managed to come up with is a rolling monthly activity sweep that checks in on characters and makes sure that they are following the rules that should be expected of them specifically. Aka. Are they active (hopefully 1-2 posts per week on average, unless they have a RL reason for being less around), are they involved in all the threads they should be, and have they let any threads fall into the space of forgottenness...?
How do we do that? Well, we have blanket rules that apply across the board but which are lax. Ergo, the rules have a wide spread and ensure that no-one get's too far behind in any one area. But they are not up someone's backside ensuring that they post absolutely everywhere they should absolutely all the time without rest or consideration. No-one likes to write to a deadline or harsh requirements.
Because of the range of requirements needed each month to ensure that no single character, plot or story falls too far behind, our monthly activity 'requirements' seem long and complex. Please be assured that you are not required to memorise them. Again, if you are following the three blanket expectations above, you should not need this information at all. However, at Aeipathy we applaud transparency. The following is the way that our staff team monitor character activity...
Monthly System
Every month, our staff team go through our character roster and check that each character meets the following requirements. Please note that, due to canon characters being particularly involved in global plots, their activity requirements may be slightly different. Requirements are measured via the last calendar month. So, if the sweep is being done at the end of January, we are checking the character's stats from the 1st January to the 31st of January.
Canon Characters
Canon Characters include: all characters that are listed in the Kingdom pages of the Encyclopedia and God accounts (not Personas - but the God account itself). Nobles that are a part of Houses made by players do not count as Canon Characters.
-- All canon characters must have posted 2 in-character posts in the last calendar month.
-- All canon characters must be currently partaking in any Events or threads that are deemed 'Significant' to that character.
-- When looking at a canon characters' thread tracker, there cannot be any thread waiting on their next post longer than two months.*
-- When looking at a canon characters' 'Significant' Events or threads, there cannot be a thread waiting on their next post longer than six weeks.**
Original Characters
Original Characters include: characters that you have made up yourself from scratch or any character that was made in response to a Wanted Character ad.
-- All original characters must have posted 2 in-character posts in the last calendar month.
-- All original characters must be currently partaking in any Events or threads that are deemed 'Significant' to that character. (Please note, this will be a rarity for original characters.)
-- When looking at an original characters' thread tracker, there cannot be any thread waiting on their next post longer than two months.*
*Clarification: This requirement is measured by the date that is on the right hand side of our automatic thread trackers (found on a character's profile page under the Laptop icon). If another player has posted in that time, the two months is counted from that post. NOT the last time the character in question posted themselves. As far as our staff team are concerned, if someone else can post in the thread then the lack of post from this character has not held it up. This is the most finite way we can handle this requirement, rather than relying on subjective opinion on who should be posting next. We work on the date on the right. If a thread says 'Your Turn' and the date on the right is longer than two months, it will be flagged.
**Clarification: This requirement is measured by the date of the last post made by this character. I.e. if this character posted in a Significant Event more than six weeks ago and has not posted again, it will be flagged.
Please note that, if either of these issues are due to another player's inactivity, rather than your own, you will have the chance to explain this to a staffer. You are not condemned with immediate effect. ^_^
Working It Out
All of the above requirements function independently of each other. So, if you have an Original Character and have posted two IC posts (meeting requirement one) but have not posted in two Significant threads that has been directed your way, you will still not meet your monthly activity requirements. You would have had to either have posted in just those two Significant threads (meeting your Significant and your IC total requirements) or post four posts - the two you did elsewhere and then the two Significant ones. As an example, if you have three Significant threads and two threads that are older than two months old, you will need to write five posts this month in order to meet your monthly requirements. You do not need to then post twice more to meet your IC post count - that is covered by what you have already done.
This sounds complex but really it is a system designed to encourage members first towards the threads that are most significant to the community as a whole and then to the more personal threads. It is entirely up to each writer on the site how they wish to manage their threads and posts. We can only guide.
We understand that these requirements could end up lengthy and complex, with multiple overlaps and concerns. This is why it bears repeating that members are not required to monitor this system or calculate their own posting requirements: if your characters' threads are up to date and covering the Blanket Expectations listed above, none of this information is necessary for members.
However, in the efforts of transparency/honesty, here is a made up example to help show you how staffers will asses each character account at the end of each month:
JD has 7 characters. It is nearly the end of the month and she has posted 0 posts this month. Looking at her characters, she has: Persephone of Xanthos: Canon. 4 Significant Threads. 2 Two-Month Old Threads. Vangelis of Kotas: Canon. 7 Significant Threads (that he has not posted to at all yet). 1 Significant Thread (that he has posted to but the post was over 6 weeks ago). 1 Two-Month Old Threads. Fotios of Leventi: Canon. 1 Significant Thread. 0 Two-Month Old Threads. Neena of the Zaire: Canon. 2 Significant Threads. 1 Two-Month Old Thread. Akhmad of Lands Afar: Original. 0 Significant Threads. 0 Two-Month Old Threads. Bubbled. Hannah of Isaiah: Original. 2 Significant Threads. 0 Two Month Old Threads. Rubiah of Qalha: Canon. 2 Significant Threads. 8 Two Month Old Threads.
So, here's the Maths: Persephone: 4+2 = 6 (this is equal to/over the 2 IC requirement for Canons) -- 6 posts required. Vangelis: 7+1+1 = 9 (this is equal to/over the 2 IC requirement for Canons) -- 9 posts required. Fotios: 1+0 = 1 (does not meet Canon requirement of 2) = +1 = 2 -- 2 posts required. Neena: 2+1 = 3 (this is equal to/over the 2 IC requirement for Canons) -- 3 posts required. Akhmad: 0+0 = 0 (does not meet Original requirement of 2) = +2 = 2 -- 2 posts required. Hannah: 2+0 = 2 (this is equal to/over the 2 IC requirement for Originals) -- 2 posts required. Rubiah: 2+8 = 10 (this is equal to/over the 2 IC requirement for Canons) -- 10 posts required.
In this scenario, JD will be required to make 31 posts before the end of the month.
Don't Panic!
Before members start to worry or new members run for the hills thinking, 'I can't write 31 posts per month!' Let us just be 100% clear on the above example. This is an example that shows how to calculate the worst situation, a week before the end of the month, with 7 characters, 5 of which are canons, that you have not written with at all for the whole month PLUS threads that haven't been written in for two months. In reality, this is not a situation most of our members would ever find themselves in. We are an active forum. If Fictional JD in the example above had been ensuring that she had no threads that were over two months old and was following the 1-2 posts per week average guideline, then a week from the end of the month she would have 19 posts to make and have already posted 12 times, leaving 7 to go. And that's only if the staff team had released over 18 Significant threads or Events in three weeks... impossible considering we run two broadcasts a fortnight and normally only release an Event or two each time! We have used the numbers above as a big example the covers all possibilities.
So, before you start out worrying over these new rules and requirements, have a check of your characters and their trackers. Despite all of the requirements, designed to cover a range of inactivity symptoms, you may find yourself far more in the clear than you think. Don't let all the numbers and clarifications confuse you! It's not as demanding as it seems! We promise!
