END OF MONTH: FEBRUARY

Announcements and updates

We're calling it the 'gigapause' whether you like it or not, Lucy!

Some important news for all you neighbors!

1961 has been a very strange year, but 2021 has been even stranger. We have been overwhelmed by the support we’ve gotten from our players since starting WSH - the enthusiasm you’ve all shared with us has really touched our hearts. Many of the mod team are first-timers, and you’ve really made modding a great experience. With being first-time mods, however, we have also learned a lot and encountered challenges - made a lot worse by the factors that are affecting us all in 2021 and the world outside of Santa Rosita.

We want to be honest with you all: it has been a rough time for a lot of us. The mod team dropped from seven to four since December, and we have felt the pinch. This has meant more work for those who remain, and several of us are trying to balance giving you the best game possible with keeping our own selves afloat.

Due to recent real life events that have affected members of our team, our ability to run things as normal will be further impacted. With apps and new events on the horizon, we weren’t sure if we could handle everything, and so we have decided to make a hard choice.

No, We’re Still Here is not closing.

Yes, We’re Still Here will be taking a pause.

The mod team has decided that the best way to continue the game without us burning out or events dropping significantly in quality or creativity is to pause a number of mod activities for the months of March and April. This means that for March and April, there will not be:

An Application Round
Large Events (as seen in December and February)
Mini-Events (as seen in January)
NPC Encounters

Players will still have access to comms and be allowed to post, create their own events, and explore the fallout of February’s events without worry of the next event bumping up against it. We know a lot of you were engaged in the kidnapping plot, and hope that this time can be used to continue to tag the event and explore the lasting implications.

What still will happen:

February Regain Approval
Housing Change Requests
Canon Update Processing
Hiatus/Drop Processing
FAQ Answers (At a slower pace)
Approval for Event Suggestions from Players (At a slower pace)

The mod team has decided that we will put up a standing TDM that will allow new and current players to play in the setting. This TDM will offer some plot threads for players to play with over the course of the pause, and allow for current and prospective players to thread. The standing TDM will canonically last for the entirety of the two-month period. This will be posted on March 10.

The TDM will still be considered canon.

Apps will reopen in May.

We will work on ensuring that all standing player questions on the FAQ page and event suggestion post will be answered. We want to apologize to those of you who have had questions or event suggestions waiting for an answer.

To answer a few questions we think you might have:

How will Activity Check work?

If in February you did not make AC, instead of being swept, you will receive a strike. For this one time only, we will allow you to stay in the game as long as you then check in during March and April. If you took a strike this month, you will still have that strike. We feel this is fair considering the unexpected nature of our announcement.

For March and April, we will ask you to check in on the AC page (once in March, once in April). This just means quickly noting that you are here and around, but will not require you to prove you met the AC threshold. You will still be swept if you do not check in during March and April.

In May, AC will return to normal.

Will regains be affected?

February regains will still occur and be processed by the mods; the regain post can be found here. If players check in during March and April, then there will be a regain period at the end of April like normal for event months. We would only need proof that you had checked in for those two months.

How will the metaplot be affected?

The metaplot will not be affected by this pause--in fact, the events of February have directly affected the open TDM that will be available throughout March and April! As always, the TDM will be canon and its events may prove to be a source of interest for characters in the game.

How can we help?

We are opening applications for new members of the mod team. In particular, we are looking for:

Three Assistant Plot Mods to assist with application processing, answering the FAQ, and responding to player event suggestions.
Three List Mods to assist with formatting posts, updating layouts, maintaining various pages including Taken, Reserves, Hiatus/Drops, AC, etc.

Mod applications can be found here.

Is there a chance to end the pause early if more mods join the team?

Due to some of the current mods’ RL situations, we are firm on needing it to be these two months. If more mods join the team we would use the time to familiarize them with plot, setting, and organizational details - basically so any newcomers can ease into the team rather than being overwhelmed.

This isn’t the game update you expected to hear, nor is it likely to be the one you want to hear. WSH has been a labor of love not just by the mods but by you, the players, without which the game wouldn’t have gotten off the ground. The reason we want to take a pause is because we know many of you care deeply about the game and the CR you have here. Nobody wants to have to admit that we’re overwhelmed and need a break. But more than that, nobody wants to see something they love fade out and lose what made it special.

