Major Announcement

[reimsadmin]

Attention all players:

Reims Academy has reached it's six month of being open. Over the time, we mods have noticed many things, including the large number of drops and the very slow pace of the game. This has been a big concern for us and we've been brainstorming possible solutions to this. We have also noticed that those of you that have stuck with the slow pace, the lack of major events and the rapid loss of CR, are very dedicated to your characters and still enjoy the game. To balance the losses with the slow but steady current with our current players, we're instituting several game-wide changes. We think these changes will be for the better to help lighten load and instill some more enjoyment in the game, including the moderator team.

The format of Reims Academy will be changing. We are going to transition the game from a strict, formal AU game to a more semi-formal AU game. There are a few changes being done to facilitate this.

• We are expanding the types of posts allowed on the main community. Before, the main community reimsacademy was to be only used for posts characters make on the school's Intranet. Now it can be used for cell phone conversations, emails between characters, flyers posted in the hallways/dorms, IC mmorpg chats, and even 'action spam' posts along with the standard Intranet posts. Basically, if it's not third-person prose or an event (LaSalle, Halloween Party, etc), it can go in the main community. reimsactivities will remain the community for logs.
  
  
• We are going to revise the applications and application guidelines. To this end, we will be reducing our four types of applications to one standard application with sections only required for original characters and faculty characters. The new application will be simpler with less requirements to encourage new players to app into Reims. We are extending our heartfelt thanks to all of you who spent the time on your character applications under the current system.
  
  Whereas we know the revised application will not require as much work as you all put in, we need to encourage new players and our current application system is too bulky for both players and the mods with the four separate application types. While some standards in the new application may be less than before, making it seem more like players are 'claiming' characters, we are still going to be very strict on AU Histories to ensure realism and on any subject with the potential to upset our players or make them feel uncomfortable. This game is not becoming a dressingroom where anything goes.
  
  
• We are removing the limitation on faculty characters. Players may now have more than one faculty character if they choose and we will not be capping the number of faculty positions except for Guidance Counselor. We still have a limit of five Guidance Counselors and have no intention of changing that. We're also going to expand the electives available at Reims Academy. The core classes - History, English, Math and Science - are still required, so players are encouraged to have their faculty/teacher characters offer something else. We want common sense to prevail here. This is a middle/high school, so keep the course subject material age-appropriate.
  
  
• We are transitioning from a Monthly Activity Check to a Trimester Activity Check. We will only do three activity checks a year, every four months - January 1st, May 1st, and September 1st. As we have extended the activity period from one month to four months, the requirements will change. Instead of one piece of activity per month, we will now require two pieces of activity per four months. One of these two pieces must be either an open post or open log that any character can interact in. We will not be accepting comments as valid activity for both pieces of activity. They will still count for one piece of activity, but not both.

Things that will not change.

• The Rumor Board will be posted OOCly once a month by the mods if there are rumors to filter through the student body. We can only make so many up, so please submit rumors for us to post. We will continue to drop little setting tidbits and rumors from NPCs onto the Rumor Board, but please submit rumors.
  
  
• The school's IC rules and setting will not change. Making the game more relaxed does not give players free reign to have their characters get away with anything they want. Rules are enforced by NPCs. We're not going to police you all over what your characters are doing, but please keep the rules in mind and everyone gets caught sooner or later. We still encourage game-wide player-run plots. Feel free to contact us regarding any you might have.
  
  
• We will continue to have the Administration Approved Weekends to LaSalle. These occur during the second weekend of each month except when breaks interfere. Please use the communities calendar function to keep track of them. We mods will only post one open LaSalle log each activity period (only one of every four), but you are always welcome to post your own open or private logs for LaSalle during the weekends the students can visit the mainland.
  
  
• The Academy's two big formal dances will be posted by the mods as planned. The two in question are the Winter Formal and Prom. The Winter Formal is coming up soon, so be on the lookout for announcements regarding it and start planning your character's attire.
  
  
• The Intranet hacking ooc rules are not changing. Please don't make us unleash the rabid wombat.

As always the mods are available to answer questions. We hope these changes will increase the enjoyment of Reims Academy and keep this small game on the right tracks. Thank you for taking the time to read all this.

-Reims Moderators