Support List
At Aeipathy, we don't like to guillotine characters off the site without a fight. You've spent time making them, we spent time reviewing them and the community have put in time and effort to write with them. Not to mention all the future plots that might be resting on their shoulders. Getting rid of them in one-fell-swoop because they have one thread that has been waiting two months or they didn't join the latest Event yet... no. We don't do that. None of the above is made to be a one strike and you're out system. Instead, it has been developed as a means of monitoring activity and helping members if and when they fall behind. We don't want them to lose motivation, we don't want them to struggle. We want them out there and having fun with the rest of us.
A character that does not meet their monthly requirements is moved onto our Support List. Our Staff Team step up to provide new and interesting inspiration for the player, plot with them and encourage their muse once more. Support List characters who do not meet their monthly requirements the next calendar month will be removed from the site, ensuring that no character is entirely out of activity for more than two months. Canon and wanted characters will be put back up for grabs and all active threads for that character will be reassigned and reconfigured so that roleplaying is not effected.
Staff Promise
When a character goes onto out Support List, our staff team promise the following:
-- A Staff Starter. This is a thread that has been created solely for the Support List character by one of our most active players - a member of our staff team. Sometimes inactivity can come from a lack of something new, the feeling that all of your threads are old and hanging from your like chores to be done or mountains to climb. A Staff Starter is not an obligation or new thread that you have to post to, but it is an open starter that you are given without the need for forethought or planning - something fresh and new that you can just dive straight into spontaneously! If unused, the thread can be reappropriated for another member or left as an open thread on the site - no waste, no fuss!
-- A Match-Maker. This is a match up with another member (a non-staff member) in the #idea-adoption channel on the Discord server. You'll be matched up with a character that might be able to help create a new plot or something exciting. It might also match you up with someone you haven't written with before and give you a new lease of muse for your Support List character! Again, this doesn't have to be acted upon; it is simply a suggestion to help with new muse and get the motivation cogs rolling.
-- A Plan of Attack. If you are sent a DM at the end of the month to confirm your character is on the Support List, it will include all of the threads you are required to post in by the end of the next month to see them off the list as well as a plan of attack for any others that might be owed by the time you get there. Sometimes people fall out of love with their writing because they feel too overwhelmed to know where to start. It's not a mandatory order for you to follow but if you are someone that cannot see the forest for the trees, this could help give focus and guide to what you're doing!
-- Let's Chat. The DM sent at the end of the month to anyone whose characters are on the Support List is also a conversation starter! If you need help finding plots, making things happen or getting your muse back, our staffers are there to help! We can forward your ideas to other members or match you up with people that might be interested in similar plots. You won't be sent requirements and then left on your own. We want you here and we want to help!
Character Removal
If, after all of this, a character does not meet their activity expectations after a month of being on the Support List, they are sadly removed from our forum. All removed apps are saved and the accounts deleted from the site so that others might take a character by the same name or recreate a lost canon character if they wish to in the future.
Whenever a character is removed from the site, all of their active threads are taken up by staffers and messages sent to members to ensure that their plotting and stories are disrupted as little as possible.
Please be aware that there are overriding rules that can see a character removed from the site:
Multiple Probations
If a character ends up on the Support List three times in a row, they are removed from the site. So, if Character A did not meet requirements in January, then was on the Support List in February (and got back up to date) and then did not meet requirements in March, and was put on the Support List for April (and got back up to date) and then did not make requirements in May... instead of going onto the Support List for June, they would simply be removed. Characters that are this unreliable for this long cause issues for the community as a whole. If, on the other hand, the character had a month in which they didn't end up on the Support List in between these, they would simply go on the list in June as normal. This is an overriding rule to ensure that characters are not inactive for long, sequential stretches of time.
If a character falls into probation six times across a single year (the last twelve months), they are removed from the site. This doesn't matter in what order they're in, or how many months they were up-to-date. Basically, if they hit a sixth month where they do not meet requirements and are about to go onto the Support List, they are simply removed from the site instead of going into the Support List for the sixth time. This overriding rule is to ensure that characters are not repeatedly inactive within a single year.
New Character Creation
A canon character removed from the site cannot be reclaimed by the same player. If a canon character is removed from the site due to not meeting activity requirements or being added to Support List too often, that player cannot reclaim them. If, however, a player drops the character pre-empting their activity issues, they can claim that same character at a later date when their circumstances change, if the character is still available. We all have times where roleplaying is difficult and we understand that dropping characters is a natural part of roleplay. But canon characters are important to our global plot and even if players are having trouble in their own lives and need a break from writing, we need to trust in the communication of those players. This is why a character forcibly removed because of a lack of activity is not permitted to be remade by their previous writer but a writer being open and communicative about dropping the character will have a second chance at them.
A player may not reclaim a canon character that they have dropped twice. If you have pre-emptively dropped a canon character (the same canon character) twice, you cannot reapply for them in the future. It is our opinion that a character that has been dropped twice is one that cannot inspire the interest to see them written through the tough periods. We would prefer our members to roleplay characters that can hold their interest better and not feel the pressure to go back to a character that they have had trouble maintaining before.
Any player who has lost a canon character five times will be denied the right to apply for any other canon characters in the future. A player that has lost any canon character (the same character multiple times or different characters) five times will not be permitted to roleplay any canon character in the future. Canon characters are super important to the global plotting of our forum. And the taking and dropping of canons is highly disruptive to global plot game play. If a player picks up and drops canons here there and everywhere, they risk developing a reputation as an unreliable writer and losing trust from other players. Therefore, five chances at a canon character is the maximum.
If lost in an activity sweep, God players must wait six months before reapplying for a God. God characters have the same activity requirements as Canon characters. If a God character is removed due to activity requirements not being met, the player cannot apply for another God for six months from the point of removal. Gods are incredibly important to the divine plots of the site and they are highly coveted roles. If a player does not keep up with the roleplaying expectation, their role is opened back up to the community and the player forced to take a six month respite from divine rp, to see if playing a God is really something they have the time for.
Players may not submit a new character for review if they have any character currently on the Support List. This one speaks for itself. In short, it can be seen as rude or disrespectful to other players to have spent the time and effort creating a new character when they are waiting on activity from current characters. You must wait until the end of that month's Support List period (when the character comes off the list) or drop the character in question before submitting a new one for review.
We're All Human
At the end of the day, one last note to say is: we're all human. Sometimes shit happens. That's the way life goes. The staff team are the same! We're human beings - you can talk to us. If there's an issue with your writing or characters and you are worried about meeting activity requirements, if you have a problem or are worried your characters are going to be taken away, don't stress and don't panic. Just come talk to us! We're not monsters. At the end of the day, we would much prefer characters to stay with us and stay active than we would go through the hassle of rearranging plots and histories to exorcise them from the site. And that is what this system is for: to ensure that people are active and having fun and not falling into worries or concerns over theirs or anyone else's activity.
JD
Staff Team
JD
Staff Team
This post was created by our staff team.
Please contact us with your queries and questions.