Finally, regarding some of the in-universe changes after February’s event:

The Story page has been updated.
Rosemary Craven and the Doppelgangers have been added to the game’s NPC page
The underground shelter will be added to the game as a location for the characters to explore; the Doppelgangers will be found there and can be enemies for the characters to fight.
A reminder that you can request as a regain to remove the results of kidnapping surgeries. This will use up your regain for the month. The regain post can be found here.

Please use this post too to give us feedback on how February’s app cycle and event went - we will make a separate top level to keep feedback separate from pause and long-term game discussion. The mods will still be around to answer questions on this post and others! We’re not going radio silent, just turning the volume down a bit.

We’re thankful for those of you who are here, and those of you that understand.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Please reply to this top level with questions or comments specific to February's event and our last app cycle!

Hey! I enjoyed the event -- I like a good mystery and a spooky exploration! The only thing that I might have preferred was maybe a little spacing out of things so there wasn't a five day gap where nothing could be achieved between the kidnapping and rescue. Maybe a slow unfurl of stuff that could be found during those days, so it wasn't just nothing? Since doing nothing but wait isn't in Wrathion's blood, and I'm sure other characters the same!

A question: For people who had NPC threads shall we assume the NPC just up and left at the point they now stopped, or is there gonna be a light summary of anything else they might have found out? Since Wrathion would want to tell people what he learned from Harding!

Thank you for the note! We definitely will take mystery pacing in mind for ~~when~~ if we do another event in this style again.

Regarding NPC threads, anybody who is waiting on a conclusion to their thread will receive one. Tag-outs will be extended through this week so nobody will be left hanging.

Oh, cool! I'll look out for that then -- thank you and take care of yourselves! I hope you have a nice break, eat some [ dessert of choice here ].

Since I had to hiatus due to the natural disaster in TX (being without power/heat/water and having to re-shelter), is there some way I can say Wanda was able to peripherally interact with the event so that I can have some plotting she can do for the next 2 months? Or what might be her other options?

We're really sorry to hear you were affected by the storms in Texas, and hope things have improved since then.

We would really like to encourage players to continue to tag into February's event and top level for it, so that even if others arrived late to it that people can still participate. Other than the standing TDM, there will not be a new event to bump up against the kidnapping/rescue plot, so please play it out to your heart's content.

The standing TDM will also follow up from February's event and have possible threads for current players, so that would be another avenue for plotting.

oh OH okay, if I can still tag into late then awesome! Thank you!! And I look forward to the TDM B) muahaha.

Please reply to this top level with any questions or comments relating to general feedback about We're Still Here! This includes questions relating to March and April.

Personally I think you guys are amazing for keeping the plot and things up to date during these chaotic last few months and a two month hiatus is a great way to go about things too. I hope these next two months are good ones for everyone.

As for the event, I think it went really well. It was fun to sign up and see what random thing came out of it and I hope that the horror aspect of things stays the same because it's great fun.

Will any of the empty houses be automatically reshuffled, or will it simply be done upon request?

Thank you! We're glad you had "fun" with the horror elements - they were "fun" to write!

Empty houses will be automatically reshuffled and condensed, and we are potentially going to...rearrange some standing homes. With spring on the horizon, we think spring cleaning is in order.

Edited 2021-03-01 23:24 (UTC)

Mods, thank you for assessing what you need in order to get in better modding shape and not over-stretching yourselves, and for giving us a stage set to play in while you do that. It's more important that you take care of yourselves than run yourselves ragged; we're rooting for you! ♥

I would never have guessed that this was the first time modding for most of you, and I'm really glad that you're assessing how things are going and taking these steps to not get overwhelmed with it all. I promise it's preferable to the misfortunes of mods pushing too hard, burning out, and then not being able to follow through on all the hoped-for plans. Thank you for being upfront with this, and doing the prep work to let us know how long it'll likely go!

+1 to the randomization being a fun way of having unexpected directions for characters and their cr. I think that this event is one that a lot of us want to keep backtagging into, with the after effects going for a while, so it's a good time for a slowdown IC and OOC alike.

I just want to wish the whole mod team the best! So many kudos for all the hard work you've all done, and it's great to take the time to not be stressed out. We'll all do what we can as players to bounce around and get ourselves even more established and ready for when the mod team's feeling invigorated again. Three cheers for all the mods!

Thanks for the hard work, mods! Take the time you need and thank you for giving us room and things to work on in the interrim. honestly a bit of a break ac wise is gonna be nice and i didn't realize how much i needed it!