goshdarnspam | HELLO POLICE CAST especially Laih, Toby, Bear, and Andy

HELLO POLICE CAST especially Laih, Toby, Bear, and Andy

Following up on what I mentioned in the Anons Flip Their Shit post, I would like to help the police cast out. I have a lot of time until winter. That means I can scan the comm for incidences that require police presence, respond to them in a timely fashion, and call attention to it so it's not missed. To be honest I've never noticed a problem with police response and always thought you guys did exceptionally well with what can be a very tiresome task, but whatever, however I can be helpful, let me know.

The thing is I don't have anyone on the police force who can ICly do this. That's not necessarily a problem, but I think it would make more sense if I did. Barbara Gordon is still on the force as the tech person, so she is one possibility, although she isn't ideal — she has her own stuff going on and I don't know if I can justify her being able to handle police work and that stuff at the same time. What would be awesome is if Zero okays me basically playing an NPC for organizational purposes, [Bad username or site: batsignalgo title=Stacy @ livejournal.com] from Gotham Central (which is like CSI: Gotham). Stacy is the receptionist for the Major Case Unit. She turns on the Bat signal (the police themselves aren't allowed to, but she's not a city employee so it's all cool for her). She's been menaced by the Joker before and shot at by snipers and had a crush on Batman, she is basically a button.

The point, however, would be that she would make reports in her journal with summaries and links to incidents that need police attention. Is that unnecessarily complicated? It's just that if Zero allows the NPC thing at all I think I probably wouldn't be able to post to the comm with her, she'd just be. Around. :3 And you could bully her into making you coffee and shit like that.

Honestly, I would just app her, but 1) I have six fucking characters and 2) she's such a minor character that we don't even know her last name.

ANYWAY, LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU NEED........

I make bitchin' wikis and I'm totally not addicted to them or anything

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/wikis your face

/coddles 8D

IDK if this is necessary for a couple of reasons. The rest of the cast may disagree, but I figured I'd add my few cents in.

First: What happens if there's no cast that can respond? Part of the reason we have NPC cops is that some of the players (myself included, not that RQ's on the street at all), don't have time to chase every single incidence that would "require" police involvement. The NPC's fill in, or at least they're assumed to so far as I understand it.

Second: There's numerous things that happen in the comm that people don't necessarily want police involvement for because they're being handled by other players/plots/are meant to be unsolved, etc. Having the cops butting in at every juncture can get tedious and frustrating for people that are designing plots to go around the police.

Third: I'm not opposed to having a police blotter of sorts (I think it might be fun), but I really don't want to make that the default "on" as opposed to the police contact/plotting posts that we have, or OOC plot organization. Being able to request police involvement (or even request specific cop!cast) through those contact channels makes sure that those plots that want/require cops can get them, in a number that they want, with a resolution (or lack thereof) planned instead of half a dozen cop!cast showing for something that only requires one cop, not knowing what's going on, what's knowable/discoverable, and then pestering the poor mun who just wanted to rob the candy store.

I don't want to discourage from doing something like this, because it might be a neat experiment, but I don't want you to get saddled with wrangling the cast to make sure cop A gets to crime scene B, making sure that's okay with criminal C. Part of the reason we have the ooc contact posts for the prison and cops is to reduce confusion and make sure we're not butting in where muns don't want us.

I did not mean that icon to look so pissed off - sorry.

I think the suggestion just helps the police cast keep on top of things in an OOC aspect. From what I can tell, it doesn't mean we then HAVE to get involved, it can still be fobbed off to NPC police or we can invent an excuse as to why police don't get so involved if police involvement isn't wanted.

It just means that from an OOC point of view all things that would attract police are registered and that we can approach it if we're needed or have the time.

Idk. I just think something like this would help prevent the whiny anons that said police cast weren't doing what they should do.

And I get that and appreciate it - the organization aspect - ultimately, I just don't want it to replace the org post. To play the devil's advocate, my primary fear is that people are going to see that we have this and assume, oh, okay, I don't need to arrange police for my plot, they're going to see it and respond. Because then the same thing is going to happen, cop!cast will be busy, they won't see the posting, or they'll assume someone else on the cast will respond, and the mun will be offended.

