Crack Community Proposal: Detailed
Okay guys! It looks like the proposed crack community from the last mod post might be a go. We say might because this post is going to lay out pretty much everything that will be in the community and how it will work. There will be polls again at the end, which is why we went ahead and closed the last poll kind of early. The other reason is because what we have written here may change some people's minds one way or another. This will be the "final proposal" for the crack community, so these polls will be open for much longer and will be considered the "final votes." You could consider the first poll more like the preliminary round. For those curious, the results after excluding all duplicate votes were 34 to 12 in favor of the community.
So this post is to explain everything-probably more than you actually realized.
Also, while talking over memes and such, we decided to alter the meme schedule slightly. The dates we listed in the last mod post will stay, but the frequency is slightly changed. The "Pimp Your Character" and "HMD" memes will stay monthly since players will benefit more with those. They actually used to be monthly until we kind of failboated and kept forgetting to post them. The "Friending" meme, however, will be bi-monthly. Most people will probably add people upon their intro's, so it's probably easier to have it every other month.
Okay, now with that side note out of the way, here we go!
what goes in it.
This is more of a "random" community, and for lack of a better term to call it, it will be referred to as the "crack" community. However, don't let the label mislead you. It's just the only term that works best for this type of community.
Most of it will probably be memes, but fanworks and other tributes made in relation to the game can be posted in here. Fanart, little fanfics, songmixes, etc. So don't think of it as just some little meme community.
This means that the OOC Community will function only for plotting purposes and player and mod notices. So basically, the "crack" community will house everything else.
the why's and why not's.
One of the reasons why Somarium hasn't had a "crack community" before now is because players in general never really posted many things that would traditionally go into it: random memes, fanworks, etc. However, a larger reason was we didn't want a crack community suddenly taking away from the game. It sometimes happens because things that are posted on crack communities in general are meant to be that: crack.
On the other hand, it's because that "memes" provide a nice little break from whatever in-game drama is going on that it's not a completely bad idea. They're different and fun like they're designed to be. So long as it's only every once in a while, of course. Also, in a more practical matter and mentioned above, it would reduce the clutter in the OOC Community. This hasn't always been an issue because of the very low volume of memes that do get posted. But we've seen a slight increase over the past couple of months, some successful and some not so much. So other than the usual three memes (Pimp, Friend, and HMD), these other memes could go in the crack community for better organization.
Players will also feel less intimidated or nervous to post one if it's not on one of the "main" communities. There are other games that actually prohibit posting memes onto the OOC Community and prefer them to be in their designated crack communities. Again, mostly for practical and organizational reasons. So players who had past experience with such rules may think we have the same ones when we actually never did to begin with.
The risk of players getting distracted by the memes is a very strong argument, but we also hold a lot of trust in our players that they won't be so distracted. Yes, memes do take a little time away from in-game tagging when there's a lot of activity going on, but we honestly do not expect our players to post that many at once. This is mainly because there is memebells, which houses many public memes that anyone can participate in. So we feel that Somarium's crack community will be a lot more tame and selective. Even so, we do have some proposed regulations listed out below to address this.
what's in a meme?
Before we even get to how the community would be regulated, it would probably be best to actually define the different types of memes out there. Yep, there are different types whether you realized it or not. We just usually clump them all together under the term "meme" because that's what they are. But because our proposed rules actually specify a certain type of meme, it would be better to define them all so everyone can be on the same page.
proposed regulations.
This is not set in stone, so it can still be changed.
Originally we planned to see how much activity the community would receive to begin with before stepping into regulate it. We knew that there would be a high burst of initial activity because of the "new" factor, but like with all things predicted it would die down. However, judging from the comments from the previous post, quite a few would feel more comfortable if there were already some regulations set in place to begin with.
So these are just some rough guidelines that should at least help ease most people's minds about the crack community. These would be posted somewhere noticeable on the community. Definitely on the profile, but unfortunately the Date out of Order option isn't available to communities, so an entry stuck at the top won't work. We may still post an entry and have a link along with a shorter, and have a more basic outline somewhere on the layout so that posters can see it.
While it may seem a lot, most of those rules are actually the same principles as the main game and only serve as a reminder. They're also mostly common sense. We're not trying to scare anyone from posting or give rigid restrictions despite how it may look. The community is supposed to be used for fun, but there also needs to be a balance so that the maximum amount of benefit can be achieved.
Really, the most important and "sticky" rule to remember is the one regulating the meme posting. After that, it's pretty much common sense and common rules used mostly everywhere.
re-poll!
Now that we've clarified a lot about how the crack community will operate, we're going to run the poll again. We doubt there will be a lot of changes from the last poll, but since some players may have had different ideas about what would go into the crack community or were unsure about how it would run, it would be better to give it another fair shot. Who knows, maybe more people will be comforted by the new groundwork. Or maybe it's not what they expected and dislike it. Or others won't change their opinion no matter what. That's perfectly fine-we just want to provide another fair opportunity for everyone.
