'Souls Procedure Survey

[Songbird]

@ the Clarification remark; Nah, you're good, Raze! I said that more because I realized that my initial misspeak seemed to rub people the wrong way on me just being an old bird and saying, "You youngin's don't know how good you have it! >:("

I think stating how many posts a character has upon joining might be useful though, so that it's a matter of cross-referencing their current post count vs the one they joined with, rather than having to manually count. :O

Just so that players know since they can't see the backend stuff! We actually notate this when y'all join with characters with previous play as your 1st character! So, at the very least, staff would know your start point. The main reason why I suggested that players notate their posts on their own was because, from a staff standpoint, I don't want to have to chase down every character you've dropped-swapped-rejoined with to meet your 60 post count requirement xD It's a bit more of a manual way of doing things, but, in a perfect world, you'd only have two characters to check anyways! :O

[Nocturne]

... As a reminder, the “Average” bracket rating starts at 7+ posts per 2-week bracket. The less characters you have, the more we expect for activity per character bracket. The more characters you have, obviously, we see that, so, there is a bit more leniency (which, some of you may see the Request Checker notate when you have 5+ characters) within reason, of course... On the other hand, if you have 8 characters, and make only, say, 5 posts per 2-week bracket, we’re more likely to be lenient because, “Well, that’s EIGHT characters they’re posting on. 5x8=40 total posts per two weeks, which is more than what some players get in an entire month across just 2 characters.”

The higher you go, the harder it can become: but that's why not everyone has 10 characters, and why the posting demands lessen for those higher slots.

If you have 5 characters and you’re making 5 posts per 2-week bracket per character, you’re making 10 posts a month on one character, 50 posts across all characters that month. 5 characters is teetering into the higher character bracket, so, to be transparent, there is more debate between staff on what is approved or denied at these higher levels. We understand that these are higher character loads. And, as I said before in my previous posts, staff is more lenient when it comes to higher character slot requests because we understand that you’re posting across more characters. We don’t expect you to get 10+ posts per bracket. Honestly, we’re satisfied if you even get 7+ when it comes to some of these character slots. As I said before, we don’t expect perfection, but we expect for you to actually make an effort if you want this optional additional slot.[/list]
If you have fewer characters, of course, we’re going to expect “more” from you. 7 posts per 2-week bracket when you only have 2 characters to play with is, my opinion, acceptable. All you have to do is 3-4 posts per week, or 7 posts on one character one week, and 7 on the other the next. You only have 2 characters.

Hi there! Popping in a bit late, but love this discussion and had a great time reading this. I'm just curious, as much of the discussion has been about burnout for bracketing higher auxiliary characters - I know that managing 7-8 (or even more!) characters requires quite a bit of time and investment into the site, but I definitely agree that the post numbers per two weeks are prohibitive at the bracketing level for those who are making the plunge. If 'Soulsters follow the general 'Average' goal, writers going for their 9th character slot would need to make a minimum of 63 posts per two weeks, or a minimum of 12,600 words. That's almost SoSu for two months straight. (And for those two've done that... my GOD, I have immense respect for you!!) Meanwhile, those same players have already been managing 7-8 posts/month with no issue, and it could stand to reason that a minimum of 8-9 posts per month would be within their reach.

Obviously that's reflected in the comments above, and are taken into consideration as stated above. But I was curious - has there ever been a discussion from the SA about a fixed minimum number for those at this point? For example, perhaps 7 posts/two weeks for the first 5 characters, and 5 posts for every character after that? (Or in the case of no primary/secondary - 7 for 5 of the characters, 5 for any number exceeding 5) The reason I ask is not because I particularly want a reduction myself - I agree that the grind is very helpful, and I genuinely like the system - but I also think the debate and case-by-case nature makes it ambiguous, which I know can add to the frustration. How do I know if my situation would be granted enough leniency, for example?

Once again, I don't really have much I want to change to the system. But in what is otherwise a pretty regulated, numerated way of getting more characters, it just strikes me as a bit ambiguous. Then again, I know that the number of people who are applying for that many character slots is really a very small number, so perhaps a rule just isn't necessary!

[Songbird]

Just a reminder that auxiliaries are optional. So, if a player wants to go 7+ characters, that's on them, and more power to them if they have the time/muse for that many active characters and keeping them active. I feel that our standards are already pretty lenient (now, as compared to how we/staff used to be) for 5+ characters as is.

Most players find it difficult to manage 5+ characters even without bracketing for additional slots anyways. There is no pressure on these players to post outside of Activity Sweeps, so, one would think, if you have the slots to play with that many characters, why don't you? I think it's a simple case that most players in 'Souls' community are adults with adult responsibilities, which, unfortunately, means less free time to pour into a writing hobby as a result. Since I know regular members can't see these sorts of stats, I thought the data below might be a fun :O thing for some of y'all (as well as put some things into more perspective)!

