Alright guys, we need input.

[zdoT]

So, I come bringing you guys sad, sad, news. Due to obligations, Waylon has decided to step down as an admin- and Waltz is currently on a very long, extended hiatus, for the exact same reasons.

Kirika and I are very busy, as well; we're both working, and school is just around the corner. With Kirika in her second year of college and me in my last year of high school, we won't exactly have oodles of time to spend online.

Which raises a somewhat big issue; the RPG, as it is now, requires the admins to put in a lot of time; time that Kirika and I don't have; but we both want to still do our part, so we were thinking of making some changes to the RPG.

We're open to lots of ideas as of now, but what do you, the members, think? As it is, we simply don't have time to add money, monitor the fishing, foraging, etc. Would you guys like to stick with the RPG the way it is now, or if any of you remember the old HMM RPG from a couple years ago, would you guys like something like that? Old school Conamu village? Or maybe a Conamu-Peridot hybrid?

If you guys have any ideas at all, post them here. We'd love input from you guys.

[sha! steph.]

Keeping track of foraging and whatnot sucks. I hate being confined to a certain money limit. If I want my character to be poor, they will be poor. If I want them to have moderate wealth moving into a new RPG, I want to be able to afford a decent apartment without starting from scratch. D: Personally, I dislike money systems.. so if you were to scrap that, I wouldn't be too upset about that.

Generally people are responsible. I understand that new members might not, but people who've been  around the block can step in and say, "hey, bud, take it easy" and show them the ropes.

That's my two cents on the subject! D:

[zdoT]

You're not allowed to have a two cents, you don't like money!

Haha, kidding. I couldn't resist to make a comment like that.

[Patimo]

I like how this is the first thing I see before even logging in~

Though it seems I was misinformed a bit. Via little birdy, I was under the impression that Kirika and you were going to rebuild/revamp HMM without some of the newer rpg rules that have been implemented; pretty much bring it back to it's roots, I suppose. Though, this is just as good, of course. I've nothing to complain about... except that the mention of college makes me worried, because I keep realizing that it's not as far off as I think; another year or so and I'll be in a completely different city studying musical theatre. This terrifies me beyond belief. D:

ANYWHO, back to the point. I think that the new design (the added rules and what not, I mean) is kind of why I was never around much after the original HMM closed down. It just didn't feel like HMM; it had the same name but it wasn't the same place. The rules are there for a reason, of course, and it's not that they're bad per se, it's just that they take away too much freedom in (mine, at least, though I have a feeling I'm not the only one.) role playing. I don't want to have to think "Oh god, how many times have I foraged today ? Crap, I think this is the last time I can. So-and-so is homeless and already hasn't eaten for ages, and since she sold the other berries so she could get a room tonight this is the only one she'll be able to eat oh god oh god oh god how will she live ?" (Dramatization, of course. That, and I haven't looked at the rules in God knows how long, so my memory of them is incredibly vague.) I think that by now, anyone that's around is responsible enough to not abuse a little freedom. Like Steph said, if someone saw a newer member (or possibly even older!) they could just step in and be all "Hey, slow down there. Let me help 'ya."


Also, helloCareylongtimenotalk. : D

[Kirika]

Actually Carey hasn't changed too much of Seirie's original Conamu Village rules at all.  The only differences are the Orange Heart rate being the highest friendship point(&& being perminate once you move someone to it).  Then instead of only getting 1,000G (like the original hmm) you get 2,000g to start off with, if you want it. (You can have less though.)

I think the biggest change in the Conamu rpg is the applications for a house shop or farm really. Which really isn't to hard to do( we just have to give you the okay on it. ) ^^6

For the whole forging thing, Tobz & I would just like to get rid of that which is why we're going to let you guys choose either Peridot or Conamu to rp in. (However as stated in the first post we don't have time to keep track of the foraging or fishing topics in the Peridot Rpg. Not to mention we both really didn't care for Peridot either.)

