Archived The Regalian Rumor Court

[Conflee]

Yes! Another time suggesting the return of Rumors! I know!

Anyway, lets just dive into the meat of this- or the bread introduction I guess. For those who don't know, the Noble Rumor Court was a thing that existed for a short time last December/January, where players submitted rumors that were posted anonymously. It was a fun idea, but people are people and people are morons. It was flooded with nonsense, trash, borderline spam, and salt. One trend that especially stood out to me was the "eating ___ part from ___ race grants ___ power!" The first one or two, amusing. The eighty seven after that were cancer. But, that's rambling and stating negatives for the system, when I am supposed to be selling you on it! Well, I think I have a way to re-implement it for a slightly different purpose and with less of the toxic nonsense.


The System:

• There will be a section under 'Regalian Roleplay' called "The Rumor Court".
• Players will be able to submit rumors or tidbits of news to this section, which will be private.
• Players will be able to tag their rumor with various things, such as 'slums', 'common', 'noble', 'war', etc.
• These posts will be viewable by Lore Staff, who filter everything into three categories:
• Garbage: Garbage rumors are rumors that break a submission rule, or are just stupidly pointless, such as rumors about someone painting their house, or a commoner being seen going into a brothel. In the grand scheme of thing, nobody gives a crap. These are deleted.
• Minor: Minor rumors are rumors or tidbits of information that aren't major enough to grant a post, but are potentially usable by Lore Staff as context for future Progressions or other posts. These are sent to a separate area and are deleted automatically after 2 months unless tagged otherwise by staff.
• Major: Major rumors are rumors or tidbits that are worthy of being publicized or used in a Progression. Examples would be a noble being seen being dragged down an alley somewhere. A business owned by a player being accused of fraud, or robbed by a Great Gang. A large number of robberies and muggings committed by someone or some group. Mostly illegal stuff are the examples I can think of at the moment.
• After the rumors are processed, they are done with as needed. The main method being Weekly or Bi-Weekly "Rumor Mill" posts in the Rumors section. This is where prevalent rumors are pushed forward in one simplistic but information-packed little dumpling of joy for people to read over, and react to ICly with their dramatic GAAAAAASSSPPP???s and such.

The Benefits:

• The system would give Lore Staff even more information to use about ongoing events that are only happening in-game. Lore Staff have a lot of work on their hands already, and limited time- they cant be everywhere and hear everything. This, means they dont have to.
• The system means you dont have to rely on people playing out gossip and rumors, which in my experience most people dont spread rumors ingame. It happens in skype groups and behind closed doors, where ordinary, casual players arent. Players have greater access to the gossip of the town that they need to know to stay up to date ICly and OOCly on the going-ons of the city.
• Its fun. Simply put. A bit subjective, but I loved the old Rumor system, despite its flaws and aweful aweful salt. But I think the Noble Scene and RP Scene in general has progressed, so so so so much in the last year. Especially with the Code of Conduct. So simply put- I liked the system, other people liked the system, and I think its flaws, which dwelt in the playerbase more than the system itself, have been reduced significantly since it was removed.

The Downsides:

• In any system with anonymity, there is the possibility of abuse and salt. Even with the community having bettered itself since last year, it might still happen, and even with staff screening, stuff might slip through unnoticed.
• There is the potential for groups to use this to make themselves look better and others worse, which isnt entirely a downside as it is what you would do IC and I think is fitting, but if left unchecked it could lead to toxicity OOCly. Things like this would have to be balanced.
• It creates more Staff Work. It requires at least a couple staff willing to dig in and process the rumors, and to distil them down into tolerable and digestible mini-progressions of a sorts. Lore Staff have a fair number of members, but it might not be enough. Im not sure how the departments inner workings go so how would I know.

Final Thoughts:

I know the old system was very controvertial for a lot of players. Some seemed to love the crap out of it. Others hated it with a passion because of the OOC Drama it heralded. But personally, as I stated above in less clear terms: I think the major issues with the old system lay in the way players used it and not in the system itself. People were morons, and/or jerks with it. They used it to screw around, or to target people OOCly. Since then the community has grown a fair bit in that regard, and the noble system has finally reached a point where it is stable and seemingly secure for the foreseeable future. With rigid rules about what qualifies as approvable content, Staff filtering, and harsher punishments on repeat offenders of the system rules, I think it can work amazingly, and be a fun tool for staff and players to interact with. Plus it allows a little more player agency with events- instead of having to be important, IE Noble, Gang Leader, General/Admiral, etc, anyone can have at least a small impact on things potentially. And the city presented in progressions vs the city presented in-game will feel more interconnected in my opinion.

Thats all, I look forward to any feedback, for or against, as long as it isnt rude, or just saying 'it didnt work last time because ___' and pointing out what I addressed above. If you have examples of how my argument against my statement of 'the server has matured enough for it' thats obviously fine to post too.

