Today I ran a day-long "Love Spell" quest, spontaneously and without announcement, that was secretly a roleplaying contest.

I was amazed at how many people ignored the opportunity to participate. A couple even opted not to participate even though ICly, they absolutely should have (as they consumed the enchanted chocolate, and were informed of its IC consequences.)

The "winner" of this contest received a reward as good as any role contest, and several others will be getting some nice little perks too. I didn't initially plan on giving a substantial reward, but after seeing how many players just blew by and/or ignored an opportunity to engage in RP, even knowing an imm was instigating, when role contests frequently get dozens of participants, I figured - why not. These characters went through as much if not more effort as those writing award-winning roles, and others got to benefit from the character interactions.

My thanks to those who participated, and I hope those who passed up this opportunity will give it a try next time.

nt

Sorry I couldn't stick around long enough to see things through, but having a suitor was certainly unexpected, and certainly a blast. It really throws a wrench in the RP, and teaches one a lot about their character. I really appreciate the effort you put in, it was appreciated.

~

and this happens. Dammit. I enjoy those events.

If you happened to show up to some event in progress, you'd generally be ignored almost entirely. Usually the best use of a players time, when they come across random imms and players interacting in a random spot, is to move along and continue what they were doing.

After all, the Imms didn't want randoms showing up and interupting interactions in years passed. Years of smite/transfer to Sands of Sorrow has engrained in many of us the instinct to just move on, too.

If times have changed, there was certainly no warning, but we can take this event as a sign of the changing times and react accordingly in the future.

Actually in this case, the players I'm referring to were approached directly as individuals, and the majority still opted not to participate.

nt

Actually earlier in the day I was fighting a mob and found a piece of chocolate in my inventory, I looked at it, dropped it and sacced it, clearly magically appearing chocolate on valentines day is not going to be good for you :)Not sure if that was being approached, I figured it was a hey its valentines day have a piece of chocolate too from a mechanics point of view.

I've had no problems interjecting myself into any number of things totally not involving me, relating to questy stuff or immteractions. You just need to be patient, pick your moment, and make a foot in the door for yourself that is too good to ignore. Just saying "Hi!" and standing there isn't good enough, you really need to make that initial impression.

Last time I really had any interaction with any Imm other than Whiysdan, who I have been a follower of in the past, I believe I was scourged and teleported away for looking at them. So, I tend to avoid bothering with what the Imms do. More often than not, if they show up, I am not sticking around to get plagued again.

I've been around a while, and this is the way it has generally been. I am not saying that this is the way things are now, but these are the kind of things ingrained into peoples heads sometimes. Bad memories and old grudges.

We didn't see our note until after we had logged back in much later, and the object of our desires was not awake.

Some players ( like me) never have the chance to participate owing to rl, and possibly time zones.

Can we keep that in mind when deciding on rewards please. Ie not make the rewards too mechanically strong?

Thanks.

Ps. I don't know the reward this time. My point is more general .

Crap.. I edited this post instead of responding to it. That's what I get for multi-tasking.

Basically this post was a "ditto that" to the above. Response upcoming.

- Amaranthe

About I'd say 8-9 am US Central time. This wasn't a quest that was run US pm. She pretty much had it going all day.

Just FYI, this is why imms often run quests on holidays, even though it kind of tips its had to the RL world. It's fun, but also it gives players some notion that there might be something fun happening on CF. The last global quest I'm aware of prior to yesterday's was Rayhin's New Year themed quest. Also, Heralds often run something fun in the Inn around that time, so if there's a RL holiday going on, pop onto CF and see what's going on if you can.

I realize we are all losers and geeks with no lives, but even for a holiday like Valentine's day (which as anti-social geeks we could never participate in) maybe we were busy crying ourselves to sleep due to our collective loneliness instead of playing CF?

In all seriousness though, I enjoy the holiday stuff, but I liked Zulg's Black Friday thing more. Isn't a real holiday (so we aren't doing family junk or whatever) but is close enough that we might be off-work/at home and have time to devote to CF.

Of course, that I'm currently just finding zero time for CF is my personal issue, but I used to miss out on holiday stuff often enough to be mildly annoyed due to other holiday obligations.

Well, I managed to set up a festive breakfast table for my kids with adorably wrapped gifts, bake my family strawberry-chocolate muffins, homeschool my kids all day, schlep them to activities, get gifts for my husband, have Valentine dinner with the family, enjoyed some lovin' time with the hubby, and still run the quest. ;)

I do get not having time though. My house was a massive disaster by the end of the day, because I spent all my spare time running the quest! :D

Usually if I run a Halloween quest these days, I'm doing it in a witch costume while answering the door for trick-or-treaters every 5 minutes. But running these quests on holidays is part of how I enjoy spending my holiday time, if/when I can manage. The same goes for players.

You rock the Casbah!!! Well done and a lot of kudos to you!

Mucho propos!

Cheers!!!

n't

The reason I rarely play mortals.

I end up doing all kinds of family things on Black Friday and can never play on that day, really.

So it's just a case of can't please everyone.

Amaranthe ran this thing like...all day long. So I don't think any complaints about time zones apply in this case. Just FYI.

>Some players ( like me) never have the chance to participate
>owing to rl, and possibly time zones.
>
>Can we keep that in mind when deciding on rewards please. Ie
>not make the rewards too mechanically strong?

If you aren't in a position to get the reward because you don't play during those hours, chance are you won't be encountering the person who does get the reward because they do play those hours you don't. Of course, they may just play ALL HOURS, but that's how the cookie crumbles. Anyone who plays more is going to get more rewards.

As someone who often plays only a few hours a week, I'd rather have a small chance at a decent reward, even if it means my enemies may have a big chance at a decent reward. Most rewards in CF really aren't too crazy. I think there's way too much sour grapes these days over what other people are getting.

just not powerful rewards.

Personally I'd save the powerful rewards for newbs that rp well.

Are you going to announce to everyone who the "winner" and the several "others" are, like they do with the RC contests?

BTW Thank you so much for running this event, it may not have gotten a lot of player love, but I for one could NOT stop laughing... Utterly hilarious things happened surrounding this event. I just wish that I had more time to participate, but I have a wife and she would have killed me.... Thanks Again!

I really like how you kicked it all off, and I'd just logged on for a few things, and you ended up keeping me up till 4am :) Good times :)

Things like that are why I loved cf back in the day. Don't be discouraged.

Should give the winner "Charm Person" and let them ream people for about a week or so.

(No, it's not me.)