At Aeipathy, we believe that finding that right activity balance is key to a successful forum and happy roleplayers. We never want to push or force members to write (where's the fun in that?!) and we never want to see other members feeling out of sorts and bored because their partners aren't replying fast enough. At the same time, we don't want to navigate around those players and have them feel left out or left behind or cause stress or mental health problems because people are desperate to keep up! So, where is the balance?
We'd love to be able to tell you that Aeipathy has the answer. That we have that magical formula that sees all of our roleplayers happy, all of the time. We can't tell you this. In fact, the only thing that we can tell you, with any great certainty, after running our lovely home here for several years, is that such a magical formula does not exist. Instead, it is an on-going challenge of trial and adjustment to fit with the expectations of our member base, at any one time.
What we can tell you, however, is that our Staff Team work incredibly hard to see that Aeipathy has the best possible system in place for their current community. We work hard to enforce just the right amount of expectation and required standard and balance it with fun and engagement and a sensitivity to real life engagements that our members might have. This makes for a detailed and slightly complex activity system that is entirely unique to Aeipathy. You will not find another system out there like this. Our system is developed solely for us and the way our community best likes to write.
We never hold activity checks on Aeipathy. This has been a new update since November 2019. Whilst we have used Activity Checks in the past, our staff have found these checks to be frustrating to those who post with regularity and disruptive to story-telling and writing when we are forced to remove a small but noticeable chunk of characters from game-play upon their conclusion. As such, Aeipathy runs a unique and exclusive system that checks its members activity without interruption or hassle to its active members and with an aim to encouraging the return of activity in absentee characters - not the removal of them. In the worst case scenario where characters are removed from our site, it is done on an individual basis so that only one or two characters are ever removed at one time, ensuring that the impact to the story-telling on the site is minimal. The following is the unique Aeipathy Activity System...
Disclaimer
Before we go into the finer details of our Activity System at Aeipathy, please allow us to confirm one simple thing. We advertise ourselves as an active, intermediate-to-advanced roleplay forum. This means that we expect our members to reply to threads in a timely manner that is appropriate for that thread and for those characters and for those members' needs. You can't put a timeframe on this expectation. Some threads are time sensitive, others are not. Some members require a thread that might not be time sensitive to you but they need it to be concluded so that they are able to write one that is urgent. We all have different expectations and requirements for each thread, character, post, member or plot. Which is why any over-arching system is always doomed to fail.
However, with every single post having a subjective determination on whether it is a priority or not, it becomes impossible for a Staff Team to moderate activity based solely on 'whether it seems okay'. Without some form of finite system or set of rules in place, all of our members would be forced to accept whatever a single person - a staff member - thinks about their activity. And that's neither fun nor fair. Not for the staffer who is attempting to know when to play the bad guy, with whip in hand, and not for the member who may have a different opinion on what is a 'suitable' wait time is on a post. It is not fair to moderate a community like this. Rules must be placed in order to give balance to both sides. To ensure that a staffer isn't following only their personal opinions on activity levels and to help give members the reassurance that their activity falls within a certain, acceptable remit.
This all sounds very ominous and boringly technical but we believe that it is important for our community base to know that this Activity System is not in place for the staffers. It is not here to become a means of waggling a finger at 'slow' writers. It is a means of ensuring mutual harmony for all players. If every member on Aeipathy was content to do a post a year, we would have no activity system bar that. But this is not the way our community operates. Our activity requirements alter depending on community need. They are for you, our members. They are for us, the community.
Blanket Expectations
1-2 Posts Per Week
The first and foremost rule to be aware of with Aeipathy is that we advertise an average/middling/approximate 1-2 posts per week expectation from our members. What this means is that we are fully aware that everyone has a real life - that everyone has times in that real life where RP is the last thing on your mind. We do not force our members to hold to 1-2 posts per week every-single-week-without-fail. We are not that tyrannical. But it does mean that we expect our members to be active, to post roughly 4-8(ish) posts per month in order to be an active part of the community.
Forgotten Threads
We love writers who are passionate and excited about writing. This means that, when we see players posting to one thread back and forth, over and over, we couldn't be happier! Such speedy replies means that you are loving what you're doing and that, after all, is the entire point of Aeipathy!
However, such love and passion comes with a caveat. And that caveat is that rapid fire posting is never a problem, so long as other members do not feel that it is impacting on your replies elsewhere. There's no maths or line in the sand to say when it is acceptable to rapid-fire and when it is not. So, we rely on our members to have a little empathy and common sense. If most of your threads are up to date, if a few of them have been waiting for a reply for say, a week? maybe two? And you want to rapid-fire? Then go ahead! Two days posting back and forth with your bestest bud is only going to add another two days to the other members' wait time. That's not a lot. And if you're often getting back to them speedily, what is the harm in indulging in your current thread obsession? It might even keep your muse high and engaged for when you tackle the other threads on your To Do list.
On the other hand, if you have a thread that has been waiting for over two months, that you've been nudged over and messaged about and members have made it clear they are waiting on that post? Posting a dozen times back and forth on a different thread can read as an insensitive insult and a mark of disrespect. Whilst we hold no strict pattern of posting - you do not have to reply in the same order you were given your posts - we ask that all of our members are considerate and respectful. Just because a thread might not be so important to you, that doesn't make it unimportant to someone else. So, we expect all of our community to put themselves into other writers' shoes and try to be considerate/aware of how long they make others wait for threads.
Significant Threads
Some of our members on Aeipathy play Canon Characters. These are the characters in our royal houses that were developed for the purposes of moving the main, global plot forward. As such, we expect the writers of those characters to post in all relevant Events or global plot threads. For example, if you are currently playing a princess of the realm and the king dies, you would be expected to place your character into the funeral thread. Our staff team work incredibly hard to see a range of Events and Provincial Stories posted on the site that will allow someone plenty of writing opportunity but not swamp them with too many Significant Threads at once. Whilst our Staff Team are always happy to listen to our members if they explain that they are overloaded with Significant Threads, we do generally expect canon writers to accept this as a requirement when applying for the character in the first place.
Moderating Activity
As described above, it is impossible to find the perfect system that works for all members and all characters. The basic idea is that, if you are meeting the above three expectations: posting multiple times a week, posting in and staying active in all threads significant to your character and are not letting any threads fall by the wayside, then you should never have any activity issues on Aeipathy. Ever. This is the general idea. But, our Staff Team, need something to moderate against. And we'd like to explain why with the following example:
Member A comes to the Staff Team and complains that Member B is ignoring their thread. Member B has posted twenty times in the last three weeks but has not replied to Member A's thread.
This seems like a simple scenario but there are facets. One blanket rule that Member B should not be able to leave a thread for three weeks does not help. Say, the thread in question is a non-urgent thread, set in the past and made for character development/fluff. And Member B is currently the central character in a large Global Plot with three active Events attached and four other characters to maintain. In these circumstances, it is understandable that they have written so much without replying to that one thread in particular. On the other hand, what if the situation was reversed? What if those twenty posts were all to one specific thread that was only for development purposes/personal plotline and the thread that has been left hanging for three weeks is a significant Event that is waiting on them to see the global plot move? Different scenarios make it difficult for the staff team to implement a single rule or restriction. It becomes example-specific on whether or not Member A needs to be reassured and told to calm down and not worry. Or if Member B needs to be politely asked how they can be helped to get that thread moving once more.
