route_29 | BRING US YOUR FEEDBACK!

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BRING US YOUR FEEDBACK!

FEEDBACK POST: YEAR THREE EDITION

Hey, Routers! Things have been pretty eventful for the game over the past few months, and we've seen a fair number of changes along the way — the introduction of EV News, the extra-detailed badge acceptances, the experiment with making the Gym Leaders more interactive for the playerbase, and a handful of big plots, including our recent Glitch Plot, Fourth Wall, and of course, the game's big three-year anniversary! But with all of that excitement finally reaching something of a lull for the moment, we on the modteam would really like to check in with you, the players, and get your feedback on how the game experience has been for you so far, and what you'd like to see out of us in the future.

Beneath the cut, we've got a fairly detailed survey we'd like to ask you to fill out, to let us know how we've been doing on a handful of topics, and to get your input on what new things we might attempt, modify, or outright change in the future! When filling it out, please feel free to be as specific or general as you like; we'd prefer specifics, as those tend to be more helpful to us as a team, but please don't feel bound to strictly answer every question if a more general answer will do. Likewise, if there's something you'd like to tell us that isn't covered with the survey, please feel free! This post is here for your thoughts and feedback on Route, and to open up channels of communication with us to answer questions and discuss what might be in store for the game from here on out.

Once you've filled out the survey, please also feel free to make subsequent comments to this post with other topics you might like to discuss with us or with your fellow members of the playerbase! However, please keep in mind that this is NOT an HMD post, nor will we be tolerating any bickering in the comments. It's fine to disagree, but please keep any disagreements civil and discussion-focused; we reserve the right to step in and halt discussion if we feel the conversation is no longer productive, or dissolving into an argument as opposed to a healthy debate.

Also, please keep in mind that while we value your opinions and want to take them into consideration as we move the game forward, we must also as moderators exercise our own personal judgment in determining what will be best for the game. Some suggestions, however popular among the playerbase, simply may not be feasible from a moderator standpoint — and if we do feel that way, we'll try to explain why, but ultimately this discussion comes with the caveat that not everyone is going to get what they want. So please be patient and understanding with us as we try to do our best for the game and for you!

Note: ANONYMOUS COMMENTING IS ENABLED! (For real this time!) We want to encourage honesty here, so please feel free to go anon if it makes you more comfortable. Just please don't abuse the privilege!

FILL OUT THIS FORM FOR US, PLEASE

A BRIEF GUIDE TO WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

PLOTS:
• How many plots have you been in Route for (approximately)? None? One? Several?
• How have you generally felt about our plots so far?
• Of the two listed, which type of plot do you tend to prefer?

-- An objective-based plot, where participants are given a specific action to react to and/or a goal to achieve, possibly with the outcome of the plot dependent on the players' actions
-- An effect/condition plot, where participants are given a setting change, scenario, or other character condition and generally left to their own devices with what to do about it

For previous Route examples, our Spring Cleaning plot from last year was an "objective-based" plot, while this year's Prom and Glitch events were "effect/condition" ones.

• What would your ideal plot do? For example, "bring all the characters together in one place" the way that Prom did; "give my character Pokemon powers" the way that Outbreak did; "let me move my character freely around the map" the way that the Glitch plot did, etc.

GENERAL UPKEEP:
• Do our infopages generally do their job of providing you with all the information you need on a daily basis? Is anything confusing? Is anything missing?
• Is there anything you think we're in need of updating?
• Is there anything you think we need to change?

MODS:
• How have your experiences been with us as mods? Are you generally happy with us as a modteam? What do we do well? What can we improve upon?
• Please also feel free to address feedback to any of us individually!

FUTURE:
• If you could change any one aspect of Route, what would it be and why?
• Is there anything within the setting of the game itself you would like to see implemented, changed or removed? (I.E. open up a new region, GIVE US THE ELITE FOUR ALREADY, etc.)
• Is there any plot in particular you would like to see us do in the future? Be as general or specific as you like!

ANYTHING ELSE:
• Please use this section to let us know anything else you feel is important!

We'll be doing our best to keep up with the discussion as it unfolds, but if you have a question or the need to get hold of us (or one of us specifically), feel free to use the PING-A-MOD thread included in the comments to flag us down!

Thanks again for all your input and cooperation, Route, and we're really looking forward to hearing from you!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Ooooh, yes, this sounds really cool! (...a-and I've got a couple restaurants to add to this hypothetical directory already, um)

Maybe like a post that has comments for each town and then people can comment under each town's comment with what they've headcanoned in?

As for the Rocket Only Community, the plots and the setups are intended to be used for ways to plot and kick off events/cause havoc during the events. Not being a rocket will not exclude you from any plot (as, massive team rocket operations that call on most individuals in team rocket invariably affect the game itself - see the operation to kidnap the sacred beasts/lugia), and unscreening after the plot has been initiated is something that could be implemented. General overviews of plots/specific details for others to react to will still be posted! It's just specifics/things that only team rocket will try to do (like trying to easily organize a plot to kidnap Lugia)

That would actually be pretty great. I've always been pretty fond of player initiative/players leaving their own mark on the game, and it seems like it would be fun to see all the game continuity stuff.