[Irbe]

Ahem...

First off, I'd like to say that I apologize for my lack of involvement the past several months. Things went from bad to worse in my life and I'm just now getting back on my two feet. But not like anyone cares about that so.....let me put in my two cents about this topic.

Yeah, not much has really changed since the Conamu RP, cept the whole fishing and foraging stuff. Plus players could just keep track of their own money, which some abused quite a bit. Though it was never like you could do anything with that pretend money really. Everything came free.

Having people still apply and use their RPG money to buy houses/farms/shops is something that always seemed like a good idea. It kind of weeds out the ones that just don't want to put any effort into the RPG. But as an Admin, having to approve everything and deduct and add money, became quite a pain after awhile. Course, if you kept that part of the RPG and threw away fishing/foraging....how would people earn the money to buy a house/farm/shop? You can't exactly just give money to people just for posting. I mean, who would want to even update something like that? So of course this begs the question. Is money in the RPG is even necessary, period?

Conamu never had it, so why should this new town have it? I think it more or less just adds a headache to all the new people that join. Just wondering how the world are they going to earn enough money to buy a house/farm/shop? When are the Admins going to update? And even if the Admins do update, when will one even get approved for the said item they wish to purchase? I also believe that because of this new money system, many new players have seen how annoying it can be to earn money and thus have left here and went off in search of another message board to join.

Back in its heyday, Harvest Moon Meadow was flocking with members. The RPG wasn’t organized in the least bit, but at least people joined and stayed.  Ever since it’s return, however, we’ve struggled to get new members and actually keep them. It’s quite sad really.

We need rules and we need things to keep the RPG interesting; mainly more festivals. I was also thinking maybe a local newspaper that would be released weekly or whenever. Gossip, news, festivals, funny stories, etc. This would be something I would do, of course. But we don’t need so much clutter that it scares every new person that signs up on this site, away. I don’t really care what you all decide, but I’ll try and be around more to help out and such in the future. For now, at least, I can log on more often.

[zdoT]

While I see your point Irbe, we simply don't have time to deal with the foraging, mining, fishing. We'll still HAVE it, sure, but it'll be based on honesty, or something. Sort of like you can make x amount of money per day doing each one; sort of like how every day in the Harvest Moon games, there are certain things you can find and sell. We'd allow members to keep track of their own money; and honestly, I don't like money at all in an RP.

When I RP on a HM forum, I rp to roleplay with other people. I don't RP to feel like an accountent having to keep track of this and that and worrying about paying my bills before my house in the RP gets foreclosed- sometimes RPs are a lot easier if there is less for everyone to worry about.

As for festivals? I agree. We should have festivals, but not a lot. Kirika and I are trying to brainstorm, and if you have any ideas, please tell us. All ideas are welcomed.

[Kirika]

Or like if you sell something in a shop like whatever the customer paid for an item is the money you earn for your shop. ^_^ (like the old Conamu or at least that was how I played back in the day)

Not to mention you can choose how much you want to sell things too. Just make it reasonable. ^^b

[Irbe]

While I see your point Irbe, we simply don't have time to deal with the foraging, mining, fishing.

Did you not read my post all the way through? I know it was long, but focus Tobz, FOCUS!

To quote myself....

But as an Admin, having to approve everything and deduct and add money, became quite a pain after awhile. Is money in the RPG is even necessary, period?

So yeah...

I don't like money at all in an RP.

As my post read, neither do I. I see zero point in having it.

As far as festivals are concerned, I don’t really have any ideas at the moment, but I will say this. Having the same type of festival over and over again is getting old. The whole gather together, lets chat,  and eat some festival food, before the grand event of fireworks, dancing, contest of some sort, is getting old. We really need to add something new. What that is exactly, I’m not sure as of yet. But I am trying my best to brainstorm when I can. I guess there really is only so much you can do in an RPG, but it would still be nice to have something more. Something that really makes people want to participate.