And if every scenario is case-specific, how do we avoid that staff-subjectivity we talked about earlier?
Well the best arrangement that Aeipathy has managed to come up with is a rolling monthly activity sweep that checks in on characters and makes sure that they are following the rules that should be expected of them specifically. Aka. Are they active (hopefully 1-2 posts per week on average, unless they have a RL reason for being less around), are they involved in all the threads they should be, and have they let any threads fall into the space of forgottenness...?
How do we do that? Well, we have blanket rules that apply across the board but which are lax. Ergo, the rules have a wide spread and ensure that no-one get's too far behind in any one area. But they are not up someone's backside ensuring that they post absolutely everywhere they should absolutely all the time without rest or consideration. No-one likes to write to a deadline or harsh requirements.
Because of the range of requirements needed each month to ensure that no single character, plot or story falls too far behind, our monthly activity 'requirements' seem long and complex. Please be assured that you are not required to memorise them. Again, if you are following the three blanket expectations above, you should not need this information at all. However, at Aeipathy we applaud transparency. The following is the way that our staff team monitor character activity...
Monthly System
Every month, our staff team go through our character roster and check that each character meets the following requirements. Please note that, due to canon characters being particularly involved in global plots, their activity requirements may be slightly different. Requirements are measured via the last calendar month. So, if the sweep is being done at the end of January, we are checking the character's stats from the 1st January to the 31st of January.
Canon Characters
Canon Characters include: all characters that are listed in the Kingdom pages of the Encyclopedia and God accounts (not Personas - but the God account itself). Nobles that are a part of Houses made by players do not count as Canon Characters.
-- All canon characters must have posted 2 in-character posts in the last calendar month.
-- All canon characters must be currently partaking in any Events or threads that are deemed 'Significant' to that character.
-- When looking at a canon characters' thread tracker, there cannot be any thread waiting on their next post longer than two months.*
-- When looking at a canon characters' 'Significant' Events or threads, there cannot be a thread waiting on their next post longer than six weeks.**
Original Characters
Original Characters include: characters that you have made up yourself from scratch or any character that was made in response to a Wanted Character ad.
-- All original characters must have posted 2 in-character posts in the last calendar month.
-- All original characters must be currently partaking in any Events or threads that are deemed 'Significant' to that character. (Please note, this will be a rarity for original characters.)
-- When looking at an original characters' thread tracker, there cannot be any thread waiting on their next post longer than two months.*
*Clarification: This requirement is measured by the date that is on the right hand side of our automatic thread trackers (found on a character's profile page under the Laptop icon). If another player has posted in that time, the two months is counted from that post. NOT the last time the character in question posted themselves. As far as our staff team are concerned, if someone else can post in the thread then the lack of post from this character has not held it up. This is the most finite way we can handle this requirement, rather than relying on subjective opinion on who should be posting next. We work on the date on the right. If a thread says 'Your Turn' and the date on the right is longer than two months, it will be flagged.
**Clarification: This requirement is measured by the date of the last post made by this character. I.e. if this character posted in a Significant Event more than six weeks ago and has not posted again, it will be flagged.
Please note that, if either of these issues are due to another player's inactivity, rather than your own, you will have the chance to explain this to a staffer. You are not condemned with immediate effect. ^_^
Working It Out
All of the above requirements function independently of each other. So, if you have an Original Character and have posted two IC posts (meeting requirement one) but have not posted in two Significant threads that has been directed your way, you will still not meet your monthly activity requirements. You would have had to either have posted in just those two Significant threads (meeting your Significant and your IC total requirements) or post four posts - the two you did elsewhere and then the two Significant ones. As an example, if you have three Significant threads and two threads that are older than two months old, you will need to write five posts this month in order to meet your monthly requirements. You do not need to then post twice more to meet your IC post count - that is covered by what you have already done.
This sounds complex but really it is a system designed to encourage members first towards the threads that are most significant to the community as a whole and then to the more personal threads. It is entirely up to each writer on the site how they wish to manage their threads and posts. We can only guide.
We understand that these requirements could end up lengthy and complex, with multiple overlaps and concerns. This is why it bears repeating that members are not required to monitor this system or calculate their own posting requirements: if your characters' threads are up to date and covering the Blanket Expectations listed above, none of this information is necessary for members.
However, in the efforts of transparency/honesty, here is a made up example to help show you how staffers will asses each character account at the end of each month:
JD has 7 characters. It is nearly the end of the month and she has posted 0 posts this month. Looking at her characters, she has: Persephone of Xanthos: Canon. 4 Significant Threads. 2 Two-Month Old Threads. Vangelis of Kotas: Canon. 7 Significant Threads (that he has not posted to at all yet). 1 Significant Thread (that he has posted to but the post was over 6 weeks ago). 1 Two-Month Old Threads. Fotios of Leventi: Canon. 1 Significant Thread. 0 Two-Month Old Threads. Neena of the Zaire: Canon. 2 Significant Threads. 1 Two-Month Old Thread. Akhmad of Lands Afar: Original. 0 Significant Threads. 0 Two-Month Old Threads. Bubbled. Hannah of Isaiah: Original. 2 Significant Threads. 0 Two Month Old Threads. Rubiah of Qalha: Canon. 2 Significant Threads. 8 Two Month Old Threads.
So, here's the Maths: Persephone: 4+2 = 6 (this is equal to/over the 2 IC requirement for Canons) -- 6 posts required. Vangelis: 7+1+1 = 9 (this is equal to/over the 2 IC requirement for Canons) -- 9 posts required. Fotios: 1+0 = 1 (does not meet Canon requirement of 2) = +1 = 2 -- 2 posts required. Neena: 2+1 = 3 (this is equal to/over the 2 IC requirement for Canons) -- 3 posts required. Akhmad: 0+0 = 0 (does not meet Original requirement of 2) = +2 = 2 -- 2 posts required. Hannah: 2+0 = 2 (this is equal to/over the 2 IC requirement for Originals) -- 2 posts required. Rubiah: 2+8 = 10 (this is equal to/over the 2 IC requirement for Canons) -- 10 posts required.
In this scenario, JD will be required to make 31 posts before the end of the month.
Don't Panic!
Before members start to worry or new members run for the hills thinking, 'I can't write 31 posts per month!' Let us just be 100% clear on the above example. This is an example that shows how to calculate the worst situation, a week before the end of the month, with 7 characters, 5 of which are canons, that you have not written with at all for the whole month PLUS threads that haven't been written in for two months. In reality, this is not a situation most of our members would ever find themselves in. We are an active forum. If Fictional JD in the example above had been ensuring that she had no threads that were over two months old and was following the 1-2 posts per week average guideline, then a week from the end of the month she would have 19 posts to make and have already posted 12 times, leaving 7 to go. And that's only if the staff team had released over 18 Significant threads or Events in three weeks... impossible considering we run two broadcasts a fortnight and normally only release an Event or two each time! We have used the numbers above as a big example the covers all possibilities.
