Favorite Things About SoA

Sorry about that, my bad!

I feel very similarly about the Story Arc system. xD I alternate between "I love how this just lets you build a story however you want from all the different game modes" and "I don't know the RIGHT way so I must be doing it wrong aaaaa". But I'm still working through my new-RP anxiety so we'll see how I feel in a month!

On which note, my contribution: I love how friendly this whole game's structure is to my poor RP-starved and anxiety-riddled self. There are all these little pools I can dip my toe into to start feeling involved and engaged: setting up my story arc, reading the IC posts and logs on the forum, getting plot notes for things that I couldn't personally manage to be there for so I can backfill them into my character story if I want, and the staff's own incredible level of responsiveness laying out information and opportunities without adding any pressure. It's been great, even if I am still metaphorically sitting in the corner peeking out from behind a potted tree.

I'm really appreciating cutscenes and their intergration into the game. Just an incredibly useful tool in getting to actually interact with characters that you would normally not be able to due to any number of reasons. The fact it is all logged/added to characters as well, and allows thinks/feels as well? Completely won me over.

• Narrative-based Rewards - regardless of what the devs or anyone else wants them to do, players do what is rewarded. I have played numerous games that claimed to prioritize roleplaying while providing no reliable rewards whatever for doing so, and at the same time supporting character advancement almost exclusively through combat and crafting mechanics. I also sympathize with people who feel frustrated on games that do attempt to mechanically reward "roleplaying", by mechanically rewarding emotes. Not everyone tells their stories through socialization. The story arc system, and the thoughtful mechanical rewards feel like a breath of fresh air and a very promising New Day for text-based roleplaying.
• Asynchronous Play - As a night owl on the West Coast of the US, I have tended to befriend off-peak players, and sometimes find it quite difficult to play with EST folks due to my work schedule. I have often felt stymied (though not as much as those poor off-peak souls) when the next logical step in my personal story involved getting in touch with a character whose playtimes I simply can't make. I have even taken off work early to make EST evening RPTs! Considering all this, cutscenes are the best thing I have ever heard of... Really. I haven't even done one yet but this is an elegant and effective solution to an age-old problem. This is the beauty of Good Design.
• Individual Story Halp - I'm not sure how long this can last, honestly, due to the volume of requests BUT it's so helpful to be able to ask for guidance - or permission! - and receive considered replies that not only help a player to understand how to fit into the world, but provide a concrete response from that world. It's important - perhaps necessary - to the telling of collective stories for a teller to receive the message that yes, the world is aware of these events, and in the estimation of the world, they did in fact happen. Anyone can make up any story about anything happening in a MU* world, and in other games, these elaborations by other players can have the effect of challenging one's own immersion by appearing to conflict with the setting or themes, or making grandiose claims about the thoughts or actions of (v)NPCs. For everyone to be telling stories simulatneously in the same world, these narratives have to be moderated by the administration. The "world" has to know what goes on - and it has to massage things that aren't quite right, that tend to erode rather than reinforce the setting and themes. Being able to engage in an open conversation with staff about a character's personal story makes wonderful things possible, things I have not seen done on any other game.
• The Setting - I don't even know how to address this. I lack the words to explain how much I adore the setting. I am so tired of playing in pretend medieval Europe, and so tired of all the same facile racial and gender tropes that tend to get grandfathered into those settings without any real consideration of how they affect players or the possible stories told in them, or really whether or not something else is even possible. SoA's setting is gloriously New and Fresh and Beautiful, and I'm forever a MistSparrow stan for their insanely nerdy interest in history and culture, their even-handed analysis of same, and their lyrical, imaginative synthesis of the most interesting ideas into a world that is at once familiar - because it makes actual sense - and completely novel.
• The Ambiance - I love getting periodic echoes about ambient conditions. There's a comforting, womb-like quality, like the hum of the Enterprise engines. But also, there's a lot going on, and a lot to think about. Being periodically reminded of the conditions nearby is HUGELY helpful in reacting immersively to those conditions.
• The Writing - Again I lack for words. We're all supposed to "love reading" and so on, if we're playing games that require us to do very little else. But truth be told, there are many games where reading the descriptions - of rooms, of objects, of people - is a chore more than a pleasure. We don't want to be that guy, who never notices that there's a dead body here, or that his gun is actually a toy - but most of the time the prose is a means to an end, a method for conveying, and absorbing, information. And we're often very generous with people who make even the slightest effort, because some effort is better than none! But really... really. On Song of Avaria, I am stunned to find myself looking forward to reading the description of every fish, of every rag, of every shoe. Nevermind the thoughtful, clever, circumspect descriptions of rooms and characters. I truly do feel I may miss something if I don't read closely - and this is a pleasure, not a burden.
• The Community - Things can change, and so it's worth knocking wood I suppose, but playing with people who are trying to create a mutually supportive community is also very refreshing. The best stories, the best conflicts, cannot be told in an environment of OOC mistrust. There are more benefits than just having a pleasant place to discuss the game in (although that itself is worth protecting) - the truly moving stories need a community of trust and support to unfold in.

