Event Creation 101

This might sound a bit harsh, but I'm going to be blunt here..
The Priory Event is boring..

My gripe with the event are as follows:
1)  Main characters steal the scene, leaving D/C Rank characters nothing to do.
2)  Absolute mis-use of the Dark Guild members
3)  Lower ranking characters feeling "out of their league" in an event where "Main Characters" dominate the event.
4)  Too many people!!
5)  Lower Ranking people's posts generally get ignored.

Yeah, those are my primary gripes about this event.  
But I'm not here to just complain, I'm here to offer suggestions.  I've hosted events in other forums similar to this so I have quite a bit of experience in terms of creating an event.  While I may have failed to make an engaging event in the past, I've learned from my mistakes.  So with my wisdom, I will, hopefully guide this site to making better/more engaging events in the future..

Step 1:  Separate the Events by Rank

Step 1 wrote:If the event can be separated (like it is now) separate it by Rank.  
D/C Ranks go to Magnolia
B/A Ranks go to Crocus
S+ Ranks go to Clover
(for example)

By separating the event to have like-powered characters together, you are also allowing everyone to be their own "main character" and have their jobs matter.  The lower ranks aren't sitting by watching things happen when an impossibly powerful foe (an X Rank in this instance) is throwing busy work at them while all of the super high ranks fight Buu to save the planet from absolute destruction.  This gives the lower ranks the ability to act as a leader, allowing their characters room for development.

They may sit and watch things happen, but they are simply going to hinder what's going on with the event.  

Step 2:  Not every event has to be mindless fighting.

Step 2 wrote:Not everything has to be about mindless fighting and who can throw around the most overpowered spell.  Those kind of events are probably THE MOST boring of all as they offer ABSOLUTELY no substance and no storyline.
The Priory Event would have been SO much more meaningful if we knew their motivations or why they even bother summoning Acnologia.  I certainly don't know nor do I care about any of these enemy NPCs or why they are doing all this.  

Consider doing something different with brain-puzzles, detective work, spy work, etc.  
An example of a spy mission is to have some people in an event go and discover what the Priory members are going to do.  Perhaps find and interrogate an agent of the Priory and then relay the information to the others (which, after that is done, the members in that event can split off to the main part of the events to "deliver the intel" to the heroes)

So not everything has to be a battle

Step 3:  Smaller Size

Step 3 wrote:The events need to have a smaller member count to run smoothly.  In Magnolia town, there are 18 members and that's a lot of people.  With a large event like that, events will not go smoothly.  If 1 person, including the event posted once a day each person, it would take 3 weeks to get 1 round of posting done.  That isn't very efficient.  

The biggest an event should get is probably 6 people plus the mod.
If you need to have an event mod host multiple smaller events, then so be it.  Events are going to be busy for mods, so it is to be expected.  

Keeping each event thread small also makes sure it moves smoothly and allows the mod to actually pay attention to the thread instead of a select few people.  A mod isn't going to be able to keep track of 18 people posting.    

Step 4:  No... Busy... Work

Step 4 wrote:With smaller group sizes, the moderator will be able to pay attention to the players and their actions.  With this, you can have a very clear objective for the players with VERY little deviation and "Busy Work".  "Busy Work" is essentially lazy modding.  Throwing equal leveled, faceless, nameless mobs at people to play with while the main characters are at work isn't just boring, but it draws attention AWAY from it... very fast.

SO with a clear objective in mind, the moderator should guide the small group to the objective.  While there can be smaller objectives on the way, it shouldn't necessarily detract from the main objective.  

In Magnolia, the main objective is:  Defeat Raios.
Raios is throwing out monsters to keep the lower ranking drones busy while the higher ranking heroes fight named bosses.
There was no objective after that for the lower ranking drones...
The higher ranking players were given another big bad to fight....
No more objectives for the lower ranking drones...
Something happens that is now time sensitive..  
Lower ranking drones still have no means of really defeating these things as these statues aren't specified in strength, thus causing a lower ranking player to be like "I can't destroy that" which often discourages them from acting..