If people really want police for their plots they need to ask - it's like any other plot in the game. Sure people are going to show up, and some of them will be cops, but if there's a specific need that has to be addressed, just having the incident on a list isn't going to guarantee help.

Also, and this might veer on nitpicking on my part, what happens in winter when Jillian might not have the time to continue? I applaud her willingness to step up and do this (God knows I don't have the time), and it could potentially be a huge undertaking, but we would need more than just one person to step up and run it if we want it to really be effective in the long run.

All valid points.

This wouldn't replace people asking for police involvement, it's just that very very few people DO ask. Certainly the org post would be kept, but from what i assume, this would help keep in check any that plots or storylines that weren't brought to police attention but would likely attract police for interest/information purposes and not necessarily WE MUST REACT IMMEADIATELY!!!1

Basically what I'm trying to say is in the post below xD

I would actually love this because I never have any time to follow everything that's going on (part of my McClane burn-out issues - I constantly feel like I'm completely dropping the ball on this) and it would be very handy to have a regular bullet-point list, but like she said, we'd have to clear everything with the players involved to make sure they'd WANT police involvement on whatever they're doing and exactly how much and what they'd know, yadda yadda - that is, unless we go with a pure ICA=ICC thing and say 'suck it up, you're under arrest, boyo!,' which I somehow doubt would go over so well. ;)

I don't know how well/often/regularly people are using the established channels of requesting police involvement, and I would be wary of discouraging that at all and giving people the thought that "well, they've got somebody monitoring every post, now, so they should KNOW to come get me and if they don't it must mean they HATE ME so I HATE THEM and wankawankawankawanka..."

THAT SAID, a blotter with 'things of interest' - as in, an update of things that cops monitoring the channels would notice for information gathering purposes rather than 'ALACK, THERE IS CRIME AFOOT AND WE MUST GO STOP IT' reactions would be fantastic. Public conversations between Persons Of Interest, general hints of bad guy skullduggery, 'hey, this looks suspicious, keep an eye on that,' that sort of thing - although I realize that might be assuming you have much more free time than you actually do.

Bottom line: I think a more active monitoring of everything would be a great help, but we need to be careful not to step on anyone's plottery toes.

I approve your use of "wankawankawanka" and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

And by that I mean that I read it and tried to imagine what sort of thing would actually make that sound in real life, and could only picture Oompa-Loompahs. :D

Personally, I'd say it's either a British Pac-Man or Janet Weiss. "Wanka Wanka Wanka Waaaaaaank me! I wanna be diiiirty!"

Yessssssss.

Sounds like a good idea. It gets tough tracking what the police do as it is, and I think it would even be useful to people not in the police cast to help get an idea of what it is they do.

I know this is a crazy idea, but--

What if the mods just put up an official POLICE ATTENTION!!!!1 post and players can be responsible for commenting on it if they want police involvement. It can be tracked by the cop cast and, correct me if I'm wrong, tracking is available to all account types?

/boop

I kind of like this idea best. Maybe not even for police attention, but just for the various superhero teams in the city, too. Maybe like at the beginning of the week have a giant post as to what plots are running currently and have people suggest police/hero involvement from there.

And yes, tracking posts can be done on all accounts. I think thread tracking is limited to paids, though. IthinkIthink.

I don't think it's fair to the cop cast for them to have to seek something out themselves an them "knowing they're playing a cop or choosing to play one," isn't an excuse either. There could easily be a form made for this.

Maybe a general superhero one, too? Or one for very specific super powers, like healing or teleportation?

LJ can make stalking pretty easy, man.

I think like... A general post with a "HEY GUYS, HERE'S WHAT TO EXPECT FROM LIFE IN THE CITY THIS WEEK" is more what I had in mind. Like a weather forecast, but instead it would list the different plots and what areas of town they were going down in. From there, people could say "OMG MY GUY WILL BE AT THE STARBUCK'S DOWN THERE HE SHOULD REACT!11!" and all that.

Lol, weather forecast.

And yes. LJ is a godsend for stalkers.

"He will also be buying a non-fat soy mocha latte, which defeats the purpose of making it a latte," herpderp.

That would also probably be excellent, but I think a lot of smaller stuff (like GUY THAT STEALS SMOOTH JAZZ CDs FROM STARBUCKS) sort of happens without planning.