This is late in coming, but it's really heartening to hear how many people are genuinely enjoying the setting and the lore. Back when Pilgrim and I were first starting work on Avaria, and really up until we actually opened last month and had players, I wasn't sure how people would take to a setting that is so novel within the overall gaming scene (not just MUDs even, but RPGs in general). I have to assume that for a lot of people, there's probably a certain comfort to dropping into a new game and still kind of feeling that you know what to expect from the setting, since everyone knows what pretend medieval Europe (emphasis on "pretend") is like. There's not too much of a learning curve, and you don't have to keep making posts on the forums in hopes that some lazy admin will finally, FINALLY, answer your questions about drugs or prayer or medical theory or whatever else -- it's all pretty much a given since it doesn't tend to vary that much from one psuedomedieval Eurogame to the next.

But in the games I've played previously, I always found myself spending a lot of time imagining what the inaccessible, non-western-European regions of the game world might be like. And when I wasn't a part of those games anymore, I knew I really wanted to create a setting that wasn't another generic fantasy world, or at best another stereotyped caricature of the Middle East or Africa, but one that actually made these places and peoples seem real and human, and interesting. Regardless of whether any of our players really cared about this or not (or, let's admit it, even if they actively disliked it), I probably would have still kept imagining this world and compulsively overcomplexifying things and filling in little bits of lore here and there, forever and ever. But it's a lot more fun to do it for people who really enjoy it, and who are eager to jump in and help bring it to life.

So thanks, all.

I'll be honest and say that it was the setting that first got me really excited about Avaria. I've always been someone who's gravitated toward the (stereotyped) Middle Eastern cultures and races in "medieval-esque" games so when I realized that was the setting here, I got me a bad case of the sparkly anime eyes.

And then I proceeded to fixate and try to start reading everything on the wiki all at once until I finally pestered... someoneeee (going to guess Pilgrim) on Reddit for a pre-alpha key xD I got excited.

MORE FAVORITE THINGS

• I love that kicking someone in the groin can disengage a choke now.
• Pretty much all the recent changelogs.
• I love the new lore on prayer and DRUGS.
• The change to veils. I never want to lower mine.

 I really appreciate the sweeping lore and worldbuilding that's been done. I feel like with that extensive and deep history, the small box of the ship feels super rich and varied - that a lot of paths are crossing in the characters and its just a completely organic way to start a bunch of stories, despite the completely constructed nature of it. It really, really feels like picking up a book on chapter one that's going to spiral into something amazing. 

I like the breadth of the world, and that it feels vast and separated. The flavor and setting is obviously fantastic and so different to what's really been present before. 

 It's obvious the passion that's gone into the game (both design, writing, building, scope and concept) and in the players I see developing and building such cool characters. 

I really like that you can build a cohesive character, and not worry too much about mechanical grind or advancement and focus on story and interactions. I think that's what really pushed me off of Arx, I always felt like I was grinding points (of whatever sort) or I'd be behind. But it really seems like that's not the focus here, and while time investment will (as with everything) be rewarded, it seems unlikely new characters or those who can only play briefly and intermittently won't be just, always second tier.

The focus on personal story is refreshing. I like just journalling everything pertinent and that counts as actual progress. My only whine is my personal story can't really progress stuck on a ship but, soon, soon.

As RL is keeping me from playing today until The Hour of the Night Owl, I just wanted to revive this thread as I have some new favorite things.

• Watching Rakim break every bone in his body trying to throw a cuirass. I'm sorry, I still wheeze a bit when I think about that.
• That "pack crack" is a command now.
• Pof Firo's memes, full stop.
• Watching pof Indra lose his mind over Kinsa getting to fight a dolphin.
• Plot notes are the bomb dot com.
• That whole Mistmadness arc. Thanks for getting gory with me in pemits, Pilgrim <3 (Like legit. I love some well-placed horror elements. Delightfully creepy).
• Watching exits. I especially love RPing through exits with someone who is also watching. It feels so seamless and realistic.
• The new query command. It's definitely a nice addition.
• That piggy back rides are a THING.
• The hype that we're going to get to see more of Mistsparrow's world building soon!

At what point does it become weird to revive dormant threads? I guess I am doing it anyway!

I know weather echoes have been mentioned already, but they really are so nicely written that it's pleasant to wait and see what echoes next. And on a similar note, the attention to detail on the night sky! I love that we can observe individual constellations/planets/stars. On partly cloudy nights, I noticed that the combination of viewable objects will change periodically, which I assumed is to mimic how different parts of the sky will be revealed with the shifting clouds.

I think there are some room descriptions with sentences that will change depending on the time of day?! I'm not completely certain due to generally logging in at similar times each day, but as long as I'm not hallucinating things and this is in fact real - what a cool touch! (If I am hallucinating things, erm, don't mind me...)