(2020-11-08) OOC Town Hall Meeting
Summary: OOC Meeting
RL Date: 08/11/2020
Related: non
Osiris 

OOC Meeting


This is the gist of the Town Hall Meeting where we introduced the new AresMush and had players ask questions:

<OOC> Osiris says, "Thank you all for coming today. We have details to share with you about the character reset and the end of beta… and we also have a big announcement that goes hand in hand with that. We'll jump right in with that first:"
<OOC> Osiris says, "We are exploring switching over to a new (and better) codebase… AresMush."
<OOC> Osiris says, "We've heard a lot of good things about Ares from the mushing community over the last two years. It makes starting and running a game easier than it was previously, and offers great new options for connecting to the game. Namely: the game has a robust web portal, so that everyone can choose whether to connect using a mush client or a web browser."
<OOC> Osiris says, "To expand on that point… with Ares it's possible to connect to the game, go through chargen, and play scenes, all through your browser. I'm not talking about a browser-based client here (which creates a frame for a telnet connection)… I'm talking about the experience running directly through web pages which auto-update with the latest game activity. You can join a scene and read its progress so far, then add your poses, right in the browser! You can also check mail, read boards, chat on channels, and more."
<OOC> Osiris says, "The portal will make it possible to run scenes asynchronously, if people can't all be at their keyboards at the same time. Note: we aren't suggesting that all scenes will start running this way… just that it's a new option. You would no longer have to create a Google Doc or Discord channel to run an asynch scene, it's all possible on the portal."
<OOC> Osiris says, "Ares is a fresh, modern codebase. It's still in beta - but fully functional - with the developer (Lynn Faraday) actively responding to questions and fixing bugs. It's a great new contribution to our hobby, bringing it into the 21st century. It will also be easier for us to manage as administrators, so we won't be tearing out so much hair. :)"
<OOC> Osiris says, "Where's the catch? What do we lose? We really aren't going to lose a whole lot. Faraday has done a great job of preserving the functionality that we expect on mushes, and even setting up command shortcuts so that most Penn and TinyMux command syntaxes will work as expected. There will be some adjusting… change isn't an easy thing, and some things WILL work or feel different on the new game. Overall, it's a solid new platform to step up to from where we are now."
GAME: Save complete.
<OOC> Osiris says, "With that said… we haven't lost sight of the character reset and end of beta."
<OOC> Osiris says, "We've been exploring this new option now, because we want it to serve AS the character reset, and not make you all go through that process twice. Switching to the new server and new codebase means you'll all need to re-create your characters, and that will be our reset."
<OOC> Osiris says, "The Plan here is to give you all several weeks to look around the new setup, get familiar with it, and raise any questions or concerns that you might have. You can try out the new chargen process and see which parts work a bit differently. We won't accept applications yet. It's more a chance to get your bearings and settle in, exploring help files and the new chargen process. We also have some things to finish polishing off for the new setup. During that time, actual gameplay will still happen here on the Penn version of the game."
<OOC> Osiris says, "When the time is right, we'll announce a proper opening weekend. At that point we'll accept applications on the new game, letting people onto the grid to start playing there. We'll declare the old game closed for play, but we'll keep it running for another month or two, to give everyone a chance to transition over at your own pace. Any milestones or big changes will be announced as they come up. Once we've gone through this process and opened the new game, that's it… beta's over and the game will be fully open!"
<OOC> Osiris says, "So there you have it. We'll share the new server address momentarily, so you can all get a look at it. We also open up the floor for questions. :)"
<OOC> Bjorn says, "Ares is awesome! ;)"
<OOC> Gideon says, "Can I still log onto the MU through SimpleMU if I don't want to use my browser?"
<OOC> Londinium says, "yes"
<OOC> Osiris says, "all mush clients will still work"
<OOC> Gideon says, "Thank god. I've been staring at white text on a black background for 20 years now."
<OOC> Osiris says, "the portal also uses dark backgrounds"
<OOC> Londinium grins. AresMush on a mush client doesn't look different from this
<OOC> LanYu says, "night mode should be norm."
<OOC> LanYu says, "(has nothing to add besides lol)"
<OOC> Mann is still disappointed that there is no longer a way to get a registered copy of Simplemu* for the spellchecker.