I wish they'd let people opt-out of the search function. It kinda makes the box where you click "MINIMIZE SEARCH" or whatever pointless.

We sort of have this, but it's maintained by uh, me, and generally requires people to post to it. It's on Elisa's personal journal, though. Most of the main copcast have some sort of thing like that; Bear has "What To Expect When You're Arrested' and Toby has the police roster.

The casebook (the "HAY GUIZE NEED COPS OVER HERE!" post) has thus far, though, been primarily used by cops, even though it's open to anyone who wants go to "I NEED AN ADULT!"

Although I could make another general announcement about it, I just got the sense last time I did that that the game as a whole was irritated by it.

Edited 2010-09-08 20:40 (UTC)

Yeah, I noticed that! But I figured if it was posted by a moderator and separate from the cops themselves that it might help cut you guys some slack if there was a general HEY THIS IS HAPPENING, PLEASE SEE IT post. I don't watch the community on my FL, so I might forget to check the OOC one or the main one on any given day.

Sucks, but it's necessary (apparently). I wouldn't blame you if you did another post, but I still think having a general post run by the mods like that would be more convenient, especially if for any unforeseen reason someone drops. It also would make it easier for the mods themselves to keep tabs on what's shakin'.

What if it was posted on the mod journal? I feel like it's great to have the cop cast be so willing to post things for plotting purposes, but the having it on the mod journal lends more... idk, validity? To it, I guess? That seems like a kind of terrible thing to say but... It makes it more official. We'll go with that.

Not that I have any power to make this happen or anything. It's just a thought that I've been pondering off and on for a while.

That's what I was figurin' would work out best for all parties involved. Considering I'm not playing a cop and I'm not a mod, however, my opinion is sort of... from the outside looking in. I'm just trying to be helpful. And that way if there are any complaints, anon will hopefully go to the mods rather than be a jerk and feel the need to spam anywhere they can?

We're on the same boat, then.

Silly, anon. :/

I've never really had a problem with the police or police organization, personally. Buut, I'm also always for fancy organization, so. Yeah. Just random thoughts.

Likewise. I thought I needed someone, so I went to a copcast journal and decided to go IC with it, though I'm sure PMing is just as useful.

I feel like this has been discussed with the mods before, and the solution was simply in the directory to link to the individual posts, but I'm not going to say no to this idea. I'm always for less work, not more, especially given how involved Momjeans is in like...everything in the game, heh.

Mm, yeah. It might have to be discussed again, considering how it's taken a not-so-awesome turn. Whatever happens, I just hope it works out for the best.

You won't hear any complaints from me. She's a fox. :)

Well, I know that the mods are busy, and I don't mind, and I've only heard bits of anon complaint about the cop casebook and/or the cops in general, so I guess the status quo's working? Ish?

Unless there's something else I don't know about, which is a pretty distinct possibility. I tend to ignore anon, by and large.

Another thing to factor in here is not necessarily that "the cops can't manage every crime that goes on in the City", but that "the cop muns have real lives and other things to do and have to pick their battles," so to speak. If there's a more official organization post, I'm seriously not going to object because it's one less thing I have to worry about.

I hope so! The only problem with anon is you can never tell if it's one person or many, but reading it over I was under the impression it was just one person.

Likewise. I don't encourage going anon to talk to people. I'm pretty shy, tbh, but I think anonymous commenting just brings out the worst in people.

And that sadly, sometimes the bad guys do have to win or are able to sneak about and get away with, idk, stealing three tons of glue from the... glue factory. For their nefarious plan(s).

Heh, well, I seriously don't know what was said about anything? ... Wait, were the cops called out on something?

*Shrug* If someone has an issue with copcast, I'm approachable, as is every single other cop mun.

As far as I can recall, it was just availability that seemed to be the problem? I didn't read all of it because I just got annoyed and frustrated. I'm sure if you ask the other copfaces they might have a more clear idea?

I'd have to agree. You're all really friendly and approachable. Though that's just my personal opinion.

... Huh!

Well, thank you, dahling. I'm fairly certain all of us only bite the people we really like, and even then it's only when we're in scandalous situations.

It was a very offhanded comment that I rather took offense to, though anon did agree that you, specifically, put in the effort. WHATEVS, I like all the ideas that people have offered, and Dawn had good points about the kind of expectations that would form etc. and what may happen come winter.

