X-COM THINK TANK (Out of Character Discussion about X-COM and the Series)

[Suryce]

In order to not deform people's opinions, let's be clear about what has been said, Dahlexpert. As of now, we have a majority of people who did express that one journal per episode is too strict, but who also agreed with the idea of a restriction, set to either 2 or 3 journals. What you have proposed is several journals a day, which hasn't received any agreement.


Now, let's explain in details why a post restriction is necessary (apart from making moderation easier).

I have been thinking about this since Season 2. Because that's when this RP section started to get a lot more attention, probably because the first season on Youtube worked as a sort of advertising for it. The result is that season 2 and 3 started with an insane amount of posts per day, to the point it was akin to spam. Season 2 stopped early, but do you remember what happened in Season 3? Only a small dozen of people actually continued posting during the rest of the season and some of them had their character killed in the game. This resulted in a very unbalanced season, where in the end few people actually participated and had fun, despite the big amount of subscriptions.

I was myself in Season 3, I made a first post the first day, and then saw the thread going out of hand the next days. I thought about making a second post for the second week, then for the third, and in the end I never did it. Because the thread was an incessant stream that would have stripped my occasional journals of any relevance.
The dozen of people who continued to post after the starting period were basically the ones who were very active from the beginning. The more occasional posters were alienated by the stream they couldn't follow, and just stopped, leaving this dozen alone.

At the time, I though the solution would be restricting the RP to soldiers enlisted in the game, but the result would be similar: a more coherent and better-paced RP, but maintained only by a handful of participants.
Restricting everybody to the same limit of posts is a good idea for balancing the season, it has the advantage of giving room for everybody to participate, even the occasional posters, while the very active players can still put time and effort in their journals, without having to post every day (those two ideas are incompatible anyway).


Also, about side-characters. Season 3 has shown the usefulness of having scientists or engineers characters the soldiers can interact with. But then, why not actually play this kind of characters as your main instead of a secondary? (That's what I am already planning to do for the next season myself). Soldiers have the spotlight in the game, but there is many things you can do with the RP, and it will be more interesting for collaborations. In comparison, making a side-character just so they can replace your main soldier if they die is simply cheap.

 

[Frozen Messiah]

hey everyone, I am among the new people to the whole XCOM RP but I have a lot of experience with online roleplay with D&D.

I think the single post restriction should be fine and would actually allow for more players to be chosen without the fear of having the thread explode due to amount of posts. I mean it would also be easier to follow specific soldiers in my mind.

As for my opinion on side characters I think that if you want to play a non-soldier character that stays on the base then that should be fine, as long as the single post restriction is held. I would think that there should only be the chance for people to only have 1 such character, again as a way to stem the tide of posts. I for one was very much tempted to play a scientist in the labs who had been making strides in the area of neural biology, given the opportunity to play this character alongside a soldier I would take it in an instant.

Just my thoughts on the matter...

 

[AugurOfRuin]

In order to not deform people's opinions, let's be clear about what has been said, Dahlexpert. As of now, we have a majority of people who did express that one journal per episode is too strict, but who also agreed with the idea of a restriction, set to either 2 or 3 journals. What you have proposed is several journals a day, which hasn't received any agreement.


Now, let's explain in details why a post restriction is necessary (apart from making moderation easier).

I have been thinking about this since Season 2. Because that's when this RP section started to get a lot more attention, probably because the first season on Youtube worked as a sort of advertising for it. The result is that season 2 and 3 started with an insane amount of posts per day, to the point it was akin to spam. Season 2 stopped early, but do you remember what happened in Season 3? Only a small dozen of people actually continued posting during the rest of the season and some of them had their character killed in the game. This resulted in a very unbalanced season, where in the end few people actually participated and had fun, despite the big amount of subscriptions.

I was myself in Season 3, I made a first post the first day, and then saw the thread going out of hand the next days. I thought about making a second post for the second week, then for the third, and in the end I never did it. Because the thread was an incessant stream that would have stripped my occasional journals of any relevance.
The dozen of people who continued to post after the starting period were basically the ones who were very active from the beginning. The more occasional posters were alienated by the stream they couldn't follow, and just stopped, leaving this dozen alone.