What it should have been was...
Main Objective: Defeat Raios
First Objective:  Defeat your monster
Second Objective:  Go to Cathedral
Third Objective:  Everyone fights something else.
Final Objective:  Beat Raios.

Bam.  Easy.  Everyone has a clear-cut path and everyone knows what their objective is.  This will keep players engaged and WANT to continue on.  Giving them endless wave after wave after wave is not interesting.  So keep objectives clear-cut and obvious.  If you have to deviate, make the deviation MEAN something other than busy work.  Which is abominable.

Step 5:  Moderator Autonomy

Step 5 wrote:Not sure how legit this is, but I was told that the moderators of the event were told when to post and how to post.  That is not efficient.  For the moderators of a big event like this, outlines should be written up to ensure continuity of the event.  To ensure things remain consistent.  The person leading the event needs to write down how they want their NPCs to act and how each event should be handled.  This can be done on a timeline/bullet point presentation.  

Moderators should also be allowed to post when it is their turn.  Many times, it was the event's turn to post and the event would go several days without posting.  Several people joked about skipping the event mod due to them violating their own 1-day posting rule.  

If a 1-Day posting rule is implemented, the Moderator should also stick to that ruling.  If the moderator cannot stick to that ruling, then the ruling should either be relaxed a bit or the moderator should get on their game.  

Basically, let the moderator do their thing.  Even if I'm mistaken in the part where someone tells the mods when to post is wrong, please still consider that outlines also help consistency.

Step 6:  Have interesting Characters

Step 6 wrote:To be honest, I don't care about Raios.  Other than being a sultry maiden:
I don't know what she's there for
I don't know why she wants to summon Acnologia
I don't know who the Priory is
I don't know what her motivation to be an overall evil badguy is other than being an evil badguy...
And to be honest..

I don't care

The character is so boring.  She's an X Rank that throws around magic spells and summons things, summons magic circles, shifts dimensions and blah blah blah.  While it's flashy, it's boring.  I can't speak for the other towns, but I don't care about this NPC.

Back-story or pre-event preparation where it draws people's eyes (basically an RP for event premise that is HIGHLY visible) would have been much appreciated.  IF there is one, I wouldn't know.  While these characters may have some personality, I haven't found a reason to care about these NPCs.  Please, give us a reason to care about the NPCs.  You don't have to make bad guys bad for the sake of being bad, but giving them motivation or showing us in a flashback during the event WHY one would want to summon Acnologia would be BIG in terms of random non-sense NPCs.  

AT least give me a reason to sympathize for their acts of LolKill

Step 7:  Better use of resources

Step 7 wrote:The idea to use Dark Guilds to be able to choose sides was PHENOMENAL as it would give an interesting mechanic.  However, it was implemented poorly.... Very poorly.

What could have been done was the Dark Guilds had their own mini events (where EVERYONE was able to participate) and gave the Dark Guilds a reason to organize and side with the Priory.  But it fell apart when everyone joined separate threads and the entire idea got thrown away due to poor planning.  A separate event area specifically for Dark Guilds would have been preferred where the Dark Guilds can obtain their own win and could possibly work towards fulfilling the Priory's legacy even after the Priory disappeared.  Who knows, members of the dark guilds could become the new members of the Priory (or the dark guilds eventually merge into a mega dark guild called the Priory).

So much possible potential wasted.

------
Well, that's all I have.  I hope the staff takes my suggestions into account.  But TLDR version:

-Separate event threads by Rank
-Break events up into smaller groups so the mods can pay attention to each post and so that each round goes by quickly
-Do more than just 1 mindless fight after the next.
-Focus on the main objective of the event.
-NO BUSY WORK
-Let the moderators do their own thing without being held back
-Moderators should post in a timely fashion
-Create interesting NPCs that people can like instead of someone that throws around flashy spells
-Use resources better.