... Seriously? Huh. Well, I'm sorry they're not having fun, I guess, but all of the cop cast puts in effort. I just happen to play one of the more visible cops, that's all.

I appreciate the offer of help, though, I really do. I wish I could give some pointers about where it'd be the best to contribute, but I think most of the suggestions thrown around have already said it. I'm so useless, lol!

Yeah; I'm seriously not saying this just to be nice, I'd noticed that the cop cast goes the extra mile in terms of logs for investigation, informing each other, checking out crime scenes, etc. (Which reminds me that I dropped a log on Aaron, ahaha >_>.) So whatever gets worked out is cool with me.

Pfft, we all drop logs, don't worry about it.

All of us try to play IC, and in all of its various aspects, and often that includes investigations and crime scenes and everything. I admit, I love CSI and Law and Order, and I think these things are loads of fun, but that's just me.

I don't want the end result to be that the copcast feels obligated to play a certain way just because of their occupation. I had hoped that had been avoided up until this point, because, seriously, it's a game, and I want everyone to have a good time. On both ends.

Honestly, I think that's the best idea. Like, a general mod post telling what to expect in the city this week or month, or what have you. Lots of games have that, and it helps!

I am too sleepy and distracted right now to really offer much of an opinion/aide on this, but Red Queenmun brought up pretty much all the points I would have, too.

It wouldn't hurt to have someone that's able to keep more up to date on things, but at the same time, even if tehre was an oft updated "this plot is coming up, police might want to respond" deal, there's still the case of us maybe not having the time or, and I know this might cause a scandal, not finding the plot particularly interesting to throw their character in to, plus other issues like reacting to a plot someone didn't want police in thus resulting in the cop character looking bad and the mun feeling frustrated, etc . . .

Which would lead me to suggest that the bulletin should only be updated with plots that request police help and no police respond, but then again, the anon(s) sounded like we were disappointing for not responding to more than just those--in which case, that would most likely overwhelm you and the cop cast.

Look at me talking so much even though I said I was sleepy. Really, I just have nothing really concrete to suggest beacuse, honestly, there's never going to be a happy middle ground. Someone somewhere is always going to be disappointed, and with most of us working jobs/going to school/living in different time zones/having a life, we're just not going to be able to respond to everything, even with a bulletin, and everyone is just going to have to accept this.

HOWEVER! It wouldn't hurt to try a system like this, and my one REAL suggestion is, at the top of it or on the top of any OOC posts made or what have you, to right in large, bold font THE BEST WAY TO GET POLICE INVOLVEMENT IS TO CONTACT ONE OF THE POLICE CHARACTERS.

I think I need a nap now

TOO LAZY TO LOG OUT OF THIS ACCOUNT, THIS IS TOBY I'M SURE YOU CAN IMAGINE
But perhaps less would be missed if a bulletin like that existed.

Is she really an npc with that amount of background and personal information, though? I think that'd be a bit of a problem...

It's not nearly enough for an appable character, so, yeah. NPC, definitely. I mean, I'm sure you could do it, but there's a point where you're making up so much stuff the character might as well be an OC.

I think we might have to agree to disagree on that.

Yeah, kind of a moot point since Zero approved it.

Oh?

It took me a while to get my thoughts together to reply to this. I was initially just going to not do so, but after further consideration it turns out I do have an opinion.

It is incredibly kind of you to offer to do this, and I have always respected your organizational skills and creativity as a player (I don't thread with you often, but I think back to a thread between Pete and Jason debating psychics as one of my favorites of all time), however: what you are suggesting already exists. It is, as mentioned, in Maza's journal, and the only difference is it requires people to take a small amount of personal responsibility for themselves as a player, that I feel really needs to be insisted on.

Additionally, while I know that this suggestion of help comes from nothing but the best of intentions, it feels a little like a slap in the face. I don't need help keeping up with the game. I actually find the current pace of the game painfully slow. I read every post, and at least skim comments to see who replies, as I always have. If I don't reply to something criminal it is because: 1.) a member of the police force has already addressed it IC in the post or somewhere else, 2.) I feel police involvement would be unwelcome and am not close enough to the mun to be sure they won't take it the wrong way, 3.) I feel my character is inappropriate for dealing with the situation, or 4.) I do not want to be involved, which is my right as a player. The last one is very infrequent, but does happen.

