Ahoy all~
It's great to see everyone really got stuck into all the mess of the recent story! You were certainly more excited about chores than we thought you'd be! XD
We've got a short news update today to inform you of a few happenings within the group, as well as a couple of rules revisions/clarifications/reminders to announce as well.
News:
Aux Links list & SSC - By now, you should have noticed the journal post that Kuuro prepared for us the other week - An Auxiliary List for any off-site/out of group Blogs or pages members may be running for their characters.
This also goes for the Admin too, and you can ask the NPCs and Admin Characters questions on the group Askblog,
South Sea Coalition. While we won't give away any kind of story spoiler on the SSC Blog, you're more than welcome to ask any NPC just about anything that crosses your mind, from backstory, to preferences, and even to gossip, if that's what floats your boat.
IRC Channel - In lieu of the DA Chats working, and partially due to Taz's Skype dying (support pulled from Skype itself, yeeeey oTL), we've managed to write up an IRC Channel for group chatting purposes. The last month or so, we've let it sit with the BtGS Chat Regulars, but have now worked it out well enough to announce it to the rest of the group.
To access the IRC, go to
kiwiirc.com/client - Type in a nickname (preferably your DA Username so we know who you are), and enter the chatroom as 'BtGS'
The system might look a little different, but it works very similiar to DA Chats (minus the DA specific codes, eg : thumb : ) and it can actually handle mobile clients, unlike DA Chat. Also unlike DA Chat, it's not privvy to proxy issues and people with net troubles, or older machines can access it too.
Marketplace - We've been working on this system for quite some time now, and have been doing the loot stories and allowing people to accumulate rupee wealth through their art, to prepare for when we launch it all, however the Marketplace cannot officially open until its location has been restored.
Job Quests - For those who keep asking, Job Quests are already covered in FAQ and that's all we're willing to say on the matter - You're not getting story spoilers, we've still got a long way to go.
App Review - Now that we are a few months into the overarching story of the South Sea, we are well and truly past the first rush of apps that all groups go through. This means we have the time to review incoming characters more thoroughly, and naturally, we are able to take our time to double check apps already in the group that may not necessarily meet QC.
There are a number of apps that were approved earlier, where minor problems slipped through due to the sheer amount of larger QC problems we focused on. To keep the rules upheld fairly between all members, this means that we will need to ask all who submitted characters before this journal was posted to review their OCs and just check that you have no small errors present on your OC.
Common QC errors include:
-- Swordies with brown gloves instead of black (there was a very early colour error on the ref, which has been fixed for a long time now).
-- Sorters wearing no pants. This is more common than you might think. The uniform ref is a shirt (not a dress or tunic!) with white shorts. The 'white' on Rito feathers in the example is actually an off-white/light cream colour.
-- Red paint/Blue Paint on Rito - Remember that the Blue Paint is for the Scouts/Guards ONLY. Use Red for all other Rito.
-- Sparkledesu Rito wings - A major issue we've had for a while, is people acting like they MUST be unique with feathers that are effectively rainbow vomit without the rainbow. If the only way you can make your Rito interesting is through speckling and stripes and an extra five tones of brown or grey on their wings, then you're doing something wrong. It isn't hard to make a character be interesting through their personalities. Plus it's difficult to draw Rito when every single wing has to be checked and checked again because the supposed-to-be-rare variations outweigh the default pattern. For this one, we're not saying everyone must go to default pattern, we're asking those who have Rito to look at their patterns and go 'is this REALLY necessary?' and tone it down if it's overkill.
Those who don't make the necessary changes by the end of the review period will be noted, and until errors are fixed, barred from story participation, so please make sure you take the time to review your apps.
Rules Updates: Membership - From now on, to join the group, one must present a Codeword in the 'Join Group' dialogue box to prove that they have actually read the FAQ.
There is nothing more infuriating and timewasting for us as Admin than people asking questions that are already covered in the FAQ, or on the Codexes. We're not fans of having to repeat ourselves.
This codeword will vary every so often, so as to keep new members on their toes. It is our hope that implementing this feature will increase the group quality overall, but still keep the group open for everyone and not become an exclusive thing.