My last suggestion is to basically make sure people don't overpower events. Also, don't put players in an extremely precarious situation and expect them to do much in the event. Also, if someone got rid of one obstacle, don't replace it with something worse..

I actually read it all xD and I support the jist of this. Especially making separate threads for separate ranks, and giving more depth to the plot NPC's. I saw we had set up threads for the Priory, but I feel like most people didn't know about those. Perhaps they could be announcements or something.

Perhaps they could be announcements or something.

That could have really helped.. yeah
But delving into their personalities and stuff within the event would have also been nice as well..

Your initial points:
1. Not exactly the mods fault if the high ranks decide to show off and do crazy shit. Make yourself more interesting and do stuff. Steal the show back. Its possible.
2. How do you mis-use a member? They decide what they are going to do. We can plan all we like, but people are people and will never follow all the plans
3. Isn't this the same as the first point? and again this isn't exactly the mods fault.
4. Agreed. But we have a large member base. If its divided up too much we prevent interaction.
5. Raios acknowledged some people, but tbh does she really need to acknowledge everything everyone does? She's an rper same as you and so has limited perspective. She was observing multiple people and the interesting stuff was mentioned. No sense in her mentioning every fight. That's what YOUR posts are for

Now for your next series of points:
1. This could work but that also prevents interaction between members of different ranks and the site is about interaction and story writing so....preventing that seems foolish. It would make the event easier to balance, but still. The event in Magnolia was set up so that battles between people would be of an equal rank or slightly higher.
2. It wasn't just a mindless fight in Raios' thread at least. Raios tried to set up hazards and other things to deal with other than battling, but they were either ignored or erased entirely by the power ranks, not exactly her fault.
3. Smaller size I can totally agree with. I was honestly amazed with the amount of people who even signed up for the event.
4. In magnolia it is specified that the statues are rank specific to whoever gets there first. So you want to be the D rank whose smart enough and skilled enough to bring down one of them? Feel free. Raios gave people monsters to fight of their rank to slow them down or try to kill them. This didn't stop people heading to the cathedral to try to confront her. Heck Wolfe is like...C rank and has got there and is having some shit thrown at him.
Set objectives are all well and good, but that was pretty much there. You had monsters thrown at you to slow you down. Your goal was clearly the cathedral as that is where all the shit was coming from.

However, considering this is the home town of an entire guild with a population of thousands don't you think that some of you should be focused on trying to save people from Raios's 'drones' who are basically there to slaughter people. What you class as 'busy work' is not 'busy work' its you being heroes and trying to save people. That's not busy work. Yes, its not solving the immediate big issue, but its still important.
Also, Fairy Tail is a very fighting based anime and as such events are always going to be fighting based to some extent. Stuff was given that wasn't fighting for you to deal with, but again it was erased.
5. Raios posts when she sees people have posted.
6. Raios revealed her purpose in the very first post. She wishes she was mortal. She wants to die. So is summoning acnologia because she thinks he is the only one who can kill her. She was going to be revealed more as the event progressed but as you can see in the space of what...four posts she has two H ranks fighting her. She was meant to be the observing manipulator throwing stuff at people to distract and try to destroy them whilst making observations that would reveal her character. That wasn't able to happen and that was not Raios' fault
7. THe dark guilds had threads set up before the event started to give them purpose. Tartarus was there to help in exchange for Raios doing something for them/

So don't blame the event mods for everything. They have tried to do something for everyone and they have acknowledged the lower ranks. Raios specifically mentioned the dumpster riders in several posts.


Yes the event may not be run the best that it could be. Some threads have lost mods and the like.

However, in future I personally won't be running any events now. I am fed up with complaints about how I do things in events and complaints about how other members act, as if that is my fault. I am fed up with people complaining about lack of posts on some event threads when its not our fault that two of the mods running it left. I am also fed up with people complaining that things 'got boring' when its not up to the event mod to make everything interesting. Don't rely on them. Make it interesting yourself as well. The mod cannot do everything and shouldn't have to.