Out of 48 players currently on 'Souls:

• 2 Character Slots — 38 players have unlocked, and 100% have both slots filled
  
• 3 Character Slots — 27 players have unlocked, and 25 of them have all 3 slots filled
  
• 4 Character Slots — 19 players have unlocked, and 13 of them have all 4 slots filled
  
• 5 Character Slots — 16 players have unlocked, and 6 of them have all 5 slots filled
  
• 6 Character Slots — 12 players have unlocked, and 5 of them have all 6 slots filled
  
• 7 Character Slots — 11 players have unlocked, and 5 of them have all 7 slots filled
  
• 8 Character Slots — 6 players have unlocked, and 2 of them have all 8 slots filled
  
• 9 Character Slots — 3 players have unlocked, and 1 of them have all 9 slots filled
  
• 10 Character Slots — 1 player has unlocked, and 0 of them have all 10 slots filled
  

3-5 characters seems to be the sweet spot for where most of 'Souls' average player base lingers around and can actively maintain. I think with the clarifications that have been made about how Brackets work, as well as some clean up on the previously outdated Request Wiki Page, should provide players with a clearer idea of what Staff is actually looking for. A lot of players, previously, I feel, thought Staff's expectations were too high ("We demand perfection! You must make 10+ posts per bracket, no matter your slot #!"), when, in reality, our expectations are not as strict or stringent as some might have been led to originally believe.

I made my suggestion for changes to allow for easier obtainment of Character Slots 2 and 3. And, going by the numbers I shared above, I think it's safe to say that most players would be happy to be able to obtain 3 base Characters easier overall, and then go on to bracket for 4+ if they want more variety from there.

As general reminder to summarize everything I said in previous posts, too, once players hit the higher Auxiliary ranges (5+ characters), we don't expect players to get 7+ posts per 2-week bracket for every one of their characters. If you do, great! If you don't, that's fine! Some players may average closer to 4-6 posts per 2-week bracket per character. Others may be a varying mix of 4-10+ posts per 2-week bracket. Staff looks at all the brackets, and we make our vote with considerations on 1) number of posts per bracket, and 2) how many characters that player has/what slot # they're going after. None of Staff is giving hard numbers for examples because the Requests are always processed at the time of request. If you have a couple of subpar brackets, we may handwave it. If you have more "bad" than "good", we may deny it. There aren't any hard or set numbers across the board. We look at all of the data and we vote.

The only thing the Activity Checker does is gives numbers and a rating for the individual bracket (the "Overall score" and "Recommendation" rating have been obsolete since 2017 when permanent slots were introduced; they just haven't been taken out because...eugh, that means rewriting backend code). Staff is who decides, not the Checker. A human is the one that decides if you get a "Go" or a "No Go" on your Request. Staff shifts our "baseline" based on the two things I stated previously, 1) number of posts per bracket, and 2) how many characters that player has/what slot # they're going after.

At lower auxiliary requests (going for Slots 3-5), we tend to want higher (~7+ posts) bracket numbers and little to no "bad" brackets. At higher auxiliary requests (going for Slot 5+), we tend to be more lenient and allow more lower brackets numbers (~4-6+ posts), and are also more lenient about a few "bad" ones being mixed in. For example, a spread of 4, 10, 7, 7 on a character for only Slot #3 would likely get you denied because of that 4-post bracket and you being at a lower auxiliary level. However, if you had those same numbers and were requesting for Slot #8, you would likely get approved because you're at a higher auxiliary level. (I can't definitively say "You will" because, again, staff as a whole votes, not just one person, and we look at all of your characters and all of their brackets at once x3)

Again, I will be transparent with y'all and say that, if y'all have any brackets with only 0-3 posts in them, you should be expecting to be denied for your auxiliary/puppy point request. However, that doesn't mean that you can't put your request in (after all, the worst that we can ever do is say "No"). It just means that, don't cry and make Staff out like we're heartless villains because we denied your request, when you're the one that was hardly active for an entire 2-week timeframe :x

Obviously that's reflected in the comments above, and are taken into consideration as stated above. But I was curious - has there ever been a discussion from the SA about a fixed minimum number for those at this point? For example, perhaps 7 posts/two weeks for the first 5 characters, and 5 posts for every character after that? (Or in the case of no primary/secondary - 7 for 5 of the characters, 5 for any number exceeding 5) The reason I ask is not because I particularly want a reduction myself - I agree that the grind is very helpful, and I genuinely like the system - but I also think the debate and case-by-case nature makes it ambiguous, which I know can add to the frustration. How do I know if my situation would be granted enough leniency, for example?

I can say that, at Mod level, at least, there has not been a discussion like this, no. Me personally, I'd rather it be more ambiguous, as it actually helps some of you out. If you have a lot of "ok" brackets and then a single "bad" bracket, Staff not setting hard numbers allows us to make the call if we think the bracket numbers overall outweigh the presence of the one or few "bad" brackets you may have.

I think that what you suggested might be a little more complicated than what's currently in place overall. Players would have to go back to defining "Main" characters, and then descending Auxiliary orders in one method, and, when not defined, that would mean Staff would have to choose five "Top 5" characters from a selection, and then maintain that for comparison if we deny and suggest to re-request within a certain time frame. As things currently are, personally, I think it takes the stress out of having to actually plan out who you dedicate more posts to. As it is presently, all you have to do is be like, "Okay, I need to make at least X number of posts per character" versus, "I need to make X number for Wolf, and then Y number for Coyote, etc."

As far as the "How do I know if my situation would be granted enough leniency, for example?" part, you likely won't until after the Request is seen and reviewed. Staff can't given hard numbers because each request can be different depending on the spread, thus, the case-by-case way that we do it. I think it's simple enough to just avoid making 0-3 posts in any bracket, and then just adjusting according based on your Auxiliary Slot number or number of Puppy Points that you want.