At the time, I though the solution would be restricting the RP to soldiers enlisted in the game, but the result would be similar: a more coherent and better-paced RP, but maintained only by a handful of participants.
Restricting everybody to the same limit of posts is a good idea for balancing the season, it has the advantage of giving room for everybody to participate, even the occasional posters, while the very active players can still put time and effort in their journals, without having to post every day (those two ideas are incompatible anyway).


Also, about side-characters. Season 3 has shown the usefulness of having scientists or engineers characters the soldiers can interact with. But then, why not actually play this kind of characters as your main instead of a secondary? (That's what I am already planning to do for the next season myself). Soldiers have the spotlight in the game, but there is many things you can do with the RP, and it will be more interesting for collaborations. In comparison, making a side-character just so they can replace your main soldier if they die is simply cheap.

I don't view it as cheap really, but I Can See Your point There. Its just that Lets say My Soldier dies in the Second episode of season 4, I don't want to just sit back and watch as the others roleplay. One side character per person? I mean that would allow a person to have a soldier AND a scientist/engineer/Doctor/etc. I most definetly want to keep myself a soldier, but I want to be able to do something other than just sit back the entire season if my soldier happens to die very early on.

 

[AugurOfRuin]

hey everyone, I am among the new people to the whole XCOM RP but I have a lot of experience with online roleplay with D&D.

I think the single post restriction should be fine and would actually allow for more players to be chosen without the fear of having the thread explode due to amount of posts. I mean it would also be easier to follow specific soldiers in my mind.

As for my opinion on side characters I think that if you want to play a non-soldier character that stays on the base then that should be fine, as long as the single post restriction is held. I would think that there should only be the chance for people to only have 1 such character, again as a way to stem the tide of posts. I for one was very much tempted to play a scientist in the labs who had been making strides in the area of neural biology, given the opportunity to play this character alongside a soldier I would take it in an instant.

Just my thoughts on the matter...

You're thinking this as a person outside the roleplaying season which is totally fine, but think it from our perspective: We can't make any collaborations, we will barely have any emotional connection to other soldiers if we can just do mission logs, and again as pointed out earlier: If only one post will be the restriction that will mean I will have to post a wall of text here. And I personally cannot see mysellf reading trough like 5 different soldiers logs that are a wall of text. I can't keep up with that. I'd rather have the three post limit, one reserved for mission logs and two for base life.

 

[Suryce]

I don't view it as cheap really, but I Can See Your point There. Its just that Lets say My Soldier dies in the Second episode of season 4, I don't want to just sit back and watch as the others roleplay. One side character per person? I mean that would allow a person to have a soldier AND a scientist/engineer/Doctor/etc. I most definetly want to keep myself a soldier, but I want to be able to do something other than just sit back the entire season if my soldier happens to die very early on.

I kind of see the risk of dying as the price for having the spotlight in the game. Pilots and others workers don't have that risk but don't have the spotlight either. In a way, it balances the different roles.
And, is sitting back and watching so bad?

 

[Grelite]

You're thinking this as a person outside the roleplaying season which is totally fine, but think it from our perspective: We can't make any collaborations, we will barely have any emotional connection to other soldiers if we can just do mission logs, and again as pointed out earlier: If only one post will be the restriction that will mean I will have to post a wall of text here. And I personally cannot see mysellf reading trough like 5 different soldiers logs that are a wall of text. I can't keep up with that. I'd rather have the three post limit, one reserved for mission logs and two for base life.

You don't have to make a log about the mission. That's basically all I did first season and it got tedious and redundant. What happens during the mission is in the video, what happens on the base is where we can make it interesting. Interaction doesn't disappear since you can have your post for the week dedicated to interaction with someone else, the other person can choose to do the same or something different. Your only restriction is the number of posts, not its content. The value of the RP in your post is entirely up to you. Challenge yourself to convey your story within that one post. If you desperately want to fill that with redundant content such as mission and memory logs, that's up to you.

 

[Frozen Messiah]

You're thinking this as a person outside the roleplaying season which is totally fine, but think it from our perspective: We can't make any collaborations, we will barely have any emotional connection to other soldiers if we can just do mission logs, and again as pointed out earlier: If only one post will be the restriction that will mean I will have to post a wall of text here. And I personally cannot see mysellf reading trough like 5 different soldiers logs that are a wall of text. I can't keep up with that. I'd rather have the three post limit, one reserved for mission logs and two for base life.