This is not just for events, but honestly I am just fed up with getting complaints about every little thing I do. Its disheartening. I can see why other admins left in the past or got frustrated and snapped.

The title of this is very condescending as if the moderators don't know about the issues with the event or how to even make an event. It just makes me feel lousy

I do however appreciate suggestions just...don't blame everything on one or two people and don't be condescending.

So I read your suggestions which are usually good, and then I read zack's response, and then I looked at said thread that you were talking about. So while I do not know this issue as well as the two of you I would like to say my opinions on this.

1.Yes it is a good idea to have same rank as it balances it out, but think about. Everyone has to start somewhere, yes you don't feel like your character is the main one, but that's how you view it. Your main story could be fighting the baddest of villains, but also it can be to prevent the minions to strike the others while they are busy, or trying to gather info by interrogation even (imagination is key). It even makes sense for mages of different ranks to be involved if this event happens suddenly.

3. Yeah I agree with this, or if your going to have so many people then make sure they can respond quick enough for sure then.

4. Nameless monsters? To me that means, "paint your story!" Meaning make the monsters a challenge to your character, because to be honest the faceless monsters sound like a guideline to go off of, meaning it is up to the Rper to go off how much it is wanted. So then the mod boss behind the event is meant to give people guidelines to work with. Of course if the mod boss says about the creatures very strict guidelines that prevent creativity from being made then yeah, that is the mods fault. But otherwise expand on what you are given. Even the scenery is chaotic and thus goals can shift from trying to stem the tide of minions to trying to stay alive while dumpster surfing.

5.It's that order thing, you want to wait for everyone to post then you post yourself if you are the villain mod, to avoid change in situations.

6. This reason Im going to say after the list

7.Yes the dark guilds can support the priory guilds or defend them, but do you think that the legal mages would let that slide? I believe that it can lead to pvp matches between people, and as it has been said by so many people this site was never intended for pvp, leaving only a small area to those if they wished too but not force it off of people(Of course if you can come up with a way for the dark guilds to act with in conflict with the other mages without going into forced pvp then more power to ya)

Now here is the thing, you may complain about the lack of action toward d mages because of the others but then put yourself their. As in the situation in the magnolia thread I see the potential for all the d rank mages to be launched into the fight, as the dumpsters super heated and flowing in boiling water can collide together and form a big boulder of fused dumpsters heading down the flow of the river into one of the big baddies or even hurt another stronger ally.

However I did notice about the power strikes(yes this goes back to your seperation of rank) and how the higher ranks are using the overpowered spells. Well if they are overpowered then how come they are not draining a lot of mana? I mean with the terrain changes or the global buffs I can see how that would drain A LOT of mana from the users who cast them if they last a long time, thus making it harder to fight their bosses and leads to the lower mages start helping out and taking part more. Or the main baddie uses the weakest mages as a weak point in the team and forces the higher ups to come protect them while bringing their bosses with them or risk more damage trying to protect the lower ones. Then this leaves the lower mages to think on their feet! They can be the force to bring back up the higher ups into the fight or even be the ones to save the day(this majorly depends on what situations are created out of such).

Also, your making these suggestions with a viewpoint of a D-rank, Which d-ranks are bottom of the barrel mages. It would make the villain a poor excuse of one if she attacked the D-ranks without it affecting the higher ranked mages, this also has to deal with know your place. And keep in mind that D-rank are very new to their magic, not very durable. So because of this your not going to be the main source of action, but be the ones who look for their openings to intervene to help, or create more problems. And again no one is going to stop you from going in braveheart style, but again very new and not very durable mages.


Again though, I joined the site while the priory was going on so I don't know about all the issues it has faced. I am basing information based on what I read here in this thread and in the magnolia one. So this is meant to be an outsiders view of the how situation, and I could have missed things but again, outsiders view.

Every problem is both partially caused and partially solvable by every person it effects.

Mods cannot make you have fun. They cannot force you to have a good time, but they can help. You looked at the faceless generic monsters Raios threw at you and treated them as a chore. But that was a chance to give them abilities, write them yourself, and make them what you wanted them to be.