<OOC> Finnegan says, "Do you need a key?"
<OOC> Finnegan says, "Also, we're in an ooc room. Why are we all oocing?"
<OOC> Osiris ooks.
<OOC> Mann says, "Because there will be IC!"
<OOC> LanYu points at oz. he did it
<OOC> Saoirse says, "Because it's easier to keep lines seperate with an OOC at the front?"
<OOC> Gideon says, "Because I don't want to pose my questions in Gideon-ese"
<OOC> Fine says, "1/ Are you staying with the same hosting?
2/ Is the game system (dice, attributes, etc) the same? 3/ if there is no 1:1 mapping of attributes/skills, are there guidelines or can we just use our adult judgement? (quiet up there in the peanut gallery) 4/ any problem with RP on here during the transition being accepted as canon on Ares? 5/ how will the grid be transferred?"
<OOC> Osiris says, "1, it will be new hosting"
<OOC> Osiris says, "2, the system is similar but not exactly the same. we tried to match it up as much as we can, but there are a few differences. 2, we can help with guidelines along the way (and people can use adult judgement too. you'll basically be doing CG and then we'll go over the new char sheets and approve again when the time is right)"
<OOC> Osiris says, "4, we don't intend to have a split timeline. it's one Verse, both servers are equally valid for things."
<OOC> Osiris says, "5, grid's being rebuilt on the new game, also almost exactly the same."
<OOC> Finnegan says, "Will the same IP security be in place?"
<OOC> Osiris says, "again, not exactly the same, but similar."
<OOC> Fine says, "6/ will the wiki remain or will Ares support wiki-like character pages?
7/will the IC history/time/events etc remain the same? 8/are there any funky Ares features for the 21st century like push notifcations to email/text/etc?"
<OOC> Osiris says, "i'll come back to 6 in a minute"
<OOC> Osiris says, "7, we're keeping the same timeline"
<OOC> Osiris says, "8, there are browser notifications that you can turn on, so if you're using the portal, you'll get a blink there with certain new things (poses, pages, etc). i don't believe it does push to email/text."
<OOC> Osiris says, "for 6, the wiki… the new portal and wiki are combined on one site. your char profile page is built automatically as part of chargen, and then you can add to it with custom sections if you want. we'll transition things over from the old wiki, hand in hand with people moving to the new game. eventually, we'll shut down the old wiki and game, but we'll give plenty of notice for that."
<OOC> Osiris says, "we know there's a lot to digest, in changing to a new platform, so we want to allow a good transition period for everyone to look around and get their bearings, and we have a few final pieces we're still polishing off too. then we'll open."
<OOC> Nicholas says, "So does that mean people won't have to make their own Wikis if they don't want to, but it'll be done automatically for everyone?"
<OOC> Osiris says, "yes, everyone automatically gets a profile page with your basic info (the stuff that shows up in sheet, sheet2, etc)"
<OOC> Osiris says, "you don't have to add to it unless you want to"
<OOC> Nicholas says, "That sounds good. No more having to nag."
<OOC> Osiris says, "so… do folks wanna see?"
<OOC> Finnegan says, "Sure"
<OOC> Saoirse says, "Sure"
<OOC> Fine says, "can you default everyone's char pic to Steve Buscemi?"
<OOC> Londinium eyes Fine
<OOC> Osiris eyes Fine. no.
<OOC> Mann says, "Nicholas Cage. Obviously."
<OOC> Saoirse says, "How 'bout just Fine's characters?"
Osiris drumrolls… Here's the address for the game / portal / wiki / everything: https://firefly-stillflyin.aresmush.com/
<OOC> Nicholas says, "Ooh. It shows a lot of info on the page."
<OOC> Osiris says, "please feel free to start claiming your char names. you can poke around in CG for the next few weeks, we just won't take applications until we declare the new gameopen."
<OOC> Finnegan says, "This is simply a way of keeping me busy transferring things to so I don't beg for rp for a few hours."
<OOC> Fine says, "Will ALL recent scenes appear on the front page automatically? I mean, I don't want just everyone to know Fine's nekkid desc."
