Very impressed with many people. Also: Grr, alts!

[Rias]

The GM team recently had a meeting, and one thing we talked a lot about was how excited we were about several characters that have been around lately. Some are fresh off the turnip farm, some still fairly new, some older whom are now focusing on a single character and really developing that character, and some oldies that have recently come back after an absence. We're super excited! We're hoping to give people their chances to get involved in greater things, and all that fun stuff. Some have already started!

Now, let me bring up something I've grumbled about before: alts. Grr! Several of us in our meeting said things like "Oh yeah, I really like [character]!" and then another says, "Yeah, but they've started making alts, and they're not on that character much anymore." Blah!! We get that it's fun to try new things, and take a break from your norm sometimes, we totally do. But still, please try to pick a character and settle on them! We can't do much with characters that get abandoned for alts, or characters that are on once in a blue moon because they have too many alts to rotate between. It's frustrating when we start to get invested in a character and start thinking of ways we can get them in on things, and then they drop off the face of Arad (and a new person mysteriously arrives in the Lost Lands). And frankly, if we know that a character is just one of a zillion alts, we're far less likely to invest time into them, because it so often ends up being time wasted on a character who's never around.

So play around with your alts, find your groove, and then consider really sticking with one character! You can even send us an email (clok@contrarium.net) if you've settled on a specific character out of your alt army and really want to focus on them. Then we know, and we can start scheming- errr, plotting- errr, conspiring- ... ehem ... then we can start deciding how we can get them more involved in the bigger things going on in the Lost Lands!

Pretty please, with sugar and chocolate sprinkles!

[Vitello]

Certain characters are easier to cater to and incorporate into stories. Personally if I have an alt (and I have a ton) I'ld love a 'hey this char is good keep it up' from staff. Sometimes a great idea doesn't mean great rp. Sometimes I feel like I'm spinning my wheels with characters and need a change of pace (plus the game is so damn awesome in so many directions I want to play with it all) I might stick around more if I felt the char had a place in the grand scheme of things.

[Vinz]

There are many times for someone to get involved in the greater scheme of things. The trouble is that alts often lead to someone missing their chance and often they have very few friends. So when the going get tough, no one knows they can call/count on you. Also they will leave your characters rather under powered for your knowledge of the world at large. So you may know what to do but you lack the ability to do it.

Finally, take consideration of what the GM's see. Are we willing to trust an alt in an alt army for anything important? Personally, I'll never do it. I've tried in the past and gotten burned. We've seen it a few times when we give something unique to someone and they disappear lickly split behind another alt. It makes it difficult to give out things when we see them disappear into oblivion. This leads to people looking "favored" you can see who has had a lot of GM interactions for good or for ill, because they are around and we know it matters if something happens in their life. A lot of people run from the first sign of trouble. You can't win all the time and its the troubles and tribulations that builds to great stories.

As a personal note on the end. Stick to your guns. If you make a character that believes something and is willing to die or go to the ends of the earth for it. You may see something happen with it. The moment you give up because the going got tough? That is when we stop caring about it too. We have had plans in the past that we setup only to be shattered because the bad guy went good or someone swear up and down they are after X until its found to be unpopular.

We know that being evil or believing in something different it difficult. A lot of time its worth letting us know and keeping to yourself until the big reveal. It is also good to say that this isn't of course a for sure kind of thing, but if we like what we see, we will do our best to let you see that.

Just my two cents,
-Vinz

[sona]

Feel free to hit me up with stuff, whenever you get the chance, I'm often always trying to involve myself in projects and ideas of varying scope and topic - that's the thing I love about my character, she's so intrigued in just about everything, but she's also the only character I have. Sometimes I put together my own stuff to tackle, but I always appreciate input, and ideas, and more directed schemes and ideas so I'm not just grinding skills. Especially now that I'm back from vacation.

[Nedrik]

I know that in my case, I'm definitely not giving up what I think of as my main character, but he is at a point where I feel like developing his abilities and his character is going to take more time where I can dedicate to the game alone. I have a lot going on, so quite often I need to drop what I'm doing immediately for some time, and I'd hate to be in the middle of a plot or something else important when that happens. Hence me playing around with different things.

[Fayne]

If there is something Faybe needs to be around for, please let me know. I've stopped playing her for now because she's just not fun to play anymore for now. I would love to play her more again, but recently every time I log her in, I just find myself standing around wondering what to do. I really do only want one character that I play all the time. But since I don't get to play much, and it is usually just after the peak hours, I would rather play a character I enjoy rather than work to try and make a character enjoyable.

[Rias]

The other GMs can speak for themselves if they choose to, but as for myself, I don't like telling people which character to play, or telling people OOCly "Hey, get your character so we can do this thing." I want people to play the character they want to, because they enjoy them even when GMs aren't around and events aren't going on. I don't want to have characters only show up when the GMs ask or when something special is going on.