Furthermore you completely ignored the possibilities of Raios's statues which were stated to be important event items that scaled to the rank of whoever fought them. Which meant any player of any rank could have played a vital role in the event if they nutted up and took the initiative. You have to jump on chances like that because they don't always happen. Many lesser event operators would never include such a promising element in the mix.

The main issue I have with the event is, to be perfectly honest, the actions of a few H-ranks in the event and the not only lack of willingness to do anything about it, but the active scolding of anybody who had a problem with it. You say we need to step up our game and steal back the spotlight? How is a D-rank, who wants to RP within their means and give their character difficulty, supposed to 'steal the spotlight' back from H-ranks who RP way beyond what should be possible and solve 100% of the actual problems in the event?

Realistically, if we removed literally everybody except for Heero in the event nothing important will have changed. All the major things were handled by him: He killed both his and Shuhei's high ranked monsters, created a tornado wider than the entire city that somehow only sucked up the water threatening the city, killed tons of the foot soldiers, killed several monsters that lower ranks were fighting, stormed the citadel, and is now somehow simultaneously nullifying all the boiling water in the city (again) AND the lava around the city with plants...that have nothing to do with his magic. Somehow. Oh, and he created yet another impossibly large tornado that is somehow 'way beyond H-rank', then turned and began talking to the event boss like he somehow knew everything about her, all the while writing as if he could easily take her out at any time if he 'stopped holding back'. Literally, all of that was him just 'holding back'?

In an event like this, it's times like this where a moderator should step in and say something like 'Yo, you need to tone it down. You're RPing way beyond your means and stripping away the ability of other players to enjoy the event by auto-winning every possible challenge. Try to keep things more realistic, you're not superman.' Instead, when the rest of the players involved in the event raised an issue with how things were going, not only was nothing done to solve the problem, but the players who raised complaints were literally told not to complain about it. So not only are you actively encouraging Heero's behavoir, but you are telling off anybody who has a problem with it. How does that not scream 'Your opinions don't matter, Heero can do anything he wants so shut your traps'?

I don't have any issue with Zack, and I really don't mean to have it seem like this is hating on him, but this is simply unfair. Even in your reply to Anastasia you are playing it like Heero has done nothing wrong, and that it is OUR fault for not auto-winning every single thing like he is. I'm sorry, but chastising your players for trying to RP having weaknesses and having trouble dealing with obstacles while encouraging Mary Sues who RP solving all possible problems with zero effort is NOT how you get people to enjoy an event.

You say that we should be making our own enjoyment in the event, that it's not on you to make the event enjoyable. The thing is, yes, it is on the moderator of the event to make it enjoyable for the players. If I wanted to find my own enjoyment battling some random monsters, I could do that in any thread. Currently, as things stand, I could be RPing the exact same thing I'm doing in just about ANY thread I could create myself. Their is little to no mod interaction with anybody save the few H-ranks in the thread. If I wanted to make up and solve all the problems myself, I could be doing that elsewhere. People join events to do something different and special, not be told to play in the corner with whatever they can cook up while the mod interacts with the real players. If you want to have the rest of the players solve other problems while the powerhouses deal with the biggest threads, by all means do so! But make those other players feel like they are doing something important with their time, give them concrete tasks that need to be done like escorting and protecting an important individual, or holding back the rank and file monsters from breaking into an important area, or capturing a key objective. And more importantly, actually interact with them while they do it! Throwing a handful of monsters that have no substance to them besides a linked picture at the players and expecting them to do your work for you does not a fun event make. The only parts of the event directly controlled by the mod in this case are the main villain and things the main villain does directly. The players are expected to make the rest of the content for the event, which frankly they could do on their own elsewhere as I said before.

