MOD ANNOUNCEMENT: APPLICATION CYCLE UPDATES

[inthenightmods]

Hello everyone! Last month we mentioned that with the changing of hands on our mod team, we'd been planning on taking a look at our application process and giving it a bit of an overhaul. With the posting of the current test drive meme, our new procedures are officially complete and ready to roll out for the upcoming app round that will take place at the end of the month!

Take a look at the application and faq pages to read the new information for yourselves, but in the meantime here is a quick rundown of what's different:

• The game now has an increased player cap of 70 and in proportion to this, each cast has an increased cap of 7!


• We've added a more concrete guideline in the application portion of the faq on how we determine whether or not a canon will or won't be absorbed into a franchise to help eliminate confusion on the issue.


• There will no longer be a reservation period involved in our application cycle.

We know that doing away with reserves entirely is quite a radical move, so we want to take a second to explain why we're trying this out. Our intention is that operating on a fully first-come, first-serve basis will ultimately streamline the application process, as our apps system has always felt a bit clunky to us. Doing away with reserves is something we've decided to test after discussing how to make our system run more neatly, since we've noticed a good amount of confusion in the past over the different cut-offs and deadlines. Now, there's only one deadline to keep track of, which will allow us to make the amount of available new player slots clearer from the get-go. We're hoping that this will be easier on both incoming players and on us as a mod team.

As always, changes made to any portion of the game are meant for the betterment of our community as a whole. We're always excited to try new ideas and explore new ways of running a game, and the great thing about that is that we can head right back to the drawing board if any changes don't work out the way we intended. We always strive to show our playerbase that we're willing to listen to feedback, and we do our best to keep our ears to the ground so that we can be proactive about game updates. We can't tell you how much we appreciate your collective willingness to try things out with us! We absolutely adore all of you for your continued patience, understanding, and candid attitude. Thank you for bearing with us as we try to make In the Night a fun experience for you all!

Comments

[webcape]

quick question: are apps still going to be screened? the application page implies yes, which could get very messy very quickly for anyone that submits an app after the mod(s) have gone to bed or are at work and away from the pc.

[inthenightmods]

Great point! We've decided to unscreen the apps page (not, like, all of it, just the automatic screening for new comments will be turned off) so players can reference which apps have been submitted during a given round. This shouldn't mess with the confidentiality for any players that prefer to have their app screened, as it's perfectly acceptable to link us to an app that's locked to just the mod journal.

We'll update the apps page to include this clarification as soon as we're able!

[webcape]

DAMNIT YOU REPLIED BEFORE I COULD EDIT i feel oddly incomplete

THANK YOU FOR THE SWIFT RESPONSE and for taking that into consideration! i think it'll help take the pressure off new apps, for sure, if they can see how many apps they're up against.

but also TO ADD TO THIS and my per...sistent question asking god i am so sorry i exist: a few people have obviously raised questions about the statement regarding using the TDM as an intent to app/"stake your claim on a character", and i'm just going to reiterate that here for visibility (personally, for me — not speaking for anyone else who may share or disagree with that opinion). i think it opens a tricky can of worms, NOT JUST regarding everyone's favourite topic, popular canons.

but lmao more pertinently, i think the bigger issue is that someone may have TDMed last month, or two months ago, and decide to app this month; or someone else may TDM and then realise the timing isn't right or that the game/playerbase doesn't quite click for them. getting rid of reserves is a radical step, but i think saying "be proactive on the TDM" is a ... bizarre in-between step that, if you're getting rid of reserves, feels like a slightly strange comment.

it reads oddly similar to saying someone TDMing has therefore reserved the character (and "staking one's claim" reads ... oddly hostile, if i'm quite honest — but that may very much be me and the fact that i need sleep right now). i understand why you felt the need to add it in to the FAQ, but at the same time, i don't think it's a necessary remark. i personally think the explanation regarding the decision to remove reserves reads fine on it own without this added subsection.

[inthenightmods]

Another fair point! We definitely didn't intend to come across that way, so we've gone ahead and nixed that portion of the FAQ. Thanks for the heads up!

(Also, no worries on asking questions! We appreciate you taking the time to throw some feedback our way. 👍)

[webshoots]

WHEW I'VE SLEPT and now i'm feeling less verbose — but again, thank you for taking my thoughts into account! i just want to add for like, posterity and visibility that i don't expect you guys to always agree with me (related because you didn't have to agree with me on either of these points and that'd have been valid), but i do appreciate that you guys welcome open discussion and a civil back and forth in a visible forum.

you do a great job of keeping this ship afloat and i think it speaks for a lot when you've got such a dedicate playerbase that's continually excited about what you're doing. it's hardwork for sure, and i know that everyone i'm friends with here appreciates that.

i'm excited to see what the next app round brings in terms of new characters and new plot!