So two polls! The first one is for whether the regulations proposed so far are good. Keep in mind that they can be modified, so we're not asking if they're perfect-just if what's there is good so far. If you have additional suggestions, feel free to comment to this post and we'll consider them. We can't guarantee all of them will make it, but we will seriously consider them. But if the majority is satisfied with the rules as is, then you can think of them as the rules for the community.
The second one is a basic re-poll of the first poll: do you still want the crack community? We know that not everyone will want it, but we at least wanted to make it so that any possible concerns (mostly the meme posting) are addressed and alleviated as best as possible.
And the third one is more of a "study" poll to see if this post really made a difference or not.
Poll Somarium Crack Community Round 2
Thanks for voting! And remember, one vote per player.
Thanks for reading, and if you have any other further questions, comments, or concerns, comment here.
So this post is to explain everything-probably more than you actually realized.
Also, while talking over memes and such, we decided to alter the meme schedule slightly. The dates we listed in the last mod post will stay, but the frequency is slightly changed. The "Pimp Your Character" and "HMD" memes will stay monthly since players will benefit more with those. They actually used to be monthly until we kind of failboated and kept forgetting to post them. The "Friending" meme, however, will be bi-monthly. Most people will probably add people upon their intro's, so it's probably easier to have it every other month.
Okay, now with that side note out of the way, here we go!
what goes in it.
This is more of a "random" community, and for lack of a better term to call it, it will be referred to as the "crack" community. However, don't let the label mislead you. It's just the only term that works best for this type of community.
Most of it will probably be memes, but fanworks and other tributes made in relation to the game can be posted in here. Fanart, little fanfics, songmixes, etc. So don't think of it as just some little meme community.
This means that the OOC Community will function only for plotting purposes and player and mod notices. So basically, the "crack" community will house everything else.
the why's and why not's.
One of the reasons why Somarium hasn't had a "crack community" before now is because players in general never really posted many things that would traditionally go into it: random memes, fanworks, etc. However, a larger reason was we didn't want a crack community suddenly taking away from the game. It sometimes happens because things that are posted on crack communities in general are meant to be that: crack.
On the other hand, it's because that "memes" provide a nice little break from whatever in-game drama is going on that it's not a completely bad idea. They're different and fun like they're designed to be. So long as it's only every once in a while, of course. Also, in a more practical matter and mentioned above, it would reduce the clutter in the OOC Community. This hasn't always been an issue because of the very low volume of memes that do get posted. But we've seen a slight increase over the past couple of months, some successful and some not so much. So other than the usual three memes (Pimp, Friend, and HMD), these other memes could go in the crack community for better organization.
Players will also feel less intimidated or nervous to post one if it's not on one of the "main" communities. There are other games that actually prohibit posting memes onto the OOC Community and prefer them to be in their designated crack communities. Again, mostly for practical and organizational reasons. So players who had past experience with such rules may think we have the same ones when we actually never did to begin with.
The risk of players getting distracted by the memes is a very strong argument, but we also hold a lot of trust in our players that they won't be so distracted. Yes, memes do take a little time away from in-game tagging when there's a lot of activity going on, but we honestly do not expect our players to post that many at once. This is mainly because there is memebells, which houses many public memes that anyone can participate in. So we feel that Somarium's crack community will be a lot more tame and selective. Even so, we do have some proposed regulations listed out below to address this.
what's in a meme?
Before we even get to how the community would be regulated, it would probably be best to actually define the different types of memes out there. Yep, there are different types whether you realized it or not. We just usually clump them all together under the term "meme" because that's what they are. But because our proposed rules actually specify a certain type of meme, it would be better to define them all so everyone can be on the same page.
- Old-fashioned character based memes. Remember those memes where we're given some kind of survey or "what if's" about a character, and we just posted our answers? Maybe a "Give 10 random facts about your character" or "List 20 points of headcanon for your character." Or maybe a random "quiz" that we all filled out for our characters and shared the results with. Maybe even the Heart Meme? Remember those? Maybe, maybe not. I call them old-fashioned because I honestly haven't seen them that often anymore outside of Plurks, and definitely not in Somarium. These memes generally served a simple purpose of allowing players to think a little more about their characters and share them with everyone else. They were pretty tame and low-key, but still fun in their own right.
- Interactive/RNG memes. When you say "meme" nowadays in an RP context, this is probably what most people think of. There's a prompt for a scene and you play it out, sometimes using RNG (Random Number Generator). They're the memes that are floating around everywhere, though mainly concentrated in memebells. These are what most would consider great timewasters since you are actually ICly threading a specific thread rather than just spewing out random info or dressing your character in some doll maker. However, they do provide those special little moments that would probably never occur in game and are usually pretty fun. Fluff Memes, Morning After Memes, TFLN Memes-all of those are a few common examples.
- Complete random memes. These memes were kind of random and don't really fit in a category. Best examples would be the old Omeagle Chat Meme and the one where we posted our characters in Sailor Moon doll outfits (I'd link it but I am failing to find it; have a Pokemon Master Meme instead). You could probably throw that icon meme we once did under here, too. It's basically the "anything random" type of meme. But these memes were just silly and goofy and fun.
proposed regulations.