I can easily see myself being able to make a single post that both talks about the mission and some life on the base without it being a wall of text, this might be just a personal feeling. I am also coming from the understand that I will not be reading every journal entry and will probably be following one or two soldiers.

Very Well said Grelite. The single post is more of a challenge then a restriction in my mind.

 

[Meaningofbread]

Well I think they don't wear sleeves because it would cover up those Meld Injection ports on their shoulders and Upper arms.

Actually, if you send a gene melded soldier out on a Covert Op, they get the same jacket/sweater that everyone else gets. Maybe just the ventilated armour is necessary.

 

[AugurOfRuin]

I can easily see myself being able to make a single post that both talks about the mission and some life on the base without it being a wall of text, this might be just a personal feeling. I am also coming from the understand that I will not be reading every journal entry and will probably be following one or two soldiers.

Very Well said Grelite. The single post is more of a challenge then a restriction in my mind.

I personally feel like I need atleast a two post restriction, so I can reserve one for collaborations I will do and one for personal log, because I don't want to have trade one for another, because of the possible changing factors. Lets say I make a personal log about something that has happened, my characters feelings towards another dead soldier? yet I still have a collaboration that I want to do with another person. Here I will have to choose: will I rather post this collaboration now and leave out completly personal feelings about a death of a soldier that was close to your character? or will I do my characters feeling towards the soldier and risk my collaboration partner dying?

 

[Suryce]

Why not do both?
In the same post, your character can have their moment about their dead comrade, and then meet with someone. Or even better, you can mix the two events into one. That's how restrictions can push you to be creative. Make use of fluid transitions, frame stories, etc...

There is of course the risk of the "cramming everything in one very long post" syndrome occurring. But avoiding it can also be part of the challenge. Cutting things out and choosing what is really important will still need to be done anyway (that's the point of the restriction), but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I remember seeing a few collaborations in season 3 where two characters interacted for a long moment but in the end nothing had been accomplished in terms of either character development, plot, or anything. Also, there were a lot of subplots in this season that had nothing to do with the aliens, who were relegated to some kind of background noises. Concentrating on what is especially essential could do some good to the RP.

 

[Sypher.Anthem]

I understand how having a post restriction can force people to get creative about how to voice their characters logs, but I still think one per week is simply too restricting. Recognizing the fact that none of the posts made need to be about the mission that some one could have been on, and that the format of the writing being that of a journal and not real time, I think the decision on at least 2 posts if not 3 per week is appropriate. Everything is written as if either it has already happen or a plan for the future and any collaboration in that type of writing a tests to some sort of planning before hand that I don't believe should be restricted to one post. Especially if its a string of events that could span over the week between missions when the time in the game could be more than that. Not that it couldn't be done but I just think that asking anyone to come up with any collaboration that didn't require a back and forth to account for change in participants or loss in some due to a characters death is just unfair. I do believe that adding a life to the characters soldiers and npc alike is what this rp was created for to involve anyone who wanted to be apart of it; I just don't think any of the character relationships that made any of the seasons special could have been achieved under the same restrictions.

 

[Sypher.Anthem]

It seems to me that the sleeveless look is to facilitate the "vents" on their arms. When a gene modded soldier is let out of the labs, they have tubes attached to these vents that are easily removed and have a sort of liquid, gel, etc. running through them. I've heard some people say that the liquid is infused with MELD, but that seems silly to me. If the only way to acquire MELD is in the field, then X-COM wouldn't have that much to go around. I think the liquid is really coolant. If the modded soldiers really have (likely) millions upon millions of tiny machines inside them working overtime to achieve a specific superhuman purpose, those machines would produce quite a lot of heat. If a soldier with mimetic skin were to have no way of cooling those machines down, they could actually suffer from a variety of symptoms caused by all of their skin overheating. Maybe the aliens have come up with a way to prevent the need for large amount of coolant in their own kind, but our cobbled together technology needs to be produced quickly. Those vents have been adapted to work as a coolant system for the soldiers. They can use the special coolant found in the gene lab, or they can use simple air as an effective cooling solution.