On the subject of civilians, you mentioned among other things saving the civilians as something we D-ranks should have been doing. I would agree with that, and that's something I tried to start doing, but apparently it was forgotten how Kira RPed saving literally every civilian in the city within seconds within the first few posts of the event. And then, despite having already saved everybody in that post, RPed saving 'all the remaining civilians' in another post. Now, how am I, or anybody for that matter, supposed to handle that? It either forces us to A) ignore what Kira is posting and do whatever we want (which is rude, and not what I'd like to do in any case), or B) accept his actions and try to do something else. In that case, unless we wanted to completely ignore him and act like his actions were invalid, we COULDN'T save any civilians.

On the topic of the statues, those were just introduced with the last event post, so saying it's our fault for not using them is a totally unfair point. There hadn't been opportunity as of the time this thread was made, and it's only just now my turn to attempt any interaction with them as I write this post. AND, on top of all that, in the post where Heero creates yet ANOTHER city encompassing tornado he also RPs attacking the statues with vines. All of them. At the same time.

Fact of the matter is the event isn't very inviting or enjoyable for lower ranks at the moment, and it isn't helping that those who complain or offer suggestions about it are effectively getting told 'Tough. Either RP on the same ridiculous Mary Sue level as Heero or shut up and deal with it.'

I will confess in retrospect the mass evacuation of all citizens was a bad idea from a meta point of view. I pseudo retconned it a little in my next post saying water hazards stopped my super-weak-to-water character from getting to everyone. But I guess that was too little too late. My bad.

To be honest I think I was expecting to be ignored a bit and was counting on a bit of "screw that kiraface you powerplayer you can't have possibly saved everyone." Which a couple people did rping with npc citizens even after my posts, so good on them.

Ok, so what I am seeing is that the main issues are the higher rank players stealing the show as it is put. I made mention of this as the higher rank players can do these unselfish acts of helping and taking on the bosses but as I like to point out the definition of a hero:

A hero is the one who does an extraordinary and generous act of courage which will or may result in the conscious sacrifice of himself to protect the good of others.

So yes, let the H-rank mages do these immense acts of courage of causing mad spread growth of plants, city-wide tornadoes(It's actually a roar and says in the spell description that it should use a lot of mana), and sky aura's that give everyone more healing and mana-regen, but should suffer for that. I mean, city-wide growth of plants, sky aura benefits and tornadoes should require a lot of mana useage or require focus of the caster or some penalty. With this, it makes the mage who used these spells much weaker and gives the villians a much easier time in beating them down. At this point is where the lower ranks come in to try and help the fallen H, S-ranks however they can or have to deal with the bosses that said higher rank ups failed to deal with and now come for the weaker ones, though the villians should be hurt from their previous fight with the failed H,S-ranks as well.

However if the rper that is using these massive spells and are not suffering penalties for using them, then yes that is a mistake that needs to be looked at. Because if a mage is going to throw out their most powerful spells in helping others then by theory it should mean that they suffer in the boss fights they get into since they invested so much energy into helping others.

This topic is so negative that I'm actually hurt by it. I agree with most of Zack's points and know the pain of running events being an admin and basically having everything on your shoulders. Seriously all this is, is complaints about characters on your own team doing stuff that they were built and meant to do, rather than you guy's going out and actually trying to make up your own situations to help. The mods can't babysit every post done by people and it is up to you to add fun factor based off of the situation created.

Could things be better event wise, well yeah which is why the few positive suggestions in this thread are fantastic, and will no doubt help others down the road with what to do for another event if they run one! The complaining about one character or yelling about how they should be nerfed or not allowed to do something in an environment where the player has the ability to write what they wish and makeup scenario's is so absurd I'm offended. Really, if he can say he saved everyone then you can state that he was... shocker wrong, he missed someone, he didn't little Timmy out of that well! If he complains then whatever, not your problem, just keep on RPing and having fun, and tell him next time not to do that I guess.