I should clarify that we don't have a big plan made out for everyone by any means (there are a lot of characters!), and with some that we do have plans for, we won't be able to get to for a while (we can't do everything all at once). I want people to dedicate to a character so we can get to know them, see what they're like, and they can establish themselves with the rest of the playerbase (which will give them more to do in itself). Then we can come up with some things to throw at them or throw them into that are tailored more to them, and we can worry less over whether they're just going to disappear on us.

[Barius]

I don't personally worry about what GMs might want to do for certain characters. I content myself with playing in the way I've played any game - with other characters. Whether GMs want to get involved in that is completely on their side. I don't play for GM attention, and I think trying to cater your gameplay just to get that attention ends with you missing out on other things.

Go with the flow, see what happens. That's what I do.

And as for alt-swapping, I agree with everything said, generally. When you can stick to a character and enjoy it, that's the best thing you can do. If you're having a hard time sticking to one, you'll be missing out on other things. I have a small load of alts myself, but most of them never get touched, because I don't enjoy them like I do Barius.

[Fayne]

Well, one of the major factors in why I dislike playing Fayne is something that I can only resolve with a GM, and I can't figure out how to resolve it, so I've just stopped playing her for now. I don't like it, but I don't know what else to do.

[preiman]

I'm happy i have my army of alts, for a couple reasons, mostly because it helped me really understand how i wanted to play. and they still give me an option when i need a break to do something else. though i am enjoying myself more now that I've found one character i can really stick to.

[Jirato]

I don't personally worry about what GMs might want to do for certain characters. I content myself with playing in the way I've played any game - with other characters. Whether GMs want to get involved in that is completely on their side. I don't play for GM attention, and I think trying to cater your gameplay just to get that attention ends with you missing out on other things.

Agreed. I'm probably not going to gain any popularity points by saying this, but my largest pet peeve is when people say they don't want to play X character anymore (or CLOK in general) because there isn't enough GM attention involving their character. I love the fact that we have hands-on GMs and I think it's awesome they directly involve the players, but I've always viewed it as a perk, not a requirement. These types of people that seem to feed on and even demand constant GM-driven interactions kind of make me want to just bury myself in the code and not do anything directly player related (Which admittedly, I do a lot of already, I'm a behind the scenes guy and suck at RP...)

[Adaria]

I have a handful of alts myself, and sometimes I just need a break on another character that I can run around on and do a bit of combat on since my main is a non-combatant. I love her to death, and lately I haven't been the most active as I've been spending a lot of time off the computer in general, but I love having my one and only for the time being and really developing her, but I also like the ability to switch for a little bit if I need to.

I'm glad I found my primary, I haven't switched off in weeks and have no plan to for a while, ifg I do log on an alt it ends up being for a realy short bit, I get bored and inevitably go back to the one I love most of all and who is the most developed. I'm glad to see abunh of new faces and look forward to seeing them stick around and make their mark on the game as well.

[Rias]

Further clarification: I'm not saying "don't have alts, never use them". I'm an altoholic myself, frankly, so I totally get that. But we hope some people with alt armies will come to make one of their alts their "main" and dedicate the majority of their time there. I don't have a problem with occasionally hopping to an alt for a change or break now and then, but try not to spread yourself thin or we won't ever get to know and involve your character!

I should add that this applies to other players as well as GMs. Flighty alt characters seldom form relationships with other PCs because, well, they're never around for long. Some people are happy being lone wolves, and I am too, occasionally, but I find that if I don't form any bonds with other players of a multiplayer game, I quickly get bored and move on to something else.

[Carressa]

Just to toss my own two cents in... The only main RP I can remember being involved in with Carr was.. well.. not a happy one, but it built story, it gave the character a story, and actually helped shape her motivations, even now.

I tend to be off and on, because I often play from work (shhhhh) but like people are saying, the GAME is amazing. Yeah, GMs get involved sometimes and I love when they do, but the reason I play is the other players :)

Just my thoughts, sorry to interrupt :)

Carr

[sona]

I think the considerations can come a lot from perspective. Sometimes, we get really involved, and have fun. Sometimes our characters, like people, hit stumbling blocks and struggle. Sometimes it's obtaining an objective, or goal to strive towards. And keeping IC and OOC thought in this larger regard can be quite difficult. Because we don't think, "There are 12,842 towns people, with a 2% population increase rate each year, with a complex economy and wants and needs." That systems aren't emergent and developmental, because frankly, that would be absolutely bonkers to try and code and account for. Employment, crime, politics, police, health, science, romance, morals, and much more. It's not realistic to expect or ask for those things, and I think as a result, we sometimes stick in our minds, "X place will always be here, or will be replaced in some fashion. We play a game, and there are spawn rates, and drops, and such things as that." and falling prey to those thoughts can be a bit demoralizing to a player. When it happens to me, I try and re-inspect the angles, how driven is my character, how kind is she, what would she do, what wouldn't she do. And I always try and keep those things as rough guidelines, because I believe a person, under certain circumstances may act in ways we don't entirely expect. For my character, that'd look entirely different from say, a character that gets slay bandits/npc human quests. Maybe they see a target, and say, "No. Not this time. That one looks too much like a friend, or family. Or they might be a distant friend or family, or something. I'm turning this task down." or perhaps, they do go ahead and kill that human without getting a good look at them first, maybe they were sloppy, but they knew from a clothing description that was their mark. And maybe they did just kill a friend, or family member or something, and they have to deal with that emotional trauma of what they've done. Or maybe the character really is a cold killer with no moral compass. The possibilities are indeed endless.