<OOC> Saoirse says, "That is a concern."
<OOC> Osiris says, "scenes are logged by the game, but not posted unless the participants decide to. so, recent /shared/ scenes will appear."
<OOC> Nicholas says, "Oooh. Is it easier to share them, then?"
<OOC> Osiris says, "there are also cool features for fixing a typo in your last pose, to have the log automatically fixed. then, push button at end of scene, bam, it's shared."
<OOC> Nicholas says, "Will that cut out pages and things?"
<OOC> Bjorn says, "Yes."
<OOC> Liz says, "Are scenes done through MUSH clients logged/shared too or only if you do them through the web portal?"
<OOC> Osiris says, "yup"
<OOC> Osiris says, "Liz - it doesn't matter if you play in client or portal, they both count as scenes"
<OOC> Osiris says, "you could even have some players in client and others in portal, playing in the same scene"
<OOC> Saoirse says, "We'll have to seperately register our characters, yes?"
<OOC> Osiris says, "yes, Saoirse"
<OOC> Mann says, "Does this mean that staff will be able to review nonpublic scenes?"
<OOC> Gideon raises hand. Will Finnegan be assigned to transfer my characters for me? :)
<OOC> Osiris says, "there are tools to send logs to staff if there was a problem. without that, we'd have to dig deep into the server logs to get at the scene content… and we don't intend to do that."
<OOC> Bjorn says, "In Ares I often keep both clinet and portal open for a scene, so that if I have some poses I want to write longer, and with more formatting, I'll do those through the portal."
<OOC> Bjorn says, "And the Web CG is quite awesome. ;)"
<OOC> Osiris says, "Gideon - i suppose you can ask a friend for help, but we won't assign that to anyone :>"
<OOC> LanYu imagines os digging up for smut. laughs at the image
<OOC> Osiris says, "yeah, CG works on either the portal or the client."
<OOC> Gideon grins.
<OOC> Liz is just a little confused about mechanics, sorry. How would you designated a scene as public or private if playing through a client? And how does it know if it's a scene vs just two people sitting and chatting OOC in the same room?
<OOC> Osiris says, "Liz - yeah, the new scenes system takes a little getting used to. step away from thinking of "we start posing, and thus it's a scene" (though you CAN still do that, in the client)…"
<OOC> Mann says, "LanYu: Kind of like finding woods porn as a kid. Where did all those ancient, waterlogged magazines come from? Nobody knows."
<OOC> Liz says, "If this is all on help files that I haven't looked at yet, just let me know and I'll go read :)"
<OOC> Osiris says, "…there's a command to start a scene, setting it as public of private, giving it other settings, etc. then you join it from either the client or portal side."
<OOC> Finnegan is confused, because I started connecting and people were still talking here. So… everything gets logged?
<OOC> Osiris says, "these pages might ve helpful for the transition: https://aresmush.com/tutorials/play/ares-for-vets.html (as in, mushing vets)"
<OOC> Osiris says, "and https://aresmush.com/web-portal"
<OOC> Gideon says, "Will there be gentle guidance set out about communicating for people who prefer real time RP versus slowRP? I'm thinking - someone's in the market, playing real time, and someone else playing in slow time poses in and then the real time players are waiting for an hour. I know established players know to communicate about it, but newbies might not understand?"
<OOC> Osiris says, "yes Gideon, we'll sort some of that out (it's been a recent hit topic in the Ares community, and we'll write something up)."
<OOC> Fine says, "It appears that I cannot have two characters logged in at once on the web portal."
<OOC> Fine says, "In the same browser, different tabs."
<OOC> Osiris says, "and Finn… yeah, logging runs all the time (like any server, really). and Faraday has built good commands for "hey, we need to share that (scene , mail , set of pages , set of channel chatter) with staff because ugh, problem!" as staff, the only way to get to things that aren't intentionally shared is to dig down to the server level, and we don't intend to do that."
<OOC> Mann imagines real-time players flicking about statue-like slow players.
<OOC> Osiris nods to Fine, i haven't tried that scenario. there may be a solution for it, but i don't know offhand.
<OOC> Gideon says, "Are pages and channel communication logged as well?"