So, before you start out worrying over these new rules and requirements, have a check of your characters and their trackers. Despite all of the requirements, designed to cover a range of inactivity symptoms, you may find yourself far more in the clear than you think. Don't let all the numbers and clarifications confuse you! It's not as demanding as it seems! We promise!
Support List
At Aeipathy, we don't like to guillotine characters off the site without a fight. You've spent time making them, we spent time reviewing them and the community have put in time and effort to write with them. Not to mention all the future plots that might be resting on their shoulders. Getting rid of them in one-fell-swoop because they have one thread that has been waiting two months or they didn't join the latest Event yet... no. We don't do that. None of the above is made to be a one strike and you're out system. Instead, it has been developed as a means of monitoring activity and helping members if and when they fall behind. We don't want them to lose motivation, we don't want them to struggle. We want them out there and having fun with the rest of us.
A character that does not meet their monthly requirements is moved onto our Support List. Our Staff Team step up to provide new and interesting inspiration for the player, plot with them and encourage their muse once more. Support List characters who do not meet their monthly requirements the next calendar month will be removed from the site, ensuring that no character is entirely out of activity for more than two months. Canon and wanted characters will be put back up for grabs and all active threads for that character will be reassigned and reconfigured so that roleplaying is not effected.
Staff Promise
When a character goes onto out Support List, our staff team promise the following:
-- A Staff Starter. This is a thread that has been created solely for the Support List character by one of our most active players - a member of our staff team. Sometimes inactivity can come from a lack of something new, the feeling that all of your threads are old and hanging from your like chores to be done or mountains to climb. A Staff Starter is not an obligation or new thread that you have to post to, but it is an open starter that you are given without the need for forethought or planning - something fresh and new that you can just dive straight into spontaneously! If unused, the thread can be reappropriated for another member or left as an open thread on the site - no waste, no fuss!
-- A Match-Maker. This is a match up with another member (a non-staff member) in the #idea-adoption channel on the Discord server. You'll be matched up with a character that might be able to help create a new plot or something exciting. It might also match you up with someone you haven't written with before and give you a new lease of muse for your Support List character! Again, this doesn't have to be acted upon; it is simply a suggestion to help with new muse and get the motivation cogs rolling.
-- A Plan of Attack. If you are sent a DM at the end of the month to confirm your character is on the Support List, it will include all of the threads you are required to post in by the end of the next month to see them off the list as well as a plan of attack for any others that might be owed by the time you get there. Sometimes people fall out of love with their writing because they feel too overwhelmed to know where to start. It's not a mandatory order for you to follow but if you are someone that cannot see the forest for the trees, this could help give focus and guide to what you're doing!
-- Let's Chat. The DM sent at the end of the month to anyone whose characters are on the Support List is also a conversation starter! If you need help finding plots, making things happen or getting your muse back, our staffers are there to help! We can forward your ideas to other members or match you up with people that might be interested in similar plots. You won't be sent requirements and then left on your own. We want you here and we want to help!
Character Removal
If, after all of this, a character does not meet their activity expectations after a month of being on the Support List, they are sadly removed from our forum. All removed apps are saved and the accounts deleted from the site so that others might take a character by the same name or recreate a lost canon character if they wish to in the future.
Whenever a character is removed from the site, all of their active threads are taken up by staffers and messages sent to members to ensure that their plotting and stories are disrupted as little as possible.
Please be aware that there are overriding rules that can see a character removed from the site:
Multiple Probations
If a character ends up on the Support List three times in a row, they are removed from the site. So, if Character A did not meet requirements in January, then was on the Support List in February (and got back up to date) and then did not meet requirements in March, and was put on the Support List for April (and got back up to date) and then did not make requirements in May... instead of going onto the Support List for June, they would simply be removed. Characters that are this unreliable for this long cause issues for the community as a whole. If, on the other hand, the character had a month in which they didn't end up on the Support List in between these, they would simply go on the list in June as normal. This is an overriding rule to ensure that characters are not inactive for long, sequential stretches of time.
If a character falls into probation six times across a single year (the last twelve months), they are removed from the site. This doesn't matter in what order they're in, or how many months they were up-to-date. Basically, if they hit a sixth month where they do not meet requirements and are about to go onto the Support List, they are simply removed from the site instead of going into the Support List for the sixth time. This overriding rule is to ensure that characters are not repeatedly inactive within a single year.
New Character Creation
A canon character removed from the site cannot be reclaimed by the same player. If a canon character is removed from the site due to not meeting activity requirements or being added to Support List too often, that player cannot reclaim them. If, however, a player drops the character pre-empting their activity issues, they can claim that same character at a later date when their circumstances change, if the character is still available. We all have times where roleplaying is difficult and we understand that dropping characters is a natural part of roleplay. But canon characters are important to our global plot and even if players are having trouble in their own lives and need a break from writing, we need to trust in the communication of those players. This is why a character forcibly removed because of a lack of activity is not permitted to be remade by their previous writer but a writer being open and communicative about dropping the character will have a second chance at them.
A player may not reclaim a canon character that they have dropped twice. If you have pre-emptively dropped a canon character (the same canon character) twice, you cannot reapply for them in the future. It is our opinion that a character that has been dropped twice is one that cannot inspire the interest to see them written through the tough periods. We would prefer our members to roleplay characters that can hold their interest better and not feel the pressure to go back to a character that they have had trouble maintaining before.
Any player who has lost a canon character five times will be denied the right to apply for any other canon characters in the future. A player that has lost any canon character (the same character multiple times or different characters) five times will not be permitted to roleplay any canon character in the future. Canon characters are super important to the global plotting of our forum. And the taking and dropping of canons is highly disruptive to global plot game play. If a player picks up and drops canons here there and everywhere, they risk developing a reputation as an unreliable writer and losing trust from other players. Therefore, five chances at a canon character is the maximum.
If lost in an activity sweep, God players must wait six months before reapplying for a God. God characters have the same activity requirements as Canon characters. If a God character is removed due to activity requirements not being met, the player cannot apply for another God for six months from the point of removal. Gods are incredibly important to the divine plots of the site and they are highly coveted roles. If a player does not keep up with the roleplaying expectation, their role is opened back up to the community and the player forced to take a six month respite from divine rp, to see if playing a God is really something they have the time for.
Players may not submit a new character for review if they have any character currently on the Support List. This one speaks for itself. In short, it can be seen as rude or disrespectful to other players to have spent the time and effort creating a new character when they are waiting on activity from current characters. You must wait until the end of that month's Support List period (when the character comes off the list) or drop the character in question before submitting a new one for review.
We're All Human
At the end of the day, one last note to say is: we're all human. Sometimes shit happens. That's the way life goes. The staff team are the same! We're human beings - you can talk to us. If there's an issue with your writing or characters and you are worried about meeting activity requirements, if you have a problem or are worried your characters are going to be taken away, don't stress and don't panic. Just come talk to us! We're not monsters. At the end of the day, we would much prefer characters to stay with us and stay active than we would go through the hassle of rearranging plots and histories to exorcise them from the site. And that is what this system is for: to ensure that people are active and having fun and not falling into worries or concerns over theirs or anyone else's activity.