All that to say, Those vents are for cooling the MELD in the soldiers' bodies. If they were to be covered up by sleeves or anything that doesn't allow for free flow of air, the gene mods wouldn't function properly or the soldiers could be put at risk. It's not like they need them to be uncovered all the time, only when those gene mods would be particularly stressed, like in a combat situation.


That's what I meant by the Rule of Cool. I mean that, within much of modern media, people make the awesome stuff look cool for no other reason than to make it look cool. Just because it looks cooler (although, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that) is not a good explanation for the real world. If those were only MELD injection ports, there would be nothing keeping them from covering them up when they're not being injected with MELD.

I like that idea a lot actually if only for the many applications and interesting developments it could lead to. ^-^

 

[KamiKaze1337]

I'm actually OK with one one journal a week. I won't explain why this is good, cuz a lot of people who are much better with words have already said what needs to be said. And if ya really want, decide that journal post into several days of journals. Just keep it all in one post. And if ya wanna colab with someone, that's what this thread is for. Just call them out and say "Hey. Pal. Send me a message on Skype/Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr/Whatever, and let's work something out!" If I'm picked, I'm for sure gonna try that. But I do agree with one char not being enough. I think limiting it to one solder, and one side char would be fine, if in case your solder dies, or they don't see a whole lot of action for a while. Nice to maybe have a scientist who talks about the discoveries they make, or have a disgruntled engie, who always complains about the Assault soldiers being so damn tough on they're gear. But limit it to one of each per plays, so the board doesn't get swamped. Just throwing my input there.

 

[AugurOfRuin]

Why not do both?
In the same post, your character can have their moment about their dead comrade, and then meet with someone. Or even better, you can mix the two events into one. That's how restrictions can push you to be creative. Make use of fluid transitions, frame stories, etc...

There is of course the risk of the "cramming everything in one very long post" syndrome occurring. But avoiding it can also be part of the challenge. Cutting things out and choosing what is really important will still need to be done anyway (that's the point of the restriction), but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I remember seeing a few collaborations in season 3 where two characters interacted for a long moment but in the end nothing had been accomplished in terms of either character development, plot, or anything. Also, there were a lot of subplots in this season that had nothing to do with the aliens, who were relegated to some kind of background noises. Concentrating on what is especially essential could do some good to the RP.

Both in one post? Thats really hard. Most soldiers keep their logs private and I really don't want to waste my partners time by posting a huge monologue in the beginning of a collaboration. If my character is closely attached to some soldier on the base it won't be just "gg wp you fought well soldier". You do realise how much stress and pressure there is on X-COM? You may die upon any hour to several kinds of alien weaponry, you are underground 24/7 and really only see the sunlight if you get to go on the field. I'd say that when the only person you can get to know well enough is your squad mate, their death will cause emotional reactions. Maybe not at the beginning of X-COM but after the pressure keeps building up and people keep dying, what would you do when you start losing the only people you can have any social contact with? The logs are one of our only ways of reacting with the world around it, and I personally would feel I would disrespect the dead soldier if I just leave it dull. I prefer to keep the logs interesting, I can maybe stuff it into the collaboration if I didn't have good connections with the soldier but otherwise I just

And what focus do you want with the aliens? Theres not really much to add to it that isn't on the videos. We detect aliens, we get geared up and go kill em. What is there to focus on? This isn't like talking politics where you can have a conversation beetween the two sides. All we really know of our job is that we work for X-COM, we are the humanitys last hope and we need to kill aliens. Then we know what types of aliens there are. I just don't see what I can form of this that isn't on the videos themselves? I want to know what you view as the "essential" that we should focus on? I think the essential(assuming its the aliens) is focused on enough on the videos themselves.

 

[MathNerdMatt]

Can you apply to a scientist or an engineer? I want to be a scientist for the role play and I don't know if it is allowed.

 

[Frozen Messiah]

Can you apply to a scientist or an engineer? I want to be a scientist for the role play and I don't know if it is allowed.

I was sort of in the same boat, if that is allowed I would go back and re-write my entry

 

[Whiplash779]

I just don't see what I can form of this that isn't on the videos themselves? I want to know what you view as the "essential" that we should focus on? I think the essential(assuming its the aliens) is focused on enough on the videos themselves.