Maybe I just don't care what others do in events and just do my own thing anyway, but really guy's come on, be a little bit more creative and less salty, and it'll be far more fun. Mods can't hold your hand, you need to make the most of it, make a plot out of it, and grow with interactions with other people and writing styles. Just... have fun, and if you don't like it then maybe never join an event like this again or drop out in the middle of it and go do something else, remember no one can force you to do something you don't want to do, only you can do that to yourself, which is what seems to have happened.

1. I have spoken to Heero. I have told him to tone it down, but a lot of the complaints I got was that the physics of what he did didn't make sense. This is not real life. This is a magical world. There is fire that freezes, wind that doesn't suck things up (see the whole Lullaby arc thing for that) and sutff like that. What he did in his latest post, was, as I have said something I have spoken to him about.
2. Despite point 1 there is nothing stopping you going to the statues. He did not say he had taken them out and guess what? The statues that you go to will be balanced to your rank as it mentioned in Raios' post which means guess what? You get to be the big hero who helps take Magnolia back to its normal dimension. Heero making plants grow solves NOTHING. It doesn't return you back to the dimension you are form. It doesn't destroy the statues. So there is stuff for you to do.
3. I can make this event as exciting as I think it could be, but guess what? It is not up to me if you enjoy it or not. What I see as fun is not what you might see as fun. I have been deliberately vague about things so that you can make the battles your own and come up with interesting exciting things. I should not have to define every little thing about monsters
4. So the statues are new that is true, but what have you actually done personally to try and interact with the moderator's character? Have you gone to the cathedral? Tried to fight her? No. You haven't. Did you try to stop the magic circle in the sky? it was there for two of my posts at least and nobody tried anything until Simon did. Yes it wouldn't have done much, but it was something you could of done.

So far all i've had are people complaining that I should do everything and solve every problem. That is not how roleplaying works.
5. You say I haven't interacted with you directly? You really expect me to simultaneously describe 20 battles? You might be able to do that, but I can't. I interacted with the H ranks more because I was trying to distract them and fend them off whilst OTHER people got to do stuff. People have used that. Look at Wolfe. He's a C rank and he is fighting at the cathedral. Yes, this may be due to their being too many people in the event.


But ya know what? If the event is so boring for you all then i'll just end the Magnolia event in my next post shall I? Because right now all of the complaints I am receiving saying this is all the moderator's fault is just removing all muse I have.

You think I enjoy having my plans undone so easily? You think I enjoy not being able to interact with each of you properly? You honestly think this is how I wanted the event to turn out?

I had plenty of stuff planned which would of happened if people had gone to interact with Raios.

I think I am one of the most open minded mods when it comes to suggestions. Did I get any suggestions about how to improve the event? Did I get any suggestions on ahow to fix any of the current problems? No. I am running this event as best as I can and it is the first one I have personally ran.

So guess what? I'm seriously tempted to end it next post because I now have no motivation whatsoever to even try to make it interesting. So thanks for that people. Enjoy what little time it has left...oh wait you aren't enjoying it at all are you? Oh well, guess that is my fault too.

Okay this comment is gonna be shitty, but I don't want Zack to feel like he's targeted or anything anymore. It's not your fault Zack that the event is getting boring, people on this site just tend to have a problem with posting, I don't know why. Honestly this event would've been solid if two things would have been done, and I still wanna keep doing this event. But there should've been more depth to the npc's and the 24 hour rule should've been enforced more. I know that's hard, I know it's stupid to have to read every thread to check and make sure people are posting, but you could always hire on more people to do that. I'm sorry this event is stressful for you, I know you've been working hard. If this even flops, then we'll just do better next time. This is just one event, we'll do plenty more and I'm sure they will be fine. I'm not blaming staff, there are things they could do, but it's not their fault they should have to do most of those things in the first place. If you people would not take two weeks to post, it'd be fine. How did you get bored in the first two rounds? Cause that happened on Crocus. I understand irl stuff, but skip em if that's the case. Seriously, the event was fun until people stop posting. Idk how ya'll lost interest like that, at least in my town.

P.S: The purpose of this topic was not to bash you Zack, I know that. We respect you, at least i hope others do. Now I suggest this topic be closed before it gets more out of hand. Thank you.

