Post by Zuni on Aug 11, 2015 8:34:48 GMT
I don't think we should mix up issues here. The PL imbalance is only important in the context of lowering training thread rates; that's not what this thread is about. This thread is about Milestones. That is a separate issue to the issue of 'people do not engage in plots, their characters do not develop'.
It is perfectly valid not to like the idea of rewarding people for doing what they should be doing anyway. The thing is, we do that already - we give people varying power level rewards based on the 'quality' of their writing.
My suggestion is purely to add an incentive for character development and making plot as well as for 'writing well' (whatever that is supposed to mean; it is really the single most subjective aspect of the site). I'm suggesting that because I think it is important we do something to address the current amount of people who don't do it.
At the moment, it feels as though only a very small number of people even feel 'allowed' to try and do big things - making it explicit that you can (and should) be working towards large events for your character regardless of power level can only be a positive thing for the site.
Not to mention that one of the things this would help to stop is the flip-flopping of character motivations and personality, because that would be laid out a bit more clearly. There have been several examples - though I'm not going to name names because that's hurtful - of characters who seem to be motivated entirely by whatever is OOCly most advantageous at the time, regardless of what prior RP has established.
Basically, you seem to be worried that adding an incentive will make more bad RP. I agree, it will. It will also make more good RP. This is because it will make more RP in general. Just as it is at the moment, most of that will be of average quality (by definition) some of it will be bad, some of it will be great.
But there will doubtlessly be MORE of it, and I think that can only be a positive thing at a time when most characters gain most of their development entirely cut off from and not interacting with other characters at all. That's the issue that needs to be addressed, not the power per se, but the fact that people are often writing characters who essentially exist entirely in their own world.
It is perfectly valid not to like the idea of rewarding people for doing what they should be doing anyway. The thing is, we do that already - we give people varying power level rewards based on the 'quality' of their writing.
My suggestion is purely to add an incentive for character development and making plot as well as for 'writing well' (whatever that is supposed to mean; it is really the single most subjective aspect of the site). I'm suggesting that because I think it is important we do something to address the current amount of people who don't do it.
At the moment, it feels as though only a very small number of people even feel 'allowed' to try and do big things - making it explicit that you can (and should) be working towards large events for your character regardless of power level can only be a positive thing for the site.
Not to mention that one of the things this would help to stop is the flip-flopping of character motivations and personality, because that would be laid out a bit more clearly. There have been several examples - though I'm not going to name names because that's hurtful - of characters who seem to be motivated entirely by whatever is OOCly most advantageous at the time, regardless of what prior RP has established.
Basically, you seem to be worried that adding an incentive will make more bad RP. I agree, it will. It will also make more good RP. This is because it will make more RP in general. Just as it is at the moment, most of that will be of average quality (by definition) some of it will be bad, some of it will be great.
But there will doubtlessly be MORE of it, and I think that can only be a positive thing at a time when most characters gain most of their development entirely cut off from and not interacting with other characters at all. That's the issue that needs to be addressed, not the power per se, but the fact that people are often writing characters who essentially exist entirely in their own world.