Part two: game plots are not supposed to be self-resolving.
In Season One, that meant players had to figure out a solution on their own and then cooperate with the mods to implement it. So far what I've seen of Season Two involves the mods handing the players a solution and then implementing it themselves. This isn't interactive. It doesn't allow for players to shape the game or to change plot outcomes.
A good example from S1 is the tainted water plot. Players had to figure out what was causing the problem, track it to its source, and then find a way to stop it. The smear campaign they came up with was a very clever solution that didn't require superpowers to participate.
In S2, we had the item monsters. This could have been an ongoing plot with a similar scope, requiring players to track the monsters to their source and then figure out a way to stop them from generating. Instead, the mods solved the problem for us by having the aliens fix it. There was a lot of lost opportunity there.
I realize that event was the old mod team, but in the most recent plot post, the new mod team seems to be sticking to the same philosophy. We're being handed a solution for the possessed car, pre-packaged, with no way to affect the outcome. When I joined this game, the main draw was that players drove the plot. Now it seems the plot is driving itself, and players can only sit back and watch.
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In Season One, that meant players had to figure out a solution on their own and then cooperate with the mods to implement it. So far what I've seen of Season Two involves the mods handing the players a solution and then implementing it themselves. This isn't interactive. It doesn't allow for players to shape the game or to change plot outcomes.
A good example from S1 is the tainted water plot. Players had to figure out what was causing the problem, track it to its source, and then find a way to stop it. The smear campaign they came up with was a very clever solution that didn't require superpowers to participate.
In S2, we had the item monsters. This could have been an ongoing plot with a similar scope, requiring players to track the monsters to their source and then figure out a way to stop them from generating. Instead, the mods solved the problem for us by having the aliens fix it. There was a lot of lost opportunity there.
I realize that event was the old mod team, but in the most recent plot post, the new mod team seems to be sticking to the same philosophy. We're being handed a solution for the possessed car, pre-packaged, with no way to affect the outcome. When I joined this game, the main draw was that players drove the plot. Now it seems the plot is driving itself, and players can only sit back and watch.