<OOC> Osiris says, "yes, Gideon. they don't show up in scenes that are posted. they can be sent to staff in the event of a problem."
<OOC> Finnegan says, "Can staff access them just because?"
<OOC> Osiris says, "nope"
<OOC> Finnegan wants to understand if I now have to insult you in a different medium. :D
<OOC> Londinium says, "no, you can keep insulting us all you like"
<OOC> Osiris nods in agreement with Londinium.
<OOC> Finnegan says, "Dipwads."
<OOC> Fine says, "if a player in a scene sets it public, can another later set it private? or vv?""
<OOC> Saoirse says, "The age in create a character seems to not be going off game time."
<OOC> Osiris says, "Fine - i'm not sure about that. the scenes help files should say."
<OOC> Osiris says, "age should be set as related to 2530"
<OOC> Saoirse says, "Neh. Don't mind me. I input wrong."
<OOC> Fine says, "so we start posing but forget to start the scene. How do we back-add the previous poses?"
<OOC> Nicholas is about to AFK for dinner, but is messing about with chargen on the web portal and doesn't see anywhere that it tells you how many points you have left.
<OOC> Osiris says, "Fine - also not entirely sure. i haven't had people to play with on the new game yet!"
<OOC> Nicholas says, "I like how it tells you what the attributes/skills are, though. It looks good."
<OOC> Saoirse blinks. There are more attributes. o.o
<OOC> Osiris says, "Nicholas - on portal, if you click the button to Review/Submit (IIRC) it says. in the client, the command is 'app'."
<OOC> Osiris says, "yes, there are more attributes."
<OOC> Nicholas says, "I found that. Was just wondering if there was an easier way to see it as I went. Ta."
<OOC> Saoirse can't seem to learn any of them. lol
<OOC> Osiris says, "that's it, Nicholas"
<OOC> Osiris says, "Saoirse, the the - and + buttons. clicking the dots themselves doesn't do anything."
<OOC> Osiris says, "try the*"
<OOC> Londinium says, "honestly, chargen is easy and the grid will be the same as here"
<OOC> Saoirse doesn't have any + or - buttons.

<OOC> Finnegan was just trying to figure out how to build a char. And pointing out that I might have to switch web browsers.
<OOC> Osiris says, "Getting Started menu > Create a Character"
<OOC> Osiris says, "you have to register and log in first, then go there."
<OOC> Finnegan thinks I figured it out. My problem was that it's a dark screen and the scroll bar doesn't show.
<OOC> Osiris says, "and there are numerous tabs to go through"
<OOC> Osiris says, "i'll point out that help files are all available through the portal (Help menu) as well as in-game. we've copied over wiki files which aren't character pages or scene logs … once people have your chars set up, we'll work on a transition for that data (and probably try to copy over the logs from the old wiki, to not lose those)."
<OOC> Osiris says, "and again, we're planning weeks of poking around. feel free to mostly-CG your chars, just don't submit them yet. we might touch up a few things in CG, especially if people have concerns about things in the new setup."
<OOC> Saoirse bites the pair of you for unloading this when she's sick.
<OOC> Londinium hugs Seer
<OOC> Osiris says, "that's your fault for being sick! ;) (feel btter.)"
<OOC> Finnegan goes away because I can't do this screen and look around, and listen to the screaming in my house.
<OOC> Londinium says, "you can all keep RP'ing here as normal… then once all the new chars are approved, just pick up the threads and on-going TPs over there"
<OOC> Saoirse says, "THe starting logs/scenes thing. When in a mushclient and not the web portal. Will there be commands to input to do that?"
<OOC> Osiris says, "yep. we'll announce an opening weekend to have RP stop here, and start there."
<OOC> Osiris says, "yes. 'help scenes'"
<OOC> Mann says, "Looks like my chargen will happen exclusively on the new game!"
<OOC> Osiris says, "go for it, Mann!"
<OOC> Londinium says, "as long as it happens!"
<OOC> Saoirse says, "Cool."
<OOC> Saoirse says, "Cool. I'll read that later."
<OOC> Saoirse works on background skills.
<OOC> Saoirse says, "The dot amounts are different."