Are we even going to keep the current RPG or maybe start over again? Just curious.

[galahad]

On the contrary, I've never minded having to make money in a Harvest Moon RP.  It seems to stem from the actual game (and the goal to buy things) and I always view it in a sense of something "extra" to do when I wasn't in the mood to role play.  Though, I don't really see much problems either if you were to get rid of the money system.  The only true problem I can see (which may or may not be a problem) would be the complete lack of ambition to make a shop.  What's the point of selling items if there is no money system?  People would most likely just start making up NPC shops as to how they've gotten certain items (seeing as they now have imaginary money).  Normally an RP that does not need money does not need shops and does not need farms, and that whole big chunk of the Harvest Moon origin is lost.

But, anyway.  I definitely think that if the current Admins don't have time to focus on the board then new Admins need to be appointed.  As simple as that.  In my opinion, a board is going to die without Active Admins who can spend time BOTH and I do stress BOTH on keeping the site up and running and (this is important) role playing with the members.

[~Moon Lover~]

 I do agree with galahad that if you take out the money, there'll be no point for a lot of things in the RPG. BUT! I also agree with Irbe that new members will definately stress over the fact that if they don't make money soon, they'll have to pay rent, and then that puts them even lower on the money chain. So now they have to work twice as hard just to keep up with the rent and the Rp-ing. ect.ect.
 I don't think we need too many festivals ( and that may be because I haven't been to alot) I just think a new one or two, then maybe tweak the old ones- give 'em some flare! Something that makes people want to go to it. But you really can't do much about the festivals unless people are there. And that makes it really difficult.
 We don't want to add too many things for fear of some things being left out or neglected or it just being too complicated to everyone.
 And I agree: We may need new admins.

 

[zdoT]

Well, as for the money issue, Kirika and don't really want to get rid of money, we want to simplfy it. At this point in time, we're thinking of something along the lines of each day you can get x amount of money from foraging, mining, or fishing; not much. Maybe...100g total a day for all three combined? As for farming, we'll probably make a system for that. Like you RP plant your crops, RP tend to them every now and then, then when they grow up, you can sell them.

As for shops? We'll have a system sort of like shop owners get x amount of money per week, and anything they sell is 'commission', and that's an added bonus to what they get. That way even if you're shop doesn't do that well, you can still make money in the RP.

And one thing I really liked from Waltz's RP was how she didn't have just shops; she had several jobs for characters to have; such as working at the Church, at the Carpenter shop, or Doctors office, etc. So we'll most likely have things like that in the RP as well.

And no, we're NOT going to get rid of Waltz and Waylon's RP- they put a LOT of work into it, and I'm not about to destroy what they put their heart and soul in. Kirika and I don't have the time to keep up with it; so we're making a new, more simple, RP to run alongside it. One that we can manage- if Waltz or Waylon manages to find free time and come back, they can continue on with their RP. We just want HMM to not die, and we hope that making a new, easier RP that requires less work will attract more members.

Not to mention Kirika and aren't as web-savy as Waltz or Waylon. It was all we could do to figure out how to GIVE members awards, and I messed that up quite a few times. >_<

As for festivals, they're fun, but I don't think they should be the center of the RP. I'm far more worried about getting a solid RP set up first. >_< No matter how could a festival is, it can't save a bad RP. xD

And I agree with the whole 'admins need to be ACTIVE' statement; Kirika and I are going to try to do our best to keep this RP up and running.

[CynicallyYours]

What about a reward system of sorts to give new members an incentive to want to stay? I'm not sure what kind of rewards just yet, but I'll think on it some more.
Just something other than badges, ya know?

[zdoT]

Members should stay because they enjoy the RP, not because we have to bribe them. But what kind of rewards did you have in mind?

[CynicallyYours]

Er..... I'm not sure yet. >.<

I'll brainstorm tonight. Any ideas from another party would be easier on my brain, too.