Well, I suppose I should stop lurking and duck in here. I was Watters on Anomaly, Ryn/Markalov/the staffer Decius on Gamma One, and Mercier/Alindar on... whatever came after that.

Speaking as someone who was on the staff side of things for a good while, I think @Tinuviel has it about right on the reports system. The intent of many of those things was to foster RP and create more engaging topics of conversation than "Nice space weather we're having": Initial reporting for duty was intended to prove new players with hooks to get out and meet people and a way for department heads to get people drawn into ongoing plots, mission reports were intended to support RP around the events of the mission (and provided Staff a good way to see what plot info we had given out to players had actually been shared), etc. I'd say that they certainly fell short of meeting those goals, and there may well be better ways to achieve some of those ends, but that's the direction we hoped things would point. (I'm happy to talk about my thoughts on what we were trying for and where we fell short, but I don't want to highjack Poole's thread more than I have already).

@Runescryer Oh, I'm totally with you about the road to hell and good intentions. There were a lot of things I feel that Gamma One did well, and that I'm proud to have been a part of... and I can also promise you very few of them have to do with reports (Stories like the one from @Three-Eyed-Crow make me want to throw something sharp through the nearest temporal vortex...)

With that said, I think there might be value for @goodstarbuck in looking at some the intended benefits, and trying to craft something that captures some of these without repeating the mistakes we made (not making RFD a 'mandatory before you can do anything' step is probably a good start).

Here's what I see as some of the ideals of what we were going for with +reports:

• Provide new players with a structured first few activities to get them engaged
• Provide an IC way for multiple people to track research on a topic (and for other people to view that research)
• Provide an IC way for people to 'tell their story' of plot events
• Provide a way for staff to know what information players are 'officially' sharing.
• Allow plot continuity in the event of a player absence
• Provide a continual source of RP hooks beyond hanging out in the bar/holodeck/fitness center.
• Allow players a way to express interest in engaging with a particular ongoing plot

@Runescryer Oh, I'm totally with you about the road to hell and good intentions. There were a lot of things I feel that Gamma One did well, and that I'm proud to have been a part of... and I can also promise you very few of them have to do with reports (Stories like the one from @Three-Eyed-Crow make me want to throw something sharp through the nearest temporal vortex...)

With that said, I think there might be value for @goodstarbuck in looking at some the intended benefits, and trying to craft something that captures some of these without repeating the mistakes we made (not making RFD a 'mandatory before you can do anything' step is probably a good start).

Here's what I see as some of the ideals of what we were going for with +reports:

• Provide new players with a structured first few activities to get them engaged
• Provide an IC way for multiple people to track research on a topic (and for other people to view that research)
• Provide an IC way for people to 'tell their story' of plot events
• Provide a way for staff to know what information players are 'officially' sharing.
• Allow plot continuity in the event of a player absence
• Provide a continual source of RP hooks beyond hanging out in the bar/holodeck/fitness center.
• Allow players a way to express interest in engaging with a particular ongoing plot

Well, I suppose I should stop lurking and duck in here. I was Watters on Anomaly, Ryn/Markalov/the staffer Decius on Gamma One, and Mercier/Alindar on... whatever came after that.

Speaking as someone who was on the staff side of things for a good while, I think @Tinuviel has it about right on the reports system. The intent of many of those things was to foster RP and create more engaging topics of conversation than "Nice space weather we're having": Initial reporting for duty was intended to prove new players with hooks to get out and meet people and a way for department heads to get people drawn into ongoing plots, mission reports were intended to support RP around the events of the mission (and provided Staff a good way to see what plot info we had given out to players had actually been shared), etc. I'd say that they certainly fell short of meeting those goals, and there may well be better ways to achieve some of those ends, but that's the direction we hoped things would point. (I'm happy to talk about my thoughts on what we were trying for and where we fell short, but I don't want to highjack Poole's thread more than I have already).