That said, I don't think that GMs should be beholden to involve or tap players for involvement. It's awesome when they do, and I often have a lot of fun interacting with GMs, with reacting and acting within the world, sometimes causing them to need to respond to me in a variety of fashions based on my own IC actions. We players are often flawed, sometimes, we want to just feel like we have a tangible impact upon the world we play in- that we matter. Sometimes, because of that, I think we lose sight of the RP idea, that our actions and words both have an impact. Just, sometimes it's unseen, or unfelt because we can't get a non-mechanical response back to it. I don't know if there's really a 'solution' to the idea, I've played games where players were placed in various positions of powers, and players were encouraged to drive and work conflict, in a variety of ways. I don't think there is a right or wrong way. Personally, I try and bring up RP points, tasks, conflicts, and involvement where I can. And other days, I'll sit and grind skills to increase a skill 20 pts or something.

TL;DR alts are a bit of an escape for some, because fun drives their play. I choose to look at struggles as an 'experience', one I can control how I react to, and one people may or may not choose to respond to. (thought I hope they do).

[Jirato]

Should probably add that my prior comments weren't directed to any one specific individual in particular and were not said in response to anything else that was posted here recently.

Also, I have a TON of alts. I'd wager I'm probably in the top 3 when it comes to how many alts each person has. Maybe even in the #1 spot. It got to a point where I had to keep a spreadsheet. I've cut back significantly though and most of them are inactive for reasons previously mentioned here. I feel like I can't really develop a meaningful personality and reputation with other players if I'm constantly switching around.

[Kent]

If it helps, guys, I've decided to focus almost exclusively on being Old Man Kent Gunderman.

[jilliana]

I have found it interesting to have alts, especially in a game like CLOK. You gain perspective that one may not be able to use on their main character, but the game certainly feels more rounded out in some ways.

With that in mind though, I generally tend to play an alt when I am unable to sleep or when the game is quiet just to get away from Jilliana who is by farm my busiest character. My alts are also more loners if anything which is a bit of a relief and just so they don't get involved in plots accidentally that Jilliana would usually be better off being in on.

Thank you Rias and staff for the encouragement on character involvement. It is certainly interesting seeing new or newer characters get involved in the CLOK world and develop opinions and experiences of their own thanks in part to GM support and encouragement.

I would also like to point out something that a GM told me last year after I had some struggles. Not every character has to be involved in an event. If one feels like they can't or would just rather not, they're not forced to join. It's certainly nice to be involved but it's not a requirement. Events on CLOK occasionally run long enough to get involved at a later point.

[Elystole]

I love alts. The more alts that people have, the more their time, effort, training, and RP is spread thin, and the more certain my rise to power.

[garith]

I used to have another alt on here but I don't play it. It was just an introduction. I wanted to try other things in the last few months with it (like being evil, elemancer, or evil and elemancer). But found I was way too lazy and it's hard enough training one character and also, I find that it is easier to RP one character rather than two or three because then you won't get mixed up. Also, Elistole, I'm going to take over the world right from under your nose.

[Kent]

I would like to pipe in and say that GM involved events are worth a Tweet on the Twitter account to give us a chance to join in if we aren't logged in at the time.

How about it?

[Lavi]

I have been away for a bit, because I finally picked a main, and while I don't really have much to complain about in the way of GM interaction, I find myself getting on clok, going, "Hey, if anyone from X guild needs help, let me know?" or driving conflict because my character is a very aggressive person. Unfortunately, I find myself just grinding skills, because I don't get many to stick around, so I get tired. I think alts are a thing, because I know myself personally, if there's not going to be RP and I'm going to grind, I guess I could grind in a different way to where it feels different. There was a discussion I was in a while back and the concept of the same old same old was brought up. So, while clok is really awesome, it can get tiring on that point.
So, I think that in itself is why people go to alts. I've really tried to focus on one character. but I find myself having the problem a lot of antagonist type characters have, which is instead of interacting and engaging that loud character they get called a jerk or something like that and it turns into a forget you sort of thing. So that also makes alts more inviting. Still I agree with Vinz stick with your guns it makes it easier.
As for my leave of absence, I'll be back more regularly soon.