ROCK PLOT

[gliese]

In an effort to clear up the confusion raised by miscommunication regarding the stone pieces, here are the salient points involved.

WHAT WE HAVE SAID:

1. Regarding the first piece, found by Ivan Karelin (currently in Kotetsu Kaburagi’s possession), we said: “Ivan may, however, find a piece of what looks like part of a different statue, with an endless series of numbers etched all over the inside of the carving.”

2. Regarding the second piece, found by Barnaby Brooks Jr., we said: “If he searches around hard enough, he may stumble upon a piece of rock that appears to have numbers etched onto one side.” When asked if it was related to the piece Ivan found, we replied with “maybe”.

3. Regarding the third piece, found by Sturmhond, we said: Sturmhond will also find himself tripping over a statue fragment that is similar to the pieces found in Sector R and E.

4. Regarding the fourth piece, found by nine Orange team members, and in stewardship with Tess, WH-mod relayed the following: Day 50 will in fact be the day that your rock becomes a fully functional plot point- and start glowing, no less. [...]

Additionally, please feel free to encourage Rock-san's entourage to start discussing it around camp! There are a few pieces, as it happens. And they seem to fit together...

We now realize that the plot points regarding the fourth piece have not been as widely communicated as intended, and for that we apologize for the miscommunication.

Additionally, what WH-mod has relayed regarding the pieces fitting together is explicitly OOC knowledge. ICly, characters are not supposed to know that they’re part of a whole unit until they’re all together. On their own, the pieces will show no signs of having other pieces; the numbered patterns are intact and self-contained, as far as anyone can tell. Thus, this will not imply that there are more pieces to be found - as has been the case since the first piece was discovered. The only way characters will know is if they discover more pieces and put them together, like a puzzle.

We know that the older pieceholders have been inclined to attempt to put the pieces together sooner, so let us know if this is still the case and we will do our best to accommodate this within the plot.

 

There also appears to be some confusion regarding when this plot is meant to be resolved.

WHAT WE HAVE SAID:

1. Regarding the fourth piece, found by nine Orange team members, WH-mod relayed the following: Day 50 will in fact be the day that your rock becomes a fully functional plot point- and start glowing, no less. (No further OOC or IC information has been given.)

2. WH-mod also mentioned this on their OOC plotting post: Details regarding [the stone’s] role will appear on the next calendar segment, so keep your eyes peeled. (Extent of available IC information.)

WHAT WE HAVE NOT SAID:

1. That the plot has to be finalized by Day 50 or Day 51, thereby allowing only for a small window of time for the two groups to come together;

2. That it will be immediately apparent ICly that there are missing pieces, or that any of the pieces fit together;

3. That it will be apparent to Orange team specifically that the numbers are “incomplete”, as they are not, and we have not relayed this specific information to other players to our knowledge;

Day 50 is slated to be the day when the pieces finally become relevant to the plot, by glowing after 13:13; however, as stated, further details for this plot will be revealed during the calendar. Additionally, we would have already given players more information to go on had we expected this to be completed by day 50/51. Currently, the only bit of information we have neglected to pass onto all players involved is that the pieces will start to glow on day 50, as well as the fact that they fit together (again, this is OOC knowledge). The first three persons who have the stones in possession were to be contacted on Day 49-50, as an IC go signal, so to speak, and to be in tandem with what should have been Orange Team reaching out to all three original pieceholders. We apologize once more for any undue stress this has caused among all players; the pacing is our fault, and we should have scaled the information releases better to all players involved. (On the other hand, we do have concerns with how this has been handled, which we will discuss further into this post.)

To reiterate, the mission’s endgame will start on day 50, but rest assured that ample time will be allotted for players to see this plot to its fruition. All we ask is for players to give us time to get our Month 6 calendar up and running.

We have not put a specific date on when the plot will reach its resolution at the moment, but we are aiming for the middle of the IC calendar to give players plenty of time. As we understand that day 50 is busy for some of the players involved with the plot, we will leave the timing of the glowing to your discretion; we simply ask that it occurs sometime on day 50 after 13:13 as designated on the calendar. This does not mean that it has to be responded to ICly at this time. We encourage players to use the time from day 51 to whenever the plot will reach its end to collaborate between teams on bringing the piece holders together.

REGARDING PLAYER INVOLVEMENT

We apologize if this comes off as harsh, but we would rather be direct about it than not.

We understand that players want to be involved and would like to jump in and help, be it in plotting or in IC set-ups. However, for the sake of communication, we would like to ask that those who have the pieces (namely Sturmhond, Kotetsu, Barnaby, and Tess) be our default points of contact. This is so that everyone gets the same information from the same person per team, and to limit the possibilities of miscommunication. This way, if misinformation occurs, it will be much quicker to settle and/or resolve and identify where the confusion stems.

You will notice that each of the four members are from different teams; this is intentional, and has been the plan from the beginning. The intention is for all four teams to come together, with each pieceholder as a center (for the lack of a better term) and work with each other in putting them together. On the other hand, as we have not begun to involve the other three teams through their pieceholders, we must ask - and insist - that Orange Team should stick to the original directive of Warriorhead-mod, which is to only watch over and observe their piece and share this information with the rest of the crew, with Tess’s player as the direct person of contact between the mods and the rest of the team. It will only be a few days’ wait, as we’ve begun to contact the first three pieceholders; we only ask for a little more patience, and all will be revealed.

This is not an attempt to dismiss the player efforts that have already been made; this is hardly the case. We are only asking for some patience so that absolutely everyone who would like to be involved will have equal opportunity to do so, especially players who have been restricted to minimal or no involvement due to IC activities.

We would not be asking for restraint if we had deemed it fair to proceed as things currently stand. Unfortunately, this has not been the case, and we agree with the sentiments that certain aspects of the OOC plotting made so far has been limiting player involvement on the whole, particularly for players who have been involved with this particular plotline from the beginning of the game, and who have every reason to be cautious in proceeding. Let us reiterate that this plot will in time involve everyone in the game, not just Orange Team and the piece holders, and we have been staggering the information we’ve released so that no one is overwhelmed by calendar events and IC reactions to said events. Particularly so, on the heels of Blue Team’s recent exercise, finalizing any plans before Day 51 will severely limit many players’ involvement, and not just for the pieceholders but for the other three teams as well.

We would rather not have to insist that all players who have expressed concerns regarding their characters’ IC involvement have their concerns taken into consideration - this is due courtesy from player to player, as this is a group endeavor. Us mods reminding anyone of this will be tantamount to an official warning from the modteam, and that is something we absolutely would hate to do in this instance. This also falls in line with what we have asked players to do, time and again - if there is any confusion or conflict with available information, please clarify with us first, and we will give a clear answer, or direct players to those who can better answer their questions. We would appreciate any confusion or questions to be cleared up with us before assumptions are made ICly or OOCly.

This plot has been set up since the beginning of the game. It was initiated during mapping, and is meant to come to a head this coming month, with a plot culmination for days 51-55. Please trust us when we say that we have reasons for withholding information, and if it seems we have withheld information we should not have, please ask us directly. IC inferences are well and good, but when they are applied as OOC knowledge - and vice versa, with OOC knowledge - then this whole plot will fall apart, and everyone’s efforts will be to waste.

To close: this is all the information ICly and OOCly available, labelled clearly. If you have any further questions, please ask them on this post.