Having played in several online RP communities that made use of a such a feature, ("alternate reality" interactions on existing social networks, fictional social media...) I have to say I'm a 100% against the idea. Here's why: The community as a whole is completely unaccounted for. In-game names are changing, there's no central registry or activity roster, not even a semi-official skype or IRC channel for the server as a whole. Communication is done through these forums or through private conversations on other supports (Skype, for one) and because of this, the community is structured in smallish groups of 2-6 people doing their own edgy RP. IC insertion for new players is difficult, to say the least, with forum information being a mixed bag of completely outdated and sparkling new. "Cliqueification" ( ) isn't an unusual or even abnormal development in any roleplaying community - it happens everywhere - yet in our case, the server lacks even the most basic communicative tools such as a unified channel (see above). Giving another, higher standard of 'approved' communication will only serve to further split the community (into people that use it, and people that don't want to 'have' to roleplay maintaining a twitter account not to be left out of plots, information and the server community as a whole). I'd also like to point out that there is next to nothing you can't actually already do on the forums that you could do with this idea, given 5 minutes of creative thinking instead of throwing community donations at a non-problem (and a proposed solution that has nothing going for it apart from "I live on social media, I want it in my RP too."). I understand I'm a slight bit late with this and please - don't take offense. But the process I described above happens every-single-time this idea is trotted out in EVERY RP community I've ever played in, from MMO's like TSW to strictly forum based roleplay. Be very - very - careful.
We have a Teamspeak, and an IRC is exceedingly easy to make; in fact, I just did so. #StarboundRP, on Rizon, if you'd like to go there and discuss anything. Also, the first half of your point goes entirely against the second half of your point; you first complain that there aren't enough methods to communicate that are official, then go on to complain that official communication methods cause people to become more cliquish and unwilling to talk to one another.
You're making the mistake of thinking that a 'server approved' and maintained (I.e.: Moderated) method of OOC communication can be replaced by a channel you whipped up to show me... what exactly? That you can type? I'm simply saying that all of this sounds like a huge amount of unnecessary effort given that the community doesn't even have a way to talk in a communal space OOC. Without such a thing, this idea runs the risk of further accelerating segregation in roleplay. That is all. (PS: Raidcall doesn't solve anything for anyone, apart from the people comfortable on voicechat and once again - in the clique of regulars that haunt that channel. I'm not either and I 'know' I'm not alone.)
It's a server approved and maintained method of OOC communication; it's something we had in the past, too, but that was discontinued when nobody used it. You seem to be complaining that we don't have these things, but we, in fact, do; I haven't seen you on the Teamspeak, and you can join the IRC right now, if you'd like to. The community has several ways to talk in a communal space OOC, but nobody uses them; this would likely be a way to bring an interesting aspect to the roleplay that results in people actually using the space to speak and organize things. Again, your point is moot, because we already have these things, people just don't utilize them; thus, your argument is essentially factually wrong.
Discontinued and Existing are two very different states of being, obviously. Your answer (which is basically just burying every element of my post with a cry of "Not relevant!") isn't very clear about which applies to these universal OOC channels. *shrugs* I'm not about to get into a public debate with a moderator about something that doesn't affect me personally. (It will, once access to certain spheres of roleplay becomes dependent on participating in this project OOC.) I simply wished to issue a warning based on a rather hefty amount of experience with fictional social media and "alternate reality" roleplay. - Take it as you will. I'm glad though, to see that as an administrative representative, you maintain strive to an open mind and the non-aggressive communication essential to your role. : )
It is currently existing. The reason for my answer is that your post...isn't relevant. No element of it was; you stated that a means of OOC communication did not exist, which I informed you was incorrect. That's not me being aggressive, or close minded. It's just me stating facts that you're overlooking. I also pointed out that your original argument didn't make any sense; you complained that there was no means to speak with one another in a universal setting relative to the server(And, again, there is.)and then decried an attempt to make one.
There will be no further discussion between @Anyad and @DavidHeinrich in this thread. Any further replies by either party will be deleted by me, as soon as I notice them. I don't want this thread turning into a debate, argument, or whatever you'd call it. I'm simply looking for a "Yes, this is a good idea" or "No, this isn't a good idea" response, perhaps with an explanation to that effect, and no further. Let's keep it that way, so it stays nice and organized.
It's funny that I think I'd actually use this in character since in real life I dislike social media with a passion.
If you were in charge of de-clique-ifying the communication for the server, what would you do? Suppose it were possible to integrate this social media platform with the forum, or an IRC channel. Or that private communication using Chirp were made more difficult than public communication. Do you think that would be less harmful / more beneficial to the unity of the server? EDIT: another idea, just throwing it out there. Suppose there were a way to interact with Chirp in-game (not saying this is possible, just imagining). Would that be satisfactory?
So how feasible would this be to implement? Is it as simple as adding a new tab to the forums and having each user make a page, or would it require something more complicated, like an actual web page of sorts for each character?
I was going to create a full-fledged Twitter clone with follows/unfollows, re-tweets, hashtags, and everything. I suppose a crappier version could be made.