 

[Reaganism]

• The system means you dont have to rely on people playing out gossip and rumors, which in my experience most people dont spread rumors ingame. It happens in skype groups and behind closed doors, where ordinary, casual players arent. Players have greater access to the gossip of the town that they need to know to stay up to date ICly and OOCly on the going-ons of the city.

Click to shrink...

There is a good reason why people don't play out gossip and rumours, and it's because people are simply not skilled enough to spread them well.

There's far more to rumours than making up something semi-plausible and telling it to everyone your character meets. You need to find willing hosts who draw benefit from spreading the rumour, your rumour has to provide personal benefit to your hosts or at least has to be about someone generally disliked. You have to package it in a way that hides the origin as well, and there is also a fair deal of OOC manipulation present. It's not for everyone.

I think I can state I participated in creating / spreading one of the most meaningless and most successful rumours ever, considering the case was brought up in the following staff meeting. It was ad-hoc, emerged from a chaotic situation, was produced & refined within the matter of minutes, was supported by OOC banter and was against a generally disliked noble.

The main issue is the OOC banter / OOC manipulation part, if the rumour is posted in a rumour section it will be inherently revealed as a rumour OOC and won't be able to become viral.

So yes, I oppose the idea. Not because it's a bad idea in general, but because it promotes a small-effort, less-rewarding way to spread rumours.

 

[Conflee]

So yes, I oppose the idea. Not because it's a bad idea in general, but because it promotes a small-effort, less-rewarding way to spread rumours.

Click to shrink...

Rumors dont spread hardly at all at the moment though because only a couple people are willing to put in the mass amount of times needed. And its a bit of luck- even when I have attempted to spread rumors in game before, it never pans out. I pitch to people I know will want to believe it, they believe it, and then tell nobody and it does nothing.

The main issue is the OOC banter / OOC manipulation part, if the rumour is posted in a rumour section it will be inherently revealed as a rumour OOC and won't be able to become viral.

Click to shrink...

Some of the "Rumors" will be statements of fact, mixed in with the made up stuff. So pointing out what is and isnt fake wont be so easy I think.

 

[Reaganism]

Rumors dont spread hardly at all at the moment though because only a couple people are willing to put in the mass amount of times needed.

Click to shrink...

I pretty much experience the opposite, to be rather honest. The scene's pretty well-set for rumours, exaggerations and misinformation.

And its a bit of luck- even when I have attempted to spread rumors in game before, it never pans out.

Click to shrink...

I pitch to people I know will want to believe it, they believe it, and then tell nobody and it does nothing.

Click to shrink...

There isn't a factor of luck in it. Though that may be because of the economist in me not believing in the random. A gossip has elements like anything else in the world: content, motivation, spread, so on. If these element are weak, the rumour will be weak and it won't spread. The best way to spread a rumour is to make it beneficial for others to spread it. One good way to spread rumours is to disguise them as important information.

Some of the "Rumors" will be statements of fact, mixed in with the made up stuff. So pointing out what is and isnt fake wont be so easy I think.

Click to shrink...

Mind I used "will be inherently revealed" not "are inherently revealed" because it's not the rumour section that would reveal a rumour but more so OOC thought.

When facing a set of IC information received in-game, you have absolutely no idea of the degree to which it is exaggerated, or the degree to which it is a gossip. And this isn't because of the quality of information presented, but because of the amount of information you have to process OOC-wise on the spot. The forums can be re-visited, re-evaluated, tabled and pondered upon. IC reactions & discussions are way harder, especially when your feedback is demanded on the spot.

In general, here is my issue with this re-phrased:

If someone has trouble spreading rumours, they will have trouble spreading rumours over a rumours section as well. The only difference between IC-spread rumours and forums-spread rumours are:

1. An easy clue and reminder that the information may be false
2. An easier outlet for those who can't interact with a crowd of characters
3. Anonymity to "protect" gossip-spreaders from deserved consequences (unfair reduction of risk)

It, however, does not change the main issues:
1. The target of your rumour. If you can't chose a proper target, you will still fail because people will just ignore the rumour whether it's posted on the forums or told in-game.
2. The content of your rumour. If it has no substance or usability to it, you will still fail because people will just have no incentive to spread it whether it's posted on the forums or told in-game.
3. The IC and OOC backing of your rumour. Without these, any rumour, no matter where it's posted, will just die down.

 

[FireFan96]

There's nothing stopping anyone from spreading a rumor IG as it stands. I'd prefer things like this happen fully IG and IC instead of using a forum to spread a rumor 90% of the readers won't even care about anyways.

And despite the idea of having a rule saying to not shitpost, people will shitpost.

The forums shouldn't be a quick way to spread a rumor, and it encourages laziness instead of RP.

 

[TyrolleanEagle]

In my own experience with this system: People completely ignored what was damaging to themselves or their supporters, and hounded what was damaging to their enemies, while their enemies did the opposite.

It was sort of a vicious cycle in that regard. I mirror the sentiments presented above. If one cannot spread a rumor IC, either due to fear of persecution or the fact that they're too secluded in nobility, then perhaps they shouldn't be doing it at all.