[inthenightmods]

Thanks so much! That's very kind of you to say. We do feel like we've won the lottery with our players, as you're all so consistently understanding and willing to speak up with thoughtful feedback. This game is just as dependent on the playerbase as it is on us, so thank you all for helping us to create something cool here. ❤

[equinoctials]

Hey mods! Great job on the Downtown reveal, it's obvious a lot of love and care went into the development of this new area chock full of exploration possibilities! I've seen a lot of buzz about it and it sounds like lots of players are super excited to check it out. I also want to applaud the introduction of the Parade as a wandering not-so-random encounter, with it being relatively hands free for the mods it gives players ample opportunity to get messed up while not increasing your already intense mod work load.

Regarding the removal of reserves, I think this puts people with off-standard work schedules or in different time zones at a big disadvantage. Unless they take time off work or lose sleep they won't be able to compete when the floodgates open so to speak. It also sounds like this idea is on a kind of trial run and this might change in the future, so I just wanted to leave this idea here for future consideration. Thanks again!

[diastima]

Just addressing the last paragraph: As someone who is living in a drastically different timezone (I'm 12 hours ahead of everyone), I feel like it's inevitable that having to rush for deadlines will happen. If not for application deadlines, then for reserves deadlines, if reserves are implemented. I've sort of just accepted it since the majority of the population are American and well, majority gets priority. I feel like having reserves to try and ameliorate any rush wouldn't quite work, since it's just everyone cramming into a different deadline.

[inthenightmods]

Thank you! We're very excited to see all the buzz in response to the reveal. ❤

As far as your point about timing disadvantages go, you're absolutely right, and that's an unfortunate reality of RP that we haven't yet found a way to work around. It's tough, trying to find a fix that works for players around the world, and we want to assure you that that issue isn't lost on us.

That said, we're going to allow proxy apps just like we used to allow proxy reserves. We hope that this will help bridge the gap, even if it's not a perfect solution.

[vampirella]

hi mods!! no question, just wanted to say this!

i love that you had a place for us to plot on journals about potential explores. as someone who cannot participate in the discord, i feel like i miss out on so many cool explores. this gave me so many opportunities to link up with people and be involved and i LOVED it ! downtown is so exciting and i'm excited to have gotten linked up with a bunch of new people for an explore, and i know for a fact that post accomodated that. i'd love for further large locations opening to have similar offers, or maybe a explores planning thread on cr memes? i dunno, just an idea! either way i just wanted to give you about a plus 10,000 for that idea, it was brill!

+1

[webshoots]

this was great!

[inthenightmods]

Oh, hey, thank you! We're glad that went over so well! We were super stoked to see so much plotting happen on that post, so we'd definitely like to recreate that in the future.

We plan to handle core location unlocks in a similar way in the future, and we'd like to try to incorporate similar elements into smaller location unlocks, too. That'll mostly vary from location to location. We also like your suggestion to incorporate exploration planning into other facets of the game! Adding it to our CR meme is a great idea, so we'll keep that in mind, and we'll keep thinking on ways to facilitate more exploration plotting in the future.

Thanks so much for the feedback and the kind words!

[lunchbreaks]

Hi mods!

So a few of my concerns have already been addressed thanks to the comments above mine, but I just wanted to point out that I think an application is a sizable commitment to wanting to join a game, particularly one that's really custom like ITN's where you can't easily recycle pieces from or to other apps. I feel like maybe not having any reserve period might be a problem for casts that are nearing cap, or very popular characters, in the case that multiple people spend hours writing something that might not even be considered or read because they were a few seconds late.

[inthenightmods]

That's a fair concern to have, and it's something we've thought about, as well. Our take on it is this:

Our custom app is intended to cut right to the chase with what we mods want to know about characters coming into the game. The custom portions of the app are questions we feel players will already be asking themselves as they read up on the game and play around on the TDM. Since those questions give us a chance to get to know the player's interpretation of that character, traditionally meaty sections like "personality" or "flaws/weaknesses" don't need to be as all-encompassing. Basically, we intend for our app to be quick and easy to fill out.

We know we're asking players to take a bit of a risk by putting time into an app without a guarantee of a spot, but we certainly aren't asking anyone to dedicate hours to the process! A casual app that reads like a conversation is more than acceptable, and hopefully wouldn't take anyone too long to put together. Some players do go above and beyond and put a ton of effort into their apps, and we love that! But it's not required, as all we really want is for a player to show us they've put thought into how they'll play their character in this game. Simplicity can accomplish that goal just fine.

We fully plan to keep this concern in mind as we try out these changes! In the meantime, thanks for the feedback, and we appreciate the willingness to give this a shot with us.