I meant no disrespect to neither sides, I wanted to bring up an view outside the event since it's said that sometimes you have to look at the situation with new eyes to solve it. If my posts came as such, then I apologize for it, but otherwise let this be a lesson in making and managing events, rather then a sorrowful memory to look back on. For the road to success is littered with potholes of failures(allright enough cliche sayings out of me, probably should lock it though if their is nothing else to add).

More of a suggestion to other peeps, but perhaps next time people should consider only entering a single character in an event. This way if someone's inspiration is down they don't have to worry about two or more threads - and would help with population control to some degree. Sure there might be some hemming n' hawing over who to select, but at least then you're focused on that person and what they're doing. I know life also can't be helped at points, but if stuff comes up and the person realizes they really can't post this round perhaps do a simple post of "Please skip me, I don't have time right now" or to such effect, possibly avoid the weird confusion that are the "WIP" posts because those were a bit confusing in regards to the time limitations. Not trying to jab at anyone, merely stating an opinion as the event was rather interesting and I was curious what was going to happen and the desires behind the NPCs since they weren't really explored in the pre-event topics. It could've been rather interesting, but I feel it was more activity that became the issue than anything (and I admit I should've done something such as the "skip me post" my last turn, it would've been fairer to everyone than simply expecting people to post over me so for that I apologize).

On the other hand, it would be interesting to see anybody who had complaints host an event. I'd like to see what others can do and what results they might achieve since I don't feel that events are purely a staff-run thing. Sure you might have to haggle some "prizes/rewards" with them or save up personal jewels n' such to provide them yourself, but that's also merely a suggestion since I'm of the belief staff shouldn't have to spoon feed everyone.

Ana, you claim to have run events on other forums and yet you seem to have forgotten the prime rule of events.

You can not do it all.

Try as you might your bad guys can only handle so much. Try as you might someones going to feel left out. Try as you might the more experienced and powerful characters are likely to steal the show. But ya know what, that's ok. Those super experienced characters started out small and worked their way up to where they are now, they are allowed to steal the show a bit. Because we will one day also steal the show, through time and hard work.

Also yes, it is very possible to steal the show as a low rank. Hell, I am playing a B rank and in my own event, which is starting to pick up again after some shuffling, I feel that hell yeah I am going to steal this show. I got a mini boss after me, I got a dark guild GM in my sites, and I am one of the only characters I have seen actively taking the fight to the enemy! That's how ya steal a show! In fact in the phoenix mountains I feel it is the low and mid rank mages that are running this shindig! Don't you tell me that its just for the higher ups based solely on one thread

And on the matter of misusing the dark guilds. I again disagree. The dark guilds are not often used in this manner, that I have seen, and it would be fair to say our current adminship are inexperienced in using them. However I have also seen in the Phoenix Mountain thread that the dark guild is being used as even more obstacle, intended to defeat us there! Hired as mercs to further the cause of a huge power, seems fitting to me.

I disagree with you Anastasia and I applaud the staff for the efforts they are putting forth there. There is far more to running an event, or any thread, than just catering to the mini members who demand attention.

I don't even know what to say here, beside saying STOP BLAMING THE STAFF FOR BLOODY EVERYTHING! The staff worked hard on the event, and due to the staff being of limited number they couldn't just make a million small threads cause they would eventually have what is called multiple personality disorder where characters get mixed up and yada yada, also if you want to spice up your thread try doing something outside the box instead of just getting upset that Heero (yes I am calling him out) went ham right off the bat, Heero is just like that, and if it really gets to you got to Heero about it not the staff. And yes I do agree that activity is a problem, nough said.

Edit: Also I hear there is a bit of bias towards some members with the staff which going back to when Kyll was around caused a lot of shit, so quit it, I for some reason hear about it first.

Edit2: AND HERE IS ME CALLING OUT LAYCIE AS MY OFFICIAL RIVAL! CAPS IN YOUR FACE!