I concur. Part of the point in RPing in the first place is to add character and life to aspects of the game that are ambiguous. Our role should be to not only augment the main content of the videos, but also to create a world within X-COM that isn't necessarily focused on otherwise.

 

[AugurOfRuin]

I concur. Part of the point in RPing in the first place is to add character and life to aspects of the game that are ambiguous. Our role should be to not only augment the main content of the videos, but also to create a world within X-COM that isn't necessarily focused on otherwise.

As you said, focusing on the aliens is handled by chris and the videos, the RP should focus more on whats happening in the base while not on missions.

I was sort of in the same boat, if that is allowed I would go back and re-write my entry

I'm higly considering doing the same if possible, since side characters are not allowed it seems and I don't trust chris(No offense dude, love you!) with my soldiers life, seeing as to what happened in the ironman impossible where he just let a sectopod(that big black robot thing without arms and the overwatch laser) shoot his guys who were without cover.

 

[Grelite]

I was sort of in the same boat, if that is allowed I would go back and re-write my entry

You are free to apply for any type of character within the X-COM project, as long as you keep in mind there is a one character per person rule.

I really don't want to waste my partners time by posting a huge monologue in the beginning of a collaboration

That seems like a trivial objection, you can leave that out while you collaborate. When you're the one posting it, you can add in your monologues then.

And the stress and pressure stuff, that is exactly that essential part that was often lacking in the previous season; the 'background noise'.

 

[Suryce]

Both in one post? Thats really hard. Most soldiers keep their logs private and I really don't want to waste my partners time by posting a huge monologue in the beginning of a collaboration. If my character is closely attached to some soldier on the base it won't be just "gg wp you fought well soldier". You do realise how much stress and pressure there is on X-COM? You may die upon any hour to several kinds of alien weaponry, you are underground 24/7 and really only see the sunlight if you get to go on the field. I'd say that when the only person you can get to know well enough is your squad mate, their death will cause emotional reactions. Maybe not at the beginning of X-COM but after the pressure keeps building up and people keep dying, what would you do when you start losing the only people you can have any social contact with? The logs are one of our only ways of reacting with the world around it, and I personally would feel I would disrespect the dead soldier if I just leave it dull. I prefer to keep the logs interesting, I can maybe stuff it into the collaboration if I didn't have good connections with the soldier but otherwise I just

And what focus do you want with the aliens? Theres not really much to add to it that isn't on the videos. We detect aliens, we get geared up and go kill em. What is there to focus on? This isn't like talking politics where you can have a conversation beetween the two sides. All we really know of our job is that we work for X-COM, we are the humanitys last hope and we need to kill aliens. Then we know what types of aliens there are. I just don't see what I can form of this that isn't on the videos themselves? I want to know what you view as the "essential" that we should focus on? I think the essential(assuming its the aliens) is focused on enough on the videos themselves.

Of course it is going to be hard. I said it was a challenge. With the current rule, you take it up and try to make something new and creative, or you cut things out. There is not point in explaining the setting to me, the important thing here is writing itself, and writing is a malleable thing, you can adjust it to your needs and restrictions. A monologue is definitively not the only way to explain (or even better, to show) what a character is thinking or feeling.

As for the questions of your second paragraph, you provided an answer yourself with the first. The soldiers "relationship" with the aliens (and any matter or element directly related to them) is the first obvious thing to develop which is right on subject (and that isn't in the videos, which are purely action and tactics).
What was the main focus of the overall Season 3? Among the numerous alcohol problems, drugs problems, the romances and sexual matters, I would say a mixture of everyday life personal problems. And here is the problem: What is the point of role playing in the XCOM setting if it is to do things that would have worked in any other setting?

Personal preoccupations that aren't directly related to the setting work as a side thing, to extend the characters a bit, but making those the priority for development has the effect of stripping the alien invasion of any real importance. Who cares about aliens invading if the soldiers who go against them feel more fear toward a bottle of alcohol?

Any alien-related stuff is what makes the setting unique and interesting, and should be developed upon. And even if someone lacks ideas on how to do that, Enemy Within with all its new content should provide more than enough opportunities to help with that.