It's the organization that's been keeping me hesitating, yeah! I don't want to make it a mod duty to police the thing (lol, look at me subtly dodging the thought of adding more to my workload!), but maybe if a couple of players wanted to manage it the way Saber runs the Breeding Center...?

IDK, it's worth talking about, I think!

I understand that. It's mostly that I like knowing what's going on in the game even if it's not plotting that I'm involved in. Using another game I'm currently in - Decollage - as an example, that is a heavily plot-based game where the characters are affecting the setting on a near-daily basis. There was a recent plot where a thread involving one team was conducted in private before the plot happened, but then afterward it was unlocked for all to see. That was a thing that needed to be kept secret for the sake of dramatic tension. But Route is a much more laid-back environment, so I don't really see any need to keep major plotting secret from those of us who have little interest in having a character in Team Rocket. It's not like the entire mission is going to be swayed just because people off the team OOCly know that this is going down, after all (or if it does, there are bigger problems).

Again, though, I could just be making a big deal over nothing ^^;

Yeah. I'm planning on making a consistent list of each of them I have so far:

(Brock: flirts with all girls.
Misty: ??????
Lt. Surge: compares to army rank based on performance
Erika: dozes off/possibly arranges flowers for victory/gifts an award winning trainer with a perfume that captures their battle scent
Janine: Makes some classic new gym leader mistake
Sabrina: psychic troll
Blaine: Riddles and puns
Blue: the gym landscape itself changes each time

Falkner: Flying pokemon gasm
Bugsy: Volbeat/Illmuise light display of something that resembles the trainer?
Whitney: calls you a name
Morty: Tells ghost story/pokémon fable
Jasmine: Something awkward.
Chuck: Some strong, crazy, training technique when the trainer enters
Pryce: BACK IN THE DAY...... story
Clair: uh she's clair. she's already larger than life.)

Thank you for letting me type this out! It actually has helped me so much! Any ideas for Misty? Anyways, I'm definitely going to make gym badge days Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and I'll take the weekends every other weekend.

Thank you so much for the criticism. This has actually helped me out so much!

I could give something like that a shot...

My going thought was that you'd have a community with an individual post for every town and/or city, at least (and areas/caves/routes as well? IDK, that could get HUGE), and then have links to them on a stickied navigation post or in the userinfo (or both), and then use the comments of each post to let people submit blurbs for stuff they've added?

And then whoever was maintaining the posts could maybe link each comment in the post itself, in a fast directory of what's there so you could tell at a glance, rather than having to scroll through all the comments longhand.

Laid out like that, it'd be a ton of work to get it up and running, so I don't know if it'd be worth it. But that'd be how I would do it, at least, if I were undertaking it.

Well, sometimes the plots here are a little dramatic (shedinja, etc.). It's really no different from how we plot, except on a more massive scale to give the rockets something exclusive to do. It will most likely be opened after the event is done, but sometimes it's a little more fun to toss a curve ball at you guys because that tends to generate interest as things are changing immediately. This is just ensuring that Team Rocket, as a whole, is coordinating and planning/laying out their events, like the secret villainous team they are. You will still be given briefings on each event as it happens, so there's no exclusion. Of course, if rockets are plotting for one side, you guys will be able plot on the other side.

It's also treated as an IC network for administrators to post secret messages to Team Rocket/etc. It's just a way of coordinating/communicating amongst rockets to give them more to do and generate activity. It's nothing something exclusive or meant to be used often. It's just used to make sure rockets are tight together and well coordinated when the event hits as a secret villainous team and give non-rockets a little exciting jolt to their game play.

That sounds like a good way to do it. It'd be a lot of posts and not a small amount of overhead, yeah, but once it's up and running, it sounds pretty low-maintenance, at least from here.

I'm not sure how much time I'll have for it this week, considering homework and class and stuff, but I'll see what I can do and run it by you guys when I start. How does the community name pokestarmaps sound?

Makes sense.

One last question, then. The IC network you mention. Is that screened to Rockets only?

I'd suggest holding off a little to give other people some time to weigh in (this post went up kind of late, and it's the middle of the night over here in EST, at least) — someone else might have a better idea of how to set things up! Maybe make a new top-level comment to this post about it and see if you can draw in some other people's input first?

Like I said, I'd love to see something like this, though, so I'm all for making it happen in some capacity, assuming the kinks all get worked out first!

Ahh, yeah, it is kind of late, isn't it... *is also in EST but didn't notice the time*

I'll do that, then.