This is not set in stone, so it can still be changed.
Originally we planned to see how much activity the community would receive to begin with before stepping into regulate it. We knew that there would be a high burst of initial activity because of the "new" factor, but like with all things predicted it would die down. However, judging from the comments from the previous post, quite a few would feel more comfortable if there were already some regulations set in place to begin with.
So these are just some rough guidelines that should at least help ease most people's minds about the crack community. These would be posted somewhere noticeable on the community. Definitely on the profile, but unfortunately the Date out of Order option isn't available to communities, so an entry stuck at the top won't work. We may still post an entry and have a link along with a shorter, and have a more basic outline somewhere on the layout so that posters can see it.
- All basic Somarium game rules apply. That is, be nice to each other, don't cause unnecessary drama, don't godmod unless the meme allows it, etc. etc. The only "big" rule you probably won't have to worry about so much is the "stay IC" rule. A lot of the content is crack-non-IC things are supposed to happen. Just don't get too crazy with it.
- Only fanworks and memes. Post only fanworks and memes here. This community is not a musebox and should not be used for musebox or test posts.
- Don't go overboard with the memes. By this we mean, don't post 5 memes or things a day in the community. Remember, this is not memebells. We're thinking of no more than once on any given day, and no more than twice a week. Memes don't necessarily fill up fast, and we really don't need that many memes to begin with. Too many memes can also make people burn out, so it's better to limit and space them out. This way, when a fun meme does come around, more people will be willing to tag into it. This applies to all three types of memes.
- Limit the interactive/RNG memes. As a reminder, these are the memes that are basically like mini RP prompts. This also includes those that don't use RNG. Just because your prompt doesn't use an RNG, that doesn't mean it's off the hook. Remember, the crack community is not memebells. It's just to be a nice little breather and excuse for players to have a little fun outside of the main game. Maybe once or twice a month would be the ideal.
- Fanworks and non-meme things. As mentioned before, in terms of posting there won't be as much regulation because there probably won't be as many. But the general "don't go overboard" rule also applies here: don't post 5 times a day or 20 times a week. You can post more than once, just don't completely spam the community.
- Keep it in house. That is, non-meme material such as fanworks should be Somarium based, and all meme threads should only involve Somarium characters. Exceptions would be like the IC Anon Ship meme where that also involved the players.
- Things do NOT carry over to the main game. What's made in the crack community stays in the crack community. Your characters are not married, this other character is not suddenly their best friend, and they will not suddenly turn blue when they drink some random tea. This is another reason why the interactive/RNG memes should not happen too often: players might accidentally get confused and confuse meme CR with in-game CR. On the flip side, things from in-game can carry over into the memes. So using current CR in the meme threads is perfectly cool. Not using in-game CR is also cool.
- Use the LJ-Cuts and keep it simple. If an entry is long, use an LJ-Cut. Also don't be too obnoxious with the fonts. Big, sparkling font is fine for a header, but don't make the whole post like that. We need to be able to read the post if we want to participate!
- Keep it tasteful. We won't stick ratings unless we find that we have to, but keep whatever goes in here tasteful. It may be for crack purposes, but use your best judgment here. Also, use the LJ-Cuts and other warnings for anything that might be okay in general, but questionable or mature for some (like those "Last Words" memes)
While it may seem a lot, most of those rules are actually the same principles as the main game and only serve as a reminder. They're also mostly common sense. We're not trying to scare anyone from posting or give rigid restrictions despite how it may look. The community is supposed to be used for fun, but there also needs to be a balance so that the maximum amount of benefit can be achieved.
Really, the most important and "sticky" rule to remember is the one regulating the meme posting. After that, it's pretty much common sense and common rules used mostly everywhere.
re-poll!
Now that we've clarified a lot about how the crack community will operate, we're going to run the poll again. We doubt there will be a lot of changes from the last poll, but since some players may have had different ideas about what would go into the crack community or were unsure about how it would run, it would be better to give it another fair shot. Who knows, maybe more people will be comforted by the new groundwork. Or maybe it's not what they expected and dislike it. Or others won't change their opinion no matter what. That's perfectly fine-we just want to provide another fair opportunity for everyone.
So two polls! The first one is for whether the regulations proposed so far are good. Keep in mind that they can be modified, so we're not asking if they're perfect-just if what's there is good so far. If you have additional suggestions, feel free to comment to this post and we'll consider them. We can't guarantee all of them will make it, but we will seriously consider them. But if the majority is satisfied with the rules as is, then you can think of them as the rules for the community.
The second one is a basic re-poll of the first poll: do you still want the crack community? We know that not everyone will want it, but we at least wanted to make it so that any possible concerns (mostly the meme posting) are addressed and alleviated as best as possible.
And the third one is more of a "study" poll to see if this post really made a difference or not.
Poll Somarium Crack Community Round 2
Thanks for voting! And remember, one vote per player.
Thanks for reading, and if you have any other further questions, comments, or concerns, comment here.