Our Activity System
At Aeipathy, we believe that finding that right activity balance is key to a successful forum and happy roleplayers. We never want to push or force members to write (where's the fun in that?!) and we never want to see other members feeling out of sorts and bored because their partners aren't replying fast enough. At the same time, we don't want to navigate around those players and have them feel left out or left behind or cause stress or mental health problems because people are desperate to keep up! So, where is the balance?
We'd love to be able to tell you that Aeipathy has the answer. That we have that magical formula that sees all of our roleplayers happy, all of the time. We can't tell you this. In fact, the only thing that we can tell you, with any great certainty, after running our lovely home here for several years, is that such a magical formula does not exist. Instead, it is an on-going challenge of trial and adjustment to fit with the expectations of our member base, at any one time.
What we can tell you, however, is that our Staff Team work incredibly hard to see that Aeipathy has the best possible system in place for their current community. We work hard to enforce just the right amount of expectation and required standard and balance it with fun and engagement and a sensitivity to real life engagements that our members might have. This makes for a detailed and slightly complex activity system that is entirely unique to Aeipathy. You will not find another system out there like this. Our system is developed solely for us and the way our community best likes to write.
We never hold activity checks on Aeipathy. This has been a new update since November 2019. Whilst we have used Activity Checks in the past, our staff have found these checks to be frustrating to those who post with regularity and disruptive to story-telling and writing when we are forced to remove a small but noticeable chunk of characters from game-play upon their conclusion. As such, Aeipathy runs a unique and exclusive system that checks its members activity without interruption or hassle to its active members and with an aim to encouraging the return of activity in absentee characters - not the removal of them. In the worst case scenario where characters are removed from our site, it is done on an individual basis so that only one or two characters are ever removed at one time, ensuring that the impact to the story-telling on the site is minimal. The following is the unique Aeipathy Activity System...
Disclaimer
Before we go into the finer details of our Activity System at Aeipathy, please allow us to confirm one simple thing. We advertise ourselves as an active, intermediate-to-advanced roleplay forum. This means that we expect our members to reply to threads in a timely manner that is appropriate for that thread and for those characters and for those members' needs. You can't put a timeframe on this expectation. Some threads are time sensitive, others are not. Some members require a thread that might not be time sensitive to you but they need it to be concluded so that they are able to write one that is urgent. We all have different expectations and requirements for each thread, character, post, member or plot. Which is why any over-arching system is always doomed to fail.
However, with every single post having a subjective determination on whether it is a priority or not, it becomes impossible for a Staff Team to moderate activity based solely on 'whether it seems okay'. Without some form of finite system or set of rules in place, all of our members would be forced to accept whatever a single person - a staff member - thinks about their activity. And that's neither fun nor fair. Not for the staffer who is attempting to know when to play the bad guy, with whip in hand, and not for the member who may have a different opinion on what is a 'suitable' wait time is on a post. It is not fair to moderate a community like this. Rules must be placed in order to give balance to both sides. To ensure that a staffer isn't following only their personal opinions on activity levels and to help give members the reassurance that their activity falls within a certain, acceptable remit.
This all sounds very ominous and boringly technical but we believe that it is important for our community base to know that this Activity System is not in place for the staffers. It is not here to become a means of waggling a finger at 'slow' writers. It is a means of ensuring mutual harmony for all players. If every member on Aeipathy was content to do a post a year, we would have no activity system bar that. But this is not the way our community operates. Our activity requirements alter depending on community need. They are for you, our members. They are for us, the community.
Blanket Expectations
1-2 Posts Per Week
The first and foremost rule to be aware of with Aeipathy is that we advertise an average/middling/approximate 1-2 posts per week expectation from our members. What this means is that we are fully aware that everyone has a real life - that everyone has times in that real life where RP is the last thing on your mind. We do not force our members to hold to 1-2 posts per week every-single-week-without-fail. We are not that tyrannical. But it does mean that we expect our members to be active, to post roughly 4-8(ish) posts per month in order to be an active part of the community.
Forgotten Threads
We love writers who are passionate and excited about writing. This means that, when we see players posting to one thread back and forth, over and over, we couldn't be happier! Such speedy replies means that you are loving what you're doing and that, after all, is the entire point of Aeipathy!
However, such love and passion comes with a caveat. And that caveat is that rapid fire posting is never a problem, so long as other members do not feel that it is impacting on your replies elsewhere. There's no maths or line in the sand to say when it is acceptable to rapid-fire and when it is not. So, we rely on our members to have a little empathy and common sense. If most of your threads are up to date, if a few of them have been waiting for a reply for say, a week? maybe two? And you want to rapid-fire? Then go ahead! Two days posting back and forth with your bestest bud is only going to add another two days to the other members' wait time. That's not a lot. And if you're often getting back to them speedily, what is the harm in indulging in your current thread obsession? It might even keep your muse high and engaged for when you tackle the other threads on your To Do list.
On the other hand, if you have a thread that has been waiting for over two months, that you've been nudged over and messaged about and members have made it clear they are waiting on that post? Posting a dozen times back and forth on a different thread can read as an insensitive insult and a mark of disrespect. Whilst we hold no strict pattern of posting - you do not have to reply in the same order you were given your posts - we ask that all of our members are considerate and respectful. Just because a thread might not be so important to you, that doesn't make it unimportant to someone else. So, we expect all of our community to put themselves into other writers' shoes and try to be considerate/aware of how long they make others wait for threads.
Significant Threads
Some of our members on Aeipathy play Canon Characters. These are the characters in our royal houses that were developed for the purposes of moving the main, global plot forward. As such, we expect the writers of those characters to post in all relevant Events or global plot threads. For example, if you are currently playing a princess of the realm and the king dies, you would be expected to place your character into the funeral thread. Our staff team work incredibly hard to see a range of Events and Provincial Stories posted on the site that will allow someone plenty of writing opportunity but not swamp them with too many Significant Threads at once. Whilst our Staff Team are always happy to listen to our members if they explain that they are overloaded with Significant Threads, we do generally expect canon writers to accept this as a requirement when applying for the character in the first place.
Moderating Activity
As described above, it is impossible to find the perfect system that works for all members and all characters. The basic idea is that, if you are meeting the above three expectations: posting multiple times a week, posting in and staying active in all threads significant to your character and are not letting any threads fall by the wayside, then you should never have any activity issues on Aeipathy. Ever. This is the general idea. But, our Staff Team, need something to moderate against. And we'd like to explain why with the following example:
Member A comes to the Staff Team and complains that Member B is ignoring their thread. Member B has posted twenty times in the last three weeks but has not replied to Member A's thread.
This seems like a simple scenario but there are facets. One blanket rule that Member B should not be able to leave a thread for three weeks does not help. Say, the thread in question is a non-urgent thread, set in the past and made for character development/fluff. And Member B is currently the central character in a large Global Plot with three active Events attached and four other characters to maintain. In these circumstances, it is understandable that they have written so much without replying to that one thread in particular. On the other hand, what if the situation was reversed? What if those twenty posts were all to one specific thread that was only for development purposes/personal plotline and the thread that has been left hanging for three weeks is a significant Event that is waiting on them to see the global plot move? Different scenarios make it difficult for the staff team to implement a single rule or restriction. It becomes example-specific on whether or not Member A needs to be reassured and told to calm down and not worry. Or if Member B needs to be politely asked how they can be helped to get that thread moving once more.