<OOC> Osiris says, "yes they are"
<OOC> Saoirse grumbles. lol
<OOC> Osiris says, "i can compile some tips about the differences, this week."
<OOC> Gideon says, "Thank you, staff <3"
<OOC> Londinium smiles. I hope you will like it
<OOC> Osiris hugs Gid
<OOC> Gideon hugs.
<OOC> Liz nods! Thank you!
<OOC> Saoirse is sure she'll like it fine once she gets used to it. lol
<OOC> Osiris says, "yeah, WE also have to get used to it"
<OOC> Saoirse says, "Right now, brain is going 'NOooooooo! It's different! Noooooo!'. lol"
<OOC> Osiris nodnods, brians do that.
<OOC> Saoirse says, "Mmhmm."
<OOC> Mann says, "Every game is different, though?"
<OOC> Saoirse says, "Okay. I think I have it sussed out, more or less."
<OOC> Londinium cheers
<OOC> Saoirse says, "For Michael, at least. The sheet part."
GAME: Save complete.
<OOC> Mann says, "How does one set a description?"
<OOC> Mann says, "'@desc me=' doesn't seem to cut it."
<OOC> Saoirse says, "And done with Michael."
<OOC> Saoirse says, "In the create a character section. Tab: Descriptions."
<OOC> Mann says, "I was thinking here on the mush so I can get the game to stop nagging me ;)"
<OOC> Osiris points to what Saoirse said.
<OOC> Osiris says, "oh, here in Penn? it should be @desc me="
<OOC> Mann says, "There we go."
<OOC> Saoirse has everything saved, at least. No submitting yet, correct?
<OOC> Osiris says, "correct"
<OOC> Saoirse will do Saoirse's stuff… later.. sometime.
<OOC> Londinium has only done a half-baked Jude too
<OOC> Osiris hasn't even started on Donna.
<OOC> Osiris says, "this has been keeping us busy for a while, and i'm SO glad we can actually talk about it openly now."
<OOC> Londinium says, "yup :) I know people were wondering why the char reset was taking so long…"
<OOC> Osiris says, "we mostly didn't want to start stirring up hopes and questions, when it was still a half-baked thing. we wanted it mostly ready to share, and enough confidence for /ourselves/ that this was the right move to make, before we pulled the curtain off it."
<OOC> Saoirse says, "Fair. :)"

<Public> Osiris says, "I've just added a new channel to our Discord server, #game-transition. Questions can be asked there (but don't have to be only asked there… it's just an easy place that will log things for people to look back at what's been discussed already)"
<Public> Osiris says, "if anyone needs our Discord link, just page me or Londi"
<Public> Osiris says, "it will be nicer to play in Ares, and nicer to manage and customize Ares. both were deciding factors."
<Public> Michael says, "But learning a new code base. *whines, then winks*"
<Public> Gabrielle isn't too worried, Ares is pretty good.
<Public> Osiris says, "it has aliases for a LOT of Penn commands. and if there's something y'all get tripped up on, speak up and we can add our own aliases."
<Public> Michael already has both of his characters saved. >.>
<Public> BearWarrior Bjorn says, "At least the skill system is more or less the next incarnation of FS3. ;)"
<OOC> Saoirse says, "Ooh. Will custom commands work on the new game? Like if I have a couple on my char bit."
<OOC> Osiris says, "i don't know if you can put them on your charbit, but you can ask us to consider them game-wide."
<Public> Osiris says, "yes, it is. and we tried to line it up with what we've got here."
<OOC> Saoirse just has a custom repose command, and a custom desc command. … though, I don't think I've set up the desc one here. lol
<OOC> Osiris says, "Ares has a repose command, and a system for different descs (Outfits, and Details, start with 'help desc' there)"
<OOC> Saoirse says, "Cool. That's the only two I imported over here, so works for me."
<OOC> Osiris thumbs up
<OOC> Saoirse says, "So, what's gonna happen about not being able to have more than one character logged on at a time?"
<OOC> Londinium says, "I think that only applies for the web portal but not for the mush clients"
<OOC> Bjorn says, "Only applies to the Portal, yes. On another of my Ares games, I have three chars logged in through client, just one of them at the time on the Portal."

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