2 OC Limit - We have had an incident recently where a member very clearly tried to get around the 2 OC limit by making a second account and pretending it wasn't them. We are not stupid, and attempting to get around this limit shows a clear lack of respect for both the Admin and fellow Members. The maximum amount of characters allowed within the group is set to TWO per Member and that is it. While it may be possible in the future to expand upon that number, it is certainly not permissable at this time.
Anyone caught trying to violate group rules in this fashion will see both accounts permabanned on the spot.
Extended Family Rules - This is a grey area, because while it is perfectly reasonable for an OC to have family, it is not okay for said family to be used in a way that gets around the 2OC Rule. This means they can be minor features in some pictures, but cannot be overused in RP. We reserve the right to refuse any work where we deem the extraneous characters to be too prominent. If you're wanting to have references of your character's family available, the
Additional Reference sheets are the perfect place for them.
NB - This doesn't stop you from using family characters outside of the group, eg, on AskBlogs.
Removing Characters - Please keep the following points in mind when removing an OC:
Firstly - The Admin all have different roles in the group, and due to timezones, not all messages are shared. A passing mention in the chatrooms does NOT count as proper notice, so you MUST note the Group if you intend to pull a character and replace them. If you do not do this, then as Inbox Administrator,
Kuurokaze has full rights to decline what appears to be a third character.
Secondly -
You can only remove a character once every six months. Sometimes a character does not work out, and we understand that. However, removing an OC every month or so not only wastes the Admins' time, as we have to clear the gallery of any subbed works with the OC, it is also very confusing for the members, and ultimately, could be seen as Cycling, which is yet another way to break the 2OC Rule.
Crossovers/'What if' Pics - Please submit these to the 'Crossovers' Folder, not the 'Member's Gallery', as alt-styles or what-if pics don't fall within Beyond's usual QC Rules and don't fit with regular submissions.
Negative Rupees - As of this story, we have introduced Rupoors (negative Rupees) as 'rewards' for incomplete work in the group. These WILL be a regular feature in many stories, and should your bank balance fall into the negatives, you will be barred from story and event participation until you wipe the red from your ledger. This can be achieved only through misc art submitted to the group, not story/event art.
Since we will not allow member purchases to go through if the funds aren't there, failing tasks will be the only way you can end up in negatives.
Resignation from events is only valid in Team Stories, where your non-participation can directly affect other members. It is not valid to resign from solo tasks, such as the Loot Story that just ended.
Please remember to link all relevant character apps in the artist's comments when submitting, and ensure that the links work properly. A few people have been forgetting to link apps entirely, or attempting to use thumbnail codes only to have them remain as code for various reasons rather than converting to a working link. Additionally, do not submit anything more than once. The admin will get to it when they're able to. Both of these are covered in the FAQ, and seem to have been passed over or disregarded, which makes it frustrating for us when we have to repeat things.
As of late, Deviantart has also entered a period of testing for a new update of the website. Some of you may have noticed your character apps links not working. A simple solution to this is to copy-paste the link with a space somewhere in it and erasing it after that.
Hiatus NoticeStarting now, the group will be going into hiatus. The reason for this is that
tazsaints, who is the main artist for the group as well as the one behind the idea for the group in the first place, has had her laptop up and die on her, taking with it not only her programs and other resources, but also all the files relating to the group. Codexes, Bestiary entries, references for future stories and events, all of it was on her laptop. She's trying as much as she can to recover the data but there's a very real possibility we're going to have to start from scratch. Currently, she has no way to even access the net reliably. As her laptop had already been on the decline, she had a journal set up to raise funds for a new one
here. While donations at this point won't help recover anything that may have been lost, they will help her get back on her feet with a working laptop as soon as possible.
What does this mean for the group? There won't be any new Stories or Events started for a while, or references for places already revealed. The inbox will continue operating as usual, accepting apps and other submissions. The app review period to let you check over your apps for anything that may need tweaking will continue as long as the hiatus does, and quite possibly a little while afterwards.
Thank you for your patience while we try to get everything back up and running.
Until next time, Travellers ~
