Making Rolls Public

[Salic]

I thought about how to start this for ten minutes and couldn't think of anything good, so I'll cut to the chase: I strongly believe that all future rolls (with the exception of Final Ten rolls) should be done publicly. There are two primary advantages that come with this: it increases transparency between handlers and staff, and it prevents people from using knowledge that is not accessible to others to use to their own advantage.

As it stands, rolls are done privately in staff channels, after which the results and logs are transcribed onto the newest announcement/roll post. While this system is functional, it is not the best that it can be, and I'll provide an example below as to why it should be changed.

During V7, one of Catche's characters (Thomas Buckley, I believe) was rolled; MK Kilmarnock (henceforth referred to as Ricky) knew that Thomas was rolled because he was a staffer and thus had access to that information before anyone else. Using this knowledge, Ricky pitched a death idea to Catche days before the rolls were posted publicly. He blatantly used his advanced knowledge of the rolls to try and secure his character Justin a kill before any handlers had any information about who was rolled.

This abuse of power could have been easily prevented had rolls been made public; if everybody knew who got rolled right then and there, then this kind of conspiratorial power play would be far less likely to occur. Building trust between handlers and staff is important for site health; making one of the most important parts of SOTF transparent and accessible to everybody would go a long way into building that trust.

Making rolls public would not require much effort to create; all that's needed is one discord channel for rolls to occur in that everybody can see. That's how it works on Mini; there's a rolls channel where handlers are pinged so that they're alerted that rolls are happening, and if they miss rolls then they can easily scroll through the rolls channel or look on the announcement/roll post for any and all information they need. It's a simple and easy system that takes very little time to implement and requires no special effort on staff's part.

I don't want Final Ten rolls to be made public because it helps build suspense; the other rolls don't build nearly that amount of suspense (interjecting with a personal opinion, but watching the rolls happen in real time is way more tense and suspenseful than just the reading the logs on the announcement later).

Alright, spiel over. Make of this post what you will.

[Cicada]

Adding a +1 for this. We have examples that this system works well and is unobtrusive in both Mini and DOTF.

[Deamon]

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback, obviously the concerns are very valid given past events but I’m just quickly popping in to let you know we are planning on trialing public rolls in V9 as is explained here!

[Kermit]

Worry not, as of the last revision to our rules (changelog here, please all handlers should read it (yes even the allegedly illiterate ones), it is important), we'll be trial running public rolls in v9 (albeit with vital-for-me-to-mention-because-i-want-to-avoid-the-possibility-of-anybody-stepping-on-a-rake-and-unintentionally-breaking-a-rule differences from what people who've experienced them on Mini will be acclimated to: specifically, there will not be a channel for live roll discussion, and public commentary on the rolls as they're happening/while the wounds are still fresh will be explicitly disallowed.)

Killing, Dying, Rolls, & Cards


3. These rolls are usually performed publicly in the official Discord twice a month, once at the middle of each month (around the 15th) and at the beginning of each month after the first. At the very beginning of the game (the first month) and during the holiday season (December to January), rolls are conducted once each month instead of twice. Staff reserves the right to delay rolls outside of these periods OR conduct rolls in private (without alteration to the schedule), should extenuating site circumstances come up that necessitate it.

PLEASE NOTE that (as of V9) rolls being conducted publicly is a test. Staff reserves the right to go back to private rolls if we feel it is too taxing on our schedules or that chat is consistently failing to observe proper etiquette while rolls are conducted.

4. Handlers must refrain from commenting in chat on rolls while they are being conducted, and are required to observe rolls being conducted silently. Rolls are performed publicly solely for the sake of transparency, and not to be a spectator sport. Additionally, handlers must observe proper etiquette in chat after rolls are finished: do not celebrate a character being rolled (for any reason), do not gloat or express relief about not being rolled, do not speculate about card usage (including wishing for specific characters to be saved), and do not speculate about who will be killed by whom. Repeated and serious failures to follow this rule may result in disciplinary action, up to and including a chat ban.