I know that we are young! And I know that you may love me! But I just can't be with you like this anymore

alejandro

anon

THANK YOU FOR MAKING ALL MY DREAMS COME TRUE

Hm, Misty... off the top of my head, I can't think of any ideas - mind if I poke back later with some? Because I'm glad I'm helping you, because haha yeah, the badge stuff is awesome!

So, following from Carmen's idea one thread up (here), I'm very interested in making a directory like that for everyone to contribute all sorts of little environment details. So, what would people be interested in seeing in something like that?

The current idea is a community with posts for all the different cities and routes in Johto and Kanto, as well as a sticky linking to all of them, and people can comment on a post with an addition and the comments would be linked in the post itself.

As that could get big and bulky and people are naturally going to make more details about the towns than about, say, Nugget Bridge, another idea would be one post for Kanto, one post for Johto, and comments for each location, under which people would add their own comments. Links would still go up in the main post. It could be slightly less bulky, and new locations could be added pretty easily.

But I don't know. What are your preferences? Any suggestions?

I think if memory serves, we had Misty tipped to be kind of a happening, trendy teenage girl who was friends with Whitney and Jasmine and knew all of the sordid details about Brock's love life, so maybe there's some kind of teen girl thing she could do?

Yes, but those posts are only from administrators and it's, again, rarely used. As several people, even in rockets, have commented, the executives rarely make an appearance.

...See, my problem with that is that there is IC stuff happening that I can't see. Rarely used or not. If it gets unscreened eventually, that's fine. But I think we're all mature enough to know that if a character isn't in Team Rocket they won't get that message, and OOCly I'd personally like to not feel like there's IC stuff I'm missing out on reading. Even if it's something small.

Maybe she can rate their outfits? Or give them fashion tips? Or maybe she can play Top 40 hits in her gym like Staryuships, Somebody That I Used to Absol, and Joltik Tok

DO THE MUSIC ONE

DO THE MUSIC ONE

ALSO CLAIR SAYS NOCTOWL CITY > ALL OTHERS

YES. Kanto girls we're unforgettable, fine fresh fierce we got it on lock.

also rap/hip-hop's east coast vs. west coast is now kanto vs. johto,

PLOTS:
-I honestly don't know how many plots I've been in. A lot of them? I think I've missed a few here and there, but I've been around for most of them.
-I've enjoyed most of the plots I've seen in the game. I really like how varied they are for the most part. In my time here I've seen all sorts of events from horrific storms to proms to horrible glitchfests to that one time with all the garbage, and I really think that wide variety is something really neat to see.
-Both. That being said, I would definitely like to see more objective based plots in the future!
-Drawing a blank on an ideal plot idea. Sorry about that.

GENERAL UPKEEP:
-I think the infopages are pretty good for the most part. They could probably use a little cleaning up, but I haven't had any trouble searching them for info.
-Regarding things that need to be updated, and I'm not sure if this counts as an infopage or not, but the Rocket missions post is incredibly out of date.
-Don't have any specific ideas on changes.

MODS:
-Definitely generally happy for the most part. One thing I think that could be improved on though is response times, specifically to the FAQ post. But other than that, I can't think of any other improvements as far as modding goes.

FUTURE:
-I'd definitely like to see additional classes added someday.
-Maybe some sort of event involving the other teams at some point? Like Aqua/Magma show up and make a mess of things or Team Plasma tries to spread their propaganda for a while or something.

ANYTHING ELSE:
Putting this here because it's really a combination of things, but I'd like to offer some feedback on Team Rocket.

Executives
At the game's beginning, the Execs were really hands on with things from what I remember. Go here, do this, do that, don't complain, etc. They still do that during missions, which is fine, but I've noticed we occasionally get long periods of time where they're completely absent. I'm not exactly sure what the best way to do this would be, but I think some way of making the Executives more prominent, especially to the newer recruits would be something that would definitely improve the experience of playing a Rocket.

Missions
While I'd like to see more large scale Rocket plots in the future, I'd like to suggest having smaller mod run ones as well. I don't mind running player plots, and I know that other Rocket players have also done things on their own, but I think that maybe running a smaller plot every couple of months, like the Execs having some Rockets knock over a bank or take an NPC hostage for a few days or something, would provide more opportunites for players to do stuff in an official capacity and would help reduce the absentee Executive feeling mentioned above.

Evaluations/Status/Etc.
Given how Team Rocket is set up and since there's opportunities for advancement/demotion etc., I'd like to suggest maybe making it clearer where characters stand with Team Rocket. I know we've done evaluations twice and with people being spread out, gathering all the Rockets together in one place might not be the most feasible idea, but maybe there could be something like a Rocket newsletter every couple of months? Listing promotions, demotions, rising stars, people that are more or less on the Exec's shitlist, etc.. Not necesarily something as in depth as EV News, but just something occasionally to let people know what's going on and what kind of job the Execs think they're doing.

hahaha oh my god

the Team Rocket monthly performance review

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

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BRING US YOUR FEEDBACK!

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ALEX

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Pokéstar Maps, anyone?

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