And if every scenario is case-specific, how do we avoid that staff-subjectivity we talked about earlier?
Well the best arrangement that Aeipathy has managed to come up with is a rolling monthly activity sweep that checks in on characters and makes sure that they are following the rules that should be expected of them specifically. Aka. Are they active (hopefully 1-2 posts per week on average, unless they have a RL reason for being less around), are they involved in all the threads they should be, and have they let any threads fall into the space of forgottenness...?
How do we do that? Well, we have blanket rules that apply across the board but which are lax. Ergo, the rules have a wide spread and ensure that no-one get's too far behind in any one area. But they are not up someone's backside ensuring that they post absolutely everywhere they should absolutely all the time without rest or consideration. No-one likes to write to a deadline or harsh requirements.
Because of the range of requirements needed each month to ensure that no single character, plot or story falls too far behind, our monthly activity 'requirements' seem long and complex. Please be assured that you are not required to memorise them. Again, if you are following the three blanket expectations above, you should not need this information at all. However, at Aeipathy we applaud transparency. The following is the way that our staff team monitor character activity...
Monthly System
Every month, our staff team go through our character roster and check that each character meets the following requirements. Please note that, due to canon characters being particularly involved in global plots, their activity requirements may be slightly different. Requirements are measured via the last calendar month. So, if the sweep is being done at the end of January, we are checking the character's stats from the 1st January to the 31st of January.
Canon Characters
Canon Characters include: all characters that are listed in the Kingdom pages of the Encyclopedia and God accounts (not Personas - but the God account itself). Nobles that are a part of Houses made by players do not count as Canon Characters.
-- All canon characters must have posted 2 in-character posts in the last calendar month.
-- All canon characters must be currently partaking in any Events or threads that are deemed 'Significant' to that character.
-- When looking at a canon characters' thread tracker, there cannot be any thread waiting on their next post longer than two months.*
-- When looking at a canon characters' 'Significant' Events or threads, there cannot be a thread waiting on their next post longer than six weeks.**
Original Characters
Original Characters include: characters that you have made up yourself from scratch or any character that was made in response to a Wanted Character ad.
-- All original characters must have posted 2 in-character posts in the last calendar month.
-- All original characters must be currently partaking in any Events or threads that are deemed 'Significant' to that character. (Please note, this will be a rarity for original characters.)
-- When looking at an original characters' thread tracker, there cannot be any thread waiting on their next post longer than two months.*
*Clarification: This requirement is measured by the date that is on the right hand side of our automatic thread trackers (found on a character's profile page under the Laptop icon). If another player has posted in that time, the two months is counted from that post. NOT the last time the character in question posted themselves. As far as our staff team are concerned, if someone else can post in the thread then the lack of post from this character has not held it up. This is the most finite way we can handle this requirement, rather than relying on subjective opinion on who should be posting next. We work on the date on the right. If a thread says 'Your Turn' and the date on the right is longer than two months, it will be flagged.
**Clarification: This requirement is measured by the date of the last post made by this character. I.e. if this character posted in a Significant Event more than six weeks ago and has not posted again, it will be flagged.
Please note that, if either of these issues are due to another player's inactivity, rather than your own, you will have the chance to explain this to a staffer. You are not condemned with immediate effect. ^_^
Working It Out
All of the above requirements function independently of each other. So, if you have an Original Character and have posted two IC posts (meeting requirement one) but have not posted in two Significant threads that has been directed your way, you will still not meet your monthly activity requirements. You would have had to either have posted in just those two Significant threads (meeting your Significant and your IC total requirements) or post four posts - the two you did elsewhere and then the two Significant ones. As an example, if you have three Significant threads and two threads that are older than two months old, you will need to write five posts this month in order to meet your monthly requirements. You do not need to then post twice more to meet your IC post count - that is covered by what you have already done.
This sounds complex but really it is a system designed to encourage members first towards the threads that are most significant to the community as a whole and then to the more personal threads. It is entirely up to each writer on the site how they wish to manage their threads and posts. We can only guide.
We understand that these requirements could end up lengthy and complex, with multiple overlaps and concerns. This is why it bears repeating that members are not required to monitor this system or calculate their own posting requirements: if your characters' threads are up to date and covering the Blanket Expectations listed above, none of this information is necessary for members.
However, in the efforts of transparency/honesty, here is a made up example to help show you how staffers will asses each character account at the end of each month:
JD has 7 characters. It is nearly the end of the month and she has posted 0 posts this month. Looking at her characters, she has: Persephone of Xanthos: Canon. 4 Significant Threads. 2 Two-Month Old Threads. Vangelis of Kotas: Canon. 7 Significant Threads (that he has not posted to at all yet). 1 Significant Thread (that he has posted to but the post was over 6 weeks ago). 1 Two-Month Old Threads. Fotios of Leventi: Canon. 1 Significant Thread. 0 Two-Month Old Threads. Neena of the Zaire: Canon. 2 Significant Threads. 1 Two-Month Old Thread. Akhmad of Lands Afar: Original. 0 Significant Threads. 0 Two-Month Old Threads. Bubbled. Hannah of Isaiah: Original. 2 Significant Threads. 0 Two Month Old Threads. Rubiah of Qalha: Canon. 2 Significant Threads. 8 Two Month Old Threads.
So, here's the Maths: Persephone: 4+2 = 6 (this is equal to/over the 2 IC requirement for Canons) -- 6 posts required. Vangelis: 7+1+1 = 9 (this is equal to/over the 2 IC requirement for Canons) -- 9 posts required. Fotios: 1+0 = 1 (does not meet Canon requirement of 2) = +1 = 2 -- 2 posts required. Neena: 2+1 = 3 (this is equal to/over the 2 IC requirement for Canons) -- 3 posts required. Akhmad: 0+0 = 0 (does not meet Original requirement of 2) = +2 = 2 -- 2 posts required. Hannah: 2+0 = 2 (this is equal to/over the 2 IC requirement for Originals) -- 2 posts required. Rubiah: 2+8 = 10 (this is equal to/over the 2 IC requirement for Canons) -- 10 posts required.
In this scenario, JD will be required to make 31 posts before the end of the month.
Don't Panic!
Before members start to worry or new members run for the hills thinking, 'I can't write 31 posts per month!' Let us just be 100% clear on the above example. This is an example that shows how to calculate the worst situation, a week before the end of the month, with 7 characters, 5 of which are canons, that you have not written with at all for the whole month PLUS threads that haven't been written in for two months. In reality, this is not a situation most of our members would ever find themselves in. We are an active forum. If Fictional JD in the example above had been ensuring that she had no threads that were over two months old and was following the 1-2 posts per week average guideline, then a week from the end of the month she would have 19 posts to make and have already posted 12 times, leaving 7 to go. And that's only if the staff team had released over 18 Significant threads or Events in three weeks... impossible considering we run two broadcasts a fortnight and normally only release an Event or two each time! We have used the numbers above as a big example the covers all possibilities.
