Discussion - Excelsior

[Coin]

@Popes I disagree with the application of ‘lackluster’, I think they shine pretty well! They just might not be the popular picks.

In any case, our roster is ever growing, but we add to it at a pace we can handle and still enjoy the game and run stories and not burn out. Hopefully you’ll see someone come up on it eventually that interests you. We always encourage people to try new characters; you never know what sort of experience you might get.

Thanks!

[sao]

I do think the current set of available characters is not the most appealing although I’m still sitting on the urge to app the everloving blue-eyed Thing if I ever get less eaten by work. The thing is that a lot of the more popular characters are played, not that they aren’t in universe, so that’s just kinda what happens when a no OC game is active, I think.

[Popes]

@sao said in Discussion - Excelsior:

The thing is that a lot of the more popular characters are played, not that they aren’t in universe, so that’s just kinda what happens when a no OC game is active, I think.

I mean, the easiest solution is to let people pitch characters. Not open creation, but ‘Hey, how about <Insert Here>?’ and staff can say yes or no, rather than locking hundreds of characters behind whatever gating system there is and rewarding people who were quick on the draw. This way just foments nothing but FOMO from the outside.

[Pavel]

@Popes said in Discussion - Excelsior:

rather than locking hundreds of characters behind whatever gating system there is

Well, the system seems to be

@Coin said in Discussion - Excelsior:

we add to it at a pace we can handle and still enjoy the game and run stories and not burn out

Which is far more important than worrying about other people’s FOMO.

[sao]

@Popes they do encourage players to pitch characters they would like to see, but the staff adds them to the roster at their own pace with adapted backgrounds to fit the game’s particular theme.

[Coin]

@Popes said in Discussion - Excelsior:

@sao said in Discussion - Excelsior:

The thing is that a lot of the more popular characters are played, not that they aren’t in universe, so that’s just kinda what happens when a no OC game is active, I think.

I mean, the easiest solution is to let people pitch characters. Not open creation, but ‘Hey, how about <Insert Here>?’ and staff can say yes or no, rather than locking hundreds of characters behind whatever gating system there is and rewarding people who were quick on the draw. This way just foments nothing but FOMO from the outside.

To add to Sao’s reply, when we bring a new-to-the-game character, it is announced two days prior to their availability, and for the first week are available ONLY to new players who do not have characters already. And the former 48 hours of pause applies to ANY character going on the roster. So there is usually plenty of time for people who are on the lookout to both check out who’s coming and for new players to claim new coming characters specifically so that existing players don’t snatch characters up.

---

From our General FAQ:

Q: How do I get that one character I always play/have always wanted to play?
A: It depends. You can always ask us if we have plans for a specific character. If we do, we’ll let you know; if we don’t, it might be a character we’re really not interested in including. On the other hand, it could be a character we’re not too invested in but don’t mind bringing in. It’s a toss up. You’ll have to ask. Just remember that either way, the character will be written to fit in our world.

[mietze]

I dont know anything about comic characters other than movies. So when I looked the people seemed fine to me! But that brings up the second concern/bad experience that I’ve had with comic games, will people turn up their nose at rp with “lesser” characters.

Not that it doesn’t happen on every game that people think that your lower rank/whatever pc couldn’t possibly know anything neat/be able to contribute anything.

[Coin]

@mietze said in Discussion - Excelsior:

I dont know anything about comic characters other than movies. So when I looked the people seemed fine to me! But that brings up the second concern/bad experience that I’ve had with comic games, will people turn up their nose at rp with “lesser” characters.

Not that it doesn’t happen on every game that people think that your lower rank/whatever pc couldn’t possibly know anything neat/be able to contribute anything.

It’s one of the things that really focusing on the backgrounds as we wrote them has given us a chance to address. When we write the backgrounds we think up and work into it potential storyhooks and fun things for them. No one is going to miss out on story because they aren’t a ‘big name’ (and in fact I am a huge reason why some obscure names – Carmella Unuscione, Sleepwalker, and some others – are so prominently on the game, and nothing makes me happier than seeing them around).

I would love to see people pick up the ‘less popular’ characters, as there is plenty of story and opportunities to go around.

[Raeras]

I’ll just add my two cents here that even though I’ve unfortunately had to just accept I like the idea of playing comic book character instead of actually playing them, all the times I’ve tried Excelsior out the staff has been great and they’ve really taken a lot of time and care with the backgrounds they’ve put together and trying to weave interesting character connections.

I’m really glad to see they’re still going strong.

[GF]

@Popes said in Discussion - Excelsior:

The open roster is, well, lackluster.

All fairness, that’s every roster comics game. Pretty much all of them have all the popular characters claimed and doing only as many scenes as absolutely necessary to not lose claim to the character.

[renaveleigh]

@Coin

From our General FAQ:
Q: How do I get that one character I always play/have always wanted to play?
A: It depends. You can always ask us if we have plans for a specific character. If we do, we’ll let you know; if we don’t, it might be a character we’re really not interested in including. On the other hand, it could be a character we’re not too invested in but don’t mind bringing in. It’s a toss up. You’ll have to ask. Just remember that either way, the character will be written to fit in our world.

I’m currently on the website without being logged in and the Character Openings board is locked, which makes it rather more difficult for a person without a character on the game to keep an eye out for those 48 hour pre-opening notices-- assuming that that is, indeed, where that information is posted. I couldn’t find it elsewhere, but I might not have looked enough.

I don’t have any particular dog in this race beyond being someone who periodically checks the roster for signs of someone who might be interesting to try, but it does seem a little counterintuitive to gate those opening notices to the existing players, given that the roster setup means prospective players without any appealing options otherwise have to scroll through all of the roster tabs every few days/weeks/(insert other interval here) in the hopes of seeing something that appeals to them. Being able to get some advance notice of character availability seems as if it would be a boon to anyone in that position.

[Twinkle]

@renaveleigh I checked to see if that forum was open, and it was open to guests, we assumed that being open to guests would allow anyone to see it. The forum is set to everyone now, so everyone should be able to see it. Our apologies that we were not aware of the difference, but this has been corrected now. Thanks so much for speaking up!

[Coin]

@renaveleigh As said above, we were under the wrong impression as to how viewing permissions worked. Thank you for pointing it out so we could fix it.

[SpaceKhomeini]

I keep mashing that refresh button and still don’t see Howard the Duck.

Boo. Boo, I say.

[Jennkryst]

@SpaceKhomeini said in Discussion - Excelsior:

I keep mashing that refresh button and still don’t see Howard the Duck.

Boo. Boo, I say.

Also missing Doreen Green, much to the dismay of one specific player on the game.

[MisterBoring]

Don’t forget post-lawsuit Daniel Jermain.

[BloodAngel]

Bucky O Hare! Nevermind, not marvel.

[Istus]

Game’s good, would recommend.

I’ve already thrown enough of my soul at it that I am already burning out!