I really think instead of tying to "fix" us, that the game as a whole needs another gentle reminder that, like villains, copcast are not NPCs who exist who exist only for other people to use in their plots. We have our own agendas for our characters, who we apped because we like them as people, and while we may enjoy playing out police procedure because we are crazy people, the police part of our characters is a secondary characteristic only.

C&C has always been a game where people are welcome to play out day to day minutia if they so choose, and that is exactly what I joined for. I do not play a big damn hero; if I wanted to I would have apped one. Instead I apped the guy who, when other people are stopping the big bad, is stopping traffic, because that is all he is smart enough for. That is the character I am interested in playing. I don't sign up for a lot of player-run plots (unless I feel there is opportunity for character development), because they tend to be beyond Pete's capacity. I am sorry if that is not the kind of cop that other players are interested in playing against, but it is the character I apped, and to play him otherwise would be OOC.

If you would still like to do this, you are of course welcome to, but it is not something I will ever use. It is just one more link I will have to click on before I get to actually play, and I worry that my not utilizing it will cause issues with other members of the force who would.

I truly, truly hope my voicing these things does not cause any problems, because I do want to reiterate that I like you, and you are awesome.

One of the things I didn't emphasize enough in my first paragraph was that I've always found the police response to be completely sufficient and in fact in many cases going the extra mile for people. My interest in helping out is less to "fix" things than to do the minutiae people may not have time or inclination to do for themselves. I wouldn't expect everyone to use it, and I don't think it would cause any problems if you didn't. I mean, if it's irrelevant to your character, it's irrelevant to your character, and if you already know what's going on, then there's no point; but other people (who do have trouble keeping up with the game) have expressed interest in something slightly different, namely a bulletin with more general updates about events in the game, which is maybe a more appropriate idea! Let me know what you think about that. They have also suggested this should be a game-wide thing, which would be pretty useful too, I just wonder if someone other than the mods will have the time to do it (because I can be industrious, but I'm not THAT industrious, I don't want to tackle the whole game. Well... I suppose it wouldn't be that much more...).

This was totally just a feeling things out post, so I'm really glad you took the time to answer. I completely agree about players' need to take personal responsibility. I think what I was unclear on is that I didn't want a post with links to, say, a murder-on-the-comms post, to take the place of OOC communication. But you and Dawn are exactly right in that it would make players expect automatic response out of police cast when in actuality they should be telling police cast ahead of time what the parameters of the plot are.

Also, thank you for the reassurances. I promise that I would never think poorly of you or think you think poorly of me just for expressing an opinion. I suppose I have an e-reputation for being a big ol' bitch (... accurate, to some degree ...) to thank for that kind of caution, but if I ever did or said anything that made you think that I might get all snappish, I'm sorry. I'm not saying I am sweet as pie, but y'know. I try to be reasonable.

I actually think a game wide bulletin of what's going to happen (or even has happened) would be useful, because I'm aware thatmost people don't read every post like I do (and I don't expect them to, but) it has lead to contradictory posts in the past. But I also have no idea who could possibly be anal enough to do it, and it doesn't help with the unexpected posts players may come up with in the heat of the moment, which I don't feel should be discouraged. I also don't think those kinds of posts are what the problem was. I think everyone really just has to remember that not every plot will be appropriate for every player, and if a player or type of player will be integral, they need to be contacted and consulted before the plot is even proposed. And if some does not sign up for a plot, it is not personal. There is only so much trauma a character can experience before they become unplayable, and people need to respect that. Three members of the force have died, two of which he was very close to, and his only canon-mate has been ported out. I'm not going to be throwing him at plots any time soon.

My disclaimer was totally not personal. I have always found you level headed and open to discussion. I just realized I had wall of texted at you and I didn't want you or anyone else reading to get the wrong idea. On the Internet, people seem to assume that the more you say the angrier you are, and I'm not angry at all. I really appreciate you thinking of and sticking up for us; it means a lot to me.

I will say that what hurts me most about the situation is that I probably DI

Is that I probably did want in on the plots anon is complaining about, but was unable and had to settle for enjoying reading them.

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HELLO POLICE CAST especially Laih, Toby, Bear, and Andy

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post too soon