So, before you start out worrying over these new rules and requirements, have a check of your characters and their trackers. Despite all of the requirements, designed to cover a range of inactivity symptoms, you may find yourself far more in the clear than you think. Don't let all the numbers and clarifications confuse you! It's not as demanding as it seems! We promise!
Support List
At Aeipathy, we don't like to guillotine characters off the site without a fight. You've spent time making them, we spent time reviewing them and the community have put in time and effort to write with them. Not to mention all the future plots that might be resting on their shoulders. Getting rid of them in one-fell-swoop because they have one thread that has been waiting two months or they didn't join the latest Event yet... no. We don't do that. None of the above is made to be a one strike and you're out system. Instead, it has been developed as a means of monitoring activity and helping members if and when they fall behind. We don't want them to lose motivation, we don't want them to struggle. We want them out there and having fun with the rest of us.
A character that does not meet their monthly requirements is moved onto our Support List. Our Staff Team step up to provide new and interesting inspiration for the player, plot with them and encourage their muse once more. Support List characters who do not meet their monthly requirements the next calendar month will be removed from the site, ensuring that no character is entirely out of activity for more than two months. Canon and wanted characters will be put back up for grabs and all active threads for that character will be reassigned and reconfigured so that roleplaying is not effected.
Staff Promise
When a character goes onto out Support List, our staff team promise the following:
-- A Staff Starter. This is a thread that has been created solely for the Support List character by one of our most active players - a member of our staff team. Sometimes inactivity can come from a lack of something new, the feeling that all of your threads are old and hanging from your like chores to be done or mountains to climb. A Staff Starter is not an obligation or new thread that you have to post to, but it is an open starter that you are given without the need for forethought or planning - something fresh and new that you can just dive straight into spontaneously! If unused, the thread can be reappropriated for another member or left as an open thread on the site - no waste, no fuss!
-- A Match-Maker. This is a match up with another member (a non-staff member) in the #idea-adoption channel on the Discord server. You'll be matched up with a character that might be able to help create a new plot or something exciting. It might also match you up with someone you haven't written with before and give you a new lease of muse for your Support List character! Again, this doesn't have to be acted upon; it is simply a suggestion to help with new muse and get the motivation cogs rolling.
-- A Plan of Attack. If you are sent a DM at the end of the month to confirm your character is on the Support List, it will include all of the threads you are required to post in by the end of the next month to see them off the list as well as a plan of attack for any others that might be owed by the time you get there. Sometimes people fall out of love with their writing because they feel too overwhelmed to know where to start. It's not a mandatory order for you to follow but if you are someone that cannot see the forest for the trees, this could help give focus and guide to what you're doing!
-- Let's Chat. The DM sent at the end of the month to anyone whose characters are on the Support List is also a conversation starter! If you need help finding plots, making things happen or getting your muse back, our staffers are there to help! We can forward your ideas to other members or match you up with people that might be interested in similar plots. You won't be sent requirements and then left on your own. We want you here and we want to help!
Character Removal
If, after all of this, a character does not meet their activity expectations after a month of being on the Support List, they are sadly removed from our forum. All removed apps are saved and the accounts deleted from the site so that others might take a character by the same name or recreate a lost canon character if they wish to in the future.
Whenever a character is removed from the site, all of their active threads are taken up by staffers and messages sent to members to ensure that their plotting and stories are disrupted as little as possible.
Please be aware that there are overriding rules that can see a character removed from the site:
Multiple Probations
If a character ends up on the Support List three times in a row, they are removed from the site. So, if Character A did not meet requirements in January, then was on the Support List in February (and got back up to date) and then did not meet requirements in March, and was put on the Support List for April (and got back up to date) and then did not make requirements in May... instead of going onto the Support List for June, they would simply be removed. Characters that are this unreliable for this long cause issues for the community as a whole. If, on the other hand, the character had a month in which they didn't end up on the Support List in between these, they would simply go on the list in June as normal. This is an overriding rule to ensure that characters are not inactive for long, sequential stretches of time.
If a character falls into probation six times across a single year (the last twelve months), they are removed from the site. This doesn't matter in what order they're in, or how many months they were up-to-date. Basically, if they hit a sixth month where they do not meet requirements and are about to go onto the Support List, they are simply removed from the site instead of going into the Support List for the sixth time. This overriding rule is to ensure that characters are not repeatedly inactive within a single year.
New Character Creation
A canon character removed from the site cannot be reclaimed by the same player. If a canon character is removed from the site due to not meeting activity requirements or being added to Support List too often, that player cannot reclaim them. If, however, a player drops the character pre-empting their activity issues, they can claim that same character at a later date when their circumstances change, if the character is still available. We all have times where roleplaying is difficult and we understand that dropping characters is a natural part of roleplay. But canon characters are important to our global plot and even if players are having trouble in their own lives and need a break from writing, we need to trust in the communication of those players. This is why a character forcibly removed because of a lack of activity is not permitted to be remade by their previous writer but a writer being open and communicative about dropping the character will have a second chance at them.
A player may not reclaim a canon character that they have dropped twice. If you have pre-emptively dropped a canon character (the same canon character) twice, you cannot reapply for them in the future. It is our opinion that a character that has been dropped twice is one that cannot inspire the interest to see them written through the tough periods. We would prefer our members to roleplay characters that can hold their interest better and not feel the pressure to go back to a character that they have had trouble maintaining before.
Any player who has lost a canon character five times will be denied the right to apply for any other canon characters in the future. A player that has lost any canon character (the same character multiple times or different characters) five times will not be permitted to roleplay any canon character in the future. Canon characters are super important to the global plotting of our forum. And the taking and dropping of canons is highly disruptive to global plot game play. If a player picks up and drops canons here there and everywhere, they risk developing a reputation as an unreliable writer and losing trust from other players. Therefore, five chances at a canon character is the maximum.
If lost in an activity sweep, God players must wait six months before reapplying for a God. God characters have the same activity requirements as Canon characters. If a God character is removed due to activity requirements not being met, the player cannot apply for another God for six months from the point of removal. Gods are incredibly important to the divine plots of the site and they are highly coveted roles. If a player does not keep up with the roleplaying expectation, their role is opened back up to the community and the player forced to take a six month respite from divine rp, to see if playing a God is really something they have the time for.
Players may not submit a new character for review if they have any character currently on the Support List. This one speaks for itself. In short, it can be seen as rude or disrespectful to other players to have spent the time and effort creating a new character when they are waiting on activity from current characters. You must wait until the end of that month's Support List period (when the character comes off the list) or drop the character in question before submitting a new one for review.
We're All Human
At the end of the day, one last note to say is: we're all human. Sometimes shit happens. That's the way life goes. The staff team are the same! We're human beings - you can talk to us. If there's an issue with your writing or characters and you are worried about meeting activity requirements, if you have a problem or are worried your characters are going to be taken away, don't stress and don't panic. Just come talk to us! We're not monsters. At the end of the day, we would much prefer characters to stay with us and stay active than we would go through the hassle of rearranging plots and histories to exorcise them from the site. And that is what this system is for: to ensure that people are active and having fun and not falling into worries or concerns over theirs or anyone else's activity.