Code of Conduct

7. Please follow proper etiquette in chat regarding rolls. While we understand that rolls may be exciting, keep in mind that this is an RP where people are often deeply emotionally invested in their characters, and that live commentary and speculation about rolls can be insensitive or rude. Do not comment on rolls as they're being done live, do not express relief that certain characters were not rolled, do not celebrate characters getting rolled, do not speculate about card use. Please tread lightly. If you're unsure whether something you want to say falls within proper etiquette, please err on the safe side or ask for clarification. Repeated and serious failures to follow roll etiquette may result in disciplinary action, up to and including a chat ban.

So yeah. Again, v9's public rolls are a trial run, and whether they stick around is gonna be primarily contingent on our ability, as a community, to act with maturity surrounding them etc. But, given that the biggest chat incidents I can remember ever happening because of them on Mini were "newbie unintentionally does something insensitive, experienced handler gently nudges them, no voices are raised and the confrontation is over in less than a minute", I am Cautiously Optimistic they'll go smoothly and - OOOOOAARGHGH deamon 2 fast

[Melusine]

Worry not, as of the last revision to our rules (changelog here, please all handlers should read it (yes even the allegedly illiterate ones), it is important), we'll be trial running public rolls in v9 (albeit with vital-for-me-to-mention-because-i-want-to-avoid-the-possibility-of-anybody-stepping-on-a-rake-and-unintentionally-breaking-a-rule differences from what people who've experienced them on Mini will be acclimated to: specifically, there will not be a channel for live roll discussion, and public commentary on the rolls as they're happening/while the wounds are still fresh will be explicitly disallowed.)

Killing, Dying, Rolls, & Cards


3. These rolls are usually performed publicly in the official Discord twice a month, once at the middle of each month (around the 15th) and at the beginning of each month after the first. At the very beginning of the game (the first month) and during the holiday season (December to January), rolls are conducted once each month instead of twice. Staff reserves the right to delay rolls outside of these periods OR conduct rolls in private (without alteration to the schedule), should extenuating site circumstances come up that necessitate it.

PLEASE NOTE that (as of V9) rolls being conducted publicly is a test. Staff reserves the right to go back to private rolls if we feel it is too taxing on our schedules or that chat is consistently failing to observe proper etiquette while rolls are conducted.

4. Handlers must refrain from commenting in chat on rolls while they are being conducted, and are required to observe rolls being conducted silently. Rolls are performed publicly solely for the sake of transparency, and not to be a spectator sport. Additionally, handlers must observe proper etiquette in chat after rolls are finished: do not celebrate a character being rolled (for any reason), do not gloat or express relief about not being rolled, do not speculate about card usage (including wishing for specific characters to be saved), and do not speculate about who will be killed by whom. Repeated and serious failures to follow this rule may result in disciplinary action, up to and including a chat ban.

Code of Conduct

7. Please follow proper etiquette in chat regarding rolls. While we understand that rolls may be exciting, keep in mind that this is an RP where people are often deeply emotionally invested in their characters, and that live commentary and speculation about rolls can be insensitive or rude. Do not comment on rolls as they're being done live, do not express relief that certain characters were not rolled, do not celebrate characters getting rolled, do not speculate about card use. Please tread lightly. If you're unsure whether something you want to say falls within proper etiquette, please err on the safe side or ask for clarification. Repeated and serious failures to follow roll etiquette may result in disciplinary action, up to and including a chat ban.

So yeah. Again, v9's public rolls are a trial run, and whether they stick around is gonna be primarily contingent on our ability, as a community, to act with maturity surrounding them etc. But, given that the biggest chat incidents I can remember ever happening because of them on Mini were "newbie unintentionally does something insensitive, experienced handler gently nudges them, no voices are raised and the confrontation is over in less than a minute", I am Cautiously Optimistic they'll go smoothly and - OOOOOAARGHGH deamon 2 fast

do u need a cough drop